Brazil: Week 3

Quickly, here's what I did last week.

Monday we watched a video about candomble rituals. Then we went to one. It was a long drive and then the ritual was very long. We left about 11 pm. It consists of a lot of dancing as they channel Orixás. I was very tired, but it was a good cultural experience. If you want a sense of what the dancing is like there are videos on YouTube.

Tuesday my annual report for the Truman was due so I finished that and worked on my outline for my sociolinguistics seminar.

Wednesday we had the seminar then I went to a soccer game with my host mom and host cousin. It was a long trip there by bus. The game was Vitoria (the home team) vs. São Paulo. We left when Vitoria was down 0-3. They scored a goal near the end. It was interesting to see my mild mannered, intellectual cousin become very passionate about the game as we sat there with around 35,000 of our closest friends.

Thursday we went to the airport to register with the police, as required by our visas if we stay longer than 30 days. More on that later, but it went very smoothly.

Friday we headed to the island paradise of Morro de São Paulo, returning Sunday. It was great to just relax and take it easy. Friday I struck up a conversation with two women playing frescobol on the beach, Viviane and Sandra. They were from São Paulo where Viviane does marketing for Calvin Klein and Sandra manages fashion models. We grabbed some food that afternoon and they invited me to meet them at a party at a club that evening. We met up the next day at the beach and that evening for a great, inexpensive traditional Brazilian dinner. It was nice to get so much conversation practice. I also spent time with people in my department hanging out on the beach. The breakfasts at our pousada (inn) was amazing. I really need to write more about food.

Confirming what we already know about Duke

Duke was the team most despised by those in Facebook. There were almost as many Duke haters (76,492) as there were for the next six teams on the list (North Carolina, Florida, Ohio State, Kansas, Indiana) combined (link).

half B-day, advice for Wes Miller

I don't make a big deal about half birthdays--a lot of times they creep up on me the same day. Today's makes me 2.75 decades old, though, which somehow seems like a nice round number. I guess because I'm 3/4 of the way through my 20's. Scary.

In his senior speech after the game yesterday Wes Miller said he'd stay at Carolina ten more years if they'd let him. I have two words for you Wes: graduate school.

Hey, where'd everybody go?

Got to go to the game today. Since it was senior night we stayed to hear the three graduating players speak, sing the school song, etc. Then we made our way to Franklin Street.

[For those who don't know, UNC has a tradition where upon beating the Durham Country Club or winning the NCAA Tournament all the students flood Franklin Street, which is the street on the north edge of campus with the small shops and restaurants.]

It's a bit of a trek, as the Dean Dome is on the other end of UNC's large campus. We briefly stopped by the library where I'd left my bag in my carrel. When we got to Franklin Street there were cars driving up and down it. The party was over. It'd only bit a bit more than an hour since the game ended. It was surreal, especially for Katie who's been around here for a long time. We were annoyed that this tradition wasn't being fully honored.