Happy 2012, Let´s jump through those waves!

Oiii there!

Last year for Christmas, my Brazilian sisters Mari and Cacau brought me a few Brazilian gibis - children's comics - as a gift, and I just fell in love with them (the gibis, I already love Mari and Cacau, of course). I was never someone who read a lot of comics, but I just loved those, like a child. And what a great way to learn and practice Portuguese! These are the Turma da Monica comics, or the Class of Monica (they're basically about a bunch of kids getting into trouble and playing all kinds of tricks on each other). My favourite character quickly became - and still is - Magali, a cute little girl in a yellow dress who has an unending (and rather voracious, actually) appetite. For my birthday in the summer, the girls sent me a few more copies of the newest gibis. Needless to say, I'm hoping for a new batch in the new year :)


What does this have to do with anything right now? Well, it's almost the end of the year and 2012 is approaching fast, people are making all kinds of plans for New Year's Eve... I remember that I learned from the Christmas edition of the gibis last year that in the coastal cities and towns of Brazil (and that's some 8000 km or something!), there is an NYE tradition of jumping through the first seven waves of the sea in the new year (I guess ideally at the countdown). This is then meant to bring good luck for the whole year. I remember seeing the photos of one of my Brazilian friends taken during the NYE in Rio last year... well, all I can say is, it sounds like a fun thing to do to welcome the new year! Something I'd definitely like to do sometime :D

Whatever your plans are for NYE and whatever your New Year's resolutions may be... Happy New Year! :)

Bejios e vamos pular gente!

'Let me take you to Rio, Rio...'

Hi all,

I remember that just before Christmas last year, I wrote some entries reflecting on my time in Brazil and how music and lyrics shaped my experience... all the cute little Brazilian songs I learned from my friends in Juiz de Fora (and other places) and sang them around :) A couple of days ago I heard a Brazilian sertanejo (a kind of folksy music genre) song on Dutch radio - and it has been played again since then. It went something like, 'Nossa, nossa, assim voce me mata' - 'Oh my god, oh my god, in this way you kill me', well this text is to be taken romantically, of course. I guess...

Last Christmas I had a couple of Brazilian guests in house, my dear host sisters from Juiz de Fora. And to think that a year has passed since they were here..! 2011 has flown by so fast.. and yet, on the other hand it seems a year ago was a long time ago, after all, much has happened since then. For me, and in the world. Rough year, right? But then there were also some great times, and some surprising news - what to make of the second large protest against the government in Moscow this past weekend! Now I'm interested what's going to happen next in Russia, ey! Perhaps some political changes are on their way...

I remember coming back from Brazil and feeling as if I was a different person from the one who left five months earlier. Now, once again, I feel like I'm a different person from the one I was a mere year ago (or a little different, in any case). Does this mean personal (and professional) development, or I am dreaming this up or something?

I read a couple of days ago that Brazil is now the 6th economy of the world, while China is the 2nd, with the US still at the top of the list. Honestly, didn't know this about China, though can't say I'm surprised. The way things are going though, it seems in a couple of years I better make sure to be there for the World Cup in Brazil! Well, a year and a bit ago I already had in mind to become something of a contested professional by the time the World Cup rolls in, as to be invited to be there for someone else's costs so I can partake in festivities as part of a super cool job. Hahaha... well I didn't see this tough economic year coming up, but I hope that the rough part is largely behind me now. And that I will be there in 2014 for the World Cup, that I know for sure! 'Let me take you to Rio, Rio...' Talk about music shaping one's life! This one's from the movie so adequately named 'Rio'... :)

In the past couple of months, Amsterdam held a Brazil-themed festival, with all kinds of performances and such taking place around town, most of which trying to go beyond the stereotypical idea held about Brazilian culture (i.e. samba, football, Carnaval). When we headed off to the annual Amsterdam Museum Night (a night when something like 45 museums in the city open their doors till early morning hours accompanied by DJ's and parties), we visited the architecture museum which had a special workshop by a Brazilian dance teacher. After finally having a caipirinha (with forest fruit.... mmm) placed into my hands by the barman, I went to join the little circle formed around the lady teaching the basic steps to... forró! haha :) A traditional Brazilian dance in two's; when I hear the beat and the rhythm, I often have to remember the first time I learned the basic moves in our tiny apartment in Shanghai... to the sound of sertanejo, I believe. Yep, the same genre that I recently heard on Dutch radio... what goes around comes around!

