Orientation and meeting the family

And then the program actually started .We all met up for orientation, and the group turned out to have a gender ratio of 20 women to 4 guys. It was cool to meet people, but the names were a bit overwhelming at first. I soon got a handle on the names, and we were all excited to meet each other. The first day we got a taste of what was to come. It was evident from the first class that english is not the first language of the coordinators. While I can hardly blame them, it did mean that they spoke super slowly, making interesting content slightly less so.  Another interesting fact, we lived in a convent. No, not in the figurative sense, an actual convent, with walls and everything. When I was told the curfew, I actual started looking at how hard it would be to hop the fence (actually pretty difficult, it has glass cemented into the wall, and an electrical wire along the top too, I guess those nuns are protected). We had to be back by 10 pm, or they would shut the gates and you would have to wait until 6 am the next morning until they opened it. The way some people were looking at each other, some people were thinking of that as a challenge. Orientation passed without too much event. On our breaks we ......drumroll please...... went to the beach. The water is lovely down there, and I didn't even get that burned, so score there.

I decided to start running again, which is exciting for me. I have a past of heavy long distance running, but unfortunately injuries curtailed my ultra marathon dreams. Anyways, last semester was tough (part of the reason I am glad that I am in Salvador, not with quite as few commitments) so I wasn't able to run. Running is a great way of exploring an area, and I really do want to get to know Salvador, so I was like, why not? And predictably, I dragged along a couple people from my program on some of my runs. For those of you that know me back in college, I have a reputation for exercising, and within the first two days or so, I think I have reestablished that reputation. I suppose there are worse things.

So one of the things we had to do was to figure out what level of portuguese we were in. Now I started portuguese about 2 weeks before I left, and did it intermittently at best. Then, during the travels in Latin America, I was focusing on Spanish. I was in Brazil for a little bit, about 2.5 weeks prior to the start of the program so I did pick up some, so what I was shooting for was to be not placed in the absolute beginner class. The format of the test was a bit surprising. All they did was an oral test. They called us one by one, and predictably, yours truly was the last one to be called. I had no idea what the questioner was saying half the time, but I am generally pretty good at coming up with a circuitous route to say what I want to say. They placed me somehow in the intermediate class, which I am tempted to stick to for the challenge. Although in my class are people who have taken portuguese for a whole semester or people who are fluent at spanish. Whatevs.

One of the nights we went out (or should I say evenings, we had to be back by 10 pm) we were at a bar, and there was a guy who was acting as an intermediary for the table and the bar, but at the time he seemed connected to the bar. Well anyways, this guy is highly gregarious, setting Ray up with a patron of the bar, and laying his arm over fiona's shoulders and kissing her neck (i asked her if she needed help but she declined). Fast forward to when we have to pay the bill. Half the group mentally tallies up what they need to pay, and leave. A few of us are left with the bill and we mentally calculate what we are supposed to pay as well and add that to the pot. Unfortunately, our accounting did not quite add up with the accounting of this guy, and it was a difference of about 30 reales. After about 30 minutes of discussion, and eventually dragging the other part of the group back, we examine his math, and it turns out he is charging us a hefty service charge, is charging the girls who ordered beer an exorbitant sum, and is failing at math to boot. We fix the math, and eventually leave paying him 20 reales more than we should have.

Part of the program was the occasional excursion. We were told that we were going to bale foclorico, and at the time that didn't mean all that much to us. We took a bus to the scenic pellerino.

Pellerino is the historic district in Salvador

And we went to Bale Foclorico

Bale Foclorico was a trip. We weren't allowed to take pictures (sorry), but it was pretty cool. For the first dance, there was a lot of traditional dancing going on. Lots of twirling, interesting dress-ish costumes for both the men and the women. I didn't really understand what was going on in the first dance, there was groaning and rhythmic shaking of the arms, but it was clear that the men were fit. Very fit. Actually, there was approximately an ounce of fat distributed through the entire group of men. And the girls in our group picked up on this fact. The dances became slightly more intelligible as time went on. A fat man did a really cool fire dance, which essentially consisted of him juggling fire. He also quenched the fire in his mouth and stepped in the fire pit multiple times, which at first seemed to be on accident, but he repeated the feat multiple times. 

There were other dances as well, but all fell under the shadow of the capoeira dance. Capoeira has an interesting history, stemming from the need of slaves to have a method of resistance that could be camouflaged as a dance, so picture lots of kicks in a very acrobatic manner. And these guys could kick. They could also flip, do one armed handstands, and in general be very badass. One thing that was a common theme was that they would do proximity kicks, which essentially consisted of kicking inches from each others face, and having the other person kick basically a millisecond behind. There was one ugly moment where one guy missed and kicked someone in the middle of a handstand, and if not for the intervention of the people on stage, there would have been an actual fight.

Fastforward, and all the girls are swooning in front of the beautiful men. They do seem quite happy, so who am I to take that away from them. They were also quite happy to be in the guys presence.

We went out the final night to the pellerino again, where we danced the night away to a live band. We had fortunately convinced the nuns to let us back in the convent by 2 am so we were able to actually return. Returning in of itself was a bit of a venture, as we had about 14 people crammed into a single cab. (albeit it was a van cab)

We were somehow supposed to construct a talent show, and we haphazardly do that. I learn the choreography to the Right stuff, and we have a collection of different dances and songs.

The day of the talent show comes, and after packing we get to actually meet the family. My host mom and dad are there, and while I can't speak much Portuguese at that point, they seem to be quite nice. And then a live band comes, which instantly makes our talents look paltry in comparison.

Here they are

And they grab people from the audience. Mariah is the one in the hat, Britney is in the middle, and the singer is showing them some moves

For one of the dances during the middle of the show, the band starts playing a samba. The singer asks the audience if there are any dancers in the midst, and a call goes up for Jasper, Jasper Jasper. Reluctantly, I get up, and start to samba by myself, although lea, a girl from our group, graciously joins me. We samba, and evidently people are impressed (or at least bemused). After this, there is a running joke about my name, All the host mothers say Jaspero, Ha ha ha --don't really quite get it myself. After all the talent show concluded, the students parted ways, and I was off to my new home for the semester.