Só ha que virar à atrás!

Okay, so here I am in Rio. After what seemed like a really long time to get here, I finally made it. The flights were largely uneventful, mostly because on the flight Miami to Rio I took a double hit of Tylenol PM and didn't wake up until about an hour before landing. Unconscious flying is really where it's at.

I got to Rio and again everything was fine. I was a bit dazed, though, or must have been because after exchanging money at the airport, I walked away from my luggage and completely forgot about it. It didn't occur to me anything was amiss until one of the program folks sent to get us asked me if I had only brought a book bag. Thankfully my bag was still right where I had left it!

Out of the group that arrived with me, apparently I was the only one who could make myself understood. Except for someone from Oklahoma, but he doesn't count.

We drove into the city. Going through the northern part of the city on the highway in rush hour traffic: not so hot. That is, until we got to the Zona Sul (the South Side) and sure enough, it was hot. Miranda will back me up here, I think: the city part (not the beach part) was very much like Buenos Aires, which was very comforting. The energy, of course, entirely different from Buenos Aires.

I got taken to my host family, and even though there were and continue to be some communication breakdowns, it was pretty clear to me that my host mom is crazy. How did I know? She's got frizzy heair that looks like it has been dipped in Cherry Kool-Aid. The other clue, really fast talking with lots of idiosyncratic repetition. She is really a lovely person but quite animated. She's quite lively and was actively trying to get someone else from the program onto one of her empty bedrooms. How? By asking me if I could get the program to send her another one. I think she thought I didn't understand when I kept saying ''I don't know anything." But really I don't know jack s.hit. And I don't care. To make matters interesting, another guy from the program DID get dropped off for what we thought was the afternoon but ended up being a whole day.

With all these people, this place must be palacial, right? Wrong. It's fine, but it's a bit cramped. My first room, which I was subsequently told by program staff that I could NOT stay in was about, 8'x4'. My host mom insisted that it was "gostoso, ne?" At which point I started to seriously doubt my grasp of reality, her grasp of reality, and my portuguese because I was certainly thinking "Nao!" But I said yes b/c I didn't realize there was another room, which is the room I'm in now.

Now this room is fine, except that the bed is, well, hard as g.od.da.mned ROCK. It is really quite remarkable. My back is freaking out. I told her today we HAD to get the other mattress down and put it on top. The other catch of my room is that it's her son's, which is really weird for me. I don't *think* that he usually uses it, but how can I know? I asked her about it and asked HIM about it, and they both - citing individual reasons - say that he prefers sleeping on the floor in the living room. I still don't know what the deal is. Her son did say that he preffered near the TV with cable and his playstation and everything that was in the living room, which seems true to me only because when I got there he was engaged in a lively playstation soccer match. But again, who knows, really? If she's been doing this for a while, he may have just gotten used to sleeping in the living room.

Anyway, this guy's really nice, but as far as I can tell he spends most of his time indoors. He does go to school, but it's school vacation. He's 22 and chilling at home. He says it's because after exams one needs to just chill out, which IS what I did when school ended. He may not have any cash, though. At any rate, he is really nice and I try talk to him most of all b/c the mom gets highly dramatic over everything. A politician on t.v.: "meu deus!" A commercial: "Cristo santo!" Now I'm not religious, but there seems to be a clause in there about NOT taking the lord's name in vain. I mean, I'm talking ocd calling up on the lord not your regular "jesus!" (She's got that one down too). The mom and son relationship is like a never-ending late adolescent-parent one: she asks him questions, he doesn't say anything - unless she says something embarrassing in front of his friends and then he tells her not to meddle. Really, very interesting. I am though seeing his point of view a lot b.c homegirl is CRAZY - but sweet. But if I had to live with her all the time AND give up my room to strangers, I might get pretty bitchy too. It's usually all good around the house.

Well, between us all. The apartment itself - something goes wrong every day. It's funny b/c when I did study abroad in DR, I had it pretty damn good. Here, first the water heater wasn't working, then the rooms, now the bed. Amidst it all, the senhora's like 80-year-old mom fell and broke something last week and she had an operation and there's all that action going on. Which means the phone is ringing off the hook between 7 and 10 each night. "Meu deus!" Oh, and the phone doesn't call out either. All this adds to the DRAMA. So now we have her dad at the apartment, who I can barely understand because he is HELLA old and doesn't open his mouth very much, so I can't understand his pronounciation. And once the mom leaves the hospital, she's coming to stay too (her parents live in a nearby city). Can we say, manicomio? Yeah, let's say it. But it is sort of entertaining and fun.

Because I haven't really met people from my program and the senhora's kid only stays at home, I've been staying in and watching t.v. Each night I understand more - and now I think what's going in the telenovelas, though I'm still hard-pressed to give an accurate report of what happened. 'My body also can't seem to decide to change from west coast time to rio time, so I've been staying awake all night and waking up late and all kinds of crap. It's a bit nuts.

Tomorrow, I go on a City Tour at 8a.m.!!! That should help me regularize my sleeping. After tomorrow, I don't think I'll be staying up all night. And then classes start (at 8) on Monday. That will give me structure as to how to spend my time and all that. I've been having a hard time figuring out what to do because I've got no one to do stuff with and my usual partner in crime is very far away (and sometimes I get a little sozinho), but I do get out and do stuff, figuring out where everything is. Yesterday, I tried to see if I could get a chip for my cell phone that would make it work here so that people could call me right to that number (to all those I gave my home number, don't bother!), but my phone didn't work. Damn t-mobile!!! I'll try another provider. After doing that, I walked to Praia Ipanema (I live in Copacabana) and walked down the beach. It was nice...until I turned around (ha que virar a atras!) and saw everything - it was breathtaking! It was so beatiful - the beach surrounded by mountains. I broke out the camera and took pictures. Too many, I think. Whatever.

I gotta get going now, but I will provide a full report of the program's kids' behavior on the city tour. I got seated during the orientation next to the girls from the OK Corral, which is my affectionate nickname for the gaggle of girls from Oklahoma University. If any bovine connotation arises from the use of corral, I will not discourage it. Anyway, they're very loud and had normal voice conversations during the presentation. I am gladdened by the thought that since they weren't paying attention, they'll get lost in the city and get taken by everyone. Everyone on the group, mostly, is about 20-22, which is a wonderful age I'd never be again - or not at that level of gregariousness and ridicuolousness. I've never been good at making friends just for making friends, and with these youth around me, it really is not something that I am actively pursuing, though I'll have to, I guess, since I don't know anyone else. Whatever. I'm sure they'll do and say many ridiculous things that will amuse both you and me. Até logo!