First research stop at the library

Today I popped into my local library to do a little research and gather some resources for my upcoming trip to Brazil and Argentina.  First up was to check out some cassettes on basic Portuguese and Spanish.  I took Spanish back as a freshman but never was very good at it as 1) I'm not an auditory learner and 2) I kept throwing in high school French from the two years of study just prior to starting college.  I did try and take one review semester of Spanish as an adult about 5 years ago since as an instructor I can get free credits at our college. But I feel that I've lossed that again too. 
Hopefully the Spanish will come back quick enough. Trying to learn Portuguese is going to be a brand new experience for me.  I know I won't be able to pick up a great deal of either language, but want to just have enough to get through some basic expressions--enough to at least make an attempt.  The "ugly American" tourist not knowing any words and expecting everyone to speak English to him or her eminates fear and motivates me to do my best in combating this all too true stereotype.  Also, seeing as I teach Intercultural Communication where we discuss tourist protocol, I really want to try and demonstrate that I practice what I preach.  So these two language cassette packages were the first items I picked up.

I also put in a request for a few items on reserve that will be brought to this library from others in their networked system.  Coming in for me are the following books:

Evita: The Real Life of Eva Peron
Evita: In my Own Words
Brazil: Guide to the People, Politics and Culture by IN FOCUS
Rio de Janeiro by Rum & Reggae
Culture Shock: A Guide to Customs and Etiquette Argentina

Two DVD's were ordered as well:
Duy Maxa's World Exotic Places: Agentina
7 Days: Brazil Experience an indepth 7 day sightseeing Video Tour

I also decided that I was going to come back to do a little research from the World Book Encylopedia's here since I know I'm probably going to need some data for any kind of powerpoint or formal presentation.  

But before I do too much background research, I need to finish up my visa application and get that to the Consulate.  If you haven't read that blog entry already, check it out here: