Esqueci "the Portuguese Words of the Day"

Quick update: At work a girl from Germany started, and now we speak Portñol-glish at work. It's funny. And confusing, but mostly funny. Speaking of English, I'm beginning to teach English to my co-workers. Finally we'll be able to say more than "very cold."

In my excitement in recapping last week's adventures, I forgot to mention the Portuguese words of the day. Here are as many words as I can think of:

- Janela = window
- Saída = exit
- Copo = cup
- Mesa = table
- Estatua = statue
- Colher = spoon
- Sacola = plastic bag
- Bolsa = bag
- Caixinha = box
- Balada = dance
- Catarata = waterfall
- Ponte = bridge
- Areia = sand
- Quente = hot
- Garrafa = bottle
- Estadio = stadium
- Unhas = nails
- Arco-íris = rainbow

São Paulo - Take II

Why does it seem that every time I am in the largest city in southern hemisphere, I am so sleepy? The first time I was in São Paulo was my first day in Brazil, after 14 hours of travelling. I slept sixteen hours that night. This time I arrived in São Paulo at 8:30, after catching a 2:30 bus from Rio de Janeiro.

Upon arriving in São Paulo, we took a cab to the apartment of Natalia's cousin, who lives in the Pinheiros neighborhood of São Paulo. We dropped off our luggage there, and head out to explore the city. We took the ônibus to the center of town to see the theatre and Praça Ramos. As we were about to take the metro to Avenida Paulista, which they say is a street you have to visit while in São Paulo, we all legitimately were falling asleep standing up. I was too tired to take pictures and don't have any pictures from this trip to São Paulo. So we took the metro back to Natalia's cousin's apartment and all slept until 20:30.

To top off the preguiça (laziness), I also had a minor case of food poisoning. We had been economizing with food during the trip, and I probably ate too many R$4 (2 USD) lanches and sandwiches. We had a running joke that every time we saw a very expensive item, we would say: why would I buy that? I could buy "x" hamburgers with that...At the time the burgers tasted good because you are so hungry and they are so cheap, but your body can only process so many of them at a time.


Therefore, on Saturday night, instead of having more lanches, we went to have sushi. With the large Japanese population in São Paulo, sushi is something that you must eat while there. Somehow we found the only place in São Paulo that didn't serve normal sushi, but I'm just happy that it some sort of Asian food and not lanches.

On Sunday morning, I said goodbye to Natalia, who was heading back to Colombia, and then I took the 8 hour bus ride back to Joinville. After sleeping 6 of the 8 hours and getting a good night's rest, I think I've recovered from the really great time exploring and cheap meats that from last week.

And now back to work in Joinville! 19 days left in Brasil.

Beijos!

Rio de Janeiro was quite exciting - long post!

Ruhy and I arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Monday night, after a short hour and a half flight. The flight was originally supposed to be over two hours, but I'm not going to complain that it was so short. We went to the hostel in Copacabana, which was a completely different experience from the Timbó Posada in Argentina. First, you could feel that it was a business as the people at the reception were not very nice--or they were overly friendly. Secondly, when your bed is next to the only female bathroom in the entire building, you don't get very much sleep.

However, one good thing about the hostel you meet a lot of people from all over world. In our room the first night, there was a woman from Argentina, one from the New Hampshire, and two Brazilians. We eventually met people from Venezuela, Ecuador, Israel, Germany, and a lot a lot of Colombians. It certainly was a mix of cultures and languages. I remember having to say the same thing three times in Spanish, Portuguese, and English for people to understand.

Day 1 - Tuesday
The first day we were planning to go to the center of the city and to the Christ the Redeemer statue in the afternoon. But since it was a beautiful day in the morning, we decided to go to the Christ statue first. We waited in line for about half an hour only to realize that the train that we needed to take to the top of the mountain wasn't for another two hours. Of course, to pass the time, we went to look for food (what else, really?). We found a churrascaria close by, and we ate there. All I can say about that place is that don't judge a restaurant by its looks from the outside. Between Ruhy and me, we probably ate twice our weight in meat, so it was a good thing we walked a lot afterward! Eventually, it was our train up to the statue, and we took way too many touristy pictures there.

