'Chorando se foi, quem um dia só me fez chorar...' The musical story of my Brazilian experience

Minha gente!

I remember in one of the last weeks in Shanghai, my Brazilian housemate and project teammate Pedro turned on a bunch of Brazilian music in the living room of our small Chinese apartment. With other housemates probably quite amused, Pedro taught me a little how to dance forró, the traditional Brazilian dance in pairs. Thanks to Pedro, I also heard some other music from Brazil, among them I believe a very popular sertanejo (a sort of Brazilian country-style romantic music usually sung by two men) song called 'Chora, me liga', which my friend Vico later taught me to sing the full chorus of. This is how I advanced my Portuguese while in Brazil, by learning to sing silly Brazilian (mainly sertanejo, because they're easier) songs :)

Songs I learned thanks to my friends! :) The title song may not say much to you, but it is actually a song you will certainly recognize the sound of, widely known as the 'lambada'. Ring any bells? ;) I learned a part of the chorus from a girl called Silvana, whom we met in our travels in Bahia, I remember her teaching it to me as I was trying to practice my samba footwork on the beach in Morro de Sao Paulo, as the four of us were waiting for the sun to come out after all the rain. The second half of the chorus my host sister, Mariana, taught me when I came back to Juiz de Fora. As you can see, Brazilian music reflects my experience there, doesnt it?

There are several other examples... Tammy and Mariana taught me a couple of other sertanejo songs, such as 'Te deu o sol, te deu o mar, pra ganhar seu coracao...', a very popular song by the young Brazilian Luan Santana, a somewhat Justin Bieber-esque singer currently on the rise in Brazil. And I have to admit, silly though it may be, I actually like this song, and it brings all these memories to mind :)

My friend Fernanda from Saci, the school where I worked, helped along too in my Brazilian musical knowledge. Not only did she copy a bunch of CD's for me, but she taught me to sing a rock/pop song about how love is the heat that warms up the soul and it has the taste for the person who will drink its water.... how about that :) And that was again while traveling, as we were shooting back Brahmas at a cafe in Buzios, a small beautiful beachtown.

And it was at a Saci Festa Junina party, where amidst selling drinks to thirsty parents and their kids and making popcorn, that Fe taught me the song that was just playing at the time, 'Voce nao vale nada mas eu gosto de voce... Tudo que queria é saber porque'. 'You're not worth anything but I like you... All I want to know is why'... doesn't that sound ironically familiar ;)

Probably the funniest song I learned was during Vico's Portuguese classes, the classic 'Lanca perfume' by the Brazilian diva Rita Lee, where our favorite, most memorable line was 'Me deixa de quatro no ato...'. I won't translate this that so you actually google it yourself, and believe me it's worth knowing what this means ;)
And it was there that I learned the song 'Sutilmente' by the rock/pop band Skank, which Fe incidentally copied for me, and which now still sends so much saudade through me as I hear it... Why do I torment myself so? ^^

It was when I got back from Brazil that I could actually listen properly to all the music Fe copied for me, as well as learn all the Ivete Sangalo songs from her live show CD's that I bought myself, as I was already fond of Ivete while in Brazil. It is Ivete who contributes much to my continuing learning of Portuguese... 'A minha sorte grande, foi voce cair de ceu, minha paixao verdadeira, viver a emocao, ganhar teu coracao, pra ser feliz a vida inteira...'

As you can see, Brazilian music accompanied me much through my experience. I could give more examples, but I think the idea is clear ;) It's funny isn't? Which is why I wanted to write this now in addition to my post yesterday, where I talked about Brazilian music and language, and of course, saudade. No wonder the music brings so many memories, so many emotions... It's not uncommon, of course. But it's like I could write my Brazilian story from Brazilian music! :)

Beijos galera!

'A minha sorte grande, foi voce cair do ceu...' Let's mix it up ;)

Hey everyone!

It's been a while again since I've written here, so I made a new year's resolution to write more often on my blog, so I can finish up my story about Brazil and start up on other topics, so as to become a frequent online blogger, and further my writing career ;)

As the old year is coming to an end and the new one is approaching, and my Brazilian host sisters ('zusjes') are coming to visit Holland (yayness!), I guess the thing to do would be to give some kind of year overview and summary... but I won't do that all in one go, because it's all worth a whole blog - or maybe even a book! - by itself, isn't it! A year ago I was celebrating Christmas and the coming of 2010 in Shangai, China, and a few months later I was in Brazil, trying to learn how to dance samba... it's all kind of surreal, and yet I know I was there and all these things happened! I would still like to write more about China here, too... but all these different cultures, experiences and influences are getting so mixed up now, how to keep them apart is the question! Although, I'd like to think that I don't have to keep them entirely apart, and I couldn't really, they all make up what I am now, after all. It doesn't seem to me that I came back a different person per se, and yet I know I'm not all the same as before, and the course of my life may be different now to what it would have been if I hadnt been to China and Brazil, especially the latter :)

I know that the people I met and the hospitality they showed me in Brazil was the main factor which enchanted me with the country. I never imagined that I would be there, in Brazil, although I always dreamed of going to South America, but the dream came true in a rather unexpected way and time, and here I am, perfectly aware of what Brazilians mean when they talk about 'saudade'. But other than missing the people, and the beautiful scenery, and the warm temperature (I write this while we are still covered with snow in Holland... although I do like the way the snow crunches under my feet when I try to make it to the bus stop at 7 in the morning), there are many other things I miss about Brazil. It's funny how a person can become so attached to another culture! I've traveled around, and I spent two months in China, and lived for years in Russia and Holland, yet my 'saudade' for Brazil is very special... and it's so difficult to explain how this happened!

I know there are a couple of things other than what I already mentioned that I love about Brazil - the language, that dancy, musical sound of Brazilian Portuguese, the language I had so unexpectedly gotten to learn! A few years ago, I was still determined to know Spanish, but now my heart went out to it's close linguistic relative :) And now I try to keep it up as much as I can; perhaps sometime I will try to write parts of my blog in Portuguese (and not make any native speakers laugh at my silly mistakes... although in Brazil I spoke with plenty of mistakes for sure, which never stopped me from talking anyway).

And what's definitely related to my love of the language is the Brazilian music. From samba to axé and música popular brasileira, I cannot believe we still know so little about it here in the Northern hemisphere, other than some vague knowledge about samba percussion and the 'Girl from Ipanema'. I really love Brazilian music, and the sound of it keeps my saudade bearable (but sharper at the same time). When I went to a small concert by the Brazilian artist Ceumar (who is living in Holland) a couple of months ago, and she sang so melodiously in the beautiful Portuguese language, it was like honey pouring through me.

Where I will go from here, I don't know. When I will be in Brazil again, I don't know, but I hope as soon as is possible right now. So much still to see and experience, to eat, to dance, to talk non-stop, like the Brazilians do... hahaha! The most honest secret behind my learning Portuguese? Brazilians just don't shut up, and the gringa just has to learn to keep up with them!

Well, and here I will stop talking for the moment! But be sure to hear more, much more, from me soon! Até breve!

Grande beijo para todos, meus amigos!

Brazil (& BRIC): thoughts on development

Oiii everyone! ^^

This last Sunday (the 3rd of October) Brazilians brought out their votes in the first round of electing the new president of Brazil, the successor of Luiz Inacio - Lula - da Silva. Although she gained more votes than her opponents, Lula's most likely successor (thanks to his support, too) Dilma Roussef didn't gain the majority needed, so Brazil will need to vote again at the end of October. It is difficult for me to put forward my own views on Brazilian politics as I have not lived there for nearly long enough to know, but I got the impression from some of my friends that there is a certain lack of enthusiam this year over the elections and the candidates... The day of the vote, I read a long and sophisticated article in Holland's quality newspaper the NRC about the elections and the ways in which Brazil had changed (i.e. its economy had grown substantially) in the past eight years thanks to Lula's policies, which follow what his political predecessor had started already, apparently a plus point for Lula, who is much loved by many in Brazil. It is curious because I believe that at the same time as Brazil had begun gaining so much economic development in the past decade, a similar economic trend can be observed in Russia, which, since the start of the new millenium, has also grown to become one of the world's leading economies (I won't start on the political implications of the economic growth in Russia though).

