Brazil Days 8 & 9

Merry Christmas!! Or should I say Feliz Natal!! For these days, Mimi and I celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas at her Tia's house (Tia means aunt). We woke up on the later side, since we got home really late from the balada, and spent most of the day just hanging out and cooking. Celita, Emile's mom, made two beautiful cakes, a banana dessert, plus I taught her how to make sugar cookies. Pretty much everyone who came to Christmas brought food, so there was a looot there!

Some of the food at Christmas Eve

After that, we got ready to go to her family party and arrived around 8. I'm pretty sure we were supposed to be there around 6:30 pm, but Brazilians run on a different time. As usual, Mimi and I overdressed for the party, and I wore an outfit that Celita got me for Christmas, which was very stereotypically Brazilian.

 

When we got to the party it was still warm outside, so we spent most of the evening hanging out at her Aunt's cool backyard. They have a sweet inground pool and nice tile-y counter area with a Brazilian barbecue. It was sort of funny to me; their house was really nice, but they still didn't have a dryer or a dishwasher, which would be unheard of in the US. I also got to meet more of Mimi's cousins. A lot of them are fairly close to my age, so it's nice to hang out with them! One of them also brought a pair of VR goggles, which were being passed around the party. 

Mimi's family

After a while, everyone gathered around for a game of hot potato with a present, but I kind of struggled to understand because everyone was talking over each other, and I wasn't standing by Mimi to translate for me. Anyway, inside the present was some chocolate.

After that, Mimi's family put on a talent show. Most of it was joking and being silly. One of her cousins, named Rafael was twerking with one of her aunts, which was very funny. Some of them also danced samba and did capoeira for the talent show, which was funny because it was really stereotypical. For our portion of the talent show, Mimi, her cousin Luisa, and I danced to a funk song called "Paradinha." It was really bad because we didn't really memorize the dance, but it was still fun to do!

Mimi's cousins: Victor, Ana Nelly, and Sergio

Once that was over, we hung out for a while more until midnight, when everyone gathered around the food and prayed, and then dinner was served at midnight. A couple of Mimi's cousins also jumped in the pool at midnight. 

Next, everyone gather around to do a Secret Santa gift exchange. Since Emile's family is so big, there are too many people for everyone to give gifts to everyone, so they do a Secret Santa, or Amigo Oculto, in Portuguese. It was a lot of fun because the person giving the gift stands in the middle of the circle and gives clues about the person, and the rest of the circle tries to guess who they are talking about. I think it is a common way to do presents in Brazil. When I did mine, it was hard because I only memorized how to say one clue about my amigo oculto in Portugues, but the rest of the circle didn't get it from one clue, and I didn't really speak well enough to try and freestyle one. In the end though, they got it and it was fine! I got flip-flops and a t-shirt from my Secret Santa. I'm pretty sure flip-flops are the universal gift you get someone you don't know very well here because everyone wears them all the time!

Once Secret Santa was over, the party was pretty much over. I spend the night at Mimi's cousin's house, because we were going to wake up really early and watch the sunrise at the top of the mountain by her house called Serra do Ouro Branco. It was her cousin Victor's idea, and most of the cousins went. Going was probably one of the coolest things I've done, here, because it was really beautiful at the top. Also going up was kind of fun because the roads were really rough. At one point, one of Mimi's cousin's car got stuck in a hole, and we had to lift it out.

Once we got back to Mimi's aunt's house, we hung out for a while until about noon, when we everyone came back over for Christmas barbeque, Churrasco in Portugues. The barbeque is really good! The basically grill up meats, cut them up, and you come and take little portions of it when you are hungry. Basically, we spent all day hanging out by the pool with Mimi and her cousins, pretty much doing nothing. At one point, I tried to play a Brazilian card game called Truco, but I was told that it was too hard to learn in one day, so there was no point in me playing. I also tried to teach Mimi's mom how to do the Macarena, but she could not follow it, which was really funny because it's a super easy dance. Mimi's cousins also played a board game, which was basically charades, but I couldn't really participate in that too much. I was put on a team, and technically played, but I fell asleep where we were sitting for most of the duration of the game. 

Mimi, Celita, and me

Later in the evening, most of the older adults left, and some of Mimi's cousins ordered pizza, we played cards, and then watched a movie. One of them asked me if I was ever a Girl Scout, and thought it was really funny that I used to sell cookies, because I guess that's really stereotypical here. Regardless, it was a really fun day and a merry Christmas. It was bittersweet because I missed having snow, a real tree, and, most of all, my family, but I will always remember spending Christmas in the pool.

Boas festas!!!

Emily B :)

Brazil Days 6 and 7

Sábado na balada! Those are lyrics from the popular Brazilian song, "Ai se eu te pego," which mean Saturday in the nightclub. In this case, we spent Friday and Saturday in the nightclub.