View of Rio de Janeiro from the Statue of Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer

After exploring the Christ statue, we headed to the center of town and walked around the little streets. There were way too many cafés/confeitarias, and we legitimately wanted to stop in every single one. After taking the afternoon cafezinho, we walked tried to find the famous Praça XV de Novembro in Rio de Janeiro. At the time, I didn't know what it was, but I thought it was really cool since the Lonely Planet book kept on mentioning Praça XV. I later found out that it was the plaza where the two emperors of Brasil were crowned. In Rio, there are police officers on nearly every block, so I literally asked the officer(s) on every corner "onde está praça quinze?" I don't think any of them knew where the plaza was because I kept on getting different directions each time.

Very accurately sums up the city of Rio de Janeiro --
fruit stands and police on every corner

In the end, we gave up and found ourselves by the port of Rio. We saw that there were boat trips (in reality they were ferries to bring people to/from work) for R$3 and really wanted to go. However, it was 16:57 and people were legitimately running to the port. We thought about what Paraguay being dangerous after 15:00 and decided it was probably best to go home.

At the hostel we met up with Natalia and began to plan what to do the next day. Unfortunately the weather forecast predicted rain all day, and therefore we had to plan accordingly. As a side note, finding (touristy) things to do in Rio de Janeiro is very difficult, and we spent two hours searching for things to do without any real success.

Day 2 - Wednesday
We originally were going to go to the lake located in the middle of the city but decided that it wasn't worth it if it would be raining all day. So instead, we found a tour of several favelas. Going to favelas was one thing that I really wanted to do in Rio de Janeiro as it pertains to what I'm studying, and I wanted to see first hand what it was like. Unfortunately the tour that we went on was designed for people who had no clue of what a favela was (and in my opinion, had never seen poverty before). The people on the tour were rich Europeans. Anyway, we only went to the outside of Rochinha, one of the largest favelas in Rio and walked inside another that had been pacified, meaning that the government is taking an active part in improving conditions there.

Favela Rochinha

The tour as a whole was an interesting experience. I can't say that I learned too much after those three hours of bizarre and completely unrelated questions, but it did give me another perspective on favelas. I didn't realize that there was such a sense of community in the favelas. I'm sure that this isn't the case with all favelas--many of Rio's 950 favelas are still run by drug gangs or the militia, and the tour obviously was designed to shed light on the misconception that all favelas are slums without any electricity, water, etc. After visiting the favelas, I think that given the current situation, there is no way to remove them from the city. The only way is to integrate them and help the favelas develop infrastructure in order for the city to prosper.

Ruhy and me at the Corinthians x Flamengo
game

At night, we went to a Flamengo versus Corinthians football game at Estádio Olímpico João Havelange, the stadium where the 2016 Olympics will be held. They say that normally games are held at Estádio Maracaná, but it's under renovation now in preparation for the 2014 World Cup. For me, I was rooting for Corinthians, but I didn't want to show it there, since all of the Flamengo fans were so scary. For those who don't know, the Flamengo-Corinthians rivalry is equivalent to the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry. I now know why they don't serve alcohol at many football games in Brazil. So I just sat quietly in my seat, quietly cheering every time Corinthians scored a goal. The score was 3-0 Corinthians.




Day 3 - Thursday
On Thursday, we tried to go to the famous "Escadaria Selarón," a tiled-stair case made by a Chilean dedicated to Brasil in Rio, but didn't end up finding it. So we went to the center of the city to find "Confeitaria Colombo," a cafe that, as Natalia said, "we must have to go to." Unfortunately, it was packed, so we kept on walking around the center and found a Starbucks, where we just lounged for the rest of the afternoon. After enjoying a nice hot mocha, something I hadn't had in weeks/months, we went to the dock and just relaxed there, watching the boats pass by. As the day was clearing, we decided to head back to the beach in Copacabana and just relax there.

