Chasing Dreams: Patinhos

Patinhos ----> Little Ducks
*** (Pronounced Pat - chE- knows)

Why am I talking about little ducks? Well, because I've been playing the role of one! This running joke started because Vivian has been taking care of us for the past week and a half now and ensuring that we are taken care of, fed, safe, and happy! We follow her to school, we follow her home, we follow her to social events, we follow her to the store, we follow her to fill out all kinds of paper work. I really, really don't know what we would do without her and Mariani! They are our translators, friends, teachers, and all around go to girls!

It's a different kind of feeling to be completely dependent on someone else! I mean, I'm as independent as they come. I do what I want, when I want. But here, I need help. Yep, I said it. I need help! I think it's good for me, to be thrown in to a situation I can't handle on my own. To have someone talking to me, and not understand a word that's being said, to attempt to leave a building incorrectly several times before finding the right way out, to flash someone and A-okay sign and then later learning what it means... All good learning experiences!

The language barrier probably deserves a complete blog post in itself. But seeing as I've been super slack with writing posts, I'll touch on it here. I studied Portuguese about two months before I came here. I attended lessons twice a week and started using Duolingo. (Duolingo is awesome, I highly recommend it!) I put in time but not as much as I wanted. There were always other things to do... tests, projects, exercising, movie nights, sleeping, Wildlife Treatment Crew, etc... so now, here I sit in Brazil, with a very limited grasp of Portuguese. I feel like I know the basics and I can communicate a little. My two most popular verbs are "I need" and "I want". Oh boy! I'm just so far from being fluent! I still study everyday! I really do want to learn. I'm better at reading it, but understanding spoken Portuguese is super difficult! It's so fast and all the words blend together and I'm lost! I feel like it will get better. (Or at least I hope!) Vivian's parents speak very slowly and use props to communicate with us. They have no problem repeating themselves or explaining something in a different way so that we can understand. he kindness I have received from my new family is incredible! They are just so patient with me! Ashlee and I joke that we have the memory of a goldfish. We will learn a new word in Portuguese and in two minutes it will be gone! I really am a visual learner and need to see the word!

The language barrier is a new concept and not something I've really experienced before. (Except for a week trip to Costa Rica.) It's difficult to make friends. It's especially hard for me as an extrovert because I am so use to being able to talk to people. Sitting in silence is weird! I would usually make small talk with someone but now I can exchange a few typical phrases like "hey, my name is Kaylee, I'm from Georgia, I study veterinary medicine" and then I'm done. It's an odd feeling to be around people and not know what's being said. The nosiness inside of me had to just get over it. Nope Kaylee, you don't have to know what's being said, or even where you are going at the present moment! It's also difficult to run errands and get stuff done. Like good little ducks, we followed Vivian to town today to get our buss passes and sign up with the federal police. (We have to pay them another $90 dollars. Sigh.) Vivian had to do all of our talking for us. You see, I can't even buy my own bus pass! Crazyness! But It's a good crazy! These challenges are what make traveling amazing! If I didn't get to experience things like this I wouldn't grow as a person!

Being a little duck, has it's definite advantages! You get to accompany people on all types of fun journeys! Sunday night, we went to an old road outside of the city that wound it's way up a mountain. It's called Estrada do Perau. It was built to connect Santa Maria to another town. It had beautiful views of Santa Maria and the surrounding area. (Here's a good time to mention Santa Maria is surrounded my mountains. It's stunningly beautiful!) On Monday, We joined Vivian and Mariani in the country where we were able to help ultrasound sheep. They are in their last year of vet school and therefore get to do all kinds of fun things! We went to a hotel that doubled as a farm. It was great! There were cows, chickens, peacocks, and sheep! We checked each ewe to determine if she was pregnant or not. I was able to participate and determined my sheep was preggers! It was a great experience because I was able to hang out with her classmates, meet her excellent professor who invited us back to his house for a churrhasco and learn more about the craft of veterinary medicine! You have those moments of doubt, where you wonder how you are ever going to be able to learn about veterinary medicine when you can't understand the language... and then all of a sudden you are ultrasounding an ewe and it all makes perfect sense!

So there you have it! My last week and a half has been a whirlwind of learning, laughing, struggling, meeting wonderful people, memorizing words, using wild hand gestures, depending, exploring, growing and loving every minute of it! I fall into bed every night exhausted and I know that it won't be long before I've collected the tools to leave the nest and conquer more and more things!

Until next time...
Kaylee Patinhoe Quinn