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