So it’s the end y’all – been a dream, thanks for reading me here blog.  If you wanna know what I learned, or other sentimental hibbityhobbity, read the rest of the blog.  Brazil has literally been a dream come true – I have never experienced a situation in which at every moment, I felt like I was being changed forever.  I was treated like part of society, and that’s what I will take away most – the people!

Vou encontrar de noite…

My Duke Final Report  (aka my attempt to be serious)

First things first – tried Brigadeiro!  It’s like chocolate pudding on crack – it’s so good, and I know how to make it (I think).  Double boil melt chocolate, add condensed milk and butter.  And voila – you have created the most fattening thing I have so far eaten in Brazil (I was told it’s 170 calories per spoonful).

Today I did all the last site-seeing things:

Botanical Gardens Emílio Goeldi:

This is a palm tree that actually walks – it’s roots are above ground and the position of the tree shifts to get better light, stand back up if knocked over etc.

Just cause, biggest one’s yet!!!

In Brazil, the fence is more of a suggestion…

Belém “Zoo” – saw like three animals…

Unbelievable, everywhere you go…says “Garden on Hope” planted for the holiday, Tu Bishvat, or ‘Festival of the Trees’.

Old Prison converted into Geology Museum (why?)

I brought to Brazil Martin Gilbert’s Israel: A History to read in my spare time, but lo and behold, my host mom works partially on water resources in the Golan (she is a Civil Engineer Professor at the Federal University of Pará), and she is fascinated by the topic of Israel.  She has been reading my copy – but to show my appreciation for everything the family has given me, I managed to find the book in Portuguese.  She said she will use the texts in her classes – yeah, I made an inadvertent difference!  She asked me to write a little note on the inside, so I wrote:

To my Brazilian mom…you showed me your people, now here are my people. Am Yisrael Chai! (I wrote it in Hebrew though, forgot my Hebrew keyboard in NY – means Viva Israel)

It’s just overwhelming to me how life goes on, no matter what – as though nothing makes a difference.  One of my favorite Brazilian singers is Vanessa da Mata – I feel like her song Boa Sorte was written for me…http://letras.mus.br/vanessa-da-mata/978899/

PS: Last night Palmeiras soccer team won – you would not believe how nuts people are about soccer here.  The city shut down for the rest of the nigh there was so much celebration – and the team is from São Paulo.  I went to some of the festivities*, I was actually scarred.  I have never seen people acting that nuts.  Oyoyoy…

Remember when I went into the Amazon to Traquateua (not Praquateua – as though that helped any…) to help my host-brother’s university SIFE team (Students In Free Enterprise)?  Well, they came in 2nd place in all of Brazil – and they used my photography during the presentation.  Pretty cool.

Last night I realized something that Brazil taught me.  Tolerance does not mean you don’t have preconceptions.  Maybe that’s not deep for y’all – but for me, this has allowed me to become such a more tolerant person.  Being tolerant does not mean that you don’t stereotype, or judge – it just means that you accept. Well that’s so much easier, phewww….

So this post was supposed to be about how in Brazil, I am letting myself go and living for the moment, however when I looked up how to spell the phrase “soltar a franga” or “let the hen loose” (that I repeat to almost everyone that asks me if I am enjoying myself in Brazil), I discovered that the expression has two meanings…  Thank you EVERYONE for not telling me that the phrase means both letting yourself go, and that I am looking to drift from the path a little – if you get what I mean.  I hope that people understood the first meaning, otherwise half of Belém now thinks I’m a bisexual (not that there is anything wrong with that).  Can’t help laughing at myself though, what an idiot.  Language tip – don’t use fancy expressions.

But on a serious note – Brazil really has taught me to let myself go.  I equate letting myself go with trying to do calculus – it takes a monumental effort.  But Brazilians just do it all the time, and they don’t make a big deal of it.  I feel more like a human here and I am so glad I’ve learned to just sieze the day.

