Londrina
Friday was a day of traveling, but I also got to meet my host professor. Her name is Juliane and she picked Alexa, my co-ETA, and I up from the airport in Londrina. Juliane will be our boss while we are in Brazil. After having time to settle into our rooms in her house, she and her boyfriend took us out to eat at a Brazilian steakhouse. They had a salad and side dish bar and then brought the meat around to each table. They had a bunch of different kinds of meat; my favorite kinds were the fillet mignon wrapped in bacon and some other kind of meat with a garlic sauce. They also had chicken hearts on a skewer that they brought around. I did not try it as it grossed me out, but Alexa said they were really good. After, we went to a lake to walk around and then stopped to get ice cream before heading home.
On Saturday, Juliane made us breakfast and then we went out to explore more of the city. First we went on a walk around the neighborhood. She has a pretty park not too far from her house, but as we were walking, it started to rain really hard. We had to sit under a bus stop for about five minutes, but then the rain was done. When we got back to her house, we hopped in the car to get lunch. We went to a buffet place where I tried feijoada for the first time. Feijoada is rice, black beans, and then a bunch of different kinds of meat like sausage. It was really good and I am sure I will have it a lot down here. Next, we went to a botanical garden. It is just getting started, so there wasn't much to see besides a few trees and a pond. We then went to the mall for a bit. I bought a sweater to wear out later that night but I don't think I'll be buying a lot of clothes here as they are extremely expensive. We stopped at a brigadeiria to get coffee and try brigadeiros, which are basically like truffles. I had a doce de leite (dulce de leche) brigadeiro and a mocha. I'll have to bring some back to the U.S. because I'm sure they will be one of my favorite things here. At around 8:30 we went to an Irish Pub. There weren't many people when we got there but it filled up fast. The live band was amazing and played a lot of American songs. Overall, it was a great night meeting new people and enjoying Brazil.
Sunday was a long day as well. We went grocery shopping as Londrina is cheaper than Apucarana. We then went out to eat at a cute outdoor buffet place. They had live music again with some cute old men singing the Brazilian version of old country. We then went to a lake to walk around. People were jumping off the bridge and swimming next to the dam, which they weren't supposed to be doing, but it was a very nice day for swimming. We then went out for acai, listened to the live band there who played popular American songs, and then went for a walk around that lake. Once we got home, we packed up and headed to Apucarana. The city has about 100,000 people and seems really nice. Alexa and I moved into our room and then met some of our Brazilian roommates. This house is just a house for women, which is nice, and we have seven Brazilian women living with us. We met five of them last night and then the other two this morning. It was a bit overwhelming as I don't speak any portuguese and only some of them speak English, but it will be a great way for me to make friends and learn the language.
Today, I woke up late and have just been relaxing on the patio. The house is very nice and I look forward to doing a lot of reading and working on the patio. Tonight we will be going to UNESPAR, the university, to do a presentation about ourselves for the entire English department and all of the students. I am looking forward to meeting everyone and hopefully I can get started working soon. I have many ideas that I want to share and can't wait to be in a classroom again.
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