Day 4 - Friday
Friday was the first and only day when the weather was clear all day. That meant that we must had to go to "Pão de Açúcar," otherwise known as "Sugarloaf" in English. It is a famous hill in Rio de Janeiro where you take cable cars to the top of the mountain and can have a great view of the entire city. Like the waterfalls of Iguazu, you just need to see the pictures (below).

View of Rio from Pão de Açúcar with cable car

View of Rio de Janeiro from Pão de Açúcar

Pão de Açúcar

Since we were again economizing and didn't want to pay more money to stay one more night in a not-so-great hostel, we took a 2:30 bus from Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo. However, since we didn't need to be at the bus station until 2 in the morning, we decided to go to Lapa, where Carnaval is held, and stay there until it was time to head to the bus station. We had gone there on Thursday, but it didn't seem that exciting. However, on Friday night, it seemed as if the entire city was there and ready to have fun. There were people of all ages, children included, in the streets eating, drinking, and dancing.

Despite the unfavorable weather, Rio de Janeiro is a beautiful city that I would very much like to go back to and get to know better. The culture in Rio is completely different than the culture in the south of Brazil. That being said, I'm also really glad that I was first in Joinville because it's a quieter city in which the people only speak Portuguese. If I had gone directly to Rio, I probably would have been lost, and might not have picked up Portugese as quickly as I did in Santa Catarina. I guess now I'm ready to tackle the North of Brasil!

Tríplice Fronteira, La Triple Fronteira, The Triple Frontier

Oi gente, tudo bem?

I'm back in Joinville and more or less rested from my trip to the Triple Frontier (where Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina meet), Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo. I'm going to split up the trip into the three posts so that one post won't be obscenely long. And now we begin with the Triple Frontier.
-----
On the night of Friday, July 13th, the two Colombians Natalia and Daniel, Ruhy, and I took a night bus from Joinville to Foz do Iguaçu, the town in Brasil. Our bus was supposed to leave at 20:45, but it didn't arrive at the terminal until 21:30 (side note: if you're travelling by bus in Brasil, I'd reccomend Catarinese, where the buses leave right on the dot...Pluma arrived an hour late and we arrived there almost two hours late, which is understandable since we took a half hour pit stop shortly after leaving the Joinville rodoviaria). The only good (?) thing about the bus arriving so late was that there was more time to say goodbyes with AIESECers. Natalia and Daniel just finished up their internships and wanted to travel a bit before returning to Colombia.

I'd highly recommend Timbó Posada.
Foi muito legal.

We arrived in Foz do Iguaçu around 9:00, and took a cab to the Argentine side of Puerto Iguazu. Unlike entering Brasil, the immigration in and out of Argentina was very easy.We checked into Hostel Timbó Posada, which is the nicest hostel ever. Before continuing with the day, I need to describe how beautiful the hostel was. Every morning, the wonderful people of the hostel served us breakfast that included coffee, bread, orange juice, fruit, and even chocolate cake. They were more than helpful and helped us plan each part of the trip. Furthermore, the hostel's decor had a homey feeling and featured a swimming pool and hammocks.

Since we arrived during mid-morning, it was already too late to visit the Argentine falls (not to mention that the entrance fee was 130 pesos for foreigners). Instead, we decided to try to cook. We went to the grocery store and bought ingredients for pasta with meat sauce. I believe we were economizing as we bought one kilo of ground meat for 10 Argentine pesos, which is equivalent to $1 per pound. There was another option of buying one kilo ground meat for 40 pesos...Anyway, we bought the really disgusting meat and returned to the hostel to (attempt to) cook it. It just smelled awful and we hid the smell with tons of garlic and black pepper. I would like to thank the invention of hot oil for killing the unknown bacteria in that meat and not getting food poisoning. In short, after two hours of failed cooking and really good laughs, the lessons learned are:

a) Don't buy meat that is not meant for human consumption
b) Don't let people who don't cook convince you that it is OK to throw a whole tomato into meat that is cooking
c) Too many cooks in the kitchen can be a really bad thing
d) In times like these, it's probably best to go across the street to buy something that won't kill you.


