First a disclaimer-- I haven't talked to a lot of the people on this list in a long time, so if I've got the wrong address or something, I apologize. Also, if you want on or off the list at any time, please just let me know.

For those who I've been _really_ out of touch with, I'm abroad for a year on a Watson Fellowship (www.watsonfellowship.org) studying cultural dances.

My big announcement is that you can find my new website at www.cs.hmc.edu/~tmartin/ Finally!!! It has pictures, a bit of a journal about my trip, and other random stuff.

Well, I'm now into my 7th week in Rio. Hard to believe it has been so long. A lot has happened, so although I tried to make this short, it isn't. Even more details and ramblings about Rio can be found at the website.

My journey was a bit rough starting out. I got stuck in Atlanta for a day due to a missed connection, and my checked luggage was stuck for an entire week. When I arrived in Rio I was met by a woman who didn't speak much english, and sent to the apartment of my cousin Alejandro's brother in law Milton, where I am now living.

Milton is a loud and friendly chemistry professor. He was annoyed that I didn't speak french, but his english and body language are quite sufficient to communicate. The apartment is small for a house, but rather large for a flat, with three bedrooms, one bath, living room, and a big kitchen. Milton is divorced, and his three kids alternate between one week here and one week with his ex-wife. Bruno is 18 and in his first year at the federal university, Ana (my roommate every other week) and Tiago are 12 year old twins. However, I didn't meet them until the weekend after I arrived because they were at their mother's house. I did meet Milton's girlfriend Mara (who has the most _adorable_ 4 year old son). She has one of those unshakably cheerful personalities which will follow the announcement that she is "absolutely exhausted" with energetic dancing around the living room when a good song comes on the radio. I like her. It also helps that she speaks english and has pulled connections to get me a cell phone, find a samba class, and otherwise help me find resources I need.

After attempting to search for things online (my standard approach to finding information), in the phone book, and travel guides, I've concluded that this approach does not work for Rio. The only way to get anything done here is through connections, and Cariocas (Rio residents) seem to network as easily as breathing. For a quick example, when Marguerite came to visit, we wanted to climb Sugar Loaf. So we spent an entire day looking for a cafe her guidebook said organized trips, but it had gone out of business. However, I mentioned our desire to climb the mountain to one of Bruno's uncles at the twins' birthday party, and he called up a friend who climbed, who gave us the name of a guide, and shortly thereafter we had an appointment for 8am Friday morning to make the climb.

Okay, I've drifted a bit. The day after I arrived, Milton took me downtown to meet my cousin Alejandro. He is actually my mom's first cousin, so I think that makes us first cousins once removed. At any rate, he is a very friendly guy who runs a travel agency organizing ski trips to Chile. His wife, Yana, and brother in law Nerval also work at the travel agency. Nerval has traveled extensively, and is full of suggestions of things for me to do. They all instantly adopted me and have been dragging me along to parties, barbecues, samba schools, etc.