Brazil will certainly be in the center of attention in the coming years, as the host of the 2014 World Cup, and I believe as the first country in South America to take the pride in organizing the Olympic games of 2016 (2 years after Russia will host the Winter Olympics, and Russia, too, will be the host to the World Cup in football in 2018. It seems, as you see, that there are indeed certain parallels between these two BRIC nations). As I have lived in and loved Brazil, I am now following the developments and news as I wouldn't have before. It rarely occurred to me before that Brazil is actually a very important world player. That is, I figured as much, but didn't really give it the thought. A friend of mine in Brazil had pointed out that many people (I guess, particularly in the West) still think of Brazil as a developing country, while it is actually pretty much developed already, and I trust her judgement. I've seen it myself too, Brazil is a very developed country, I can gather that just by looking at the amounts of money I've had to spend there on traveling and going out..!

Some may argue that Brazil's level of development is questionable given the pertaining amount of poverty and social/economic inequality, but couldn't you say the same about the world's biggest economy, the United States? At the same time, yes, all BRIC countries still have many challenges facing them on their way to catching up (and arguably taking over eventually) Western countries; challenges of social, political, and economic nature. I'm not a BRIC expert, but if anything, I did live for several months in China and Brazil, and grew up in Russia, and can say that the economic inequality in each country in this respect can be quite mind-blowing, and often penetrating... but it's part of each country and its society, and of course it will take much more work and joint effort to try and lower the level of this inequality. But there is the matter of cultural and social diversity within each country, too, and of course it is often a good thing. And the whole situation is too often also very, very complicated.

I will illustrate with an example from personal experience: when we traveled in Brazil, we got the chance to come to Buzios, a small beach-town in the Rio state, known for being 'discovered' and put on the vacation map by Birgit Bardot, and it is loved by many visitors of higher social standing. Buzios is really beautiful, although we may not have come there if we weren't invited by our friend to stay there for a couple days at her aunt's holiday house which turned out to be an amazing, gorgeous mansion. Buzios' center is a pretty fancy place, and a stroll along the stores already gives the idea of the crowd they're aiming at. We loved our time there, and even went to the beach one day in an awesome open-roof car, which attracted many looks from passers-by. And I remember Bryley saying something like, "this is so cool, we do this now, and then in a couple of days we'll be going to a favela in Rio, it's like we're getting to know the opposing sides of Brazilian life". I guess that much is true.

And so, a few days later we went to Rocinha, the largest favela on the continent, home to some 200,000 people or so, spread around the hills of Rio de Janeiro. And there, of course, it is a different sight. It is thousands and thousands of houses built on the hills around, one house almost on top of the other... narrow footpaths in between, a whole other lifestyle, shall we say. And yes, it is one of Brazil's main challenges, how to improve the quality of life there, but at the same time many people we passed on the way looked happy as they are. And why not, nothing should be able to take away their right to be happy, right?

We even ran into a girl from the UK who has worked at a child-care center there for a few months, and was absolutely loving it there. And in its own way, the view of the favela is beautiful, breath-taking as it surely is.

Many people (interestingly, several Brazilian people) also reacted with various levels of shock when we told them we were going/went to the favela. "You went to a favela?? Why? What are you looking for there?" And oh dear, it's dangerous, isn't it. What were we thinking? Well. There are many preconceptions about favelas, and I won't play as if I know what it's like to live there, of course it comes with certain dangers, such as even occasional stray bullets from gang fights which injure and kill innocent people. Of course life in a favela is not easy, but it's not all like "City of God". It is a community, with people just like anyone of us who want to lead normal lives. And it felt like a community, too, and our guide certainly seemed to know everyone passing by, who all returned his friendly greetings. And he even told us this: "the guy who will shake your hand today in the favela may rob you in Copacabana tomorrow". Turns out there may be more chance to get into trouble outside the favela than inside it (though I still woundn't advise you to just go around prowling by yourself, as then you are likely to get lost and possibly get into some kind of problem). So go figure.

What's curious is that in the recent years favela tours in Rio have become quite popular with tourists. My guide book even warned that some tour companies even drive tourists around in jeeps, thereby treating the place as "an African game park" (it literally said this in the book). Of course, we don't want that, we could just walk through the favela on foot. A friend of mine in Holland, who is half-Brazilian herself, pointed out that some tourists just go there because it's like a new cool thing to do. They know to expect poverty, dirty streets, problematic housing. So why do they go, if they're not gonna do something about it? This is an interesting point for sure. I've studied about a favela before and never imagined I would get to visit one, that I would be in Rio de Janeiro in the first place. Myself, I went to complete what I had already learned and because I am interested in Brazilian society, and let's see what I can do with that in the future.

Of course, the issue is much more complex than I can discuss here; this is what I myself have learned from experience, and given the current political developments in Brazil, I thought I would share some insights. And I hope I will be able to keep learning, to broaden my perspectives. For the moment, let's see how the elections go further, and how Brazil develops in the coming years.

Beijos!

Writer's Blog: Thoughts on Rio

Ola!

Last night I came across a website called iamexpat.nl on which I read an article by a professional writer living in the Hague and writing non-fiction in English who argues that living abroad is already an interesting enough subject for anyone who wants to write. So, one need not begin with a whole book right away, but keeping a blog, writing for online sources and so on, is already a good start. She also recommends aspiring writers to just spend 10 minutes a day writing something - even anything that comes into their head - which will help train them to get into the writing mode. So, I thought that's a good idea, and though maybe every day may not work, at least right away, I will try to write little snippets as often as I can (maybe not every time here though). If you have to read all that goes through my head, or anyone else's, so often, I think you will get crazy! One's own thoughts are already enough aren't they?

As this blog was originally set up for Maschmallow's Adventures in Brazil, and I still have much to write about it, I will start with some thoughts on this subject, connected by the first theme: today, Rio de Janeiro.

Rio de Janeiro, as I have written before, is lovingly called the cidade maravilhosa, the 'wonderful city' by the cariocas themselves. Some of you may remember seeing my first entry on Rio, a few months and entries ago, from my first trip there (it's the entry with all the pictures of Rio.. hard to miss). It's strange to think of it now, my first trip to Rio, and I have to say, it is one heck of a city. Random thought occurred to me earlier, you know how people compare Buenos Aires to Paris? I've been trying to think which European city one could compare Rio with, and I still haven't found the answer.

That said, Rio is a beautiful place. Well, maybe not on the first impression as you leave the rodoviaria (bus station) and ride on the bus through the down-trodden areas in the zona norte... but even there, the city seems to have a specific power over the (first-time) visitor. As you make your way from the zona norte through the centro to the zona sul, it's like you enter a different world. Do you see this picture? That's Ipanema, from my first visit there. Some of you already know, I loved Ipanema, it's hands down the most beautiful beach I've ever seen, and just people watching there is very entertaining. Next to Ipanema is Copacabana, which used to be the beach in the past, but is now considered to have lost much of its former flair. Nevertheless, Copacabana is extremely interesting to hang out, as it's full of options for things to do (and generally cheaper than in Ipanema, actually).

