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América do Sul: part deux

Me, Alvaro, and Meghan at Belmont's Graduation,  May 2010

Should I be studying for the GRE (that is tomorrow) instead of blogging? Absolutely.
Am I so sick of looking at scarcely-used-in-normal-conversation words and quantitative comparisons that I feel like I could skip graduate school altogether? Again-absolutely.
Is my mind already four days ahead and in South America? ...absolutely.
So I'll take a break from verbose word problems, polynomials, and analogies in order to give everyone an update on what's ahead for my little excursion.

      I've been somewhat lax about planning this trip after the last go. The curve balls of life in Nashville have helped in keeping me focused on the present instead of getting over excited about my future travels. Aside from spending the majority of my time planning and studying for some sort of medical career, I have been quite distracted by the odd sequence of events that was February and March of my life, which included being broadsided by a car (and consequently being car-less since), having my bank account hijacked in order for someone in Boston to purchase an absurd amount of donuts (several hundred dollars worth), and losing my job due to budget/census issues at the hospital. Needless to say, instead of spending that time dreaming of my trip and planning, I was worrying if it would even happen.

       After this mini taste of the real world, my heart sincerely goes out to anyone that has suddenly become unemployed-especially those who have families to support. At the end of the day, I am more than grateful that my biggest problems consisted of paying off a completely self-indulgent trip abroad and feeling depressed because I missed the productivity, people, and atmosphere of the hospital.

So four months after I last ventured into the southern hemisphere, I'm going for round two.
If all goes as planned, I will be giving my dear friends Meghan and Alvaro a huge hug in Lima's Jorge Chavez International airport that night. Thinking about my relationship with them is pretty awesome. We shared a home in Munich, moved to new homes in Dresden, Alvaro visited our homes in Nashville, and now I am visiting their casas in Lima. By U.S. standards (sorry south americans, but there are seven continents), our relationships have spanned three continents in the past two years and even more countries.

As for the rest of my twenty-five days abroad, they will consist of hanging out in the one and only Brazil.

It all starts Friday at 12:30pm. Two countries, at least five cities, and a plethora (see I'm getting some GRE practice here) of amazing friends.

Salzburg, Austria 2009

The "family" in our Laim WG, Munich 2009

In the Küche as always! Munich 

Meghan's going away party! Nashville 2010

We know how to have fun everywhere, even in a cage at the zoo. Dresden, 2009

Trade 'Blonde Baixinha' for 'Blue Baixinha'

Word has probably spread quickly enough for most of you to know I became a jet setter this week. I rocketed across the huge land mass that is Brazil, jumped across that pesky gulf, and landed back in Nashville just in time to see the snow start to fall.
As you can imagine, I'm pretty solemn this week. I felt like I had to lay my year long dream to rest. It is probably hard for most people to understand, but all I can say is that for whatever reason, it was what I needed to do. I adored the country. I adored the people. I adored the city. I adored the language. It was absolutely everything I dreamed of. It was almost like paradise, but something inside of me knew it was not the right time for me to be there before I even left. I will try to listen to my insticts more closely from now on.

From the time I arrived, I felt physically and emotionally ill. I blamed jet leg at first, blamed fatigue. I couldn't eat. I had no desire to see or do anything. All I wanted to do was sleep. It continued for a few days and the emotional part would come and go, but as time went on, I felt more desperate and sad.

Everyone gets homesick when traveling. I do no pretend to be some special person that doesn't encounter this, but in truth, I have been fortunate for my age and have traveled much and barely experienced it. Everyone asks: but you went half a year in Germany with no problem, right? It wasn't really about being homesick. Homesickness can often be fixed with a good afternoon of tourism with friends or a fun party.

This was totally different. Feeling so awful in the place I wanted to be so bad made me long for home because I could not bear to feel so bad in the place I loved so much. Also, who doesn't need home when feeling so terrible? It was simply just bad timing.

I appreciate so much how hard the wonderful family I was staying with worked to cheer me up. Giovana and Marcel both did everything in their power from having me see a health specialist and cooking for me to taking me to see the beloved Capybaras. They were so so sweet to me and wanted more than anything for me to be happy. I could truly see how much they cared for me and still can with the nice emails I have receieved since coming home. We exchanged early Christmas gifts during tearful goodbyes and then had coffee and panetone before my flight out that night.

