Brazil

[Clover]

"Do your ducts seem old-fashioned, out of date? Central Services' new duct designs..."

But no. I. Am going to Brazil. In August. Until June. As a foreign exchange student.

This's been set for a while now... the country, if not the date. The date I just got a few hours ago. And I was thinking, "I should type up something for tcodf or my LJ..." So yeah. My first choice was Japan, but my district said that wasn't an option, and I had a choice between Germany, Thailand, Belgium, and Brazil. So. (They said it wasn't an option, and then I learn a good five kids are going to Japan, and hnnnngh... still sore on that. I know I'll like Brazil... but I have like two weeks' worth of Portuguese experience as opposed to two years' worth of Japanese. Everyone is saying the Brazilians will be all nicer... Yeah. It's cool. I'm cool.)

Anyway. The program I'm using is Rotary International Youth Exchange. Mostly 'cause it was less than $5000 total, and they supply a monthly stipend. If anyone is interested in travel between the ages of 14-17 (if you turn 19 on the trip, you're too old), you should definitely look into it. Like, now, if you want your first choice of countries. (I didn't get into it until like February, which is why I missed out.)

So uh yeah. The date is August 14th, and it'll be my first time flying alone (my second time flying at all), my first time staying away from my parents for longer than a week... my first time out of the continent... (the first time flying was a week trip to Cancún, Mexico, so that barely-not-really counts as leaving the country; it's pretty much americanized. Or slightly-more-mexicanized Texas.)

Anyone have any tips on... packing, flying/airports, Portuguese, gifts for the family... anything? I am totes new to all this and would appreciate all comments. Thanks~! :D

Here, have a picture of a trainer using her metagross as transportation.

 

[Storm Earth and Fire]

If it's any consolation, Brazil does have the largest Japanese population outside of Japan.

Portuguese... 'bom dia' is a standard greeting. 'Senhor' is the same as 'señor', the equivalent of 'sir'. And... I'm pretty sure you already knew that, now that I remember you mentioned actual Portuguese experience. =P

 

[Blastoise Fortooate]

Wow, almost a whole year? I'm not sure that I'd be able to do something like that, good for you.

Good luck, Midnight!

 

[Clover]

If it's any consolation, Brazil does have the largest Japanese population outside of Japan.

Portuguese... 'bom dia' is a standard greeting. 'Senhor' is the same as 'señor', the equivalent of 'sir'. And... I'm pretty sure you already knew that, now that I remember you mentioned actual Portuguese experience. =P

I've learned the bare basics, yeah. (As seen in the Page 51 thread, my closest book was 'Conversational Portuguese in 7 Days!' The title is very optimistic.)

Rotary had all us outbound students (kids from America going out to other countries) attend camp for a week in June. There, my group - Blue 2, all the South American kids - had a Rotex, an older guy who went to Brazil, as group counselor. (This is he. He was neato.)

Anyway, I asked him, "What are the most important words to know in Brazil?" He said, "What I said the most was probably, 'tudo bem?' 'tudo bem.' 'Everything good?' 'Everything good.' After that, 'como', which is basically 'like', and you use it everywhere like you do in English. Also, 'legal', which means 'awesome', 'cool', 'sweet', that sort of thing."

So yeah, bare basics. And yeah, Liberidade, the Japanese community... I've read blogs from Rotary kids that've been to Brazil and been lucky enough to land there... Hopefully, hopefully~ All I know is I'll be someplace within the São Paulo metro area, which totally includes Liberidade. So if I don't get a family there, maybe I'll at least be able to visit! \o/

Oh, how did you know that about Brazil? :o Do you have any experience? Been there? :o :o


ETA:

Wow, almost a whole year? I'm not sure that I'd be able to do something like that, good for you.

Good luck, Midnight!

I'm not sure I'll be able to either! Nah, just kidding. I'm 95% certain I can stick it out. But I was having doubts after I learned I couldn't get my first pick...

