Done-ski

Gang,

So.........long story short, my adventure has come to an end. I was supposed to return to the United States on December 11th but being the hilarious and thoughtful son that I am, I surprised mom a week early. Being back in the land of the free and the home of the English speakers has never felt so good.

On that note, I won't be updating this blog again. Surprisingly, as much as I like to talk, I don't have much motivation to continually update online. I do have Facebook and Twitter though (@BrianChrisG) so feel free to continue following my shenanigans there. Go Army and have a great day.

Brian out

School Work

Fellow Americans (and others),

Anyone know anything about Mexican Immigration into the US? I'm writing a paper for my Geography of Brazil class.

I'll let that sink in. We're busily writing papers (Some of us are. Some of us are blogging.) during what's shaping up to be our last real week of work down here. We're taking tests and returning equipment this week and likely hanging around the barracks all next week. Can't wait.

I wish I had a bit more to share. The field exercise went well; we learned a lot about Brazilian "tactics" (or "taticos" as they say down here) as well as the structural capabilities to their breaking points of several military pieces of equipment. Further, we were able to chat up some soldiers out in the field (Brazil has a mandatory service year for 18 year old males) and picked their brains a bit about their military. Very interesting.

I've been jamming to Dean Martin and Stevie Wonder all morning (kind of an interesting mix) so I'm off to make a legitimate attempt at starting this paper. So far all I've got is, "O imigrção de Mexico pra os Estados Unidos é....." Exactly what it é (is) I ainda (still) have yet to figure out.

Go Army and Tchau for now!

F.I.N.A.L.S.

Gang,

Flip, I Never Actually Learned Stuff, I think to myself as my final exams loom this week. We'll be taking an exam on Portuguese (possibly a presentation, and the opportunity to be graded on what comes out of my mouth is certainly welcome over what come out of my head), Military History of Brazil (playing this one pretty close to the chest, haha), and Geography (..........definitely going to be interesting) and also a test in Psychology from West Point (hopefully I can get that done this week so I don't have to find ways to study out in the field next week!)

Following this week of testing is our final field training exercise. Many of our companheiros left tonight to begin the set-up phase, carrying only their ruck sacks with them. Many of them seemed to be methodically organizing and packing but when I asked if there was an order or a packing list they all looked at me quizzically. "leva que você precisa" which is roughly, "bring what you need"............thanks guys.

Hopefully that goes a little better than my long run today went (15 miles......my legs are glaring at me) let's get it!

Tchau!

Back in the Saddle

Tiny Dancers,

Hope all is well in your various locations. We've made it safely back to AMAN and my sunburn is receding (read: peeling and demonstrating that beauty and dark skin are truly only skin deep). We have a bit of an off week in terms of activity but will be headed out into the jungle this weekend and returning at the end of the month. Let's get it.

As of now it seems that no one knows what's happening after Manobrão (our manuever exercise) but there's a two week window between finishing up and our projected flight home. I would greatly appreciate the chance to travel a bit more around Brazil (briandoesbrazil seems a little incorrect without the lack of exploring we've done) and have yet to see the Amazon river. We'll see what happens I guess.

Well, this psychology paper isn't going to write itself (again!) so I'm off for now. Have a great Go Army day!

Portuguese for the day is travesseiro which means pillow. As in I might go nap and deal with psych later..........

Tchau for now!