Brazilian chaos

Random photos and thoughts

2009-03-01T06:20:00.000-08:00

I've done my sharing of complaining about Salvador, but as my time here is coming to a close, I've been reflecting about the things that I love about this city. Like everything else in life there are 2 sides: the positive and the negative. So I would like to leave here thinking more about the positive and taking the life lessons I have learned from the negative. Here are some last photos for you all to enjoy.

O amor da minha vida!

I am determined to make my graffiti photography project a reality!

I love parakeets!

I never get tired of this view. I think it will be burned into my memory forever.

Leaving

2009-02-28T08:35:00.000-08:00

I don't think that I've mentioned this, but I am going back to the United States next week. On Thursday to be exact. The reasons are many, but the main one is that I have a house in Portland that needs some work done and I need to be there while it's going on. All of my students are asking me to come back to Salvador after the work is finished, but it's hard for me to say if this will happen or not.

There's a lot more stuff going on, but I don't really want to get into it on my blog. I'll just say that I won't be writing any more stuff about Brazil after next week, unless I decide to move back here again.

So thanks for reading, I hope my adventures here have been of interest. I'll try to post something more, but can't promise anything since I'm going to be pretty busy getting ready to go back. Best wishes to everyone!

Quarta-feira de cinzas (Ash Wednesday)

2009-02-26T10:01:00.000-08:00

Well another Carnaval has come and gone and I made it through with little hassle and stress and some fun to boot. But I was pretty shocked on Wednesday when I took the bus from the edge of one of the Carnaval routes through the other Carnaval route to my student's house. It looked almost like a war zone!

Imagine what you would feel like if you had spent the last 6 days drinking beer non-stop, not eating much, drinking little water, possibly ingesting other illegal substances, standing on your feet and/or dancing for several hours per night, then being in the super hot sun all day, then not having money to get home and having no place to sleep.

Now imagine a large group of people all in the same situation who all decide to lie on the sidewalk for about a quarter of a mile along the Carnaval parade route, some sleeping, some just sitting there, some appearing dead. That's the sight I saw from the bus yesterday. The bus came around the corner and I almost couldn't believe my eyes...I had never seen anything like that before, and frankly I was scared and very glad to be on the bus and not walking around out there. It was almost like a scene out of "Night of the Living Dead" or something. Except that it was during the day.

Then the bus passed this area of beach where the Carnaval party had decided to continue and was filled with mostly drunk, shirtless men, drinking beer and yelling to each other. I was really hoping that the bus would quickly pass this area when 2 drunk guys stood in front of the bus, motioning it to stop. About 8 guys all got on in the part of the bus reserved for older people where you don't have to pay, despite being well under the age of free bus transport. The driver didn't say anything, I'm sure out of fear of getting hit. The worst case scenario was going through my mind that they were going to pull out guns and rob the bus, but luckily they just wanted a ride and didn't bother me or any of the other passengers, both on the bus and as folks got off the bus. I was so thankful to get off the bus and to get inside my student's apartment! What a relief!

The newspaper today was boasting about how the crime rate for Carnaval this year had dropped almost 8% and that there were no homicides in the area of the Carnaval parade routes during the 6 days of the festival. However, 55 people were killed in other parts of the city during the same time frame. I think all the cops were in the Carnaval areas trying to cut down on crime and protect the party-goers.

All I can say now is that I'm glad that Carnaval is over and I hope that there will be a little more peace on the streets, at least until the lead up to São João in June!

Camarote

2009-02-20T11:38:00.000-08:00

Well last night Vilma's sister gave her a free "abada" to go to a camarote for the first night of Carnaval. For those of you who aren't familiar with Salvador's Carnaval, an abada is a t-shirt that you buy and which acts as your "ticket" to go into either a bloco or camarote. Last year I only went out for one night of Carnaval, and we just hung out on the street. Vilma decided that she wanted me to go into the Camarote and that she would stay down on the street since it would be safer for me to be in an area with security.

When I've daydreamed about spending a lot of money at Carnaval, I always thought I would prefer a camarote to a bloco. When you are in a camarote, you get to see the whole Carnaval parade go by. Plus you are up high and can look down on the crowd, giving you a great vantage point for fights and other madness that goes on. Blocos are the groups that follow the individual bands as they make their way along the parade route. The bands are up on this big truck/stage and there is an area that is roped off (the ropes are held by people who walk along and act as security) that the bloco folks hang out in to dance, etc. There's also another truck that goes along behind that has a bathroom and a bar selling drinks. Blocos are good if you like a specific band a lot, but a camarote gives you the chance to see all the bands.

So off I went into the camarote, with Vilma down below waving at me. I felt kind of awkward about this, as I wanted her to be with me. But we didn't want to pony up the R$170 it would have cost for another abada. So when the trio-electricos went by, I went upstairs for the view and safety, but when there was an interval I went out to the street to hang out with Vilma.

I have to say that it was really fun and the camarote that I was in had the added bonus of an ocean view on the other side of the structure. I had the chance to see about 4 bands pass by before I got tired and we decided to go home. We picked a good time to go home too, because when we got to the bottom of the hill leading up to our apartment, a downpour started. We ran up the hill, got kind of wet and were in bed by around 12:30. I saw 2 guys get taken away by the cops, and Vilma saw 2 guys running who looked like they had just stolen something, but overall it was a super mellow first night to Carnaval and I'm glad I went out.

Carnaval

2009-02-18T03:45:00.000-08:00

Carnaval starts tomorrow night. The party that so many folks have been waiting for is finally almost here! And the preparations are in FULL swing to be ready to go by the start of the first parade in Barra/Ondina. Here are some things that have been going on:

*Trimming of trees and grass along the parade routes.

*Putting up extra street lights. At night during Carnaval along the parade route it looks like it's daytime because of all the lights.

*Putting up lights along the telephone wires...these almost look like Christmas lights but are bigger. Vilma pointed out to me last night that on the hill going up to our apartment someone has already broken a row of these lights to make it darker. Preparation for robbing? Hard to say, but is the likely answer.

*Camarote building. Camarotes are structures that are located along the parade route. They are basically raised platforms that have been made into clubs/bars. You can hang out inside and look down as the parade goes by. This is the safest option to watch Carnaval, as you have to pay to enter and there is security to make sure that the people inside are safe. I wish I had some pictures to post of these structures because some of them are amazing! But I don't want to take my camera out on the street in these days leading up to Carnaval because there is a lot more crime happening right now.

*Tons of tourists arriving. Everywhere you look you see folks walking around who are not from here. The influx will continue for the next few days.

*Prices rising. Everything doubles or triples in value during Carnaval. I think that some folks make all their money for the year during this week.

*Vendors sleeping on the streets to reserve their places to sell stuff. This started about a week ago. I saw a bunch of folks with coolers, chairs, etc sleeping on the sidewalks in Barra. They have to stay there or someone else claims their spot. And Vilma said that there is definitely fighting that happens in the race to claim the best location to sell beer, etc.

*More cops. I'm surprised that the police are actually trying to make their presence known, but I have seen more of them patrolling around. Does it make a difference? I don't think it makes much of a dent in the crime problem leading up to and during Carnaval.

*More robbers. See above.

*More traffic jams. The neighborhoods where Carnaval will take place are filled with big trucks hauling supplies, which slows down the rest of the normal traffic. I hear lots of horn honking going on.

*More stress. Salvador is known for those t-shirts that say "No Stress". Well I think that is for all the other weeks of the year besides Carnaval. Everyone is stressed out by all of the stuff I've listed above.

The question...will I be participating in any Carnaval activities this year? Well, I might go out tomorrow night on the street by my house. The first night is the mellowest, and I went out last year. But after that I am not going out. I don't want to pay money for a Camarote or Bloco and it's not safe to stay on the street (in the "pipoca" as they call it). Let the festivities begin and I'll be enjoying a chill week relaxing at home.

Cambistas

2009-02-16T07:58:00.000-08:00

Well as I mentioned in my last post, I went to see Manu Chao last Friday. I found out about the show kind of by accident. Every now and again I like to read the online version of the Salvador newspaper, but it's not a regular event, it happens pretty randomly. So I just so happened to look at the website last week and saw that Manu Chao would be coming to Salvador and that the show would be a "trade your receipts for a ticket" show. Apparently this has gone on in the past and now they are bringing this phenomenon back.

I was so happy to see that he was coming and that he would be here when my American friend would also be in town visiting. I've been a fan of Manu Chao for several years, but have never seen him play as he doesn't come to the US that often. I immediately started collecting receipts so that I would have enough and then also went about finding out information as to where I had to go and get the tickets.

The receipt collecting was kind of hilarious in and of itself. I started in our house, hunting through old grocery store bags. The receipts could be from any store and in any amount, it just had to say "Cupon fiscal" on it. After exhausting the house supply, I then went down to the little market and pharmacy near my house to see if they had any old receipts lying around that folks had left behind. I scored a few at both places, and also found some on the ground. Several visits later, I had 40 receipts...enough for 4 tickets.

The day the tickets were going to be released came and Vilma went to the mall to wait in line. She got there around 9AM and the line was already super long, extending out of the parking garage! She patiently waited until about 11AM when I arrived. I ended up cancelling a couple of my classes so that I could stay there, and she had to leave at 1:30PM to go to the dentist. I finally made it to the front of the line and scored 2 tickets at about 3PM.

Let me say that the line situation was rather organized, but odd. The main part of the line extended from one door, around the parking garage and then outside. When you got to the front of this line, you were then sent to a second, shorter line that led up to the ticket window. There were three tellers in the ticket window. Two were dealing with the "regular" line, and one was dealing with the "old people" line. It's common in Brazil that banks, grocery stores, and other establishments that have lines have a "fila de idosos", or "old people line". And sure enough they had one for this show too. Needless to say, the line moved VERY slowly, although when I got up to the front it seemed to go more quickly.

A word about the old people line. In this situation, the name of this line should have been the "old people and other random people who were getting paid by the scalpers plus the scalpers themselves line". Vilma told me that the scalpers either had friends who were the security guys, or they paid the security guys, or both for the privilege of using this line. At one point there was actually a fight when a guy from the normal line saw all the shadiness going on with the scalpers using the old people line, got mad, and tried to fight the scalpers and security. He got put in his place and things just continued on as they were, with the Manu Chao fans waiting hours while the scalpers just sat back and collected tickets that they would later sell for R$30-50 each.

At one point I went up to the front to check out the scene and saw a line of about 10 old people who I'm sure had absolutely no idea who Manu Chao is, waiting patiently for their turn. Then there was a line of scalpers, or "cambistas" in Portuguese, waiting to receive the tickets from them after they got to the front.

Was all of this worth it? Well, I loved the show and had a great time. The music rocked and the crowd was really fun. But I couldn't help but look around a couple of times, note the huge number of people there and think of how much money those cambistas made on the tickets that were basically free. And yes, I did see one older guy there, but the rest of the "idosos" were nowhere to be seen.

Manu Chao

2009-02-14T04:06:00.000-08:00

Last night I saw one of the best shows I've seen in years! Manu Chao played at Teatro Castro Alves' outdoor arena to a packed crowd of people loving it! Here's a little clip that was posted after the show. I'll see if anyone else posts longer videos later today to post here.

The scene was super chill and it was the first time in a long time here in Salvador that I felt safe in a crowd of people. The opening band was really good, a mostly percussion group that included a guy playing berimbau! Manu Chao had a ton of energy, and was a great entertainer. He really knew how to get the audience totally involved in the music. He played some songs that I knew and some that I didn't, but I enjoyed every song and didn't want the show to end. He even came out for a second encore!

Getting the tickets was another story altogether and I'll post later today or tomorrow about the process. I will say that the concert was "free" in that you had to trade in 10 receipts from any store to receive one ticket. But you could only get 2 tickets per person and we ended up buying 2 more from a scalper so that we could go with our friends. It was all worth it though after I saw the show. I'm still feeling the good vibes this morning!

Piracy

2009-02-07T07:34:00.000-08:00

Brazilians are a lot less strict about following copyright laws than we are in the US. Everything from music to books can be (pretty much) freely copied or purchased with little to no restrictions. A good example is the books I use for teaching English. Most of my students don't want to spend the money on new books, so they just make a photocopy of my book and have it bound. Voila, just as good as the original (well except that there's no color).

On practically every street corner you can find guys selling pirated DVDs. They usually have them laid out on a sheet or some kind of plastic, and someone once told me that it's so they can snatch it up really fast and run if needed, although the police don't seem to give these guys a second look. In fact, a sight I have burned into my memory is of 2 cops looking at a bunch of pirated DVDs and buying one from a vendor.

I think the funniest pirated DVD story I know is about this woman I used to be friends with who runs a pirated DVD rental place out of her apartment window. She lives on the ground floor of an apartment complex, and has a whole display of DVDs to rent. So other residents come by, look them over through the window and then rent them out for like R$1 or R$2 per night. She's smart in that she doesn't actually make the copies at her house, she makes them at her mother's house. I guess on some level she's worried about being caught, but not enough to shut down the operation. And from what I saw she does a pretty decent business...when she's home she just opens up the window and people start showing up to rent out a movie for the night.

The only pirated movies I have bought, I guiltily purchased because I had an eight hour layover in the São Paulo airport and I wanted to have something to do. It was kind of a last minute decision and so I was at the mercy of what the vendors had on sale. Sometimes they have kind of bizarre choices, things like "Anaconda 2". I ended up with Miami Vice and Shakira unplugged. I actually enjoyed both of them a lot!

Anyway, I sometimes feel guilty when I break copyright laws here, but not enough to not do it. But then again, everyone else is doing it too.

A real problem

2009-02-03T16:08:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about this for some time now, and after today it really came to a head for me. There is a HUGE problem of violence against women here in Salvador. Of course, all over the world there are problems with violence against women, but I'm seeing so many examples of it here, it's really hit me hard how much it sucks to be a woman in this city.

Today I was riding the bus to go teach a class and was running late. I called my student to tell her that I would be about 5-10 minutes behind schedule and she asked to cancel our class. Turns out that yesterday at about 6:30PM her sister was out with her boyfriend at this beach that is a well known tourist area. There were a ton of people around and she was drinking a coconut water with her boyfriend. Suddenly, 2 guys showed up, one with a gun and told her to get into a car. I didn't get all the details of what happened, but it was what is called here "sequestro relampago" or "lightning kidnapping". This usually involves someone getting kidnapped for a short time, during which the robbers take the person to various ATMs to withdraw as much money as they can and/or extract money in other ways. I don't know if my student's family had to pay some money or if they took her to a bunch of banks, but I do know that she showed up at the house in the middle of the night, shoeless, dirty and with a broken arm. Shit like this a) scares the hell out of me and b) makes me super f***ing angry.

I recently read a newspaper story in the local paper about the increase in assaults on cars here. Robbers will hang out at traffic lights, break the window of the car with a big rock and steal purses or whatever they can. The targets? Women and older people who are driving alone.

When I lived in the US I once went to a take back the night rally. I remember feeling empowered to be out and about with a huge group of women at night and was glad to have a chance to speak out about violence. But violence there seems like nothing compared to what it's like it here. I feel like I'm in the middle of a war-zone and that being a foreign woman just puts a huge target on my back.

How can these men sleep at night?

By the way...the banner above says "Where there's violence, everyone loses".

The 25 things phenomenon

2009-02-01T04:37:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm bending to Facebook's peer pressure and have created this list of 25 random facts about me that I thought I would share with you. Here goes:

1. I was born in Portland, Maine and have lived in North Carolina, Vermont, Colorado, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, and Salvador, Brazil. Some places I've lived longer than others, but I've learned something from every place I've lived.

2. I was a social worker for 10 years.

3. I came out when I was about 27.

4. I'm addicted to coffee.

5. I'm allergic to cats, horses, dust, pollen, almonds and various types of fruit.

6. When I was 10 years old, I got alopecia areata, which is a disease that causes your hair to fall out. This disease changed my life and has made me the person I am today.

7. I saw 42 Grateful Dead concerts when I was between the ages of 17-21.

8. I don't know how many times I've seen the band Phish play, but it's well over 100. My first show was in 1987.

9. When I was 22-23 I worked at a ski resort cleaning condos. My friend and I would spit on the fur coats that we found in people's rooms.

10. I was a vegetarian for 17 years. Now I eat meat.

11. I'm an avid reader. When I was a child my mother had to pry books out of my hands at the dinner table. That said, living in Brazil has been interesting for me because I've had to rely on cast-off books from other travelers. English books here are really expensive! Because of this, I've read some really interesting books that I never would have read.

12. I'm a serial hobbyist. I get really really into something, almost to the point of obsession, keep at it for a number of years and then move onto something else. I sometime wonder if this means I have commitment issues.

13. One of the most beautiful natural sights I have ever seen is the waterfalls of Foz de Iguacu, which is located on the borders of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

14. I'm fluent in Portuguese and want to learn Spanish.

15. I've had three dogs in my life (Homer, Jack and Ruckus) and consistently had dogs from age 20-37. It's been three years now since I've had a dog and while I miss the companionship, I wonder if I'm really ready to commit to a dog again.

16. I don't wear makeup but I'm really picky about the health and beauty products that I use. I was sad to hear when Clorox bought Burt's Bees, but I'm still using their lip balm, deodorant, and baby oil.

17. My favorite movie of all time is "Harold and Maude".

18. I didn't vote in the last election because I didn't get my shit together in time with the absentee ballot. I feel guilty because I can't participate in the "I voted for Obama" euphoria, but I'm really glad he won.

19. I would do almost anything to help a friend and I have.

20. I walked on fire once. It was part of a workshop that I attended about experiential education and it was pretty mind blowing.

21. On that note, I used to be a fire dancer. I sometimes wonder how good I would be now if I had kept at it.

22. I love chocolate and have kind of an out of control sweet tooth.

23. When I lived in the US I didn't watch TV. Now I find myself watching pretty stupid American reality shows (A Double Shot at Love anyone?!). I think it's an attempt to stay in tune with American culture. I hope I can stop again when I go back to the US.

24. My best friend committed suicide when we were both 29. I still miss her.

25. I've been trying all my life to be a happy person and have been moderately successful at this.

Money making secret

2009-01-31T04:56:00.000-08:00

My time here in Salvador is coming to a close, so I thought I would share with all of you ex-pats, foreigners, etc who are trying to eek out a living here one of my secrets to making some extra money while in Brazil. Two words: Victoria's Secret.

