A Fim de Semana em São Miguel!

Thursday night we left for São Miguel, and we leave tomorrow morning... this weekend went by WAY too fast!!!  There's no doubt that I have to come back, considering this island is huge and I didn't get to do half the things I would like to do here.  Thursday we got in late and were absolutely starving.  We are a solid twenty minute walk to the center of Ponta Delgada (this residencia is out in the boonies, unlike our residenica in Angra), and it was about 1 am, so we were told by the security guard here that our only option was McDonalds.  So we began our trip with a treck to McD's and the first full fast-food meal I've had in years, and definitely the last one I will have for years!! hahah I can definitely say though that European McDonald's didn't make me deathly ill like it does in America, sooo that's a good sign.

Friday we spent the day morning/afternoon walking around Ponta Delgada.  We didn't have anything in the city to specifically see besides the Portas de Cidade (and I still need a picture!!), so we just aimlessly wandered for a few hours.  After that we went to Parque Atlantico, which is the big mall in Ponta Delgada.  I actually really enjoyed walking around the mall and shopping a bit, and even got myself a few little things :)  That night we watched Harry Potter, since everyone besides me has read every book backwords.. I've decided I definitely need to read the books when I get home!

Saturday we took a bus to Mosteiros, a place on the west coast, near Sete Cidades.  The only reason we really went was because it was the only bus schedule we could figure out! It was a cute, quaint little town, but the best part was the beach.  There were beautiful big volcanic rock formations that the waves crash over, and I really enjoyed relaxing and taking in the view.  I ended up filling my small back pack with black volcanic rocks which have green olivine crystals all over them.  I figured these really pretty rocks would be cool little souvenirs, and this thought was confirmed today when my Nena and Auntie Dova were very excited to hear that I had gotten them a bunch!  The last time my Aunite Dova was in the Azores she brought me a really pretty rock, so I knew they would appreciate a simple souvenir like that :)

Today we rented a car to drive around the island and see a few of the sites.  Sete Cidades, the very famous beautiful lakes surrounded by green mountains, were sadly covered in fog and mist, so we were not able to see the lakes :(  Guess I'll have to wait til my next trip to see them!  We did get to see Lagoa de Fogo, which is a similar beautiful lake.  We also made a stop at the Furnas.  Here there are natural hot springs which bubble like crazy because they're so hot! Some of them are so hot that there is just steam billowing out of the ground.  At the Furnas, people cook stews of meat, potatoes, and veggies in a big pot that they stick in the ground, cover with dirt and let cook for hours.  Wish we could've made our own food there, but that was too much of a time committment! Again, maybe next time :)

After we had seen the few sites we were able to reach, we made a stop in Capelas, the town that my grandmother and her family is from.  It was so amazing to finally be in the place that I have heard stories about all my life!  I sadly was unable to find her house because no one ever gave us good enough directions, but it was still worth it to be able to drive through the town.  We stopped by a nearby beach afterwords, and from there I was able to see the massive cliffs and rolling hills that my Nena always reminisces about... it was a beautiful site!!!  The beach was so beautiful and peaceful, with the big black volcanic rock formations sticking out of the water, and that massive waves crashing over them.  I gave my Nena a call, and her and my Auntie Dova were ecstatic to be able to hear the ocean.  My Nena was so happy that she I was able to see "her Portugal", and I was so glad I was able to share that moment with her, even though we are hundreds of miles apart :)

Tomorrow morning we head back to Terceira, and I have to say that after being away for the weekend I have realized how much Angra has become my home away from home.  It hasn't taken me long to love the Azores so much, and I cannot wait until I have the chance to visit São Miguel again!!

Views of Terceira

A view from the top of "Serra de Cume"

As vacinhas!

"hortênsias" which are all over the island!

Breath-taking view of Terceira

Meredith & I on top of Serra de Cume

A road through the interior of the island

The beautiful checkered landscape

two of my favorite things: hortênsias e vacas :)

Another amazing view!

An adorable St. Bernard we met along the way!