And now I think it is time to go into outline mode or this will get far too long.
1ST WEEKEND- Went to the Ilha do Govenador samba school with Alejandro and family. Started around midnight and danced until nearly 5am. I swear Brazilians are nocturnal.
2ND WEEK- Settling in and shopping for clothes since I only had a few in my carry-on. My checked bag finally arrived, but a bottle of sunscreen had exploded over everything, despite being in a ziplock to prevent this. Getting to know Milton's family and learning a _lot_ of portuguese (Ana asks lots of questions). Avoiding tourist attractions until Marguerite arrives, but enjoying wandering around Botofogo and Flamengo. Went to Ipanema beach with Bruno.
2ND WEEKEND- Caught a flu, stayed in bed all weekend. Not happy.
3RD WEEK- Still feeling shaky from flu, but started walking around again. Got a dance class schedule from the Casa de danca Carlinhos de Jesus. Exciting find for getting into the dance scene. More shopping, which I think is a fantastic way to learn useful vocabulary. Especially since half the store clerks forget to sell me anything and end up just chatting.
3RD WEEKEND- Marguerite arrives! She's staying for 10 days, during which much happens. Immediately after she arrived I took her to Ana and Tiago's 12th birthday party, where we were both introduced to more people than anyone without a photographic memory could remember. Had some really good chocolate cake, and went out in the evening with Bruno and friends.
SUNDAY Ipanema "Hippie" Fair. Lots of cool stuff, but I didn't end up buying anything. Saw a capoeira regional roda and grabbed a flier for the classes, although I didn't actually go until a couple weeks later.
MONDAY We spent the day looking for the escalada cafe and buying clothes at one of the many outdoor fairs. In the evening got a call from Bruno's cousin Phillip and went with him and a friend to walk around the Lagoa. Saw lots of flying fish as they attempt to breathe/escape the polluted lake.
TUESDAY We went up to Corcovado in the morning. Amazing views. In the afternoon/evening we went downtown and attempted to find a Brazilian bikini that might fit Marguerite. You wouldn't think it would be that hard, but after several hours of failure we gave up and went home.
WEDNESDAY Took a bus to Leblon for lunch with one of Margie's relatives. Friendly old Jewish lady. We left our purses and such at her house while we went out to play at the beach.
THURSDAY Spent most of the day at the Jardim Botanico (botanic gardens). In the evening we went to Lapa, the nightclub district. I had previously gone to a place called Carioca da Gema (Carioca to the core), and thought Margie would like it. They have live samba/bossa nova on Thursdays. It has the feel of a really good jazz club. Always packed, but everyone dances anyway.
FRIDAY Our glorious climb of Sugar Loaf! Okay, so we started out going up the steep face, but decided that wasn't the greatest idea, and hiked around to the friendlier side and climbed that instead. Lots of hiking and fun climbing, and spectacular vistas every which way. We were so excited beforehand that I was afraid we would be disappointed, but we weren't. Flavio, our guide, is also a biologist, so we learned a lot about the native flora on the way. Turns out his climbing gym is across the street from Margie's hostel, an ironic twist after our failed attempts to find one.
SATURDAY Went to Santa Tereza in the afternoon after sleeping a lot. Cute bairro at the top of a hill, known for the abundance of hippies and tourists. Then we were picked up by Alejandro's friends and went to Ilha do Govenador for samba. Right now they are choosing the song the school will use in next year's carnaval, and Alejandro's friend, Ricardo, has a song that has made it to the top 7 (out of 31). We left early (3am) because Ricardo wasn't feeling well- he had a heart attack. He was in the hospital for a week, but is doing okay now.
SUNDAY Our day of rest. Margie went to visit more family, and I wrote emails so people wouldn't think I had died.
MONDAY We went to the beach for a couple of hours, and then did last minute gift/souvenir shopping before Margie had to catch her flight home.
5TH WEEK- Realized I had lots of pictures and started making a website. Discovered a bar with a live forro band just a couple blocks from the apartment. Went to a dance at Carlihos de Jesus on Saturday night and met several dancers. One of them, Roland, is from North Carolina and is here doing a three week intensive study of Brazilian dance. Apparently he has set up something like 7 hours of class/day. One of his instructors invited us to an after-hours birthday party for another instructor, so I stayed out dancing until about 5am. We left just as they were bringing out the breakfast buffet.
6TH WEEK- Started taking a samba class at Carlinhos de Jesus. It started off very slow, but an hour of doing the basic movement at half speed was really good for getting it into muscle memory. Next day went to check out the capoeira regional and discovered the Espaco Crianca Esperanca. It's a school/community center for favela kids near Copacabana. In addition to capoeira, they also have a library, ballet, dance classes (and a dance team!), and all sorts of sports, from surfing to boxing. I've been wanting to do something volunteer like, so I came back the next day when the administrators were there and inquired about volunteer work. They asked me to help with the english class, and possibly take it over when the american currently teaching it leaves. Went to a forro club on Thursday and with Roland to another dance teacher's birthday party on Friday. Met a lot of very friendly dancers, and one avid science fiction reader. :) Saturday I went to not one, but two samba schools. First was a feijoada at Portela. Rather than a rehearsal, this is a monthly party where the oldest samba musicians in the school get together and play 8 hours of classic sambas for everyone to sing along with. Then in the evening I went to a Manguiera rehearsal. Manguiera is interesting--it has closer ties to the community than most samba schools, but is also where all the tourists go. One thing is for sure, whoever decided light pink and dark green were good decorating colors was deranged. On Sunday Bruno had a party (while his dad was out of town, of course). It was more like a slumber party- we played cards, people drank beer and grilled me on why american politics are so screwed up, and then everyone spent the night and helped clean up in the morning.
7TH WEEK- Which brings me to the present. I think all of the smoke from the half dozen chain smokers at the party irritated my lungs overly much, because by Monday evening I was in bed with a fever, chills, and a cough. After about 20 hours of delirious half-sleep I'm feeling better enough to sit around writing really long emails. ;)

And thus has passed the first month and a half of my year long adventure. I keep expecting life to settle into something mildly resembling a routine, and it keeps refusing to cooperate. While I am having a fantastic time, I still miss home (both Mudd and Seattle) terribly. Hope everyone is doing well, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Beijos, Tara :)