Believe it or not yesterday was my first time leaving the county or better yet municipality of Rosario da Limeira for 6 1/2 weeks since I arrived on the 9th of February. I almost made it two months but I needed to go to Muriae for work to visit a English/Spanish language school partially funded by the US Government where Iracambi is interested in having a stronger connection. I went with Alana and Claudio in Robin's Land Rover and we got to the town of almost 100,000 just after 10 in the morning. Robin gave us a brief car tour to help orientate us (not Claudio as he is from these parts) and then left the three of us off near one of the main squares.
Alana, Claudio and I went to ICBEU (Instituto Cultural Brasil Estados Unidos), one of many located around the country, to meet Sergio the director and head teacher at the Muriae branch. Sergio was a very friendly and welcoming guy, with great English especially considering he has never been outside of Brasil, eager to organize cultural and linguistic exchanges between Iracambi and ICBEU and most importantly willing to come out to Iracambi once a week and teach Portuguese to interested volunteers and researchers. Sergio is in his early thirties speaks Portuguese, English, French and Spanish fluently and teaches English and Spanish. He will be teaching basic survival/conversational Portuguese to Iracambistas 3 Fridays a month and the fourth Friday anyone who is interested will travel the hour or so 50 plus KMs to Muriae to do more practical lessons with him at the restaurant, grocery store, etc.
After meeting with Sergio the four of us had lunch together at an "all you can eat" buffet style place where there were more options than I can handle. The food at Iracambi is generally tasty and quality and ORGANIC but being able to have more than 3 or 4 choices was a bit shocking. I was really blown away when for the first time in 75 plus days I saw Sergio not only pick up but also use his cell phone to make and receive calls. What a blessing it has been to be without here!
After lunch Claudio went his way and Sergio helped Alana and I find solid glycerin to make soap and helped orientated us a bit further and then headed back to work. Alana and I did some shopping for ourselves and Iracambistas who had given us money and purchase requests. It was weird walking in to grocery, stationary and other types of stores and having so many things to choose from. During this 6 1/2 weeks I have only been to Rosario da Limeira with only a few thousand people on two occasions for Carnival when most stores, of which there are few, were closed and thus this was really my first time "shopping" in over 1 1/2 months. Along with being overwhelmed by the selection, etc. it was great as Alana and I were able to see what food items we don't get on a regular basis are available that we might buy individually or see about getting through Iracambi.
After a while we sat down near where Robin had dropped us and pulled out our books but ended up talking for at least 1/2 when a guy stopped in front of us, asked if we were from Iracambi and began to talk to us. At first we were a bit weary as Iracambi is fairly well known in the area, we didn't know who he was and we didn't want to be taken advantage of. Then he said his name was Ozeas, he was one of the original volunteers at Iracambi, had worked/volunteer here for over 4 years, was a great friend of Robins and had talked with Sergio earlier in the day about us being in town. He sat with us and we talked in English for about 20 minutes before I started to talk to him in Portuguese and tease him for not asking earlier if I did. I had let us talk in English for Alana's benefit but throughout the day he and I continued to converse in Portuguese from time to time. He is a self professed tour guide, told us about the places he could take us, what we could do there, etc. and was a really jovial and pleasant person to be around. He also asked if we had seen the movie "Hitch" where Will Smith's character Hitch works for himself in helping men get women as their girlfriends, wives, etc. Ozeas said that he is the Hitch of Muriae and is very well known around but just like Hitch he himself doesn't like to date or have much success with it but he has helped "hook up" many people. He said he even introduced a former volunteer to a local Brasilian and now they are married. Then he asked me if I didn't want a girlfriend and throughout the afternoon continue to give me "tips" and introduce me to his female friends as he took us on a tour of his town. It was very humorous and fun and a bit embarrassing too when he would say things like "look now", "only look for a second and then look away until she makes eye contact" and "did you like my friend?". At least when he did this in English most people probably weren't able to understand. He is even coming to Iracambi next week so I am sure he will insist on continuing the lessons!
Another "new" experience was having to go from looking down at my feet to make sure I don't trip on branches or roots, spiders, snakes, leaf cutter ants, etc. to looking up to make sure I didn't step in front of the cars, motorcycles and occasional bikes that were driving around Muriae. I found myself wishing that there was a pedestrian area more than I think I have ever thought of that before. I really am glad that I stay on the farm and in the wood for such a long time and only emerged for a few hours in the smelly, hot, dusty, sticky and fast moving city of Muriae. It is not often that we get chances to get away from what is so familiar to us and really get away from it all so I am glad that in part Iracambi has given me a chance to do this. What an absolute difference from South Africa especially the Johannesburg area where I lived for over five months. I am so blessed to have this diversity of places to live in, languages to practice and learn, cultures to experience and more. Recently a good friend from Kenya asked me (in an online conversation) if I feel homesick and I honestly told her that while I love home (Portland) and would love to end up there some day and while I really miss my friends and family I love being, traveling, working, learning and living other places and I guess it is thanks to things such as this blog that I am able to reduce the distance,loneliness and absence of loved ones while having a different experience then I can have at home.
