May 26 2009

Hey guys/gals, sorry I haven’t been able to keep up with being able to write everyday, its been crazy… okay where did I leave off. Yea, so much for taking it easy, I was bored to death last night so I decided to go for a walk along the street upon which I live ( rua de sete de setebre) at the end of the block there is a nice little quaint bar. I ordered a beer and went to the patio, where I overheard the sweet sound of ingles! I sat next to the table of the three girls speaking in my native tongue, and thought for a while of a non-threatening way of approaching them. It ended up coming out as “Sup… yall speak English?”, the shocked look on their faces said the same to me. I sat down to have a conversation with the three charming gals, and learned that they had been looking at me for a while trying to discern weather or not I was Brazilian. We chatted for a while, in doing so, I found out that the Pelourinho (which means ‘stone column’) district, while quite dangerous at night, is the place to be on Tuesdays. After about an hour, I decided to go home leaving them an e-mail address (which they have yet to use) to send me useful information about the “to do’s” while in Bahia, went home and passed out.
I woke up and took a (warm) shower, and headed to class. After class, the entire group boarded a bus to take yet another city tour. I don’t really understand the purpose of taking a city tour of the same area twice (but what do I know). I made lemonade from lemons taking some pretty cool pictures, while exploring the historical artifacts of the Pelourinho, which I learned is symbolic for authority and justice. We spent the first half of the tour exploring the Condemple and the Orixas. According to our guide, Fred, orixas are everywhere and we each all have an orixas or spirit. One orixas which I found quite interesting is Exu, the orixas of the earth, he often is symbolized as a devil looking figure or a penis. We also learned that while Condemple is practiced by some whites, we see it most prevalent in the Favelas. The second half of the ‘tour’ we visited more churches one word… boring. I’m sorry, I admit I’m not that religious and every time I enter a church and see all the propaganda materialized in gilded ceilings walls shrines etc… it just makes me sad. I don’t mean to offend anyone, this is just my point of view and I have to call it like I see it.
(On a much lighter note) The sun was beginning to set and we were already in the area the girls (I’d met the previous night) suggested, and so with a group of about 8, we ate at this restaurant and drank caporinnas. Over dinner, a select group of us discussed relationships and things of that nature. It’s interesting to hear the views and opinions of others ideas/ideals of how a relationship should work. Which got my mind thinking about ‘home’, in perspective of me leaving for a month and the possibility of changes(for the better or worse) that could take place during that time. I don’t have any crazy conclusions, just a subconscious unexplored thought.
We’d heard of a musician by the name of Geranamo hosting a free concert. We got there a little late and ran into more people from the ACBEU group some from California. The KU/Texas/Illinois group began to slowly disappear, due to the extremely high amount of chronic being publicly smoked by the natives. With just two of us remaining, we followed the California ACBEU group to the Salsa Bar for a short period of time before heading home. After being paranoid from the robbery stories from the California students (and a possible contact high), we thought of it a wise idea to walk ‘the girl’ home first. On the way home Katie pointed out a dead monkey in the street which freaked me out even more on my walk home alone. I made it home tucked myself in and fell asleep…. Ahhhhh, what Another eventful day in Brazil.

In closing, I learned social situations can be awkward and often time one may feel 'alone' especially when studying abroad, I think it’s important to find someone who you can click with, whom you share a connection even at slight. I don’t have much luck today in that area, but hopefully with my recent purchase of my orixas voodoo doll, that will change soon!(j/k)
Until you visit again
Abrosso
-Davidgi

May 25 2009 -- ' a little brighter'

