Voce pode falar mais devagar?*

Oi! Prazer. Where are you from?
Ireland
What are you doing here?
I am here for my internship. I am a student. I will be here for three months
Where are you doing your internship?
A social enterprise called Sitawi, it helps other social enterprises through consulting and low cost finance
Do you like it?
Yeh its good, but they only have basic tasks I can do because I don’t speak Portuguese
Aw but you speak good Portuguese!
Thanks, but to be honest I don't really - i have a lot of difficult hearing when people speak
You will learn, after three months, you will be a Carioca!
I hope so
Did you manage to see the football game the other night?
What?
Did you manage to see the football game the other night?
What?
Did you manage to see the football game the other night?
Sorry, I don’t understand, can you speak slower?

Replace the last question with any other and this is pretty much how every conversation I have here goes with people I meet here!! I am now a master of 'introduction basics' but otherwise**, five weeks in, still all I hear when people speak is a jumbled flow of nasal sounds and “sh’s”, as the Rio accent goes!!

For the multi-linguals in MPAID this experience probably isn’t unusual for you, but for yours truly - mr lazy Anglophone everyone speaks English so I don’t need another language - this has been quite an adjustment and has made me reach a new found level of respect for the non-native English speakers in our class – you are amazing!

Not being able to participate in work or social discussions & meetings has been a strange experience. For example, I have now accepted that social situations aren’t necessarily for having a good time, but should rather be viewed as a Portuguese learning session!

I have borrowed a bicycle for getting around Rio. Having been to Calcutta the traffic here isn’t as mental as India but the bus drivers in particular are sufficient maniacs that those of you who know my cycling record you will be pleased to know I invested in a helmet (reluctant I as was, given this wasn’t in my already tight internship budget…)

I found a cracker little church here which in addition to joining the choir (am open to any way to learn Portuguese at this stage!) has also allowed me to get involved in the other religion of Brazil – football (I am not in Boston now so can all it by its proper name), although I haven’t ventured to any pick up games on Copacabana yet (don’t want to bring too much disgrace on my country’s football reputation while I am here). Instead, I have taken up boxing as a secondary point of physical outlet for my time in Rio – am hoping this will provide good prep for the upcoming rugby season back in Cambridge!

Brazil trippers – I cycled past our delightful apartment in Flamengo the other day and was thinking of you guys and how it was strange to be back here without you all, but then I bought some fresh sweet popcorn and a Bob’s Ovalmaltine milkshake and felt ok again.

Happy Days and big hug from Rio!
Carioca Chris

* see http://translate.google.com/translate_t my new best friend
** my other lingual accomplishment: I can also now manage to ask for the well toasted fresh bread rolls (one of my favorite things here…) on my daily visit to the bakery, and at the juice shop I can now ask for my cup of Acai to have no lid (my other favorite thing here…) which means I get more juice.