Brazilian women are crazy for beauty products from Victoria's Secret, specifically the Secret Garden collection's body lotion. It could be that there are no VS shops in Brazil, so having access to this lotion is kind of a status symbol...demonstrating that the person has either traveled to the USA, has a relative living in the US who sends the stuff here, or has access to someone who has traveled there. At any rate, there are some stores here that sell the stuff without the consent of VS, but they charge super high prices for it, like it's gold or something. I've seen it for sale at the mall for like R$80 for ONE bottle. With the current exchange rate, that´s about $35US. Crazy!

So here's what I've done since being here. Every time I go to the US, I buy at least 10 bottles of the lotion. You can usually get 5 bottles for $30US. The most popular scents are Strawberries and Champagne (this is the absolute best seller), Love Spell, Vanilla, and Pear Glace. Then I tell all of my students who have money that I'm selling it, so that if they or their friends are interested they can buy it from me. I sell it for R$40 per bottle, which is much better than the mall and still enough for me to make a decent profit, so everyone's happy.

I've never tried having someone from the US send it, but I have a Brazilian friend in the US who sends the stuff down to his family to sell in southern Brazil. You might have to charge more because you have to spend money on postage too. It's more cost efficient if you bring it in your luggage. Also, last Christmas I bought a bunch of stuff on sale to bring back with me, including 2 purses and some kits that had like a lotion, soap, bath spray, etc. I sold these, but it took longer than selling the lotion, so I would recommend just sticking to the lotions. They are a sure sale.

The only thing you really need is access to people who have money. But if you're teaching English, you probably could sell these lotions to your students.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me, but this has been a good little side money maker for me and now it could be for you too.

President Obama's phone call

2009-01-27T09:09:00.000-08:00

The big news of the day is the phone call that President Obama made yesterday to President Lula here in Brazil. Here's a copy of the article from the Salvador paper "A Tarde" about the call, plus the translation:

"Em um telefonema de surpresa, o presidente dos Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, disse no início da noite de ontem ao presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva que instruiu sua equipe econômica para aproximar posições com o Brasil antes da reunião do G-20 (em abril), informou o porta-voz do Palácio do Planalto, Marcelo Baumbach."

In a surprise phone call, the president of the United States, Barack Obama, said to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the beginning of last night that he has instructed his economic team to position themselves closer to Brazil before the G-20 meeting (in April), reported the president's spokesperson, Marcelo Baumbach.

A conversa entre os dois presidentes ocorreu num clima ?agradável?, relatou um assessor. O telefonema começou às 18h15 e terminou às 18h40. Obama convidou Lula a visitá-lo em Washington. ?Vou estar em Nova York em março para um seminário com investidores?, disse Lula. ?Se você puder vir a Washington será bom, e quando eu puder, retribuo a visita?, afirmou Obama. Ficou acertado que Lula estará na Casa Branca em março e Obama virá ao Brasil ainda neste ano.

The conversation between the two presidents occurred in a pleasant manner, related an advisor. The phone call started at 6:15PM and ended at 6:40PM. Obama invited Lula to visit him in Washington. "I'll be in New York in March for an investement seminar", said Lula, "If you could visit Washington, that would be good, and when I can I'll return the visit." affirmed Obama. Be certain that Lula will be in the White House in March and Obama will come to Brazil this year.

Segundo Baumbach, Obama disse também que é necessário fomentar o comércio internacional para que haja melhores condições de combater a crise. ?Quero reiterar o apreço pelas relações entre os EUA e o Brasil?, disse o presidente americano. ?Desejo trabalhar de forma coordenada com você, Lula, para garantir a paz no continente (americano) e o fortalecimento das relações econômicas entre os dois países.?

According to Baumbach, Obama also said that it's necessary to promote international trade to have better conditions to fight the crisis. "I want to reiterate the appreciation for relations between the US and Brazil", said the American president. "I want to work to coordinate with you, Lula, to guarantee peace on the American continent and the strengthening of economic relations between the two countries."

Lula disse a Obama que sua eleição influenciará positivamente a imagem que a América Latina tem dos EUA. O porta-voz do Planalto informou ainda que Lula apresentou a Obama alguns pontos de uma agenda que pretende que seja comum aos dois países. Lula mencionou, entre outros pontos, uma política de biocombustíveis, o combate às mudanças climáticas, a relação com a África, a relação com os outros países da América Latina e o G-20. Obama, segundo Baumbach, acrescentou que considera importante a continuação das discussões da Rodada Doha para enfrentar a crise internacional.

Lula said to Obama that his election will positively influence the image that Latin America has of the US. The presidential spokesperson also reported that Lula presented to Obama some agenda items that he plans to have in common between the two countries. Lula mentioned, among other points, the politics of biofuels, the fight against global warming, relations with Africa, relations with other countries in Latin America, and the G-20 meeting. Obama, reported Baumbach, added that he considers it important to continue the discussions of "Rodada Doha" (I don't know what this is!) to face the international crisis.

Well...I'm not sure how great my translation is, but you get the idea! I really hope that we can have better relations between the US and Brazil. Not that they were super bad or anything, but I think that Bush did a great job of alienating the US and I think it's a great step in the right direction for President Obama to be "mending the friendships" that were in place before but were strained because of the idiot we had in the White House these past 8 years. I can't wait to see when President Lula visits Washington!

Ki-Mukeka

2009-01-26T11:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Vilma and I went to check out a restaurant that I had never been to, and that specializes in one of my favorite Bahian dishes- moqueca. The name of the restaurant is spelled phonetically...kind of like how in the US we misspell food words to use in restaurant names in order to make it more "cute" (or something). Anyway, I think it was the most delicious moqueca I have eaten here. And believe me I have done my share of trying out this dish at various restaurants!

Moqueca is a seafood stew, the most well known and loved being the moqueca de camarão or shrimp stew. You can get other kinds of fish or seafood in the moquecas, but I always get the shrimp. The trademark ingredient which makes it a true Bahia dish is the dende oil. This is oil from some kind of palm tree and it has a very distinctive flavor and smell. It's also super strong and fattening, so eating food with dende is something you should only do once in a while. But I decided to splurge a little yesterday and go for eating the moqueca, dende and all.

Here I am post-moqueca...full belly and satisfied look on my face from putting a bit of Bahian style heaven into my mouth.

Observations on driving

2009-01-24T03:39:00.000-08:00

One of my students decided to take a vacation for 16 days this month and was kind enough to lend me his car (or rather the car that his driver uses...his car is a super expensive SUV that I wouldn't want to drive here). This has really been a blessing and has helped me out a lot, both by saving time getting from place to place, but also by allowing me to avoid taking the bus or walking around on the street. In this month leading up to Carnaval when street crime increases a lot, I am grateful to be driving around and not having to hold my breath as I walk from my house to the bus stop and then on the bus as I go from place to place. About a week ago 2 tourists were shot on a bus going to the airport as 3 robbers came on the bus, tried to rob everyone and these 2 men resisted. They didn't die, but were seriously injured.

Anyway, driving here is definitely very different from any place I've ever driven in the USA, so I thought I would write a little about what I've seen here:

-Lanes are a relative thing here. Sometimes there is paint on the road to indicate which lane is which and sometimes not. Sometimes there are conflicting paint marks so you don't really know which lane is which. Sometimes people drive in the lane and sometimes in the middle of 2 lanes. And the most frustrating thing to me is that there are no signs indicating when lanes are merging or ending so you'll be driving along and suddenly your lane is gone!
-Turn signals don't have any meaning. When someone puts on their right turn signal it could mean they are turning right at the next road or possibly the next 2 or 3 roads away. It could also mean that they are not going to turn, or turn left. And of course many people don't use turn signals at all. You have to stay really alert and be ready for anything on the roads here.
-After 10PM you can run stoplights. Well you do have to slow down if it's red and make sure there are no cars coming the other way, but you can run the light. This is because of carjackings and assaults on drivers. The other night I came home about 11PM and I didn't stop once!
-There are a lot more pedestrians, bikes, people pulling carts, and sometimes even people on horses so you have to be prepared to go around them. Sometimes they don't stay on the side of the road either.
-Bus drivers are maniacs.
-Horns are ok to use. In fact you have to use them as way of signaling people that you are passing or that they shouldn't come into your lane. I often think of polite Portlanders who never use their horns and I laugh because I had to learn to use mine, and I am making full use of it here.
-It's every man or woman for him or herself. Drivers here don't wait, don't let people in and are generally pretty damn rude. I find myself becoming an asshole when I get behind the wheel here.

I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting, but you get the idea. I guess the biggest thing for me is that you have to stay super alert and pay attention at all times. In Portland sometimes I would find myself kind of spacing out, but you can't do that here.

The bummer is that my student returns from his trip on Monday so I have to give the car back. That means that I have roughly three weeks until Carnaval where I have to return to walking and riding the bus. I've thought about renting a car, but it's pretty expensive to do this, so I think I'll just have to suck it up. I'll probably take more taxis, but I can't afford to always take a taxi every time I have to go somewhere. Cars are something that I always took for granted in the US...but I sure don't take them for granted here.

Praia do Forte

2009-01-21T13:01:00.001-08:00

I didn't mention in my last post that on the way back from Imbassai, we stopped at Praia do Forte. Now I've been to Praia do Forte a number of times, and it has to be my absolute favorite place within an hour's drive from Salvador. It's so beautiful and peaceful there, you can really relax without all the stress of the city.

Some people think it's really "resort-y", and it kind of is I guess (higher prices, everything geared towards tourists), but I love it there. And there were 2 things that made this visit different than previous visits. First of all, I visited a new sandwich shop there and ate an actual bagel and cream cheese! The shop just opened a month ago and is owned by a couple- an American man and a Brazilian woman. The American used to be an executive chef in Germany, São Paulo, and then at one of the fancy-shmancy hotels in the Praia do Forte area. He and his wife decided to open up their own place (the owner told me that there are only like 3 places in Brazil that sell bagels, including his place), and apparently it's already doing very well! The guys makes everything from scratch, including the bagels, and has a frappucini-like frozen coffee drink that is just to die for. I had one, along with a plain bagel with sundried tomato cream cheese and felt like I was in a bagel shop in the US...well food-wise at least. It was incredible!

The other unusual event was some kind of pre-Carnaval kid activities that involved this parade.

And I didn't get a photo of the kids doing the other activity...but it basically consisted of them dressed up in costumes that included a mask, a black garbage bag worn as a kind of cloak, and palm leaves stuck up underneath the garbage bag. They then run around, scaring people and asking for money. They are called "Caretas" and it's a kind of Carnaval tradition.

I'm not sure if I'll get back up to Praia do Forte again before I leave, but I will always have fond memories of this lovely beach town.

Imabassai

2009-01-19T03:32:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend Vilma and I went with 2 of her friends and her niece to this beach called Imbassai. It's located north of Salvador, about 65Km or so, and is one of the coolest places I have been to that's close to Salvador.

When you arrive, you park the car in a little village and walk to a bridge that crosses the river. At the bridge you can pay R$1.50 per person to go on this boat that takes you down to where the river meets the ocean (see above picture), or you can walk like 5-10 minutes to get to the same place. We walked.

At the point where the river meets the ocean, you can choose to sit at a beach bar (here they are called barracas, pronounced bah-ha-kahs) on the ocean side, or along the mouth of the river. We sat at the last barraca before the river meets the ocean, which was one of the most pleasant beach bar experiences I have ever had.

What's unique about this place is that because it's a river, there are no tides, and so the bars put their tables in the water. You can sit with your feet in the river, under an umbrella, and drink cold beer (or in my case agua de coco since I was driving), eat clams and acaraje, and watch all the folks doing crazy stuff in the river. Like this lady...
Here's a picture of one of the tables that is practically submerged!
And of course, what day at the beach would be complete without fried cheese:

And fresh, toasted cashews!

I had an amazing day of relaxation and respite from the city, and fully enjoyed the best of both worlds...river AND ocean!

Tropical fruit of the week: Acerola

2009-01-15T02:33:00.001-08:00

One of the benefits of living in a tropical climate is access to tropical fruit. And I'm not talking about bland, imported tropical fruit that was picked off the tree when it was still super green and unripe, then sat in a boat or on a plane for a couple of days before being put on the shelf at New Seasons or Whole Foods to then be sold for like $10 and that has almost no taste left. No...I'm talking about local fruit, just off the tree and cheap, or in the case of this acerola above, free, and amazingly delicious!

I had never had acerola before coming to Salvador, and I think the best way to describe it is that it's similar to cherries. As you can see it grows on a tree and is small and red like a cherry. The flavor is completely unique however, and this fruit can be eaten plain or you can use it to make juice. I'm a pretty big fan of acerola juice myself, and they say that it's packed with vitamin C.

Here's a picture of Vilma, my student and my student's daughter picking acerola at Fazenda Real. The trees were overflowing and we took advantage of the opportunity to get some fresh acerola.

I highly recommend trying acerola if you ever come to visit Brazil. And it's also fun to try some of the other tropical fruits that you've never heard of. Go to a juice shop, look at a menu, and pick out the strangest looking name of a fruit that you can find and try it. I can almost guarantee that you will love it!

Fazenda Real

2009-01-12T02:24:00.001-08:00

Yesterday two of my students who are a couple invited me to go with them to a place called Fazenda Real. They said I could invite a friend so I invited Vilma to go along with me. I was really excited when I got there to be in this super tranquil, relaxed, foresty place with a lake, tons of trees and no city noise.

Fazenda Real is about a 30 minute drive outside of Salvador and is going to be a gated community. Now before you get a bad picture in your head with the words "gated community", let me explain more about this place. It used to be a huge farm that was then sold to a developer. The plan is to build a huge fence around the perimeter of the property, divide it into lots, but then also have a huge area of natural preservation that the residents can enjoy. There is a huge, natural, fresh water lake, lots of virgin forest that will remain in place, and is being advertised as a place for environmentally minded folks to live.

Once completed there will be trails, a bike/horse/pedestrian path that goes around the lake (6KM), pools, a gym, a riding ring for horse-jumping, horses for anyone to ride, free fruits from all of the fruit trees there, and a lot more. I'm not one for gated communities, but I was really impressed with this one.

In Brazil, well at least in Salvador, you have to live in a secure place. People from the middle class and up live in buildings with 24 hour doormen and a security system to keep people safe. So the idea of a gated community here is one of necessity, not luxury like in the US.

If I was going to stay here, I would definitely consider moving to Fazenda Real. It's going to be a little oasis for the folks who live there...a way to retreat from the craziness of the city.

A snapshot of Brazilians

2009-01-10T05:53:00.000-08:00

Here's another video by Os Tribalistas that I think is amazing. It really shows a snapshot of a wide range of folks here in Brazil...gives you an idea of the variety of people's lives. If you only watch one of these 2 videos, watch this one!

Amazing song

2009-01-10T05:10:00.001-08:00

This is one of my favorite songs by a Brazilian band. It's a song about love and the band is made up of a group of folks who don't normally sing together, they just got together to record a couple of songs. They're called Os Tribalistas. I just love this woman's voice, and if you want to check out her solo stuff, her name is Marisa Monte.

Trying to stay sane

2009-01-06T07:28:00.000-08:00

How does one stay sane amidst chaos? How can one be happy when there is so much craziness surrounding her? How can someone live life fully when she feels like she has no freedom?

These are some of the questions I have been asking myself recently. Do you have the answers?

Here are some statistics that I've seen in the news or heard about lately...
-50 murders have taken place in Salvador since January 1.
-There were over 2,000 murders that took place here last year.
-Every day at least 3 buses in Salvador are robbed. This means that robbers enter, armed, and steal money, cell phones and whatever else from everyone on the bus.
-Last Friday at 6:30AM on the hill by my house a woman was robbed by a couple. I walked down that hill on Friday at about 6:10AM.

I'm trying my damnedest to think positive, but it's becoming increasingly difficult when there is all this negativity around me. I'm going back to the US on March 5 and really want the rest of my time here to be spent in a positive manner, but it's been really hard on me. The only place I feel safe is in my apartment, and I feel like I'm experiencing symptoms of agoraphobia, not wanting to leave and go walk around outside.

I'm taking as many precautions as I can...taking more taxis, only walking with someone (usually Vilma), not staying out late, keeping to areas where there are lots of people around, and still I feel unsafe. The thing that is most frustrating is that you can never predict when some kind of crime or violence will occur. Any time of the day it could happen. I could get on any bus and that bus could be one of the three that day that get robbed. I could walk from the bus stop to my house and that could be the day that there is robber hanging around waiting for someone to rob. I hate the uncertainty of it all.

So if anyone has any suggestions, I would certainly appreciate it. I feel like I've tried everything I can think of and still feel really stressed out.

Goals for 2009

2009-01-02T05:08:00.001-08:00

I don't like the words "New Years Resolutions" because they seem so black and white. Like you either do them and succeed or screw up and fail. Many a year I've promised myself to do all the cliche resolutions: lose weight, get more organized, save money, etc and have done ok for a couple of weeks and then just totally fell off the wagon. A few years ago I decided that I preferred to have goals for the new year. Things that I could work on and have in mind, but that if I mess up I don't just throw in the towel because I didn't fulfill the resolution. I like the idea of using the beginning of a new year as a new beginning to try to improve things about myself, I just don't want the pressure of a resolution to have to live up to.

That being said...here are some goals I have for 2009 in no particular order of importance:

-Drink more water
-Eat healthier
-Lose weight
-Make some positive steps in the direction of figuring out what my next career move will be
-Start learning Spanish
-Exercise more
-Save money
-Spend more time with friends and family
-Focus on things that make me happy, avoid things that don't

I think that's good for a start. I don't want to put too much pressure on myself as then I won't work towards any of these goals.

Happy 2009 everyone!

Naked guy

2009-01-02T04:39:00.001-08:00

Just when I think I've seen everything and that nothing more here could surprise me, I see something that is just unbelievable.

Today I left my house at about 6AM to go teach an early morning class. There is a hill from my house down to the bus stop that goes along the border of a favela (slum). I generally avoid this hill because of safety concerns, but will walk down it early morning since usually everyone is still sleeping.

Anyway, at the bottom of the hill there are two ways you can go to get to the bus stop. One way passes the entrance to the favela and the other goes around a building so that you can avoid the entrance. I usually go this way to avoid the favela entrance. Today though, I got to the bottom of the hill and was looking at both routes and noticed that the non-favela route had a naked guy standing on the corner. I was faced with the decision: favela entrance or passing the naked guy. Which is worse?! i chose the favela entrance route. I just didn't want to walk anywhere near the naked guy.

So I walked the favela entrance route with no problems, got to the bus stop and was waiting for my bus, when I saw the naked guy walking along the street that runs parallel to the street I was standing on. Now let me say that this guy was absolutely naked and carrying nothing. No shoes, no underwear, no backpack or bag, just walking along as if being naked on the street was a perfectly normal thing to do. He also looked like he was flying an invisible kite....he was making arm motions that suggested this.

