That Time I Went to the Slammer in Philly

Confession: I got sent to prison while I was in Philly. Clarification: I was told that one of the most popular attractions in the area was an old prison that is now a national historical site, and how could I resist visiting something so eerie sounding?

Eastern State Penitentiary is located fairly conveniently (i.e. a short bus ride) from a bunch of other major tourist sites in Philadelphia. While originally built a bit outside of the city when it was constructed in the early 1800s, the site now sits in an urban area. It’s pretty startling to cross the street from shops and homes and look up and see this imposing gothic structure. (That’s the point, though, it was supposed to intimidate criminals and make them rethink any devious scheming.)

One of the cell wings, which radiate out from a central hub.

The $15 dollar entrance fee gains you access to the site as well as a headset and audio tour. The audio tour, narrated mainly by Steve Buscemi, covers just a small part of the sprawling complex but does a nice job giving the history of the facility and the factors that led to it falling into disuse as well as giving insight into what daily life was like and sharing recollections of former inmates.

The facility was the world’s first penitentiary and was the start of the “Pennsylvania system” of incarceration, which was founded on the belief prisoners should be held in solitary confinement to encourage penitence and reflection, so the cells are very fortified and shaped like mini-chapels. That model became the basis for many other prisons worldwide. However, that system was eventually subject to criticisms, and overcrowding necessitated doubling up in cells, and you can see how the building was modified over more than 100 years in use. The complex has been partially restored in the places open to the public, but there is still a good amount of crumbling walls and holes that add to the site’s historic and gloomy atmosphere.

Al Capone’s cell. He got some perks…

Unfortunately, the day I went it was really cold, but there’s a bunch of areas that on the map that you can explore on your own if your not concerned about losing one or more toes. There’s an escape tunnel inmates dug as well as the cell where Al Capone was held for 8 months, among other neat sounding areas and art exhibits.

One thing I really loved about visiting ESP is that apart from being fascinating and full of history, it also calls on visitors to consider what’s going on the U.S. criminal justice system today. A thoughtful series of large graphs outside in the prison-yard highlight both the huge increase in the size of U.S. prison population as well as other statistics about the racial make-up of the incarcerated population versus the general population and figures that attempt to situate the U.S. experience in a global context. By tracing the changing views on prisons, what they should seek to do and how they should do that, and bringing that debate up to the present, the ESP makes sure that a visit there is not only historically interesting, but also incredibly relevant and thought-provoking.

Giant 3-D bar graph highlight statistics about the current U.S. criminal justice system.

This whole place was awesome. I would definitely go back to explore some of the stuff I missed as well as visit the haunted house they run there every fall! You can’t get much more authentically creepy than that.

Catharis (Or the best way I ever spent a Tuesday night)

Okay, Tuesday. Worst day of the week, right? Yes. Irrefutably yes. Me and science have long agreed on this point.

But. At least for this Tuesday, I found the cure. A People’s Choir. That is, as many people as can fit into a bar singing along to the songs the organizers put on. And not just any songs, but an excellently curated mix of classics and recent hits that you definitely know the lyrics to. (Or at least know well enough to mouth along and bop to, if you have a terrible Dory memory like me)

This month, in honor(?) of Valentine’s Day, the theme, which changes every time, was break-up songs. We began with the ever-classic N*SYNC, sang along to some Alanis Morissette, Paul Simon, CeeLo Green, No Doubt and Toni Braxton (among others) and finished with the most out-of-tune, yet passionate version of ‘I Will Survive’ I’ve ever had the pleasure to sing along with (and awkwardly half dance to).

This is truly the perfect event for anyone who loves Karaoke but can’t hold a tune or fears the pressure of performing. Also, if you’ve recently got so into your shower sing-along jam sesh that your neighbors have complained, I’ve found your outlet.

Upcoming events can be found on Twitter and Facebook. Organizers will suggest a theme, but anyone is welcome to provide song ideas. See you next month?