Okay, so I never made it to the play, sue me. I did however fall asleep pretty early, like around 9, and woke up to the rise of the sun around 5:00am. In doing so I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I figured now would be good time to figure this whole electric shower thing out, without too much shame or embarrassment. In my plea with the electric showerhead I was successful in convincing it to give me warm water. After my shower, I returned to bed to get a couple more hours of sleep, only to wake with 15 minutes to class. I tried to jet out of the house to avoid any first morning awkward conversations with my family, but to no avail. She stopped me right when I made it to the door, and insisted that I not leave the house without eating and drinking a cup of coffee. I told her I would be late, she didn’t seem to care, so what could I do? In retrospect I’m actually sort of glad she stopped me, in that after our conversation I left the table feeling a bit less confused and a bit more confident than in previous days.
On my way to class when I got off the elevator, I was blinded by the sunlight, “yes!” I thought to myself, this is my first day in Brazil where I haven’t gotten rained on while walking to school. I walked in a little late, basically wrote my name on the placement test and turned it in… 20 minutes later Clara walks in the patio, “David…. Go to room 9 with the beginners”… I thought to myself, “really.”
When I walked in the classroom I was greeted by our teacher. Sra. Cristiana , she is 30 something, very nice, very pretty. Our first assignment was to talk to someone we knew very little about, I ended it up paired with my savior from the other night at Boomerang. We talked and eventually discovered that we share the exact same birthdays and very similar taste in music. Next she threw a bunch of commonly used phrases on the board, most of which I was familiar with, and issued our books. After class I went home and ate beans, rice, and baked fish. It was heaven-sent, as usual. My host-irmai (sister) and I ate together, and over lunch we discussed Brazilian film. She suggested and lent me this DVD called ‘Ultima Parada 174’, I hope it has English sub-titles other wise I’ll have to lie to her when she asks me “So how did you like the movie?”


After lunch I went back to school for our Brazilian History class, where Willys gave us a brief yet concise history of Brazil. According to his lecture, the reason why Brazil is seemingly the manifestation of what one means when he says ‘melting pot’, is because the Portuguese were in fear of Brazil becoming ‘too black’ after the emancipation of the slaves. So they, like many other Latin American Countries, responded attempting to ‘whiten’ the population by offering incentives for Europeans to come and live. This brought us to a further more interesting topic of racism in Brazil, which I’d just thought the previous day to be inexistent, or at worse minimal in comparison with the US. However I was enlightened to find out that Brazilians are dealing with racism but in a more ‘camouflage’, subtle level. Which I cant even fathom, because my eyes can’t discern what’s black or what’s white. Our professors explained that, on a spectrum if you are light-brown or lighter you are considered white everyone else …. Black.
After class I walked, about a mile, down to the beach with a couple of my colegems ( friends from school) to watch the sunset. It was gorgeous but my camera died before I could snap any pictures. After that little journey I returned home and had some leftovers.
As for the rest of this evening I think I might do some homework and take it easy.

In closing So I think that I’m black, but I could be wrong… And overall, day by day things are seeming to be getting brighter, literally and figuratively.
Until you visit again…
Grande Brasso
-Davidgi

May 24 2009

Hello Everyone, it is my third day and yet it feels like my 3rd week… I didn’t believe culture shock would affect me… but needless to say, it has. My Portugese professor at K.U. , Paul Sneed, told me that sexuality is treated a little different, people lead more alternative lifestyles in Brazil. Last night was my time to see it first hand.
After dinner a group of us decided we should go celebrate a little bit. So we’d heard from a couple of natives that this bar called Boomerang was the place to be… So we hop in a cab and when we get there it seemed ‘legal’( portugese for cool or alright). We walked back to purchase a drink and boom in the middle of the dance floor, two guys were making out… I wrote it off as just a coincidence, until I turned around to find two girls in the middle of the dance floor also making out, that’s when it dawned on me, I’d entered my first gay bar.
We decided to stay because they had good music, and eventually found our way to the second floor where a live band was playing. We sat and watched the band play until some random creeper persisted to hit on me even after I told him that I had a girlfriend. I found the nearest girl from our group and tried to tell him “yo! She is right here…Katie is my girlfriend …. Sorry dude!”, it must have got lost in translation because he offered me cocaine… I replied “ no thanks I don’t do drugs!” he being persistant and ultra-creepy replies…. “YOU WILL!”
I’d had it, I decided to leave the upstairs room and go back to the dancing floor when I heard “ I kissed a girl and I liked it” ( I never found that song more appropriate) I toiled around aimlessly and decided it was time to go home.
When I finally made it home, I skyped ‘ the beux’ until the sunrise, and feel asleep about 6 am. I woke around 1 p.m. and my mother had steak, beans, and rice ready for me. It was delicious (as usual) I tried to converse with the family a little bit, and after lunch I went into Gustavo’s room where we listened to Eminem and he showed me pictures of all of his ex-girlfriends. We made plans to go to the shopping mall, to pick up some new shoes. I bailed on him becaue he feel asleep and decided to go on a walk to explore the area. I ended up running into a couple of the guys from the program where we decided to go for a walk along the coastline to burn some time. On the way home we stopped at the American Embassy also known as McDonalds =), where I had some highly desired greasy cheesy American Food. All the fruits and vegitables are organic here, which could probably explain why the're not faced with the problem of obesity, that seems to plauge America.
In closing, I feel like I cheated today at being Brazilian so to make up for it Im getting ready to shower and go to a play being hosted at my school ( where I'll probably leave frustrated becasue I understand nothing)
Until you visit again.
Boa noite
--Davidgi

