Chuva e Cerveja

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Since, I have been in Brazil I have been annoyed at my lack of portuguese and my habit of speaking Japanese to the locals. So in an effort to rectify this and enhance my ability to mix with the Brazilians. Thus I decided to come up to Bahia where it is cheaper and spend the next two weeks studying portuguese. I study at the Escola Idioma. To my amazement the classes have been so fun and really the highlight of my days. I find it interesting to be a student and feel just what my students in Japan felt as I put them through their paces. It isn´t easy being in class where the instruction in a second language. However, portuguese is easier than japanese and I am doing better than I thought.

The only downside is that it is in the morning and begins at 8:45 in the morning. So it somewhat curtails my nightime activities. This would be alright if I could do what I planned, which was class in the morning and then head to the beach in the afternoon. However, there as been one thing happening almost non-stop all week that is RAIN or chuva in portuguese. So there isn´t much to do in the afternoon, except sleep or walk in the humid air of springtime in Salvador. One good result of the rain is that I am on point with my homework even doing extra. Who would have ever thought that?

Another unfortunate effect of the continuous rain is that nightlife has been curtailed as well. This is because the locals don´t have much money so they usually just drink cheap beers outside and congregate in the street. So with the rain people stay indoors. They actually have gas station parties here in Salvador, which pretty muc means people buy beers at the gas stations, which sell beer 24 hours, and then just have a party in the gas station area. They are even allowed to smoke around the gas pumps, for some reason this is only forbidden during the day. So if you hear a big boom and witness a column of flame in the middle of the night. I guess you can infer that it has been a good posto de gasolina festa.

There have been some dry moments and I have taken advantage of those enjoying a day or two at the beach and one great street party in Rio Vermelho on Saturday night. One word of warning don´t drink the cheap street wine. It tastes like Ribena on crack. The hostel life has been mas o menos. On the one hand I have met a bunch of cool people, on the other hand they don´t seem to have much money to spend so they don´t go out much, rather they just hang out in the hostel. Maybe this weekend the skies will clear and I will convince a few to tear it up this weekend. If that were the case I could only exclaim, Otimo!

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Photos

Salvador
Street art in what is a faded colonial city.

Praia na Chuva
The beach just isn´t that appetizing on a rainy day.

Lighthouse
An old lighthouse that I saw on today´s rainy walk around Barra, meu barrio.