Yesterday, I went to see the musical Zorro in a large theater in The Hague. It's been going on for almost a year and finally I got to booking the tickets. It's so interesting because - as far as I am aware - Zorro was not a musical before this, but was made into one, and it's full of music and dancing next to all the swashbuckling. I grew up watching Zorro (various versions of it, old and new) and I read Isabel Allende's book (of course), but I never imagined I'd see it with that much singing and dancing, too :) Sometimes it even felt like a flamenco show; it's too bad we haven't got snow this Christmas, it would be a great way to warm up your soul (and feet, for the dancers)... well, it does anyway. I think Zorro is one of those stories of which not many people know anymore what exactly the original tale was, but with a bit of creativity you can get the adventure going time after time in various versions. Without getting too philosophical, it's a bit like life, full of adventures and some moments of deja vu, but I guess things never quite repeat themselves, but take their own spin. I guess we can learn from Zorro... how many swashbuckling adventures must he have been on in all his many lives? :)

Well, I think I will leave it there for now and pick up asap... this was probably already random enough!

Thanks for reading!

The time is now

Hey there,

Today, the Dutch evening news began with the coverage of the political protests in Russia. Thousands of people across the country have come out in the December Russian cold to protest against the government and demand fair - and honest - elections. Young, well earning, iPad holding people - this last bit according to the NY Times report. It's one of those somewhat rare moments actually when I can feel a glimmer of hope for Russia's future, and indeed, a bit of pride. Is change actually coming? Being such an unusually large protest in Russia, it's all over the international news - and to me, it also seems like one of those few times when the news actually gives a rather positive view of the Russian people (if not politics, of course, but that's the point).

It's funny because I haven't visited my own home country for over three years, and sometimes feel as if I am a bit out of the 'loop', if you can call it that. In fact, I have seen much more of the world outside of Russia than within it (ok - Russia is huge though). Sometimes it almost feels like, well, who am I to talk about change and society in Russia. But what the heck, of course I am and I can, haha! And right now, there lies a book on my shelve written about Russia by a UK journalist traveling through the country. It's time to take a look at what he has to say - it's ironic isn't it how you sometimes use the work of outsiders to help you to stay in touch with your home country, when it is no longer your home base. So many books have been written in the world about everything, and many of them very subjective of course, so it can be hard to keep an objective view yourself. However, I can appreciate that someone writing the book has traveled the country through and through - more than I have, in this case! - if I am to spend my time reading and learning from it. What the book brings and if I actually agree, remains to be seen.

I have just finished reading an anthropological study about the life of women living in a favela in Rio de Janeiro. It was published almost ten years ago as Lula was entering into his presidency - and thus much has changed since then, but it is still a valuable insight into the Brazilian social structure, and gender and race relations. The ironic thing here is that it is a book I once (partially) read for my anthropology class back when I was 18 - but it didn't mean so much to me then... if someone had told me back then that in a few years I'd be re-reading the book after having lived in Brazil for five months myself, I'd have thought, what?

Well, that's how it goes. This has been mostly my blog about Brazil - with a few random entries in between. It's crazy, more than a year after coming back I am still writing about it, and there are still a few things I want to add about my trip in a couple more posts - just bear with me. But I have also tried to include references where possible to the current things happening that might be relevant as well... I enjoy writing my blog and about my experiences, even if someone might wave their hand and think or say, why read this if it all took place 'so long' ago already... well, I can only hope that my readers have enjoyed the insights and experiences I have shared. Time has passed, but memories remain seared into my mind. Where a writer such as Gabriel Garcia Marques - whose 'Love in the time of cholera' I am also reading at the moment - is able to describe places and events in uncomparable and colourful fashion, I hope I have been able to provide just a little taste (at least) of the explosion of events and impressions that Brazil has been (and admittedly, has stayed) for me.

But, it's almost time - as the year 2011 is coming to its end, some new ideas and thoughts have been buzzing in my mind lately, so it is soon time for a new start. Yes, new year, new opportunities to seize, new action to take. I'll be putting what I've learned and what I'm learning - not little of it as a result of struggling against the tough economic market at the moment - into new and positive stories and reflections, as I believe there might be just the market out there for it.

Now, on with it! :) I will be writing more about Brazil soon, and also more about... well, many other things, too.

Thanks for reading!