I've done an array of tourist things in Rio. I've gone up to the Corcovado to see the Christ statue twice, and I have to admit, it was one of the most amazing sights I've come across in Brazil. I've been to the Pao de Acucar (Sugar Loaf mountain), been to Lapa several times, and once during the day, I went to Niteroi, the neighbouring island, I've been to the centre, Botafogo, lay on the beach in both Ipanema and Copacabana... and I've even been in a favela, Rocinha, which may be pretty much the biggest favela in South America.

Actually, among my first encounters with Brazil was when I followed an introduction course in anthropology back at university, and we read an anthropologist's book about life and gender issues in a Rio favela based on her own observations there (not Rocinha though). Never did I think back then that one day I'd visit a favela, not because I wouldn't want to, but because it didn't even occur to me to think of it... so imagine that. During this course was also when I saw Brazilian movies for the first time, the famous (and slightly infamous) Cidade de Deus (City of God, of course) and Bus 174. Equipped with that knowledge from my studies, I went into the favela (or rather, zoomed up on the back of a motorbike) with a tour group, to have a peek at what life is actually like there. But perhaps I should leave the discussion of Brazilian social and economic realities for later. Let's just say it was a worthy trip to make.

Rio offers many great views and tourist attractions, but what's also great is just finding yourself somewhere random in the city center (in daylight, preferably though!), to just take in the daily life around. After our trip to the Corcovado, we were dropped off somewhere in the center because I wanted to go check out this small pretty colonial church (the most beautiful in Rio, according to the guide book), and the driver dropped us an almost 10 minute walk away from there. So while we made our way to the church, we enjoyed just encountering a new neighbourhood in the city. Check it out. Isn't it pretty cool?
















Then again, I've always been the type who just likes hanging around a place, walking, stopping, continuing, seeing old and new things around, taking in the life. Perhaps people are different in that respect though... and in a city as big and culturally rich as Rio, the amount of things to do is pretty unending. It is a city some don't like, too, I've heard... and some love. The city is indeed very complicated, quite controversial and sometimes challenging... but it's an experience in every way.

So, this was not 10 minutes... I'm gonna try to time myself! Kidding... nothing wrong with writing for an aspiring writer... but I think I will leave it at this just now. Hope you enjoyed my wonderings ;)

Beijos!

Vai, Brasil, Vai!!! Copa do Mundo 2010 no Brasil =)

Oiii galera,

So now it is time to talk about the one and only... the World Cup! Well, at least the one and only every four years ;) I was very lucky for sure to have been in Brazil during the world cup, as Brazil is the reigning 5-times champion (although I was hoping for 6 this year... damn).

Although I heard people say that this year Brazilians were not as confident of victory and therefore less enthusiastic about the games than usually, I still got a pretty good idea of how crazy people get over football here. Brazil played 5 games, and each brought with it many yellow-and-green crowds, flags, and vuvuzellas. The streets were yellow-and-green, the building I lived in had a huge banner with Brazilian colours strung from top to bottom (20 floors!), there were so many decorations around and Brazilian memorabilia to buy... I still have a small Brazilian collection of things from the World Cup, and two T-shirts, both of which were gifts. I still remember the craze in Juiz de Fora, especially in the center, before the first game began. The traffic, the noise, the crowds. Crazy! The day of the game, I would consistently wake up to the noise of the vuvuzellas, hours before the game... and after the games, the main party area in town with all its bars would fill up for hours... it was like Carnaval over and over again. And though I - and others, I'm sure - believe the Brazilian team could (and should next time!) have played better, watching the games with friends was the best part of the experience. Sometimes we would have so much fun with just hanging out with all of us, we'd forget to watch the actual game.

I've watched the games at a variety of places, my first was at the house of one of the teacher's at Saci, whose daughter also studies there. Then, we've had much fun watching the game at my friend Vico's house, disco-ordering the beer to be brought to us rather than going out in search of it ourselves hahaha. And I remember Vico running around the house trying to be a good host as to accomodate everyone to their needs while it was already 3pm, and he hadn't even eaten that day yet.


We watched the third game, against Portugal (which ended in a dissapointing 0-0 score), with a bunch of AIESEC people. It was such good fun, and I remember meeting my friend Tammy beforehand, and it was 11am, and like a good Brazilian football supporter, she had a beer in her hand. Puts a smile on my face to remember it. Though the game didn't deliver a goal, it was still great fun to watch it together with everyone, as you can be sure that Brazilians are rather passionate football supporters.

The best Brazil game in terms of the actual game was a few days later, against Chile. That game did again finish up as usual in one of the bars in the party area, by which moment it was clear that the coming Friday Brazil was actually going to meet Holland in the quarter-final, just as I'd calculated a couple of weeks before. I've been asked a billion times who I was planning to support should that be the case... so let me state this again for the record, that I was actually supporting Brazil, in a Brazilian T-Shirt, on Copacabana beach in Rio... and my Brazilian heart was very sad when Brazil didn't pull through. Boo.

That said, I'd planned the trip before I realized this is when Holland and Brazil would take it down. It's not like I was planning the escape route. And I remember my friend from Holland, Bryley, arriving a couple of days before, bearing all this orange stuff in her bag. LOL. She actually did make us wear the orange glasses, though I kinda wanted to fit in ;) But having realized that the party would be over if Brazil lost, she too, gave in. But, after a promising start for Brazil, the game went a very unexpected way... imagine watching all that on Copacabana beach! In the heat, among hundreds of people, if not more. People were going crazy. And now imagine the sad-faced, heads-hung-down, Brazilians who headed home after their country lost... For a few days after, I would tell people I'm from Russia, and that Bryley is from Australia, and stop there ;)
But if the nation was sad to be kicked out of the cup, the following day was like a party in Rio - fireworks were going off, there were happy cheers to be heard in the street... Ah, the Brazilians were celebrating Argentina's impressive 4-0 falldown (to Germany?) in the Cup. Argentina and Brazil are like a cat and dog when it comes to football. Like Germany and Holland... but bigger!

When Brazil lost to Holland, I got nervous... how was I gonna show my face in JF to all my friends? To people at school? Oh God. But luckily, sensing this was not their year, and admitting that better results were to be expected from the team, Brazilians were very cool about it, and by the time the final had rolled in, I think most had forgotten that Holland had kicked Brazil out. Because we had so famously watched the final - Holland vs Spain - at a Brazilian bar in JF, with our Brazilian friends, who had dressed up in orange clothes just for us... we took up a significant portion of the bar in front of the big screen, taking lots of orange-clad pictures and attracting much attention from everyone else. But I hadnt caught a single look of "oh you stupid people supporting Holland", just lots of curious stares. Hahaha... it was so great.


And a few days before the final in which Holland had sadly lost, Bryley and I had made history by appearing in the sports section of a real newspaper, Tribuna de Minas! I got this random call from a guy called Philipe who wanted an interview about the Dutch final... as I've already been contacted from students of the faculty of communications about the same topic, I thought this was another student. But when we came there, we met a real sports reporter, and a photographer with a huge camera... surprise! :p So, now there is a Sunday-before-the-game issue of Tribuna de Minas, featuring two photos of me and Bryley with Dutch flags, and wearing the afore-mentioned crazy orange glasses... and, of course, there was an interview, too. But, naturally, since the octopus had predicted Spain would win, so it did. Oh sigh. For weeks after, when we said we were from Holland, instead of the usual Dutch liberalism (*cough*), people would talk to us about football, and how sad it was that Holland lost. And me and Bryley would just... shrug our shoulders, hahaha.

I hadn't lived the experience of the Brazilian Carnaval this time around, but with the World Cup, I came pretty close for now. It was sooo great to experience.... and even land a place in the local newspaper. Can't wait for the next one, in... Brazil, of course =D

Hope you guys enjoyed the new story... keep reading ;)

Beijos!

