O Fim de Semana: 25-27 Fevereiro 2011

Friday Morning I left Viana at 12:30 on a bus to Lisbon. I went with Andres he is an exchange student here in Viana with AFS from Costa Rica, but he just got here this week because his visa was delayed. Once we got to Lisbon(after a 6 hour bus ride), AFS volunteers picked us up from the bus and we met up with all the other exchangers. It was nice to see everyone again! Especially native English speakers. Then we all got in another bus and drove about an hour and a half east into a small town called Corruche in the Ribatejo. When we got there we checked into our rooms(which were pretty decent compared to the last orientation which didn't have heaters) and then we went into this room and went around and played introducing games(even though we already met eachother, but it helped to refresh our memories) and things like that and then they gave us four post it notes and we had to write a problem we have in Portugal so far on each one. And then give them to the volunteers. Then we ate dinner and did some other things that I don't remember and then went to bed kind of early because we had to wake up early the next day. Saturday woke up at 7:30 went to breakfast and then we went into the room where the orientation is and they had three big white sheets of paper on the wall one saying "Família"(Family), another saying "Escola/Língua"(School/Language), and another saying "Sitio onde vivo/Saudades"(Where I live/Homesickness). And it had all the post it notes under one of the three categories. Then we were told to stand next to the one we felt most affected by here in Portugal. And the people that were in our group(the ones who chose the same category) did a skit about our problems and how to solve it. 

So I chose a group and then we discussed our problems with one of the volunteers(one volunteer went with each group) and how to solve them and I'm really glad they did that because I feel a lot better about my problems and things here and now have advice and a foundation to go off when I need to handle a problem, if that makes any sense. One of the girls in my group has a host family with divorced parents and she has to change houses on weekends, so our skit was with that situation and incorporating other things as well. Usually I'd be way too embarrassed/shy/awkward to do a skit but it wasn't that bad. Portuguese people and the South Americans never make me feel awkward they're so outgoing and sociable that awkward situations never even happen. Anyway then we had lunch and went to the village to walk around.  The volunteers took us to this museum and the people in the museum gave us like a private tour and gave us all these free books that are like thick and expensive looking. I think it's because we were the only ones who came to the museum in probably 8 months, haha this village was tiny. Then we walked around to the river and came back to the hotel. It was so warm during the day there, it was nice to get out of freezing rain and hail for a few days. It was 70 degrees there during the day but it felt warmer, it still was chilly at night though. The architecture is really different there, in the North it's more dark and gothic style the south is brighter with lots of tiles. I don't even remember what we did next there were so many activities and exercises at the hotel. Then we went outside and they made us find places where we could sit by ourselves without communication or sight of anyone else and they took all of our phones wallets everything away and didn't tell us what we were doing. I was just sitting on these steps on the back porch of a hotel for along time just stomping ants, and then finally they came and got us and told us the activity is to represent how we're really alone in our experience here and that it's all up to us etc etc anyway they told us they left us for 30 minutes! It was so boring.. Saturday night was fun everyone was so energetic and the south Americans wouldn't stop singing and dancing and we ate all the food that we brought(We were supposed to bring traditional food from our home country, I bought peanut butter but it's not real peanut butter it's the gross kind with water on top because they don't sell normal peanut butter here really). But Saturday was nice we were all up till at least 3am. This morning(Sunday) we woke up and ate breakfast, where I tried coffee for the first time in my life, and this is Portuguese coffee it's really tiny and strong and I had the jitters all day it was terrible. Then were put into groups and had to make posters about our goals for the rest of our exchange and draw pictures. I don't remember exactly what my groups' were but it was basically learn the language, make new friends, and get integrated in the culture. Then we drew octopus, croissants, beijinhos(two kisses on the cheek), Super Bock(Portuguese beer), Bacalhau(Traditional Portuguese fish that is dried out salted and rehydrated, I don't recommend trying it), Portuguese slang and swear words and the Portuguese flag to show some of the surface culture here. Then we had to pack up and get ready to go and we ate lunch. By this point all the singing and dancing by the South Americans was getting really annoying. Then we got in a bus and went back to Lisbon where we all split ways to go to our different bus terminals. Andres and I had to wait two hours with the AFS volunteer until our bus came. The bus ride back was really boring but the bus had wifi so that was great until my laptop died. About two hours into the bus ride my caffeine buzz crashed and I fell asleep. It took 6 hours to get back to Viana and now I'm home and it's cold again, 38 degrees. I had a pretty fun weekend and I can't wait until the next orientation. It's already been 6 weeks since I've been here and soon it'll be the two month mark, it's hard to believe how fast time goes.

