I'm finding it very difficult adjusting to the heat.  Seeing as Sean and I just did three winters in a row from the U.S. to N.Z. and then back to the U.S., my body hasn't felt these temperatures in months.  I guzzle water, am constantly sweating, break out in heat rashes and manage to get sunburned even while slathered with lotion.  Today I gave up on the lotion and just wore a cape around my neck and shoulders which I'm sure looked really attractive and didn't make me stand out like a tourist at all. 



Unlike China, which could also be quite steamy at times, my apartment in Bahia doesn't have air conditioning.  In fact, we're lucky to even have fans!  This means that it's almost impossible to find relief from the heat and extreme humidity anywhere - especially at home.  Most places in town like stores and public buildings or buses don't have air either so it's not a matter of finding an escape, it's learning to deal with daily life with air as thick and hot as soup.



The only place to find respite from the oven of Ilhéus is the beach which is only a few minutes walk away.  Ilhéus has many different beaches but Praia da Concha (Shell Beach) is one of the prettiest and the closest one to us.  It involves walking a couple blocks and then a hike over a rocky hill to a small, secluded beach on the other side.  Loni and I have gone there every day after work for the past few days.  The water is cool and clean and there's lots of shade and a refreshing strong breeze. I can't get enough of it.  I just wonder how some of the other Fulbrighters manage the even higher temperatures and humidity further north or deeper in the Amazon with no beach to escape to. 


Today was the second time that we attempted to finalize our registration as foreigners at our local federal police.  The first time we didn't have all of the documents that they wanted and so we had to return today.  Today, unfortunately, we were informed that the police were on strike and were encouraged to try again tomorrow.  I guess even the policemen here want their beach days too.

Latin America is known for being loose and flexible with fixed meeting and appointment times and the northeastern part of Brazil is no different.  Bahia is particularly notorious for being lax about timeliness.  I've been told over and over again while I've been here that everything moves in "Bahia time" which means that life is seriously chilled out and everything moves at a slow pace.  Our first morning here when our director was supposed to pick us up at 9:00 for a city tour and shopping, she showed up at 10:30.  This is totally fine, normal and accepted as part of daily life.  Even though I've taught about this in classes at OSU, it still blows my mind.

Bahia time occurs at work as well.  Today was our first day at the university and we were cautioned by many professors and students that: 1.  The semester doesn't always start when it should 2.  Classes never start on time  3.  Most students come very late or not at all  4.  Sometimes the students or professors go on strike 5. It's normal for the university to take an extra impromptu Monday or Friday off for a long weekend especially if there is a holiday on a Tuesday or a Thursday 6.  They aren't really sure when our English classes will start but we were assured that it will be one of these days or weeks (last year the Fulbrighters didn't actually start until April).  It's also common to hear phrases like, "You're working too hard!" or "You need to take some time off and go to the beach."  It's a radically different lifestyle than what I'm used to. 

Bahia also has a natural phenomenon called a sea breeze.  At certain times of the day strong winds from right off the ocean blow through the neighborhood and flood our apartment with a humid salty mist.  It's very refreshing but also, apparently, very bad for electronics.  Everyone here keeps ipods, computers, cameras etc. in plastic bags all the time or else the sea breeze causes serious damage.  On my first night here, both my digital watch and digital alarm clocked stopped working.  Looks like the nature of this city itself is going to force me to be on Bahia time whether I like it or not.

I remember one day during graduate school at OSU I was walking past a classroom and there was lots of commotion going on; people were gathered at the door watching and listening to what happening inside.  I peeked in and saw students dressed in white and fighting/dancing to drumbeats and music and so I asked the person next to me, "What's going on?"  My neighbor informed me that the students were practicing capoeira - something I had never seen or heard of before.  It makes sense that there was capoeira happening in the Spanish and Portuguese Department that day because capoeira is a form of Afro-Brazilian martial arts.  The area where I live, Bahia, is famous for capoeira because of the large influence of African language, culture and heritage here.



Fast forward five years and I'm standing nervously at my first capoeira class.  This was not my idea.  This was my roommate's idea who happens to be a dance/zumba/fitness instructor and also one of the leaders of the indigenous dance movement in the U.S. and Mexico.  Capoeira is definitely her cup of tea but not exactly mine.  If you know me then you know that I'm not altogether comfortable expressing myself physically in a crowded circle of drum beats and hand claps.  I was also the tallest one there, the whitest participant, badly sunburned and the only one who was sweating profusely because of the extreme heat and humidity before the class had even started.  You can see why I was nervous. 