The story goes on! Maschmallow in Juiz de Fora =) Pt 2

Olaaa :)

Once again, I'm back to writing today, and will try to keep it entertaining still for you ;) So, I left off where I went to a Festa Junina dressed up so beautifully but a little too much even for the occasion, or so it seemed. Though embarassing it was to come in dressed in such a traditional outfit, and got kinda cold later as the party was outside in the garden, it was really fun, and over-dressed as I was, people did complement me on my clothes. And we danced the quadrille with all of us, which is the traditional festa junina dance in pairs, with a whole bunch of people all together. I think I haven't danced something like that since I was pretty young and made to do so at school... but so much fun!

Well, popular as they are, Saci, the school where I worked, also had a festa junina the following weekend. Actually, there I had to work behind the bar, which was especially busy around lunch time with all the parents wanting to have soda, juice, and beers, so I figured leaving the long skirt behind was the best idea so just went with the Snow White top and a regular cute skirt. Though I did buy and wear a girly straw hat with fake pigtails :) There were no grown ups dancing around much there though, as most of the parents were sitting around little tables while the kids were running around, and the teachers and staff at Saci had to work, including myself. I did slip out for a little bit to go see the 8-11 year-olds dancing the quadrille, all dressed up so cute! They have the most adorable little outfits for the boys and girls; the boys wore the checkered cowboy-ish clothes and hats, and the girls amazing colourful dresses. So awesome to see... but of course, the adolescents just show up in normal clothes. I dont think I saw a single teenager dressed up that day.

Speaking of Saci, in case some of you are still wondering what I did there... I have to say my job was generally pretty relaxed. Some days I had to stay a bit longer, but most of the time I worked 10 till 3pm, with different groups of kids in bilingual classes, 3 to 13 years old, and I usually assisted the teacher, rather than being the teacher. Saci also hosts a cultural lunch for a different country every month, and because of me, they did Russia and Holland, so I had to help much with it as well. Saci likes events like that... so, apart from the day-to-day activities in helping with the projects and speaking English with the kids, I helped around with that kind of stuff, which was great, because then it also gave me a more important role, so to speak... the job for the foreign trainee at Saci is pretty relaxed, which is great, but it's also nice to be able to help more with this kind of stuff.

Something else which is pretty cool is that on my last day of work in July, I did an almost hour long presentation for the 6-11 year old kids from both bilingual and non-bilingual classes, about myself, and my two countries, with a PowerPoint... in Portuguese. There was a bilingual teacher there just in case I got stuck, but pretty much most of the presentation I delivered in my fourth language. So I'm going to drop the modesty and say I was fairly proud of myself for being able to do this after 4 months in Brazil =D

So maybe some of you are wondering about the Portuguese... When I arrived in Brazil, I had a very basic knowledge of Spanish from the course I took at college 3.5 years ago but never practiced the language. I also knew a few things in Portuguese that I learned from my Brazilian friend Pedro in Shanghai, but some of those would be frankly inappropriate to say to, for example, your host family. So when I arrived, all I could say to them was "bom dia" (good day) and 'prazer' (nice to meet you). And "obrigada" - thank you... But you'd be amazed what can come out of necessity, interest for the language, and some basic Spanish... the ability to now speak Portuguese, which I love :) Brazilian Portuguese is absolutely beautiful, and one of the things I miss most about living there. It was one of my objectives to learn it when I left.. and actually, I did get help - from a Portuguese teacher at Saci who offered to help me herself and for which I had to get up an hour earlier on Monday morning; and, in the last 2 months, from my friend Vico, who teaches English, but did pretty damn well teaching Yuen, the other trainee, and me Portuguese ;)

From May/June I was actually frequenting Vico's school quite a bit, both to learn Portuguese, and help others learn English in Vico's classes, which involve much direct conversation, so the presence of gringas hopefully was an asset to the students. And I have to say, I've had the chance to teach a little bit at Saci on some occasions, and though I can get shy with that kind of attention, it is fun :p And I honestly miss coming to Vico's school and helping with the classes, because it was great to meet and get to know his students, participate, and watch Vico teach, because he is a wonderful teacher.

So, there was much going on in JF in June. There were many parties and fun events and hanging out with friends, not even including the World Cup games, about which I will write separately... Mariana and I even went to a party for the launch of a magazine Mari worked on at a fancy shopping mall, with much free champaigne included... you can see why we make such good sisters :D

There was also a concert of two famous Brazilian musicians that I went to: the young, good-looking samba singer Diogo Nogueira (I think, from Rio), and the older pop/rock singer from Minas Gerais, Nando Reis (they did perform separately though, one after the other). Actually, this was an interesting night. I wanted to go to the concert but didn't have company to get there, and it's pretty far, but I ran into my friend Stéphanie by chance, and she said, call this friend of mine, she will probably be there. So I went with her friend, Maruska, and another girl... and when we got there, I saw several people I knew, so Maruska joked that I knew more people there than her; she must have been so confused! The concerts were great, but what's funny, in Brazil, shows like that start at about midnight and this one went on till at least 4am... while in Holland they start at 9pm and finish by 11pm.

Lucky I was to have Maruska to go back with though (and not go alone), because when we came out, there were like 2000 other people wanting the same thing: a taxi to go home. So we had to walk down the road, among many people, trying to get a taxi, which took about half an hour. Finally I managed to catch one, and we got in with two other random people, but the taxi driver was both kind of deaf and crazy, so he drove us through all these empty streets to get to my place first, which was a way longer route, and all the while Maruska was just yelling at him that he's not going right, and we're not gonna pay him all that extra money. For a while we drove through a bunch of streets I did not recognize at all, until I saw a familiar street and the little twinkling light of McDonalds. Oh the relief ;) I have to say I was just a bit freaked out where this guy was taking us at 5 am. I randomly saw Maruska again at another party a while later, but I have no idea how things went after I got out. But this was surely an experience just to get back from the concert venue!

Thanks my dear readers, and to my friends in Brasil, eu tenho muitas saudades de voces, nao me esquece! Espero que voces gostaram, e tem saudades de mim tambem ;)

Beijos e abracos! :-)

The story goes on! Maschmallow in Juiz de Fora =)

Oi pessoal!

So, to keep things varied, I will tell some more of what I'd been up to in Juiz de Fora in May and June, before my friend Bryley arrived in Rio and we began traveling together, and she got to meet all the "fifty friends of mine" in her first week in JF, as she says herself.

At the end of May I moved to a new host family, and I remember that already a couple of weeks before, because I knew I was going to move, I had started running around town trying to find nice goodbye and thank you gifts for my first host family. It is difficult to figure out how to thank a family whose house you've lived at for two months for free and who have been so nice to you... luckily, a teacher at Saci, Adriana, has suggested I compile a basket for them, which is a common type of gift in Brazil, including all kind of things possible, from chocolate and coffee to more personal gifts. That's what I'd done - found a basket, filled with some yummy things that I knew my host family liked, and added some personal touches and gifts, and I think the basket was well received :)

For a kind of 'good-bye but will see each other again', we went together to a new fancy pizzaria in town, which was really nice. The first night and morning I was living in my new house, I was still feeling a bit nostalgic, after 2 months it is after all an important change. I remember always enjoying getting up for breakfast at their house before going to work, and Aninha's mother was already awake to take care of the younger daughter, so breakfast and coffee were already set up in their cozy kitchen. I also always admired Ana's mother, as she was working long hours but still found time and energy to take care of her kids, set up breakfast and yummy coffee, and look good :) Modern women eh :p But though feeling somewhat nostalgic about moving houses, I also knew that it'd be better for me to have a change in my exchange.