But I know the experience will look good on paper, if absolutely nothing else. Also, at camp, they say to expect to be totally fluent within three or four months. So even though Portuguese wasn't a language I'd've chosen to learn (those include Japanese, Esperanto, Chinese, Spanish, and Korean, in roughly that order) it's pretty much a stew of all the Romance languages (Spanish and Italian and French with some Catalan and Galician thrown in and I don't even know what else), so it'll be a good diving board to learn others!

 

[Ruby]

"Do your ducts seem old-fashioned, out of date? Central Services' new duct designs..."

I was sort of hoping the thread would be about this film and not about Brazil the country, but any way, it's incredibly adventurous of you to take a year-long foreign exchange trip having never even left the continent before. I agree with Blastoise that I can't really imagine doing something like that myself. But best of luck!

 

[Lili]

Awww, you're leaving on my birth date.

Congrats! Though I can't believe you're leaving for an entire year. I don't even like staying at another person's house besides my own for two nights. But I hope you have a splendid time!

 

[Arcanine]

Well well, grats on the trip! I hope you manage okay out there.

As for Portuguese, you can say I'm a reliable source of stock phrases, so feel free to ask. The Brazilian variant is not that different, and even if it was, the sheer amount of Brazilian soap operas that air on Portuguese television makes it just that easier to understand. Over there they just grab English words and change the sound - "sport" becomes "esporte" unlike the European Portuguese "desporto"; for a more radical change, "team" becomes "time" unlike the European "equipa". As such, it's not hard for a English-speaker to go for it, at least when it comes to vocabulary.

Expect to be haunted by the verbs though - they are, undoubtedly, the hardest part of the Portuguese language. You got lots of modes, with different times, and every pronoun has it's own verb form. You do the math.

Also, if anyone asks, I haven't shown you this. I happened to stumble on it, and I don't know how accurate it is, but hey, better than nothing.

P.S. I feel your pain for not going to Japan.

 

[opaltiger]

Here, have a picture of a trainer using her metagross as transportation.

That is absolutely amazing. Where did you find it?

 

[Lili]

The Pikachu in one of the cars looks kind of creepy.

 

[Blastoise Fortooate]

That is absolutely amazing. Where did you find it?

Found their DA.

 

[Clover]

I was sort of hoping the thread would be about this film and not about Brazil the country, but any way, it's incredibly adventurous of you to take a year-long foreign exchange trip having never even left the continent before. I agree with Blastoise that I can't really imagine doing something like that myself. But best of luck!

Haha, I wasn't sure anyone would get that. Well, they have a three-week short-term exchange in the summer, but I figured, if I'm gonna do this, might as well go all the way. The fluency is a big plus this way, seeing as I'll probably major in something international or linguistical in college.

I'm sure anyone could do it if they wanted! I sure don't think of myself as 'adventurous', haha. ^^;

Awww, you're leaving on my birth date.

Congrats! Though I can't believe you're leaving for an entire year. I don't even like staying at another person's house besides my own for two nights. But I hope you have a splendid time!

Huh! It's Vixie's birthday too! :3

Even though I don't 'feel' like I'll get homesick, I expect it. They talked a lot about homesickness and culture shock at the camp. It's all like, "D: these guys are weird and everything's weird and wrong D:" and part of the learning experience is realizing that it's not ~wrong~, just different.

Thank you! I certainly hope I do as well. :D

Well well, grats on the trip! I hope you manage okay out there.

As for Portuguese, you can say I'm a reliable source of stock phrases, so feel free to ask. The Brazilian variant is not that different, and even if it was, the sheer amount of Brazilian soap operas that air on Portuguese television makes it just that easier to understand. Over there they just grab English words and change the sound - "sport" becomes "esporte" unlike the European Portuguese "desporto"; for a more radical change, "team" becomes "time" unlike the European "equipa". As such, it's not hard for a English-speaker to go for it, at least when it comes to vocabulary.

Expect to be haunted by the verbs though - they are, undoubtedly, the hardest part of the Portuguese language. You got lots of modes, with different times, and every pronoun has it's own verb form. You do the math.

Also, if anyone asks, I haven't shown you this. I happened to stumble on it, and I don't know how accurate it is, but hey, better than nothing.

