Loud music

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

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?!

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

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

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)

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

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!