Cultural stuff

FENNEART RECIFE is a cultural event in Recife. It is huge, and it show cases art, food and music from different regions from Brasil and also the world. It was great because it was traveling to every souvenir shop in Brasil. I went to the event with Vivi and here aunt. All the things in the pictures have some sort of cultural significance that I forget now...

Work

In case someone is wondering. Kind of started. No pics. Hard to explain. Will update sometime next week. Love writing in short sentences. Its late need to goto bed. Still lots of other things to post about. More fun and pics next post!

Whats with the radio here?

All they play is Michael Jackson here. Is Brazil radio stuck in the past or something? Its like he died or something ;p Oh well, at least my friends here get a kick when they see me bust a moon walk to the crotch grab.

myspace layouts

AIESEC plan

So a new thing in @ Brasil is to do a yearplan with the entire LC. It was located in Aldeia, a few kms north of Recife. I think it will be the closest I get to going into the jungle. It was a two day event and involved workgroups, cross-portfolio meetings, games and of course partying! I meet a lot of great AIESECers. The girl I am with in the picture is Vivi. We became really close friends and she will be in most of my upcoming posts.

Party!

Well I still haven't started work yet because most of the people from Coque Vive and Neifma are on vacation. Soooooo..... Party time! I went to Bar UK on tuesday night with some AIESEC friends and random couch surfers. I met one of my hosts that I will be staying with near the end of my trip and all I can say is that it will be trouble (we both enjoy Tequilla!) It was a pretty good night, A Brasilian cover band was playing American rock music and they were very entertaining, The lead singer reminded me of Iggy Pop. Sorry no pics.

I stayed at a really nice apartment near the beach, but sadly by the time I got up everyone else staying there had left so I decided to head back to my host family instead of going to the beach. That night to shake off the partying from the last two nights I decided to take it easy. I went to a town called Orlinda with Victor and he showed me where the Carnival takes place and a sweet house I can stay at when I come back for Carnival. I tried Tappioca (not the pudding) and then headed back to Recife. Then we did the Brasilian equivilent of street hockey! Except it was in a cage at an apartment building.
Friday night I went to Jaja, a Forró dance bar. It was ok, I learned how to Forró dance, it is kind of like a two step, very easy. After Jaja I went to an after hours bar called the Garage. It is called the Garage because they fix cars there during the day. It played international music and is very underground. It was awesome! One of the coolest Bars I have ever been too.

Whats up?

Ok, so I was suppose to leave on the first of June. Didn't happen, visa problems, I can thank Canadain Customs for that. Well about 4 weeks later and a changing my ticket 3 times I finally sorted out my visa problem and made it to Recife.

Im here now and trying to catch up for lost time. I was picked up at the airpot by Victor, who I am staying with now. First thing we did was a little sight seeing. After we went to his Grandmothers for Sunday brunch. There was so much food, I had rice and beans with pork "Feijoada " and tried some ice cream made from fruit growen in thier front yard.

After we went to a bar to watch U.S. vs Brazil. I told my host Family that I eat anything and they tried to get me with galinha do coracao (BBQ Chicken hearts). Thinking about it right now I wish I could have some. Here is when Brazil tied the game 2-2




Here are some pics


And of course I tried some Cachaça!

First

This is my first post. I would like to welcome everyone who will follow this blog. I have not left yet, so I have nothing very interesting to put here, so I will talk about the trip in general.

I calculated that my flights will be 21 hours long from Montreal to Recife with 3 transfers. Luckily, cocktails are free on international flights and I will bring some movies on my mp3 player to pass the time, so it won't be so bad.

I leave Montreal on June 1st and will arrive in Recife on the 2nd. I will be staying with 4 different host families during my 10 week stay and I can't wait to meet all the wonderful people that are willing to let me stay with them.

My work consists of two different jobs. First I will have a traineeship with a non prof called Coque (cocaine in Portuguese) Vive. Links to their blog and website and you can find them on youtube. Basically, it is a new media project trying to change the perception of the children from Coque, a Favela (slum) near Recife by using blogs, videos and photos. The second task I have will be to learn and work with the local AIESEC (the exchange program i work with) in Recife on projects, events and anything else they need help with. I know this might sound a little confusing right now but it will become more clear as this blog grows.

I will also be documenting activities outside of working aka goodtimes and parties (I will keep the pics PG-13). After writing all of this I can't wait to write my first blog from Brazil.