P.S. I feel your pain for not going to Japan.

Oh, awesome! I knew VPLJ was a Portu...guese...ian..., but didn't know of anyone else. Okay, let's see... I know 'não sei' for 'I dunno', 'acho que sim' for 'I think so'... how about 'either way'/'whatever's good', and 'I've never had/tried ___ before', as I'm sure I'll run into a lot of new stuff. :o

Lemme think up my school/Rotary introduction... 'Nice to meet you. My name is [name]. I'm from Texas, and I'm seventeen years old. I have two younger brothers and one dog. I enjoy cooking and learning languages. Thank you.' 'Muito prazer. Meu nome é [name]. (or is it 'chama' something?) Sou do Texas, e estou dezessete anos. Tenho dois irmãozinhos/irmãos mais novo (which sounds more natural?) e um cão. Eu gosto de cozinhar e aprender línguas. Muito obrigada."

Man. Gendered nouns... so many tilded As... and who knows when to drop 'eu'. >| portuguese.

Thank you! :O I hadn't thought of that, but it's real helpful! :D Aw, did you not get to go to Japan sometime? :<

That is absolutely amazing. Where did you find it?

Xikaze linked it from 4chan sometime and I saved it. :3

The Pikachu in one of the cars looks kind of creepy.

I figured it was a doll or something |B

 

[Storm Earth and Fire]

Oh, how did you know that about Brazil? :o Do you have any experience? Been there? :o :o

Nah, I just watch travel shows. xD And I have a Brazilian friend.

I wish I could go. Now you've got my envy.

 

[Arcanine]

Okay, let's see... I know 'não sei' for 'I dunno', 'acho que sim' for 'I think so'... how about 'either way'/'whatever's good', and 'I've never had/tried ___ before', as I'm sure I'll run into a lot of new stuff. :o

"Either way/whatever's good" would be "tanto faz" or more literally but also works "qualquer coisa serve" (but now that I think of it, it may sound a little aggressive in the sense you don't really care about it). The other sentence depends on what you're talking about: food would be "eu nunca provei disso antes", but could be "eu nunca experimentei (algo como) isso antes". Between parenthesis means "something like", so you can say "I never tried/experienced this before" or "I never tried/experienced something like this before".

As for your presentation, it's mostly correct, but:

Muito prazer. Meu nome é [name]. (or is it 'chama' something?You can say "Eu chamo-me [name]", but the way you put it sounds more natural. At least in Brazil.) Sou do Texas, e estou tenho (I don't blame you, everyone has problem with this) dezessete anos. Tenho dois irmãozinhos/irmãos mais novos (which sounds more natural? Since the suffix -inho is meant to represent something smaller, you can use whatever you like) e um cão. Eu gosto de cozinhar e aprender línguas. Muito obrigada.

 

[The Meme]

Congrats. Enjoy the sweltering heat and public nudity. But have a good time!

 

[Vladimir Putin's LJ]

Congratulations, that sounds really great! I had a tiny taste of what it would be like to be an exchange student when I went to China, and for me personally the most interesting thing was to notice all the cultural differences, and try new food. I've been to Brazil, but it was a long time ago and in touristy resorts, so I can't really say much about the country.

I'd offer Portuguese language services but I see Arcanine has you well covered.

 

[Clover]

Today I need to write four emails, order a police report, read through my insurance documents, begin filling out my visa application, and work on the video for my host family. I think exchange studenting might involve more paperwork than colleging. X|

SO GUYS one of the things my counselor also said was to bring a lot of books! "I didn't have any friends for the first like three months, so I did a /lot/ of reading. I read in class, I read at home; I think I finished off at least a hundred books in those three months." So! I am asking you! to recommend me some books to bring/buy there! (idk how prevalent english books would be there, but I can't exactly pack a hundred books either. Unless... oh yeah, I have the 100 Classic Books ds collection... so yeah, unless I can find some in txt or something... anyway.) Arcanine and Vlad, you can even recommend Portuguese-language books :O

Also musics! Musics to bring. And DS games! And um let's see. I'll be leaving in August (summer) and arriving in August ('winter', if lows in the sixties counts as winter), then going through summer, then leaving in June ('winter') and coming back in June (summer). Sounds like... I won't need many pants or coats. Hmmmm.

