countdown posted

Sorry those of you that were following my blog, I fell off the map. Life has been quite eventful since I last wrote. I don’t really remember the exact order of events but Ill give it a swing. Well since the 27th of May. After we returned from a trip to club 'HIT' (Salvador most chic bar), where someone thought it be a good idea to get bottle service, I came home and passed out, completely forgetting that we had an Afro-Bahian dance class with the Dance Prof. Nadir Nobrenga. I fought through my hangover and danced until I couldn't any more.. Plus I just felt kind of stupid watching her dance and trying to be that good. I found my way the mall that weekend where I noticed how high American products were here. Brazil is notorious for the bootlegger, so you must be extra careful the tag says 'Nike' not 'bike'. Needless to say I brought a Bahia futbol jersey which in the states probably would be really expensive. The next week June 1st, it was mommas birthday, like every thing else I took for granted; I miss her more than expected.
I don’t know if religion is something they really want us to know about, but once again we found ourselves in a hot classroom , being tortured by Condemble(or however you spell it)... common guys.. Enough is enough.


On Thursday on yet another trip back from Pelo where I bought a charming sunga (Brazilian man bikini). We decided to get some drinks and hang out at Lindsey's pool until 2 or 3 in the morning, forgetting that we had to register with the federal police... Friday morning I ran out the house leaving behind a form that Clara( our administrator) gave us at the end of the boring lecture... so an hour later I’m pissed to find out that I have take another 3 hours from a 'free' day to come all the way out her for 1 form. This unfortunately was the marker of my luck going sour.

I was feeling a bit off on Friday but I forced myself to go out with Will, Katie, and Emily to the restaurant called San Antonio. Will and I get in the cab... to where, says the driver... I reply the San Antonio restaurant not the church. He drives around for like 20 minutes and where do we end up... you guessed, San Antonio... Favela...
I tried my best to explain to him that I send restaurant... but he gets on his litte walkie-talkie thing and says.....blablballbalblbla'estados unidos.... 5 minutes later asking us to get out of the cab and into another cab... which i thought was fine because he was starting to piss me of... He then proceeds to ask us for his fare... I said in clear English ' this is bullshit, I’m not paying you anything!" he must have understood that much because after that he bargained with Will. So after finally arriving at the bar I sat down and ordered some drinks only to notice I was missing something... My freaking cell phone! And my keys. So I tried to drink enough to maintain high spirits and when I couldn't take it anymore I went home and fell asleep.
Sat. morning when I woke up, we all went to Praia do Forte... a small town about an hour and half from Salvador. The general feel of Praia is tremendously more relaxing than Salvador. To be honest, this type of town I would much rather study in. All the locals know each other, there is apparently less poverty, no starving kids following you around asking for food or money. Upon arriving we were guided around the actual fort and then led to our hostel. Where I felt unusually tired... I climbed in the hammock and slept for nearly 4 hours, only to awake with a throbbing headache and a fever. The rest of the group was busy gearing up to go out, but I just didn't have it me. After taking 3 Tylenol and drinking a ton of water, I felt much better and dragged myself out. We ended up at this Mexican restaurant where a duo of two natives where performing American pop music. I thought they were good given the fact they don’t really know English, so Scott and I left tips. After we left we went to Souza dance cafe where I was starting to feel woozy again... I was dragged onto the dance floor by Clara until I got sick of pretending when I went to have a seat... I ran into the guy who was singing at the restaurant... It turns out that he is a self taught English speaker and very nice... After toiling around the bar I went back to my room and passed out... I awoke feeling the chills a bit but I wasn't going to let that stop me from snorkeling. It was one of the most interesting experiences of my life to be face to face with the same fish you see when you are at an aquarium. After I got out of the water my fingernails were beginning to turn blue... I went home and decided to sleep it off, only to awake with yet another fever. I thought maybe if I ate something I would feel better so I began to walk. Nothing I saw seemed good enough, I bumped into Daniel again and he noticed that I wasn't looking that well, so he offered to take me to the hospital. When I arrived the nurse took my temperature and give me and injection of Dipirona Sodica. The doctor saw me and concluded that it was 'nothing serious' he wrote me a prescription and sent me one my way... Daniel had been by savior that day so I offered to buy him lunch but he refused ...We had subway and met up with the group he invited us to come back to Praia anytime, saying that he would take of us. After that we hung out at the beach and finally caught the bus home.
I could sum up the week of the 8th to the 14th (today) in one word... HELL
Didn't go to class at all. Missed out on a test and a paper. In and out of the doctor’s office everyday.. host mother feeding me greasy salty food...host mother forcing me to eat it by feeding it to by hand doing the little airplane thing...Stressing Girlfriend out... making Girlfriend hate me...isolation... trying to communicate in Portuguese well enough to explain what’s wrong....missing home... etc.

And here I am today hoping things will get better...

Until I am motivated again...
Tchau