Rio Haikus

I wrote some haikus about Rio...

1
At Posto Nove
Sipping my caipirinha
Drunky before noon


2
Hiding my iPod
Trying to look Brazilian
Eyes behind my head

3
Que loucura*
Under the arcs of Lapa
Kissing cute strangers

*- loucura- craziness

4
Waking up at night
From the sounds of fired guns
More forgotten deaths

5
Rob me in the street
If you'll be able to eat
My money is yours

6
Jesus hovers there
On top of Corcovado
Watching every move

7
Beautiful people
Ridiculous beach bodies
Every shade of brown

8
Going home so soon
Back to that place I knew once
Only physically

a couple of first times

This week I knocked two things off the list that I made for things that I have to do in Brazil before I leave-- going to Maracanã and taking the chá from a Santo Daime church.

The Maracana game was actually really cool and exciting... I'll post pictures soon, but there was just so much energy and people screaming. The game was Brazil versus Colombia-- it was one of those qualifying games for the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. Sarah and Eve and I got to the game a little early thinking that we wouldnt be able to get in otherwise, but it ended up being super early. In spite of this, there was still hundreds-- no, thousands-- of people outside of the stadium, drinking, smoking, fighting, everything you could imagine at a really crazy sporting event. They sold a lot of cachorro quente, hot dogs with all kinds of things on them (peas, eggs, beats... etc). Inside Maracanã, the cachorros weren't quente, they had been made hours before.c The guys who came around to sell food sold Biscoito Globos, these really popular Brazilian snacks made out of flour water and either a little sugar or salt. They also sold popcorn, ice pops, and beer. 

Everyone had Brazil shirts on and was screaming hilariously vulgar palavrões to Colombia. There was a song that they were singing that said "Voce vai tomar no cu" over and over again. Ten bucks for an American who can find out the meaning of that. hhah. It was just hilarious. They gave out these little plastic Brazil flags for everyone so the crowd was just a bunch of green wavey things. Rlet ight before the game started they out a bunch of balloons all by the goal posts. The crown really liked that.

There were no goals that game (what luck!) but it was definitely an awesome Brazilian experience. We went home on the bus with a bunch of crazy futebol fans...

Beijos--

Anthony

a consideration

Like the United States, Brasil has a really mixed population, with people with many different skin colors, hair types, etc. There's a sizeable Japanese-Brazilian population, so people with Asian roots can be "Brazilian", and same thing with people with blonde hair and blue eyes because of the sizeable German immigration that took place in this country for many years. The key to spotting a gringo, however, has to do to an extent (of course!) with your God-given physical characteristics, but a lot of it has to do with how you dress and how you carry yourself. For this reason, I'm considering changing my style of dress to be able to fit in more here. Of course I'm not gonna go crazy and throw away all my skinny jeans and cute t-shirts, but I've decided to take to wearing looser jeans and plainer (BOOOOOOO!!!) t-shirts.

So, what prompted this consideration? Last week Sarah got us all tickets to see these three Brazilian reggae/rap bands Natiruts, O Rappa, and Marcelo D2 in concert. So, logically, we met up in my house to have a few drinks before the show. While everyone was waiting, I ran into the shower, got clean, ran to my closet to pick out clothes that I thought would be appropriate for a reggae show in the States. I picked out this really cool green and red cottony linen shirt with wooden buttons that I bought in Africa, a brown bead necklace, and black jeans. I'm chillin', thinking everyone is gonna be dressed like me, or similarly. No.

I get to the show to find out that the crowd is dressed in the same homogenous fashion as the rest of carioca society-- t-shirts with outdated American logos, ill fitting jeans, havaianas, bermudas (board shorts), etc... And all around me I hear "gringo" every ten steps I make. "Olha esse gringo" and "Gringo aiiii"-- just a lot of people pointing out the fact that I'm a gringo and that I'm not from here.

My point here isn't that I'm ashamed of being a gringo, it's a reality that I have to face. My point is that dressing here how I would like to dress makes me more of an outsider than I already am because of my nationality. And although doing this goes against everything we learn in my country, regarding individuality and self-expression, I feel it would be in my best interest for the remainder of my time here to just try to fit in more.

