Off to a great start in Brazil!

I'm Shannon so of course I pulled an all-nighter out salsa dancing with Jessy, leaving just enough time to run home and shower before my flight to Brazil. We went out to eat as a family (okay, it's Jessy's family but since they're the sweetest people in the world, they act like I'm a part of it now, too) earlier that night. We talked and talked and we made a big toast thanking each other and wishing each other well, looking forward to the next time we'd see each other. In total, I'd ended up spending well over a month in Jessy's house during the time I was in Peru and she became a very dear friend of mine.

The flight went well and my awesome friend, Miler, came to pick me up at the airport. The poor guy waited over an hour for me because of terminal confusion but then drove me to the city center where we had dinner.

I'd read online that Brazilians will find it a bit strange if you order a dish without meat here and I very quickly learned that that is, in fact, correct. We had a little trouble finding a place with what he called "healthy food" since he said he never eats it, but we found a small restaurant that had side dishes of rice and veggies and such so we decided to eat there. I know next to nothing of food types, portion sizes and traditions in Brazil and I have my food issues so I decided to order a salad and a side of beans for dinner and a fresh fruit juice. Oh man...the waiter's face? Priceless. Miler was doing all the talking and I just watched in complete rapture. The waiter was seriously SO confused by my order. The no-meat thing? A little strange but I think he could handle it. Beans WITHOUT rice?!? Apparently unheard of!!! Beans or rice alone just doesn't make any sense in Brazil. In the end, I ended up having to order rice (even though it's a separate dish on the menu) because otherwise life just wouldn't have been right in that restaurant. Hilarious. :D

Speaking of hilarious...Miler. Apart from being a wonderful and generous person, he's hysterical. He had me giggling from the moment we left the airport, giving quite an interesting tour of the city as we drove through, singing and making me laugh and discussing things such as his favorite word in English: bitch.

After a while, Bruno came to meet us. The three of us walked around the streets a bit and stopped in a pub to hang out and chat. The conversation was mostly in Spanish, for my sake obviously, since they're both Brazilian. My favorite part? Miler was talking to Bruno when he got stuck and turned to me and, somewhat frantically, in English, asked, "How do you say Friday in Spanish?!?" I died laughing. As if Bruno wouldn't have understood if he'd said it in their native language rather than Spanish! I guess it's just weird to switch back and forth once you've started a relationship in one language; it seems like the person you're talking to will only understand you in that language whether that's true or not. Or it's like when you're translating for someone or switching back and forth between languages and you turn to a person and accidentally speak in the wrong language. Either way....totally understandable but hilarious.

Afterwards, Bruno drove me back to his house. He is the SWEETEST. He carried my heavy-ass backpack and spoke either Portuñol or really slow Portuguese for me all night which, I'm sure, was a giant pain. When Jessy had originally asked him if I could stay at his house for a few days, he'd said he was remodeling so there was nothing there and that it was messy but that I could if I wanted to.  We got to his house and he gave me a key, the only bed in the apartment (yes, he slept in a sleeping bag on the floor in the other room the whole time I was there), bags of groceries and toiletries that he'd bought just for me and then stayed up til 2:30 a.m. explaining things to me (our language issues slowed our conversation down and my lack of knowledge of Sao Paolo didn't help) even though he has to get up just three hours later for work.

The people I'm with when I first get to a country make all the difference (just like my Mexican family the day I met them, Jessy the day we got to Peru and Jooyeon when I first got to Korea)...and these are the nicest guys EVER. = Loving Brazil.