May 23 2009

Hello world, today I woke up to the shining sun. 10 minutes later pouring rain. I was hoping to have a chance to walk around and explore my area, however the unpredicted storm has prevented that. Speaking of showers, I took the coldest shower ever!!!! In Brazil they have what you call electric showers (sounds pretty dangerous, right?) The water is supposed to be heated by a coil in the showerhead, so in order to take a warmer shower you must turn the water on low pressure to allow it to heat up. Long story short, I couldn’t figure it out. Soooooo… I took a cold shower. After which, I had breakfast with my host-mom she introduced me to her other nephew who is a member of the federal police (Given their reputation, I don’t really know how to feel about that) after I made him feel awkward with my elementary Portuguese skills I returned to my room where I got dressed.
In Brazil, for men the objective of fashion is to walk the fine line of practicality, which is, looking nice without attracting too much attention. It’s really hard to explain, but basically the more you can blend in, the better. Jeans and a plain t-shirt usually do the trick.
For lunch my host mother made delicious shrimp and cheese lasagna served on a bed of rice with cucumbers and tomatoes. Yumm!!! They are going to think I’m a fat ass, as every meal offered is consumed and there is little evidence on the plate. Over lunch I sat with the police officer and Gustavo (her other nephew) and we worked on some basic Portuguese I told them my major and what I want to do… they shared with me their aspirations (I don’t know how much of it I actually understood) but form the first impression the older guy (I cant remember his name) wants to become a lawyer and the younger one (age 18) is sort of into girls (cant say I blame him for that one).
Next I met the group of ACBEU students for our excursion, I didn’t know what to expect or how long it might be. We boarded a bus and it took us to several sites around the city to make us more familiar with the area. Casa De Yamanja was among the first. In Brazil the major religion is Catholic however some worship deities other than Christ. Yamanja is the spirit of the sea, and in her honor this house was built, and the only one who lives there is Yamanjas spirit.
After that, we visited the 17th century light house at Porto da Barra it was built by slaves and the view was amazing.
We drove to the ‘old’ city where we walked around the upper and lower parts to several market districts, where I ended up buying this painting that a native Brazilian did right in front of me in less than 3 minutes. It was amazing; however the paint did not dry as fast as promised.
We visited the first Catholic church built by the Portuguese over 400 years ago, that is still being preserved it is called Cruzeiro de Sao Francisco. The inside looks like freaking gold mine… I said to myself “oh fatjah gold everywhere!” I wasn’t supposed to take pictures, but I did any way.
After that I was saddened by an example of the extreme poverty facing Brazil, and the extent of inequality under which it functions amazes me. There were several little kids doing whatever they could to beg for money, some juggled, some made flowers out of tall grass, some just politely asked. I was thinking that these kids should be in school, but because of the situation here, they are forced to make a living.
Following these lines of inequality was even more blatant as we went to this famous buffet in Brazil and ate like Kings… I’m not joking… People literally came around to serve us hand and foot, any food our minds or hearts could desire.
In closing, I guess I really do have a lot to be thankful for. Family , Friends, and Food.
Imp getting ready to go dancing tonight with the group until you visit again…..
Grande Brasso
-Davidgi

