Brazil - Initial Thoughts

Evil friends of mine are orchestrating a clandestine plot to extract me to Brazil. Oddly, this trip will coincide with my birthday. Strangely, the thought of spending my birthday with good friends on Rio De Janeiro's Ipanema stretch of beach is appealing to me. While the evildoers secretely arrange hotel accomodations, day trips and interesting people to meet, I am learning what I can about Brasil; language, culture and otherwise. You know, I could get used to going to foreign countries for free :)

Initially I was a little concerned about travelling to South America, having heard horror stories from friends that have been to Chile, Peru and Venezuela. However, a lovely Brazilian couple I met through my friend Noeha assured me that Dallas is more dangerous than Rio; Sao Paulo they claim is another story. Basically Rio De Janeiro is Brazil with training wheels. Yay!

Ebay. Click. Portuguese Language CD. Click. Snipe, win, buy. $4.99 via Paypal, click. Receive, open and learn. Portuguese is an interesting language. It looks and sounds like a blend of Spanish, French and Italian. That I know pieces of those languages is both an assest and a liability. I find at times I am slipping into "French mode" or "Spanish mode". Oh well, my goal is to be able to speak and read better than any Brazilian 3 year old by September! :)

More about Brazil later, I must yoga.