I am going to Brazil!! Woooo-hooo!!!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I am going to Brazil!!

I applied for a grant that would take me to Brazil for the summer. And I got it!! I’m going to Brazil and getting paid to do so, no less! That’s just unbelievable. Woo-hoo!!

I’ll be whooping it up inUniversity of Iowa’s Summer in Bahia Program! I’ll be having fun, ramping up my Portuguese, and learning lots of really interesting stuff in Salvador. I’ve heard Salvador is a beautiful and fascinating place. I can’t wait to go there.

The grant covers my tuition and fees. It also gives me a stipend (like I said–I’m getting paid to do this!) I may also end up with part or all of my airfare covered, which would be lovely. (I checked out supplemental travel grants available to grad students. Unfortunately, since I won’t be doing thesis research–or any other research, for that matter–or presenting a paper at a conference, I’m not eligible to get anything from those grants. Drat.)

But, wait–there’s more! The latest date I’d possibly have to be here in Ohio is June 15. The study program doesn’t start until the 30th or so. That means I could have up to 2 weeks in Brazil to travel and go where I’d like before my class starts. The University of Iowa session ends on Aug. 10 or 11, and I don’t have to be in school for Fall Quarter until September 27. That means I could have up to 6 weeks–6 long, full, glorious weeks–after the program’s over to do whatever I’d like before I had to come home.

I’m going to Brazil! I’m going to Brazil!

Eu vou ao Brasil!!

I have no idea how you’d say this in Brazilian Portuguese, but:

WAAAAAA-HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

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Cool! I lived there for about 15 months in '93-'94. My girlfriend at the time was Brazilian, and we had just finished up spending a year in Europe, so she decided she wanted to go home and asked me along.

Who was I to say no?

Lived in Sao Paolo, worked at an English school (technically illegally, but I got the impression that the Brazilian authorities really didn’t want to clamp down on that). Had perhaps the best time of my life.

The Brazilians are so unbelievably friendly, all of them I met, from cousins and uncles to co-workers to the guys serving cerveja at the local diner. Spent some weeks in Rio and travelled many times to Campos do Jordao where a friend had a house. I miss a lot of it. Yes, Sao Paolo is one massive (you wouldn’t believe how big it is) and dirty city. And yes, there can be a lot of violence in the poorer areas and cities. But I was lucky I never came across it.

One funny story though - the first time I went to Rio, one of my girlfriend’s uncles took us on a driving tour. Part of the ride took us on what was basically the road that bordered “downtown” Rio with the favelas. He said - only half-jokingly - that if the car broke down we were to leave it immediately and run towards the city.

Even so, I miss a lot of it. Small things like riding the public bus each morning to get to work. And heading out after work to go to the local diner to have a couple of beers with my coworkers. The heat - the flora - the sounds.

After we broke up, I travelled alone for a couple months, heading up northeast to Porto Seguro/Trancoso, Morro de Sao Paolo, Lencois, Ouro Preto. All nice in their own way. Clearly, some great beaches as well. Later went with a couple friends back up to Bahia area.

There are a dozen places I never got to and wish I had. The Amazon, the Pantanal, etc.

Can’t explain how much fun I had, how many friends I made. And Brazilian Portuguese is a beautiful, rhythmic language. Loved speaking it.

Have a great time. It’s a beautiful country. Do some research ahead of time for your travels. Don’t be overly worried about travelling alone if you plan on it, though speaking the language will help. You won’t necessarily find English speakers in the non-big-city areas.

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Do you still remember how to say “marshmallow”?

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lno–No, I’m sorry. I’ve forgotten the word for “marshmallow.” It starts with “al”, maybe even “alei…”, but I don’t remember the rest. Besides, according to one on-line dictionary I checked out, the Portuguese for marshmallow is…get this…“marshmallow.”

So–I know we have some Brazilian dopers–how do you say “marshmallow” in Brazilian Portuguese?

rexnervous–Sounds like you had a wonderful time, favelas notwithstanding (and, yeah, I’ve heard lots of nasty things about them. The way they’re depicted in City of God doesn’t give me the feeling that they’re great places to be, either.) Everyone I know who’s been to Brazil has loved it–but I’ve known some Brazilians living in the US who say there’s not really much they miss from their native country. I’m not at all afraid of travelling alone; I’ve done it before and loved it. I’m learning Portuguese now, and by June I’ll have finished the intro Portuguese series. That means that I should more or less know the grammar, have some basic vocabulary, etc. And I’ve been reading stuff in Portuguese for a while. The program I’ll be in this summer includes lots of instruction in Portuguese. I think I’ll be OK.

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Hm. My source is the esteemed webcomic Sluggy Freelance, the May 24 1998 strip.

What else is the alternate-universe Torg saying in that strip?

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Just stopping by to tell you how incredibly jealous I am; Brazil is one of my major fantasies. Only place anyone ever paid for me to go in grad school was Siberia. (Yes, literally.) Fun, but not Brazil. :cool:

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I was in Salvador for a week in 1996. The U.S. government paid for my trip. (I was on a six-month South American deployment with the U.S. Navy.)