On Friday, we celebrated Mimi's birthday by going to Belo Horizonte, the nearest big city. We took a bus there at 8:30 am, and spent the whole morning shopping at a beautiful mall. Honestly, it was pretty much like a mall in America, but with some different stores and it wasn't dying economically. We also ate at a Brazilian fast food restaurant called Giraffas, which serves homestyle food.

After the mall, we went to Mimi's friend Cecilia's apartment, where we met our friend Mariana. We ate some pizza there which had fancy sausage on it instead of pepperoni. After that, we got ready to go to a nightclub called Night Market Rooftop and had a bottle of champaign for Mimi's birthday.

Cecilia, Mimi, me, and Mariana getting ready 

The nightclub itself was only okay because they had a live band singing American pop music, which was sort of terrible. The only good thing about it was that it forced us all to go outside, where there was a beautiful view from the patio. Although, after the band a DJ played Funk, which is Brazilian club dancing music. I've never been to a nightclub in the US, because I'm not 21, so I can't really compare it to one, although one thing that really sucks is that you have to pay for water. Also, people in South America go out way later than people in the US, we left at 3:30, and that was kind of early.

The view from the club

Look at this fancy blue light!! 

The next day, we came home from BH on the bus at like 1:15 pm and came back to Mimi's house. From there, another group of Mimi's cousins (there are sooo many) surprised her. Their names are Victor, Sergio, and Luisa. We hung out with them for a while at her house, before going over to Mimi's family friend's house (Mariana) because we were going to go out to dinner. We went out to a pizza place, where I experienced Brazilian pizza for the first time! It is nothing like pizza in the US, there are crazy flavors and combinations. I tried Zucchini pizza, shrimp pizza, salmon pizza, plus Margherita pizza. I enjoyed all of them, but I still liked the Margarita pizza that I was used to the best. Maybe I'm not as worldly as I thought, or Margarita pizza truly is the best type of fancy pizza.

Zucchini Pizza!

Mimi is the only Brazilian I've seen who
orders caipirinhas every chance she gets :)

Shrimp pizza and Ham pizza!

Shrimp pizza and Margarita pizza! Uau! 

After that, we went over to Mimi's cousin Sandra's house and she took us to a balada in Congonhas. We picked up her other cousin Nicole, and met Sergio and Victor there. It was a cousins night out! Honestly, I liked this nightclub better than the other one, because the music was better. They had a live band too, but they weren't as bad and didn't play as long as the other one. One of the DJs that did a set played a lot of really popular American rap songs, so I had a lot of fun singing along, plus they played more baile funk. 

At the balada in Congonhas with Mimi's cousins

We stayed for a really long time at this balada and didn't get home until 5, which is pretty normal here. It was cool because you could hear the birds chirping. Mimi said that sometimes people throw parties here that last until 8 am, which doesn't happen too much stateside. 

Anyway, that was pretty much my experience with the Brazilian party scene. Stay tuned to hear about Christmas Eve and Christmas.

Ayyy!! 

Beijos!!

- Emily

Brazil Day 5

Hello from Ouro Branco! Today was a pretty chill day.  Mimi had to go to a doctor's appointment, so I went to the pool with her friend Ana Paula. It was like a Brazilian country club, with tennis courts, soccer fields, a gym, and a restaurant in addition to the pool. Chic! However, it was kind of cloudy and the pool water was really cold, so we didn't stay very long. The pool was in a different town called Lafaite (the Brazilian way to say Lafayette).

After that, we pretty much just hung out around the house, and Mimi's dad and two of her cousins, Nicole and Karita came over. Around 7 or 8, more of her family started arriving for a small birthday party for her. It was really fun and nice to hang out with Emile's family, they were very excited to talk to me, even though we couldn't always understand each other. She also has a baby cousin named Lucas, who is very cute and having a toddler around is always fun.

The spread at Mimi's party

Brigadeiro and beijinho!

Happy 20th :)

Mimi's cake and singing 'Parabéns pra você!'

That was pretty much it! Stay tuned for our next adventure.

Emily

Brazil Day 4

Hello again!! On day 4 of this vacation, Mimi, Mariana, and I went to a huge outdoor garden/art museum called Inhotim (pronounced eenyocheem). It was about a two-hour drive from Mimi's house, which was a pretty uneventful ride, except we got a flat tire and had to stop to change it. Luckily, the family friends driving us were handy and had a spare on hand, so it wasn't a big deal!

Once we arrived at Inhotim we began walking through the park. Basically, it's trails and paths through various forest and gardens with modern art exhibits and galleries sprinkled throughout. One of the first things we saw wasn't an art exhibit, but a baby squirrel, which was really cute :)

After that, we went to an exhibit called Tteia 1C by Lygia Pape. Basically, it was nylon strings stretched between the ceiling and the floor of a building and lit to look like rays of sunlight coming through the clouds. It was really cool, or as they say in Brazil, "legal!"

Tteia 1C by Lygia Pape

Next, we went to a scenic building made out of tile by Adriana Varejão. The exhibit was made to mimic a relaxing setting. However, there was one cool sculpture which depicted meat filling up a tile wall, which was inspired by tourists who had been crushed in an earthquake in Rio de Janeiro.

