I made it to Brazil, but it wasn't easy. My first flight got delayed and that messed up all the others. By the time I got to Rio de Janeiro I missed my flight to Belo Horizonte and had to wait 8 hours at the airport for the next flight.
My phone was almost dead when I got to Rio, so all I had to do was walk around. I was hoping to be able to see the Cristo Rei from the airport, but if you can see it from there I sure didn't. There was a cool looking chapel up on the hill though.
I got some reais from the airport in Atlanta, so I went to a few of the shops. It was great practice for Portuguese. It kind of reminded me of the activities in language classes when you pretend to go to different parts of a town.
Finally I got to Belo Horizonte, and my friend Felipe was there waiting for me. At that time, I was so tired I wondered if it was even worth it to come, but as we were driving through Belo Horizonte to the Ribeiro's home, I quickly decided it was. Belo Horizonte is so pretty (it lives up to its name of Beautiful Horizon). The Ribeiros are so nice as well. I feel very welcome here.
Felipe is the only one in his family that speaks English, so my Portuguese is always being tested. For the most part I feel I get about 50% of what they say. Enough to get the gist of it, but between that and my very broken Portuguese we lose each other from time to time. I'm learning.
Coming here I expect the culture to be similar to Mexican culture, which I'm used to, but it's not. Naturally I act in the manner a Mexican would find polite, and sometimes they seemed confused.
There's a miss conception we have in America that I want to clear up. Spanish and Portuguese are not practically the same. They have similarities, but I am now a witness that just because you can speak Spanish, it doesn't mean you'll fair well in Portuguese.
Anyway, I'm getting settled in and excited about this trip. Tomorrow we're going to explore.
My phone was almost dead when I got to Rio, so all I had to do was walk around. I was hoping to be able to see the Cristo Rei from the airport, but if you can see it from there I sure didn't. There was a cool looking chapel up on the hill though.
I got some reais from the airport in Atlanta, so I went to a few of the shops. It was great practice for Portuguese. It kind of reminded me of the activities in language classes when you pretend to go to different parts of a town.
Finally I got to Belo Horizonte, and my friend Felipe was there waiting for me. At that time, I was so tired I wondered if it was even worth it to come, but as we were driving through Belo Horizonte to the Ribeiro's home, I quickly decided it was. Belo Horizonte is so pretty (it lives up to its name of Beautiful Horizon). The Ribeiros are so nice as well. I feel very welcome here.
Felipe is the only one in his family that speaks English, so my Portuguese is always being tested. For the most part I feel I get about 50% of what they say. Enough to get the gist of it, but between that and my very broken Portuguese we lose each other from time to time. I'm learning.
Coming here I expect the culture to be similar to Mexican culture, which I'm used to, but it's not. Naturally I act in the manner a Mexican would find polite, and sometimes they seemed confused.
There's a miss conception we have in America that I want to clear up. Spanish and Portuguese are not practically the same. They have similarities, but I am now a witness that just because you can speak Spanish, it doesn't mean you'll fair well in Portuguese.
Anyway, I'm getting settled in and excited about this trip. Tomorrow we're going to explore.
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