The thing is that being a gringo here just doesn't mean that you're a foreigner. It means that Brazilians think you're rich and stupid. If you can speak Portuguese, you're OK, but if not, it could be really easy to get taken advantage of. A beer for a Brazilian may cost R$2, but for a gringo who doesn't speak Portuguese, it can be double that. Being a gringo here is pretty much a liability, and that's why I've made this consideration.

Check out the photos from when my Mommy was hereee!!


photos

Beijosss--
Anthony

new home, new life

I've started what I've considered to be the second phase of my Brazil experience. I've moved out of the old lady's apartment in Leblon into an apartment in Ipanema with a Brazilian lesbian and another New Yorker that I adore named Eve. My neighbors are three other Brazilian girls that are awesome also. It's actually a funny story about how I came to find this new place; I was out at Lapa one night, a drunken mess, and I met this really cute, funny Brazilian girl who was trying to speak English with me. So naturally, we got to talking, and I told her that I was looking for a new place to live because living with the Senhora wasn't cutting it for me anymore and it was kind of expensive. She told me that she had a friend who was looking for roommates in the same building that she lived in and that I should go check it out. I went to check it out and when I did, I decided that this would be a good move to make. And since I liked Anna Maria (the girl from Lapa) and her roommates, and I would be paying substantially less than I was before, it would be well worth it to make the move, especially to such a famous street-- Farme de Amoeido (also known as the "Gay Street" of Rio Janeiro). So I did. And it's funny that it's called the Gay Street because the other day when I was leaving the beach and walking down Farme I ran into Carson Kressley, the guy who was made famous on that Bravo TV show, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. A little starstruck, I walked by him and screamed, "I love you Carson!"and he responded, smiling, "Thank you!"... hahahahah, funny, right?

The gays aren't the only things that are making my street fruity though. (hahahahaha did you like my pun??) We have on the corner of Farme de Amoeido and Visconde de Pirajá a Beach Sucos, which sells these little snacks called salgados (explained in another entry) but also juices of every type, made from fruits that they don't have anywhere else in the world except for Brazil. I've made it my business to try a different fruit every time I go by there. This here is a seriguela, one of my favorite Brazilian fruits. It's kind of sweet and tangy. Definitely has a little kick to it. Another one that I tried that I didn't like too much, called cupuaçu, was kind of strange because it really wasn't sweet at all, just really sour. I had to add sugar to it, and after I did that it was fairly more tolerable.

These two aren't so common even here, but they definitely have some common fruits here that we don't have in the States such as goiaba and maracujá (my favorite fruit everrrrr!!!, seen below). Oh my God, and the tangerinas here are so delicious. They're just so sweet and juicy and amazing.

Que gostoso!!

Beijos--

Anthony

fuck you globalization.

Being an American abroad in a place that has a high salinity of globalization kind of sucks sometimes. We travel the world to see new lands, experience new cultures, speak new languages, hear new musics, etc. and what happens? We end up being exposed to ridiculous amounts of American culture-- music, stores, language, food, television. And the worst part is, the Brazilians don't seem to mind at all.

If you turn on the TV, no matter what time of day, you're bound to find at very least one American television show that's dubbed. Subtitles are used, but are less common. Here they love "As Visões da Raven", or "That's So Raven", dubbed Bugs Bunny cartoons and the like, among others. They also have MTV here, which I find myself watching, and it's similar to the States because they dont't play very much music. I find the MTV here to be more activist/politically focused than the one we have in the States. They also have "Mix TV" in which music videos are played all day long. Maybe one in fifteen videos are Brasilian videos. The rest are American, usually with one or two European artists thrown in randomly.

In order to hear Brazilian music at most clubs here, you have to go on a specific day of the week. If not, you'll be doomed to old American pop or House, which I can deal with, but certainly not for hours on end. It's a shame too, because I really love Brazilian music. MPB (música popular brasileira), samba, funk... all this stuff is amazing. That's why I'm here! It just sucks that I actually have to seek it out.

