Happy Fourth to America, from Salvador!

Well, we´re three days in, and have been totally blown away by this wonderful country. Brazil is truly an amazing physical and social adventure, and every minute we´ve been here, from driving from the airport to sailing to Ilha dos Neves and Ilha Mare to visiting the Pelorinho to walking through Bahia has been incredible. A bit of specifics:

First of all, Salvador has a collection of daredevils who perform stunts all over every street in the city. They´re called motorcyclists, and they are more talented than any and every Hollywood stuntman in existance. And while drivers in Brazil, well... drive true to the stereotypes of Brazilian drivers, there seem to be almost no accidents, and literally zero road rage. Pretty amazing in a city where folks seem more dedicated to the middle of the road than any certain lane, and right of way can be as complex as the IRS tax code.

The food is stellar, and the churrascarias -- bar-be-cue places where you´re served all sorts of grilled and bar-be-cued meats until you can barely stand -- have amazingly fresh and tasty foods of all kinds and flavors. On Ilha Mare, at a fantastic little shack right on the shore, we had the best -- the BEST -- crab salad in the world, chock full of cilantro, fresh onion, tomatoes....Muito Bom!! Karen and I have fallen in love with two culinary aspects of Salvador: The little cafe vendors who sell thimble-sized cups of blazing hot and sweet coffee from tiny carts they pedal around like bicycles, and Bolivianos, pastry-like pockets covered with sugar and filled with pork, raisins, olives and hot peppers... AMAZING.

On Tuesday, I met the wonderful staff and Board members of ACBEU (Associacao Cultural Brasil Estados Unidos) including Miriam Souza, Vice President of Partners of the Americas (POA -- the NGO group which brought me here to Salvador, and an amazingly energetic woman who´s both a lawyer and the Salvador Consul to Greece); Celina Basto, POA member and Board Member at ACBEU; Savio Sigueira, former ACBEU Coordinator and current professor at UFBA, a university here in Salvador; Clara Ramos, Portuguese Program Coordinator at ACBEU, a wonderful woman with a blazing sense of humor and an unyielding passion for language studies; Andrea Alves, Coordinator at ACBEU-Vitoria (ACBEU, a bilingual institution with a world-renowned reputation as the best language institute in Brazil has three locations in Salvador; I´ll be stationed at the Vitoria location, about 1 mile from my apartment in Graca); Athina Leite, Academic Superintendant of ACBEU, and one of the warmest, kindest people I´ve met here; Antonio Franca, Executive Superintendant at ACBEU; and Arthur Sampaio, President of both ACBEU and the Casa de Jorge Amado, the Brazil novelist whose work I fell in love with many years ago. They and all the other teachers and administrators I met that morning are passionate, wonderful people who´ve truly made me feel as if these next four weeks will be a dynamic shared exeperience for all involved. I briefly explained the nature of my visit, the core of my presentations, and how I hoped anyone and everyone would let me know if there is/was anything more I could do to contribute to ACBEU´s fine mission.

No matter what you here about Brazil being a potentially dangerous place to visit, believe this: It´s all silly rumor. Sure, just like any other major city with 3,000,000 people, there´s in Salvador the presence of folks who might be inclined to be a little spurious, but they´re rare and few, and the general public is incredibly kind and helpful. With a simple Poco Portuguese (a little Portuguese) and a kind smile, the town of Salvador will open its arms to you.

This Monday at 4PM I´ll be presenting my first seminar,¨Oils and Waters...¨ at the ACBEU ESL/EFL Conference -- then again on Wednesday at 2:30. Tonight Karen and I will have dinner with Miriam Souza, and tomorrow we leave for Praia do Fortre with Clara Ramos and a group of ACBEU students. If you look up Praia do Fortre on the web, you´ll see exactly why we´re soooo excited.