First day!

I am in Brazil! Finally!
I left from Miami yesterday the 6th at 4:30 pm, had a connecting flight in Lima, Peru and arrived in Rio de Janiero, Brazil at 5:30am this morning. I had to wait around in the airport until 10:00 though for the rest of my group to arrive! The alternative was to take a cab, but I really don’t trust myself to be able to do all that in Portuguese yet…so here I am, waiting in the airport.
The airport is such a funny place. Everyone is in transit. I talked to so many people but I’ll probably never see anyone again except I did make one new friend! Her name is Sandra and we sat next to each other on the flight to Brazil. She’s from Columbia (thank god she spoke Spanish) but lives in Rio while she is studying for her doctorate in genetics. We chatted for a while and we drank some vino (wine) on the plane, because I can do that in Brazil! She helped me get through customs and baggage so that was a huge help. She gave me her phone and e-mail so we’ll definitely meet up in Rio which is exciting!
I discovered that I can’t speak Portuguese worth shit. Literally, I went to get some juice from the “Casa de Pao” (A little café in the airport) and I felt like a dumbass. I ordered suco laranja (orange juice) and when the server asked if I wanted jello I drew a blank…I guess jello means ice in Portuguese. Who knew?
I could only hope that I was in the right place because I tried asking for directions but no one understood my half-spanish half-portuguese phrases. I was literally a lost puppy for a good hour and a half wandering around Rio’s airport…it’s huge by the way; I think I walked a few miles.
Something interesting about women in Brazil is that breast-feeding in public is absolutely normal. I’m not complaining at all, trust me…just simply informing y’all of the culture. When I was waiting in the airport there was a group of women standing in a circle chatting with each other, when I glanced their way, I realized that they all had one breast sticking out holding their baby in the other hand to breast feed. Interesting site, completely normal I guess haha.
Leonor met us at the airport and took us to our families! I live in a really hip neighborhood called Ipanamea. It looks like a more health-conscious Key West. When I first got to the apartment a woman name Camila answered the door, she is my host-mom’s cousin. Camila made me breakfast and talked with me for about an hour in PORTUGUESE before my host-mom got home, it was tough, but I did it! This apartment is so freaking awesome. Right now, my “mai” (mom) is blasting the song Tik-Tok throughout the house at a ridiculous volume. Her name is Alessandra Reinoso, she’s 40 and she has a four year old daughter named Bruna, whom I haven’t met yet. This afternoon I ran errands with Alessandra, we walked around the streets and we just happen to be perpendicular to the “gay street” hahahah, lucky me. Alessandra speaks English pretty well, which is good for me because I need lots of translations. Alessandra’s other cousin is living with her now, Andrea; she’s about 35 and she wants to come party with us tonight, so that should be exciting. We’re going to have lunch soon, Tchau!