After lunch, we wanted to try to go to Paraguay, but apparently after 15:00 (seriously, 3pm?! ), all the stores close and it is very dangerous there. So instead, we walked around in the center of Puerto Iguazu, when we learned that the point where Brasil, Argentina, and Paraguay was only a ten minute walk away. We walked over to the river, and watched the sun set over the Paraguayan side.


On Sunday, we woke up early and took a bus to the Argentine side of the waterfalls. There isn't too much to say about the waterfalls, except that they were absolutely divine. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are pictures describing our day at "Las Cataratas del Iguazú"(It's better if you view them in a large screen!).

At the top of La Garganta del Diablo

View from the upper passage

Rainbow in the lower passage

View from the lower passage

View of La Garganta del Diablo from a distance

La Garganta del Diablo

La Garganta del Diablo

On Monday, it was pouring buckets, but we still had to visit the Brasilian side of the waterfalls and Paraguay. However, Ruhy and I had to catch a flight to Rio de Janeiro at 18:00, meaning that we could only do one. Instead of going to the Brazilian side of the falls, for some reason, we decided to go to Paraguay. That made no sense as the Brazilian falls were about a five minute drive from the airport and we had to cross the entire city of Foz do Iguaçu to reach Paraguay. We still ventured on and took a bus to the border where Paraguay and Brasil meet. Then we went by foot across the 'Puente de la Amizade," which is possibly the ugliest bridge ever. I think it may also be representative of Brasil's relationship with Paraguay.

After crossing the bridge, we were on the Paraguay side, in the city of Ciudad del Este. Ciudad del Este and Paraguay as a whole is a place where you can buy cheap (replica) items. And it appeared like Chinatown or any city in Asia. However, once comparing the prices with the US, the prices were the same or even more. For example, a sweatshirt from Aeropostle cost $75. The sad thing is that we hiked in the rain all the way to Paraguay for cheap shopping but didn't even buy anything, except lunch.

Overall, Ciudad del Este was an strange experience. Paraguay is a Spanish-speaking country, but they spoke to us first in Portuguese, then in Spanish. Our lunch there was also interesting since it was a Brazilian restaurant, serving Brazilian food and accepting payment in reales. Secondly, it was funny to see globalization at work. We all bought different types of Coca-Cola, and they were all processed in different countries. My 150ml bottle of Coca-Cola was produced in Brasil; Natalia's can of Coca-Cola Zero was produced in Paraguay; Ruhy's can of Coke was produced in Argentina.

After Paraguay, we returned to the airport, and Ruhy and I headed to Rio de Janeiro. Natalia and Daniel took the next flight to Rio and were going to meet us there on Tuesday afternoon.

Só Falta Um Mês

Portuguese Words of the Day:
- Garfa = fork
- Sobremesa = dessert
- Senha = password
- Greve = strike
- Porta = door

Não posso acreditar que já passei mais de sete semanas aqui. Eu vou embora aos Estados Unidos o 12 de agosto. Então só falta um mês aqui no Brasil. Um sentido estranho.


It's best to live in the moment and keep on looking forward, but it's still important to look back to see where you've been. Therefore, this post will be to reflect on the past two months (54 days, to be exact) and how much I've learned since the 19th of May. And now, you have been warned: this is going to be a long reflective post. If you want something exciting, then wait about two weeks when I write about the Triple Frontier (on the Brazilian and Argentine side--I need a visa for Paraguay) and Rio de Janeiro.

