I met Fernanda this afteroon; up until now we have only spoken over the phone, through email and on msn. She is a very sweet person. After a warm hug, we had a good visit.
Fernanda is from Rio de Janeiro. She married a Nova Scotian named Terry and they live in Kingston now. Her children are still in Brazil, and I can tell she misses them quite a bit. If I stay in Rio for a while, Fernanda said she will give me their contact info so I can say hello.
We talked about Portuguese and she explained the uses of accents in the language. I'm happy to know French -- I can see the similarities between the two. I know a couple more words now, like "carro" (car), pronounced caho, and "caro" (expensive), pronounced caro. Certain letters are pronounced differently depending on if they fall at the beginning of a word or not. The letter R is a rolled English R only if it falls in the middle of a word. At the beginning, or when doubled, it has an English H sound. As I've said before, I've got a lot to learn.
It will be nice to have someone from home to coach me a bit if I run into any problems in Brazil. I will keep in contact with her throughout my trip and meet up with her again when I get home.
Thanks so much, Fernanda, for your help and advice this far!
