Pregnancy is Fun!

At the beginning of October, Camila and Murilo had their baby shower Brazilian style with over a hundred guests and lots of booze. That's a lot of miniature clothes and pink blankets to deal with the next day.

Camila and Murilo at the shower.

Murilo, Danna, Shaddai, me

Since the shower, our weekends have become more family oriented. In honor of Children's Day, we spent the day with Ian, Camila's little nephew, watching cartoons, eating popcorn, and of course rough housing a little bit.

Ian, me, Raoni, in my room watching Spirited Away.

No, I said, turn Ian upside down and tickle him!

Stay tuned for next time: Camila's new apartment and Andrew Spear's countryside mansion paradise!

Return of the Gringa

So, after one year and two months in the U.S. I have returned to the land of coconut water and palm seed oil, outdoor bars and countless beaches, pick-pockets on every street corner and urine soaked sidewalks... yes, the Bahian capital, Salvador!

On my first night, there was a big Brazil soccer game here in Salvador so we all went to Shaddai's house to watch it on tv.

Shaddai and I showing our national spirit.

One weekend I went with Teca and Baixinho to a very small town in the country to celebrate a 99-year-old lady's birthday. It was a weekend of thrills, let me tell you.

I think she was glad that I could make it.

Here is a cool toy that Teca brought home for me one night.

I miss you all! Stay tuned!

Peru!

Standing in front of the flag wearing our new Peru garb.

Lima.

Vania and I at the zoo.

Goodbye Murilo!

Machu Picchu

While in Peru, we took a bus from Lima to Cuzco (only 30 hours), took a bus and then a train to Aguas Calientes (only 4 hours), spent the night, and got up at 4am in order to see the glorious Machu Picchu. It was totally worth it.

Entering the city.

Machu Picchu is awesome.

We climbed Wayna Picchu to go to the Sun Temple. It is very tall.

Llama!

Hooray!

On the train ride back, this guy danced for us. Everyone felt slightly uncomfortable.

Goodbye Salvador!

On my last few weeks in Salvador, I tried to spend as much time as possible with my closest friends. Murilo had left for Argentina so I spent a lot of time with his girlfriend Camila, with whom I became very close.

Camila, her little cousin Ian, Tiago and his Ukranian girlfriend Tatyana

Camila

Tiago

Matheus

Salvador on my last morning.

Duck Face

In June, I got into a fight with a refrigerator and had to get three stitches on my upper lip. My friends sent me flowers with a note that said, "Everything for your beautiful smile."

The Continuation of Fun!

See? I study!

My studies are interrupted by an important Aguarraz band meeting.

I sing Happy Birthday to myself.

The Fun Continues!

After Dad left, I was able to return my focus to school, home, and friends. I continued to take piano lessons at the Catholic university and also picked up guitar (no, I didn't learn how to play anything). I took a linguistics class with Murilo who had begun his first semester at the Catholic university as a Publicity and Advertisement student (lame!). I also took three courses at the federal university: Bahian History (very hard), Anthropology III (very easy), and Political Organization of Brazil (very impossible). Besides studying, I continued to enjoy a warm home life and a busy social life.

The fam and I on Teca's birthday.

Danna and I on Katie's birthday.

In April, I also traveled to Recife with some other students from the exchange program. We spent a long weekend at a cool hostel with a lot of other young people and were able to see just about everything Recife had to offer, as far as I could tell.

A view of downtown Recife from Olinda, the historic district.

At Porto de Galinhas, the nearby beach town.

Dad Visits

My philosophy is that it's never too late to update one's blog, even if one's readership has dwindled to nothing. A true blogger goes down with the ship. With or without comments, the posts must continue!

I know my father shares my philosophy on updates which is why I would like you to check out his own account of his time spent here in Salvador during March of last year.

http://mrkurtzhedead.blogspot.com/

Tudo bem, tudo bom!

Forever Summarizing

In November, we went to the island again and spent another lovely weekend on the beach, and this time it didn't rain!

On the boat ride on the way home.

Also in November, Aguarraz participated in a type of university battle of the bands called Unifest. They made it through the first cut, but didn’t go to the finals. It didn’t matter though because it was a lot of fun and now they’re more well-known than any of those other loser bands.

Aguarraz rocks "Sem Final."

For Salvadoran youth, it’s always a good day to have a party. Thankfully, there’s usually plenty of birthdays of people’s cousins or graduations of neighbors to keep us celebrating every weekend, but if nobody’s getting married or moving into a new house then we just throw a party anyway.

The gang at one of Murilo's two birthday parties.

As you may remember, last semester I spent one afternoon each week “teaching English” to fourth graders in an elementary school in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Salvador. It sure sounds like a charitable thing to do, but I guarantee that I gained much more from the experience than any of those kids did. In fact, the only way I can see that I benefited them at all was by postponing for one more hour and a half the time that they would play “drug-dealer” in the streets or return to a fatherless, dinnerless home. Despite my conviction that these sharp-tongued and energetic youth will soon be young parents and/or petty thieves if not drug-lords, their ten-year-old selves are charming and wonderful, though a bit unruly.

The Hungry Caterpillar was a big hit.

A rare moment of rapt attention.
Baird was probably standing on his head while juggling four man-eating panthers.

Although they seemed to hate learning English and stared indignantly at us when we asked them to repeat anything, the children ended up developing an apparent affection for us which they demonstrated with generous hugs and offering us half-eaten popsicles.

Teacher let the fools out.

Brazilians, like Americans, love excessive Christmas decorations. These hip-thrusting Santas danced to an arrocha version of “Happy Holiday.”

Summer Vacation in January

In January, Katie, Raoni, and I spent a week in a beautiful region of Bahia called Chapada Diamantina, a 6 hour bus ride from Salvador.

For most of our visit, we stayed in a town called Capão which was lousy with roaming hippies selling jewelry, wooden flutes and marijuana. From there we had access to several different trails for day hikes.

Our first hike to the famous Fumaça waterfall.

We walked all the way up that winding trail to the other side of the plateau.

The waterfall was actually all dried up when we went so we got to stand where it usually fell.

Okay, so we didn't exactly stand there.

The next day we followed a river to the waterfalls Purificação and Angélica.

Purificação.

I told you there'd be pictures of these two.

Quick Summary the Second

One of the most complicated personal issues I’ve dealt with during my study abroad has been the housing situation. Unfortunately the exchange program hasn’t been very attentive to my housing needs, but I feel that I have gained a better knowledge of Salvador’s geography as a result of my various homes in different neighborhoods. The first time, I moved because I felt abandoned and hungry,


and then I just had to bounce around for a little while before I moved for the last time to Murilo’s house where I genuinely feel as though I am part of a family complete with three greedy older brothers and two squawking parrots. I’ve been rather surprised to discover what a difference a positive home environment makes in my mood, and I’m eternally grateful to the whole family and in particular to my adoptive mother for allowing such peace of mind.

The new view.

In October the exchange program took a trip to Porto Seguro, a tourist city in the south of Bahia whose pride is the “Point of Discovery of Brazil” where the Portuguese first landed.

Famed point of discovery.

It was beautiful and we had a good time, but we were all a little disturbed by the extreme tourism and our depressing visit to the Jaqueira reservation where Pataxó individuals make their living entertaining tour groups.

Katie and I enjoy a promenade in Tourist Trap, Bahia.

Salvador is known for its cuisine, specifically the wide range of Afro-Brazilian dishes heavy on seafood and palm seed oil. On any street corner you can get an acarajé, a tasty deep-fried local specialty and it’s not hard to find a restaurant that serves muqueca, a deliciously seasoned fish stew.

My friend Nea frying some kibe.