When I came to Brasil, I was hoping to make a difference on the community, but I think people that I've met have changed me more than I've changed them. I recently read a blog entry that talks about "20 Things I Should Have Known in My Twenties," and advice number seven was: have as much contact as possible with older people. You will learn from the experiences that they have had. Here, I'm on the younger side. I would say most of the trainees and AIESEC students are between 22 and 25 years old. It's kind of funny that when people ask how old I am, they are expecting that I am 24 or something like that. I guess I'm flattered, but I digress. Let's begin:

Myself/Life
1) One very important life lesson that I've learned here is that it's impossible to do everything--that you should do what you can, and let the forces of life do the rest for you. I am currently planning a conference at GWU for the next year, and it's been difficult. The only thing that I can do from Brazil is send emails and ask for help. I really do believe that everything happens for a reason, so you should always make the best of each situation; and in the end, things usually turn out for the best.

To me, this screen shot is
absolutely hilarious.

2) The most memorable stories in life are your funniest and/or stupidest moments. Here in Joinville, there aren't that many main streets, so everybody takes the same streets day in and day out. The work days seem to blend together, and rain never seems to stop. Well, to be fair, it was about 24 degrees and sunny each day of last week. Only when we wanted to go to the beach did it start raining again...However, I will always remember the trip to Floriánopolis, which was a great bonding experience for the seven of us who went. I definitely will not forget the traumatizing experience on the Ônibus in Curitiba, when the bus driver hit a man, and then the man started kicking the bus. And one last story that is really funny now is Festa Junina. I guess with all of these stories, there's only meaning to those who were involved--no matter how long I try to re-tell the story to anybody, it won't have the same meaning as it does to me.


3) People, girls in particular, are the same everywhere you go. When we first were in Floripa, Ruhy and I were trying to figure out what to wear. We also went with Priscila, a Brazilian girl from São Paulo. At the time, we didn't know much Portuguese, and it was hard to communicate with her. But, it seems that all girls speak the language of clothes, make-up, etc--better known as "o idioma das meninas."

4) No matter how hard something appears to be, you will find a way to overcome it and feel great about it. This is especially prevalent in my work at Instituto Amar. When I first arrived in Brasil, I literally knew nothing about Portuguese and was completely unable to communicate with my co-workers without the help of Google Traductor. But now, I've made videos and documents in Portuguese and can joke about eating McDonald's for every meal when I'm back in the US.

Portuguese
My Portuguese has improved immensely. After seven weeks here, I can honestly say that my Portuguese is at least at the intermediate level. The only Portuguese that I knew when I came here was my friend Gordon randomly teaching me "olá," "obrigada," and "como vai." Now, as I was saying, I can have a conversation in Portuguese and do all of my work in Portuguese. It's one thing to learn a language in the classroom, but it's another thing to have to use it in everyday life (and learn it just to survive in general). When I am at work and at home, I only speak my version of Portuguese, which is good enough for people to understand me. With regards to writing, I've been writing my work in Portuguese and having people read it over before publishing it online. I've also been trying to write emails and chats in Portuguese. It's especially helpful when the people of AIESEC want to practice their English and you want to practice your Portuguese, and you can mutually correct each other's work.

It definitely helped that I've studied Spanish before. Instead of feeling like I've been dropped into an ocean and not knowing how to swim, I feel like I just jumped into the deep end of a pool and can doggy-paddle to shallow water. Spanish and Portuguese are so similar, and I get confused a lot of times. It's especially confusing when I'm on chat with the Spanish speakers trying to plan a trip and talking to another friend in Portuguese in another chat box. I guess I can say that languages are like different windows in my mind. It's like seeing the word "falar" on the Portuguese screen, and the word "hablar" on the Spanish screen. However, oftentimes, when I try to speak Language A, Language B comes out. This past week, this Spanish/Portuguese confusion is getting a little better.

I've definitely been soaking up Portuguese like a sponge, and I definitely want to continue to learn as much as I can in the next month. Well, actually, in the next three days. Ruhy and I are flying to Rio de Janeiro alone the day before Dani is, and I speak much more Portuguese than she does. She makes fun of my Chinese (??) accent, which, in my opinion and asking the Brazilian, is much better than "eu kero frengo," but I still have to translate and give directions for her. Então veremos.

