Rio Gringa

Museum of the Indian

Today we visited the Museum of the Indian, one of the most beautiful and modern museums I've seen in Rio. There were two exhibits housed in a mansion from the 1880s, just blocks from our apartment (maybe 8ish). There was also a cool gift shop with crafts made by Indians from all over Brazil (I bought this hollowed out coconut purse thing for our living room fr R$4). The outdoor exhibit featured a model of an Amazon indigenous home and of a ritual site. And on Sundays, admission is free!

So, the first exhibit was called "Tradition and New Technologies of Memory," about the Kuikuro Indians of the southern Amazon. There were 11 videos and 100 gorgeous photographs, focusing on traditions, how they live, and a really interesting part about learning the indigenous language and preserving language and tradition. This tribe has books made in its own language to teach kids the language, and they also learn Portuguese. We were told we could use our camera so we did! You can see all the photos in my new album on the main page, and later I'll put a video of a video of one of the traditional dances.

The second exhibit was called "The Presence of the Invisible: The Everyday life and Rituals of the Indigenous Tribes of Oiapoque." It featured hundreds of artifacts from indigenous communities in the state of Amapa, the northern state of Brazil that borders French Guyana. I used to think the Indians only lived in the Amazon, but I thought wrong! There are thousands of indigenous people living in Amapa, with different traditions and customs than that of the Amazon Indians. They had a great diorama of a festival ground that you could walk in, with a sky of stars that changed colors. They had videos, photographs, and all sorts of artifacts like jewelry, bowls, sculptures, and common objects. The videos showed them preparing for festivals and making mandioca flour is enormous enormous vats. That exhibit also had free brochures, beautiful photograph guides with textured photographs and pictures (The museum gets funding from several government agencies and is a part of FUNAI, the government agency responsible for the protection of the Brazilian indigenous people, so lots of money goes into this museum). Unfortunately, all of the signage is only in Portuguese so international visitors will need a guide.

According to the Museum website, there are about 315,000 indigenous people living in Brazil, making up 206 ethnic groups spread out in 562 indigenous territories. The largest ethnic groups are the Guarani, Ticuna, Kaingang, Macuxi, Guajara, and Yanomami. While many practice indigenous spiritist religions, some are Catholic too.

Ok kids I am EXHAUSTED so check out the pictures and more of the Me Leva Brazil crazy stories this week!

saturday at the pagode party

So on Saturday, in the late afternoon, we headed over to Fabio's house to go with him and his girlfriend and his cousin to the pagode party nearby. We sat and chatted with them and his mom and they finally got ready and we left.

We went to a small club in Bangu, a nearby suburb, where Fabio's younger brother, Flavio (yup) was playing with his pagode band. So it was Eliseu and his gringa girlfriend, Fabio and his gringa fiancee, and Fabio's slightly off cousin. It was a fair-sized place, partially outside, partially inside, with a bar and cafe with food. Bangu is mildly ghetto, near some favelas, but the people there were all mostly friends and family of the band or friends of the friends of the band. There were little kids, grandmas, moms, and mostly young people in their 20s. The band plays from 3-10pm on Saturdays, taking breaks when a DJ plays hip hop and funk. The band was absolutely amazing and it was an amazing night. Flavio plays the tiny little guitar used for pagode and samba. But he also plays the regular guitar, the drums, and pretty much everything else, and sings too. The band was great, though they had a "guest singer" who was kind of annoying. Everyone drank (I had an upset stomach) and we all danced and it was just an awesome night. A place way, way off the beaten track of Rio's music scene. At one point, Fabio got up and joined the band and turns out he is an awesome singer! The band, however, was not happy that Flavio's brother had decided to crash the party and play, but they were being dumb because he was great. I even got them to play the only pagode song I know "Deixa Acontecer" and I was really excited. We also met Flavio's girlfriend who is so cute and funny and I want us all to hang out! We went home at around 11 and slept over at Eli's parents again.

According to Wikipedia, pagode is a subgenre of samba. This band is made up of about 10 guys playing various guitars, drums, the tamborine, the tin cup thing used for percussion, and the banjo, sitting in a circle around a table. Since they are sitting in a circle, they call it a Roda de samba, a circle. Pagode sounds a lot like samba, but there are lots of slower, more lyrical songs, and some songs have more of a country-ish feel to them. But to make a long story short, it's a type of samba, which was born right here in Rio.