I want to point out that while Brazilians are a very laid-back and relaxed people in general, they are pretty conservative about nudity. Foreigners who think it's all free love and partying on the beach and who take off their tops to go topless swimming are met with strong stares and usually someone who quickly goes over and tells them to put on their clothes. It's just not accepted here to be naked in public. And yet here was the naked guy walking along like he did it every day (maybe he does?!) and that it was no big deal.

He passed by and my bus came, so I don't know the fate of the naked guy. But it was certainly an interesting thing to wake up to.

Bowling

2008-12-29T05:53:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was another first for me here in Brazil. I went bowling. Now I´ve bowled on a number of occasions in the US, but I didn´t even know that there was a bowling alley here in Salvador until yesterday.

I called up my friend Mark to see if he wanted to hang out and he invited Vilma and I to go with him and his kids to a park that is right on the beach. He graciously picked us up in his car and off we went. The park we went to is a great place for kids (and adults!). There´s a basketball court, a place to skateboard or roller skate, a craft fair that is always there on the weekends, and a couple of large, plastic playground toys for the kids to play on. We hung out there for a while, drank some coconut water, and let the kids play around on the toys and in the sand. After some time passed Mark asked if we wanted to go bowling! It didn´t take a lot of arm twisting to get me to agree.

The Portuguese word for bowling is "boliche" and that´s what the sign said on the side of the building as we went in. The bowling alley is located a short drive from the park we were at, in a mall called "Aeroclube". Apparently back in the day Aeroclube was considered a really fashionable and fancy mall, but has been in various stages of remodeling for some time now and is basically abandoned. Folks still go there for the movie theatre, but that´s about it, or so I thought. Now I know that they still go there to bowl as well.

Bowling here is pretty much identical to bowling in the US except that all the lanes use gutter-ball-proof gutters and instead of paying by the game, you pay by the hour. But the computerized scoring, people jumping up and down and screaming, and that sound of the balls hitting the pins is exactly the same.

And I scored better than usual, 100 points!

Will I go back to bowl again? Probably not because it was kind of expensive, but it sure was fun!

Christmas sightings

2008-12-27T07:25:00.000-08:00

Here´s some stuff that I´ve seen or heard about over this holiday season:

-The malls totally decked out with tons of decorations, starting in October!

-Long lines of kids and parents waiting to sit on Santa´s lap.

-Almost every store with a wrapped up box at the cash register where you can put your spare change in to give to the employees. (I think) They split the money that they get from the box.

-All the street kids who normally beg for money holding these same wrapped up boxes for people to put their change into. Do they get to keep the money? Well, there is lots of child exploitation here so I imagine that in many situations they have to give what they make to some adult who is "in charge" of them.

-A MUCH larger number than normal of families with kids begging for money on the streets. On one street corner I saw at least 10 kids with only one or two adults.

-The amount of crime in the month leading up to Christmas increases a LOT. I almost got mugged by 2 guys on motorcycles who came up behind the taxi I was getting out of. I had to run into the apartment building I was going into to escape. Luckily the doorman saw them, opened the door for me and the motorcyclists drove off after I went in.

-Everyone who has legitimate work gets what they call "13th month bonus" in December. They receive a month´s extra salary every December. This is one of the reasons that crime increases so much...everyone is walking around with more money.

-Panetone. This is a yummy Brazilian version of fruitcake. It´s more like a fruit bread and much tastier than the US version that often gets passed around and re-gifted. Everyone eats it as a traditional Christmas food. Trader Joe´s sells it if you want to try it in the US.

-Yesterday I saw a group of boys, about 12 years old or so, who had taken over this parking area and were "helping park cars" (this is code for standing around, half-heartedly waving their hands to pretend that they are helping the drivers park, "guarding the cars", and then wanting money when the person leaves as payment for the services). They were obviously poor and I saw a SUV stop close by them and hand out wrapped presents to all of the boys. They opened them up and had received new shirts. There was lots of comparing and trying on of the shirts, but then they went back to "helping park cars" pretty quickly, in hope of more presents or money.

-A more obvious display of the distance between rich and poor in this country because of the consumerism of the holiday and the inability of folks to participate because of poverty.

-Talking to my family and feeling homesick.

-Spending Christmas with Vilma, enjoying the gift exchange and Christmas dinner with her friends.

-Wishing happy holidays to all my friends and family. May 2009 be a year filled with peace, love, security, happiness, and freedom for all.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-25T13:14:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone. To all my family and friends...I miss you soooo much! I wish we were together today and hope you are having a great holiday.

Visitors

2008-12-23T07:01:00.000-08:00

I haven´t posted a blog in a while because I´ve had visitors from the US here and so have been pretty much off-line except for checking my email. It´s been really fun to have three folks here to hang out with and for an excuse to cancel some classes and take some time off. I´ll tell you a bit about what I did over the last week...

My friend Jodie arrived on Saturday the 13th, and we hung out a bit over the weekend, but she was mostly hanging out with this guy she´s dating, so my "time off" really didn´t start until Tuesday the 16th, when she came to stay at my house. On Wednesday we went up to Praia do Forte, which is a little resort town north of Salvador. It´s a great place to relax and get away from the city. There´s a pedestrian walkway, a beach, and a turtle sanctuary that hosts a "save the sea turtle" program. We checked out all of these, ate some amazing Italian food, shopped, and enjoyed just chilling out.

On Thursday we took a bus up to Muritiba with our capoeira teacher, who is also in town visiting. We got to go to Mestre Medicina´s capoeira class, which was cool for Jodie since she has never met him or been to his academy (he´s the founder of our capoeira group). We stayed at my friend Sonia´s house, and had fun hanging out and chatting. We wanted to stay longer, but Jodie´s friend was arriving on Saturday morning, so we had to be back in Salvador on Friday.

We arrived in Salvador on Friday afternoon and went back to my house to unpack and relax. Then my friend/student called and invited us to go out and drink some wine. We ended up going to this super cool bar with a beautiful outside patio for some snacks, drinks, and hilarious conversation. It was a great time, and he was nice enough to pick us up at the house and give us a ride there and back home.

Saturday morning we went to the airport to pick up Jodie´s friend Jane and from there we went straight to the beach! Jane only has 8 days here, so really wanted to make the most of them. Both Jane and Jodie surf, so we met up with our capoeira teacher, who also surfs, and hung out all day at this beach bar. We ended up meeting this guy who runs a surf school who rented boards to Jane and Jodie. Coincidentally, we stopped at a salon on the way home so that Jane could get waxed and ran into the surf school guy who offered us a ride back to Salvador. It was so nice to get a ride and not have to take a LONG bus ride home, especially with Jane´s luggage!

Saturday night was spent eating lots and lots of amazing food at a Brazilian steakhouse. Jodie and Jane treated Vilma and I, along with the surf school guy and his friend to dinner at Boi Preto (Black cow), which is one of the best steakhouses in Salvador. All I can say is: YUM! It was sooooo amazing and with great service too.

Sunday we got a ride up to the same beach with the surf school guy and spent the day in a similar manner as we did on Saturday. Swimming, surfing, sunbathing, drinking coconut water and caipirinhas, eating clams and beach snacks, and most of all RELAXING. It was heaven :)

Jodie and Jane took off Sunday night on the overnight bus to Itabuna. They are going to spend some time at a famous surf spot in Bahia and Jodie is going to a capoeira event called "Capoeirando" which is an international event held there every year. I wish I had more time off and money to go with them, but alas will just have to enjoy the stories afterwards. It´s not in the cards for me to go this time around.

I taught a couple of classes yesterday and today, but most of my students are taking a break until the week after New Years. So now I´m ready to enjoy some down time over the holidays and hopefully spend some more time at the beach.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Xuxa

2008-12-15T04:40:00.001-08:00

I´ve been aware for some time now about Xuxa (pronounced Shoe-shah), who is known in Brazil as the "Queen of Children". She´s a blond, blue-eyed woman who has built an empire here hosting a children´s program, making CD´s and DVD´s and even giving concerts where she sings and dances to adoring Brazilian children (and adults!) everywhere. What I didn´t know until this past Saturday night is that she´s also a gay icon. Imagine if Cher did children´s programming as a full time job, and that would be the equivalent of what Xuxa is.

On Saturday I went to a party where Vilma and I were the only women, everyone else was a gay man. The theme of the party was Xuxa and that is when I was informed that "all the gays" love Xuxa. There were various Xuxa inspired activities, my favorite being a big white posterboard on the wall with "Xuxa", written at the top where everyone had to put on lipstick, leave a kiss mark on the poster, and then write their name below with the first letter of the name being replaced by an "X". So I kissed the poster and wrote "Xheryl". There was also a "show" where three guys came out all dressed up in crazy outfits and lipsynched to some of Xuxa´s music. And all night long there was a laptop with old Xuxa videos from the 80´s playing, with guys gathered around and singing along. Hilarity at its best.

I was pretty disturbed by one video in particular, which I´ve posted below. The name of the song is "Indios", which means "Indians" and as you can see, there are some genuine Indians from the Amazon here in the video looking pretty bummed out. I asked Vilma and my friend if the song and video are prejudiced against Indians and they swore that they´re not, but I´m not so sure. Especially since when I looked at some of the comments listed on the Youtube page. But you can see for yourself what I´m talking about.

The beach house

2008-12-09T10:29:00.001-08:00

This past weekend I was invited to go to one of my student´s (who is also my friend) beach house, just north of Salvador. The house is located in a place called Jauá, and is about a 45 minute drive from Salvador. My student bought the land for the house a couple of years ago and had it built, after dreaming his whole life of having a house right on the beach. This picture is the view that I had from my bed when I woke up on Sunday morning. It about says it all.

This weekend was a holiday weekend in Salvador, Monday being a religious holiday. I was happy for the chance to escape the city for a couple of days, and to go a place where I could totally relax. We arrived on Saturday afternoon and planned to stay through Monday, although due to the water not working properly, we had to leave on Sunday evening.

The time there was spent walking on the beach, talking, cooking and eating, drinking wine, and overall just enjoying everyone´s company. There were 5 of us there and we all had a great time. One of the hightlights for me was eating this yummy seafood dish (I can´t remember the name of it now) that was like a mixture of a bunch of different kinds of seafood, lobster included, in a broth served with rice and yucca root flour. Delicious!

Here´s a view from the back of the house looking at the beach:
And here´s a pic of me standing in front of the house:
Luckily my student said that he wants to go up to the house more often, and that I am always welcome. So hopefully I´ll be spending some more time in this oasis, far from the noise and crime of the city, eating more yummy seafood and enjoying the sun and sand!

Driving in Salvador

2008-12-05T10:40:00.000-08:00

The other day I drove in Salvador for the first time. It was not as scary as I thought it would be, but very different from the US. It's pretty intense out there on the roads, but now I understand the draw of having a car here. I felt at least 90% safer driving than I do walking around and taking the bus.

Vilma took her drivers license test on Thursday morning and wanted to practice driving beforehand, so we rented a car for one day. I took advantage of the rental to drive to a couple of my classes, and I must say that I felt like I was living in the lap of luxury. It was really hard to return the car, knowing it also meant returning to a life of walking and riding the bus.

The things that are most difficult to adjust to on the roads here are the way that folks don't really stay in their lanes and also how the motorcycles will drive between cars, super fast, without regard for the fact that your car could kill them much easier than their motorcycle could kill you. I drove in rush hour traffic, and it was difficult to change lanes with the motorcycles constantly zooming by, usually out of nowhere.

All of my students have cars, and now I know why. It's much quicker and more convenient to drive, but the more important reason is that the safety factor increases by a lot. Of course you do have to keep your eyes open for carjackers or guys who will throw a rock through your window and grab your purse (best idea, put your purse in the trunk). But this happens much less than the street crime that is a daily battle here for pedestrians and bus riders.

Now I just have to get that winning lottery ticket and I'll be driving every day too!

Air conditioning

2008-12-02T05:46:00.000-08:00

The social classes in Brazil are very segregated. Rich folks hang out with rich folks, poor folks hang out with poor folks and there are not many places where rich and poor socialize together as equals. There are lots of very obvious ways that this segregation takes place. For example, a poor person will not want to pay a R$20 cover charge to go into a bar or club, so this is an obvious way of keeping out folks who don´t have money. But since moving here, I have noticed that there are also some very subtle ways to indicate who has money and who doesn´t. One of these ways is the clothes people wear and how this is related to air conditioning.

Salvador is really hot and humid, especially in the summer. Summer temperatures here hover around 90 degrees farenheit, with humidity. Winter is a bit cooler, in the 70´s, but it still gets up there some days and it´s still what would be considered by Portland, Oregon standards as hot. Yet despite this heat, you see people around wearing suits (including sports coats!) and ties, jeans, and other "cold weather" clothes. The reason? Air conditioning.

People here who have money have air conditioned homes, cars and offices. People here who don´t have money and have to take the bus don´t have air conditioning and have to wear "hot weather" clothes. It´s easy to see just by the type of clothes that someone is wearing what their social status is. And I´m not talking about brand name clothes, I´m talking about what kind of clothes the person is wearing.

This dilemma poses a problem for the foreign English teacher who is trying to teach people from the upper classes, but who doesn´t have access to a car and has to live the "non-air conditioning" lifestyle. Try wearing jeans and riding the bus, carrying a huge armful of books in 90+ degree weather with humidity. It´s hard to be professional when you show up to teach all sweaty! But that´s my reality here.

So until I win the lottery and get a car, I have to make do with taking refuge in the air conditioning when I´m teaching, and trying not to sweat my ass off while I´m on my way there.

The mall

2008-11-30T05:31:00.000-08:00

The mall in Brazil has a different function than the mall in the US does. Of course in the US there are folks who like to go to the mall to just "hang out". But in my experience most people go to the mall with the purpose of buying something, maybe getting a snack and then leaving. The social experience of walking around, seeing and being seen, is left mostly to adolescents who like to use the mall as a place to check each other out. Adults and families don't really use the mall in this way.

Here in Brazil, at least in Salvador, the mall serves an important social function. It's a place where people can go, in security, to walk around, hang out, socialize and as an added bonus buy something that they might need. But it appears that the primary purpose of the mall is not to consume or buy, but to offer a safe place to socialize.

In the mall people can walk around wearing fancy clothes, watches and jewelry without fear of mugging like there is on the street here. They can talk on their expensive cell phones without having to look over their shoulder to see if there is a thief close by, waiting to run and snatch the phone from their hand. It offers peace of mind not found on the street. This is why on the weekend the mall is totally packed with people.

When you go to the mall here, it's a place where people are checking you out to see what you are wearing and what you look like. Most people get all dressed up and made up to go to the mall. You can't just go in your casual wear like we do in the US (well you can, but you get a lot of weird looks!). It's a full on event and you have to be ready for it.

Another thing is the word for "the mall" in Portuguese: "Shopping". It's often difficult for Brazilians learning English to fully incorporate into their second language that in English shopping is a verb, and not a mall. Many folks, even advanced English speakers here will still say, "I'm going to the shopping" when they really want to say, "I'm going to the mall".

So the next time you run over to the mall to get some new socks, think about these differences as you are waiting in line in your pajama bottoms to pay, excited by the thought of getting the hell out of there as quickly as possible! It's a different experience.

Sunday

2008-11-24T10:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I did two things of note...I went to a capoeira event at the Farol da Barra (the lighthouse) and then to a soccer game in the afternoon. Both were fun and gave me some great exposure to Brazilian culture.

I trained capoeira for four years, and stopped training about a year and a half ago. I LOVE capoeira, but had to stop training because of lack of time. I teach English in the early morning and evening, which is when most capoeira classes happen. I find myself really missing the discipline and exercise, and really hope to return to it soon, but for now I have to satisfy my capoeira craving by going to events such as the one I went to yesterday.

It was the batizado event for my old capoeira group, Grupo Raca. Batizado means "baptism" and is the event when students move up a level and receive their new cords which signify this change in status. Usually the batizado is part of a week long capoeira event where people from all over the place get together to train, attend workshops, socialize and play capoeira. It's a lot of fun. Anyway, it was super cool to see about 150 or so people of all ages wearing Grupo Raca t-shirts and all taking part in a big class, right by one of the most scenic spots in Salvador.

In the afternoon I went to a game between Vitoria and Gemios, which is a team from Rio Grande do Sul (the southernmost state in Brazil). Gemios is ranked 2nd in Series A, and Vitoria was ranked kind of low, like 13 or so (I can't remember exactly), so everyone thought that Vitoria would get their ass kicked. Well, it was a really exciting game and Vitoria won! It was 4-1 until the very end when Gemios scored one more goal, but they still won, 4-2. Everyone was jumping up and down, shooting off fireworks, throwing babies in the air, and going crazy. It was quite a sight to see! Much different from other games I've been to where the scene was more mellow. I was glad I went.

So that was my Sunday, where I went out and kept myself occupied and didn't really have time to study for my teacher's Cambridge exam which I am taking on Friday. Guess I have to cram the rest of the week!

Cops

2008-11-21T10:41:00.001-08:00

After being here in Brazil as long as I have been, I realize how many things we take for granted in the United States. One of those things is emergency response to situations. I am discovering, to my chagrin, that emergency response (police and ambulance) is almost non-existent in Salvador. It's quite frustrating.

I remember a couple of years ago in Portland, I was woken up by my room-mate because my drunken, angry neighbor was on our porch at 2AM, yelling and banging on the door. A quick call to 911, and the police were there within 5-10 minutes. They subdued my neighbor, threatened him with a fine or worse if he persisted, and my room-mate and I were left to go back to sleep in peace.

Here, private ambulance companies brag that they take "only" 30-40 minutes to reach you when you call in for emergency help. And the police, which is the real subject of my posting, well they don't really do anything at all.

The police here are divided into 2 branches, the military police and the civil police. I think I wrote about them in a previous post. Well the military police are the ones who do the chasing of crooks and making their presence known in an attempt to prevent crime. All of the Brazilians that I have ever spoken with about this matter say that the cops don't do anything. I guess I had some kind of Pollyanna American hope that this wasn't true, and that the cops could be counted on in times of trouble. I now know that they can't be counted on for anything, except for the Brazilian version of sitting around eating donuts and drinking coffee.

Today is a perfect example... Vilma was walking down to meet me at the bus stop and noticed a group of 4 young guys from the favela sitting at the top of our hill. When we walked by this spot on our way home from the bus stop, they were still sitting there. And they weren't sitting there chatting and laughing, they were sitting there checking out the scene and eyeballing everyone who walked anywhere near them. About 10 minutes later Vilma went outside to see if they were still there. They were. So I decided that maybe we should call the cops.