Brazil
Brazil is a lot different than I imagined. When I first came here, I don't really know what I was expecting, but I definitely wasn't expecting the industrial town that Joinville, Santa Catarina is. It's fair to say that I thought that there would be more beaches, and as horrible as it sounds, more poverty. Most of my time in Joinville has been spent at work, the Garten Shopping center and universities, and at the center. On Thursdays, I go with the Institute to the poorest neighborhood in Joinville, Bairro Morro do Meio, to deliver food, but we only stay there for the morning.


Yesterday, I was able to go with Dilamar, the president of Instituto Amar, to other parts of town to deliver food and toys on behalf of "Amparo à Criança," another philanthropy in Joinville that Dilamar is part of. This was one of the first times in Brazil where I've spent time in the really poor neighborhoods and gone into the houses. At the bottom of this post are a few photos from yesterday's visit to o Bairro Paranaguamirim.

I have also learned that the Brazilian government is highly involved in all sorts of matters. It takes ages to get proper documentation, and you need a CPF, which is like a tax ID, to do a lot of things. When we tried to buy the bus ticket to Foz do Iguaçu, we needed to enter a CPF to create an account. In the end, I asked Dani to create an account. According to Rodrigo, there are also a good number of strikes (greves) here.

Other
I know there are a lot of other things that I have learned, but it's hard to list everything. So instead, I'll use this remaining space to list the plausible things that I have to do, but haven't planned, before leaving Brazil in a month:

- Visit São Francisco do Sul
- Visit Balneario Camboriú and its beaches
- Go to Joinville's Museu Sambaqui
- Go to the Bolshoi Dance Festival
- Take touristy pictures in front of "a Rua das Palmeiras"
- Actually make the run from home to Univille and back: according to Google Maps, it's 5.1km each way
- Go to Museu Nacional da Imigração e Colonização

View from the Second Floor of a House, where the family lives.
Taken 2012.07.11 on an iPhone.

Woman in a Window of Paranaguamirim
Taken 2012.07.11 on an iPhone

Fatima and Dilamar delivering food
Taken 2012.07.11 on an iPhone

An Update

Portuguese Word of the Day
- Copo = cup
- Janela = window
- Camisa = shirt (T-shirt)
- Nordeste = northeast
- Graus = degrees

To be honest, this is a entry is just a post to post. Nothing particularly exciting has happened since I last wrote an entry, about a week and a half ago. I think the best thing that happened was going for a 3-5 kilometer run three times this week without dying. By dying, I don't mean out of breath--instead, I mean getting hit by a car/motorcycle/bicycle, falling into a hole, or simply tripping over rocks. It is so difficult to run in my neighborhood because the majority of the streets are paved with asphalt, with concrete sidewalks, which isn't great for running. I try to stick to the unpaved dirt streets, but those tend to have lots of holes and pebbles, which is also a homemade recipe for a sprained ankle. On top of that, I usually go after work (around 17h), right when the sun is setting, and people are heading home for work. So, therefore, I would prefer to go to the university and run on the track there. Plus, it's also fun going there with the other American, Kevin, and beating him at running! (true story)

At work, I have been working on social media, flyers, and videos. So far, I've made two videos (which you should all watch!). The first one is promoting the classes that Instituto Amar offers, which can be found here. The other video is a scrapbook of Dia da Feijoada, which can be found here. Now, Fatima, the other trainee at Instituto Amar from Peru, and I are working on a proposal for Instituto Amar to work with Univille, the private university of Joinville, regarding "Projecto Esperança," a plan to bring proper dental care to neighborhoods in need.

This past week I was feeling a bit homesick and missing the USA. It was the Fourth of July, and I don't think I've ever craved a burger as much as I did that day. Actually, I think I was craving anything but rice and beans, which I have everyday for lunch. Lunch at work is good, but it's more or less the same everyday. One thing I miss about the US (and I was thinking about Taiwan this week too) is the variety of food. Even on GW's Foggy Bottom campus, there is still a large variety of cuisines--from Thai to Indian to (fake) Chinese food to Italian. But here, there isn't as much of a variety. The Fourth of July was nice because I celebrated it with the other Ruhy and Kevin, the other two Americans here, and the French and Tunisian as well, and we made "as-real-as-you-can-get-American-burgers" with bacon and cheese. I'm pretty sure I gained three kilograms from that meal, which is probably why I felt the need to run so many times this week.

