Today began as it normally has - got out of bed, had my cafe da manhã of buttered bread and coffee, and all throughout, studying my portuguese. Jeffson told me that the key to getting down the language is knowing as many verbs as possible. It makes sense since if you know the action that's being talked about, you can usually piece together the rest of the sentence on context. So I started off the day with google translate and my trusty notebook, writing down as many common verbs as i could think of. It made for good breakfast interaction - the mom wanted to write down my list too to help her learn english. We spent the next little while teaching eachother how to pronounce the words in our respective languages. It was fun and I think it was a good way for me to learn too. Im impressed with myself - my portuguese progress has greatly improved in such a short period of time. I'm already able to pick words out of sentences and say many different sentences of my own. I can't wait to see where i'm at in a few weeks of being here. I have to make the effort to say as many things in portuguese as possible, otherwise i'll never break out of my english comfort zone. Anyway, the rest of the day was pretty standard. I helped Jeffson with a variety of his tasks for today. We drove around picking up groceries and such - i got to see more of the city and learn more about my host as we talked. I find even simple days like this really interesting since everything is new and different from home. I just noticed today that everyone here tints all their windows really dark - prob to block the strong sun. Also got my first real taste of jungle rain - heavy downpour, but it only lasts for about 10 minutes (what i'd give to have rain like that in Vancouver). Later on in the evening, i was taken out to the church to watch the family and several other locals do their church choir practice. It was cool because the songs they were singing were the exact same as the ones at home, only in portuguese. I'm glad they didn't ask me to sing - i'm sure i would have made them sound terrible. I'm beginning to think though that everyone in Brazil is just born with amazing singing talent - i haven't found one that sings off key at all! On the way back, we stopped by an icecream stand and they bought me a cone - it was a very nice treat after such a hot day. The day finished off on a really cool note - i got my jungle survival training. Not in the jungle though - just in the backyard. Jeffson taught me everything I would need to know for my assignment - yes i have an assignment for tomorrow and it's a big one right off the bat. I will be accompanying 2 or 3 other guides who only speak portuguese and I will have to be the english translator for the group of english-speaking tourists that will be on the tour. Jeffson is busy tomorrow morning, otherwise he would be joining us. Hopefully I do a good job and he gets a good trip advisor review (if he's on trip advisor). Sorry for this pint-sized post today - i usually would go into more detail but i need to sleep - i wake up early for the jungle tomorrow and i'm sure that will be a story to tell! Boa noite!
Here are some random city pics
Hard to see but this is when it downpoured
Nice sunset
Choir practice
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