We left there, and then spent a week in Rio. :smiley:

I was single at the time, and can remember that the women in Salvador were heartbreakingly beautiful. I can also remember that the nightclubs were somewhat, um, lively places, and that Antarctica beer is pretty tasty.

Good times.

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That would include my GF. She misses the food and the weather (even Florida gets too chilly for her during the winter), but she’s told me she’d never want to live in Brazil again–she used to live in Sao Paulo, and the crime rate was one of the reasons she chose to leave Brazil. To this day she gets nervous if she’s stopped at a red light late at night–this apparently can make you a prime target for muggers in Sao Paulo, especially if you’re driving a nice car.

Still, I’m very envious of you–I’d love to visit Brazil, but haven’t had a chance yet. My GF and I have talked about going some time this summer, but I still need to get a tourist visa, and I don’t want to get a tourist visa until I know exactly which dates we’ll be travelling… anyway, I’d love to visit Bahia, and Minas Gerais (I’m especially enchanted with the pictures I’ve seen of Ouro Preto). And I love Bahian food. I know that Rio is the city that most people associate with Brazil, and the view of the beaches and Sugar Loaf admittedly look fantastic–but I think I’d rather spend more time elsewhere.

I hope you have a great time, and would love to hear your impressions of the country when you get back.

By the way, my Portuguese-English dictionary says “marshmallow” is “alteia” (acute accent over the “e”).

And I think the closest thing to “WAAAAAA-HOOOOOOOOOOO!!” is probably “ooooooooOOOO-paaaa!!” (with a bit of a crescendo on the “o”). :slight_smile:

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Hey, lno–

Here are my translations of the stuff said in the Sluggy Freelance strip:

In panel 4, the alternate universe Torg says, “Is that a book of translations?”

In panel 7, he says “What beam of light does this work in?” as though the banana might be a phaser, or something like that. A more natural-sounding translation might be something like, “What kind of beam does this thing fire?” even though that’s not, word-for-word, what the alternate universe Torg says.

In panel 9, the English-speaking Torg says, “On Mondays, I am a shoe!”

Skopo–Thanks for your good wishes. I’ll tell you how it goes when I get back.

Does anyone have any tips, etc. on what to bring to Brazil? I’ll be staying with a host family for 6 months–any suggestion on what I should bring them as a gift?

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Admit it…you’re really being sent down there on a secret mission to assassinate the Hitler clones, aren’t you?

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Parabéns!

I lived in Salvador for two years, from 1998-2000. My dad’s company transferred him there and our whole family went. Salvador isn’t exactly beautiful (though, as someone said, the women are!), but it is an interesting place with a lot of history. And the people are very nice.

Actually, I think the raio, in this sense, is being used as an mild curse word. I think the best translation would be something like “What the devil is this for?”

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I’m so jealous right now, that I think I may actually hate you. :wink:

If you can, spend at least a weekend in Porto Seguro, Bahia. I had a pretty good time when I went.

One place that I really enjoyed was Ituanas, ES. I went for New Year’s 2000, and I had an absolute blast. Most of the accomodations that you find will be rustic, but the beach is absolutely gorgeous, and the town was unspoiled.

Have a good trip and let us know how it went.

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Groovy, man!

I spent almost a year there in the early 80’s. Great place with good food/drink, friendy attractive people. I enjoyed myself for the most part. Would like to go back I suppose, but it would be “all different” for me now.

If I did it again, I would take two empty suitcases. Everything you need is down there and cheaper than dirt. Lots of cool stuff to bring home in those empty bags. This will also allow you to dress in the local, current styles and not stick out as much as a Yankee from Iowa. Find out where the local black market banker is for changing money (its not like it sounds, its cool). Got to cut this short- need to leave! Have fun!

I havent been there in almost 20 years, so any advice I give is probably out of date.

“But I’ll always regret that Rwandan thing.”-- Bill Clinton

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[QUOTE=LoopusActually, I think the raio, in this sense, is being used as an mild curse word. I think the best translation would be something like “What the devil is this for?”[/QUOTE]

Thanks for telling me.

My Portuguese is still pretty lousy. I feel pretty stupid for not picking up the “raio” thing from its cognate in Spanish (rayos!)–I should have been able to get that without much trouble.

Gatopescado–Thanks for the tips! I definitely plan on bringing some empty suitcases with me. I don’t want to be hauling too much around as I travel, though, so I might ship a bunch of stuff back. (I got the grant to learn Portuguese in Brazil because I’m interested in cultural factors in land use and conservation. I’m going to be spending some of my time in Brazil going around to check out different conservation programs and stuff. That means traveling to some pretty out-of-the-way places, where I really don’t want to be carrying anything I don’t absolutely have to have with me.)

Brujo–Thanks for telling me about Casa da Praia. It looks like a great place!

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You won’t need to do this. My Visa check card worked on the Banco do Brasil ATMs last time I was there. You can get a pretty favorable exchange rate that way. Gatopescado is right about the empty suitcases. While stuff isn’t as dirt cheap as it was when he was there, the exchange rate is pretty favorable right now. You’ll be able to buy good clothing there for about half of the cost of equivalent clothing here. If you need to buy a good pair of dress shoes, I would wait until you are there.