I first met Mariana, my new host sister, at a Faculty of Communication party in mid-May, a couple of weeks before I moved. I remember when I met her, a mutual friend in AIESEC told me, "I think you will really enjoy her, she's a very exciting person". I think the first time we met, Mariana may have had this impression of me that other Brazilians did in the beginning, when I was new, that I was still a bit shy and holding back. Well I think things have changed a bit when I began living with her, and damn, our friend was right, she is an exciting person, and when I moved in with her, her sister Cacau and their mother (and countless family members who would swing by the house from now and then), my life in JF had picked up pace significantly.

There were a lot things happening these days, such as the countless despedidas (goodbye parties) of the two much-loved Colombian trainees. That involved cooking (Colombian) food, hanging out at people's homes, and going to the bars afterwards. AIESEC has also had a kind of bbq (churrasco) party for the new members at the house of one of the new AIESEC'ers, which was a day full of great food and fun.

There've been many times since then that were really awesome... I grew close with my host sisters, we went out together a lot to different places, Mariana introduced me to many friends of hers... once at Muzik, the club in town, during the samba night, I must have met a ton of her gay friends, too. And she taught me about "pagar mico" - paying your dues, when she had to dress as an angel (a very beautiful one :)) and hand out love messages at a club on the Brazilian Valentine's Day party. (Brazilians celebrate this day on June 12... I still don't know why).

I learned more about "pagar mico" when I had to do so myself the next day... so, in Brazil, during June and July, they have these traditional parties called Festa Junina (or Julina), when everyone dresses up in checkered and/or dotted clothes and straw hats, a little bit like at a farm party actually (I don't mean to offend any fans of Festa Junina, but just trying to explain the idea to my non-Brazilian friends), and eats traditional food and dances the quadrille, a kind of traditional dance. Yep, so the idea is - traditional party. Use your imagination.

So, AIESEC had a Festa Junina party in mid-June, for which I have borrowed an outfit from Mariana, which I believe was sewed by her grandmother. Disney's Snow White-like top and a long, dark blue, polka-dotted skirt. Black polka-dots and rouge on my cheeks, and pony tails. True caipira as the Mari called me. It was my idea to change at the house,where the party was, but Vico, Mariana, and her mother had all told me that it's normal to go to these parties in June and no one is going to care. The party was on the other side of town, and for whatever reason, I had left my common sense to listen to Brazilian advice. Thank God it was Sunday, because I met Vico at Parque Halfeld, which is one of the central points in town, and it wasn't too busy then. Imagine a working day, OMG. Because from the moment I left the house till I entered the party I was stared at from every corner. Ok, so I did look like a beautiful caipira... but it was a very expensive "pagar mico"!

And the best (if you want to look at it that way) bit was when we got to the house, and the door was opened, and I looked inside.... I just wanted to hide (which I tried to do). There I was, looking like a Snow White-Brazilian caipira from 50 years ago, and most girls inside were wearing everyday clothes, with some exceptions of short checkered skirts and accessoires. Some guys were wearing checkered t-shirts (which, I'm sorry, are also very everyday, especially for men) and straw hats. What was my reaction? "Fuck, fuck, fuck". As I walked in, it was lucky I had rouge on my cheeks, because the reactions of the AIESEC'ers were pretty priceless and logical - some surprised, joined laughter was in due course of course. What a naive gringa!

To be continued.

Kisses and beijos!

The story goes on! A menina tá aqui na Holanda, mas agora é bem Brasileira!

Ola minha gente!

So I know it has been a while since I've written here... probably 4 months? I think I must have just gotten too busy living the exchange experience to write about it... although I always meant to, but now I'm back, I intend to continue the blog nevertheless. Never mind even how many readers I actually still have ;)

I won't write about everything from where I left off, of course, I'd be writing non-stop for two weeks. As I told many of my good friends already, spending five months in Brazil was a huge experience for me, and I've honestly lived the best months of my life till now there :) But I'm positive I will keep coming back to Brazil for many years to come. I've dreamed of South America for years, but it can be hard to imagine yourself actually doing that. And now I feel like I've found a (second... third?) home - which is a big deal for me. So, here goes!

So, a bit about the travelling: when I wrote last, I had still only been on one trip in my first six weeks - Rio de Janeiro. Soon after that though, in the beginning of May, I went on a trip to a city called Nova Friburgo, in Rio state, with a few friends from AIESEC in Juiz de Fora. Nova Friburgo is a nice place to visit, with beautiful hills around, and even higher and colder than JF. And my friend's family we visited was so lovely, especially the mother was so welcoming! And she taught me how to make Brazilian-style lasagna! (Which everyone else enjoyed, yay).

Towards the end of May, the weekend before I moved to my new host family's house in JF, I had gone on two short trips - to a small, but beautiful town Tiradentes, and the natural park Ibitipoca, both in the same state of Minas Gerais, not too far from JF. These trips were right after each other, and I had to roll out of bed for both at 5am, two days in a row. I remember getting out of bed at this deadly hour to go to Tiradentes, thinking, "maybe this was a bad idea". And then I had to do the same thing right the next day. Can't say it wasn't a bit challenging, but at least it paid off, as both places are really worth the effort.

I went to Tiradentes with the school trip from Saci, where I was working. This meant my company was a few of the teachers - all of whom only spoke Portuguese, but are all lovely, and the Portuguese was no longer a problem anyway - and a bunch of 9-years olds. Starting at 6 in the morning. Then again, there is nothing that a stop-over with coffee and a pao de queijo (literally 'bread of cheese') can't cure ;) Tiradentes is a very small, but lovely town from the Portuguese colonial era. The best thing though was probably the train ride from Tiradentes to its close-by bigger and more modernized neighbour, Sao Joao del Rei. The antic train called the Maria Fumaca is practically famous all over the country, and I can tell you half an hour goes by really fast, because it's just so fun to ride the train along the green Brazilian landscape, hanging out of the window now and then, in a carriage filled with children :D You should try it (though the kids aren't strictly necessary for you to have fun, no worries. You will soon feel like a child yourself).

On Saturday morning I rolled out of bed at 5am again to go to the natural park Ibitipoca with my friends, the other trainees. It's about 3 hours to the park and you take two buses - one decent one like the kind that runs between the cities in Brazil (the buses between the cities are actually better there than in Europe), and one that rumbles up at a random bus stop in the tiny town called Lima Duarte, and resembles a shack of a city bus rather than anything else. As you sit there, you finally feel like a real traveller (in our case, in South America), sitting in a crappy bus, on a seat that makes your butt sore =)

Ibitipoca is a huge national park, with a few trails you can follow, but we took the short one as we only had the one day, and trust me, it is a workout already. The scenery is amazing, and, not being spectacularly sporty myself, at the end of the day I felt quite proud of myself having made it all the way there and back alive :D In the evening, we also hung out in one of the local bars in the Ibitipoca "town", if you can call it that, as it is very small. What I also remember with a smile is walking back to our pousada, the four of us with arms around each other, in complete and utter darkness, apart from the light from Julio's cellphone, braring out a loud dance song :D

The next time I went travelling after this, with the exception of the tiny place called Rio Novo near JF where AIESEC had invited us for an evening and day to discuss our exchange experiences and party, was to Belo Horizonte at the end of June, the capital of Minas Gerais. Probably Juiz de Fora's main city competitor inside Minas, BH is a city of a few million people, quite new but by now huge, with beautiful, wide avenues in the center of the city. It is not a touristy city, even less so than I thought, but it's very beautiful and I think would be a nice place to live in for a while ;) I went there with a few trainees, too, but this time they were all different people who had arrived more recently. In BH we stayed with a friend of one of them from AIESEC BH, who was a great host, and a really fun guy to hang out with. He took us to an AIESEC BH party at someone's enormous house the night we arrived, showed us around town in BH during the weekend and was the life of the house party he effectively put together on Saturday night, at his own apartment.

