My significant other finished his PhD (yay!), and headed back to Brazil to resume his job in Brasilia. Three weeks later I have followed, and I have a month here in the country where the sun sets in the North. While last time was a month of visiting family in Minas Gerais, and short trips to Brasilia and Bahia, this time is my social experiment of actually living here. I left summer in a hot, humid southern Ontario and came to dry and cool winter. Brasilia is in a savannah ecosystem, so it’s dry and dusty (red dust) and the trees appear sparse. In the sun it’s warm, but once it goes down it’s cool and I’ve been sleeping with lots of blankets on.
So far, the plan in action is this: I am signed up for 3 sessions per week at 2 hours per session of intensive Portuguese classes. Classes are a 15 minute walk from home, and luckily I must pass the police station. Dr. A is currently out of town, so I am under strict rules for travel: I can walk during daylight (i.e., til 6 PM), only on main streets, with one ID and exactly enough cash, no flashy objects, give up anything at all if I get mugged, and ask the police for directions. I’m hoping the neighbourhood turns out fine, and soon I want to be taking public bus to downtown so I can check out the museum and art galleries on my own. The rest of the time is for my research proposal, and then hanging with Dr. A after work and his family on weekends.
It is not all bad! So far I’ve made it to the fair, enjoyed cafezinhas (espressos) nearly *everywhere*, ‘self-serve’ restaurants (more on that amazing phenomenon later) and we saw a free concert at the CCBB (Centro Cultural do Banco do Brasil) featuring an off-key girl rap/RnB group sampling Brian Adams (yeah!), a dancehall reggae band, and a very cool funk band that the crowd went wild to.
More to come.