Want McDonald's? They have that too. And they just opened a Burger King. The kids love "Mackie Donalds".. haha that's how they pronounce it. In the States, I'd say more people hate McDonald's than love it by far. And I don't hate McDonald's here for the sheer fact that it's American. I just hate it because it's the worst part of American culture. It represents everything that's wrong with America. The gluttony. Hyper-consumerism. It's a big corporation that pays its workers nothing, but has a bullshit philanthropy to try to promote a positive image. If they really gave a shit about humanity, why not sell healthy food and pay your workers the right amount? I've refused to step into a McDonald's since I've been here (oh wait, I met a Brasilian friend in one ONCE but didn't buy anything) so I don't know how much things cost, but from what I hear, Big Macs are like R$8 or 9 (like US$5). Um. Gross. And people here are buying it. And "loving it." Oh, and get this! I was walking by a McDonald's and in big letters I see "30 de agosto-- Dia de Comer Big Mac! ( August 30-- Big Mac Eating Day)" and then in tiny, tiny letters, "Day to help kids with cancer"... so small that I could barely even see it. If the cancer was what they were really trying to prevent, wouldn't that be the main part of the ad?

The readings in one of my classes are exclusively in English. Yeah of course, it makes my life easier, but the Brazilian students who can't read English very well are basically fucked. In order to succeed in their class in their very own country that's verbally taught in their own language, they have to speak English. For someone who's trying to learn Portuguese, the language of a different culture, it hinders my opportunity to learn the new language.

The strength of American culture for me, a curious American, is a problem, but for the Brazilians I've spoken with, young and old, is not a problem at all. They like that they can listen to Usher, eat Big Macs, while watching That's So Raven, and reading the texts for their classes in English. Go figure.

Anthony

update o rama

Life in Rio is going to be expected, I guess. Nothing too amazing going on in life right now to be quite honest with you. I'm still really familiarizing myself with this city and the people in it. Trying to understand this culture more and more every day. It's funny how learning a language works. Some days I think I've learned so much up to this point, and then other days I feel like I know absolutely nothing and I should know a lot more for the time I've spent here already. The situation is this. I have a lot of friends that are non-Brazilian, and if they're not Brazilian, chances are they speak English, and for this reason, I haven't been speaking enough Portuguese. But honestly, it's not easy. Imagine sitting in class all day-- 5 hours a day or more-- listening to lectures in a language you really only started learned 6 weeks ago? It takes such a toll on my mind at the end of the day I can't speak any language... instead I just smile and nod. OK, I'm being a little dramatic, but it really is super difficult. Honestly though, the Portuguese I know so far has been pretty rewarding.

The Brazilian people I've met here, the friends I've made, seem to be amazingly loyal, fun people. They're constantly calling me and texting me and messaging me letting me know about plans that they've made or plans they want to make and I absolutely love it. Of course I have conversations with them and we laugh and do stuff, but I want to be able to communicate with them even more. That's why I really am trying to spend some time each day learning vocabulary and asking questions and just putting myself out there.

In other news, I'm starting to plan some trips throughout Brazil for the next few months I'm here.Definitely want to go to the South of Brazil (Florionapolis, Blumenau, and Porto Alegre) and Sao Paulo, and the Northeast.

Classes are in full swing. Hoorah. Not.

Love-
Anthony

classes commence

As exciting as classes should be in a new country-- they're not. I like my classes, don't get me wrong, but having to spend time in a classroom when the sun is shining and the beaches are so close to school is just a tease. Miami-itis, anyone? Anyways, I'm taking Antropologia da Arte, Intro a Economia, Educacao e Sociedade, Portugues IV, Musculacao (gym), and maybe a couple of others that I haven't decided on yet. I was thinking of also taking a new language, like French or Hebrew, but we'll see about that. I also want to join some clubs to do some volunteer work so I'm going to look into that as soon as possible.

Classes are pretty much the same here as they are in the states-- except all of mine are in Portuguese. I had the option to take some in English but I honestly didn't see the point. When the time comes to start handing papers in that's going to be fun.

Something different here that I like is that students don't spend hundreds of dollars on textbooks. They have these little kiosks that make copies of the readings we have to do and we just pay something like R$.10 per page. It's pretty amazing.

In other news life is fine...

Tudo joia,
Anthony