Today, October 29th, 2011, is the three-month-mark for my stay in Brazil.
For those of you who don't actually know me personally, this doesn't seem like quite the shock.
For those of you who do personally know me, this is quite the number.
Three months. Already. Já.
The funny thing is, I'm still in the adaption phase. I'd think that after three months my brain would actually start processing the differences/changes. No such luck. My intellectual self understands these differences perfectly, but my subconscious/whatever self apparently doesn't. Thankfully, my skill at eating pizza with a knife and fork has improved, although only in the most unfortunate of times (read: most of the time) does the fork slip on the plate causing the pizza to nearly fly away. But that's usually funny, so it's allowed.
Money
I went to the mall the other day to buy index cards and a notebook and spent 20 reals. I was like, "What? I spent R$20 on index cards and a notebook?" And then I remember that R$20 only goes as far as about $10, so then my panic subsides. And honestly, I don't even remember how much three packs of index cards and a notebook costs in the United States. I have, however, been actually trying to calculate my finances, and I'm definitely spending more than I would at home. But that's because I live in the city and actually have places to spend my money.
English
I'm losing English. Seriously. When I type I'm making more typos than normal. I still retain all of the specific rules/quirks of the language (don't end sentences with prepositions, subject-verb agreement, adverbials, etc, etc), but I have to look more carefully to make my English more correct.
My vocabulary is also shrinking. I was reading a book and saw the word "penultimate", and I recognized it, but I couldn't remember the meaning. For those of you wondering it's the second-to-last thing in a sequence. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is the penultimate Harry Potter book.
School
I am finally starting to get real grades in school! On Monday I have a Physics test...yeah. I understand everything that goes on during Physics class because I had AP Physics, but I can't do the problems unless I guess how to do them. Angel of reflection equals angle of refraction, then we complete the triangle, then I think you take the sine of this.... It's not that I can't do Physics, but it's that I can't do Physics.
I now know everybody in my class by name (or I think I do), which is good, and which brings me to my next point.
Portuguese
It's improving. A lot. (This is good.) I can understand people much better, although speaking is still more difficult. I find that it's easier speaking Portuguese with people I know don't speak English...I think that's somehow psychological. Generally, this means with AFS and the select few kids in my class that don't speak English very well. There are two girls in my class that I understand almost perfectly, although I'm not entirely sure why, because I don't talk to them any more than with anybody else. I'm also understanding more of our lectures, save for Philosophy and Mathematics. But History? I gotcha covered. There's one class that covers all of my history jokes and I have to make an effort to restrain myself from laughing. The best part is, since I've already had this material, I understand it. I suppose my brain fills in the holes.
I have excellent reading comprehension, but listening is much more difficult. But we're making progress. Those index cards I mentioned? Vocabulary words. I need to get more...
Momentum
My life has slowed down a bit. Ironically, I barely remember anything from the past month. The first month is fraught with vivid memories, but the past month blurred by. Funny how, when you're in constant motion, your memory performs better, but when you try to take things one at a time, it fails. My internal timeline is becoming kaput.
Tonight I'm planning on going to the movies with the other exchange students to celebrate our three-month milestone, but my calls aren't going through. I can never understand anybody over the phones here in Brazil, although I'm not sure why. I shoulder probably figure out how to work the volume controls.
Hopefully, this is going to be the end of me neglecting this blog. I still have to talk about Sao Paulo, and that was a month and a half ago. Good thing I still remember that!
Tchau vocês.
