Homestay, classes and live in Salvador

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Trip Start Sep 01, 2008 Previous
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  Salvador, Brazil
Monday, September 22, 2008

I guess I am about due for an update, it has been only two weeks since my last entry but it feels like so much has happened! So for the past two weeks I have been settling into Fazenda Garcia, my new home. I live with an amazing family: I have two sisters and a mother, one poodle, one rottweiler, two turtles and one canary (and a partridge in a pear tree). I feel so comfortable at home and in my funky little neighborhood, my roots have already grown very deep here. The first night I arrived at my family's house, I dropped my bags, had a bite to eat, and and was whisked off by my sisters to this awesome underground Samba club right around the corner. From that moment on, my assimilation into my family and the whole of Salvador has never skipped a beat.

I am lucky enough to live only half hour walk away from school, so I walk most days unless I am running late, in which case I take the 10 min bus ride. I have two hours of Portuguese class in the morning, and two hours of public health seminar/field research skills in the afternoon. I have been making a lot of Brazilian friends outside of my program, so my free time consists of hanging out with them on the beach or at night, chillin' at home with my sisters and gossiping, or working on various school projects. I have yet to enroll in Capoeira...but I will!

My favorite project thus far has been our mapping project that was due today. We had to walk around our respective barrios and draw a physical map of any area that we considered to be "our" barrio. As unsafe of a reputation Salvador has, I feel incredibly safe walking around (day or night) in F. Garcia, probably because there are always people out and about doing their do. As I was taking notes and meandering around the other day, my neighbors came up to me and were all really curious as to what exactly I was doing. I was even invited into someone's house and fed a typical Bahian dish called figado (cow liver). It was probably one of the worst things I have ever tasted, but because it's not proper to refuse food, especially from a stranger, I had to eat about half of it!! After I drew my map, I interviewed my sisters, Victoria and Marta, on their perceptions of our barrio. This spurred a whole conversation about where we live, what types of people live here, and what it means to live in a "third world" country (their terminology, not mine) like Brazil as opposed to a "first world" country like America. I learn so much here every day its absolutely incredible. The today, we all presented our findings (in Portuguese!) to the rest of the class.

Last week we went to a conference on Brazilian transvestites/trans-gender/transsexuals and HIV/AIDS prevention, and this week get to participate with Candomblé ritual. We have already started writing proposals for our independent research project (ISP) that we do for the final 4 weeks of the semester. I have decided to go into the country and research parteiras, the traditional Brazilian midwives. Brazil has the #1 highest c-section rate in the WORLD, and I am attempting to understand why traditional birth attendants are so underutilized, and perhaps to find a way to improve access to natural birthing practices. I still need to refine my hypothesis, but so far that's the rough outline.

Everyday here is such a gem, and probably the reason I haven't written in a while is that I just can't make myself sit inside, in front of a computer when there is just so much going on all around me!!

Até mais- beijos!

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