View of Corruche from our hotel window

in Corruche

in Corruche

in Corruche

in Corruche

View of Corruche from a church with a lookout that we went to

View of Corruche from out hotel room

All the AFSers together

(and the three volunteers who ran the orientation in the front row sitting)

Going back to Lisbon

Getting into Lisbon

O Fim De Semana: 18-20 Fevereiro 2011

Okay first I'd like to start off by saying sorry for being a lazy blogger and not posting that much, I'm going to make an effort to start posting at least 2-3 times a week instead of just always doing a weekend recap post.

Friday I didn't do anything, was going to go out with my classmates but it was raining way too hard so I ended up skyping with a friend back in the U.S.. On Saturday I slept in and after lunch my host dad, host brother Pedro, and I drove north from Viana to a beach, I forget the name but it's near the village of Carreço, halfway between Viana and Caminha. My host dad said cause the storm last week and because it's winter the water is way up and that in the summer there's a lot more sand.

That pointy cone mountain is Spain, everything before that is Portugal

Host brother Pedro for scale of the beach and mountains

Then we drove north more towards Caminha and stopped in a village called Moledo which is really small and full of vacation homes from people that live in Porto. There was this giant fort just in the middle of the ocean I don't know how far off the coast maybe three football fields. Just sitting there surrounded by water. It was really weird! The beach in Moledo was almost totally gone from the storms last week.

The fort

Beach house in Moledo

Then we went to Caminha which is a small town on the Minho River. On the southern side of the river is Portugal and on the northern side is Spain. 

Looking at Spain across the Minho River from Caminha

There were so many "houses" in Caminha that just had walls, no floors or roofs or anything, just a few remaining walls I guess they're abandoned, this one was being worked on but a lot of the others were just sitting there.

Looking at Spain across the Minho River from Caminha

You can only cross to Spain by ferry from Caminha though. So we drove to Cerveira about 15 minutes northeast along the river and crossed into Spain there.  We drove into Spain but there's nothing too exciting, it's mostly rural. We drove through a village and back down to the riverfront on the Spanish side and then came back. 

On the bridge over the Minho River between Spain(left side) and Portugal(right side)

On the bridge over the Minho River between Portugal(left side) and Spain(right side)

Spain

Spain

Looking at Cerveira from Spain

We took a different road back to Viana, it's this giant highway through the mountains it's kind of scary to drive on because of the dropoffs. Saturday night I went to a party, it was a dinner at a pizzeria but I decided to go last minute so I had already eaten. Then after we went to a bar and walked around the city.  Today is my host mom's birthday, her brother and his family came as well as my my grandma(the one who is addicted to cityville and farmville hah) for a big lunch that my host mom cooked. Then my host dad's sister and mom came at around 3 or 4 pm and we had cake and my host mom opened presents. I got my host mom some flowers and a card, she seemed to like them. My host brother didn't get my host mom anything except for a wrinkly piece of paper that had a stick figure and said "Adoro-te Mãe" or "I love you Mom." I thought it was kind of weird that he didn't even put any effort into anything for my host mom. My host sister kind of did the same thing my host dad bought her a gift certificate to a spa and Inês just put her name on it and gave it to her, oh well. 

Left to right: Host mom, Host dad's sister Iolanda, Host mom's sister in law, host mom's brother, host dad

I think that's it, goodnight! And I promise to post more this week.

O Fim de Semana: 11-13 Fevereiro 2011

Friday night I relaxed like usual. I was going to cook for my host family again but my host dad has something wrong with his stomach and is on a special diet for a week so I couldn't make what I wanted to make, but I'll make it next week! Anyway, then I went out with my friends from school on Friday like usual we went to a bar they had live music like electronic/house and then a Portuguese rapper it was pretty cool. Saturday morning I slept in and then after my host family and I ate lunch we dropped Pedro at a friend's house and drove to Porto. Porto is Portugal's second largest city, it has a metropolitan population of about 1 million, and it's about 45 minutes south of where I live in Viana. Porto is where famous Port wine(Vinho do Porto) is from, and I'm pretty sure there is a connection between the city's name and the words "Portugal" and "Portuguese." First we drove from the highway through Matosinhos and into Foz do Douro(Translates to Mouth of the Douro River) which is a neighborhood of Porto where lots of rich people live, it's right on the corner where the douro river lets into the sea. The waves were so huge I've never seen anything like it and when we first drive up along the coast it looked like a tsunami was going to hit. The waves were 15-20 feet at least and they were totally engulfing one of the harbour arms and when they hit the seawall/harbour arm they would go higher than the lighthouses, it was insane. The pictures don't really show the scale for how rough the sea was.

