Five Weeks To Go

I am Embarrassed
This passed week I put the name of my blog in Google "Semester Ablog." and about five other blogs that were not mine were listed, and all with the same super clever name. WHY DIDN'T I GOOGLE SEARCH IT BEFORE?! Alas, I may change the name of this blog. I just did. I changed it.

Broken Tree
My host sister and host parents are building kitchenette for Juliana my host sister on the side property. The construction has been going on since before I arrived and was scheduled to be finished in early October. Anyway, for the construction there was a dumpster placed in front of the side property. The dumpster people came around to the collect the dumpster which had expired, and while picking it up with a large truck machine the dumpster men snapped off a huge portion of my host father's tree. At the time I was the only one home and was in the living room watching the tree bend and crack. I heard a loud snap and grabbed my iPhone. I opened the front door and took pictures of the men who carelessly broke Sérgio's tree. The men did not like that. They asked me if the photo would be in tomorrow's paper. I shrugged my shoulders turned around and closed the door behind me.

When my host family found out what happened, all of them just sighed. They are all too accustomed to silly unprofessional mistakes in every aspect of Brazilian culture.

Inside Joke
The construction of my host sister's kitchenette has brought up a lot of situations like the one previously mentioned. More than once the materials ordered were not the ones delivered. The window installers actually installed the glass on her front door backwards, and it was the wrong glass. Now every time I, or someone in the family has a complaint about Brazilian efficiency, I like to sing "Aquarela do Brasil". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mQHr8bAojU  You'll like it. Have a listen.

Broken Tree

Winding Down

As of tomorrow, I have five weeks left in Brazil. School is really my only focus here, which has been different and challenging. Before I left for here, my boyfriend questioned my intentions for coming. He referred to my study abroad as a vacation. I guess I understand why he thought that. Is that what most study abroads are for others? But vacation was never my intention or even a thought. In fact it's really quite the opposite for me. I have always seen Brazil as a challenge. The scholarship that allowed me to come here was a challenge, the language is challenge, the classes and the culture in general are all difficult. None of it is native to me and in my quest to conquer and understand these things I am torturing myself, and it's because I believe it will make me a better person. It's an inner struggle that I believe will make me stronger. Ya know? :)