First of all you can't dial the Salvador version of 911 (it's 190 by the way) from a cell phone. And then Vilma wasn't sure if you can dial this number for suspicious activity or just if something actually happened. I decided to play the influencial person card and called one of my students who has a friend high up in the police force. I asked him to call and ask if they could send a car to drive by and check out the scene. Well, I'm still waiting to hear back if they actually did it or not. As of this writing Vilma just walked down to the mall to do an errand and was going to scope out the scene again. But I'm not holding out hope.

So if (God forbid) something bad happens to you in the US and you call 911, as you are waiting those few, short 5-10 minutes for the police to actually show up and do something, you can be thankful that you are not in a place where everyone is pretty much left to their own devices.

Picture courtesy of A Tarde online.

Tis the season

2008-11-17T11:38:00.001-08:00

Well the Christmas season is in full swing already here in Salvador, and that means the arrival of four things:

1. Tacky Christmas decorations. As you can see from this photo, which was taken in Porto Allegre in 2006, the Christmas decoration scene here leaves much to be desired. The malls are already full of really bad decorations, Christmas carols, Santa Claus and the elves, etc etc. I hate it.

2. Hot weather. Summer is here, which means temperatures of 27-32+ degrees celsius, which is 80-90+ farenheit plus humidity. Now I'm not complaining because it's so nice to be in a warm, sunny place for November-April when it's cold, dark and rainy in Portland. However, it is a bit of a challenge to work in this heat when you have to ride the bus and walk around the city. Nothing like arriving to teach English, trying to look semi-professional and being totally sweaty. But it's great on those days off when you can go to the beach, wear little clothing and swim in the ocean.

3. Panetone. This stuff is the Brazilian version of fruitcake, but it's actually really good. It's kind of like a sweet bread, that's light and dotted with pieces of dried fruit. But it's not the crystally, sickly sweet kind of fruit in US style fruitcakes, it's normal dried raisins, apricots, etc. I really like this stuff. And it's the traditional food of Christmas. A lot of folks give it as gifts. If you have a hankering to try it, I've seen it for sale at Trader Joe's in the US.

4. Crime. Well of course crime is nothing new here and happens all year long. But from the month or so before Christmas through the end of Carnaval, the amount of street crime skyrockets. All the robbers are trying to steal to have money to buy presents and party down at Carnaval. This past Saturday an American friend of mine was waiting for 30 minutes at the bus stop closest to my house. This was at 10:30AM. During this time she saw groups of young guys, all shirtless, come out of the favela entrance that is close to there, walk over, run across the street, rob someone, and then run back into the favela. This happened at least 5 times to 5 different people, which means that every 5 minutes another group came out to rob. I spoke with a police officer about this and he said that this is called "arrastao" (sorry I don't have any accents on my computer, there's supposed to be one over the second "a"). Vilma told me that this phenomenon is new to Salvador, but old hat in Rio and Sao Paulo. It's not a good sign that it's starting to happen here. It makes me really afraid to wait at that bus stop, which unfortunately is the one I wait at every day. I also had an incident happen to me on Friday which I don't really want to go into details about here, but needless to say it was very scary and traumatic. I'm counting the days until after Carnaval when it calms down again.

So enjoy the holiday season wherever you are, and may your days be filled with sun, nice decorations, panetone and peace.

Support for gay marriage

2008-11-16T04:47:00.000-08:00

It's strange to be in another country when something big is going down in your country. I've been trying to keep up on the California Proposition 8 situation from down here. One of my friends told me about this clip, and after watching it I decided to post it because it's really intense, powerful and moving.

Tips for teaching English in Salvador

2008-11-13T09:53:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking for some time now that I wanted to write a post (or posts) with some tips for teaching English, at least here in Salvador. I've been teaching English for about 1.5 years now, and have had a decent level of success, so thought I would pass along some of the things that have led to my success:

*Take at least a part time job at a language school. If you arrive mid-semester, tell them that you want to substitute teach. I started out this way and my connection to the school has really opened up a lot of doors for me. First of all it has given me access to all kinds of books and materials. When I teach my private classes, I use books from the language school. I've also gotten some great ideas from other teachers, worksheets, and other resources that I never would have had access to outside the school. It also gives you credibility with getting private students. If you can can say, "I teach at ______ school", it reassures the student that you indeed know what you are doing.

*Make friends with the receptionist at the language school and tell her that you are open to teaching private classes outside the school. Sometimes folks call the school wanting a referral to a private teacher, especially a native speaker. If you get in good with the receptionist, she will give them YOUR name and that will be one foot in the door to a new student, plus all the friends of your student who will want to start taking class from you after they hear from your friend how great you are!

*Make business cards. I made some cards when I first got here, just a basic one with my name, "Professora de Ingles", phone number and email. Now I have a nicer card that says (in Portuguese) that I teach in people's homes or offices. It gives another level of professionalism and legitamacy to your work.

*Learn some Portuguese. If you can speak the language, it will make your services more appealing to beginner students.

*Don't undercharge because you are desperate. Pick up all the hours you can at the language school where you are not paid as much, but charge a fair price with your private students because it will be next to impossible to raise the price later on. I charge R$40 per hour, but I give "deals" at $35 per hour if the person pays for a bunch of classes up front (like a 10 class deal), or pays by the month for your classes. I'm still happy with the fee and it makes them feel like they are getting a bargain. I definitely made some mistakes at the beginning about charging less money, or not holding my ground when folks try to bargain. Bargaining is part of life here, but you don't have to accept what they say. Hold your ground and they will still want to take classes with you because you are a great teacher.

*Most importantly, NETWORK. I have most of my students because they are friends or business colleagues of other students. Give your cards to your students and tell them you are accepting new students. Word of mouth is huge here.

*Be flexible. You have to be able to teach folks when they have time, i.e. early in the morning or in the evening. My usual schedule is to teach 1-3 classes early morning starting at 6:30AM, have a break, teach at lunchtime, have a break and teach in the evenings. If you want students, you have to teach them on their time.

Well, that's it for now. Hope these help anyone who is thinking about teaching English! I'll probably write some more in the near future.

Who invented the airplane?

2008-11-10T15:26:00.000-08:00

2 of my students who don't know each other both told me within the last month that the Wright brothers didn't invent the first airplane. They told me that it was a Brazilian named Alberto Santos-Dumont, living in Paris, who indeed flew the first plane. One of them said that everyone talks about the Wright brothers being the inventors because they are from the US and "everyone" wants the inventors to be from the US (whoever "everyone" is).

So I decided to look it up on Wikipedia to see what facts are listed on there. Here is the clip about Alberto Santos-Dumont:

Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazil — October 23, 1906
the "14 Bis" at Bagatelle field, Paris. Aero Club of France certified the distance of 60 meters (197 ft); height was about 2-3 meters (6-10 ft). Winner of the Archdeacon Prize for first official flight of more than 25 meters. Described by some scholars as the first "sportsman of the air". As reported in previous years and months for Ader, Whitehead, Pearse, Jatho and Vuia, the 14-Bis flew and landed without a rail, catapult, or the presence of high winds, propelled by its own (internal combustion) engine.

And here is what they say about the Wright brothers:

Orville & Wilbur Wright, United States — December 17, 1903
First recorded controlled, powered, sustained heavier than air flight, in Wright Flyer. In the day's fourth flight, Wilbur Wright flew 279 meters (852 ft) in 59 seconds. First three flights were approximately 120, 175, and 200 ft (61 m), respectively. The Wrights laid particular stress on fully and accurately describing all the requirements for controlled, powered flight and put them into use in an aircraft which took off from a level launching rail, with the aid of a headwind to achieve sufficient airspeed before reaching the end of the rail.

The date of the Wright brothers is in fact after the date of Alberto Santos-Dumont. So what do you think? Who really invented the airplane? Can we give credit to a Brazilian for our ability to fly around the world?

A sad day

2008-11-06T03:44:00.000-08:00

Today I finally awoke from my Obama-induced happy state to do some reading about what went down in the US regarding gay rights and the election. It ain't pretty. Check out this article from today's NY Times for more bleak information:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/us/politics/06marriage.html?hp

It's ironic how during this time of great strides in the civil rights movement, there can be so much hate and prejudice against a group of people trying to fight for the same rights that heterosexual Americans enjoy. It makes me so angry that proposition 8 passed in California! I find myself thinking about all those couples who happily got married thinking that now was their chance to experience the same rite of passage that heteros have been experiencing for centuries. Now their dreams are shattered. And overwhelmingly it was black and hispanic voters who voted in favor of Prop 8. The same folks who also have been fighting for their rights want to keep others from being treated equally. I don't understand it.

There are many occasions in Brazil when I find myself comparing things here to how we do them in the US. Usually my comparison is in favor of the US way. But when it comes to marriage, I think that Brazil has the best idea for a system, a system that would solve all of these ridiculous problems about how gay marriage is against many religion's doctrines. Here's how they do it here...

When you get married, you have 2 options. You can get married in a civil ceremony, which means you are legally married and have the rights of a married couple. Or you can get married in the church, which means you are married in the eyes of God. If you choose to marry in a church and want it legally recognized, you have to marry again at the courthouse to have the marriage legally recognized. Of course gay folks don't have the legal right to marry here, but I think the idea is a brilliant one if everyone was included.

Why can't we do that in the US? Then the churches could decide if they want to allow gay marriage or not, and everyone could enjoy the same rights! Simple huh?

Until we get the same rights as others, we have to keep our flag flying at half mast, as a reminder that we are people too, not second class citizens.

Election party, Bahia style

2008-11-05T09:33:00.001-08:00

Last night, despite fighting a bad cold, I went to Salvador's "American Society" election party at Clube Espanhol. The party consisted of about 50 Americans and friends, a band made up of Americans ("Doug Adair e os Estrangeiros" which means "Doug Adair and the Foreigners") singing American rock cover songs, CNN and Fox news on the cable tv in English, and a lot of beer drinking and enthusiasm for the election results. I couldn't partake in the beer drinking due to being under the weather, but it sure was fun to be with a bunch of Americans, all rooting for Obama and witnessing a great moment in our nation's history.

It was interesting to check out the crowd. There were a lot of folks there! Everyone was really friendly and welcoming even though I didn't really get much of a chance to talk with new folks. There was even a news camera there covering the scene!

Vilma and I ended up leaving around 11:30PM because I really needed to get home and rest, due to being sick. But today I ran into some folks who were at the party and they said they stayed until like 2:30AM to watch the concession and acceptance speeches. I managed to stay awake until 1AM, just long enough to see that CNN and ABC news had called it for Obama, before dropping off to sleep.

This morning I woke up and immediately turned on my computer. When I saw that Obama had won, and started reading a little bit about people's reactions, I totally started to cry. What an incredible time in history! I was overcome with emotion.

I had a class at 8AM, and instead of doing our normal stuff, I decided that we should watch both Obama and McCain's speeches, and then we could talk about the vocabulary they used and check to make sure he understood everything. It was nice to share this moment with one of my students and give him a chance to see how one American was moved by this unforgettable moment.

Here's a picture of me being patriotic:
"Happy New World" as they were saying at the party last night!!!!!!

YAY

2008-11-05T09:27:00.000-08:00

I actually said these words today: "I'm proud to be an American". I don't know if I have ever said them before.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Big Day

2008-11-04T10:44:00.000-08:00

I am anxiously awaiting tonight...I can´t wait to see the results of the election. I´ve been obsessively reading the NY Times in hopes that there will be some kind of clue about the results early on, but I have to remind myself to be patient.

Unfortunately I am spending election day totally sick. Yesterday it was worse, but today I´m still pretty laid out with a bad cold. It´s interesting to experience a cold here. You can totally feel that the virus is a little different than the North American cold virus, and one of the differences is that it runs its course fast and hard. I had to cancel 3 of my classes this morning and am considering cancelling my last class of the day. But there is an American election party that I want to at least make an appearance at because it will be fun...and I just can´t justify cancelling my class and going there. So here´s hoping I have enough energy to do both.

I guess the only thing I can be certain about now is that whatever happens with the election returns, the world will be a completely different place tomorrow than it is today. And by the way, I saw an "Obama/Biden 2008" sticker on someone´s apartment window the other day!!!

Message to Sarah Palin

2008-11-03T07:16:00.000-08:00

OK, so pretty much everyone I know is voting Democrat, but just in case you are on the fence, take a look at this video. It's pretty powerful.

Futebol and the mayor

2008-10-31T07:13:00.000-07:00

The other night I went to a big soccer match between a team from Salvador (Vitoria) and a team from Rio (Flamengo). The stadium was sold out, which is kind of unusual, and it was fun to be there and see all the craziness. A couple of exciting things happened...

First of all there was a problem with the lights. When we arrived, the lights that light up one half of the stadium were out. They came back on, the game started, only to have the other half of the stadium lights go out, delaying the game by about 20 minutes. There was also a problem with crowd control/flow. There is an area that is usually open to pass through, which allows people to move from one side of the stadium to the other. This is also where the entrance to the VIP section is. Well, they had this section gated off, to prevent the Flamengo fans from mixing with the Vitoria fans, in an attempt to avoid fights. The problem with this was that they were not allowing the folks with VIP seats to pass by this gate to get to their seats. This is where I was sitting, so I stood back and watched as an almost mini-riot broke out with folks pushing and shoving to try to get through the gate. Finally they opened the gate and we were able to get to our seats. Riot averted.

The game itself was really exciting and fun to watch. It ended in a tie, which I thought was a good thing since everyone said that Flamengo was a better team and was going to kick Vitoria's ass. Since Vitoria held their own (I was cheering for Vitoria), I thought that was a sign of a good game.

The newly elected mayor of Salvador was there, as he is a fan of Vitoria. At one point in the evening he was surrounded by a bunch of folks wanting to talk with him and tell him congratulations. It was during this mayhem that someone took the opportunity to steal his wallet! He didn't notice until later on when he went to reach for his wallet and it wasn't there.

It was all over the news the next day and I heard a lot of people on the street and on the bus talking about the robbery. It made for a lot of jokes from people who hate Vitoria (saying that the stadium is horrible and unsafe) and those who hate the new mayor (saying that he deserved it). As for me, well I'm just glad I didn't have a mob of people around me. It was hard enough staying out of the mini-riot and I spent a good part of the match worried about people throwing cups of urine, as I have heard happens at some games. Luckily, I made it through the game dry and with my wallet and cell phone intact.

I believe

2008-10-29T06:05:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I saw a guy on the street with a t-shirt that said "I believe in Santa Claus". I asked Vilma what the chances are that this guy knows what his shirt means. She said that he has no idea. I still want to do a photography project about funny English t-shirts. I love seeing the random stuff that is printed on shirts here...some of it is completely hilarious!!!

40

2008-10-27T05:00:00.000-07:00

Today's my birthday. I'm 40. I'm waiting to see if I get a sudden urge to buy one of these. So far I am not living the stereotype.

Concert in Brazil

2008-10-27T04:42:00.001-07:00

On Saturday night I went to my first concert of choice in Brazil. I say "concert of choice" because I have been to one other concert, but I was invited by one of my students and had never heard of the singer before. This one was of my choosing and it was GREAT!

The singer's name is Ana Carolina, she is from Minas Gerais in Brazil and is an out lesbian. The style of music that she plays is called "MPB", which stands for "Musica Popular Brasileira" (Popular Brazil Music), and which can best be described as kind of acoustic, mellow, latin music. She is very popular here, and the concert was sold out.

The venue was a place called Wet and Wild. My friend told me that the US company, Wet and Wild, decided to try to put a water park here in Salvador. They forbid the consumption of beer on the premises, and it is for this reason that my student said that the place totally flopped. Now the water park is closed and they use the space only for concerts, where you can buy and consume as much beer as you want. It's a nice outdoor venue, but it is a bit odd to see a huge water slide right next to the area where the stage is!

Some different things about Brazilian concerts...or at least this one. The most striking was that you could get free Rubella vaccinations inside the venue. There is a big Rubella vaccination campaign going on in Salvador right now, and for some reason they decided to set up a booth at the concert to give folks a free vaccine. I didn't partake. Another unusual occurrence that my friend pointed out to me is that Brazilians (at least those in Bahia) don't like to clap, even at the end of the show! I'm not sure how the performers feel about this and if they feel the same level of appreciation as they do when they are front of an audience full of folks clapping wildly, but that is what happened.

The rest of the show was pretty much the same as shows I have been to in the US. The music was great, the crowd danced and sang along, and everyone had fun. Just to get an idea of what Ana Carolina's music sounds like, here is a Youtube clip where she is singing with another great Brazilian singer, Seu Jorge...enjoy!

Kidnapping in Sao Paulo

2008-10-21T09:02:00.001-07:00

A really sad story that has been all over the Brazilian media (but absent in the international media...I checked the NY times, BBC and CNN and found nothing) over the past couple of days is about a 15 year old girl who died the other day in Sao Paulo due to a crazy kidnapping situation. This version of the story is the explanation that one of my students told me and what I could glean from watching the news in Portuguese.

The girl's name was Eloa, and she had a 22 year old boyfriend who she had been dating for 3 years (why a 19 year old was dating a 12 year old is another story altogether!). This guy was the jealous type, and had even reportedly beat her up over their time dating due to jealousy. So she finally decided to end things and he could not take it. I'm not sure whose house she was at, but he went there, where she was hanging out with 3 friends from school- 2 guys and a girl. Once he arrived, he proceeded to kidnap the 4, and was armed with a gun. The police were called, lots of negociating went on over 4 days, and finally the 2 boys and the one girl were released. But Eloa was not allowed to leave. He seemed on the brink of letting her go, when her friend decided to return to the apartment to try to help Eloa. I'm not sure how long they stayed in the apartment with this guy, but eventually the police got anxious, barged in, and in the process Eloa was shot (she later died in the hospital) and the other girl, named Nayara, was shot in the face but not fatally.

Everyone here is talking about how the police should have waited longer, how they did the wrong thing, how this or that if done differently could have saved the life of Eloa, etc. People were very upset and even strangers were crying about the death of this innocent girl.

I feel really bad for the family and am sad that this tragedy occurred. But it's also a reminder to me about how the media will grab onto a story, make everyone feel bad, and then it's on to the next. A couple of months ago it was all over the news about this poor little 3 year old girl who was murdered by her father and stepmother by pushing her out of the window of a tall apartment building in Sao Paulo. Everyone was in an uproar, and I'm sure that the case is still being investigated, but who knows what the status is, as the news is done reporting about this situation and now it's time for the next.

But it's the same in the USA, so I don't know why I'm surprised that this kind of stuff goes on. I guess it's the nature of the news.