Even in my few days there, I was able to rack up on great stories to tell. I did not even realize it until I got to the airport where Jenni was waiting there for me with a big hug. The whole way home I switched between phrases of: "I can't believe this just happened." and funny stories from my trip. A few days is not as much as I hoped for, but it was still enough to make a lasting impression on my life. I didn't get to see the main tourist attractions of Brazil. I didn't get to stand in front of the Cristo or lay on the beaches of Salvador, but I did get what I wanted most. I got to see Brazil with my own eyes, got to live in a home, got to be totally immersed in the most beautiful language in the world, and I got to see another city in an entirely different part of the world and even better, I got to sit in a hammock overlooking beautiful scenery with my friend that I missed dearly this past year.

So yes, I'm totally sad to be home, and yes, I wish I had a straightforward explanation as to why I am, but that will come later I guess. Despite all this sadness, I am so glad to know that Brazil is indeed the country that has my heart. It grabbed my heart in March 09', and it will continue to hold it. Even though it was only for a few days, I saw enough to know that it is everything I loved. No one can say I am jaded or that I might be "disappointed." I at least know now that it is a great country full of great people and great places.

Água de coco & Capivaras

Well, this is my first official post IN Brazil.
It has been an emotional roller coaster for me to be honest.

I have SO much to write about. I don´t even know what to include and what to leave out. So I guess I´ll start with the flight.
I flew to Miami yesterday afternoon. When I arrived, I could not quit giggling. I was just totally amazed at how I was in the minority. I knew it was true, had heard it was true, had even been there, but I was alone and observing a lot more. A lady conducting surveys for the airport even asked me to complete one, thinking I was not a US resident. She said, "Oh, you are from the USA? I figured you weren´t." So I have my first experience in the midst of Brazilians and someone actually does not think I am a "gringa." Hilarious.

Boarding the plane, everyone spoke to me in Portuguese. I ended up sitting in the middle of an entire family of Brazilians. We´re not talking the typical U.S. "2.5 kids" family. I lost count of how big this family was, and there was me, right in the middle of them all!

The flight felt forever long. I never thought we would land. As we began our descent, I could not believe I was looking at the country I had been so excited to see. For thirty minutes, I watched the buildings and little perfectly sectioned patches of farmland. I saw big forests and then skyscraprs as far as the eye could see. It could have been Tennessee until that point. I have never seen a city go on and on like São Paulo does. For miles and miles, the city went on.

When I arrived, I had no trouble going through customs or immigration. My bags made it. The airport looked very different from any that I have been in and about 30 minutes after landing, I made it out to the arrivals area and there was Marcel, his sister, and his former Argentine room mate waiting for me. It was so bizzare to realize I was in Brazil and to be seeing a person I had not seen since my time in Germany. It was fun of course. I enjoyed the drive to Bragança Paulista (Marcel´s city). I got to see all sorts of things from favelas to how different traffic is here.

I absolutely adore Marcel´s city. It is so beautiful. It is set between huge green mountains that remind me of Tuscany. The houses are beautiful too. They are so open and airy. His is a shade of orange and has several levels. We have nothing like it in the states. The architecture is totally different.

The weather here is cooler than I expected. It is no hotter than a Tennessee summer, but I have a feeling this will change once I get to the north. They said it has been hotter than average here in the south. It is not too awful. There is no a/c because typically they don´t really need it, but it has been too hot to do a lot the past two days until dark.

They took me to see the capivaras. There were many baby ones! I also got to drink out of my first coconut. As silly as it may seem, I have been looking forward to both of these things for a long time! I have been talking about seeing the capivaras and drinking "água de coco" for months to my friend.


So far, it has been quite an adjustment for me. I don´t know why because I adore this city and the people, but I have been quite homesick for some reason. I am hoping it has to do with changing zones, jet lag, being tired, etc...I have slept A LOT today and am starting to feel better. I enjoy the language and am hoping to become less shy soon. I understand more than I can speak, and I would like to change it. The sounds are very unnatural for an english speaker, but just being here even two days, my ear has become more accustomed to the words, sounds, and phrases.

Well there you have it-my first official post from Brasil.

Does Santa come to Brazil?

Tomorrow is my last day in the U.S., and I will be spending it celebrating Christmas with my family. Tonight Anna Belle and Morgan are staying with Jenni and I. I really wanted to see them before leaving. After Morgan made me read every single name on every single present to her (with a disappointed look after each one that wasn't her name), we made Christmas cookies, watched the Grinch, danced to loud music, spun around in chairs til we couldn't see, and now we are watching one of the various versions of A Christmas Carol. I should probably also mention that once Morgan discovered which gift was hers, she was good and did not open it, but she did carry it with her around the house, still wrapped. It's always within her sight. She was even laying with it under her arm at one point. Anna has been bugging Jenni non-stop with questions about her gift. She even asked if she could go to bed with it.

Through out the night, the girls have asked me questions about Brazil. They call Brazil "that place." 