Ilhas das Cabras in the background

Hopefully I will put up some more pictures soon, but these are a few from our trip around the island yesterday (July 11).  We had an amazing day as you can see!  LOVE the Azores :)

Touradas e Hortênsias

In case you might not know, "Touradas" refers to bullfights, but in this case I am talking about the small scale touradas that take place in the street!  In the Azores, cities are broken up into "freguesias".  Freguesias are almost like little neighborhoods- they're made up of a pretty small areas as far as I can tell (they are countless freguesias in Angra) and each freguesia has its own festas, touradas, etc.  Several times a day, you can hear what sounds like fireworks going off- these are the way freguesias announce that they have some type of festivity going on.  A few days ago, my friend Meredith and I happened to hear some extremely loud fireworks coming from the freguesia our residencia is near and/or in.  We ran out into the street to find out that it wasn't a festa with dancing, music and food, but a tourada!  Having never seen a tourada, we were both quite interested and excited, so we ran downt he street to check it out.

In these touradas, the bull is set free in the street, but is connected to a rope hoop in its nose so that four men can hold on to it and keep it from getting too out of control.  People fill the streets around the bull, as well as hang out of their windows to catch some of the action.  To get the bull fired up, brave (or crazy...) people will run past the bull, sometimes shouting, touching it, our waving red things such as umbrellas and blankets in it's face.

The experience was definitely something new, and it was exciting to be able to see more of the Azorean culture.  This was all somewhat amusing for about ten minutes, but after the excitement of running from the bull a few times wore off (don't worry, I was pretty far away, but people seem to run at the bulls every move), I started to pay less attention to the excitement of the crowd, and more attention to the bull himself.

I'm sure no one is surprised, but it didn't take me long to feel extremely bad for the poor little bull.  How can you not feel bad for an animal who should be roaming around in a pasture, but is instead being taunted by rude people, in a crowded street?  I almost wanted the bull to chase everyone right out of the entire neighborhood, but I guess the people holding him by the nostrils would've kept that from happening!

Anyways, after Meredith and I realized how bad we felt for the bull, we left the tourada and went back to our exciting life of lesson planning.  I'm definitely happy I was able to see a tourada, and I'm sure the bull is actually treated fine by his owners and the people really mean no harm... but, given what a sensitive person I am, I'm not surprised I had such a reaction!!  Glad I checked another cultural experience off my list, but I can't say I have too much of a desire to see another tourada!

Now for the second part of my title- Hortênsias! Hortênsias means hydrangeas in Portuguese :) I LOVE hydrangeas, I especially love that they are everywhereeee on this island!  Today a few friends from the internship and I traveled around the island.  Not necessarily to see anything to specific, but just to really get to know the place I've been living these past two weeks.  Terceira is very small, and even with the countless stops we made, it still only took us a few hours to get around the island.  We went around the coast for about half the trip, and then ventured in for a few stops.

Today was by far the best day I've had since I got here, simply because I was able to see the Azores I see in the pictures.  The green checkered landscapes, lined with volcanic rock walls and spotted with cows and hydrangeas.  Words can't even describe how beautiful this island is.  I'm hoping in the next few days I'll find a way to upload pictures, this way I won't have to find the words!  But driving along the coast was so amazing, the ocean stretches out on all sides forever, and I've never seen a place that is so green.  Roads are lined with old rock walls that are covered in hydrangea bushes, and the entire island is covered in endless hills.

We made a stop at a place called "Serra da Cume", which is pretty much a little mountain.  The top of the mountain has huge windmills for wind power, and the view from the top is breath taking.  We made several other stops to take in the beautiful views, as well as a stop to pet an adorable St. Bernard, and to take pictures with some cute cows!  This past week a bought a cow bead for my pandora bracelet, and it was definitely the most appropriate bead to remember the Azores by!

Right before we went back to the residencia, we stopped by a place called Quejo Vacinha, which sells fresh cheese made right there.  I had some "Ilha Terceira" cheese on a bolo levado, and it was deliciousss.

Besides that, the best way to describe today would be through pictures- which hopefully I'll get to soon!  Now, since it is Sunday, I am off to do some lesson planning and going to bed early :)

FINALLY time for the weekend!