Formigas

2008-10-21T08:01:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, Vilma and I took the ferry over to Mar Grande (an island about a 40 minute boat ride across the bay from Salvador) and spent the night at a pousada (bed and breakfast). We went over there with 2 of Vilma's friends to get away from the city and relax. Plus I was able to move my classes on Monday around so that I didn't have class until the evening.

I seem to be having some bad luck with insects here, as you can read in my previous post about cockroaches. This time it was ants, or formigas as they say in Portuguese. This is a picture of my lower abdoman, which received bites from 2 red, biting ants.

There are several different types of ants here. The most common is what I have heard referred to as "sugar ants" in the US. These are those little, tiny guys that you often find in the kitchen. Here they are EVERYWHERE and you have to be really careful about leaving food or dirty dishes around. As one of my Brazilian friends said to me once, "formigas nao sao uma brincadeira" (ants aren't a joke). This is the truth.

Another type of ant is the larger one that you see on the ground carrying pieces of leaves and other items around and making large mounds. I'm not sure if these bite or not. Then there are at least 2 types of biting ants. The red ones, which I have heard called "fire ants" in the US, and then Vilma told me that there is another type of black, large ant that has a more painful bite than the red ones. I saw the 2 that bit me, and they were red, and I can tell you that it HURT! I don't even want to imagine how much the black ones hurt.

And I don't know if I have some kind of allergy, but the bite mark is just as bad, if not worse today than yesterday, and is still all red and itchy. Ouch! Anyway, I hope that this will be my last serious run-in with insects, at least for a while!!!

Violence

2008-10-18T03:46:00.000-07:00

There has been a crazy amount of violence happening in Salvador and São Paulo these past couple of weeks. In Salvador at least, the violence seems to be more centered in the suburbs, far from where I live. But it´s scary nevertheless.

The other day in the newspaper, I read that some city official had "declared war" between the police and drug traffickers in the city. What´s happening is that the drug traffickers have decided to do their best to kill as many cops as they possibly can. This includes following cops home, seeing where they live, threatening their families, and killing them when they are off duty and out of uniform. I can´t remember the exact statistic of how many police have been killed this year, but it´s a significant number. The parts of the city that I frequent are not high drug trafficking areas, but favelas are mixed in throughout the city, so nowhere is totally safe. I hope they make peace soon before too many innocent folks are killed or hurt.

I don´t know if this has made international news or not (it should have!), but the other day in São Paulo there was a big riot between the civilian police and military police at the governor´s mansion. I asked one of my students what the difference is between the civilian and military police. He told me that the civilian police do the investigating of crimes, and the military police keep the order. The civilian police have been on strike in São Paulo for the last month, and the other day they decided that they wanted to talk with the governor about it. So they went up to the mansion, and the military police were there to "keep the order". This led to a riot including tear gas, rubber bullets and like 30 or so police officers injured. It was quite a situation. And to top it all off, because all the cops were busy during this time, the amount of crime that occured in the city because of the lack of police officers to do their normal cruising around, led to an increase in the amount of crime that occurred on that day. I was glad that I don´t live in São Paulo!

It´s interesting to be in a place that you often just hear about on the news (sometimes!). Although I would say that I would prefer to be somewhere that doesn´t have this kind of thing happening, even if it is in another neighborhood or city.

Cockroaches

2008-10-14T04:24:00.001-07:00

Living in a tropical climate gives one a chance to be exposed to lots of creatures not found in North America. It´s still amazing to me to be able to see parakeets flying around wild, and little monkeys climbing around on the telephone wires. I hope one day to visit the Pantanal, in eastern Brazil, which supposedly has some of the most diverse species of wildlife in the world. You can take safari-like jeep excursions to check out all the birds and creatures there. I´ve seen some clips on TV that were filmed there and it looks amazing.

There is one creature here though that I hate. And while they do exist in the US, I don´t think that the US cockroaches have the size that their brethren in South America have. Last night Vilma and I were hanging out in the apartment when suddenly I heard her scream. There is one type of cockroach here that flies, which is how they manage to get into our third floor apartment. So this guy flies in and is the length of my pointer finger, I´m not kidding. Vilma tried to get him with a broom, and after some cornering, was finally able to get him between the broom and dustpan and then into the toilet to be flushed (hopefully) to his death. Yuck. We were both glad to be rid of him.

I find it interesting because in Portuguese, the word for cockroach is "barrata". Now the word for cheap in Portuguese is "barrato". So if you want to talk about an object that has a feminine derivative with this adjective, it´s the same word as cockroach. For example, the word in Portuguese for table is "mesa", which is feminine. So if you want to say cheap table, you say "mesa barrata". Cockroach table. Funny how language works now isn´t it?

Kids' day and crab

2008-10-12T06:45:00.000-07:00

Today is Dia das Criancas, or Kids' day. In Brazil they celebrate Mothers' day, Fathers' day and Kids' day. Today basically consists of parents buying presents for their kids and some places having events for kids, like games or a trampoline, or other kid stuff. On my morning run today they had closed off the street near the lighthouse (which they usually do on Sundays anyway), but had more booths and such being set up to celebrate this holiday. There was also some kind of dog fest going on near this pet supply store. They had a sound system and a bunch of folks with their dogs all decked out standing around. Upon quick glance it looked like maybe it was some kind of pet wellness event because it looked like they were giving vaccinations in this one tent, but it was hard to say because I ran by kind of quickly. I did love seeing all the dogs though...so cute! I miss having a dog.

Today I am going to go eat some crab with one of my students and a friend of mine who is also American and an English teacher. In Salvador it is very common on Sundays to go to these open air restaurants, sit around with friends and family, eat crab and drink beer. There are 2 kinds of crab here, crab that comes from the sea (called "siri") and crab that comes from the mud (called "caranguejo"). There is a slight difference in taste and the shells of the siri are softer than those of the caranguejo. Both taste yummy though and it's fun to sit around and try to get the meat out of the shells. There is also this dish called "casquinha de siri", which I totally love. They take out all the siri meat and mix it with breadcrumbs and spices, then serve it in a little bowl. All the taste of the siri with none of the work wrestling with the shells!

Anyway, I should go and get ready so will sign off. Happy Kids' Day!

Bad blogger

2008-10-10T04:27:00.000-07:00

I´m a bad blogger this week....no blog post since last Sunday. I have no real excuse other than that I started with some new students this week, which took up more of my time, and that when I did have free time at home, I spent it catching up on all the new 90210 episodes since the season started (the latest one ended with a drug overdose!! Ooooh, the drama!!!) and listening to the presidential debate over the internet.

A couple things of interest have been going on. First of all the economic troubles in the US are being felt here. Everyone is talking about it, the stock market here has been tanking as well, and for some reason that I don´t understand, the value of the Brazilian Real to the dollar has taken a nosedive. 2 months ago the value was about R$1.65 to $1US. Now it´s like R$2.30 to $1US. Now that´s good for all you Americans who want to visit, but for someone paid in Reais who is planning a return to the US in February, it´s not so good. I am hoping (for selfish reasons) that the value goes back to what it was 2 months ago so that when I change my Reais to dollars, it´s in my favor.

Also, the moment I was waiting for, the election, happened last Sunday. Unfortunately for those of us who hate the sound cars, there was not a majority vote cast for any candidate, so there will be another election at the end of October between the two candidates who got the most votes. Now since the election happened, I have not heard any sound cars, so I am really hoping that they have packed up their jingles and gone home, and that it´s not just a little "break" before they start driving around again. Time will tell I guess.

On a happy note, I think that it´s migration time for the parakeets, because I have seen a ton of them around my apartment. I seem to remember last year at about this time I saw a bunch of them and now they have returned. It´s so cool to see these amazing green birds that are so cute flying around, when in the US we just see them in cages.

OK time to go teach English. Happy Friday everyone.

40

2008-10-05T05:59:00.000-07:00

Well I guess that this is one way to look at turning 40! I was doing a web search to try to find the *perfect* image to express what I am feeling about my upcoming 40th birthday (it's on October 27th) and really had no luck. I saw this picture, which is taken from a t-shirt, and thought, "well, things could be a lot worse for me... I could actually be taking this advice!"

I have been experiencing a roller coaster of emotions about turning 40. First of all I can't believe that I am this old! I remember being a kid and thinking that I would be 32 when the century turned to 2000, and how old that seemed. Now I am at the age of "mid life crisis", and while I don't have a red corvette, I am definitely in a position that I never would have imagined myself in- living in a foreign country, far from all that is comfortable and secure.

I feel older, and can tell that my body is getting older. My eyesight has changed, my knees are not what they were, I have some wrinkles.... but yet I don't feel old. I strongly believe that you are only as old as you live your life. If you live a sedentary, boring life, you will be old when you turn 40. But if you live an active, interesting life, you will stay young. While time will continue to tick on, and the numbers will get bigger when I say how old I am, I am determined to do my best to live a youthful life. I want to be that 80 year old who still goes to the gym (my Grandpa went to the gym 3x per week until he was in his late 80's!!!), and so I am laying the groundwork for that now.

So while I may partake in an alcoholic drink to celebrate my birthday (but probably not a 40 oz. bottle of beer), I also am trying not to think of this as the start of going "over the hill". I still have a big mountain ahead of me to climb and I look forward to the view all the way up!

Brainwashing

2008-10-01T17:16:00.000-07:00

The election for city government positions, including mayor, is this Sunday. I am literally counting the days until it's over because my brain is turning to mush from all the political advertising.

In Salvador, one of the ways that candidates advertise themselves is to have these "sound cars" drive around. These cars have the politician's picture and the number that you punch in at the ballot box, along with a sound system that is so loud it could wake the dead. And the sound system plays these catchy little tunes over and over and over again.

Now when the political season first started and the cars came out, some of the tunes were actually kind of enjoyable (am I actually saying this?!). They all sang about how the candidate will make Salvador the best place in the world to live because he or she will get rid of all the violence, solve all the problems in the health care and educational systems, and fix everything else that is wrong here. The tunes were varied and they always had that fun refrain that you eventually ended up hearing people on the streets kind of humming under their breath as they went about their daily routines.

In the last 1-2 weeks the songs have changed as it gets closer to the election. Now all the songs basically consist of 2 things: the candidate's name and the number. And they just say it over and over again. The songs are all in Portuguese, but if they were in English, it would go something like this:

Neto is 25
Neto is 25
25 25 25 25 25 25 25
Press 2...2!
Press 5...5!
Neto Neto Neto is 25

Press repeat. And blast at high volume when you are trying to concentrate on your life. Welcome to Salvador's election.

Um Golpe

2008-09-28T12:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I met up with two other teachers from Cultura Inglesa to have lunch. One teacher is American and the other is Brazilian. The original place we wanted to eat was too expensive so we decided to try out this crepe restaurant where I had eaten twice before. The other times I ate there, I had excellent food and service, so I figured it would be a good place to eat. Plus it was within walking distance of where we met up.

Everything was perfect...the food was amazing, we had a great bottle of wine and fun conversation. Then the bill came. We were shocked to see that not only had they put 2 extra waters on the bill (this is a common technique here to try to get money out of folks without them noticing, and I wondered when I first got here why people here look at the bill so carefully!), but that the bottle of wine we had cost R$87! We originally asked for a bottle that was R$35, and the woman said they were out of that bottle. The waiter brought another one to show us, and I just saw the name of the grape and thought it was the same one on the menu that cost R$45. Well, turns out it was the same grape but a different, more expensive brand. They just figured they would not show us the price, offer us the wine and then hope that we would not look carefully at the bill.

We were all pretty mad, and the Brazilian teacher told the woman that it wasn't right to do that. He asked to speak to the manager, and turns out it was her. She didn't want to do anything to console us, so we took the only course of action that we could, which was not to pay the tip. It is a lot more common here not to pay the tip when things go wrong than it is in the US, so we didn't feel bad about it. But then, as we were standing outside saying our goodbyes, the manager actually had the nerve to come out and tell us that we still owed her R$.80!

When I told Vilma about the situation, she said, "Eles fizeram um golpe", which means roughly "They hit you". It's a good description of what happened, that's for sure. All I know is that I will never go back to that place again. Bastards.

Chicken Bowl

2008-09-24T14:56:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I was riding the bus to one of my classes when a vendor selling cell phone protection sleeves got on to sell his wares. I was kind of spacing out and not paying attention until he got right next to me and I saw this lovely design. It was like it called out to me or something. Chicken Bowl.

Don't ask me why but I decided to buy it. At first I thought it was another example of how people here just put whatever English words they can think of onto any object with the idea that it will make it more valuable than writing the same thing in Portuguese. But then it took on more meaning. I decided that it's the perfect name for a rock band.

So if you are thinking of starting a band and need a name, feel free to take the words from my new cell phone protector and let these prophetic words live on. Imagine screaming the words "Chicken Bowl" to an audience of adoring fans.... gives me goosebumps too.

International graffiti event

2008-09-21T13:47:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, at the advice of a friend who is also a graffiti artist, I went to check out the international graffiti event's big mural painting that was happening in Campo Grande (a neighborhood close to the center of the city). This was the first international event here, and apparently there were folks from France, Spain, Chile, the USA, and other places, who all came to meet each other, paint, and trade ideas. I didn't attend any other events (and truthfully I don't know what else went on at this event), but it sure was cool to check out the mural painting. There were some amazing artists and some incredible work that came out of it. I plan to go back and take some pics of the finished work. Here are some more pictures:
This piece was painted by a female graffiti artist- a rarity in the world of graffiti.

This one was painted with rollers, not with spray cans, a style that is what most graffiti here used to be in, as the cans were super expensive. I think that some guys want to keep it old school and so they keep on using the rollers, but more folks use cans nowadays, at least here in Salvador.

I love this one. It just rocks :)

There are some more pictures from the event at www.atarde.com.br, but it's in Portuguese. Hope you enjoyed this little taste!

5K run

2008-09-21T13:03:00.001-07:00

Today I ran a 5K road race. It was actually a half marathon, but you could choose to run either 5K, 10K, or the half marathon- 20K. I didn´t actually sign up and pay, so I was not running officially, but I still ran along with the rest of the official runners and ran the whole 5K.

One of my students invited me to run along with him. I had seen the advertisements for the marathon, but thought it was just a half- marathon. I didn´t know about the 5K and 10K options. By the time I found out, it was too late to sign up. But I had fun anyway...there were 3500 runners and some were from other countries! Someone told me that there were one or two runners from Kenya, and I also saw Spider Man running!!! After the race I went with my student and his friends out to drink some beer and eat some crab in the typical Salvadorian Sunday tradition, and then we had lunch and I came home. All in all it was a great way to start off a Sunday. And it motivated me to train for more races in the future!

Picture courteous of A Tarde online.

Cutting grass, Bahia style

2008-09-19T11:29:00.000-07:00

I have been dying to get a picture of this for the longest time to post it on my blog, and the photo fairy was looking over me yesterday since I just happened to be coming home from taking some pics at an international graffiti event (more on that in my next post!) and so had my camera with me as I passed these guys cutting the grass.

In all of my time in Brazil, I have only seen one lawnmower, and that was a tiny little lawnmower being used to mow the lawn of this rich guy's house. Everyone else uses weed wackers, and when the lawn crew is out and cutting grass along the highways or public roads, they have these helpers who hold up this shield. I guess the idea is to keep the grass from flying onto cars, etc, but it doesn't seem to be so effective.

They really seem to take their grass cutting seriously, with masks, full on clothing cover ups, boots and the shields. Another example of how they do things differently here. Is it a more effective technique? Well, it's hard to say, but I think they spend a lot more manpower than we do in the US. But then again excessive manpower is the name of the game here, given that the minimum wage is R$400 per month. That's about the price of a nice end cell phone. Try feeding a family of four on that.

Translation work

2008-09-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

Last night I got a phone call which led to my second go at doing some translation/correction work from Portuguese to English. My first attempt at doing this was about a month ago. I got a call from this woman who got my name from one of my students. She is a doctor and wanted me to "correct" this medical document that she had tried to write in English. I finished the job in about 2 hours and R$80 richer, was pleased with my work.

This second job was similar. The same student gave my name to this woman, who is a doctor. She also had the document in Portuguese and then her attempt at English. Luckily she knew all the medical terms in English, because that would have been a big challenge for me. It was mostly just grammar and sentence structure that I had to correct.

I don't know if I am ready to do a "real" translation, but I am feeling more confident about my abilities. Another way to make some money here.... always a good thing when you are a foreigner trying to make your way!

Typical Tuesday

2008-09-09T11:07:00.000-07:00

Some of you may be wondering...what is a typical day like for Cheryl? Well, given that my normally typical Tuesday was moved around today due to student cancellations and I have time to blog, I thought I would share with you about a typical Tuesday in my life here in Salvador.

5:20AM Alarm goes off. Hit sleep for 10 more minutes.
5:30AM Get up. Make cup of organic yummy coffee that I got in Chapada Diamantina. Try not to think about what I will do when the coffee runs out (another trip up to Chapada?!).
6AM Leave the house to catch the bus.
6:15AM Catch the bus to my first class at an apartment that is located in one of the richest neighborhoods in Salvador. Enjoy the ocean view from the bus ride. Try not to think about the number of city busses that are assaulted every day.
6:30-7:30AM Teach class.
7:30AM Eat breakfast with my student at his house. Get waited on by maids.
7:45AM Get a ride with my student in his giant SUV to my next class in the commercial district downtown.
8-9AM Teach class.
9-10AM Teach another class in the same office.
10AM Go wait for the bus. Sometimes the bus stop I wait at is kind of sketchy. Try not to think about seeing that guy on the news a couple of blocks down from where I am standing who had a knife and was caught assaulting people.
10:15AM Catch bus to the Federação neighborhood. Try again not to think about bus assaults.
10:45AM Arrive a little early and drink a coconut water at the snack stand close to the apartment where I teach.
11AM-12PM Teach class
12PM Catch a ride with my student to a bus stop where I can go to my next class.
12:10PM Catch bus. See above re: bus assaults.
12:30PM Arrive at the place where I have my next class. Eat lunch with my student and some of his colleagues.
1PM-2PM Teach class
2:15PM Catch bus to go home and chill out for a while.
2:45PM Arrive home. Vilma meets me at the bus stop so I don´t have to walk home alone. Relax at home, read email, prepare lessons, talk with her, veg.
4:15PM Leave the house and walk to the English school where I teach.
4:30-6PM Teach class.
6PM Run (literally) to the bus stop to catch the bus to my next class. Sometimes taking the bus is tricky business...if you miss the bus you need it can throw off your whole schedule.
6:15PM (hopefully!) Catch the bus to my next class.
7-8:30PM Teach class.
8:30PM Catch a ride with my student to the bus stop.
9:15PM Get off the bus at the stop closest to my house. Take a taxi to my house because it is too sketchy at this hour to walk up the hill to my apartment.
9:20PM Arrive home. Shower, eat a snack and fall into bed.

