Time flies when you’re having fun

It’s officially been one month (um mês) since I’ve arrived in Fortaleza. Where has the time gone?

Yesterday, I was slapped in the face with a late-arriving revelation, but a revelation nonetheless: Candice, you are so lucky.

Not everyone gets to do something like this. I’m living in another country with a family who has opened up their home without any doubts or required background checks (not implying they’d need one…) with my primary agenda being this: make friends and learn their language.

No school assignments are due. In fact, school has nothing to do with this, (can I get a hallelujah?). This is an independent conquest; an individual adventure. There are no limitations to what I can do here, especially as I continue making more friends. I can honestly say I’m one of the luckiest girls in the world.

To make this short and sweet, I’m not taking the next five months for granted. “Homesick” has been removed from my vocabulary. I have a feeling time is going to fly by, and I’m not sure I’m prepared for that. (I hear the “real world” sucks, anyway.)

Okay, back to being blonde in Brasil. Saturday night, minha prima Andressa, took me out on the town. Her boyfriend Thyago, and best friend/neighbor Quetsya, also joined us. We went to a local bar near the beach where a live band played an assortment of music. Here, I learned how to dance to forró, a type of genre specific to Brasil. This is an example of traditional forró:

And here are two songs we actually danced to on Saturday night:


I won’t admit to knowing what they mean, but hey, you can get a feel for what my environment was like if you give these two songs a listen.

I think it goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway… I’m a terrible dancer. Against my better judgement, I did give it a try. Andressa and Quetsya will tell you I’m not bad (ruim), but they’re just being nice. I’m still recovering from Saturday’s shenanigans, no thanks to the shoes I borrowed.

As if I weren’t already tall enough, I borrowed a pair of heels to fit in with the clique. I still can’t feel certain parts of my feet. (Eu ainda não posso sentir certas partes de meus pés. ) Oh, the price you pay for beauty! The plus side? I never got lost… I was at least a head taller than everyone else there.

Here are some pictures from that night:

Unlike the bars in the United States, bars in Brasil don’t have a set closing time. I think that’s why my feet ended up hurting as badly as they did. However, I had an ótimo time with the three of them and look forward to doing it again soon.

Sunday night I went out with three friends after church (depois da igreja) to a fast-food joint called Habib’s. They serve arabic food. I ate a pastel and a kibe. Not my favorite type of food, but hey, when you’ve been raised on Taco Bueno, the standards are already set pretty high. Here are some pictures of Aline, Eliane, Isaac and me:

Last night, (Tuesday or Terça-feira), I played volleyball with the gang. I went with the mindset that I would try to not be as awful as I typically am. (It gets old, letting down your team.) I have noticed that my teammates are not as quick to scold my mistakes due to the language barrier, and that never makes me feel good.. I hate handicaps! It’s like they’re afraid of hurting my feelings, even though their faces have “you suck at this game” written all over it. It’s time they tell me how it is!

Of course, I still made lots of mistakes, but the effort I put forth last night was a major improvement. If anything, I made them proud in that sense, because by the end of the night they were giving me a hard time about my mistakes. All it took was a bit of mental chanting to get me going. “Be aggressive, be, be aggressive.” Here are some pics (sorry for the blur on some):

Above: André, my Uncle Jorge’s brother, officiating the game.

Above: Catarina and I posing for the camera. (And yes, my shirt says “Proud to be Texan”.)

I’ve recently discovered how useful the “I Heart Radio” app can be. (For you old timers out there, an app is short for “application” and is something you download from the internet that allows you to access specific content in an organized and formatted way on an iPad/iPhone/android/etc. Check out this link by another blogger for a better, more in-depth description. Get with the times! ) Anyway, most of the local radio stations from back home are available on this particular app, so I get to listen to the same music as my fellow DFW pals, in real time! Cool, huh? And on top of that, I’ve discovered other radio stations from around the nation that play some stuff I don’t have access to here or on my iPod. My favorite find so far is the “Roots of Rock” station. I can’t help but think of Jeff Majors anytime I listen to it. (I hope you are well Jeff! Miss you! When I get back, let’s grab Bueno and talk music.)

My good friend Ben”jammin” Lopez made me a mix before I skipped town, and put this oldie but goodie on there. After I listened to the mix for the first time, (shortly after I arrived here,) I got homesick when this song ended Ben’s carefully calculated lyrical montage. But now when I hear it, it creates the opposite effect. And with that, I’m going to leave you with this gem:

Wish YOU were here.
Candice