Eating My Way Through Philly

Philly won my heart because I could tell immediately that it’s a place where people love food and take a lot of pride in what they’re serving you. And it was a breath of fresh air to go on Yelp and rarely see any poorly-rated restaurants because lately I’ve been pretty down on DC’s food scene. Sure, there’s some good restaurants and nice markets, but walking into any restaurant and having a meal is a gamble since the quality varies a lot. And too many of the good restaurants are quite expensive. It’s been a bit of a transition coming from St. Louis, which while probably not generally thought of as a food hot spot among the general public, had a great mix of good restaurants with different cuisines and at varying price levels.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been having this conversation a lot with people, asking what they think about DC’s food scene and trying to understand what makes it a bit underwhelming. Some of the things that come up are: the transience of much of the city’s population and restaurants that cater to tourists or politicians and not to the majority of residents, among others. And as far as I can tell, there’s no real “DC” food or culinary identity, apart from Ben’s Chili Bowl. This article, while almost two years old now, I think really gets at some of the things going on in the food scene here.

Anyway, that was a long-winded way to say that I was stoked to be in Philly with its good food and related traditions. Before going, I got a few recommendations, and people there were equally as generous, offering their opinions on where we could get the best cheesesteaks, donuts, etc. While I didn’t have a bad meal anywhere, the highlights were definitely the meals I had at two of the city’s biggest markets.

Reading Terminal Market

A crazy dessert tower by Chocolate By Mueller, also home of the chocolate-covered onion (maybe next time, I’ll work up the courage to try that…).

A foodie’s dream, this public market located centrally in the city is housed in a former train terminal and has hundreds of stalls of varying types: dessert and candy stalls, Thai food, Indian food, bulk shops, sandwich places, meats, cheese, flowers and anything else you can dream of.

I visited here a few times and had a great turkey reuben from Hershel’s East Side Deli, as well as tried a few sweets from different stalls, but everything looked fantastic. I don’t think you could go wrong. The longest line in the place was Beiler’s Bakery, where you could watch the bakers frosting some of the most delicious looking donuts you’ve ever seen (and this is coming from someone who rates donuts pretty low on my list of calorie splurges).

Italian Market

Paesano’s Arista Sandwich. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Go here immediately and eat a sandwich.

What a wonderful place. The day I went, it was freezing, but that didn’t stop the outdoor vendors, selling fruits, meats, fish and more, nor the eaters, who were braving the cold to eat at stands along the street with no shelter from the whipping winds. This whole area was full of tiny markets, like the wonderful DiBruno Bros., that were selling mixes of pasta, cheeses and meat. And places were packed with people eagerly shopping. Definitely a place where people care about the quality of their food.

And speaking of quality: Paesano’s. They claim to be “Philly style sandwiches with Italian inspiration,” but a more accurate would be the simple “Best sandwich ever.” I had the Arista, which had awesomely tender suckling pig, broccolini, Italian long hots and provolone. It was enough for two meals (had I not been starving) and was only $8. Did I mention yet how much I love the food scene in Philadelphia?

Any places I missed? What should be on my must-eat list next time I visit Philadelphia?

A Weekend Getaway to Philly

So last weekend was the last long weekend for a couple of months (going by federal holidays at least), so a friend and I decided to take a getaway to Philadelphia. Neither of us had ever been, and its a quick and painless bus ride from DC (about 3 hours on the way there, a bit longer on the way back because winter.)

Having never been, we considered our housing options. A cheap hotel? A hostel? Try and find something on Air BnB?

Well, after some checking around and price comparison, we ended up staying a really nice hostel with a super convenient location in Center City, The Philadelphia House. From the moment we arrived, it had a really friendly vibe. A bunch of people, staff and visitors, were hanging out on the ridiculously comfy couch chatting and joking like old friends. The woman who greeted us at the front desk was incredibly helpful and spent a good amount of time asking us about our interests and giving recommendations of places to check out. The rest of the staff was equally as pleasant and helpful the whole time.

The location was excellent as well. We took the Megabus to Philly and the Greyhound out, and the hostel was conveniently located on the Market-Frankford line, which meant both were just a few stops away. It was also a quick walk to all of the main tourist attractions (Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, lots of museums and other historical sites), and a number of bus lines passed right by, making for easy transportation whether we were feeling cold or just lazy.

The other pluses: a free happy hour every night (yes, they have a keg refrigerator and Jenga), coffee in the morning, nice rooms and comfy beds each with charging areas, the fact that the staff was always cleaning so it never felt dirty (impressive when you’re at capacity and have thirty-some people passing in and out), a well-supplied kitchen, reasonable quiet hours (SLEEP), and an interesting cast of characters, including lots of au pairs down from New York for the weekend.

It was the first time in a while that I’d stayed at a hostel, and my first hosteling experience in the United States, and I’d definitely stay there again. The only catch was that the reservation and payment through Hostelworld doesn’t include local taxes so that was a bit tricky because you basically lose your deposit. Booking directly through their website is the way to go.

