Or, another week
Hello, and apologies for the lack of posts recently! I have been busy with all kinds of exciting things which I will now proceed to tell you about - albeit in two separate posts because there is just Too Much to fit here. This post is therefore about the 25th May to the 4th June. Then the next one (to be linked here when I've finished it) will be about the 5th June onwards.
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| I've forgotten who this is... a statue looking out over the Bay |
The week of the 25th was very exciting because during it I finished my research interviews. It felt good to complete the main purpose of my trip with two weeks in hand! I have met so many lovely people through the project and hope I can keep in touch with some of them. Now the main task is to transcribe all of those hours of speaking, and do lots of analysis. It should be fun, if rather time-consuming.
I also did a couple more English conversation classes as Malika had gone travelling again. Good fun! But most of my hours were spent at the university until Thursday - including giving a presentation in Portuguese to a class of linguistics students, which was a challenge, but went quite well.
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| The view from my borrowed office |
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| Tools of the trade |
From Thursday onwards I had free time on my hands, so had a very relaxing few days. On Thursday the main excitement was that I went shopping, and ended up purchasing some rather brightly coloured lycra...
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| Jazzy is the word |
Then on Friday I went to the gym (which I've been doing sporadically throughout my time here) and did some transcription. In the evening Malika and I went to watch the capoeirista couple who were taking part in the night's roda - which is a capoeira show or ceremony. Back at the pousada we made brigadeiro, a very famous Brazilian sweet treat consisting of chocolate and condensed milk... with chocolate sprinkles. I'll definitely be making it again at home! It was quick, easy and delicious
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| Brigadeiro - not much left after a couple of days! |
The weekend was also rather quiet. I went to the beach twice, did some transcription, and on Sunday afternoon Malika and I met up with a friend Laís and some of her friends/family for a picnic in Pituba, which was very nice.
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| Picnic goers - although Laís, who invited us, took the photo and is invisible |
From Monday 1st to Thursday 4th June I was much busier. I had decided to make the most of my free time by signing up to attend a syntax conference, UFBA's first
Encontro de Gramática Gerativa. Syntax is my favourite area of linguistics (and what my research is on) so it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss. I won't go into the gory details - I'm guessing I don't have too many keen syntacticians among my audience - but there were some really fabulous presentations from interesting speakers, and I learnt an unbelievable amount in the space of four days. And I got to meet lots of like-minded people - inevitably there was even more syntax chat during the coffee breaks and lunch hours!
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| With my friend Andreia at the Encontro de Gramática Gerativa |
The evenings I spent generally chilling out, talking to people on skype, doing a bit more transcription, and cooking with Malika. One day we made a simple version of
feijoada, which is another traditional Brazilian food - a stew of beans and meat served with lots of rice
and other delights.
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| Yum yum yum |
On Thursday evening I had a slight mishap. Because I was starting my excursion to Rio on Friday morning, I'd been planning to write my blog, sort out various things for the trip, and do an online interview... all of which was unfortunately impeded by a lack of internet. But fortunately I don't think there'll be any lasting consequences. The blog at least has finally made it into the world.
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| Who's a cheeky monkey? |
So there you have it - a quick round-up until the eve of my exciting journey to Rio de Janeiro. Watch this space for the next instalment!
