happy birthday mexico / para béns méxico

oi. you're probably hoping for a photo post. no such luck yet, as i need to bring my laptop to school to do such and that's a pain. plus i haven't been taking that many pictures (doing so kind of embarrasses me), so there's not much to upload. however, if you're on the facebook and want to know what some things look like, landen (on my trip) has uploaded a bunch and you can see them by clikcing on the first few pictures of me.

recent events:
on wednesday (quatra-feira) we didn't have regular class. instead, this photograher zé took us around fortaleza. we went to the old cementary and the old lighthouse. we also went to the beriamar, which is this really touristy part. it was really pretty there of course and we got delicious ice cream at this place called 50 sorvertes (or however you spell flavors in portuguese). everyone was taking all "let's come back to this place, i really like it here." i kept thinking, "duh you really like it; it's the tourist part. it's designed for you to like it." but i can't be mad at people for liking the pretty beach place with local color and ice cream flavors listed in english more than the piss-poor places with unpaved roads that smell like piss. but please, people, think about why and what it means.
after being touristy, we went to zé's house which is pretty much a dream house. it is part of what was once a compound and he designed it himself. the walls have bottles in it and there's art on the walls and overall it's a chill place. we climbed trees and i felt so alive. later we went to the sand dunes which were amazing. it was like being on the edge of the world. we ran and jumped and got sand in our crevices. i was gritty and sweaty and windblown and i felt so beautiful.
the events of the 13th are beyond description. i just can't do it.

yesterday we met this guy cavin who did this program 5 years ago and now lives on across the street from my host fam here in fortaleza. he went to pomona and was a history major! sid lemelle was his advisor! small world getting smaller, no? cavin is a really cool guy, so we're all excited to have this little bridge to brazilian 20-something culture.

apparently, everybody but me and like 2 other people went out last night. it sounds like it was a really raucous time, which they still owe me for my birthday, now that i think about it. i'm really good at withdrawing, so i need to stop right now and get out there. altough sometimes i really can't stand the big loud americanness of our group, and i try deny it and blend in. which doesn't exactly work for a lot of reasons. sigh. that's all whole other kettle of fish.

the food:
we eat so much fresh fruit! and all these fresh juices! my hostmom makes fresh juice for practically every meal. we also eat spaghetti (macarroni here) a lot, as well as rice (arroz), beans (feijoes), and meat (carne) quite often. it's not so much different. it's little things that are different.

the language:
i get languages the way some people get math. or at least i learn languages like that. speaking it is another thing. there're all these little rules to follow for making sounds and stuff (rr = h, de = ge, ti - chi, but i get to keep my j!). i'm picking it up little by little. it's frustrating. people tend to repeat the little dumb things i really already know and then take for granted the long strings of stuff i need broken down. oi. except here oi is hey and not an expression of annoyance.

whatever.