Bom Dia! Mercer On Mission to Brazil: Fala Ingles?

This is the most common phrase I have used so far in Brazil, and it means - Do you speak English? To which most people I have encountered reply no. So this trip is already off to a unforgettable start! The plane ride over here was 9.55 hours long, and I only slept about 2 hours of that trip, the rest of the time I was watching movies and eating pretty good airline meals served at weird times due to our departure time. Our flight was really smooth and our smaller connecting flight was not but overall it was a fun experience.

In Vitoria we got out onto the runway

We arrived at the hotel around 12:30 pm Brazil time (and Brazil is only one hour ahead of Georgia) and then went out into the city for a delicious lunch! The place we went to was buffet style and you weighed it at the end - this is a popular restaurant style here in Brazil and it called "self service". I have now had authentic Brazilian rice, beans, and pulled pork with some chicken hearts.... (still unsure about those) and many other great dishes. Lunch was complete with a yummy shot of espresso to give you a kick to finish your day!

I have already fallen in love with the local soda pop, which has the same amount of caffeine as two red bulls and is really fruity tasting. After lunch we took a couple block tour of the neighborhood we will be staying in for 3 weeks to see all of local shops and soak in the culture.
Jet lag hit after lunch and we had a group rest time until dinner which here in Brazil is around 6-8 pm and is a smaller meal - lunch is the biggest meal of the day, just fyi. Anyways, there is a small plaza that is right outside our hotel so every Saturday and Sunday vendors come out and sell food, clothing, jewelry and other trinkets. This was my favorite part of the day! There were so many foods from Japanese noodles and stir fry to traditional Brazilian beans and rice. I ate "dois Boi" which is 2 sticks of steak pieces that were dipped in a sauce that tastes similar to the greek sauce found on gyros with another one of those Brazilian sodas. Everything was so delicious and for dessert I had chocolate filled churro that was heaven on earth! ---Mom I have had 7 bottles of water since landing, so don't worry! --- I digress, one of the most interesting parts so far is the fact that there are very few Americans here at all, so first off everyone stares at us in our American clothes and our large pack of Dr.Spears ducklings. But when a few of us separated from the pack to explore, we were able to have real conversations with the people through broken English and very poor Portuguese on my part, but they helped us learn more about their culture and their language.

So that is basically the end of day one and we are winding down and gearing up for the first day at the school tomorrow. I am so excited and cannot wait to see more of what this country has to offer (and to eat more yummy exotic food).
Until next time, Tchua
Alexis