Walmart in Spanish

On Thursday, we had our end of orientation dinner at a restaurant off the water called El Bistec. It was pretty nice. The set up was upscale Buffet. There were lines for main dishes, carne or pasta, then little finger foods/sides like quiche, meats, and cheeses, and there was a chocolate fountain with some fruit. So Good. I didn't know anything about the restaurant beforehand, and I'm assuming a lot of other students didn't either, but we all instinctively dressed up. It was a nice night. I was tempted to give a speech, but I decided not to go there. I'm glad orientation is over though. Meeting everyone was great, but now I'll have the chance to use more Spanish, being away from the bulk of other American students and having my schedule to keep me busy. Oh, here are the classes I'm taking:

1. Yoga for Actors and Ballerinas
2. Audiovisual Language
3. Spanish
4. Theatre Workshop
5. An Editing Class I forgot the name of

I'm also going to play on the volleyball team Tuesdays and Thursdays and maybe work at a theatre. Working on those.

Today, I had to go to Western Union and the options were 1. Backdoor Western Union on a shady side street 2. Western Union counter at Walmart. The ride was about an hour, I think and I took two busses, but I felt extra accomplished, just figuring out which street to catch the bus on. While I was on the bus, I put on my glasses to make sure I didn't miss the street, then a few minutes later, I looked down to find my bag unzipped. I tried to stay calm, but my heart was beating about four times the normal rate. Just a few minutes earlier, I had been going over how to prove I was American if my passport was stolen and now my bag was open. I checked my bag for my wallet, and when it was there, I remembered that I had just taken my glasses out and forgotten to zip it back. *wipes forehead* *pays attention next time*

Receiving counterfeit cash here is very common, so they tell us not to pay taxi drivers in large bills (if you dare trust a taxi driver with your life) and to break large bills at major places, so I took a stroll around Walmart and took this opportunity to buy some exotic Oreos. As Americans, we are seriously missing out on the Oreo Scene. It always amazes me how companies choose which varieties of their products they'll offer in different countries. For example, dulce de leche and banana are both very popular flavors here, so that makes sense. We don't really have that at home, but triple decker? Americans would totally buy those. The ones above are triple decker chocolate, triple decker regular, golden, chocolate chocolate chocolate, and banana/dulce de leche split. I'm going to look into the price to send them home. After that I picked up a snack:

"Papas fritas y fanta naranja, por favor"
"Veintitres. Brasilera?"
"No, Americana" *sonreir*
"Ah" *sonreir*

Thoughts:
*I wish my family could visit
*It would be cool if I were doing the full year program
*Definitely visiting Brazil sometime in the future
*Arrita, do you want to go to Chipotle when we get back?

I hope I don't forget how to drive

TB