Now you have a glimpse into the exciting and tiring life of an English teacher in Salvador. Happy Tuesday.

Independence Day

2008-09-07T13:43:00.001-07:00

Today is Independence day here in Brazil and just like in the US, the main celebration here involves a big parade. I went over to my friend´s house to check it out, since he lives on the parade route. The journey from my house to his involved a fair amount of walking, since the busses were running on alternative routes due to the parade. But the positive side of this was that I got to check out all of the groups that were preparing to march as they were lining up and getting ready to start the parade.

The parade was mostly made up of all branches of the military, some that I have never heard of or seen before, and a bunch of school marching bands. As I was walking by and seeing all of the military and police I was thinking that there much be a lot of happy criminals all over the city because it seemed like every cop was there at the parade and not hanging out in their usual spots trying to deter crime.

The thing I liked best about the parade was the cops with dogs (see above), which seemed to be a popular group judging by all the folks who were taking their pictures. They had all kinds of dogs- German Shephards, Rottweilers, even Black Labs! Now I have only seen cops with dogs in one place here in Salvador, at the soccer games! At the half time, there are always about 8-10 cops, usually 3 or 4 of them with dogs that escort the referees off the field. I guess some people get pissed at the refs and so they need to be protected.

Anyway, some other highlights of the parade included the school marching bands, most of which had flaming gay drum majors leading them, a percussion group from one of the largest favelas in Salvador playing Afro-Brazilian beats with some girls dancing Afro-Brazilian dances in front of the drummers, the military cops that had painted faces and camoflage outfits, and the crowd of people watching the parade.

I always like checking out the way that Brazil celebrates its holidays, and today was no exception. Unfortunately, fireworks displays are not part of their Independence day, but I have to plan lessons tonight anyway, so it´s for the best.

Suck it all

2008-09-06T17:03:00.000-07:00

I am not a fan of Axe music. At all. But I have a soft spot in my heart for this singer who is from Salvador- Ivete Sangalo. She is one of the most famous and beloved singers in Brazil and really knows how to put on a show. In this video she is singing with Gilberto Gil, another famous singer who became the minister of culture for Brazil. I saw her play at Carnaval this year and she can really whip the crowd up into a frenzy! This is one of my favorite songs that she sings, and it is quite racey. Here are the words and translation:

É de babaixar,é de balacobaca
É de babaixar,é de balacobaca
Tê,têretete
Oh!
Eu quero beijar a sua boca louca
Eu quero beijar a sua boca louca
Eu vou enfiar uva no céu da sua boca,eu vou
Eu vou enfiar uva no céu da sua boca
Eu Quero beijar a sua boca louca
Eu quero beijar a sua boca louca
E ai chupa toda
Disse Toda
Chupa Toda
Disse toda
Chupa Toda!

(OK, I don´t know the first part, and I asked Vilma and she couldn´t explain, but here is the rest)
I want to kiss your crazy mouth 2x
I will put a grape into your mouth 2x
I want to kiss your crazy mouth 2x
And then suck it all
I said everything
suck it all
etc

If you ever get a chance to see this singer...check her out!

American TV

2008-09-03T11:40:00.000-07:00

Now I haven´t been much of a TV watcher since I was a kid. When I was younger I spent many hours per day in front of the tube. Then I got to college, then graduated, and over these years I kind of just stopped watching it, preferring to spend my time on other more intellectually stimulating persuits (HA!). But seriously, I have not been much of a TV watcher for some time. Until now.

Call it homesickness or saudades (Poruguese for "longing" and a great example of how ideas can´t be translated) for the US of A, but I am addicted to a lovely site by the name of www.surfthechannel.com. This site has a plethora of TV shows and movies that you can watch with streaming video. And I just can´t get enough of it.

I find myself doing stupid things that I would never do in the US, like watching the entire first season of Gossip Girl, and waiting anxiously for the second season to start (it started on Monday night and I watched the first episode last night...it was great!). I have caught up on shows I heard about but never had the time or the TV to watch in the US: Biggest Loser, Weeds, The Wire, Arrested Development, The L Word, and the list goes on.

Now my focus seems to be on Gossip Girl, the new 90210, and Weeds. I think I am going to limit myself to these for now and hopefully this will decrease my internet time per day by a little bit at least!

One thing I do miss though, is the gossip sessions about these shows. Even though I did not watch much TV after I finished high school, I did still find myself addicted to Melrose Place and the old 90210. I used to love watching these and then going to my old restaurant job to gossip with my co-workers about what happened and what was going to happen the following week.

So if you are a closet GG addict like I have become (OK, maybe I am not so closeted about it since I am writing about this on my blog), then feel free to leave a comment or send me an email so that I can get some online gossip sessions going about who wore what, what will happen next week, and what characters will make it to the end of the season and which will get killed off in what kind of creative way.

"You know you love me...XOXO, Gossip Girl"

A different type of community

2008-08-31T09:18:00.000-07:00

First of all I want to send a shout out to all my friends who are at Burning Man right now. I have been thinking about you all this week and have been wearing my Burning Man necklaces in solidarity (see picture). Have fun at the Burn tonight and know that my thoughts are with you all!

In response to thinking about Burning Man all this week and especially today, I have been thinking a lot about the idea of community. I was blessed to live in Portland for 10 years and to have an amazing community of friends and support, both professionally and personally. It was a difficult decision to leave this safety net and dive into not just a different city, but a different country and culture as well. I missed, and still continue to miss, my close group of friends and colleagues who were always there (and who continue to be there) to help me, support me, have fun with me, and watch my back. It is a treasure to feel so much love and support. I miss having this on a day to day basis.

Since arriving in Brazil, I have felt a real lack of community in my life. Now community is a huge part of Brazilian culture, but I have found it difficult to find a community to be a part of. I participated in the capoeira community for a while, but now don´t have time to train and attend classes, so I am kind of cut off from this group of folks. I was doing volunteer work for a while at the beginning of my time in Salvador and was sort of a part of a community of lesbians, but always felt like an outsider due to my language skills at the time. Now, I guess I find myself part of two communities: the English teaching community and the community of family and friends that my students have. Neither of these communities have the same elements as my community in Portland, and I wonder- is it enough?

In my mind, community provides a number of areas of support. It is a place to share and receive, be it material goods, services, ideas, money, or other things. It is a place where you can ask for and give your time, emotional support, or a helping hand to a friend. It provides a place to feel safe, valued, and a part of something bigger than yourself. The communities that I am a part of here have some of these elements, but not all. And the one that I miss the most is the emotional support and equal friendship that I had an abundance of when I was living in Portland. I just don´t have those kind of friends here that I can call up and say "Hey, lets hang out!" or "I am feeling bummed out, can I talk with you?". The longer I am away from this, the more I realize that I really need this in my life.

So enjoy the community out in the Nevada desert and soak it all in while you can. You never know when you might be cut off from it.

Loud music

2008-08-29T16:54:00.000-07:00

One thing about living in another culture is learning to live with cultural differences. I used to have kind of a Pollyanna view of cultural diversity and differences, thinking that everyone should embrace and even love every aspect of all cultures. Now I am under the belief that while all cultural differences deserve respect and understanding, you don´t have to actually *like* all the different aspects of another culture.

Take music for example. Brazilians seem to have a different set of eardrums from mine. They love listening to their favorite songs over and over again and at a very loud volume. And it doesn´t seem to matter what time of day it is, they like their music good and loud.

I have this neighbor who lives in the apartment below mine. He listens to two kinds of music- Axe (the music of Carnaval) and really bad club music from the late 90´s/early 2000´s. Now I am all for Carnaval music, but only during Carnaval and not at 6:30AM or 11:45PM when others are trying to sleep. I have been woken up a number of times by his music, which is just really awful to listen to. He has horrible taste.

Last weekend I was awoken at about 12:30PM on Friday night by the song in this video. I go to bed early and so was sound asleep and rather irritated by the noise. I thought it was the guy downstairs, but it turns out that it was a sort of rave happening at this space down the hill from my apartment (and I should have known it wasn´t my neighbor, this song is too good for his tastes!). There has been one other party there, and both these events were unusual as my neighborhood is generally pretty quiet and totally residential. I could see disco lights eminating from the doorway and everything!

So if you want to get a taste of what it´s like to be in Brazil, you can put this video on a timer, have it go off in the middle of the night when you are sleeping, and play it really really loud and you will have some sense of what I experience on a regular basis here. Bonus points if you listen to Ivete Sangalo after this song is over!

Ebb and flow

2008-08-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

Life in Salvador is never dull or boring. I have a tendency to get into the rhythm of my life here and start to feel more comfortable, almost relaxed, and then something happens to shake things up. Generally not in a good way.

This morning I was walking to the bus stop and ran into my across the hall neighbor. She informed me that she was robbed on August 7 at about 6:15PM. At gunpoint. And at the bottom of the hill where I walk every single day, generally several times per day. I was just starting to feel more relaxed about being out and about on the street and now I feel like I am back to being totally paranoid and scared about walking around, which I have to do every day since I have no car and no plans to buy one. This sucks.

One of the problems is that I live just over the border between an upper-middle class neighborhood and a favela (slum). To get to my house you have to walk along the "border" (check out my "Scary Hill" post from a couple months ago) and very close to the entrance of the favela. A lot of robbers hang out around the entrance, rob people, and then run into the favela to escape. I was talking with one of the security guards who works at an apartment building close to where my neighbor was robbed and he said that the robbers will go on a little spree, then take a break so as not to raise too much suspicion with the cops. Not that the police do a whole lot to take care of this situation, but this is the rationale. And he said that more assaults happen on the weekends, but they do happen at all times of the day when folks are coming and going to work, morning and late afternoon/early evening. Just when I am walking up and down that hill.

So what to do? Well, Vilma does meet me at the bus stop to walk with me when she is home. I think that this is a deterrant to have more than one person walking together. And I do carry pepper spray, although if faced with someone who has a gun, I will certainly not be using it! I try not to carry anything of real value, but I do have to carry my cell phone because of my work. I guess there is no real answer, I just have to try thinking positive that nothing will happen to me.

A few other odds and ends:
-Vilma and I have been feeding the micos (squirrel monkeys). They are often in this tree near our building in the afternoons, and the other day one even ate a piece of banana from Vilma´s hand!
-"My" adopted dog, O Chefe, has appeared to have disappeared. Vilma said that sometimes people will call a guy who acts as a dog catcher and who takes the dogs away to some unknown fate (I don´t think that this fate involves living). It has been almost a week since I have seen him. It makes me sad to think that he might be dead.
-This picture was taken from the online newspaper "A Tarde" and is a bullet hole in a building in the favela next to where I live. There was some shoot out about a month ago that killed 4 innocent people. Drug traffickers were fighting over turf and decided to show up at this bar and open fire on innocent people. Bastards.

He´s already been elected?!

2008-08-24T05:18:00.000-07:00

Well for all of you who have been worrying about the upcoming election and thinking that perhaps Obama doesn´t have what it takes to prevent another 4 years of Republican hell, you can relax. According to the shopping mall near my house, Obama has already been elected! I took this picture yesterday, after seeing it the other day and having my jaw pretty much drop down to the floor of the bus as I was passing by. The words on this advertisement say "O Poder Mudou", which translated into English mean "The power has moved". Now this ad has no other information, and at the time I had no idea what this sign was advertising. But the day after I saw it a friend of one of my students told me that it is for some kind of new apartment complex (WTF?!?!). Anyway, since seeing it on the mall sign, I have seen the same billboard all over the city. I guess as far as getting people´s attention, this advertising company sure did a great job! Now if only their prediction is correct!!!

Fighting back

2008-08-22T04:32:00.000-07:00

I just read an article in the online edition of the Salvador newspaper, A Tarde, that this week alone, there have been 2 attempted assaults on busses where another passenger on the bus shot and killed the robber. In both cases, the person who did the shooting was not a police officer, just a passenger who happened to be packing heat. With the increase in crime here, it seems like people are getting fed up and are taking matters into their own hands. There is so much corruption among the police, and most folks know that if they report a crime, that nothing will come of it, so they are doing what they feel necessary.

It´s interesting because if you tell a Brazilian about the above situations, most of them say "good" or "he deserved it" or "one less robber". There is not a lot of compassion for human life here when it comes to thieves.

On a follow up note, one of my students told me that he saw on the news that the body of that guy they found yesterday was a surfer who drowned. No foul play. At least it wasn´t a murder victim or something.

OK this is just ridiculous

2008-08-21T09:56:00.000-07:00

Ummm, why do they have a picture of what looks like Mexico when it is supposed to be Rio de Janeiro? And why do they have the Brazilian soccer player speaking Portuguese with a Spanish accent? Brazilians speak Portuguese, not Spanish!

I saw a news story today about this commercial, and just watched the whole thing. It is ridiculous and a perfect example of how Americans think that the USA is the world and every other country can just be lumped into one. "South/Central America" is just a big land mass where everyone speaks Spanish, not the rich, vastly different area filled with a multidude of different climates, cultures, and people.

Highlights of the week (so far)

2008-08-21T09:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been neglecting my blog more than I would like, so thought I would send out a quick "highlights" entry to let you all know what is going on this week so far. There have been some interesting events!

-This morning while running, Vilma and I saw a camera crew and some people standing around by the Christ statue in Barra. I thought the TV crew was just filming some footage for the nightly news, you know those kind of filler shots of people walking by, cars, etc. But no... we found out at the end of the run (from the lady who sells coconut water) that they found a dead body washed up on the rocks below the statue. I don´t know what happened, but will hopefully see some more info on the nightly news.
-Yesterday, Vilma and I spent about 20 minutes feeding the micos (little monkeys) near our apartment. Vilma got a banana, broke it into little pieces, and put it on a tree branch. We had fun watching the monkeys come down to get the pieces. So cute!
-I have "adopted" a dog. OK, well I can´t have dogs in my apartment, but there is this street dog that I have fallen for. He is black, with long fur and looks to be in pretty good shape compared to the other street dogs. So I bought some dog treats and now everytime I pass the spot where I hangs out, I give him a treat in an attempt to make friends. He is very suspicious of people, but seems to be sort of coming around. I have named him "O Chefe", which means "The Chief".
-My work is getting really busy. I am almost to the point of not accepting any more students because I have no more times available! This is a good thing, and I am glad to have the work after kind of a dry spell.
-In the Olympics today, there was a gold medal match between the US and Brazil in women´s soccer. Surprisingly, the US won! I was happy, but kind of sad for Brazil because they have only won one gold medal so far.

I guess that is about it for highlights. At least I can´t think of any more right now so I will sign off. Hope this post finds everyone well!

Things I saw on my run this morning

2008-08-17T05:35:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don´t know, I have been running for about 2 months now. I run about 4-5 times per week, and as of today am up to 5K, which is just over 3 miles. I feel fortunate in that the ocean is a 5 minute walk from my house, and my running route is along the beach. It is a rejuvenating way to wake up in the morning!

Here are some things that I saw this morning on my run:

-Blue sky and sun! Woo hoo!
-The beautiful ocean :)
-A woman who had just bought her dog a coconut water, the dog was lapping water out of half of an opened coconut.
-Cops standing around trying to look tough
-3 people at a cafe sharing a large bottle of beer. Mind you, this was 8AM. I wasn´t sure if it was an early start to the day or a late end to the night.
-LOTS of other runners and walkers
-The weekly Sunday soccer games on the beach. Tons of guys come out every week to play soccer and hang out with their buddies.
-Construction, construction, construction. They are totally redoing the sidewalks along the route I run. This is nice because it needed to be replaced, but I am hoping that they will finish before the elections in October because otherwise the work will stop then and never be finished. I guess before every election there is a flurry of work that is started in an attempt by the current politicians to "prove" they are "doing something", but as soon as the election is over, all the work stops.
-The lighthouse at the edge of the bay- I run by here every day, but every time I see it I still think it looks cool.
-And finally, the lady that always sells me the coconut water that I drink after every run. Everyone here gives almost mystical powers to coconut water, in that it is a cure for almost any ailment. All I know is that I love to finish my run with one and the thought of drinking a cold coconut water is often the thought that pushes me to actually run as far as I do!

Happy Sunday my friends!

The Big Apple

2008-08-13T04:37:00.000-07:00

Hey, anyone got any tips for things to do and see in New York City? I have a student who is very wealthy and planning a 10 day trip to NYC in September, so money is really no object. I have only been there once, so am not much good at making suggestions for things to do. I told him he should check out the cliche tourist stuff: Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Central Park, etc. I also suggested Atlantic City, since he loves to gamble.

Any other tips would be much appreciated. Also, is Atlantic City worth it? I have never been there.

Thanks!

Comments

2008-08-09T12:00:00.001-07:00

I heart comments. Nuff said.

The rich/poor divide

2008-08-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

Some time ago my friend Jerry emailed this picture to me. In his email he was talking about the division between rich and poor in Brazil (he is an American living in Rio de Janeiro) and sent this photo as a rather shocking example of how the rich here are super rich and the poor are super poor. This photo was taken in São Paulo, and the name of the favela is Paraisópolis favela. The translation of "Paraisópolis" is roughly "Paradise City". Kind of ironic huh?

Anyway, Salvador is in the state of Bahia, which is a poorer state than São Paulo, but we certainly have our share of rich folks living in the lap of luxury while the poor folks (many of whom live right next to the rich folks) have to stare this luxury in the face every day as they pass by the million dollar apartments on their way home to their simple houses, trying to make ends meet on the minimum wage that is shockingly low and seemingly impossible to live on (R$400 per month, which is about $250US for FULL TIME WORK!).

I don´t have any answers to the economic problems of Brazil, but I guess I wanted to post this to remind all of us that we need to really count our blessings and be thankful for what we do have. The picture here kind of speaks for itself.

Drink, fall down, get up, repeat

2008-08-07T06:25:00.000-07:00

This is a popular song down here, and the video is hilarious! Translation:

Lets go out to a bar.
Drink, fall down, and get up.
Lets go out to a bar.
Drink, fall down, and get up.

Drink, fall down, and get up.......

With the new "no tolerance" drinking and driving law here, more and more people are taking their bikes! Also, many bars and restaurants are now offering to drive you and your car home followed by a guy on a motorcycle, who then drives the driver back to the restaurant. People seem to actually be trying to abide by the new law, which is great! The drinking and driving problem before was really out of control.

Anyway, enjoy :)

More penguin news!

