tid bits

Since I last posted, school has started. Well, not "school" per say, but rather our "intensive language program." Essentially this consists of being in school for 5 hours straight practicing our Portuguese. Intensively. Classes start at 8:30, which means that I have to be out the door at around 7:30 (which translates to me actually leaving around 7:45). The buses are less of a mystery than before...I still regularly make an ass out of myself when I bumble around for loose change (why is it that as soon as you're in a foreign country, scouring for change automatically becomes the most frazzling experience of your life?).

Here are a few tid bits from the last few days:

-Although I may feel like I know my way around Copa already (see, I've even taken to calling it Copa, which totally amuses all my taxi drivers) it turns out that this false sense of direction lead me squarely into the outskirts of a favela yesterday. Whoops!

-The nightlife is insane. Most things don't start until around midnight, and the last night I went out to a big party I was home at around 6. Even what I thought would be a quiet night watching (real) football turned into a 4am outing. Before this trip I never really understood the term "disco nap," but now they've become an integral part of my day.

-My worries over men's shoes were absolutely unfounded. The men here dress...amazingly. The only leather loafers I've seen are on other tourists, and I like to imagine that the Brazilians are judging along with me.

-Most people think I'm Brazilian...until I open my mouth. Which is cool on the one hand, because who likes to feel like the blatant outsider, but it also makes for some incredibly awkward situations. Yesterday, after my brush with the favela, I was buying some grapes at the grocery store by myself. As I stood there, debating the pros and cons of each bunch, a young man came up to me and started (I assume?) joking with me about something. In a panic, I did the awkward "heh heh" and quickly scurried away. He was confused, I was confused, it was way too uncomfortable for the fruit aisle. Fittingly, today in my class we had a lesson on what to say in those situations where you just have absolutely no idea what is being said. It turns out an emphatic "isso!" or "claro!" would have done the trick. My hope is that by the end of this six months my conversations will cease to consist solely of uncomfortable giggles and "sim, sim!"

-Corcovado is amazing. That's where there is the giant stature of Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) that overlooks almost all of Rio. The contrasts here are remarkable - whether it's the wealthy elite (the girls are called burguisinhas, and the boys playboys) and the favelas or the lush craigy mountains with the high rises on the beach...I think that's definitely what makes Rio unique.

It's hard to believe that I'm actually here - everything still looks like a postcard. That I would assume was photoshopped.