Four Lettered Word

It lies not in our power to love or hate,

For will in us is overruled by fate.

When two are stripped, long ere the course begin,

We wish that one should love, the other win;

And one especially do we affect

Of two gold ingots, like in each respect:

The reason no man knows; let it suffice

What we behold is censured by our eyes.

Where both deliberate, the love is slight:

Who ever loved, that loved not at first sight?

-Christopher Marlowe

8 days into my six month venture, I am overwhelmed, sun-burnt, misunderstood, and unequivocally elated.

As Marlowe proclaims, will in us is overruled by fate. I am so consumed by the language barrier here in Salvador that it almost seems necessary for me to be frustrated and consumed by life likewise, but fate has other plans. Everything I do or say requires Portuguese, and thus struggle, but at the same time everything I do and say is making me fall more and more in love with this place. It's out of my hands.

Not to say that I wouldn't love Salvador anyways- the beaches, colorful buildings, history, live music, culture and amazing people would be beyond convincing on their own. But that love, love at first sight? I'm hopelessly gone!


Even so, there are some obstacles for me to overcome. Language clearly being the primary one.  'Acho'(I think), has become my go-to word, if only to reassure the listeners that I DO think, despite my unintelligible sentences. Nobody seems convinced. Given this fault,  facial expressions have become crucial- thank you, SnapChat, for all the practice.

Salvador has a strong nasal accent with a rhythmic way of speaking that will take some getting used to, as well as changing the way that I read some letters ( T, D = J, G; R's are sometimes silent). This carries over to  English words that they use here, such as pop rock music- its called pohp hock, sometimes pohp hock-eh.

Examples (if anyone's curious?)
faculdade(facility)= fah-cool-dah-jay
time(team)= chi-meh
de nada (you're welcome)= jee-na-dah

I also recently learned that Portuguese actually sounds most like Spanish and Japanese, which blows my mind. I can hear it (in the 'ão' sounds which is a nasal, open 'ow'), but apparently it is because many Portuguese people lived in Japan which influenced the Japanese language, and now a lot of Japanese live in Brazil. At any rate, its strange.

Praying that time and practice will improve these struggles. In the meantime, we're still having an incredible time. It's summer in Salvador, high 80s with the possibility and likelihood of going to the beach every day. My host mom, Aurea, is incredibly nice and outgoing, as well as being patient with my lack of Portuguese. I also have a host brother, Junior (joo-ne-yoh), who is fairly shy, but very nice.

My CIEE program has done some exploring and tourist-y things, such as tour Pelourinho, the historical district, and visit the zoo, but it's the nightlife here that's the most engaging.

Salvador is known for its live music- that everyone plays music, there is music everywhere, and its often free. Brazil is winding itself up in preparation for Carnival with festivals and concerts almost every night, and an exhausting yet exhilarating liveliness. Sleep is unattainable. Almost every night I've seen a live show, one of which was a street concert and another was an apparently famous Bahian singer, Sinho Ferray. All incredible.

For our first month here, the CIEE program is only taking language and culture classes ( 6 hours worth each day), so we have some time to familiarize ourselves with Salvador outside the classroom. I think that even in Brazil its proper custom to court whom you're in love with, so these first nights Salvador has wined and dined me. Here's to a serious relationship, a girl and her city.

Saint Francis's Golden Church. Literally, Golden. Saint Francis was rich and gave his money away  to live a holy life, and the people of Salvador honored him with an excess of wealth to represent the wealth of a holy life. I have so many pictures of this because it's incredible...

Elevador Lacerda, which connects Upper and Lower Salvador.  Super old, and good luck climbing without it (I actually don't think you can)