THE BEGINNING

Wow. So much has happened since I left the marvelous US of A that I don’t even know where to start! The flight was longggg & the Rio airport was a royal NIGHTMARE. Basically I spent the entire time running around & waving my ticket in the air & hoping I would find someone who speaks English to help me (I didn’t). I got through security at 8:55 & somehow managed to make my 9:05 flight to Salvador. The weirdest thing was that Brazilians taking the same flight were walking up to the gate at the same time as me & were just completely nonchalant while I’m hardcore stressing out. But I guess that’s pretty indicative of the whole lifestyle in this country. Everyone is all about being laid back & relaxed.

Continuing – I arrive in the Salvador airport & find the CCS (Cross Cultural Solutions) driver to pick me & 3 other girls up & drive us back to the center in the VW van. We could see some of the slums & what they call the “undercity” but obviously, we didn’t drive through it. Even so, the poverty is unreal & widespread beyond anything I have ever experienced in my life. The city around 2.7 million people and more would estimated that at least 60% are living in poverty.

We got to the center, unpacked & ate a delicious lunch...I think it was especially delicious because it was about 1PM & I hadn’t eaten since 5:30AM. It was rice & beans, veggies, vegetarian something-or-other, bread, & tons of fresh fruit, which seems to be the standard type meal. Luckily, I’m completely fine with eating the same thing over & over. After that, 5 of us girls decided to walk around & see what there was to see. (By the way, roads here are way confusing & people honk all the time & drive like they are crazy & don’t stop for pedestrians & don’t obey the very few stoplights/stop signs that exist) We ended up running into a really nice Brazilian man who spoke Spanish, & the woman who was with us also spoke Spanish, so he ended up touring us around the city for two hours, which was so awesome because we got everything for a resident’s perspective. He even drove us through the undercity, where we saw a child passed out on the side of the road half-way unclothed. We were horrified, but our “tour guide” simply pointed & said “crack” as if it were completely common to see something like that. That little boy is the kind of image that will haunt you for a very, very long time. After that, we hit up a café & sweet shop near the center which had delicious cappuccino. Unfortunately, it seems like everyone here drinks espresso or nothing at all, because I’ve yet to find normal coffee, but the center had coffee this morning which is a definite plus.

At dinnertime & bunch of new people showed up including one of my two roommates, Bethany, who is really awesome just like pretty much everyone here. I guess if you choose to come on something like CCS, that has to indicate good things about your character. A bunch of us went out last night but tried to avoid the “prostitute bars” for obvious reasons. Going out in a big group was fun, but I wouldn’t want to travel anywhere alone, ever.

Today, we woke up early to hit the beach which was beyond beautiful & quite crowded. At high tide, the beaches are non-existent because the water reaches all the way to the walls which block it from flowing onto the street. It’s definitely hot & I HOPE I managed to put on enough sunscreen to keep from burning, but I’m sure time will tell. Everywhere we go, I feel paranoid about getting robbed & about the fact that I am American. Men & boys (& even some older women) are all the time saying things to me about my eyes & hair & I have no idea what they are saying. Of course, the older women are much, much less creepy. So far, no Montezuma’s revenge, but we ate for the first time outside of the center for lunch, so hopefully I won’t regret that decision. Also, everything here is cheap & no one on the beach uses towels, only sarongs, so I’ll probably be buying one veryyyy soon. We’re hoping to go shopping sometime this week. Tomorrow morning we have orientation & a tour of the city starting at 8:30AM & we start our placements on Tuesday. 4 other people are working at my placement – I’ve met 2 of them, both guys from Dallas, Texas who seem extremely nice & are staying for 6 weeks. I’m definitely one of the youngest here if not the youngest, so I’m generally just not publicizing my age. The vibe seems to be that most people are 21-26 but no one really seems to care about specifics. You are from where you’re from, but there is only so much to talk about when it comes to that.

I could go on for hours but it’s naptime. (Sorry for any typos - I'm exhausted) On another wonderful note: I just noticed everything online is in Portuguese. This is going to be interesting.