Can I spot a liar? Nope.

3 of these people are honest, one of them’s a scoundrel, and the other’s the host. Can you tell who’s who?

Can I spot a liar? Nope. No way. No how. But as with trivia (which, despite playing for months, and trying really hard, I am currently batting a .00000 at), being remarkably bad at the activity (in this case, spotting the swindler) does not keep me from wholeheartedly enjoying the Perfect Liars Club.

The set up? Four storytellers, all hilarious, take to the stage to recall something that happened to them. Three stories are true…one is not…

And then what? After each spends about 7 or so minutes telling their story, there’s a brief intermission so you can dissect the stories with your companions. Do someone’s dates not add up? Were someone’s eyes shifting to the left a bit too often? Do you just have a gut feeling that Mr. Mustard did not do it with the candlestick in the library like he claims?

Well, good. Go ahead and interrogate the “suspects.” See if their answers to your doubts are satisfactory.

And then? Then you can vote on who you think is the phony. Chances are, you’re wrong.

Think you could get it right? Check out next month’s Perfect Liars Club at the Bier Baron, a charming location with great beer. But only if I’ve got my tickets already. Cause it sells out monthly.

A Few of My Favorites Places–A Literary Best of List

As anyone who knows me knows, I love books. I love their smell, their texture and their heft, but most importantly, I love their stories, their truths and their insights. As such, some of my favorite places in the world are monuments to books. Without any further ado, here are my top three:

3.  Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, RJ

Royal Portuguese Reading Room

Perhaps the prettiest library (okay, really just room of a library) that I’ve ever been in is the Royal Portuguese Reading Room of Brazil’s national library. Just look at it! From the calmingly perfect deep turquoise walls, to the intricate wooden arches, to the stunning stained glass windows, everything about it makes me want to peruse the shelves, seeing what hidden treasures are lurking. You know that sense of history you get when you find an old book at the library, the one with that slightly musty smell and the yellowing, brittle pages with the rectangular sticker on the back, which takes you back to a time before libraries tracked your reading habits with a barcode and you got to use that satisfying stamp to record the due date? This reading room is the embodiment of that feeling. I don’t know much about it beyond the feeling it gave me being there, but from what I understand, it functions roughly like the U.S.’s Library of Congress; publishers send all published books here and it houses great collections of culturally important heritage (oh, and it’s the largest library in Latin America!) A bit of history can be found here.

2. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Thomas Jefferson Building

This, like the library above, is just a spectacularly beautiful building in and of itself. When I visited, I had a fabulous tour guide who told great anecdotes about the history of the building. For example, the artists who painted and sculpted the building, worked for 7 years without pay. I guess for the honor or the love or art? These long-unpaid creative souls are responsible for the rooms, most of which are themed, with stories on their ceilings and walls. The whole upper level, is a joy to walk around, with quotes about the importance of knowledge and literacy such as, “Words are also actions and actions are a kind of words.”

The building is beautiful, but the real reason this is my number two favorite literary-themed place I’ve ever visited are the incredible collections. The library is a huge complex with tons of buildings, warehouses, and librarians reviewing and cataloguing books, magazines, newspapers and pieces of music (I’m only stopping this list in the interest of space and not causing eye strain–the collections are huge). One of the real treats of the Thomas Jefferson building is (unsurprisingly) Thomas Jefferson’s personal book collection, which he organized according to three categories: Memory, Reason, and Imagination (basically, history, philosophy and fine arts. It’s confusing and made me appreciate the logical Dewey Decimal system, but it’s a definite window into Jefferson’s brain to see how he organized collection. I’m pretty sure knowing how anyone organizes their books would be a bit of a window into their thought process). It  also houses a collection of Hitler’s personal library, an amazing collection of music and, my personal favorite, a collection of writings and artifacts from early American civilizations and the Europeans who encountered them.

1. Borders / My Local Library, Birmingham, MI

As much as I love a good national library, reading is an intensely personal experience. That’s why my number one has to go to the places that I have the most fond memories of–my local bookstore and public libraries! While they by no means have the architectural beauty of the other two places on my list, the contours of my mind are full of great memories in them. I can’t help but wish I had a good picture of the inside of them–their real soul is their book-filled interiors and the kind librarians who can always give me a good recommendation. I can remember summers spent checking out books, filling up bags so full that there was no way I could read all the books before they were due (as if I ever returned the books on time), trying to read enough books to get the summer prizes (the library had great programming!) and knowing my way around Borders like the back of my hand. It makes me sad to drive by Borders now and see it turned into Walgreens and realize it’s harder and harder by my house to find any bookstores.