Thanks for all your replies, everyone! :D Thanks especially for your help, Arcanine! I might call on you again or VPLJ for help with translation for my video...

The Meme: I live in Texas, I'm already enjoying the sweltering heat |B (and technically women are legally allowed to go topless here! but uh.) Thanks!

VPLJ: Oh, awesome! I'd love to visit China. I'm definitely looking forward to trying Brazilian steak and such...~ Haha, that 'touristy resorts' thing reminded me of this Onion article. Thanks for the offer, I might take you up on that! :x How different is European Portuguese from Brazilian Portuguese? I've seen comparisons to British English and American English, but then in a couple of phrasebooks I've seen "Sorry, I don't understand European Portuguese", so...

Well, better get back to work! Thanks again, everyone!

 

[Clover]

<Midnight> aaaa I just got an email from my host brother
<Vixie> ?
<NWT> mhm?
<Midnight> idk
<Midnight> I think I just hit that "oh shit, this is really happening" thing
<Midnight> before it was like "the way to not freak out is to just take things as they come" but now I am like... aaa.

<Midnight> I was told I'd be in sao paulo state, which is the smallest state of brazil
<Midnight> I didn't expect it to be a four hour drive from the city
<Midnight> my host sister is 18, and the brother is older and comes home every weekend...
<Midnight> I won't be the oldest! :x

<Midnight> I am glad they have dogs
<Verne> puppies :3
<Verne> puppies make everything easier

<Midnight> http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/795/homebb.jpg hmmmm
<Midnight> it's quite red
<Verne> woof
<Zhorygon-Z> it's cute
<Midnight> http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/9269/lins.jpg a town
<Verne> they have froofy dogs
<Zhorygon-Z> the house, I mean
<Zhorygon-Z> but that is a rather froofy dog
<Midnight> http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/6168/petsa.jpg froofy!
<NWT> I like it
<Zhorygon-Z> :3
<Midnight> they have ~three~ froofy dogs apparently!
<NWT> floof :3
<Midnight> http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/341/medadmomisa.jpg as for the family
<opaltiger> Midnight: town appears to have many trees
<opaltiger> that is good
<Zhorygon-Z> pffffffhahahaha eyebrows.
<Midnight> http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/424/momisadadfriend.jpg mom is pretty short
<NWT> they are mostly like
<Midnight> sister looks nice...
<NWT> ">:)"
<Walker> far left visited medicland, that is all i need to know
<Zhorygon-Z> haha
<Midnight> yeah, he said he had an exchange in germany
<NWT> they look neat, anyway
<Midnight> http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/5084/momcooking.jpg and mom likes to cook...

so I am like pulling my hair out and idek. it's probably just nerves and such, but the pictures and everything is like... makes it more real? before I was kind of picturing myself in some amorphous setting with people with ?s for faces, but now that I have details, it's like... whoa.

i am bad at words.

well, now I know what sort of things to buy for! ... sort of. and I should send him a reply. HM. [sigh]

 

[Blastoise Fortooate]

froofy dogs yessss

The house looks nice! And also so do they. I don't know, I would find calling someone else than my mother 'Mom' very strange, but maybe it's different for you? It probably helps that it's in a different language, anyway.

 

[Storm Earth and Fire]

I think exchange studenting might involve more paperwork than colleging. X|

That's irrelevant. Instead of living with 3 strangers and studying and such, you live with a foreign family in a nice country.

And the whole setup looks quite nice. Away from the madness of Sao Paulo itself.

More relevantly, I was actually discussing Brazil on another forum. A Brazilian asked all of us what we thought of first when we think of Brazil. I thought of Carnaval, soccer (football), samba, Cristo Redemptor, the favelas and women. Hopefully you experience more than this. =P

 

[Green]

i'm still mad at them for losing the fifa this year. don't let them teach you football.