During the past semester, our coordinators collected quotes, pictures and videos from our students about how our presence at their universities has contributed to their language learning.  The Fulbright commission put everything together in a video that means quite a lot to me.  Take a look:

Praia da Concha at dusk

My apartment is about to get a whole lot emptier as Kate and Patrick, two fellow ETAs, are leaving and heading back to where they work in Maceió and Belem, respectively.  I have had such a fun time showing them around Ilhéus and just hanging out in general.  We have been quite busy and are all pretty tired after a week of late nights and some early mornings.

My neighborhood as seen from my balcony with Patrick's fancy camera

American breakfast

After helping with Idea Factory, we all went out for dinner and drinks and then headed to a club right on the water near my house called "Mar Aberto" (Open Sea).  On Wednesday nights the club provides a live Forró band and the atmosphere is awesome.  Sean, don't worry, I've already found an instructor who's willing to give us Forró lessons as a couple so we can get up to speed.

Group teeth brush in the morning

On Thursday, Patrick and Kate spent the day at the beach while I went to work at UESC and then we met for dinner, drinks and live music at the popular local hangout downtown, Barrakitika.  Marina, a Brazilian friend from Itabuna, joined us as well which made four people staying in the apartment for the weekend.  On Friday we spent the day at the beach and enjoyed paddle ball, dominoes and soccer on the shore.

Day at the beach with our new friend, Gabriel from Uruguay

Friday night included a concert by Oquadro and lots of hanging out afterward talking to other concert goers who had traveled far to see the band.  On Saturday we took it pretty easy and went out to lunch for some local food, shrimp moqueca, and stayed in to watch the Brazilian movie "Bruna Surfistina."  Yesterday we hit up the beach one last time and invited some newly made friends over for dinner that evening.  After grocery shopping and milkshakes, Patrick whipped up a Mexican dish and our dinner guests brought the ingredients for caipirinhas.

They are as crazy as they look

Today, it's back to reality and everyone is leaving.  I'm going to miss sleeping like sardines in my bed with Marina and Kate, making meals for people and trying the cooking of others, laughing in the wee hours, lots of acoustic guitar playing, group teeth brushing and deep conversations on the balcony.  Please come back and visit again!

The first real week back of second semester was a rough one in that it was very very busy.  Loni and I returned from our seminar in Brasilia and jumped right into a week full of our new classes and also one of the biggest English events of the year: the Idea Factory.



The Idea Factory is our coordinator's brainchild and baby.  It's also a lot of work and a logistical nightmare since it's only in its second year of existence.  Isaias created the event as a forum for English teachers to share ideas about improving teaching methods in Brazil.  We had been planning for this event for months and I was excited for it to happen but also ready for it to be over.



Loni and I had also invited another Fulbrighter to participate.  Patrick, from Fort Collins, CO who is teaching in the north of Brazil, arrived last Monday to give one of the main speeches of the day. We were also visited by Kate, from Florida who is teaching in Maceió.  The two stayed at my house and it has been really fun hanging out with them.



The main thing that I was nervous about with the Idea Factory was being in front of everyone as Loni and I were the official MCs for the entire day.  That meant that I was on the microphone from when the event started at 8:30 until when it finished at 6:30.  Dealing with rushed presenters, frustrated sponsors and a harried coordinator who was running around like crazy made it a bit of a stressful day.  The only thing that gave me confidence was the fact that Loni and I were the only native English speakers in the room and that people wouldn't really notice if I said something wrong.

Overall, the event went fine and everyone agreed that it went better than last year.  I wasn't expecting this year in Brazil to require so much public speaking but I think I have been up in front of large audiences more in these last few months than I have in my entire life.

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One of our hosts, Alex, making us a moqueca dinner

Our other host, Gomes

On the ferry getting ready for the hike

Hiking down the beach

Setting up camp

Hanging in the tent with Sue on the rainy day

In the same position hours later after torrential rains

 

Super chic part of the city called Pontão - a waterfront hangout

I think the mid-year seminar is held in Brasilia for a couple of reasons 1) It's the capital and seat of government of Brazil with a large part of the city being devoted to embassies and consulates 2) It's not usually on the list of places to visit in Brazil; had it not been for this seminar, I probably wouldn't have made it here.

President Dilmah's house - no fence or anything, just a moat

Brasilia is odd.  It feels like I am worlds away from Bahia and in a concrete, futuristic and eerily clean city in the middle of a dessert.  For some, Brasilia is a miracle and model of construction - it was built in only three years and officially made the capital in 1960.  Here, everything is super organized, meticulously planned and beautifully manicured.  Everything is arranged on a logical grid with names that appear like code to the unitiated: SDN/SDS, SBN/SBS, SMHN/SMHS . . . there's a lot of S's.  The government buearcrats herald the airplane-shaped city as a modern utopia and like to remind you that it's the only city in the world constructed in the 20th century to achieve World Cultural Heritage designation by Unesco.





For the rest of us,  Brasilia feels a bit contrived, soulless and lacking any real identity of its own.  When I told my students that I was going to Brasilia for a week the answer was usually, "Why?"  It's also not for those on a budget as there aren't really any hostels or guesthouses in town.  Food and drinks are ridiculously expensive and it's very hard to get around without your own car.  It's definitely a city for the affluent and not for the penniless backpacker.

Protestors on the lawn in front of congress - notice all the matching perfectly lined buildings on the side

Congress - under each dish is a different chamber

The main reason why tourists visit Brasilia is to check out the architecture.  Today, after a morning session about how to improve our second semester here and go out with a bang, we took a city tour.  The layout and architecture of the city of Brasilia was done entirely by urban planner Lúcio Costa and famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.  His buildings are unusual because they started to use curves in concrete.  Our tour guide called it "tropical modern architecture" and said that the design of the buildings helped keep them cool as well.

Cathedral of Brasila

Inside the cathedral

For me, the coolest buildings were by far the churches by Neimeyer and the two that we visited were each jaw-dropping in their own way.  The first one, the Cathedral of Brasilia, is half above the ground and half underground.  When standing underground the curve of the wall has amazing acoustics so that when you whisper along the wall someone can hear you all the way across the room.  The second church, the Sanctuary of Dom Bosco, had incredible stained glass windows that bathed everything in a calming blueish-purplish light.  Though spending the afternoon studying Brasilia’s architecture was fun and interesting, for much of the group the highlight of the day was an evening excursion to a giant food court in the mall.  After months of American/International culinary isolation and kilos of beans and rice, the rows upon rows of incredible gustatory choices were quite the feast to behold.

Dom Bosco Sanctuary