If anyone is still reading this blog, you'll notice I haven't been writing much.  That is because I have been beyond overwhelmed by all the work I've had to do for this internship.  We have literally spent hours every night planning lessons, and the few hours in between I've spent napping, reading and eating!  Not that I am not enjoying the internship- the people in our classes are soo nice and happy to be there, so we are really enjoying every minute there.  It's the outside planning that is sort of killing me, but we plan to do lesson plans every Friday for the upcoming week, so hopefully that will make life easier!  So, not much exciting has happened in the last week, although I did go on a very nice run yesterday by the marina.  I definitely plan on doing that several times a week, if not every day from now on if I can!  This weekend I'm hoping to see a bunch of sites here on Terceira, and then maybe travel to São Miguel next weekend.  By Monday I'll have more fun stories :)

Azorean Baptist Church & First Day of Classes

Today was our first day of real teaching, but before I get to that, I'll let you know about my great weekend!  Yesterday we woke up early and went to the "Azorean Baptist Church".  The church is led by Art Nilsen who used to be in the US Military and stationed in Terceira.  The last group that came earlier in the summer met him through a community service project that they did while here.  Church was actually really fun and a great way to start the day and my week!! I wold love to go every weekend, but its a bit of a hike, and I'm not sure if we will be on other islands during the weekend.

Anyways, the church is a lot like other Christian churches I've been to at home, with the same informal service with singing and talking and coffee and what not! A good number of the people were on active military duty and were really nice and friendly. After the service we stayed to have lunch at the pastors house, his wife made us barbequed pulled pork, home made cole slaw and scalloped potatoes.  The pastor put her on the spot during the service and asked her if we could stay for lunch!! So it was really nice of her to just make us such a delicious lunch on such short notice!

After lunch we went by the campgroud that the church owns.  We plan on helping them a time or two with whatever needs to be done there as our community service on the island.  The church plans on running a christian camp there because at the moment there are no sleep away camps in all of the Azores.  I almost wish I had more spare time and a car so that I could help them with that.  I loved going to camp when I was younger, and I can imagine it would be a really nice get away for kids on the island.  I would love to help them out in more ways than just going for a day and helping clean up, but who knows if that would be possible!

Today was our first day of really teaching, last Friday we just had a day where we had them read, write and speak to figure out what level they are at.  Last night we stayed in and stayed up late expanding our lesson plans and figuring out exactly what to do and teach.... looks like this is going to be WAY more work than I expected!!! Being a teacher is like being a student, but harder, scarier, and with way more pressure.. I'm so nervous!  We have a really big range of ages in our group- in my group in specific we have as young as about 15, and up to a 44 year old university professor! It's crazy to think that I'm teaching someone who is so much older and smarter than me... I feel like she should be the one teaching me!

Class went very well today though.  The people in my group were very interested in learning and were very friendly.  After our class we have an "optional interaction time" where people can stay longer and get extra help, or just spend time talking and practicing their english.  Only two girls stayed today, so we went with them to what they said is the most famous bakery in Terceira and I got a galão and their most famous pastry (forgot the name!).

My first week here has been great, but now that classes have started I'll definitely have less free time.  Hopefully I'll write another post soon! Oh yah- Happy Fourth!! :)

A Viagem do Monte Brasil

Today was such a great day!! I slept in, and went on an amazing afternoon hike up Mt. Brasil, the highest point in Terceira.  It was the absolute perfect day for a hike- sunny, a little breezy, and not too hot.  The hike took maybe two hours up and down, mostly because we stopped every other minute to take pictures!  From Mt. Brasil you can see the most gorgeous view of the island.  From the top it looks exactly like the Azores that you see in the pictures, and pictures can't nearly grasp how beautiful it is in person!  I'll post pictures as soon as one of my friends post theirs, since I have yet to find a cord to download my pictures :(  I had so much fun on the hike getting to know my new friends; Meredith, Anya and Katrina who do the internship with me, and Advaita who is doing the medical internship.  Everyone but Katrina is from NC and goes to Chapel Hill, and Katrina is from England and goes to Cambridge.  I really lucked out having such nice girls to spend so much time with!  Tonight I made delicious pasta with onions, mushrooms, garlic and ground beef, and I'm going to spend some time relaxing and eating with my new friends :)