They were concerned I wasn't coming back. They were confused as to why I was leaving for several weeks. I told them it was like when we went on vacation to the beach, like a sleep over that lasted a long time. At that point, Anna decided that Brazil and "the beach" are the same place. So she wanted to go too, and Morgan thought it amazing that I would be in a place (Peru) where people only speak Spanish. When she heard this, she was convinced she needed to go as well. She was amazed that I would be with people who didn't "speak like her" and questioned me extensively on if I could "speak like them." It was so cute.

We also solved the Santa crisis of 2010. Every Christmas, they write letters to Santa telling him they will be at La La's (Jenni's mom) house. That way he will know where to come. So they each wrote an email (a little different from Santa communication in the 90s) asking him to make sure to visit me in Brazil and not to worry about coming to our place in Green Hills because no one would be here. It was precious. 

We ended our Brazil discussion by talking about how Brazilians probably didn't have chimneys because it is often hot. We pondered this and decided that Santa could leave presents on the porch. So Morgan was sure to include that politely in her letter. Anna Belle was curious as to why families would not have fireplaces and chimneys. I told her it is usually warm so they do not need fires in their homes. She looked at me open mouthed and wide eyed and responded with: You mean it does not snow?! 

Knowing Anna, I am sure she would insist on sharing our snow with Brazil. She has the kindest little heart. 

Now all Santa concerns and Brazilian curiosities are settled, and we can all sleep peacefully tonight. 

Here are the letters to Santa. Anna Belle typed her own. Morgan told me what she wanted it to say. 

Dear  Santa  Claus.

Erin  Hasty   she  is   worried  that  she  wont  get  her   presint    in  brazil  with her  frens

Dear Santa,

Please come to Brazil for Erin and give her presents. 

Please put the presents on Marcel's porch because they do not have a chimney. 

Please also come to La La's house. Please come and put them under the tree.

Brazil on 60 Minutes

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7143554n

Now people can get a better idea of what Brazil has accomplished and what sets the nation a part from others. It also gives a wonderfully hilarious view point of the jeito brasileiro, something I have, for a year now, found very intriguing. I have never encountered it elsewhere.

Munich to Brazil? It's only 5 weeks, but it's been a long time coming...

The first question everyone asks upon hearing of my trip is, "why Brazil?" I say, "because I adore Brazilians, and I need to see the place that seems to create such interesting people."

The response is typically: "Well, how do you know Brazilians?"

Then comes the best part, the part where I get to say, "Because of Germany"

I always get confused looks with that answer.

In hindsight, it makes absolute sense. Many students in Brazil study engineering. Germany happens to have very good technical universities. So many students study there. There is also the more in depth, "many Germans emigrated from Germany after the war...so seeing a german name here and there is not uncommon in Brazil" answer. I'm sure there's an abundance of reasons why it is so (and quite honestly, you will go anywhere in the world and somehow run into a Brazilian), but my personal experience shows me these reasons.

My personal experience also tells me that I come from a very warm and loving home. So just as Brazilians being in Germany makes sense, it would also make sense that I would automatically gravitate to people of the same make and mold.  By "people," I mean Brazilians of course.

In March of 2009, I met my first Brazilian, and I had no clue that I'd be hooked on his country from then on. Anyone who has been friends with a Brazilian understands this. He, like all Brazilians, was so proud of his home, showing me pictures of Carnaval, beautiful beaches, Ivete Sangalo's amazingly awesome legs, favelas, glorious penthouses, caipirinhas, and more. It was such a different world from what I knew and so intriguing.
And I'm not even going to touch on the language (Portuguese, not Spanish!) right now: the most fun part of any culture.

So basically, I was away from home, contemplating what parts of home I wanted to leave behind forever, and experiencing a completely new world that I deeply desired to keep a part of my life. I hung out with people from every place one can imagine-from Iran and Macedonia to Italy and Mexico, but Brazil got me. The warmth of the people, the passion of the people, all of it...it's not a cliché. I hadn't been there, but I was certain it was all true. There is a unique air of happiness that typically accompanies a Brazilian attitude, and it is utterly contagious. When it comes to these friendships, you can throw any happy pills out the window, and soak up all the spontaneity you need.

So by July of 2009 and many new Brazilian friends later, I was looking at flights. Now, over a year later, I am going to board a flight to Brazil in exactly one week.

So like I said, in hindsight, it all fits.

I would love more than anything to share my daily experiences and musings so that you guys can learn more about this culture that I have somehow come to adore. I want you all to know what wonderful people there are across the gulf and below the equator!

Also, I solemnly swear ("that I'm up to no good") and to keep up with this. I know my track record with blogging is poor, but since there are so many people who have requested this in order to know I'm happy, safe, and well, I promise to follow through.