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. 

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