Are you ready for another installment of Dan does Brazil? This week's
episode finds me in Rio de Janeiro!!! Thank you to those who
complimented my amazing Portuguese. A week later, I'm proud to say I
can do more than ask where the bathroom is and tell someone to take
his clothes off.

Preface: I came to Brazil with 22 other NYU students and 3
professors (one brought his daughter). One professor left with his
daughter after Porto Alegre, leaving us as a group of 25 – 22 + me + 2
professors (F and G). Of the 22, 3 others are from my
program: M, J and K, and only one other student is male.
This is important as I will mention names this e-mail so now you have
a point of reference. J and I have hit it off amazingly well. Our
personalities mesh very well, and though we've attempted to avoid
being cliquey or exclusive, I'll admit we've spent an abundant amount
of time together.

Before we left Porto Alegre, we had one final dinner with everyone in
the group and some of F's family because he's from Porto
Alegre. It was a great night with way too much eating and drinking,
but still lots of fun. My camera is waterproof up to ten feet, and no
one believed me, so I filled a large glass with water dipped my camera
in to show everyone at my table that it still worked. They all were
shocked and appalled that I would do such a thing, and I was so amused
that I decided to play a prank on my professor, F. I walked
over to his table with my friend J as my accomplice. I was holding
the camera while she brought the large glass of water and placed it on
the table next to him without him realizing it. I came up to him
asking to take a photo with him and then "accidentally" dropped the
camera in the glass of water. Everyone at the table screamed! It was
hilarious…I took the camera out trying to calm everyone down saying
it's okay, but they were all so shocked that they didn't know what to
do (I have a picture of F's brother with the most disheartened
and flabbergasted look on his face which I'll gladly share). So, I
dropped the camera in again and the entire table screamed again and
looked at me as though I'd gone insane. I therefore couldn't resist
dropping it in again just to see if the scream would be as loud.
After the third time, F made me stop because he almost had a
heart attack thinking I'd ruined my camera. I love practical jokes.

Airport Hell: Cold, redundant Porto Alegre left the entire crew
wanting for sunny Rio, so we all hopped into the van at 6:30 Saturday
morning in order to catch our direct flight at 8 AM out of the town
and into Rio within about 2 hours. When we arrived at the airport we
waited in line for nearly an hour to discover that our flight to Rio
was cancelled, so they'd redirect us on a flight around 10 AM to Sao
Paulo and then to Rio from there. (geography lesson: that's like
flying from Chicago to New York through Texas). So in our elation we
drudged our tired bodies to the waiting area to sleep and wait on
airport-comfortable benches. When we finally got to Sao Paulo, our
connecting flight, which was supposed to leave at 2:30, was cancelled
as well. So, we were pushed to another flight leaving at 9 PM. The
wait was excruciating, as I'm sure you all can imagine, but
fortunately I had Jane. We arrived in Rio around midnight, exhausted
and bitter toward airports. We told everyone that we got to Rio from
Porto Alegre and it only took 2 Brazilian hours.

J and I decided in Porto Alegre that we wanted to go to a Karaoke
place, but never got around to it. In our desire we decided to
practice a duet that we could sing together at a Karaoke place just to
pass away the time. So, I went online to research the worst duets of
all time and narrowed it down to about 5, and I downloaded them onto
my iPod. Now, in the airport J and I needed to fill our time with
something, so we chose one of the songs to practice. We have spent
the entire week in our free time practicing our choreography and
harmonies. Don't worry, we're going to record it when we perform it
and post it on YouTube for the whole world to see.

Rio is extremely beautiful and all the beaches are open to the
public. Our hotel is a block from the CopaCabana beach and about a
15-minute walk to Ipanema (yes, being surrounded by women, I've sung
"the girl from Ipanema" about 100 times, and I only know 2 lines). We
visited Sugar Loaf (two tall mountains/hills on the edge of Rio with
beautiful views of the ocean and the city). I've been soaking up the
sun's rays since we got here and literally spent 6.5 hours at the
beach on Friday and about 4 hours on Saturday. J, K, and I have
become excellent body surfers. When we time the waves just right,
it's smooth sailing all the way to the shore. I've got the most
incredible picture J took of me sailing right in on a wave. It's
worth all the sand in places sand shouldn't be for that wave alone.
Gotta love the beach!

On the fourth of July there were no fireworks, but Jane and I marched
up to the roof where the hotel has a pool and a place to party singing
the national anthem and waving mini American flags. We swam in the
pool and played chicken fights in blow up donuts while chatting and
taking pictures galore. I brought my camera along and dropped it in
the pool (it's also shock proof) just to give F another little
jolt. Needless to say, I'm becoming the prankster everyone wishes was
not so mischievous. *devilish grin*

The week was spent visiting schools and attending lectures. This
week hasn't been as eventful as Porto Alegre or admittedly as moving.
But it has been slightly unnerving. We visited a high school that was
literally like a prison. The whole place was concrete and nothing was
posted on the walls in the classrooms. They all had fans in each room
because there was no A/C. The teachers were dressed like they were
going to the beach, and the students wandered from classroom to
classroom with no discipline whatsoever. It was interesting to see an
example of what doesn't work.

We also visited a free school where students in favelas (Brazilian
shantytowns) could go to learn a trade. They teach languages
(Spanish, English, and Portuguese), computers, and arts. In the Arts
school they teach students how to make costumes and stage scenery, and
to put on make up for TV, film, or the stage. After their schooling,
they find jobs in theaters and TV studios all over the city. I was
extremely impressed with the Carneval costumes all over and the frames
welded for floats in the Carneval parade.