We "warmed up" and stretched though I didn't think this was entirely necessary seeing as it was a class held in the instructor's backyard and did I mention it was hot out?  Capoeira in this weather is like hot yoga on steroids or dancing ninjas in a sauna.  Seriously.  The instructor took Loni and I aside and showed us some basic movements, mind you it was in Portuguese so I probably only got about 40% of what he was saying.  I was surprised at how hard it was to follow the movements and stay controlled.  Capoeira is all about quick and complicated moves to a certain rhythm with lots of power, speed and leg kicks/sweeps.  Also, you have to stay low so it's like constantly being in lunge position.  It was exhausting.  People laughed at how much I was sweating.  It got worse.



After individual movements we had to do actions in front of everyone followed by a cumulative circle complete with drum beats, tambourines and a berimbau during which people had to pair up and fight/dance in some sort of synchronized harmony while the onlookers clapped and watched.  It was terrifying.  I really didn't like being in the circle because it made me feel embarrassed and uncomfortable; I didn't know what to do and I couldn't really stay with the beat.  It's kind of exactly how I'm feeling in Brazil right now; I can't communicate, I rarely figure out where I'm supposed to be going, I arrive too early for everything and my tan is in the very early stages.  But I'm going to go back to class on Thursday even though my toes are blistered and bleeding and I am already very very sore. I'm hoping that one of these days I'm going to find that rhythm.

On our first full day in Ilhéus, our director, Tatiany, and Shalon, one of the students at the university, took us on a city tour.  First we went to the highest part of Ilhéus and looked out over the bay and the ocean.  The view was incredible and helped to make sense of where our neighborhood was compared to the downtown.  Up near the lookout was an old convent that has since been turned into a school.  We stepped inside and took a look around and it was cool to see some rooms preserved with the original furniture of the nuns who used to live there.



We also checked out the main church in the downtown area, the Cathedral of Saint Sebastian.  The church, along with the rest of the buildings in the city center, were some of the most colorful that I've ever seen.  We stopped in at the Vesuvio Bar to take a picture with Jorge Amado, a famous Brazilian writer from the area and then paid 4 Reais to enter his house which has since been turned into a museum. 






Since Ilhéus is on the coast, it was one of the first place that new settlers landed in Brazil.  Christ Beach represents this area with a large statue of Jesus Christ opening his arms in welcome.  I'm hoping to be able to see the giant version in Rio one of these days.

Of course one of the big topics of conversation during orientation was, "Are you going out tonight? Where are you guys going? etc."  I was a little hesitant to go out at night for reasons like safety and expense (São Paolo is priiicey) but also because I value my sleep and our days were packed with classes and activities (lame, I know - this is how you can tell I'm 31).  On Thursday night when a big group went to a club I declined and promptly changed into pajamas and went to bed after Skyping with Sean and family. 



The following night, however, I was convinced to join three other girls to go to a small Samba club.  Many of the Fulbrighters had either studied or worked in Brazil before and were quite familiar with the city and had rockin' Portuguese.  Sarah (there is always another Sarah) was no different and she had heard that a good Samba group was in town and that they were going to play at a little club in another neighborhood.



We left the hotel at about 9pm and took the metro and then a taxi to a small, hidden-away, unmarked entrance of the club.  We arrived at about 9:30 and were told things would get underway at about 11pm.  The tiny club was mostly empty and we passed the time with sandwiches and beers while watching people file in and snag empty tables.   A little after eleven, the musicians started to play and the music was fantastic - you couldn't help but start to move.  A few people started dancing, the lights were dimmed and the club really started to fill up. 

Loni getting a lesson in Samba

The main event, however, was a female singer who joined the band at about midnight.  At this point the club was packed to the brim with gyrating Brazilians and you couldn't hear a thing because the music was so loud.  It was so hot and we were all so sweaty that everyone just kind of slid off of each other.  Even though I was dressed like a super preppy American (loafers, skirt, black shirt) I was asked multiple times which part of Brazil I was from.  I also quickly learned how to say "I'm sorry, I do not know how to dance the Samba" in Portuguese whenever someone would ask me to dance.  Don't get me wrong, though, I definitely want to learn and I hear that there are classes in Ilhéus.  Sean, you best get your moves on in Laramie to get ready for some serious Samba action in Brazil!

On Friday morning, Loni and I flew to our placement site for the next nine months - Ilhéus, Bahia.  One of the most annoying challenges since arriving in Brazil was how to pronounce my city's name.  Every time someone would ask me where I would be working I would try and say the name and they would invariably reply, "Where?"  I wasn't the only one with this problem, however, nobody could seem to say the name correctly.  After landing in Bahia today, we quickly learned that the people here pronounce it "eel-yows." 