Although it is not touristy, BH does have some very nice highlights to see. As I said, the center is beautiful, and very green. If you venture a trip to BH - Praca da Savassi, Praca da Liberdade, Parque Municipal, Parque das Mangabeiras, and Pampulha are a few things you should try to see. The city center has a few nice squares and parks, and there is a great viewing point of the city near the Parque das Mangabeiras, called (no surprise for Portuguese speakers) Mirante, from which it's amazing to see BH: first bathed in sunlight, then at sunset, and then as the lights begin to twinkle around this enormous, modern city. Pampulha, meanwhile, is one of the creations of the famous Brazilian arquitect Oscar Nieyemer, who also built Brasilia, his most well known work. It is basically an artificial lake, with a very modern, museum-like church alongside it, which has, from what I had heard, sparked many criticisms. The lake is about 16 km all around, and artificial though it is, very beautiful. Pampulha is nowadays a rich residential area, which is not particulaly surprising.

Well, there is much still to write about my travelling in Brazil, but I'm going to stop here now and continue in my next entry. But I promise this time that I will continue, you can be sure of it ;)

I miss Brazil much, so I'm sorry, but... Eu espero que voces gostaram dessa historia, e vao continuar ler o meu blog! Eu vou tentar escrever muito mais aqui sobre a minha experiencia no Brasil, porque foi legal demais, e eu quero share this experience with you! ;)

Muitos beijos!

Maschmellow @ Privi-lee-zhee, Samba, AIESEC, and more!

Ola meus amigos e minhas amigas!

Ahh so I´ve finally gotten to writing a little again, I´ve been meaning to for a while. So, last time I wrote, it was about my trip to Rio. Since then I´ve been quite busy though havent gone on any other trips out of town yet.

First of, I´ve been to a few parties here in Juiz de Fora, to a funk party at a fancy club called Privelege (you say it "Privileee-zheee", it sounds very cool), and if you guys dont remember, funk is a type of Brazilian hip-hop music which made me feel quite intimidated in Rio. In JF, the manner of dancing wasnt quite so extraverted though, although the actual funk only started at like 2 am!

Anyways, Privilege is quite a cool place (although, pretty expensive, as many things in Brazil actually are), surrounded by a forest, in a big beautiful building, and an extra restaurant as well. I also went to Privilege last week for a "Top of the Pops" party with some people who invited me, and yes, it was Western music, haha. It was cool though, and a nice company. And many, many gay couples... I will say no more :P
The party was really fun with lots of pop hits, old and new, but what was also pretty memorable for me, was that when I went to get a taxi home, a bit earlier than my friends, I got one with another girl who was also going into town. She was pretty impressed with my Portuguese considering I was then only in Brazil for 5 weeks (now its 6 lol), as most people catch on pretty quickly when I speak that I´m not Brazilian (or, as they call it, gringa); and she told me: "Voce está doida", which means "You are crazy". This girl was kinda funny, and very talkative, and according to what I understood, I was therefore crazy for going back home on my own in a foreign city haha.

Of course, when most people think of Brazilian music, the genre they immediately arrive at is samba. As some of you may know, I´ve tried a little samba in Holland already a few years ago, and I went to a samba party in town a couple of weeks ago. I have to say, if you´re worried about gaining weight (and I maybe should be, as I eat more here than I generally do, although so far I havent seen any changes. I thought I was being abnormal, but apparently Brazilians just kinda eat all the time... so maybe it just means I´m integrating well!), samba is a very good workout. It is hard! And then you see some girls just dancing away at a speed that could get them all the way to planet Venus before they know it, and just feel inadequate with your feeble little attempts at learning it. But maybe it wasnt so bad - this week I was told that I was dancing samba like a Brazilian who doesnt know how to dance samba, rather than a foreigner who doesnt know how to dance samba. So there you go, I´m pretty content with that.

The band that was playing the samba was really nice though. The woman´s voice was really good, and some songs were really cool. I have to say, Brazilian music really is very rich. This week I went to a samba performance at a cultural dance school with some friends, and while I was expecting a performance of just samba dancing, it was a lot more than that, exceeding my expectations. The show was a mix of music and dancing (a samba style called samba gafiera, danced in couples, I believe it is a more traditional samba style), some singing, acting, a plot, and even video of the actors/dancers involved. It was actually about a real person, a samba musician from Juiz de Fora. It was only about an hour long, but really excellent. And afterwards, we congratulated a bunch of performers who were in it, and it is so funny that here you even kiss them on the cheeks when you meet them afterwards, even if you´ve never met before (and probably won´t meet again). My friends and me hung around on the balcony for a little while the actors were getting ready to leave, and actually I havent met a couple of the girls before, so that was nice to get acquanted.

I´ve also been to a couple of house visits, to the house of a teacher from Saci (whose daughter is in one of my bilingual classes), where there were also her son and his girlfriend, and another friend, and it was nice to get to know everyone. They were actually the ones who took me to Privilege for the pop party. They also taught me the meaning of some funk lyrics, and I haven´t realized till then that the lyrics were quite that explicit :p

I´ve also visited the house of my friend Vico, and yesterday I joined him and his family at a hotel/bar type of place where some of his family were performing famous Brazilian songs, which was also fun, to just hang around, chat and, of course, eat ;) (It really isnt just me, its the culture... what a relief!).

And last weekend was the AIESEC discovery days weekend for the new members the committee has recently recruited, and I was invited (/requested, hehe) to come along. It was at this big house they rented, somewhere at the outskirts of the city, with some nice views of hills and other pretty houses. The house was really big, although most of it was just for the owner who rented the place to us, but we had quite a bit of space downstairs for the AIESEC activities, introduction stuff, parties, etc. There was even a pool that some LC (local committee) members were thrown in at the end (luckily, not me), although during the day there was no sunbathing by the pool as they had a tight schedule with lots of work to be done. Well, they had lots of work, like introducing the 29 or so new members to different aspects of AIESEC, discussing the current affairs of the LC, etc. On Sunday, I and a few others who have been or are on an AIESEC exchange, were asked to participate in some sharing between trainees and new and old members about our exchange experience; but aside from that I didnt have many tasks to do as I´m not a member of LC and my Portuguese is limited. Oh yes, that said, most of the stuff was actually in Portuguese, so it really tested my skill levels. But many people were very impressed nevertheless by how fast I´m learning the language, and I did try my best to understand things (of course, people also spoke English. And when we did our sharing, I did so in English. But all the presentations and discussions were in Portuguese, so I tried understanding them as well as I could. And I interacted with people, particularly new members, in a mixture of English and Portuguese).

We did a bunch of roll calls too, which are a typical aspect of AIESEC culture: a dance routine to various songs. And are there many! We did one a couple of times that I learned in Shanghai and which is really famous the world over called "Tunak, Tunak", so I was really excited. For the rest, I had to learn on the go as I am almost as clueless about AIESEC roll calls as the new members are. That was a workout too ;) And the party on Saturday night involved many of these roll calls, with a few people leading the way - it is amazing how many roll calls they can remember.
During the weekend, you could post little notes into each others´ "mailboxes", and pick up your envelope on Sunday evening. So I wrote a bunch of little notes to a bunch of people, and now have a small stack myself :)

And tomorrow is Konninginnedag! It´s amazing how fast time flies, really. I wish those of you in Holland an awesome Qday and long weekend, party for me! :p
Tomorrow is also a cultural Russia day at Saci (yep, a bit ironic, I know, but I´m obviously pretty used to cultural mixes by now), and hopefully it will go well :) We worked really hard on it this week with the teacher whose class is responsible for it.

