Language is fun, part Portuguese

Hi! I am in Salvador, Brazil, for the summer. I could promise a blog post later where I explain that in more detail, but we've all seen how up-to-speed my blogging is, so I'll just say I'm here for field research for my PhD.

Few people in Salvador speak English. Thus I am learning Portuguese (and I fear harming my good French and obliterating my crappy Spanish at the same time, but whatever). Each language has its weirdnesses (yes, even English, you just don't notice them until a non-native English speaker asks why you say X or Y and you have no idea).  Remember how to count in French/Dutch? Among other things in Portuguese, I've learned the days of the week (should have gotten a gold star, I KNOW!). They are:

Monday= Seconda-feira (second-feira)
Tuesday= Tercera-feira   (third-feira)
Wednesday= Quarta-feira (fourth-feira)
Thurday = Quinta-feira (fifth-feira)
Friday = Sexta-feira (sixth-feira)
Saturday = Sabado
Sunday = Domingo

Feira means market. It seems to be a religious thing that Sunday is first, but weekdays are second through sixth market day. It is more confusing than it sounds, I promise. Try to remember what day of the week it is, then add 1 and translate it to Portuguese. Yup. They also abreviate the days as 2ª, etc., so you see shop hours listed as :

2ª a 6ª, das 9.00 às 18.00

which is fun when your best guess is that the shop is open five days a month....

Ouch

From a comment in a journal:

Well...

I haven't posted in way too long.  Now there's too much pressure to come back with something good, so instead please enjoy the song I'm currently obsessed with. Bonus gorgeous scenery.

Hairsicles

Today I learned how fast your hair freezes when it's 10 degrees F (-12C) outside: fast. Very fast. Less than 2 minutes fast.

Interest level: None

Hahaha I just found this in a paper:

I assume they meant that they have no competing/financial interests, but that should have been phrased a mite differently...

One reason not to buy socks at the grocery store

They might say "no nonsense" across the  toes. Just maybe. 

Yup, everything is bigger in CT

2.5 lbs of local honey. Mmmmmmmm

Monster veggies?!

It being Halloween month, I thought the monster reference was well played. I accept your virtual applause. 

Last week I got the biggest leek I've ever seen. Why, you ask? Because it was the smallest leek in the store. This week, it's another smallest-yet-biggest. Voila epic Napa cabbage:

 It wouldn't even all fit in my biggest pan! Am I crazy, or is this thing actually massive? I thought I had had enough veggies back in the States to be used to it, but I'm confused now...

Random architecture

Such a random architecture assortment: The biology castle, the biology tower, and The Whale.   They call it The Whale at least. I get more of an upside-down Viking ship vibe...

Toilet paper math is iffy

Note to self: do not let theoretical future future children learn math from toilet paper packaging...

I'm not in Georgia anymore...

Exhibit A

Verdict: Approve!

Exhibit B: there is no Tony Chachere's cajun seasoning in my grocery store. 

Verdict: Fail Connecticut, FAIL. 

Calculus and coffee stains

Grad school round 2 has officially begun... Don't judge my math, calculus was a while ago!

The end of one great adventure and the beginning of another

Please excuse the inexcusably cheesy title, but that is exactly what I’m going through right now. My relatively short adventure on Reunion Island has ended, yes, but this is also the end of my great nomadic adventures of late. I’m starting a decidedly less mobile adventure, but one nonetheless—my PhD, during which (among other things) I’ll live in one town for at least four years, and this apartment for at least one.  Throughout the transition I’ve been alternating between being thrilled that I can finally settle down and panicking that I have to finally settle down. What if I don’t like something? I can’t just deal with it for a little while and then run away, never to return. I have to deal with it for a long time… 

But it was time to move on, so here we go! Sorry, there won’t be any more pictures of cool fruit for a while. I’ll have to figure out how to make this blog interesting while I’m doing less exotic stuff. For now though, I am happy to report that so far I love my apartment, neighborhood, school, and all the people I’ve met here. Let’s get a couple of weeks into school and see how I feel then!

