filha de Ogum e Oxalá

Well, I'm back from a long but very fascinating weekend in Cachoeira. The girls stayed at the Irmadade de Boa Morte, which is one of the oldest black sisterhoods in the world. It started as a means of survival for free black women during slavery and they practiced Candomblé under the guise of Catholocism. We learned a lot about sincretism which is the practice that many black people took up, finding the similarities between African gods and Catholic saints and then using this to appear Catholic while holding on to their own religious traditions.

At night we went to a carnival in the next town over and rode on the sketchiest ferris wheel ever, it was fun though. The next day we went to a Terreiro de Candomblé, which is like a church or a temple. The pai-de-Santo (high priest) told everyone who their orixás were and he was pretty right on about everyone. My orixás are Oxalá and Ogum, I'll post more about what that means later, I don't have much time right now.

We went to this village of ceramic makers and learned about their craft, they make some really beautiful pieces. There's so much more to tell but I have to go to class. I'll finish updating tomorrow...

Dança

This week has really flown by, I can't believe that it's Thursday already. Tomorrow we're leaving Salvador to take a weekend trip to Cachoeira where we're going to learn about Candomblé, which is an Afro-Brazilian religion. I'm really excited to go, we had CDS on it for the past couple of days.

On Tuesday I finally went to the African dance class and it was a lot of fun, I'm going back tonight and then I'm going dancing with Kavita and her mom. Tuesday was also my host mom's birthday. Her mom made her this really delicious cake and I gave her this really pretty table cloth as a "thanks for your hospitality/happy birthday gift". She liked it, it's on the table in the dining room now.

Ok, I should get ready for class, But I'll be updating again on Monday or Tuesday about my trip to Cachoeira.

Daytripper

A lot of stuff happened this weekend but I only have about 15 minutes to write about it before I have to go to class.

Friday:

The group went to the Pelorinho to see the Balè Folklòrico, which is traditional Afro-Brazilian dance. It was really cool, they as the orixas, which are african gods of candomblé. Then they did an amazing display of capoeira, I think it was the best I've ever seen. And the berimbau player was amazing, I wish Matt had been there to see it. I think that if he came to Salvador though he probably would never leave. Then we went to this club in Rio Vermelho which was a lot of fun, they played older american music like Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson.

Saturday: Me and Ashley decided to go visit Kevin in Nazaré. Unfortunately we couldn't find his house and just ended up getting really lost. Then we decided to go home and we got lost on the way home too. Then I met up with Kavita, Michelle, and Pretti in the Pelourinho and we went to this weird mall called Aeroclube with Michelle's host brother and sister. There was this band playing at the mall and Michelle asked them if me and Kavita could sing with them but they said no. So Michelle kept screaming out "Freebird! Play Freebird" but eventually they did actually play it! It was hilarious. And no one else was dancing but we went out onto the dance floor anyway, it was kinda like at the end of Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion when they dance to Time after Time, haha. Then we went to another party and I didn't get home til like 5 am, but I had a fabulous time.

Sunday: Getting lost in Nazaré was nothing compared to being lost in Liberdade for almost 2 hours on Sunday. I was trying to go to Guimel's house because we were going to jam with some local musicians. Unfortunately, Guimel's neighborhood is huge and I could not find her house. They tried to meet me in front of this church, but unfortunately there is another church with the same name on the other side of the neighborhood. I found that out when I got on the bus to home and saw the other church. I got off then and managed to find her house. So we jammed and it was a lot of fun. We played Beatles, Nirvana, and much more.

Crap, I g2g.

Cravo

I have a meeting with the Academic director in 20 minutes so I thought I'd do an update while I'm waiting. The past couple of days have been a lot of fun. Yesterday for our CDS (I think it stands for Culture and Development Seminar) we had a samba lesson. I had such a good time, it was great. After that we headed to the office to check our email, etc... and then I went to a bar in Pelourinho with Jess and Kavita because Kavita's host mom said they had this specialty drink called cravo that we should try. The three of shared a half liter and by the time we finished it we were looong gone, haha.

I bonded a bit with my host brother last night. I was listening to music on my ipod when he came home, so we just talked about music for awhile, sung along together to the few Brasilian songs that I know. It was nice though.

What else...

Tonight I'm going to an Afro-Brazilian dance class, that should be fun. I got an email from Carter and he seems to be having a blast in Fortaleza. Academically, I think my Portuguese is coming along fine. We have our first test tomorrow, we'll see how I do.

Floribella

Well, I moved in with my homestay family on Sunday. They are really nice so far. The mom's name is Eva and Danilo is my 12 year old brother. I can't remember dad's name but he travels a lot anyway. For the past few days it's been a mixture of frustration and euphoria. I'm really excited to be here and everyone I've met so far, but it's also a challenge because I only know a little bit of Portuguese and there's so much of the culture that I don't understand. But here's some of the best/most interesting experiences I've had so far:

In Fortaleza, Carter, Kavita, and I jammed with some Brazilian musicians. It was so much fun, and so great becuase even though I couldñ't speak Portuguese, it didn't matter because music could substitute for language.

When we got picked up by our homestay families we had a mini-festa and I danced with bainas and capoeiristas.

Last night, Ashley and I played tag with some kids in our neighborhood and then they showed us their dances to Floribella songs (Floribella is this early Britney Spears-esque Brazilian pop singer).

Today, as an assignement for my Portuguese 2 class, I had to interview a random person about their thoughts on astrology.

Salvador, day 2

I'm in an internet cafe in Salvador now, trying out how to use this Brazilian keyboard. We just arrived in Salvador yesterday, we're staying in a pousada, which is a hostel, on the outskirts of the city. Today we went into the city to take our language tests and to register with the Federal Police. I tested into Portuguese 2, I was very proud of myself, especially considering that I learned what little portuguese I know from a language CD. I like Salvador so far, it's really big and I don't understand the bus system yet, but I like it. People here drive really crazy, but no one drives SUVs.

I'm moving in with my homestay family on Sunday. I got a letter from them and they sound cool. I'll update more on them after I meet them. Well, some of the other people on my program want to use the computer too, so I have to go.

~Jazz

Bem-Vindo ao Brasil

Hey, I don't have much time but I wanted to do a quick little update.

I made it safely to Brasil after about 24 hours of exhausting travel. After we landed in Fortaleza they took us to these incredible houses on the beach where we've been staying for orientation. Right now I am using the internet in one of the houses. I wish I had photos already, words cannot describe how beautiful it is here.

I really like everyone in the group, there are about 30 of us from all over the U.S. plus 2 Canadians and a girl from India. For the past few days we've just been getting to know each other, learning more about the program and going to the beach. Last night a Capoeira group came and they taught us some basics of capoeira and then they did this incredible performance, breathing fire, it was great. So today we are just kind of taking it easy. I have to say goodbye to half of the group because half of us are going to Salvador and the other half are staying in Fortaleza. I leave for Salvador tomorrow morning, I'm really exctied. Anyway, I better get off the internet so someone else can get a turn. Atelogo.

~Jazz

tomorrow morning

Whoo, I'm leaving tomorrow morning, so exciting. I talked to Carter today, I'm going to meet him in the baggage claim in Miami.

Here's my address in Brazil where you can send me care packages (hint hint, lol):

Jazmine Applin

c/o William Calhoun

Caixa Postal 52867

Agencia Aldeota

Fortaleza, Ceara, Brasil 60150-970

I have no idea when I'll be able to update this again, but hopefully there will be a new entry by the end of the week.

~Jazz