From left to right: Tatiany, Shalon, Gabriel (Tatiany's son), Loni, me

We had planned to stay in a hostel until we could find an apartment but a very friendly and helpful student (Shalon) offered to look for us before we came.  He found out that the previous Fulbrighter's apartment was still vacant and set up a time for us to meet with the landlord right when our flight landed.  Shalon and some other English professors met us at the airport and took us to the apartment.  After looking it over and talking about the rent/utilities/internet etc., we settled on a deal and started moving our bags in. 

Eggplant antipasto on bread with peanuts

No sooner had we put our bags down when it was time to quickly shower and drive to the house of our director, Tatiany, for dinner.  She and her husband had made us a big dinner and were eager to get to know us.  We had a fun night of good food and the start of some new friendships, but I was more than ready to crash after a long day of travel, trying to communicate in Portuguese and getting adjusted to the extreme heat and humidity.

View of my neighborhood from the balcony

There is a lot of graffiti and street art in S.P.

On an afternoon of one of our orientation days we had a tour of São Paulo by bus during which we got to get out and explore a lot.  First we went to the plaza in the main city center and visited the Catedral Metropolitana.  I couldn't get over how beautiful the weather was - it was hot and sunny and it felt good to sweat instead of shiver.

For lunch we visited the Mercado Municipal which is a huge gathering places for produce vendors and customers alike to gather and shop or eat.  The colorful mounds of fruit were incredible and so was the amount and variety of fish and meat.  The two most famous things to try at that particular market are a bologna sandwich (Mortadela sandwich) and a fish pastry.  I had the Mortadela sandwich which was stacked with loads of meat; I'm very glad that I ended up sharing it with someone else.  A popular drink to try at the market is a fresh fruit smoothie made out of any combination you can imagine.





After lunch we had the choice of visiting the Portuguese Language Museum or an art museum.  I chose to visit the language museum and loved it.  My only regret was that I can't really speak the language yet so I missed out on a lot.  There was a lot of history and linguistic background which was easy to understand and super interesting but the visit ended with a creative/trippy spoken word and visual digital poetry display during which I was completely lost. 



One thing I like about this group of people is that everyone makes it a point to meet each other and spend some time to get to know one another.  For example, between sites when we were on the bus, we always sat with a different person.  In this way we were all able to spend quality time hearing about all of the experiences in more detail rather than just an icebreaker conversation.



For dinner we were on our own and all the memories of learning Spanish and attempting to communicate in Chinese came rushing back as we awkwardly tried to order without making a scene at a local bakery.  It's a constant real and valuable reminder that feeling embarrassed, vulnerable, dumb and incompetent is sometimes part of the language-learning process and a feeling that my Brazilian students will probably experience in my classes as well. 

Pointing to my placement

 
Today is when the fun really began.  Like I've said before on this blog, I really like orientations of any kind but there is always a certain intimidation factor.  At times it feels like we're all in a dog park with lots of sizing-up, butt-sniffing and tail wagging - I can already tell you who the Dobermans and Golden Retrievers are.  I am seriously fascinated with the other 29 participants and I wish I could have 30 minutes with everyone to hear their story and how they got here.  Fortunately, everyone else is just as curious and we basically spend lots of awkward conversations asking repeated questions like, "Where are you from?", "Where is your placement?" and "What did you do before this?" all while trying to maintain a cool and confident demeanor.

Schedule of talking points for the first session

Close-up of Ilhéus, BA

My partner, Loni

The other Fulbrighters are from all over but most of them are from California and the big cities on the East Coast with a handful from the Midwest thrown in to keep things real.  I've had a person say to me, "You went to school in Ohio? That must have been very country."  The age range is from 23 - 31 (Yep, I'm the oldest) but you wouldn't know that there is such a disparity; everyone acts like they are around 25.  About half of the group already has some kind of Master's degree in subjects ranging from education, language, anthropology, economics, sociology and political science.  Lots of brief life histories that I heard included programs like Peace Corps, JET, AmeriCorps, Teach for America and internships in some area of government.  Everyone has studied and/or taught abroad in multiple countries and continents and it has been both overwhelming and inspiring to hear their stories.  Most participants  seems to be very motivated and have clear goals for the future including more graduate school, working for the CIA/FBI, working for the State Department and getting involved with particular NGOs in Washington D.C.  Like I said, these guys aren't wasting any time with their life plans.

Today during orientation we spent the morning in some meetings talking about the grant and in the afternoon we took a field trip to some touristy places in the city.  Here's a few things that we talked about:

What is Fulbright and why are you here?

