Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Coxhina, Coworkers, and Other Amazing Things

It is week 6 and I have a love/hate relationship with that. It is an odd feeling knowing that I will not be in Floripa this time next month. Although I am from Memphis and attend Rhodes, Floripa and the Universidad Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) have very much started to feel like my home and my school. Still, I cannot deny that I am extremely proud to have made it this far. So, in honor of having passed the halfway point, I am going to make a list of 3 things I love about Floripa:

1. Coxhina. I mentioned it in an earlier post and it still holds a place of special significance.  This teardrop-shaped delight is filed with shredded chicken meat and a cheesy sauce, covered in dough, battered and fried. Perhaps it is my Southern upbringing that called me to fall in love with this food, but it is basically fried happiness, so maybe it is natural.

2. The good people in Dr. Cilene Lino de Oliveira’s Laboratory of Behavioral Neurobiology. Although my Portuguese is far from flawless, everyone is very supportive and kind to me. They once spent all day teaching me how to say ‘colher’ or ‘spoon’ because I could not quite get the ‘lh’ sound that we do not have in English. They also taught me how to ask for taxis and how to say ‘good-bye’ in every way possible! More than that, they have made an effort to include me in extracurricular things. Just last Friday we went to my coworker’s dance performance (we are pictured with her below) and the other girls and I are planning to make it to a futbol game with another coworker of mine.



3. The view from the bus as I go around the highest loop of the mountain on the way to and from school. Although everyone likes to joke about the notoriously erratic bus arrivals, I am only able to see the entire city from this point. The colorful houses sprinkled into the forests, mountain, and landscape are cheerful in the morning and hopeful in the evening. The beautiful lakes that make a figure 8 on Floripa’s coastline glisten a beautiful blue in the morning and reflect the lights of the city at night. Every time I pass it, I am reminded how lucky I am to be in Floripa.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it!

Ate logo!

Cari

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