In honor of the end of my great 3 year walkabout, a few things I won’t mind not having to constantly think about:

-the date format

-the time format (24 vs 12 hours)

-which paper format I need to use for this Word document (Europeans don’t use letter, obviously, because inches are evil. The use A4, which is just different enough to be annoying: 8.26 x 11.29 inches versus 8.5 x 11)

-The metric system. It makes more sense, yes, but converting between the two is not good for my brain. Or things I’m baking when I forget to convert and BURN THE EVERLOVING CRAP OUT OF THEM. I’ve also realized that I can only think about cold temperatures in Celsius and warm ones in Fahrenheit (growing up in Georgia versus Swedish winter?). I am a mess.  

- What a comma, space, or period means when writing numbers. Is it a decimal? A thousands separator? None of the above?

-Where the *?!/#& a given letter/symbol is on a French keyboard. Seriously, look at this thing. I would frequently need literally at least a minute to find something. And moving the As and Ms? That’s not ok, I use those a lot. On the other hand, I can type mu with one keystroke? Really? That's kinda cool... Useless, but cool. The fact that I can type a British pound symbol but not a Euro one, is less cool.

-‘Where is my passport??' Phrase guaranteed to cause a few seconds of panic, even if you absolutely know where it is.

-Getting/having a visa/residence permit

-Language! I love speaking French and do it well, but man it’s easier not to have to think about every single sentence that comes out of your mouth.

-Random questions about Texas (the world is utterly fascinated with Texas)

-The general love/hate relationship with the US. Endless accusing questions about wars and politics from the same people who go starry-eyed talking about visiting New York…

-“You know where Florida sticks out the bottom? It’s the one above that.”

-Making an entirely new set of friends every 3-6 months.

-The guilt of not doing anything one weekend. When I’m only in a country for a couple of months, I feel I MUST do/see something each weekend, which is exhausting. Here I have time. In fact, I should really slow down and relax and settle in and not see everything at once!

What several of these come down to is that I am ready to be in my own country for a while.  When abroad, you’re often The American, or more generally, A Foreigner. People hear your accent or origin and define you around that. You’re immediately and always “other” to a lot of people. Every time my boss on Reunion introduced me to someone, she started with “She’s American,” like that was my most important characteristic. That of course was not the case with close friends, but with many people you meet, me being American was the extent of the relationship. I am excited that I can finally be me, known for what actually matters about that.

Anyway, there you have my thoughts on the transition.  Stay tuned for the list that I’m sure is coming of things I miss about living in the US! The grass is always greener…

Spaghetti Pie?

So it's not all awesome adventures in tropical fruit here. I've had lots of weird adventures in food too. Mostly successes, but a few rather impressive fails. Take these for example:

They look innocuous enough, right? Some kind of desserty something? They're made of manioc, which I've learned can be either acceptable or a totally weird mess. I didn't understand the difference between the several varieties of manioc pies this woman had, so I pointed at yellow and brown. Yellow was blended to uniform consistency and tasted like nothing but the coconut flakes she sprinkled on top, yet managed to conserve the weird rubbery-gluey texture that is manioc.

Brown, however, was quite a surprise: When I bit into it, I discovered that it was spaghetti-textured! That was unexpected. And weird. Too weird. It again tasted like nothing except what can only be described as "mildly bad," but the texture flipped me out. I don't like spaghetti, and this looking like spaghetti but tasting another kind of bad was too much. I couldn't even look at it!

Try manioc for the experience, sure. Just don't get manioc spaghetti pie... I think I'll stick with fruit from now on. All of the less than one week that is "from now on."

Adventures in Tropical Fruit 5

I swear I do other stuff here than eat fruit. And the other things generate pretty pictures too. I will get a real post together sometime. Probably.

But for now, more fruit! I got this one on Mauritius actually (yes, I had a holiday away from my island that most people come to for vacations). I don't remember what the fruit is called there, but here it's called a kaki. Which I just googled and is persimmon, which I've heard of!

It looks like an orange tomato, and is very fibrous (soft fibers, but noticeable) on the inside. It's a really interesting flavor, a bit sweet and almost nutty, kind of like squash. I feel like a fake foodie snob describing it like that, but it really did have a weird/interesting taste. Recommended as an interesting one to try! Disclaimer: I just read that you're not supposed to eat the skin (oops) and that most people think it tastes like mango. Maybe mine was a different species or... unripe/rottenish? Like I said, interesting. Has anyone tried any version of persimmon before?