1st couple of Days in Brazil

I guess I finally have somthing to write about now since I'm sort of done with school and actually have time to keep a blog. So I left the U.S. Wed. afternoon, very anticlimatic might I add, no tears from the GF just lots of hugs and kisses. I flew to Chicago for my first connectiona and as I was waiting I ran into Andy aka Andrew who is also a part of the ACBEU program in Salvador. He told me that he was participating in another program in Rio and he wouldn't be in Salvador for a couple of days. We sat next to eachother and started an interesting conversation about religon. I, just having rented Bill Maher's 'Religoulous' the previous weekend, was a little skeptical to say the least. Not because the content of the film made me take a new stance on religion but because it kind of reienforced what I allready thought ( tangent... sorry). So after that convo, I was feeling pretty tired, I soon fell asleep only to awake 2 hours outside of Sao Paulo. I listned to some Amy Winehouse and before you know it I was on the ground ready to start drinking.(jk) Inside the airport I gave 'the boo' a jingle but she didn't answer, because she thought I was a solicitor. Meanwhile my bag was going through customs without me. Apparently I was supposed to pick up my all of my luggage when I arrived, not just my carry on. So after struggling with that for a while I went to the Baggage Service where I was first introduced to the highly praised Brazillian Charm. The laddies whom helped me were among the nicest I've ever known. They helped locate my bag and board my next flight. "No falar portugues", I said as street vendors whom tried to sell me keychains passed by. Little did I know , money speaks all languages...while outside enjoying one of my ciggarettes I made my first purchase, a keychain for "1 us dollarz". I then figured it would be time to exchange my US bills for Rias... I gave Branco do Brasil US$187.00 and recieved 335 Rais ... not bad... I know :) (fast forward to 4:15 my flight to Salvador Bahia) "We will be landing in 5 minutes .... thank you for flying with TEM", The pilot exclaims. David wakes up to find that Salvador looks like its experienceing a hurricane.. "Wow" he says to himself... minutes later as the plane begins to decent the pilot decides that landing is not so good of an idea, he puts the pedal to the metal... Zooom back in the air.... The intercom comes back on " we will be making an emergecy landing sorry for the inconvienance". After sitting at random abandoned airforce base about 120 miles north of Bahia in the forest a truck with gas arrives to give us the fuel necessary to make it to Salvador. After refueling I said my prayer( look I know I contradicted myself about Religion..but... I dont need that now) and we were back in the air. We landed safetly the second time but the cab driver who was expecting me 4 hours earlier ( needless to say) wasn't there. I paid 80 Rias to go to the hotel were I was greeted by a couple of familiar faces. After Eating dinner in the hotel lobby I was peer pressured to going to a Bohemian Bar where they charged us way too much... oh well it was nice to the Brazilians Samba. After that I went home where my roomate Dan was asleep.. I crawled into bed and passed out.. The next morning I awoke to attend orentation.. useful information but a bit boring. At lunch I finally met my host mother... She is the sweetest little ol' Brazilian Lady. She doesn't speak ANY ENGLISH and I speak very little Portugues... So a bit awkward. She took me to her home and showed me my room. as well as her daughter ( who is currently in lawschool) her two nephews and her mother ( my host grandma. I finally got a chance to call home and talk to 'meu amor' y 'familia' which was nice. Next I went to Capoerea Practice, where we listned to this old man tell us the history and significance of capoerea , and then watched the pros do it whom then invited us to give it a shot... I absolutely loved it... I will be back as soon as I have more free time.. It was such a work out, and I felt like I was getting back to some of my 'Afrikan' roots. It was one of those experiences I hope to never forget. In closing... I think I got my first dose of culture shock , I plan on working on some grammer for the remainder of the evening..... until you visit agian Grade Brasso David ( pronounced Davidgi)