Waves crashing near one of the harbour arms/lighthouses, see the people for scale

Avenida do Brasil in Foz do Douro

Wave engulfing the other lighthouse

Then we drove along the douro from Foz into the center of the Ribeira(old fishing neighborhood) of Porto and crossed a bridge into Vila Nova de Gaia, where all the port wine is made. driving along the douro into the city is really cool there's all these really old runned down houses with laundry hanging everywhere and old people leaning out the windows and it smells like fish/salt and everything's really colorful too.

Porto from Vila Nova de Gaia

Porto from Vila Nova de Gaia

Ribeira, Porto

Boats that they used to use to bring the wine from up the river in the Douro Valley to Porto to be bottled, now the boats just sit there for tourists to take pictures of.

After we stopped in Vila Nova de Gaia we drove back into Porto, unsuccessfully trying to find a parking space and eventually parking near Casa da Musica(a cultural center with concerts and things, my host dad's an architect and he wanted me to see it since it's really modern and all), we went inside Casa da Musica and then we went to my host dad's sister's house, it's near Casa da Musica on the way to Foz do Douro, their house is really nice and humongous, my host dad remodeled it before they moved in I guess. Then we stopped in Ikea to get a futon for my host dad's mom to sleep on so she can stay at our house more often I guess and then we drove home, picked up Pedro and then went home ate dinner watched Where the Wild Things Are and went to bed. Today I went to rowing but since it's been raining really hard all day(snow in Gerês, so mad it happened this weekend and not last weekend!) I didn't get to go out on the water. I didn't really do anything today after rowing just watched t.v. and listened to music.  Porto is really cool and I didn't really get to do much there but I can't wait to go back. I didn't realize how tiny Viana is until I went to Porto.

Boa Tarde!=Good Night/Evening

1 Month Down, 5 to Live

Today marks the one month point on my exchange. I don't know whether to be happy, sad, scared or excited. It's incredible how much you change in just four weeks, already I'm understanding almost everything in Portuguese. I've been to Gerês, Porto, Lisbon(Lisboa), and Ponte de Lima. I've made friends with people from all over the world and with my classmates already and feel comfortable with my host family. Things couldn't be going better, yet 1/6 of my exchange is over, and that's really scary. It honestly doesn't seem like I've been here that long, time is flying by and before I know it I'll be back in the U.S. You have to take advantage of every day, take every opportunity to absorb culture, meet new people, practice the language, and learn. It's the little things that make every day memorable. That's the best advice any exchange student could ever make use of, because the time here is limited. Take each day as it comes and enjoy everything you can because you don't know if you'll ever have those opportunities again. I don't regret coming here at all and I think this experience will be the best of my life. I want to thank my parents, AFS, and host family for making this exchange possible, you'll never know how much I appreciate you.

O Fim de Semana: 4-6 Fevereiro 2011

I had a long weekend and I can't wait to go to bed. Friday afternoon I walked to the post office to get a package my mom sent me because we got a note in our mailbox saying we weren't home when the mailmen came so I had to go pick it up(I live in a gated condominium so if you're not home you have to go pick it up the next day at the post office). So I walked to the post office, it's about a mile and a half away, not knowing how huge the box would be! I had a little trouble coming back with a 3ftx4ftx3ft 20 lb box, but thanks for sending it mom! Then I relaxed and took a nap like usual and then I went out with my friends Friday night. Saturday after lunch me and my host family drove to Gerês where my host mom's mom lives(host grandmother).