2008-08-06T05:22:00.000-07:00

I decided to write some more about the penguin phenomenon that is happening here because I actually saw a live one on Monday! I went running, and stopped for my standard post-run coconut water that I buy from a woman who has a little stand in view of the ocean. I was spacing out, drinking my coconut and looking at the water when I caught a glimpse of what looked like a large, black bird swimming right off the coast. I said to the lady, "Is that a penguin?" and at first she said "no", but after we sat there and watched it for a while, it soon turned over on its back and we could see the white belly. It was a penguin all right! I felt real bad for the little guy and decided that I should call the group that is helping the penguins to see if they could send someone to rescue the guy. Well, turns out they only rescue them if they are on land. When they are still out there swimming, they have to fend for themselves.

The penguins are making quite a stir here. They started to appear in mid-July, and so far like 120 or so have appeared in the Salvador area. Some folks are doing really lame things, like trying to sell them for R$500 (about $312 US with the current exchange rate) or even BBQing them, as Vilma saw on the news (so sad!). But there is one group that is doing its best to gather up the live ones, give them fish and medicine, and then ship them back down to southern Argentina where they belong.

There was a super cute photo on the front page of the print newspaper yesterday of a group of penguins at the institute that is helping them, all standing around looking adorable. I love penguins! I just hope that this phenomenon will end soon, and that there won´t be an even larger number of them appearing here that are obviously mixed up somehow and migrating to the north, when they should be in their native cold water down in Patagonia.

PS. I took this photo from the online Salvador newspaper, A Tarde.

Era uma vez

2008-08-04T05:09:00.000-07:00

So last night I went to see "Era Uma Vez". My translation for this was wrong in the last posting, the proper translation is "Once Upon a Time". Anyway, here is the trailer for the film, and for those of you who don´t speak Portuguese, well you can still kind of get the idea.

It was a beautiful but tragic film, kind of a Romeo and Juliet story. I liked it for a couple of reasons. First of all it really shows the classism/racism that is so prevelant here in this country. People from different social classes rarely hang out socially or get intimate, and yet this young couple fell in love and tried to make a go at it. I also like any film that is shot in Rio de Janeiro, because it is such a beautiful city and the scenery is incredible. And finally, I loved this movie because I understood almost everything that happened, without having to ask Vilma too many times about what was going on.

I have seen 3 Brazilian films since being here: "Tropa de Elite", "Meu Nome Nao e Johnnie" and now this one. With each film, I had increased understanding of the dialogue and story with (obviously) no English subtitles. I am so proud of myself and my Portuguese language learning!

That being said, if you get a chance to see this film, or the other 2 for that matter, by all means go. All three are excellent movies, and show one side of life in Brazil that really goes on. "Tropa de Elite" and "Meu Nome Nao e Johnnie" are based on true stories. Perhaps one or all of these will be at the International film festival in Portland this year? Lets only hope!

"You´ll never no"

2008-08-03T09:11:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the lack of postings this week. I have no real good reason, other than laziness! I will for sure make more of an effort to keep posting at least 2-3 postings per week so you all will know what is up with me down here in the land of capoeira and samba.

The title of this posting is taken from a t-shirt that I saw a woman wearing. I get a kick out of checking out all the t-shirts that folks have here that have English words, but that are misspelled or make absolutely no sense. One of my favorites was one that an American friend of mine found to buy that said "I am dance cowntry". Another classic was the woman on the bus the other day who was pushing 60 with a t-shirt that said "Wanted: drummer for midnight rock band". Searching for these gems among the crowd make my outings on the street more fun.

An upcoming event here in Brazil that is stirring things up is the city government election in October. They are electing city mayor and city government representative positions, and the advertising has been slowly building up to what will certainly not reach the ferver that the presidential elections had back in 2006 when I first arrived here, but that is definitely annoying in its own right. Some of the advertising is similar to that in the US: television ads, billboards, bumper stickers, t-shirts, etc. But some advertising here is uniquely Brazilian, mainly the "carros de som" or sound cars, which are cars painted with the candidates names that drive around blasting special songs that have been written and recorded to promote the different candidates. These cars drive very slowly all over the city, pausing long enough in each neighborhood so that you have time to memorize the annoying lyrics and so that this music can intrude upon your otherwise peaceful and quiet day. And to think that we are only in August now, and have 2 more months until election day! You have to just learn to tune these things out, but it sure is challenging to do this.

Another annoying thing for me, and I am sure for the graffiti artists it is heartbreaking, is that many political candidates have hired people to paint over some beautiful works of street art with ugly signs advertising the political candidates. I will try to take a picture in the next week to show you what I mean, but take my word for it, they are much uglier than the beautiful art they have decided it is their right to cover up. Now I don´t have the historical perspective to know if this always happens during elections, but it sure makes me sad to see that some of my favorite pieces have disappeared!

I guess that is all for today. I am going to head to see a Brazilian movie called "Era uma vez" (It was one time) with Vilma and will let you all know how it is. It is supposed to be a story about love between a rich girl and a poor guy from a favela. Looks like a good one!

Domingo (Sunday)

2008-07-27T11:36:00.000-07:00

Today I had the good fortune to receive an invitation from one of my wealthy students to go out on the Bay of All Saints on his yacht. I have been on his boat a couple of times in the past, and each time it is pretty mind blowing for the pure fact of actually riding on an expensive yacht, but also for the views of the city and the island that are only visible by private boat.

Something unusual happened on this ride...we saw 2 dead penguins! I saw on the news about 2 weeks ago that people have been finding penguins, alive and dead, on the coast in and around Salvador. Apparently there is some kind of El Nina happening, and the tides in this part of the Atlantic are getting all turned around. These penguins are from the southern part of South America, but somehow have ended up here in the tropical waters of northern Brazil. The live ones are being stabilized and will be returned to Argentina (I think that is what they said on the news!) when they are back to their normal state. Here is a picture of one of the bodies. Sorry if it is kind of gruesome, but I thought it was interesting.

Another fact that is hard to ignore when cruising around off the coast of the city is the vast divide between the rich and poor. Someone told me that the gap between rich and poor here is the second greatest in the world, after Sierra Leone. I´m not sure how true this is, but it is certainly evident when you see a favela (slum) situated right next to one of the most expensive apartment buildings in Salvador. Apartments in this building go for R$2.5 million and up, which in US currency is about $1,560,000. Wow- imagine that for one apartment?!

It also is pretty strange to be cruising around on this expensive yacht and to pass fisherman on their little boats trying to eek out a living catching fish. A lot of fisherman live in the favela in this picture, which is right next to the building where my student lives. In the morning when we are having our English classes on his veranda, I sometimes look out to see the guys getting their boats all prepared to head out and try to get the days catch. Then I think too about how polluted the water is and the fact that they eat the fish and seafood that they catch, and how unhealthy it is for them, but that it is their only option. If only there was some way to spread things around a little more evenly!

All in all, it was a nice morning/early afternoon. The ocean was a bit rough, but it was fun to be out and in the sun. Being winter and pretty rainy as of late, I don´t even remember the last time I wore my bathing suit out in the sun! After our cruise we went back to his apartment, had a great traditional Bahian lunch and now I am back in my apartment chilling out. Ahh, Sunday.

Garbage

2008-07-25T05:58:00.000-07:00

Salvador is full of all kinds of pollution, similar to any large city in the world. Air, water, noise, light, and garbage pollution are abundant and unavoidable. While all forms of pollution bother me, I think the pollution that most irritates and confuses me is the garbage/littering situation.

I took this photo outside of my building to illustrate one part of the garbage problem, which is the street cleaning guys. These guys are everywhere with brooms and garbage cans, cleaning up the litter. There is even an ad on TV here that tries to show the city government´s pride in these cleaning guys. The ad shows this cleaning guy who is like the neighborhood savior. In addition to sweeping (with a huge smile on his face), this guy helps old ladies across the road, gets a kid´s ball so the kid doesn´t have to run in front of a bus, and other good deeds. In reality these guys make minimum wage (R$400 per month) to kind of half heartedly sweep up the trash and leave it in bags, such as this one, for the garbage truck to pick up (garbage pick up is paid for with city taxes here, residents don´t pay anything, which I also think adds to the problem). This is Salvador´s solution to the littering/garbage problem.

The problem with this solution is that it actually encourages littering, and believe me, there is no need for any encouragement in this matter. I have heard more than one Brazilian say to me, "But when I litter, I am giving the cleaning guy a job!". The lack of education in this country, coupled with this false notion that littering is OK, makes the streets here full of trash and dog poop (don´t even get me started about the lack of a scoop law here!!). My emotions around this issue have cycled through surprise, anger, motivation to make change, and finally a resigned acceptance that this is how it is here. The only real change I have managed to effect in regard to this problem is that I have finally managed to break Vilma of the littering habit. After repeatedly saying "The world is not your garbage can" and giving dagger-like dirty looks each time she littered, I would say that she is about 90% cured of this habit and now agrees with me that it is not our job to give the cleaning guys work to do.

The confusing part of this issue for me is that in all other areas of life, Brazilians are uber-clean. Like they think that Americans and other foreigners are slobs. 3-4 showers per day, and houses that are spotless and cleaned daily are the norm here. When you pick up appetizers at a party, you always use a napkin and don´t touch the food with your hands, otherwise you are looked at like your hands are dripping with bacteria.

So with ultra-cleanliness being the accepted way to live here, why are they so carefree about throwing trash everywhere?! I can´t tell you the number of times I have seen people just throw stuff out of bus windows! It really drives me crazy! But I guess if I had a good answer to why these two totally opposite ways of being co-exist, there would not be the garbage problem here and all of the cleaning guys would be unemployed. And by the way, these pictures are nothing compared with some of the trash piles I have seen here. I just took these pics quickly outside of my building and these were the only examples I could find on short notice!

Birthday party pics

2008-07-23T06:58:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures from the birthday party that I went to 2 weeks ago. It was at a farm about 1 hour from Salvador. The highlight was definitely the horseback riding!

This was the main area where the decorations and cake were. Parabens means "Congratulations" in English. It is more traditional here to say "Parabens" when it is your birthday, instead of the American "Happy Birthday", although some folks do say "Feliz Anniversario".

And here is a picture of the house. I spent a good part of the day on the porch drinking chocolate liquor :) Yum!!!

Indoor skiing

2008-07-18T05:38:00.000-07:00

The other day I read a travel blog by this guy who talked about indoor skiing in Dubai. I had never heard about an indoor ski park, and before I had a chance to do an online search to see what it looks like, I had a dream last night about skiing in such a park.

I was with my brother and we were skiing. The park staff kept changing the difficulty of the slope, making it more and more difficult. The slope was literally changing below our feet! I remember that both of us were falling a lot. That was the bulk of the dream, I don´t really remember any more of it. What it means, I have no idea, but it did inspire me to do a web search for the ski park´s website, and also to search on Youtube to see if there were any videos of folks skiing at this park. Sure enough, here is one that I thought I would share with you. At least we know that no matter how bad global warming gets, we can always find a place to ski. Just be prepared to pay $300 for a day of skiing there.

Drug problems in Brazil

2008-07-16T05:37:00.000-07:00

This situation happened last week in Porto Alegre, which is in the southern-most state in Brazil:
Uma mulher vendeu a filha recém-nascida por R$ 15 para comprar crack, em Porto Alegre. A denúncia chegou ao Conselho Tutelar no final da tarde desta quinta-feira (10).

De acordo com o conselho, uma moradora da periferia da cidade ofereceu a filha de um mês de idade para traficantes em troca de R$ 5 em crack. Ao tomar conhecimento da situação, outra mulher ofereceu R$ 15 à mãe da criança para evitar que o bebê fosse parar nas mãos de traficantes.

A criança está no Conselho Tutelar aguardando vaga em um abrigo. A mulher que vendeu a filha é procurada pela polícia, mas ainda não há pistas. (Copied from Globo news online)

Translation: A woman sold her recently-born daughter for R$15 (equivalent to about $9.40US with the current exchange rate) to buy crack, in Porto Alegre. The complaint was made at the "Conselho Tutelar" (I don´t know the translation for this) at the end of the afternoon this Thursday (July 10).

According to the conselho, a resident of the outskirts of the city offered the one month old child to drug dealers in exchange for R$5 worth of crack. After seeing what was happening, another woman offered R$15 to the mother of the child to avoid the baby being in the hands of the dealers.

The child is at the Conselho Tutelar waiting a vacancy in a shelter. The woman who sold the child is wanted by the police, but is still at large.

So sad...but not surprising. The crack problem here is HUGE. If you go to the center of Salvador, the vast majority of homeless people are all on crack. For this reason, I rarely go to this part of the city. It´s a complicated problem with no easy solution.

Weekend events

2008-07-15T12:26:00.001-07:00

The main events over the weekend for me were going to the birthday party of the son of one of my students, and seeing a woman get robbed (well an attempt anyway) while I was jogging. Lets start with the birthday party.

My student´s son turned 8 years old, so he rented a farm from a friend and took a group of 8 kids and some adults out there for some birthday activities. I found out that Brazilians play the same kinds of kid games that we play in the US at birthday parties. The boys had a sack race, a race where you hold a spoon in your mouth that has an egg in it, and another race where you have to put on oversized clothes over your clothes and then run back so that the next guy on your team can also run down and put on clothes, etc. They did have one activity that I have not seen as an official "game" in the US which was to throw a plate full of whipped cream at another kid´s face. Then they all jumped into the pool. The farm also had some horses which the kids, and some adults (including me!) rode. I think that the horses were the favorite activity. I got to hang out with the adults, drink chocolate liquor and listen to kid music play in a loop on the sound system. I think I heard the theme songs to "Powerangers" and "Scooby Doo" about 4 times. I was glad I went though...it was fun to get out of the city and hang out on a farm.

On Saturday Vilma and I were running on the road that goes along the beach. I am trying to start running at least 4 days per week as I have gained some weight since stopping capoeira. It´s all that feijoada! Anyway, it was about 7:30AM and I was just cruising along looking at the ocean and trying not to think about how out of shape I am, when I saw a woman ahead of me suddenly get thrown to the ground by this guy. They kind of struggled and then she got up and kept running at the same pace she was running before. My first thought (how dumb is this one!) was that the guy was someone she knew who was mad at her about something. Sometimes I am so naive! Anyway, Vilma got a good look at the guys who did it and so we stopped at the police post a little ways up the road. The woman who was robbed was there, and explained that the guy was trying to pull a gold chain off her neck, but was unsuccessful. We told the cop what we saw and gave a description of the guys, and then proceeded to see how little the cops here care and how ineffective the police force really is.

There was ONE police officer at the post without access to a car, and he said he could not leave his post. He called one of the 2 cars that are supposed to work the area and they were a good 15 minute drive away. The other car was not working due to brake problems. He really didn´t seem to care at all and then went on to complain about how the police force is in the same situation as the health and education systems in Brazil (which is basically saying that it is useless). We finally decided that enough was enough and just took off, spending the next 15 or so minutes complaining about how lame it is that with all the people running along that walkway, that the police can´t do anything to make sure it is safe. Vilma made the comment that if it is like this in a richer area (where we live and were running is a middle-upper middle class neighborhood), then imagine what it is like in a poor neighborhood!

I have been rather intimidated by the outward appearance of the police here. They are a part of the military, so look like soldiers, complete with machine guns. Most Brazilians seem to view them all as being corrupt and not to be trusted. Another student told me a story about once he got lost in Rio, saw a cop and went over to ask directions. The cop told him to hand over his wallet and cell phone! Imagine being robbed by a cop!!! Anyway, despite all the stories, I have up until now still kept the faith that if I get into some kind of trouble, that the police will help me. Now I am not so sure...

Things I miss

2008-07-11T08:53:00.001-07:00

I have been feeling pretty homesick lately. I find myself missing my community of friends back in Portland and just things about the city itself that I took for granted while living there. So, as an attempt to feel better, I thought I would reminisce a little here about the things that I miss about Portland and the US in general.

I miss this beautiful park (in the photo) near Reed College where the rhododendrons bloom each spring. I miss fish tacos at La Bonita on Alberta Street. I miss New Seasons (although I don't miss the prices). I miss my capoeira group and all the fun times we have in and out of class. I miss riding my bike all over the city. I miss living in a city where it is relatively safe to ride your bike around. I miss the artistic vibe that runs through all the crazy events that are put on year round (soapbox derby anyone?). I miss Stumptown coffee. I miss the farmer's market at PSU (although there are interesting farmers markets here too!). I miss the consciousness that folks have about recycling and not using a lot of resources. I miss bacon. I miss eating breakfast out on the weekends. I miss Last Thursday. I miss fresh berries (strawberries here are gross!). I miss naked lady clothing exchange parties. I miss Burning Man parties. I miss all the great DJs that Portland has. I miss the architecture of the pacific NW. I miss hiking in the gorge. I could go on forever with the things that I miss about the US, but the most important things I miss are my family and my friends. It is not the same without all of you here with me!!!

Graffiti Sunday

2008-07-07T06:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday a new friend kindly agreed to drive me around while I took some graffiti pics. I have seen some pieces from the bus or while in one of my student´s cars and wanted to be able to go to these places in a car to be able to get out and take some pictures. Here is a sampling:
I took this one while sitting in the car. Note the guy sleeping underneath! I really love this piece because it says "Natureza que saudades" which basically means, "Nature how I miss you".
This one is kind of funny because you can see the umbrella in the top of the photo. This was one of the last pictures I took yesterday because it started raining and then started pouring! I was kind of bummed out because I wanted to get a shot of this whole picture, but there was also a woman selling some stuff in front of one side of the piece, so I just got this part of it. I think that I will go back another time to try and get a better shot because I really love this piece. There is writing in the middle of it that says "Não perca suas raizes" which means "Don´t lose your roots". An important reminder.

Cultural differences

2008-07-07T06:08:00.001-07:00

Now I have never read this book, but the title captures the feelings that I sometimes have about being in a different culture. A perfect example of this happened on Saturday.

Vilma and I were down on this boardwalk that goes along the beach, close to our apartment. We have been trying to start running/walking to get some exercise and were on our way back to the house. I saw a couple on the beach with three dogs and made a comment to Vilma about how much I love to watch dogs play because they always seem so joyful as they jump about. About 2 minutes after making this comment, we continued to watch the dogs and the owners and then saw an older woman (about 65 or so) walking towards them on the beach. The biggest dog proceeded to run and bark aggressively, jumping up on the woman and trying to bite her. The woman screamed "Help, help!" and tried to run away from the dog. The owner saw this happening and walked towards the scene, yelling at the dog but not really trying to do much. Finally he arrived and kind of shooed the dog away, but did not make any attempt to grab the dog by the collar or really do much of anything.

