Everyday I take in a little more of this beautiful country around me and I hope to leave more of myself at the same time.
I jumped in here with two feet at once, and now I have to take one step at a time to get back out. The first step is actually admitting to myself that I have a confirmed flight to leave the country at 8 in the morning of June 10th. My host family is reminding me everyday in saddened tones of the fact that I have to leave very soon. For them, the date comes sooner than me actually leaving the country.
I have confirmed flights to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo where I will be spending a week, but I have truly fallen in love with the beauty and the culture that is of the Northeast of Brazil. I really feel like I have related and built an identity to the customs and the way of life in Brazil. I really became close to my host family and have been, I think, the luckiest of all in the abroad experiences that I've heard of. I have a fantastic group of students doing the program with me, and an Assistant Director, Oélito who is beyond words. All of my experiences have been nothing but positive, exciting adventures one after another. From having a bus getting stuck in the mud in the middle of the interior on the way to an MST settlement in the pitch black of night having to walk 2km to get there in the mud, to having taken a trip to Morro Branco with 13 out of 19 students and completely taking over the pousada with our numbers.
Even the daily bus trip home is an adventure, never knowing whether you're going to be sandwiched between 10 people with no breathing and having to shove your way to the front screaming, "Com Liçença!!" or your going to have the bus all to yourself and have the bus drivers on the street race against one another while speeding down the highway.
No one knows when the tapioca man is going on the street corner, but everyone always knows when it's going to rain and when it's going to pour.
Regardless of the rain, everyday is a perfect day for the beach or just hanging out in front of the house with friends and family.
Whenever I'm bored, I can just go home and hang out with my family. There is never a dull moment.
Going to work is not a chore, but rather enjoyable. I'm always recieved by hugs and kisses and always get to eat lunch for free and play with the animals.
I've already been invited to stay at my academic directors house and I was also invited to go on the annual retreat that the organization has in the mountains.
Really, it just feels like partaking in a good time. No one here is ever really in a rush, and business or meetings never start on time.
Life here is very fluid, and it spills into so many other aspects of work, school, friends, family and pulses through the veins of Brazil, creating a culture so rich, so vibrant that it shows through it's many popular facets of dance, dress, mannerisms and natural beauty.
Forest and jungle in my backyard, the beach in my front yard, Brazil has captured my heart.