So that’s my top 3 list of book-themed places I’ve been to so far! What am I missing? Where should I go next?

An Update in 2013

Oops! This is about to be long cause I haven’t updated since last year (WHOOOAAAA it’s 2013 already!).

When I last left you, I was still volunteering with the YMCA social project in Cruzeiro. Julie and I were spending a lot of time playing and chatting with the kids, and working on our “project”. We sent disposable cameras home with some of the older kids and are still waiting to get those photos developed to put together in a book. Sadly, my last day there was the 13^th of December. This was also the first day I remembered to use my camera to take pictures so here are few of my favorites:

Julie and Asgeir with our going-away bouquet.

So I finished volunteering at Cruzeiro, but no worries, I haven’t been bored. The very next day Amelia got here to spend two weeks with me!  We spent the weekend in Porto Alegre and ate downtown and went to a neat art museum. We also walked to one of the really cool parks in the city to go to the flea market there and then we took a romantic swan boat ride (except that only one person paddles the boat and that person was me, so it was less romantic and more sweaty for me.) Alex also put on a churrasco one night for the whole gringo crew so Amelia got to experience eating lots and lots of meat and listening to Shakira ;).

Casa de Cultura Mario Quintana

“Romantic” swan boat ride.

Anyway, after a nice weekend in POA, the following Monday night, Julie, Amelia, Asgeir and I got on a long, overnight bus ride to Iguassu Falls! We got to visit both the Argentine and Brazilian sides of the falls which were beautiful. Actually probably one of the prettiest things I’ve ever seen in nature. Especially the Argentine side (sorry Brazil, but point Argentina) because they’ve built wonderful bridges and pathways so you get really neat views looking down and up and sideways at the falls. Oh but actually I am kind of debating taking that point back now that I remember that the Argentine side had these animals  which are actually terrifying and were running all over the sitting areas and touching people very grossly crossing the human—rodent line of separation. But yeah, overall impression: Totally worth a visit. They were stunning and it’s hard to imagine how they will change as climate change continues to affect more and more natural bodies of water.

OK. So that was our first two days there. After that we spent some time at the Itaipu dam, which is a huge dam that generates the most energy of any hydroelectric dam in the world. It supplies almost all of the energy used in Paraguay and about a fifth of the energy used in Brazil (mostly Sao Paulo). We also took the time to visit the city just across the border in Paraguay. Verdict: Not worth it unless you like having people waving tasers around near you in an attempt to make a sale.

Amelia and I got back to Porto Alegre mid-day Saturday (Asgeir and Julie left earlier to make it back in time for other travel plans) and then had a “Brazilian night out” complete with lots of beer and fried yucca. Alex generously hosted us during our time in POA (big shout out THANK YOU!)  and we spent the next couple of days getting ready for Christmas: Christmas shopping, making decorations, etc.

On Christmas Eve, we spent the afternoon cooking chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables and making Christmas cookies and egg nog. That night Amelia, Alex and I ate a yummy dinner and exchanged gifts. It was a happy holiday 🙂

Christmas Cookies

Wednesday the three of us took a trip to Gramado, the tourist town near the town of Canela where I spent three weeks in October.  The rest of Amelia’s visit we spent just hanging out in Porto Alegre, seeing movies, going to the Mercado Publico and checking out cafes downtown. It was a great visit and was nice to have a little bit of home here for the holidays!

Very early the morning of the 30^th, I got on a flight to head to Rio de Janeiro for a week. I met up with Julie and her older brother Gregg there and we headed straight for the beach. Rio was great—a really pretty city with the contrast of the mountains, the beaches, the forests and the city. We did some hiking, spent some time at the famous (and beautiful beaches), went to a couple museums, wen t on a boat tour of the harbor and visited a fair. And of course we spent New Year’s Eve on the famous Copacabana beach. The fireworks display was absolutely stunning, the best I’d ever seen with fireworks that looked like the Brazilian flag and others that sparkled in ways I’ve never seen before. Rio was a very happening city with a ton of energy. There was a lot more to do than we had time to do and the weather wasn’t great so we had to change our plans a lot so unfortunately I didn’t get to visit the Cristo or Sugarloaf, but I still really enjoyed the trip.

