Belem dia oito

Monday morning and it's time for my presentation. I'm a bit nervous because my chapter was very brief and i just hoped that our professor doesn't think that i briefly read through it. I covered The Environment. The chapter spoke about how know a days it's very difficult for a reporter to cover the environment because of many different factors. Before it was easier because there was so much to write about but now since everyone is going green and doing something about the issues there's not much to write about. Here are a few characteristics of the news process that the author feels impede or distort environmental coverage:

1. The tyranny of the news peg

2. The tyranny of balance

and

3. Heat versus light

and finally he says that the problem is that journalists are separated from scientist. In order to fix the problem journalists and scientist need to learn to communicate better.

Tracy also presented. Her topic was technology and engineering. She mentioned that it's very hard to write about technology and she gave us a few tips that the author gives:

1. Try to oversimplify

2. Look for everyday units

3. Fish for analogies

4. A little expertise is a good thing

5. Draw on expertise

and

6. Provide content

After class, we went to Yamada's to buy more water and other things we needed.

I then called my bank because they withdrew $500 dollars twice even though i only withdrew $500 once. This happened before i came to brazil and i'm very upset because what the hell was the bank teller thinking. The customer service representative said that they're transactions done at different times and i have to go talk to my bank. The reason why they're at different times is because the day i withdrew the money-- i withdrew it to get travelers checks-- and they sent me back home because the girl who did the travelers checks wasn't there. Apparently, only one girl in the whole bank knows how to do travelers checks. So i'm guessing that the first bank teller processed the $500 without giving them to me and then when i went again they withdrew the $500 that they converted into traveler's checks. I'm so worried because i need that money, it's the money in my savings. Travelers checks have been such a headache. First here in Brazil. For some odd reason Belem doesn't believe on travelers checks and there's only one bank that exchanges them form 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and now my stinky bank made a huge mistake. I feel like changing banks now because they are not very helpful.

After calling the bank, Raul came to pick us up to take us to das docas, where we ate and also shopped for more souvenirs.

After that we tried to go to the park and to the cathedral but a lot of places are closed on Mondays. So, Raul took us back to the hotel. Then it started to pour. It was very beautiful. I love the rain and the smell of it, well technically it would be the smell of wet dirt. I love listening to the rain at night as well.

We then grew hungry and decided to go to Yamada's buy wine and go upstairs to their restaurant, where we ordered this amazing pizza with meat in it and lots of cheese and oregano. Then we ordered another pizza, because one wasn't enough, with ham inside and bell pepper and onion and lots of cheese as well. It was just amazing.

I'm excited for tomorrow because BRAZIL plays their first world cup game. The crowds are going to go crazy!