Category: Tyra Jada Greene

Today was our last activity in Brazil. We went to Arte Consciente at Saramandaia. It was interesting hearing how the place got started. I think it is brave of someone to try to make a difference in a place that used to be filled with a lot of violence. Its amazing to think that so much change can come from one person or a small group of people. The drumming lesson we had today was a lot of fun and the children their were fun and seemed really outgoing. It’s crazy that we only have tomorrow left and then we are basically going to be traveling all Wendesday into Thursday morning. I enjoyed our time and the activities we have done here.

Today was our free day so we spent it shopping at the market. I brought a bunch of souvenirs for my family back home. I did not bring enough money though so I hope we get to go back on Tuesday.

I went to McDonalds for lunch today. I still can’t order my food in Portuguese or understand anybody to save my life. You gotta have respect for people that move to another country and have to learn another language and culture because it’s hard.

I’ve finally made some progress with my projects, although the internet at the hotel is killing me right now.

We went to the orphanage and got to spend some time with the kids there. It was nice getting to spend time with them. We ending up buying some food and supplies for them which I’m glad we could do. Seeing them really makes me more appreciative of my life and what I have.

I have so much work to do for class. I’m still trying to figure out what my design is going to be for the Olodum project. I’m going to try to get a lot of work done before we leave in a couple of days so I won’t have so much to do when I get back.

I felt sick when I woke up. I have no idea where it came from. I was sneezing all day. I took some medicine and I feel a little better. Hopefully it will fully go away soon because I really don’t like feeling sick.

Today has been a good and very long day. We spent most of the day touring Cachoiera. It was really nice to get to see the the countryside of Salvador. The scenery of the countryside is very beautiful. We got to see another market and stopped by two farm houses. I am grateful that people let us see their houses. The second farm where we had lunch had a very nice house and the environment was peaceful and serene. We left the hotel at 7:30 and didn’t get back till around 5 something, so I feel really tired but today was a good day.

Today we got to tour around the Liberdade neighborhood. Our first stop was at the market that basically sold everything a person could need. It was really crowded and busy there. Two of my favorite places we went was the ice cream shop and stopping to visit a man who paints tiles. At the ice cream shop we did get to sample a lot of different ice creams but I stuck to getting my usually, vanilla, which was good. When we went to see the man who paints tile it was really cool because he has so much beautiful tile work.

We also got a chance to go to a Candomble ceremony that was very interesting. When we got there we were sitting down for a while before the ceremony got started. It was interesting to see the people dancing around the room and transform. The whole ceremony was 3 hours long but, we didn’t stay that long. I enjoyed the part of the ceremony that I did see.

Today was a cool day. We got to have a cooking class where we watched a professional chef make fish and shrimp moqueca. The fish was really well cooked. I might try to make the fish back home. The web design class today went well too. I feel like I’m getting the hang of  the things we have gone over so far. For dinner we went to the pizza place around the corner that I had dinner at a couple of days ago. This time I ate chicken pizza, which I like better than the sausage pizza. Other than that today has been really chill.

 

We went to a capoeira class today. Capoeira is a combination of martial arts and dance. Capoeira is definitely a workout and requires a lot of practice. Some of the steps were easy, but once we started doing different combinations it got complicated.

Being in Brazil has made me want to go after more opportunities. Being in Brazil is a huge opportunity. Having the chance to be here makes me want to have more opportunities like this and also seeing how hard people work here makes me want to work harder towards my goals.

 

Today was a lot of fun. We got to go to a Afro Brazilian dance class taught by Tatiana Campelo. We were told that we would be doing samba, so I was prepared to go in the class get partnered up with someone and do something you would see off of ‘Dancing with the Stars’. I thought the class would be more slow paced ballroom dancing. I was so wrong. The dancing we did was very fast paced, with lots of energy and was nothing like ballroom dancing. I really enjoyed the class and our teacher Tatiana was a lot of fun. I really like dancing and have always wanted to take dance classes. Today has inspired me to look into some type of dance class when I get back home.

For dinner today we ate at a restaurant that was at the gas station. I found it interesting because at gas stations in America if there is food it’s usually Dunkin Donuts, Subway, or some other fast food place. At this gas station it was an actual restaurant that offered steak, salmon, pasta and other food you would expect to see at a fancier restaurant. I got chicken parmesan with penne and fries. It was good food.

When you’re studying abroad it is so easy to forget about the studying part. You feel like you’re on vacation for awhile but now the work starts kicking in and the deadlines (tomorrow) start approaching. I still gotta finish my work, even though it’s not complicated it still takes time.

Also I ate pizza today. I wanted sausage pizza so I ordered “calabresa” pizza. Calabresa is Portuguese for sausage, but it is not the sausage you would get if you were in America. I guess it is a type of sausage and still very delicious.

Today we went sailing. We sailed to two different islands. I’m not much of a beach person but I still had a good time. It was a really chill, relaxed day and the scenery was very nice. I also collected some nice seashells.  I also learned that ordering food when you don’t speak Portuguese can be hard.