I hope you guys are all doing well! Those of you reading this outside of Brazil (well, most of you), I miss you all!

Muitos beijos pros todos!

^^

RIO DE JANEIRO

Hey!

As promised, I want to write a little about our trip last weekend, which was to the famous "cidade maravilhosa" - Rio de Janeiro!

But first, I want to give some respect to Rio and its surroundings following the terrible floods over the last few days, as I´m sure many of you have heard about. It´s really terrible what´s been happening there, and it´s strange if you think about it that I am in Brazil during this time, and I see the news about it every day here on Brazilian TV... and what´s even more, I was actually still in Rio the day before the rains had started! We were very lucky, since imagine if the rains had begun a couple of days earlier...

That said, I must say that Rio de Janeiro (literally, it means "the river of January") is an impressive city, and I definitely want to go back there again, as I was only there for a short time (but I have to wait it out now, of course..). The city is basically divided into three parts, zona norte, centro, and zona sul, the latter being the most popular and famous with visitors, which proudly hosts both Ipanema and Copacabana. On my first day in Rio, I went up to the famous Corcovado, up on the mountain, where the figure of Christ the Redeemer stands. The views over the city are truly beautiful, and I´m glad that I got to see them first from a lower platform, while the sun was still shining (it was the end of the afternoon), as the view of Rio bathed in sunlight is gorgeous, with the city, the beaches, and the beautiful Pão de Açucar (Sugar Loaf Mountain).

I went up the Corcovado in a van, and by the time we got to the top point, it was starting to get dark, so I got to see a view of Rio at night, too. My only dissappointment was that the figure of the Christ is currently being renovated, so it´s all pretty much covered up with boards, and you can´t see much of it. I think, they only began this a couple of months ago, so I´m just a little bit late :( So I guess I´ll have to make a trip to Rio and the Corcovado again sometime!

On that first day, we also had to find our hostel. Luckily, while I was on the Corcovado, my fellow travelers, Julio and Rolando (both trainees in JF too, from Colombia), managed to find one for us in town, in the area called Botafogo, which is between the centro and the beaches. The hostel was pretty decent, although it was the first time I had slept in a hostel room with other girls, without any friends in the room of my own ;) (The boys had to share a separate room).

Climbing the Selaron stairs in Lapa ^^
 

Now for the curious part: Lapa. Lapa is a neighbourhood in central Rio which by day is a residential area. But by night... it turns crazy. It´s like nothing I´ve ever seen before. The area comprises a whole bunch of streets, which in the weekend fills up with people from all over the city, and booms until the day comes (so I´ve been told, I couldnt actually hold it out that long myself). We actually went there both Friday and Saturday nights, and apparently those nights, because of Easter, were "quiet" for Lapa´s standards. But to me, a poor little European, by the time I left on the second night, Lapa had begun to seem like a complete madhouse. All over the place, there´s crazy people, bars booming out all kinds of music, and just... lots and lots and lots of people, and taxis, and noise. But ultimately, it certainly is a good place to party, it´s something to experience, and... well, manage to actually get through.

Lapa!

We went to a club there the first night, where they play a popular type of Brazilian music called funk. Funk is basically like Brazilian rap, I think originating from the favelas (shantytowns). Funk is crazy. I´d wanted to go to a funk party already in JF, but it was my first time in Rio, and I wasnt actually quite prepared for it, because the way some people dance it, at least there in Lapa, is pretty memorable for its extravertedness. It can be pretty intimidating for a first timer at a funk party, as people do more than go down to the floor, let´s just say that.

There is also a beautiful - and unexpected - street in Lapa which features a staircase, designed by the Brazilian artist Celaron, along two walls made of a variety of colourful tiles, all very random and beautiful, with images from various countries, with a dark red overall background. I actually even found a Dutch tile among the many there, which said "Doe wat je wilt, kletsen doen ze toch". Random, right? But the street is really worth a visit!

And last, but not least, and certainly not in this case, I´ve been to Ipanema and Copacabana! We stayed at Ipanema during the day on the beach (and naturally, I got burnt), and I swam a bit, but soon after the waves started coming crashing so hard, it was a bit scary to come far into the water, at least for me. Ipanema is a beautiful beach, with the view of Pão de Açucar in the distance, and a lovely blue sea. Later, we also went by Copacabana, another famous beach a walking distance from Ipanema. It´s hard to believe I´ve actually been to these places now, as they still seem like these distant dream places for me, because of the fame they´ve acquired throughout the world.

Ipanema beach, so beautiful!

Well, that´s all in all the main highlights of my trip to Rio! I´ve added some pictures for you guys to see, of the views from the Corcovado, Lapa, and Ipanema. I hope you enjoyed reading it, and I havent overloaded you with information ;)

 

Beijos!

Um pouco sobre minha vida em Brasil!

Hey everyone! :)

Here I am again, writing, yay :) It´s raining heavily outside (it tends to do this in Juiz de Fora, locals say that in one day the city can go through four seasons), and as I´m leaving on my Easter weekend trip one day later, this is a good opportunity to write a little more!

Of course, it´s hard to summarize everything in the last two weeks, but I´m gonna give a few highlights. My work at Saci, the bilingual school, has been going pretty well, the teachers are so nice and friendly, and many kids are very cute; and it´s nice to be able to work with kids of different ages, ie there is different groups of classes, from just 3 years old to about 13. But I also just really enjoy hanging out and talking to the teachers and also their assistants (those in the classes with the small children). And what´s really chill, is I can come in at 9:30 in the morning and head to the lunch room to have coffee, hot chocolate (they have a great one called Nescau from Nestle here), and even breakfast with some of the other teachers! (Although that´s technically my second breakfast, since I also eat and have a cup of coffee at home before I leave). Some of the teachers and other staff dont speak much English though, so I´m really trying to advance my Portuguese, which is also useful at home. One of the teachers has offered to give me portuguese classes, so hopefully by the time I return home, I´m gonna amaze you all with my skills :)

Last week was also Saci´s 45th anniversary, so there was a party at school in the evening. There were lots of kids and their parents, a comedian-magician (though, in Portuguese), jumping castles, and cotton candy! I helped make some with the teachers, which was really fun. And now there is one more t-shirt hanging in my closet, from Saci :)

So that´s been pretty cool, I always look forward to going to school in the morning (imagine that!). I had to give a cultural presentation (about me and my culture, and how I live etc, so kids can get to know me) for a bunch of the oldest classes the other week (so, adolescents... eek!), and I was really nervous, since their last trainee´s presentation was apparently really cool, and I didnt wanna seem boring after that. But I guess it went ok, which is good, coz I´ve got more of those to come for the younger kids!

It´s funny living with a host family, esp if I often have to try hard to understand them and be understood bcoz of the language. But the food is very nice here, I have lots of room to roam about, there´s a dog that likes anyone and everyone (and me, too! sometimes it doesnt wanna let me leave), and it´s quite well located, not too far from downtown. Juiz de Fora is not a very big city, about half a million people, so the center is not too difficult to walk by foot. Since the bus to school goes for about 25 mins, I also get to see some more of the city, which is nice, although on the way back it gets so hot!! Yep, it´s still summer here, pretty much 30 degrees every afternoon, but then it has also suddenly rained on several days. And rain here is not really like in Holland, it´s always very hard, and can actually go on for a while. It´s still going now, for probably an hour already, at least.

I´ve met several other Aiesecers here, and they´re a nice bunch! We went out to a couple of bars a couple of times now, but I still have to get to a real club party, as every time we ended up in a night-time fast food place instead. Brazilian music is really cool, so I´m looking forward to that! My first weekend here, I also went with my host family to the 15th birthday party of their cousin, and the 15th birthday is a big deal here in Brazil! (And I think, other countries in South America, too, since I´ve heard of this before). It was pretty interesting, and was kinda funny to see all these 14-15 year old girls in short dresses and high heels, all looking like models. It´s a weird feeling when you are somewhat intimidated by a bunch of girls 8 years younger than you.