Speaking of things back at home, I've learned that it is rather difficult to plan a conference while abroad, but that is another story. I also just finished a video for Delta Phi Epsilon (DPE), the professional sorority that I am in that promotes the participation of women in foreign service, for potential new members. You should all click here to watch it!

On the weekends, we still try to travel as much as possible (since, let's be real, there's not much to do here in Joinville). This weekend we were planning on going to São Francisco do Sul, which is a beach town about forty minutes from Joinville. However, given that the weather forecast was "frio e chuva," going to the beach was not the best idea. Instead, we stayed in Joinville this past weekend. It was also Fatima's birthday. We celebrated by having dinner at Mango, a Mexican restaurant in the center of Joinville. Mango, with the Mariachi band and tequileira, never disappoints.

I believe those may be the most exciting things that happened this week. I'm sure next week will be far more exciting. Dani and Natalia (the Colombians who are going back to Colombia at the end of the week), Ruhy, and I are going to Foz do Iguaçu/Puerto Iguazu in Argentina then taking a flight to Rio de Janeiro for the week. Speaking of which, we really do need to book the bus from Joinville to Foz do Iguaçu...oh Brazil, why do you require a CPF for booking a bus ticket?! We probably should book a bus/plane ticket back from Rio de Janeiro via São Paulo as well. Or just staying in Rio de Janeiro is another option. More details to follow.

Beijos!

Eu Acho Que...

...preferia o metrô do Washington DC que o ônibus daqui. Sempre estou esperando no Terminal Norte. Hoje, cheguei nesse terminal às 15h34. Meu ônibus saiu às 15h30.

That is all for today.

All Washingtonians can relate to this.
(English translation of the above link: How I feel when I am running late, and I hear the metro arriving at the station)

Portuguese Words of the Day:
- Cedo = early
- Computador = computer
- Quarto = bedroom
- Cabeça = head
- Olho = eye

Uma Convenção

Portuguese Words of the Day
- Luz = light
- Canudo = straw (in Brasil-apparently there is a different meaning in Portugual?)
- Lata = can
- Morro = hill
- Tempo = weather/time

On Saturday morning, there was a "convenção." When I first heard about it, I thought it was going to be some sort of meeting--or a convention. However, that was not the case. The convenção was a political rally held by the PSDB, or the Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira, for Marco Tebaldi. Marco Tebaldi was the former mayor of Joinville and is running for re-election. He is also the husband of Dilamar, the president of Instituto Amar. My understanding is that the election is in November.

On Saturday morning I got a carona from Cris to the convenção. The convenção itself was a lot different from political rallies in the US. There was a band, dancing, and even vuvuzelas. It felt more like a football (soccer) game rather than a rally. The band left before Marco and Dilamar arrived, and they were greeted with cheers from all-around. I must note as well that the culture here is a lot more lax than back in the USA. Instead of wearing a suit, the guests of honor were wearing normal clothes.


There were several speakers who spoke before Tebaldi, including one of the senators of the Santa Catarina region, about why you should vote for Tebaldi. Then Tebaldi spoke about the changes that needed to be made to Joinville and how to make it better. The most important aspects were about the health and education of Joinvileses. 

At the end of the convention, everybody joined hands to pray. I believe praying at the end of an event is quite common here, and they did a similar prayer at the wedding that I went to. I don't think anything of that sort would happen in the U.S.--not even at Tea Party rallies. They asked for God's support for the best result. After the prayer, they started playing "Eu Quero o Melhor, Eu Quero Tebaldi Já" again, and the crowd began to disperse.

Eu quero o melhor. Eu quero já. Eu quero Tebaldi já