As this scene was unfolding, the wife or girlfriend of the man was just standing there smoking and doing nothing. Two of the dogs were involved in the attack, and the third was off on his own, not involved. These dogs tried to attack the woman like 4 times, with the male owner just shooing them away and the female owner standing there doing nothing, even when the biggest dog came over next to her.

There was another couple up on the boardwalk who yelled at the woman to grab the dog, and her reaction was to completely ignore what they were saying and just stand there smoking, pretending that she didn´t see or hear them.

Finally the older woman managed to get away, and as she was walking away the couple on the boardwalk who had been yelling at the woman saw a police car passing, called the cops over and told them what happened. As Vilma and I left the scene, the cops were actually talking to the couple (this is a minor miracle in and of itself as usually the cops do nothing) and we passed the older woman a ways up the road, told her that the cops were there dealing with the matter and she proceeded to head back down to give her side of the story to the police.

Now you may be wondering why I am writing about this, since it had a sort of happy ending. I guess I was just struck by the attitude of the dog owners and have seen many examples of this attitude here in Brazil. It is kind of like the people only think about themselves and don´t care at all about the other person´s feelings. It´s every man (or woman) for him/herself. And if you don´t take on this attitude, well you end up never getting anywhere.

I have spoken with some of my students about this kind of attitude, and they all think it is horrible and complain about it. And yet it exists and even thrives in all parts of the society here. I just can´t accept it. I hate it!

So what does one do when faced with a cultural difference that is unacceptable? I have gone through a lot of cultural diversity training because of my old life as a social worker, and yet I feel totally at a loss in trying to figure out how to deal with this. Do you just stand back and let this stuff happen and do nothing? Do you say something? Do you try to accept this as normal and just ignore when someone is doing something like this? So many questions and no answers... I guess this is part of learning how to live in another culture, but I have to say that this is definitely not a challenge that I am happy to face.

The fruit/veggie van

2008-07-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

Many neighborhoods in Salvador have the joy of the fruit and veggie guys that drive by on a weekly, or in some places daily, basis. These guys have either white VW vans or pickup trucks filled with fruits and veggies that you can buy for a lot cheaper than in the store. Plus you only have to carry them from your front door to your apartment! What a great deal!

Here is today´s buy: 16 bananas, a bag of sweet potatoes, tomatoes, onions, green peppers, passion fruit and a papaya. The grand total? R$9! That´s $5.63US with the current crappy exchange rate of R$1.60 to $1US. Keep in mind that on my first visit to Brazil in 2004, the rate was R$3 to $1US. Also, food prices here have been increasing, and lots of folks are complaining that everything is so expensive. But in my gringo mind, this is still an incredible deal. Bon appetite!!!

The rest of the trip

2008-06-30T12:04:00.001-07:00

On the fourth day of our trip, we took the longest hike, leaving at 10AM and returning at 5PM. We went up to these 2 waterfalls on the same river, called "Angelica" and Purificação". On the way up to the falls, we came across a group of micos (squirrel monkeys) and I was able to get one or two good pictures. Vilma put a tangerine on a branch close to us and the group, including two babies, came down to get the fruit. They were soooooo cute!!! We hung out for a good 20 minutes watching them play and jump around in the trees.

The waterfalls were incredibly beautiful. The only bad part was that due to the holiday, the trail was packed with people. So much for solititude and quiet. There were lots of people swimming, yelling, and making noise. It was worth it though to go up there and check out the waterfalls. Here is a picture:
And here is one of me, sitting on the rocks above the falls:
The hike on our last day in Capão was shorter...about 2 hours on a road and then 5 minutes down a hill to a waterfall/swimming hole called Riachinho. I have no idea what the translation of this word is, so I will just leave it with the Portuguese name. This is another place that a lot of people like to visit due to how easy it is to get to and how beautiful it is. The weather was kind of cloudy and chilly, so I did not swim here. I just kind of relaxed on the rocks, listened to the running water and checked out the view. Here is a picture of the spot:
The last thing about the trip that I wanted to share with you all is a description of the São João parties that they had every night. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, São João involves a lot of Forro music, roasted corn, boiled peanuts and fruit liquor. I can say that I partook in all of these things, except that the corn was boiled in Capão and not roasted. Below are some pics from the festa.

On the last day I was really sad to leave and head back to the city. We also encountered bad traffic on the way home. A section of the highway that normally takes one hour took 2.5 hours! But we made it back ok, in one piece, and still dreaming of the beautiful mountain views and yummy food we had eaten during our time in Capão!

Capão day three

2008-06-27T04:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday´s main activity was a hike to a place called Rio Preto (Black River). This place is a short hike from the village, about one hour, and is the kind of place you go to just kick it in a beautiful setting for a mellow afternoon. There are waterfalls, rocks that you can climb on, and pools that you can swim in. LOTS of people like to go there, I think because it is so easy to get to, and so beautiful once you are there.

I swam, and the water was COLD! Remember that June here is wintertime, and so the water was colder than in February, when I last came here, and the temperatures at night got down to about 13-15 degrees celsius, which is in the 50´s farenheit. Now I know this is not cold to you Oregonians, but for Vilma it was freezing, and for me after living for almost 2 years in a tropical climate it was pretty damn cold! Luckily I brought plenty of warm clothes to wear.

Here is a picture of me after swimming. I was very thankful that I brought that sarong along with me!!! Despite the cold, I have to say that it was really refreshing and cleansing to swim in this river. It feels so clean and unpolluted! Now I would not drink the water, but I feel a lot better swimming here than I do in the Bay of All Saints in Salvador. The beaches in Salvador are known for having pollution problems due to sewage lines running into the ocean closeby. Yuck!

We hung out at the swimming hole here for a couple of hours before heading back to the village. We stopped on the way back to eat homemade ice cream that was surprisingly disappointing. The ice cream cafe is on the edge of the village and apparently the freezer was on the blitz or something. It was more like flavored ice than ice cream.

That night we had pizza from the "other" pizzaria. Capão has 2 pizzarias, one is referred to as the famous one, and the other doesn´t have a real reference so I decided to call it the other one. We ate at the famous one the first night that we got to town, so decided to try this one out since we have never eaten there. It was delicious! We got 2 small pies, one plain cheese and the other a veggie mix. They used a lot of sauce, which is a rarity here in Brazil. The norm for pizza in Brazil includes a pie with little sauce, and then Brazilians put ketchup and mayonnaise on top of the pizza as condiments. I have never been able to get into this concept.

Later we went to the town square for more forro, fruit liquor and peanuts, then to bed early again because we knew we would be hiking again the next day. Here is a picture of the town of Capão so you can get an idea of what it looks like. The banners that you see hanging are traditional São João decorations. I have no idea of the significance, they are kind of like what garland is to Christmas.

Capão days one and two

2008-06-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

We left our apartment on Thursday (June 19) at 5:45AM because we had to take a bus to the rodoviaria (long distance bus station) to catch our bus to Palmeiras that left at 7AM. Luckily we had no troubles and made it with 15 minutes to spare. We arrived in Palmeiras about 3PM and then had to take a "cab" up to Capão, which is about a 45 minute ride. I put cab in quotes because all the "cabs" are 30 year old jeeps that have no shocks and run on propane gas. In fact, our driver had to stop and change the propane tank on the way! I never knew that the same stuff that fuels gas grills can also fuel cars!

The guy at the pousada (bed and breakfast) was expecting us, so our room was ready and waiting. It was a good thing because I think that every room in town was booked. Some locals were even renting out beds in their houses to make some extra money and provide space for those who didn´t make a reservation. I was glad to have our little room with a bathroom for the equivalent of about $25US per night. Here is a picture of Vilma in the doorway of our room. We took advantage of the hammock in front and spent some QT relaxing there.

The second day we were there, we went on a day hike up to Cachoeira da Fumaça (Smoke Falls), which according to Wikipedia is the 25th highest in world at over 1000 feet! Once at the top, there is a spot that overlooks an amazing canyon. There is a rock that you can lie on and stick your head over the edge to look down. Of course you need someone to secure your feet, but even with this, I could not put my head totally over the edge. See the picture above to check out how far I made it.

I have done this hike a number of times before, but each time when I arrive at the top and see the incredible view, plus the waterfall, I am rendered speechless. It is truly an amazing site to see. You can do a 4 day overnight hike from Lençois to the base of the falls, which is something that I
hope to do sometime soon.

That night we had dinner at a restaurant owned by this Italian guy. They specialize in vegetarian pasta dishes and are renown for their lasagne, which is what we ate. Homemade noodles and homemade tomato sauce=yum yum! Later we went to the party in the town square (more about the São João parties later), but didn´t stay up too late because we were both tired from the hike and knew we would be hiking again the next day so wanted to get some rest.

Another interesting thing happened on the way down from the waterfall...we saw a snake! A big one! It was red, grey and black. There are 2 types of coral snakes here in Brazil, real corals, which are the poisonous type, and false corals, that have the coloring of real corals but which are not poisonous. A group with a local guide was behind us and the looked at it and said that it was a false coral. I was glad to hear that, but surely didn´t want to mess with the snake, poisonous or not! Here is a picture so you can get an idea.
OK, more later about the rest of the trip. Hope you enjoyed the story so far!

Cool things about Capão

2008-06-25T14:44:00.000-07:00

I´m back in Salvador now after 6 wonderful days away from the city. As you can see from this picture, Capão is a little slice of heaven just a 9 hour bus/van ride from here. The top ten thing is a little old, so here is just a plain old list of what I love about Capão (in no particular order):

-There are tons of awesome day hikes that you can take just by walking out of the village. No car needed! And all of them include amazing views, waterfalls, rivers to swim in, or a combination of all three of these things! We hiked every day that we were there.
-The food there is incredible and most restaurants serve all homemade dishes. The best dish I had was this lasagne that had homemade pasta and homemade tomato sauce. It was vegetarian and yummy! It is cheaper and easier for folks to make all the ingredients since this town is so remote and ready-made ingredients are harder to come by as they have to be shipped in.
-There is little to no police presence. I am not sure how this works, but all I know is that when I was there during Carnaval I saw 2 cops one afternoon, but the rest of the time there were no cops. And during this holiday weekend I saw no police at all. And I also saw no fights, there was no visible crime and everyone was totally chill. What they do when they have disagreements about stuff I don´t know, but whatever their system of justice is, it doesn´t seem to involve the police very much.
-The air is fresh, the light pollution minimal (great star gazing!), you can swim in the rivers, there is no constant traffic noise, and it is totally peaceful and chill.
-The people who live there are all very mellow and seem at peace and happy.
-The best coffee that I have ever had can be bought there for R$9 for one kilo (that´s about $5.50US!).
-People there just seem to enjoy good old fashioned fun, like a town dance every Saturday night. There was more partying happening due to São João, but it all involved hanging out and dancing.

I am going to post some more stories, describing more about my trip, but wanted to at least give you a taste of my time away. And the person in the above picture is Vilma :)

São João

2008-06-18T05:03:00.000-07:00

São João is rapidly approaching, the exact dates are June 23 and 24, although pretty much everyone will celebrate it all weekend long continuing on through Monday and Tuesday. There are some traditions that make this holiday unique, and one of them is called "guerra de espadas", which translates to "war of the fireworks".

Not every town has guerra de espadas, and some towns are famous for having lots of it. I have posted a Youtube video so that you can see what it looks like. And the music playing in this video is Forro music, which is the music of São João.

The town where I am going this year doesn´t have guerra de espadas, but last year I went to a town that does and got to see this spectacle up close and in person. And if you are thinking to yourself, "that looks dangerous", well it is! Every year people lose arms, legs, hands, feet, and there have been deaths. But this doesn´t seem to stop the tradition from happening, nor do signs posted saying "Proibido espada" (Espadas prohibited). People love it, and there is even folklore about how to stay safe during the guerra. Vilma told me that if you run away from an espada, it will follow you. It is better to stay in one place and jump over the espada if one comes your way. Luckily, when I did see it last year, I was far enough away so that I didn´t have to jump or run away.

While I prefer the other São João traditions- drinking homemade fruit liquor, dancing to Forro, eating roasted corn, and kicking it next to bonfires, I can also appreciate the beauty, danger, and mystery that surrounds the phenomenon that is called "guerra de espadas".

Happy São João!!!!

PS. I can´t figure out how to get rid of the second video screen...sorry!

Snickerdoodles, bombas and the Godfather

2008-06-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

You might be wondering...what on earth is she talking about with a title like that?! Well these are the main activities happening around me today, so I thought I would share my Sunday with all of you readers.

First of all, cookies are not really common here. You can buy some cookies in the supermarkets, but they are American imports and not very good (think bad Chips Ahoy without the chips). On occasion I get a craving and will make cookies. The only problem is that many common ingredients in the US are unavailable here. So that limits the type of cookies that one can make. Thus, I have resorted to making snickerdoodles whenever I want a cookie. They are easy to make and delicious! I think that I have turned Vilma into a snickerdoodle fan :)

The word "bomba" in Portuguese has several meanings. One meaning is obviously, "bomb". But the meaning that I am talking about today is "firecracker". I don´t know why exactly, but firecrackers are a big part of the São João tradition. And like the 4th of July in the US, the week or so leading up to this holiday is filled with mostly young male children lighting off these bombas as soon as darkness sets in (which here is about 6PM). It is now 7:15PM and I have been listening to almost constant bombas for the past hour and a half. It is driving me crazy!!!!! But of course there is nothing to do about it and complaining doesn´t solve the problem. I just have to accept that this is what they do and try to get on with my night as best I can.

Which leads me to the Godfather. I have never seen this movie in my entire life, and neither has Vilma. We went to the movie store today and in the interest of watching a cheaper movie (new releases R$6, old movies R$3 on the weekend), we found the Godfather. So I am about to embark on an almost 3 hour tale of gangsters, with the sound of bombas chiming into the background of the gunfire in the movie. Wish me luck!

Chuva (rain)

2008-06-13T04:52:00.001-07:00

This is what happens in Salvador when it rains. Everyone freaks out and the traffic is horrible. Check out the canal in the middle...not only does it totally fill up with water and sometimes flood when we get a lot of rain, it is also the most polluted water that I have ever seen in my entire life. And some days when you drive or take the bus by there, you can smell the most disgusting smell ever, coming from the water. Yuck!

This picture was taken this morning, near the biggest mall in Salvador. I did venture out in the rain today, but luckily I had my umbrella and went nowhere near the place where this picture was taken!

This picture was copied from the A Tarde website.

Mico sighting

2008-06-12T05:08:00.001-07:00

The other day I was in the shower and started thinking that I had not seen a mico for quite a while. Micos are squirrel monkeys who live in the city. They are relatively elusive, in fact in the time that I have been living in Salvador, I have seen micos less than 10 times. But when you do get to see them, they are soooo cute and amazing to watch.

I have seen micos three times now in front of our apartment building, and Vilma has seen them once. There is a big mango tree on the side of a building that is just down the street, and I think they either live there or like to hang out there a lot.

It was about 6AM and I was walking to the bus stop when I saw a group of three running along the telephone wires towards the mango tree. They kind of ran along, stopped to look for danger, then ran along, stopped, etc. They have long, striped tails that help them to balance. I love micos!

The strange thing was that I had been thinking about them before I saw them, and then that same day I saw the group! I was kind of blown away by this, it´s like I was invoking them or something.

I get the feeling that Brazilians view micos with just a little more love than we have for squirrels in the US. They don´t seem to think it´s that big a deal to see them, although they do seem to like seeing them. I get the feeling though that they aren´t as totally excited and blown away as I am when they get to see a mico.

So here´s hoping that this group (is it a family?!) will keep hanging out in my neighborhood and that I will have many more mico sightings in the future.

World news

2008-06-08T16:06:00.000-07:00

This article was copied from the Salvador online newspaper, "A Tarde":

"Quatorze homicídios foram registrados na capital baiana e em cidades da Região Metropolitana de Salvador (RMS) nas últimas 24 horas, das sete horas deste sábado, 07, às sete horas deste domingo, 08, segundo informações da Central de Telecomunicações das Polícias Civil e Militar (Centel). Dos assassinatos, apenas sete ocorreram no bairro de Mussurunga."
(Translation: 14 homicides were registered in the Bahian capital and in cities of the metropolitan region of Salvador in the last 24 hours from this Saturday, the 7th, at 7AM until this Sunday, the 8th according to information from the Center of Telecommunications of the Civil and Military police. Of these people killed, at least 7 occurred in the Mussurunga neighborhood)

This article was copied from the New York Times world section, it was one of the lead stories today:

TOKYO — A 25-year-old man who told the police he was tired of life went on a killing rampage in a popular shopping street in central Tokyo on Sunday, plowing his truck into a crowd of pedestrians before stabbing passers-by with a survival knife. Seven people died and 11 were injured.

There has been a huge increase in crime in Salvador this year so far, especially homicides. I can´t recall the exact number, but it has been an increase of something like 70-80% above the number from last year. It seems like every weekend, there are at least 30-40 people murdered here.

Now, the majority of these people who are killed are poor and many are drug traffickers. But what I want to know is, why is this not one of the lead stories in the NY times? And Salvador is much smaller than Rio or São Paulo, where I am sure there are many more people killed every weekend. It is interesting to see how biased the "world news" really is. How can we really find out what is going on this world?

Comida Americana (American food)

2008-06-08T15:45:00.000-07:00

Last night I was invited to the home of one of my students, who is also a friend of mine, and was asked to cook "American food". After a lot of jokes about how I was going to cook cheeseburgers and french fries, I assured them that I would cook some healthy and tasty American food. For those of you who don´t know, I love to cook and if I do say so myself, I am a pretty good cook! I was excited to get into a nice, big kitchen with ingredients bought by my student and get to cooking.

A new American friend of mine came with me to help out with the cooking and to partake in the "American food" dinner. I had prepared the menu and after realizing quickly that I had been a little too ambitious in my menu choices, I was very glad to have the help!

Here is what we cooked: Italian style fish with spiced breadcrumb topping, peanut sesame noodles, mexican cornbread, green salad with raspberry balsamic vinagrette, and for dessert- peanut butter cookies! You can see every thing nicely laid out on the table (minus the cookies which came out later). The presentation was awesome and the food came out great. It was so nice to eat some familiar dishes that I have not cooked since being down here.

It was kind of funny to see the Brazilians´reactions. They didn´t seem to know how much to take or what to try, but overall everyone loved the food. My student said to me that when a good thing happens, it needs to be repeated. I told him that it can be repeated, but not for a while. This cook-fest took all the cooking energy out of me for a while. I need to re-charge the batteries and eat someone else´s cooking for a while. But it sure was nice to eat peanut butter cookies (made with Brazilian peanut creme, alas imported Peter Pan goes for about US$12-13!!!).