I chatted to the cousin of my host-mum and her 13 year old daughter at this party, and the three of us managed to make way with my very limited Portuguese (remember, this was only my 4th day in the country), and their limited English (although the girl´s English wasnt bad for her age, I have to say). It was pretty hilarious actually, as during the conversation Rafaela (the daughter) frequently remarked that her mother is "crazy", which I can´t really argue with. Her mother taught me all about "homem-galinha", the Brazilian term for literally "chicken-man", which in our understanding is a player, and she did so in reference to her own husband in his youth, who has another child just older than Rafaela, "carnaval, beber (drink)...". And all that with roars of laughter and exclamations of "bem feito!!" (Which basically means, well he deserved it). So that was pretty memorable. Ana Paula (the mother) had invited me to their house for lunch (which is the main meal here), so hopefully sometime soon I can go, since my Portuguese is better now, and it will likely be hilarious again.

Oh, and a quick note on the soap operas, here known as telenovelas: yep, everyone watches those, even guys, every night, and it goes for a few hours as they have several to get through every evening. It can be pretty entertaining, reminds me of how I used to watch them when I was younger, in Russia. It can be hard to follow though, even with all the Portuguese practice I get every day ;)

The main thing that bugs me here (get the irony), is the abundance of mosquitoes and how
much they´ve gotten to liking me. Despite the repellent, and the clothes, they get to me. My poor legs - I came all the way to Brazil, where many women around the city show off their shapes and legs, and I have to cover them up, should anyone get frightened... oh oh oh. But people had advised me about vitamin B, and hopefully in a couple of weeks, my blood won´t be so tasty. Oh my life in the tropics...

As this weekend is Easter weekend, I´m off on my first trip in Brazil, tomorrow I´m going to Rioooo de Janeeeiroo, with two other trainees. It´s kind of a late-minute-planned trip, so we´ll see how it all goes, but they´ve already been to Rio before (properly, not like me when I first arrived there and left right away), so I´m hoping for a nice time! They call Rio the "cidade maravilhosa" - "wonderful city", so I hope it will live up to its name!

So, that´s about it for now, but I will try to write soon after I get back from my weekend trip, and tell you about Rio (and anywhere else, if we happen to go)!!
I hope you all have a wonderful Easter, and keep me updated on what´s happening with all of you!
Muitos beijos e muitos abracos para todos!!

Ps oh yeah, I do get Portuguese and Spanish confused, so sometimes my speech is pretty mixed, you know, just as long as I can get myself understood lol. I think that language can be described as "Portañol" ;)

First days in Brazil!!

Hello everyone! Or rather, I should say, bom dia!!

So here I am in South America!! That´s still a little difficult to believe. When I first arrived in Rio de Janeiro, it was 5 am and the airport terminal was quite empty, and felt gray and daunting. But by the time I got to the bus station (even though as Bryley said, I was afraid to get my stuff stolen there, especially since I very much resembled a donkey when I first got to Brazil - here I am reminiscent of reading Jona´s first entries from SF and her title Donkey in San Francisco, haha), I felt better since the station turned out to be lighter and friendlier than I expected haha. So I guess you never know beforehand!

The trip to Juiz de Fora, the city I am staying in now, took almost three hours by bus from Rio, and went thru many beautiful, green hills, and almost jungle looking areas! When I arrived at JF station, there were two AIESEC members there, and the other two trainees, with a bunch of green and yellow balloons (Brazilian colours)! :) And from then on, I´ve met a number of very nice Aiesecers, my host family, and the people at Saci International School, where I´m going to be working! Today was my first day. The teachers are very friendly, they all speak English really well, and when I arrived, there was a bit banner on the wall that they made for me (and which I think I can take back with me when I go home... although it will make me a super donkey ;)), with photos of the different classes I´ll be working with. I visited a few today, and will be visiting a few tomorrow, and from next week I will start working more with individual classes at a time. Or at least so I understand ;) The kids are of different ages, they´re all very cute, but some are shy and need to get used to me being around, and speaking English; while other kids are very outgoing, I met some 8-9 year old girls at lunch today who wanted to know lots about me, and in one of the classes one of the boys kissed me on the cheek hahaha. Oh yeah, a note on that: yep, when you meet Brazilian people, you kiss on the cheeks, one, two, or three... apparently, it varies lol. So I kissed many teachers on the cheeks at school today, and all the Aiesecers when I met them. But I was already familiar with this, they do the same in Spain, and Pedro, another trainee in Shanghai, did the same when he first arrived. (Although I think, men just shake men´s hands... but women kiss!)

The school is set in a nice place, with lovely green hills around. Actually, JF in general has a lot of hills around, it´s very green, and it´s quite pretty here! The city itself has many hills around it, which might take a while to get used when going by car or taking the bus, like I have to to go to school. The city has about half a million people (so, the same population as my home town), but it´s fairly small by Brazilian standards (I think the country population is like 192 million or smth...), but it does feel like a city anyway. I went around town a little yesterday with the other Aiesecers, so it was great to see a bit of the city already. My host family´s home is about 15 minute walk from the centre of the city, which is nice. It´s a lovely comfy house, the family is very nice, and they have a very friendly dog :) I´m trying to learn a bit of Portuguese as apart from Aninha, my Aiesec host sister, her family doesnt speak much English. Her dad knows some phrases, and is really trying to communicate with me, which is sweet. So after I´m done here, I´m gonna try to go learn a bit from my book I got from Simone :p But it´d be great to learn how to speak some Portuguese in any way, it may come in handy sometime, and as you may know, it´s a pretty language.

So these are my first impressions so far... the people are very friendly, and I quite like the city so far, it´s not very big and I dont think it´s touristy, but thats ok, as it will probably give me more opportunity to learn about Brazilian culture, esp since I heard this is a quite a typical Brazilian city. And it´s near (for Brazilian standards) to many nice places around this state, Minas Gerais, which I heard is very beautiful. One of the teachers at school told me today that she would love to travel around with me :) And her grandma has a house in Copacabana, hehe :) I think I´ll be able to find enough people to show me around here, which is great.

Well, that´s that for now... Thanks for your comments girls!
Let me know what you all are also up to, and I will try to keep you updated as much as I can!

Muitos beijos!!!

Intro to Mascha's Blog...

Dear Mascha (and future readers of Mascha's blog),

So Mascha, when you read this you'll be in Brazil!!!

Hope you will use this to let us know all the things that happen while you're there!

I told Mascha I'd make this blog site for her as a good bye present so she can use it to keep us up to date on everything that's happening there! A few hours ago I went to the airport to see her off together with her mother. I think Mascha was a bit nervous about the bus station in Rio since she had heard that it isn't all that safe... (thanks for that Gabi ;) haha, no it's good that she's aware of things like people who want to steel your bags!).

We said our goodbyes on this first sunny and warmish day of spring and she slowly disappeared into the abbiss of the inner airport with her 9 kg hand luggage...

Off to catch a flight to Paris, then to Rio where she takes the bus at the dreaded bus station and gets off again in Juiz de Fora, where her host family will be meeting her.

I'm sure that when she reads this she'll still have all her things and have settled into her new home a bit already.

Mascha, I wish you the best of luck, and hope you will make some wonderful friends, learn a lot about the language and culture of that special country you're in and have a BLAST!

Enjoy it before it's too late and you're back in this grey, flat country!

-xxx- Bryley



p.s. all future posts will be done by Mascha herself...