Today was the big UFC fight extravaganza that Brazilians just love.  For those of you who do not know what UFC is (you are probably better off) it’s basically all-out crazy fighting.  It was the championship between an American and a Brazilian – we lost guys…

At this point, I think it goes without saying, that we watched it in a bar.  It’s starting to scare me how much alcohol I can tolerate without it affecting me.  I do not like getting super drunk, or even a little drunk, but just a little to hit that point in the night where everyone becomes friends – you know what I mean.  Spoken like a true Brazilian alcoholic.  But seriously, it’s not like I am going out of my way to drink, it’s a norm of social interaction in Brazil.  It would be almost impossible for me to participate and make friends if I didn’t – It really is part of the culture.  That’s a good excuse, right?

Aint got no photos for y’all cause me went to the movies yesterday – and I’m not a pirate (media type, not the boat type, just in case).  As always, everything is totally unpredictable with Brazilians – love it, though I will admit, exhausting.  We saw the new Spiderman (or Homem-Aranha) wich was good, but a little unnecessary, it was a remake of a movie like….oh my god, just looked it up…10 years ago…I feel old.  Well this has been the first film that I’ve seen both the original and the remake in movie theaters in my life-time.  What a milestone.

At the movies guess who I saw – the governor of Pará.  He was just strolling around getting ready to see the latest flick.  He touched me and said excuse me (in Portuguese).  What a star-studded evening.  But what is really making me über happy (you like the ¨ don’t ya), is that I am functioning in society – that is exactly what i wanted out of my DukeEngage experience.  I rarely need people to help me order at restaurants and people come up to me and ask me questions (like are you waiting on line, when does this place close etc.) and I understand and answer.  Wowoweewaa.

Naturally, the movie was followed by bar hopping, because why drink every night of the week at only one bar when there are so many to choose from.  I had some cachaça with jambu again – found out they sell bottles.  Gonna try smuggling one back to the US.

This concludes my particularly obnoxious post of the day.  I will end it with a quote I found, totally unrelated.

I have secured the secret recipe and I am transmitting it to the US here on my blog:  Captain Savta – do you read me? (please note my culinary portuguese is not in tip-top shape, so you may need to play a little)

Step One:

300g Pumpkin, boiled and puréed

3 eggs

6 tablespoons margarine

6 tablespoons cornstarch

2 cups of milk/condensed milk/coconut milk

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon clove

1 teaspoon cinnamon

…mix together

Step 2:

Add 2 tablespoons sugar, mix

Step 3:

Add 2 tablespoons water (not sure how that works), mix

Step 4:

Do the double boiler thing in oven like when you make flan or any type of custard.  Finished product has the consistency of flan.

I cannot believe that there is only one week left to my trip.  I feel like I live here now – I have a job, I speak the language with almost no problem, and I have friends.  Well I am just gonna make the most of what time I have left here.

My Host Family

Tacaca – finally tried this typical Paraense dish.  It’s cassava broth with Jambu (makes your mouth tingle).  Traditionally you eat it also with shrimp, but I’m kosher, so could not.  The Jambu makes you mouth tingle and tastes like les leathery collard greens.  The broth tasted like mustardy chicken soup with way too much salt.  I liked Tacaca, but there was a lil too much salt.  Will eat again before I leave – Idea just hit me: Drop out of Duke and open a Tacaca stand in NYC, instant hit.

Museum of the Portuguese Language (São Paulo) – you can clearly see from my face that this was extremely exciting for me.  Inside, I would have liked to have seen a little more content, but still, just going there was great.  I sent this photo to my Portuguese teacher at Duke.  Hope she likes it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYXVJ2td1CA&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwSjApKQAgk&feature=plcp

So it was the 4th of July in America, but here there were still fireworks.  Brazil won against Argentina, their arch nemesis – so there was a lot of noise throughout the night (to say the least).  In Belém, there are fireworks almost everyday – everyday there’s some sort of soccer game, so yeah.

Here are some more pics from the Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro.