Os Cadetes Voltam (The Cadets Return)

The cadetes of AMAN have returned this past Monday and this morning we were greeted with a large formation and presentation of the cadets and faculty of AMAN (for my West Point cadets out there, Brigade pass and review but add in the faculty and MPs. Very cool!) The cadets here are extremely nice and many of them are studying English. Nos aprendemos e ensinamos com eles todos os dias (We are learning and teaching with them every day)

We've been a little busy (ocupado) over the last few days what with medical tests, x-rays, and quartermaster classes (examanes medicos, raios-X, e aulas de Intendencia) but we are speaking portuguese all the time and getting better every day. Most importantly, we have been sharing slang and culture (giria e cultura) with the cadets here and drawing parallels between AMAN and USMA.

The food here is very good. West Point has a rotation of meals for lunch and dinner and introduces some variety of American cuisine. In order to know what a certain meal is, plebes memorize the meals in advance so that upper classmen need not wonder what they will consume on a given day. At AMAN, this process is somewhat easier. On any given day you will have breakfast, generally (generalmente) consisting of lots of fresh fruit (frutas frescas) and bread with butter (pao com manteiga). For lunch and dinner your meal will consist of rice and beans and sometimes french fries (arroz e feijao e alguns batatas fritas) and generally some type of meat. Every time. Not that I'm complaining, the quality of food here is very good (*cough* West Point should take a leaf or two out of AMAN's book. *Cough*) I will say that this is the first time that I had rice, beans, and fries with chicken parm at an Italian restaurant, but when in Brazil... (quadno no Brasil...)

I hope everyone in the US is enjoying their summer (verao) even though it's winter here (inverno) with the bitter and biting low temperatures on 69 degrees farenheit in the morning. Burrr.

For portuguese today, the phrase is "Minha computadora gosta luchar comigo todos os dias e odia conectar ao internet," which means, "My computer likes to fight with me every day and hates to connect to the internet."

Bom dia!