Carnívoras by Adriana Varejão

On our way to the next exhibit, we passed by a giant metal tube you could look through. It was made in a hexagonal shape and of reflective material, so it turned whatever you were looking at through it into a kaleidoscope-like image. It was called 'Viewing Machine' by Olafur Eliasson. We also stopped inside a small exhibit which featured a small room full of mirrors with a video of people ballroom dancing without a partner, while playing music. We tried to use the mirrors to 'dance' with one of the video people, but it didn't really work. It was a really cool exhibit though!

Viewing Machine by Olafur Eliasson

After this, we went to a large gallery by an artist called Tunga. The gallery was 3 stories, mostly of 3-D art, with a lot of metal and glass work. It is really hard to describe the art, but there were a lot of large metal braids! We spent a lot of time in there, not only because it was cool, but also because it was air-conditioned. It was 86 degrees outside and very sunny and humid.

After that, we grabbed lunch at a tiny burger place, where I had a veggie burger. Even in Brazil museum food is way overpriced :). One of the cool things about going here is that I finally got to see other tourists experiencing Brazil. There was actually a group of Buddhist Monks traveling to see a holy Lama teach and we talked to them for a little bit, which was really cool.

After that, we went to a really cool exhibit about the sound of the earth. Basically, the artist dug a 200 m deep hole and placed microphones inside, which people can then listen to in the exhibit. It makes neat grumbling sounds. It's called Sonic Pavillion by Doug Aitken.

Next, we went to a couple of documentary photography exhibits. One of them, by Miguel Rio Branco, explored life in a poor neighborhood of Salvador, a northeastern city where a lot of Afro-Brazilians live. It was sad and vibrant at the same time, and if you have time, I would recommend looking up some of the pictures. The other exhibit documented the life of indigenous people from the Amazon.

That was pretty much it! We came home after that and ironically discovered that we had another flat tire before we left the parking lot. Luckily, the people at the museum helped us fill it up and we arrived safely back at Ouro Branco where fresh Pao de Queijo and clean Dudu were waiting for us :)

Tchau for now,

 - Emily Bettler

ps.: sorry for the play by play of everything we saw at the museum

More pictures!

Brazil Days 2 & 3

Oi do Brasil!!! Mimi and I have spent the last couple of days exploring her hometown of Ouro Branco. It's a cute little town sitting in the middle of some gorgeous mountains. I was still adjusting to the time, so I woke up pretty late and had breakfast with our friend Mariana who has also been staying at Mimi's house with us.

We all went to lunch at a nice buffet, with a beautiful view of the mountains and I tried quail egg. It pretty much tasted like a normal egg, but smaller. After this, the three of us met Mimi's mom at the shelter where she works. A lot of our time here is spent meeting people and catching up with friends. One of the girls that stays in the shelter told me that I don't look American, but I'm not really sure what she meant by that.

View from the restaurant

After that, Mimi had a doctors appointment, so Celita (Mimi's mom), Mariana and I went shopping in the newer part of Ouro Branco. The sales people here are very friendly, and they often seemed very invested in what clothes you were looking at, which is a lot different than the US, although I think that they get some pay on commission. We also went to the supermarket, which is a lot smaller than US supermarkets and has many different foods. A lot of the produce they sold were fruits and vegetables that I had never seen in the US or had only seen the poor quality version rotting away in the tropical fruit section of Target. The mangos here are also ginormous!

Look at those mangos and watermelons!

Goiaba!

Later, we visited Mimi's aunt's house and had coffee and snacks. They had a beautiful garden and I tried a sour berry called "acerola" that tasted like a sour candy. Mimi's baby cousin, Lucas, was also there and was trying to help put laundry on the clothesline, which was very cute.

Acerola

In the evening, we met Mimi's friends from school for açaí, and Mimi caught up with them for a long time. They talked for so long that the açaí place closed and we had to migrate to a restaurant. Mimi and I got caipirinhas for the first time on this trip, and they were very good!

Cheers!

 Something really cool that I also noticed is that the stars look different here! I don't really know anything about astronomy, but you can just tell. At home, I always try and find the big dipper, but that constellation isn't visible in South America, although I did see Orion's belt. I also saw a shooting star, which I took as a good omen of my travels.

The next day, we walked around the old part of Ouro Branco and went to lots of shops again. It was very cute, and there are some cool historical buildings, like a church and a colonial house built in the18th century.

Casa Paroquial

Capela Nossa Senhora Mãe dos Homens

In the evening, I (attempted to) made Mac n' Cheese and S'mores, to have an American dinner. Cheddar cheese is actually really hard to find here, so we used this funny squeeze cheese that came out of a package. With some help from Celita, the Mac n' Cheese turned out pretty good and all the Brazilians were into it. The S'mores were less of a hit, but I don't know if sticky fingers are as pleasant without the ambiance of the great outdoors.

I can't wait to explore more of this beautiful country :)

- Emily Bettler