Santa Maria do Bouro, My host grandmother lives just outside this village

Gerês is a mountain range and national park near the border of Spain in northeastern Portugal. It's really nice there the mountains are so big it reminds me of North Carolina but the mountains are bigger even. Usually they have snow throughout the winter but this has been some unusually warm and sunny past couple of weeks so it was almost 60 degrees there, a little dissapointing I didn't get to see snow but we're going to go back next month maybe and there will be snow then! A cool thing about Gerês is that there are wild horses all around I saw two while I was there. Also my host mom's brother Antonio and his family live about 20 minutes from my host grandmother's outside a city called Braga and they came and spent the afternoon in Gerês with us. We went to this former convent/church called Santuário de Nossa Senhora da Abadia and walked around in the woods by a river with a few small waterfalls.

Then we went back and all watched a movie, had dinner, and played cards. My host mom's brother and his family drove home around midnight, and then we went to bed. My host grandma is addicted to farmville and cityville it's the most hilarious thing she was playing it for at least three hours last night. Also, the house doesn't have any type of heating system not even a radiator, just one really small fireplace in the family room, her house was so cold! I was woken up at 6 or 7 in the morning to roosters, dogs, and other animal sounds, especially the roosters, it was so weird! And they didn't stop for a long time. Then we hung around the house and after lunch my host dad, my sister and I went in the car along the rio caldo towards the village of Gerês and to the national park of Gerês and drove through, and that's where I saw the two wild horses and we drove to the border of Spain and walked across and then walked back, I've been to Spain now! Then we drove back to my host grandma's house, packed up and then left. Only until I got home I realized I left my Iphone, portuguese cellphone, wallet(with money) and house keys there. So my host mom's brother drove to go get it so he can mail them to us tomorrow(They only live 20 minutes or so away and there's no post office near my host grandma's).

 Rio Caldo

 The Border between Spain and Portugal, with a sign for "Galicia" but spray painted over with a "z" for "Galiza" which is the Portuguese spelling

A sign about the Gerês park in Galicia(Spain) written in Galician(Galego: The dialect of Spanish spoken in Galicia, it's halfway between Spanish and Portuguese) "Xurês" instead of "Gerês"

 Wild Horse

 Looking from the Gerês park onto rio caldo towards the village of Gerês

Admeus, a village near the village of Gerês, overlooking rio caldo

Anyway, I had a good weekend and Gerês is really nice and I hope I get to go back soon and see snow!

Chinese New Year + School Routine

   Yesterday we went to my host family's friends house, the same ones that came over for dinner this past weekend. Ying(the Chinese girl they're hosting) cooked all the food and it was all chinese, not orange chicken with eggrolls chinese but really weird stuff. We had like these giant noodle things the size of your index finger, potatoes and peppers(too spicy for me to eat), dumplings, soup with fried eggs in it, and for dessert these rice balls with peanut sauce inside, I thought everything tasted good except for the pepper potatoes. My host brother didn't even try anything, he doesn't eat anything. It was a fun night.

They insisted that I take a napkin, and Ying wrote happy new year on it in Chinese with the date

   On another note I've definitely developed a routine here in Portugal, but I'm not bored yet and hopefully I won't get bored. I feel like my Portuguese is improving a lot and I'm speaking Portuguese more and more each day. I got a paper back in Portuguese class that was an activity I did on my first day two weeks ago, we had to take a song and turn it into a letter, I got 'suficiente menos' which is like getting a C-, I think it's a good accomplishment! It was my first day of school too, I got most of my points off for not putting my signature or dating it like a letter, and then I didn't really put any accents or "ç" "ã" "õ" correctly, but it's understandable and I'm proud that I got that grade. My class has a philosophy test on Friday and I'm going to take it, I don't have to but I want to just to see how I do. Also I have  Portuguese Literature test next week, my teacher is going to make a smaller, more easier one for me to do. In P.E. we're still working on choreographing that dance, we're doing awful we have an 8.5/20 right now as our grade, it's an F basically. As far as my teachers go, they're really strange for the most part. My philosophy teacher gets so mad and the other day she chucked an expo marker at a kid for talking. My History teacher still tells me and others to "fuck off" and talks about really weird things that he probably doesn't even know what he's saying, at least I hope not. My English teacher is very timid, most of the kids try to take advantage of her. My classmates are doing work that I would have done in 7th grade, so I have a completely different set of assignments (a lot more) at a much higher level so that I can meet the curriculum for my English class in the US.

This post is really unorganized but it doesn't matter. This weekend my host family is taking me to Gerês it's a region about an hour inland from Viana with lots of mountains, my host mom is from Gerês and her mother lives there. They had snow earlier this week so hopefully it's still there! I'll update at the end of the weekend and will put some pictures of Gerês up.