Adventures in Tropical Fruit 4

I bought more passionfruit. WHAT? Try them, seriously, if you ever get a chance.

I did branch out though. Guess what this is.

Hint: It's one of those things that's more technically a fruit versus one that goes in a fruit salad. [Aside: Love that quote: "Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in your fruit salad." Miles Kington]. No, it's not a tomato.

Giant tropical avocado! Same general idea, only BIG. And weird. It's much less dense than ours and with less flavor. Kinda watery in both texture and taste. A definite eh--our version wins.

Good thing I have lots of passionfruit!

Adventures in Tropical Fruit 3

Remember how your mom always told you it's what's on the inside that counts? She's right. This wrinkly brown thing that looks remarkably like excrement:

is a passionfruit! You in fact chose the wrinkliest ones (they're at the right ripeness stage). This fruit, the fodder of dreams of tropical islands and the associated cocktails, is clearly never pictured from the outside in people's heads. But the taste does not disappoint--cut it in half and you immediately get a whiff of the tropics, and as you eat the crunchy seeds (we're talking corn kernel crunchy) and pulp with a spoon, you close your eyes and enjoy. Wouldn't want to catch a glimpse of the outside while you're eating... Delicious! My favorite so far.

Update: Adventures in Tropical Fruit 4: Yeah, I got more passionfruit :)

A balanced dessert

Balanced meals have lots of colors, yes? Am I doing it right?

Guava jam, lychee honey, and Nutella. Ignore my last question--I know I'm doing it right!

Adventures in Tropical Fruit

There is so much fruit here I don't recognize. Seriously, Google image "fruits réunion". What even is most of that stuff? I'm trying to figure it out. Whenever I go to the market (has to be the Saturday one, the grocery store has nothing interesting) I buy something I don't recognize and ask what it is and how to eat it. The first time I did it, I got a bag of goyaviers, which were at perfect harvest timing:

They look like baby pomegranates! Cute. According to the guy I bought them from, you peel them and eat the mushy inside. They're good--tart, but nice. Tons of seeds, which I didn't know to eat at first, but turns out you do eat them, which makes the fruit much more worth the effort. I recommend them if you get the chance. I do not however, know what they might be called in English. Nothing gives me a translation other than guava, which isn't right--goyavier seems to be Réunion-specific. Just eat the small red fruit in May, ok? So that's one thing to do with them. Another, according to the lady who walked up while the seller was explaining this to me, is to chop them in half and throw them in a bottle of rum for three months. I liked that idea too, so I now have my own rum arrangé brewing! I'll let you know how it is in a couple months. I just made this this morning (yes, this morning, no I don't know why) and it's already bright red... Scary or future delicious? TBD. So that was Adventures in Tropical Fruit 1. A smashing success.

Adventure 2 is an actual guava. A white one, which I was unfamiliar with.

It looks like a pear and smells heavenly (yes, it smells so good it warranted that cheesy an adjective). The guy who owns my apartment here has a disgustingly smelly old dog that the apartment usually smells like, but not while my guavas were in the kitchen! That powerful. You know how strong dog smell is. Anyway. I haven't ever had guava in another format than juice, so I don't know if the white ones are like the pink/red ones.  The texture is pear-like, but those seeds will break your teeth! I was really not impressed with the taste. It was like a bland pear, which isn't a fruit I love even when they're good.  So I wasn't going to get those again for eating anyway. Maybe for the smell.

BUT, since Saturday I have developed a truly fabulous bright red itchy lumpy swollen rash all over my neck and around my eyes. I am a sight to behold... The doctors (benefit of working in a hospital, instant access to many) said it's an allergic reaction, likely to food but maybe sugar cane flower, which has started blooming. The only new food I've had is the guava... My itchy cranky ass is therefore calling Adventures in Tropical Fruit 2 a bust. Guava is evil.

UPDATE: According to the doctor I saw today (again, benefit of a hospital) the allergic reaction is due to something I put on my skin, not food. So guava may not, in fact, be evil. But the white one still wasn't very good. So there.  (I'm still itchy and swollen and cranky, an you tell?)

Just some apples

I went to the market for apples. Only apples. I came home with this.

"This" contains no apples. It does, however, contain what will soon be the first installment of "let's figure out this tropical fruit I don't recognize!"