I'm here!!!!!

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So, I just figured out that if I change my IP address and do all kinds of funky complicated computer stuff, I can get internet access here at school in Fortaleza. Anyway, here's the email that I sent out a couple days ago... and the best part... PICTURES!!!

Hello all,

I'm officially in Brasil, sitting in a tiny internet cafe about 5 blocks from my house here in Fortaleza. Wow, it's weird to be thinking in English. I've been totally immersed in Portuguese for the last few days. My new family speaks not a word of English or Spanish, so I'm on my own to learn Portuguese ASAP! So far I'm doing ok, but I speak more a mix of Portuguese and Spanish, Portuñol, than actual Português.

My host family is amazing, though. Let me tell you about them. Katia, my "mom" is about 30 years old. She's way shorter than me and looks 100%!B(MISSING)razilian, if that's possible. She talks nonstop, which is good for practicing my listening skills. Her husband, Xandre, as they call him, is a few years older and looks like a body builder with a pot belly. He's the cook of the family and a good one at that. They both work all day everyday minus weekends. She's a marketing agent for a big hotel chain in the area and he's a local registrar. Bia, my wonderful little sister, also talks nonstop. She's 8 years old and a ballet, drama, and dance star already. She's been SO helpful to my Portuguese already. We've kept a book of all the words that I consistently say incorrectly and that she has fixed for me. It's quite a long list already. She is so much fun and very mature for her age (though most obviously an only child). Xandre's mother lives with us, too, but I don't see much of her. She's retired and spends her days walking around the neighborhood. I don't know much about her actually.

We live in a 5 room house - a living room with two small couches and a big TV set, a kitchen with all the amenities of our kitchens in the statse, minus the electric items. No microwave or canopener or blender. There's an antiquated PC in the kitchen, but it's internet is so slow, I was unable to even type a sentence without it freezing and turning off. The living room is connected to a bedroom with two beds and a floor fan. That is where Xandre and his mother sleep. I have a feeling it is usually where Bia and the grandmother sleep, but I have interupted the flow of things. Connected to that bedroom is my room - shared with bia and Katia. They share a double bed and I have my own. The two bedrooms have fans, but nowhere except my school is air conditioned (that I know of). None of the walls quite reach the ceiling - in fact, there is no ceiling. There are only roof tiles. I think if it rained, we would get very wet. Apparently, it NEVER rains here. I probably won't be needing that raincoat here, mom. There is one bathroom for all the family members - a very nicely tiled shower with only cold water, a toilet that cannot process toilet paper (that goes into the trashcan), and a sink and medicine cabinet. As you can imagine, I felt ridiculous bringing my 3 big bags into their house with all of my stuff. I am extremely humbled by this living condition... and I'm beginning to like it! The backyard looks something like a deserted alley with clotheslines hanging all over it. Katia washed all of our clothes by hand Saturday morning before Bia and I even woke up, but I told her that next weekend, I'd help her. There is also the pet chicken and dog in the backyard. The chicken is used for its eggs and the dog for its mean bark. Most of the other students have similar houses, but a couple are in really nice houses - with more than one floor, their own room and bathroom, etc. I'm kind of glad I was put in this situation. It's more real to me.

It is so hot here, that everyone wears next to nothing. Very different from the modest clothes of Mexico, Brazilians wear bikinis and short shorts, flip flops, and high ponytails. My clothes are a little fuddy-duddy for their style, but that's ok. I'm not about to change my whole wardrobe to fit in.

School and my fellow students are amazing, too. There are 18 of us total, from all over the US (plus one guy from Romania). We all got along so well during orientation and it''s weird not being with them now, this weekend. But, everyday for the next 5 weeks, we'll meet for Portuguese class in the morning for 3 hours (it takes me an hour by bus to get there... so I wake up at 7, catch the bus by 8, and start class by 9). We're split up into 3 groups and surprisingly, I'm in the top Portuguese class with 4 others. Our professor is AMAZING - fun and young and completely against text book learning. Her plan for our first day of class: one hour of questions we had about communication with our homestays, one hour of emergency verb review, then one hour of walking around on the street, talking to people and listening to their manner of speech. Awesome, huh? We get a two hour lunch break, then the afternoon is spent in one of 4 ways: 1) doing research for our final paper; 2) at a Field Study Seminar class, 3) at a Culture, Development and Social Justice class; and 4) writing up assignments from excursions we're taking. Classes are over by 5pm and then we're free to do whatever (as long as we inform our host parents of what it is that we're doing).

The nicest beach in Fortaleza is about 2 hours away, but there is one just a few blocks from my house. It's kinda gross, though. There's a big futebol stadium closeby, too, but we've been warned not to go to one - they're too dangerous.

As for the schedule for the rest of the semester - 5 weeks here in Fortaleza, then 1 week at a community service project somewhere in the Northeast of Brazil (we1ll be split up into pairs for that), then 1 week in Recife (the biggest port city of the Northeast, and where I'm thinking of doing my ISP during November), then 1 week in Salvador (the center of African culture in Brazil), then 4 weeks wherever I want, by myself, immersing myself in the culture and writing 40 pages of an ISP. Then 1 week of presentations and goodbyes back here in Fortaleza. My address and contact information... I already gave you my mailing address, but my actual address is Rua Walter Pompeu, 690, in the neighborhood Alvaro Weyne. The whole city is split up into neighborhoods. There is one other SIT student in my neighborhood, but I haevn't found exactly where he lives, and 3 others in the neighborhood right nextdoor. Everyone else lives sprawled out throughout the city - not nearly as condensed. Mom, you'd be happy to know that we each have been given a card with emergency information - phone numbers, addresses, names, and everything. I also was given a phone card. Xandre said he had an extra SIM card (they go for about 10 reais or 5 bucks) that I could use. All I have to do is buy phone cards to call locally. I still have to figure out how to call internationally. Katia said I should have bought some kind of card from the US, but I'm not sure exactly what she means. Oh well. We'll figure it out.

As for my computer having internet access... it doesn't. And I feel weird bringing it out in the tiny house. So, I'm going to take it to the school tomorrow, where SIT has an entire floor for its use. There are safe boxes and locked rooms and everything there. We each have an envelope filled with our valuables there, and were told that we could leave our laptops there, too. I'm going to do that. That way, I can connect to the internet on my own computer in their facility, I can use Skype, and show you guys all the pictures I've taken so far. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow. If not, sometime next week.

Ok, I think that's all I have to tell you all at this point... anyway, my hour is quickly running out on this computer. Just quickly, I'm almost completely over my cold. I did have an allergic reaction within the first 3 days I was here to a fruit called the cajú that contains what's called the castanha nut - otherwise known as the cashew. It's going away, too, though. And it's not nearly as bad as last halloween. whew! Other than that, I1ve had no other problems.

I miss you all so much and can't wait to hear about your lives. Please write back! Although I won't get to read them as soon as I would like, I will eventually, I promise!

Um abraço grande,
Landen

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