Ipanema

National Park

Me at the National Library

Castle thing where the last ball of the Portuguese Empire was held.

View from near our second hostel.

Okay that was a lot so I’ll stop this update with getting back from Rio. Now I’m back chilling in Porto Alegre, hanging out with Alex, starting some official Portuguese lessons and hopefully finishing up some stuff for the YMCA. I’ll (try to) keep you better posted on my activities here for the last few weeks before I head home.

Hope you’re all having a very happy new year!! Be back in a jiffy! ❤

Uma Atualização

First of all—Thank you so much to everyone who donated money to the project that Julie and I are doing at Cruzeiro! We really appreciate it! We were able to get supplies for our project–cameras, pens, paper, clay, etc.–which will also be great for the Y to have in general. We’ve been going there every day (minus one day spent lesson planning) and finally had our first class this week. For our first class we worked with some of the younger kids talking about important spaces in their community and having them model them with clay. It was a little frustrating because it is hard to keep the kids’ attention, but we learned a lot about how to work with the kids that we will use to make our next class go better and we will start working with the older kids next week!

Julie and Asgeir (one of the other volunteers. From Iceland!)

Kids using clay to model an important place in their community.

Making a church.

Most of my time lately has been filled up by going to Cruzeiro. On a typical day, Julie and I work out until 9:15, shower, and then catch the bus to Cruzeiro. We stay there until 4:30 or 5pm and then head home. Occasionally, there are other YMCA activities that we participate in-the dedication of a statue at the airport, making videos, meeting with the general secretary or having parties thrown for us by English classes!  Today, some of the older kids from Cruzeiro have a street football tournament which is a type of soccer where the two teams agree on whatever rules they want to play by so we are going to go cheer them on. It’s pouring here though so we may only cheer briefly.

Outside of my time with the YMCA, I’ve been trying my best to really explore Brazil and Porto Alegre. A couple of weekends ago, I went to a beautiful beach and got to eat seafood and swim in the ocean for the first time in a long time! And no worries, I wore sunscreen the whole time and there was not a pink patch of skin to be found afterwards J Last weekend was really busy too—I went to my first feijoada (which is slowly brewed black beans with lots of different meat in it—yum!), ran a 10k and made a delicious Thanksgiving Chester.

Happy camper eating Salmon at the beach!

Beach

Feijoada

After the 10k (yes this is after, I know we look shockingly good considering we just ran 10k in the heat)

Once a month or so the kids don’t come to the YMCA and the teachers have meetings to plan the next two months.  Yesterday was one of those days. Julie and I went to the meetings in the morning so we got to see the activities for the next month—they look super fun! Starting in mid-December it will be summer vacation here so the activities at the Y get really fun—water balloon fights, movies, lots of sports and many field trips! It made us excited for the next month and it was nice to interact with the teachers without the students being around. It was the first time seeing each other in non-gym clothes.

Afterwards, we went to have lunch with our friends Alex and Asgeir in an awesome vegetarian restaurant and grabbed coffee in one of the really nice parts of town. As we were finishing our espressos on the patio, a very famous model from the city came in and the restaurant closed the window/doors to the patio so she could have some privacy. It was very exciting and was my first model spotting! After recharging our batteries, we headed to the Catholic University’s science museum. It was super fun and interactive and we got to push a lot of buttons and learn science-y things! A Friday well-spent, I would say.

Dessert at the vegetarian restaurant! Tasted like sweet cornbread!

So that’s what I’ve been up to lately. Tomorrow is the soccer team Gremio’s last game in their stadium, as well as the game against Internacional, their biggest rival. The games when the two teams play each other even have their own name-Grenal-and the city is all about soccer this weekend. A lot of my friends are spending the whole weekend near the stadium or in sports bars. I’m not going (way too many crazies) but I will be watching from the comfort of my home tomorrow with a good cup of tea in hand.

Hope you all are doing well! I’m going to leave you with a link to my new favorite Brazilian song:

Read about our project with ACM Cruzeiro and help us make it a reality!

In case you were wondering what I’ve been up to…

Hello again—

I ended my last post with a cliffhanger–my first live, in-stadium experience at a soccer game in South America! This has been on my bucket list for a while, and I finally get to give it a huge, satisfactory checkmark. The afternoon  of the 3^rd I went with a group of friends to a Gremio game here. It was nuts! Everyone was in blue and since you can’t drink beer at sporting events here, all the fans go and hang out in the streets around the stadium having a beer and chatting with their friends. Julie and I yet again managed to finagle our way onto both TV and the radio by crafting a creative story about our allegiance to Gremio being our sole reason for coming to Brazil and learning Portuguese. Afterwards, we made our way into the game. Gremio won in the last few minutes and it was super fun to hear all the fans singing the team songs!! Needless to say, I’m a Gremista.