The Fulbright program is 67 years old and was started after WWII by Senator Fulbright to promote student cultural exchange.  The first program was with Germany and was quickly expanded to other countries in Europe and reached South America in the mid 50s.  Now there are 150 programs worldwide which send Americans abroad and bring foreigners to the States to teach, study and do research.

Who's paying for this?

The U.S. government (State Department) and the government of Brazil (the Commission and the Ministry of Education).

Where are you placed and why?

Although we got some preferences about where we wanted to be, we were matched with participating institutions based on our skills and experiences.

Where will you live?

We have to find our own accommodation which usually means renting an apartment near campus. We can live alone, share with the other grant participant, or share with any willing Brazilian student.

What will you do?

There are two kinds of Fulbright grants: ETA (English Teaching Assistantship) and Study/Research.  I have an ETA which means that I work with a university to help improve their English education program.  This includes teaching some English classes, providing monthly inservices to local teachers, holding office hours and setting up monthly cultural events/lectures.  We also have the opportunity to study Portuguese and are required to do an additional side project of our choice in the community.

What's your schedule?

The university calendar in Brazil begins around March and the first semester runs through June.  There is a month off between semesters during which we spend one week participating in a mid-year seminar in the capitol, Brasilia, with all the other Fulbrighters.  Then the second semester runs from October to November.  My official grant end date is November 24.  

The whole group - our director and her assistant are in front

A girl with long auburn hair leaned over across the row while waiting in the Detroit airport and whispered, "Excuse me, are you Sarah Sanderson?"  Turns out the girl was a fellow Fulbrighter on the way to Brazil just like I was.  She had seen the list of flights and participants and admitted to doing a little Facebook stalking to make sure she knew what I looked like. I was so glad she did as it was fun to have someone to travel with on the way to Sāo Paulo.

Eleven hours and four movies later we landed in the steamy South American mega city and began the long immigration process.  Though we landed at 8:30, we didn't make it through customs and immigration until about noon.  We found our bus, bought some tickets and began the two hour commute to our hotel in the middle of downtown.

It's official - Also, Go Bucks!

My first impressions of Sāo Paulo were that it was colorful, hectic, hot, fashionable and sprawling. So far I have been very impressed with the organization of the Fulbright program in Brazil.  Everything has been very organized, detailed and structured and communication is prompt.  We were met at our hotel by the commission and given a folder for the week with name tags, notebooks, pens and schedules along with an envelope with an additional cash stipend.

Today was a free day since everyone was arriving at different times and most of us spent the time napping, getting organized and walking around a bit.  I am sharing a room with Loni, the other girl who will be in Ilhéus with me.  She is 25 and is from Nebraska.  She spent the last three years teaching in Mexico and hopes to do the Peace Corps after this program.

View from the little balcony in our room

I was surprised to find that here in Sāo Paolo, most people aren't really keen to speak any English.  I also quickly found out that knowing only Spanish isn't really enough to get by.  Fortunately for me, Loni can speak quite a bit of Portuguese which has helped me out a lot.  I guess it's time to hit the books a bit harder in the upcoming days and weeks.

The old district of Sydney is right on the harbor and is called "The Rocks."  The Rocks is one of the areas where the colony first developed.  We took another free tour by our favorite guide, Justine, who did a great job.  This tour was full of stories of murders, disappearances and general mayhem that was common in The Rocks in the 1800s.  Justine pointed out what the old sandstone buildings originally were (now they are tourist shops, restaurants, hotels and bars) and took us through tiny alleys and over old cobblestone streets.

Our guide, Justine, in front of the most popular spot for wedding photography in Sydney - in front of its oldest house.

One of the oldest bars in The Rocks

Though The Rocks used to be known as a dangerous slum as it was the initial contact point for sailors to party and meet with prostitutes, now it is a happening center for tourism and the arts.  This is all thanks to a committee of locals who saved most of the buildings from being demolished by the government around the time of the plague.  Now there are weekly markets and an interesting event called "Weird Fridays" during which you can pop into anything from theater performances, magic shows and masked parties all for free.

Another of the oldest bars in The Rocks

View of the harbor from up on a hill

 Since Sean and I did the tour on a Friday, we stuck around for the evening markets and cultural oddities.  One bar's ploy to intrigue customers was to advertise to "follow the rabbit" and there were various white footprints all over the place.  But upon finding the secret venue, one immediately learned that they needed a rabbit mask to enter which sent everyone on another search . . . I've never seen anything quite like it!

Walking around during "Weird Fridays" - Notice the people who have already found their masks

Following the rabbit feet . . .

Exploring the night market