Tuesday, December 7, 2010

100 days in Brazil... im coming home to the USA,






So i had a eventful weekend but it feels like i have lost 2 days during the process. I ended school and then i went to the beach all Friday day and Saturday as well to be able to soak in the Brazilian sun as much as i could before i left. It was awesome beach days and so much fun but sad saying goodbye to everyone.

Friday night was the goodbye dinner. It was nice and we all ate a lot of food, because it was a churrascaria, which is Brazilian for BBQ/buffet. My brother came with me and he got to speak English with my friends so he was a little happy it seems. Some people left right after the dinner to the airport and other places, but most of us stayed around and went out together. We all went to Garotas Cariocas and we got a discount because we had so many people, it was cool. We danced a lot with everyone from the group and then i went home at around 3am. Haley had to for sure be home by 4am because she needed to pack and be ready by 6am, so i hope she wasn't to tired because she didn't sleep, but that is how Brazilians do it. They don't stop.

Saturday morning Wendy and i got into the restaurant under the hotel that we stayed in the first day. I wanted to take a picture there like i did the first day and see the difference. Longer hair, lighter hair and dark skin. It was a cool difference and way to see Brazil when i knowledge i had gained over the past 100 days. Looking at the same place was weird knowing that when i last stood there i knew nothing. So afterwords we went to the beach and saw the last beautiful sunset of Brazil, the colors were amazing! I came home showered and tried to pack but then i wanted to get acai, so i did that and met up with Wendy, Alfonso, Bryant, Tiffany, and Matt. I am going to miss Acai, it is so good and so common in Brazil, unlike the US where it is so "special". So after i went home and packed everything up and ended up going to bed at around 2am and then woke up at 7am to get ready to leave at 9am on Sunday.

My Brazilian mom took me to the airport and said bye, she was sad and really wants me to come back, and i think that i really want to but be able to travel more around Brazil rather than to stay in Salvador. So i met Bryant and said bye to his host family and then we were on our own and on our way! We had to wait a long time for Bryant to pay some fee because his bags weighted to much and then we ate some cake and got on the plane to Sao Paulo. As soon as we landed it was like a different kind of Brazil to us. It was so clean and there were a lot of Asian (Japanese im sure) everywhere and it was just weird to see them speak such fluent and perfect Portuguese. We even checked in and it was difficult to understand the guy because he talked fast in a different type of accent, but then slowed down later. Then i went to the bathroom and then i came out and Erika runs towards be through the huge crowd of Asian people. I was so excited to see her! As we waited for Bryant we then ate pizza hut, which was amazingly better than in the united states! We then helped Erika check herself in at Delta airlines and then went off to wait for ours.

We then landed in Lima, as soon as we get on the plane, we then realize that this is going to be interesting. We had been unfamiliar with Spanish for a while and have been focusing so much on Portuguese that we are confused. We get off and he goes to ask the help desk a question and pauses and looks at me and we laugh because i know he was about to speak in Portuguese when the lady works for Lan Chile and we were in Peru. Then i had to go shopping. I love llamas and they were everywhere in Peru, i simply had to buy one. Afterwords i used bryant's laptop to talk to my parents and good thing that i did because they thought i was coming back on Tuesday, which would have been bad because i arrived on Monday morning. I would have not have wanted to wait another whole day to get picked up. But they figured it out and got me.

My plane ride from Lima to SF was 9 1/2 hours but i had an open seat next to me so i got to sleep most of the time which was really cool. I was excited because i have never got to do that on a long flight before. So i woke up in just engouh time to see the first sunset in the united states after being away for 107 days and get breakfast on the plane. I landed and turned on my phone, which i almost forgot how to work and called Kay. She beat my mom and dad to the airport so i got all of my luggage into her smart car and we met everyone at the breakfast place. My brother looks older, Stephanie looks taller and mom and dad look the same. But it was weird not to be able to talk about people and have them on understand in English. Hopefully ill get used to it again but not loose my Portuguese.

So here is where i end my travels, being that i am back in the United States, in California, in my bed, im no longer traveling and i am going to go back to my "real" life here and enjoy Christmas. I still feel like i am in Brazil because i went to bed at 4:30pm here and woke up at 3:16am and i was confused on why i was so cold, i thought i was still in Brazil when i woke up, in Brazil it would be 9:40pm to 8:16am. So i close with i love Brasil, it feels like a 2nd home that i can go, and i feel comfortable there, i am for sure going to go back and see the things i didnt get to the first time. Eu TE AMO BRASIL. TCHAU EU TENHO QUE SAIR AGORA.

Jessica Amber Guditus

Friday, December 3, 2010

Done with School!






Sorry i haven't updated in a while, the past week has been crazy busy with homework. I am sure that at least everyday i had something to worry about or study for. Monday was a bit of a small break, but i did have to study a lot. Sunday after the beach i came home and did my presentation notes and then Monday i did my presentation in Portuguese. I also went over to Matt's house to hang out with everyone and we were there for 5 or 6 hours just talking about really serious topics like War, Religion, and politics. I think that was the first real adult conversation that i have had with people my own age, it was kind of cool but also very difficult to stay with the conversation, being that it moved around so much and i didn't agree with everything. So after i went home i tried to knock out my culture class paper but i only did half. So Tuesday i finished it a little more and we had our Portuguese review as well as the culture class review. And on Wednesday we had the culture class final, where after 2 hours of continuous writing was finally done with a class that i had felt uncomfortable the entire time in. In the midst of trying to study for Portuguese that night for the next day i managed to finish my paper. So yesterday at 12pm i was done!! finally the quarter that felt like it was forever (because it actually was a semester)was over and i was done! I have never felt so good to be done with a period of school, but so sad at the same time to leave my new friends and beautiful country.

Yesterday i went to the beach after class, it was so fun, we took funny pictures, ate picole, and went swimming again. I really like the beach and it is kind of sad to think that i am not going to live so close to it ever again. I wanted to go out to celebrate, but nobody really knew what they wanted to do so we all just went out to Rio Vermelho and hung out there, but over the next hour and a half we tried to find something to do while walking back and fourth between places. Mollie and I ended up going to the bar that my mom and my maid were at and it was really cool! And my maids husband played the guitar in the band too! It was really nice to see her one last time before i leave, . She was so nice and was always helpful too. I hope i get to see my other maid Vanessa, but i don't know where she is, maybe at my grandmas house.

So my mom and maid apologized for my brother girlfriends behavior towards me during the trip last night. I never said anything to anyone expect to my friends in the program but it was still nice that they noticed i felt uncomfortable. But my mom said that she is just possessive and even though Paulo (my host brother) tells her and doesn't like me in any way more than a sister, she still doesn't believe him. And although it was weird at times being totally ignored, i still managed to have a good relationship with my brother. I hope he comes to the united states, he would love it there!

Well even though i slept about 4 hours, my eyes feel tired, but my body doesn't. So i hope my beach day is productive and i have a wonderful going away dinner today ! I hope it isn't emotional, i don't cry in public. haha