Alana, Claudio and I went to ICBEU (Instituto Cultural Brasil Estados Unidos), one of many located around the country, to meet Sergio the director and head teacher at the Muriae branch. Sergio was a very friendly and welcoming guy, with great English especially considering he has never been outside of Brasil, eager to organize cultural and linguistic exchanges between Iracambi and ICBEU and most importantly willing to come out to Iracambi once a week and teach Portuguese to interested volunteers and researchers. Sergio is in his early thirties speaks Portuguese, English, French and Spanish fluently and teaches English and Spanish. He will be teaching basic survival/conversational Portuguese to Iracambistas 3 Fridays a month and the fourth Friday anyone who is interested will travel the hour or so 50 plus KMs to Muriae to do more practical lessons with him at the restaurant, grocery store, etc.
After meeting with Sergio the four of us had lunch together at an "all you can eat" buffet style place where there were more options than I can handle. The food at Iracambi is generally tasty and quality and ORGANIC but being able to have more than 3 or 4 choices was a bit shocking. I was really blown away when for the first time in 75 plus days I saw Sergio not only pick up but also use his cell phone to make and receive calls. What a blessing it has been to be without here!
After lunch Claudio went his way and Sergio helped Alana and I find solid glycerin to make soap and helped orientated us a bit further and then headed back to work. Alana and I did some shopping for ourselves and Iracambistas who had given us money and purchase requests. It was weird walking in to grocery, stationary and other types of stores and having so many things to choose from. During this 6 1/2 weeks I have only been to Rosario da Limeira with only a few thousand people on two occasions for Carnival when most stores, of which there are few, were closed and thus this was really my first time "shopping" in over 1 1/2 months. Along with being overwhelmed by the selection, etc. it was great as Alana and I were able to see what food items we don't get on a regular basis are available that we might buy individually or see about getting through Iracambi.
After a while we sat down near where Robin had dropped us and pulled out our books but ended up talking for at least 1/2 when a guy stopped in front of us, asked if we were from Iracambi and began to talk to us. At first we were a bit weary as Iracambi is fairly well known in the area, we didn't know who he was and we didn't want to be taken advantage of. Then he said his name was Ozeas, he was one of the original volunteers at Iracambi, had worked/volunteer here for over 4 years, was a great friend of Robins and had talked with Sergio earlier in the day about us being in town. He sat with us and we talked in English for about 20 minutes before I started to talk to him in Portuguese and tease him for not asking earlier if I did. I had let us talk in English for Alana's benefit but throughout the day he and I continued to converse in Portuguese from time to time. He is a self professed tour guide, told us about the places he could take us, what we could do there, etc. and was a really jovial and pleasant person to be around. He also asked if we had seen the movie "Hitch" where Will Smith's character Hitch works for himself in helping men get women as their girlfriends, wives, etc. Ozeas said that he is the Hitch of Muriae and is very well known around but just like Hitch he himself doesn't like to date or have much success with it but he has helped "hook up" many people. He said he even introduced a former volunteer to a local Brasilian and now they are married. Then he asked me if I didn't want a girlfriend and throughout the afternoon continue to give me "tips" and introduce me to his female friends as he took us on a tour of his town. It was very humorous and fun and a bit embarrassing too when he would say things like "look now", "only look for a second and then look away until she makes eye contact" and "did you like my friend?". At least when he did this in English most people probably weren't able to understand. He is even coming to Iracambi next week so I am sure he will insist on continuing the lessons!
Another "new" experience was having to go from looking down at my feet to make sure I don't trip on branches or roots, spiders, snakes, leaf cutter ants, etc. to looking up to make sure I didn't step in front of the cars, motorcycles and occasional bikes that were driving around Muriae. I found myself wishing that there was a pedestrian area more than I think I have ever thought of that before. I really am glad that I stay on the farm and in the wood for such a long time and only emerged for a few hours in the smelly, hot, dusty, sticky and fast moving city of Muriae. It is not often that we get chances to get away from what is so familiar to us and really get away from it all so I am glad that in part Iracambi has given me a chance to do this. What an absolute difference from South Africa especially the Johannesburg area where I lived for over five months. I am so blessed to have this diversity of places to live in, languages to practice and learn, cultures to experience and more. Recently a good friend from Kenya asked me (in an online conversation) if I feel homesick and I honestly told her that while I love home (Portland) and would love to end up there some day and while I really miss my friends and family I love being, traveling, working, learning and living other places and I guess it is thanks to things such as this blog that I am able to reduce the distance,loneliness and absence of loved ones while having a different experience then I can have at home.
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