Let the games begin!
On Tuesday and Wednesday, instead of normal school, we had the "Jogos Internos" in honor of the Olympic games. In other words, it was like "sports day" type of thing which most importantly meant no school! Also, rather than going to the Colégio Villa Lobos (my school), we went to this sports club called ADELBA. My usual batch of friends decided to sit this one out since I guess they didn't find sunburns and losing at all the games to be very appealing...plus, I don't think emos like the sun very much...(yes, there are emo Brazilians! They deny it, but I know one when I see one, :P )
In any case, as wonderfully athletic as I am (which is, not at all...), I decided to go. After all, I'm the exchange student, and I only have less than a year, I can't afford to say "não".
Well, for the games, my class was "Greenquipe", and we lost quite badly. Plus, we had to wear these horrendous, fluorescent green shirts. As a matter of fact, when someone handed it to me the day before, I could only just gape at it in a mix of horror at the oversized montronsity. However, I couldn't stare too long, since it would end up blinding me.
So I woke up, with second thoughts about going, since I really REALLY am not a morning person. But I ended up going anyway, and the first game up was volleyball, so all of a sudden, I get there and people drag me to a sand pit with a net, and pantomime to me to take of your shoes.
And I know some people must be thinking "Oh, Sherise, you've played volleyball before, you did really good right?" Uh...not quite. Remember...
- I'm not athletic
- I'm not a morning person
- I'm not athletic in the morning
- It's been about a year since I've even touched a volleyball
So, needless to say, I got benched rather quickly, and we lost anyway.
But the boys were even worse...the soccer game was very painful to watch. I began to wonder if they were planning on getting the ball away from our goal at any point...just saying...it might of helped...
Other than our less than outstanding performance, I never realized that people in other classes recognized me. Usually, I blend in until I speak, but I guess word of that American girl got around. But that's cool, it's nice to meet people outside of my usual entourage. And while very immature, the people in my class are really quite funny and very much crazy as with seemingly everyone else in the school.
Oh, and nothing is more hilarious, than when they try to speak English (well...except for my awful Portuguese, of course...) The Brazilians seem to have certain predispositions in Pronouncing things. As a result, you have teacher sounding like "cheacha" and beach sounding like...um...a female dog. And then they can't figure out why I am always laughing in a conversation about the beach.
Anyways, if all else fails, to get a laugh, I usually start singing one of two songs that are very important to Brazilian culture.
The Book is on the Table
Beber, Cair, e Levantar
And now you're probably wondering what the heck that was...Well, in Brazil. Lot's of times, people take English classes in school, but they aren't very good. However, the first phrase everyone seems to learn is "The book is on the table." I don't know why, they just do. So, I dare you to find a Brazilian and say "the book is on the table" without earning at least a smirk.
As for the Beber, Cair, Levantar. Well, bar is Portuguese for...bar. And I think the rest of the video is self explanatory with the lovely stick figure movie. And I swear I am not a drunk over here, it's just a very popular song. :)
Anywho, in other news, in the aftermath of the Jogos Internos, apparently, I have a boyfriend. I have absolutely no idea who he is where this came from. But apparently, you are not supposed to blow kisses at random people. Oopsie! So now I guess I have a boyfriend/stalker... I am still getting used to this culture. Everyone runs around kissing each other on both cheeks, but if you blow a kiss it means something? And here I thought I was just saying hi. Lesson learned.
For now, I'll use my innocent gringa americana status, and pretend that I don't know a thing until it all blows over. Ah, these crazy kids! Was I that boy crazy at 15 and 16 too?
Anywho, all in all, I had a great time, but now I'm back to regularly scheduled school...Lord help me. I am so lost. But I am happy to say, that it does get better every day. I can almost understand the words coming out of the teachers' mouths. But my listening comprehension needs a lot of work.
On the bright side, I can ready pretty okay. Yay Spanish class, the Latin stems that exist in English, and words that look the same in both languages like decorations=decorações or computer=computador.
Originally published at Countdown to Out of Town. You can comment here or there.
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