Pilates, green things, and ice cream every day

We don't have Zika. Yet.

So, you may ask, what are Becca and Sam doing in Brazil? A lot of people would like to know the answer to that question I think, and I don't know if anyone can answer it completely. Here's the short answer: once upon a time we were in the life science building at Byu and we saw this sign that said something like "free donuts and come learn about biology study abroad". So of course we went to it. We'd heard of some study abroad a but they were all very expensive and didn't seem too interesting to us. But then, one of the professors started talking about people going to Brazil and we looked at each other and said, "Maybe we should go to Brazil!" But the applications were due on Monday and it was Friday so we thought it may not actually happen. But we felt good about it and applied. Last month, we spent the month learning how to do biomolecular things and now we are here in Brazil looking for a specific dragonfly...hetaerina! (Officially a damselfly but for those of you who don't know the difference...) it's warm here and kind of like being on a mission except... No curfew and we're way more chill. Here's what's been happening:

We left Salt Lake City at about midnight and got on a plane to Florida without too many security issues. Can you tell that we have no idea what we're getting ourselves into?

Florida was really nice (not nice enough for me to take my jacket off for extended periods) but we ate this nice Italian yummy thing and were disappointed to not see any alligators. Maybe next time. 

I think this is either our last picture in the US or our first picture in Brazil. The airplane was a bit old, but they gave us handheld DVD players so that was pretty rad. 

Someone told me I should record my first impressions right away and this was one of them. Square toilet seats. I don't think I've sat on so many in my life! The flushes were also a bit hard to figure out at the beginning, but now I'm learning:)

You probably can't tell from this picture just how warm it is, but it was awesome. 

Our first taste of Brazilian food were these little egg things they gave us on the second plane ride. I think they're called biscoito de polvilho. Maybe they don't have eggs in them. But they're pretty good. We bought more when we got here to Assis 

Second Brazilian food: pão de queijo. Cheese bread. I like these. I was sitting here innocently eating my cheese bread when a Brazilian man came up and started speaking very quickly in Portuguese. I couldn't understand what he was saying so I just shook my head slowly. He got kind of mad and stormed off but I wish I could have understood what he was saying. 

We took a taxi and then a bus to finally end up in Assis where we are staying temporarily. Our only instructions were to get off the bus in Assis where we would meet Ricardo. Later people from the church asked us how we know  Ricardo, and we told them that we met him at the bus stop. They thought it was a bit sketchy, but Ricardo is awesome! He took us to try pasteles and Lebanese food and the place we're staying and helps us with Portuguese and everything. And he's pretty funny as well. 

This is the view from our roof where we sat and played the ukelele and wondered how we got so lucky to end up here. 

Ricardo took us on a tour of the university forest where they have more kinds of trees than I've seen in my life. He also showed us these gold weaving spiders. The picture does not adaquately express how incredibly magical their webs were. 

This is the orchid growing in Ricardo's parents' house. Apparently orchids don't actually need dirt. Every once in a while whe hangs it outside on the line so it can get water. 

Ricardo took us to the place with lots of cow poo which was perfect for catching damselflies. I think there were more kinds of damselflies in this one place than I caught my entire semester of entomology class. Incredible. 

I don't know what kind of bird this is but I've never seen one land on my roof in Utah. 

Everyone has huge walls around their homes because apparently there are robbers. But we feel pretty safe. We just don't go out alone at night. 

Another cool plant. 

The roads are kind of a jumble of different materials. I think I'm finally learning my way around. 

Once upon a time we took a nice walk to the cathedral. We didn't make it home before it started raining. It rains here like it does in the Netherlands and we got soaked. I don't think we've been completely dry since but it's good:)

For some reason it was very difficult for us to learn the word for smell. There's this flower called the night lady that you can smell in the evenings really well. It's nice. 

Ricardo's mom had a birthday party so we decided to make her American cookies. We couldn't find white flour at the grocery store so we made them extra healthy. The sugar is also different. But they tasted all right and our Brazilian friends liked them. 

This is Sam shooting a bow and arrow at the birthday party:)

Ricardo's mom is so good to us. She helps us learn Portuguese and is so patient with us when we don't understand. She also taught us how to wash clothes by hand. Super cool. 

This is the lab where we work. There's like a thousand cats wandering around the campus. Every once in a while one walks in because someone forgets to shut the door. 

This is the big sign at the front of the university that says don't leave your stray cats here. 

This is a tree they make cork out of. The bark is so soft! 

Sometimes you see trees growing intertwined with each other. I think it's pretty cool. 

One of Ricardo's cousins is a Pilates instructor. She invited us to do Pilates. It was pretty fun. 

She's awesome. 

People here like to eat ice cream a lot. I think we have eaten it more days than not. There are so many exotic flavors! I don't know if it's more because they like it a lot or because they think we like it a lot, but either way, I'm ok with it:) 

Anyway. Life is good. It's warm. It's chill. We're happy. #seeyalaterseeya