Eddy in Brazil

Hello friends, family and other unrelated visitors.

The school I was initially placed at, Michelangelo, turns out to be somewhat far away and it has a bad reputation with drug use. Seeing as school, for me, will be a place to meet 'good' people who can take me out and show me around, making friends with junkies is just not cool. And as far as convenience goes, it's much easier if school is on a walking distance, especially if I want to go back in the afternoon to play sport or whatever (school only goes till roughly 11:30/12 o'clock). So Uziel and I decided to find a new school.

Sante Adame, seemed a good option as it is very close, and has a good rep etc. Problem was two of the other Australian exchange students Jess and Jarred were already going there, and with only two classes in the second year level (segundo ano) it would mean we would be tempted to just speak English with each other, and not learn Português. So that kinda ruled out that...

We tried three other schools nearby, two with a very big reputation (and price tag), two of which had no room for me. So we're now waiting on the last one. I'm only supposed to be a listener at school. I'm not here to pass subjects or get any academic credit. So I am not asked to pay the usual school fees, maybe just some, for uniform, books and admin.

If this last school says no, I can either go back to Michelangelo, or go into slave labour...

They say it has high job satisfaction...

In the meantime if have been enjoying myself meeting new people and going to the beach for dinner just about every night. Here they have a large paved area in between the road and the beach were there are market and food stalls. The beach is all lit up night with large floodlights every 5/10 metres. The sand is a earthy yellow and there's large cocunut palm trees (coqueiros) on the sand and lining the street. Here is Wednesday night:

Where the sand is flat, a big Limpeza (cleaning) machine was sifting the rhubbish from the sand.

I eat a full plate of lunch (with guaraná) for R$7.00 at the most, usually its about 5 reais (hey-eyes) and dinner (a smaller meal) costs even less. And I am talking about QUALITY food, fresh food like: "yummm", "Oh my God this tastes so good", "This is practically orgasmic!"... I'm sorry, but you just have to try it for yourself. In my first ten days here (we counted it up) I tried 30 new kinds of foods! Today, the two week milestone, the count stands at 47. I am aiming for a hundred... And yes, upon completing this goal I may or may not be morbidly obese, but I'm sure it will be worth it. Once I get some more pictures, I will do a big food post so you can see what you're missing out on.

Meanwhile, the water ran out during my afternoon shower, and the next morning half the suburb was without power for an hour because they were changing some parts on the power lines:

The power lines just across from our building

Apart from the inconvenience, it was actually kind of fun; it's just typical...
I realised I hadn't yet taken a proper picture of my host parents, so here are Uziel and Daiane.

They're really not that bad...

Have a good weekend everyone, and sign the guestbook! It won't hurt you, I promise.