Olimpico Stadium, pre-game

The next day was a Sunday, which meant I got to do more fun activities! One of the parks in the city has a big flea market every Sunday so Julie and I got up early to go check it out! I ended up getting this large, chunky metal necklace that I’ve since been putting to good fashion use. Then, I spent the afternoon in the park just chatting with my host sister, an American friend here doing a Fulbright, and one of his Brazilian friends. It was very chill and relaxing. The park culture here is very different. Even though this city has the same number of people as both Detroit and St. Louis, there is so much more movement and activity here. On the weekends, the parks are literally full of people sitting around on blankets, chatting, strolling with their families, reading, playing music, napping, drinking chimarroa, slackinglining, whatever. I love it because it’s relaxing and you’re in a beautiful place, but you also have the energy that comes from being in a place and sharing with other people.

Largest open-air bookfair in Latin America!
Now you know why I came to Porto Alegre.

Random building downtown that I thought was neat!

Parque da Redenção

But Monday, it was time to get to work so Julie and I went to ACM Cruzeiro in the morning to find out what we would be doing! ACM Cruzeiro is in Cruzeiro, a neighborhood of Porto Alegre (go figure) which is one of the poorer areas of the city. The ACM there runs programs for children from ages 1.5 to 18. The kids 6 and under who aren’t in school spend the whole day there in a daycare-like program. The older kids spend either the morning or afternoon at the ACM (students here go to school for half a day) depending on when they are in school. They play sports, have music and art classes, learn martial arts and get to take field trips to cultural activities around the city! The project also provides lunch for every student, as well as snacks. So far, I’ve been really impressed with the program! There is a great variety of activities for the kids and they seem to really enjoy coming!

So what am I doing there? Well last week was our first week (and this week we are only there Mon-Weds), so it has mostly been spent just getting acquainted with the project. Julie and I work out for about an hour a morning and then get to Cruzeiro around 10:30. We spend the mornining in classes in the daycare. I work with a class of 5-6 year olds who are super cute. The always want hugs and to hold your hands and give you beijos (kisses on the cheeks) and it’s adorable because they don’t really understand the concept that people in different countries speak different langagues so I have to explain on a daily basis that I don’t always understand what they are saying because I speak English. Why you ask? Because I’m from a country where everyone speaks English, etc., etc.

We get a lunch break from 12-1 and we eat in the cafeteria at the ACM with the older kids who we spend the afternoon with. At 1pm, they have devotional and then they start having classes for an hour each. We usually each just pick a class and go. There are dance, computer, art, music, gym, math/reading and martial art classes. Sometimes we observe, sometimes we participate, and sometimes we help the teacher with whatever they need. It’s been really fun for the most part and we are getting to know the kids pretty well. We taught them some hand games yesterday and today though so my hands are a little achy because, man, kids have long attention spans for some things. There are also two other international volunteers at the project, one from Iceland and one from Chile, so we are getting to know them a bit. Overall, it’s been a good 1.5 weeks there but we are ready to contribute more so we have been designing our own project that we are really excited for (stay tuned for my next promotional post)!

So that has more or less been my last couple of weeks. Last weekend I went to my first quinceanos which is the big 15 year old birthday party celebration! It’s a mix of a sweet 16 and a debutante ball because it is when the family presents their daughter to society. It was crazy and involved dress changes, emotional speechs, great sushi and dessert tables, hype-men dancers, non-stop dancing until 4 am and flip-flops and personal hygiene materials with the birthday girl’s name and birth date! It was nicer than most weddings and I had a great time!

So that’s what I’ve been up to! Tomorrow is a holiday here so I have the day free. I think I’m gonna go for a run, get some new running shoes and try and see the new James Bond movie. Gremio plays a match tomorrow night in Colombia so depending on my energy level, I may stay up to watch that! Friday we are staying at the ACM Centro to take care of some intercambista business like making videos and discussing future program changes and then it’s the weekend! Hopefully, I will get to see some friends and/or go to the beach! Have a great week ya’ll and happy (almost) Thanksgiving!! Lots of love!

Parque da Redenção