Let the Catch-up begin...

OK OK OK...I've been rather neglectful of my blog recently, but I got beat pretty hard with the busy stick these past few days and am just now able to sit down and have a breather. So much has happened in the past few days that I really don't even know where to start. For one, I took this photograph on one of buses --or micros as they are called-- on my way home one day (just for you andy). This guy was one of the few who "tricked out" their bus...I think they should have a Pimp My Ride show here for busses..that could be fun...



The bus system here is still a little bit weird, but I'm slowly beginning to realize that there is no actual system. True, the same buses run the same routes, but they all stop running at different times at night depending on how the driver feels that day. I suppose I've been spoiled with the overly consistent bus system in ann arbor. I'm used to knowing that the bus I need will be outside my door every 8 minutes. But here, you can sit for 45 minutes and not see a single bus, and then see two drive by in a row. The inconsistency is incredibly frustrating when you have a class at 8:30 in the morning and it takes at the very least an hour to get to the school...so by the time I add in my extra time for the inconsistency, I find myself leaving my house at about 6:30 every monday and tuesday morning. Ewwwww

This leads me to my next update: classes. So my schedule consists of four classes. Monday morning and night, tuesday morning, and thursday morning--yes...they only have classes one day a week here. It's very rare to have a class that meets more than once a week. My art classes are flirting with a four and half to five hour length, but thankfully we are allowed multiple breaks. Unfortunately, however, the breaks are cigarette breaks. Which I'm not one to be particularly bothered by people smoking around me provided it's not blown in my face. But here...everyone smokes. And that's not even an exaggeration. You are hard-pressed to find someone here who does not smoke. We have about 10 minutes for a break in class, and some of the students smoke 2 and 3 cigarettes...every break. And then...the most bizarre part of it is when I walk down the street to the bus stop, and I see young kids walking out of the nearby high school smoking--and we're talking freshman and sophomores here, which I know happens in the US as well, but here it's almost every one of the kids. It's so bizarre to be a minority here walking down the streets without a cigarette in hand.

Goodness...I sure went on a rant with that one. To get back on topic, I found out that my monday morning class is actually a figure drawing class, which I'm really excited to take. It seems as though we're going to spend the whole semester drawing from live models, working on gesture drawings and a few larger, more complex works (although don't quote me on this...my spanish is still a bit shaky). My painting class is also using a model, which I'm rather excited for as well. Although the whole class is in oils, which I have never used --a peculiar fact considering how i consider paint to be my main medium. If anyone happens to have any quick tips for oils...I would gladly welcome them. My general projects course is kind of like a CFC class, but a little bit more traditional. In fact, when I was speaking to one of the students and she found out that I attend u of m, she said "art there is more abstract isn't it???" Apparently our country has a reputation here as being a bit 'weird and out there', while here they stick more to the traditional methods.

I believe I mentioned in my last post how I had to go into the "centro" for inspiration for a project, and this photo is what i wound up with.



I went from a reading that I was given about the concept of the inside and the outside of a city, and found this lamp which is a typical "pretty" object that one could find around the city here, and below it, is a slightly vulgar stencil of a woman in a very small top, which better represents the voice of the people of the city. I'm going to use this as a starting point for a sort of layered collage piece about the image and truth of the inner and outer city.

One thing that particularly fascinates me here is the juxtaposition of contemporary and historical styles. You can walk down the street and go from a building that is hundreds of years old with pillars and archways and gorgeous molding, and then right next to it, you'll find a 40 story building made of solid glass windows. It's almost as if there is no middle ground; like people settled here hundreds of years of ago, and after creating the beginnings of a town, they decided to stop. Then for some reason, they began to build again just a few years ago.



My final class, now that I've gotten completely off track yet again, is an art history class. I'm still struggling with the lectures, but I managed to wade through the almost 300 pages of reading with surprising ease, and was able to walk away with the general concept of all of it. My professor for this class, has actually asked me to teach his two younger children english. Now at first I was a bit frightened because I simply assumed that they didn't know any english whatsoever, but it appears as though they are taking english courses in their schools, and my professor simply wants me to reinforce the english, because english classes at public schools are not particularly strong. So it sounds as though he would like me to hang out with his kids, read to them and talk to them and such just so they can hear a correct english accent and practice what they know. Now that I know this...I'm rather excited...

On a side note...if you happen to read this colleen...I would love to post movies as well, however I don't believe this blogger allows for that. If you know of any way I can do this, let me know, because I have a couple of videos that I would love to post.

I think for now I shall cease my ramblings and leave you with a few images from last night... it was particularly foggy, and I had a fun time frolicking about and snappin gpictures on my way to a nifty brazillian club...enjoy...