Today we left the burbs early and came back to Botafogo, where we went to see another movie from the film festival, this time a Mexican movie called "Deficit." It was a LOT of Mexican slang like pinche and guey and que pedo so it was good that there were English subtitles (and also, much better translated subtitles than in Brazilian movies). It was directed and starred Gael Garcia Bernal. It was a movie that took place almost entirely in a country mansion in the Mexican countryside, where Gael plays a rap-loving rich boy who throws a party with his hippy sister. Their parents went to Europe to sort out some "financial problems" leaving them with the several servants and workers at the ranch. It is a big party until the Brazilian friend of the hippy nearly sets the house on fire with a flaming ball that he was juggling, and then the sister takes a whole lot of E and passes out. The hot Argentine that Gael was hitting on starts to warm up to him just as Gael's girlfriend arrives. The movie ends completely ambiguously, so you have to decide what happened to everyone. My favorite scene by far was one when Gael is in the bathroom being and starts freestyling rapping in English. Too funny.

After that, we ate at our prato feito place, went to the Museum of the Indian, went food shopping and came back. In the course of the weekend, we saw a lot of crazy characters. Last night when we stopped at a gas station we saw an old fat guy with a mullet who had an English tee shirt that read: OLD GUYS RULE. We saw a toddler with a pacifier toddling with her babysitter with practically transparent skin and a huge, I mean huge, red curly afro. She looked like the baby version of little orphan Annie. Yesterday we were talking to one of Eli's neighbors from the Vila, a guy who served with the Brazilian UN troops in Haiti, a really nice guy who's ears were so big and stickyouty I think he might be able to fly. We saw a guy in a wheelchair today who couldn't seem to wheel himself anywhere, so Eliseu was nice enough to wheel him a few blocks to his house, which wasn't easy since Botafogo's sidewalks are not handicap friendly. The question is, how did the guy get all the way out there in the first place? Today we saw a homeless guy who's clothes were so destroyed that one of the pant legs was completely gone and half of his behind was sticking out, and he had to hold up his pants for them to somewhat stay in place. He walked in front of us for a while, and at one point a car full of kids went past him, and they all laughed at him. This is what is wrong with Brazil, in a nutshell.

In other news, in Argentina, a 24 year-old man married an 82 year old woman, and they are currently honeymooning in none other than Rio de Janeiro. Eli and I want to find them and see them for ourselves. Also, Brazil granted asylum to two Cuban athletes who defected here during the Pan Am games, a cyclist and a handball player, who are hoping for better opportunities abroad. But Brazil sent both of the boxers home in July who tried to defect, so I'm not really sure what the deal is here.

Stay tuned for a special entry on Brazilian Indians!

PS. In the line of thought on Dominican-Haitian relations, please read this NYT story from this weekend.

Me Leva Brasil, Chapter 1: The Price of the Key

So from now on I will share with all of you this amazing book about the strange and funny stories and characters that exist mostly in the parts of Brazil that most tourists, let alone Brazilians, never venture. Since this book is not yet in English you all will get to hear some of the stories!

A man named Ze from the northern province of Piaui left his home state to visit Rio for the first time when he was 50. Though it was a clash of cultures, Ze owns the largest private museum in Brazil, which has over 13,000 pieces, from articles from the times of slavery to random oddities, like a goat head with 4 horns and the pink strollers used by the famous twin midgets of Brazil. Nevertheless, Ze has never visited a museum before.

After 4 stopovers and nearly getting locked in the airplane bathroom, Ze arrives in Rio. He can´t figure out how to use the elevator since it has so many buttons, and he calls for help and a hotel guy comes to push the right floor for him. In his room, he nearly burns himself in the shower, which has 3 handles with hot water, which he has never experienced before. He wears jeans, a huge belt, and a cowboy hat to the beach, and all the vendors on the beach flock to him, thinking he is a rich Texan.

In the museum where he lives and works, he usually sleeps in a chair, which he gets to by pushing aside mountains of stuff. But when he comes home late from the club (yes, the club), he doesn´t want to wake his family, so he grabs hold of a meathook hanging from the ceiling and sleeps standing up. (You never let go in your sleep? the interviewer asks. Never, he says). In Rio, he has a huge bed, a great curiousity.

So, Ze goes to a club in Copacabana with some friends. There, he starts dirty dancing with a pretty black girl, but excuses himself when he sees his friends laughing at him. "That´s a transvestite!" they tell him. "What the hell is that?" he asks. They explain. He is horrified and makes to go over and beat up the lady/man. "In Piaui we only have gay guys!" he exclaims. After that, he finds another lady to dance with. This time, he is prepared. He goes up to her and grabs her crotch, to make sure there is no package. There isn´t, so he dances with her. After that, he asks her a question:

"How much for the key?" he asks. She is confused.

In his tiny town, the local whorehouse rented keys to the johns, so they paid for a key, picked a room, opened the door, and then took the prostitute over to a bed without a mattress, buffetted with banana leaves. In Rio, things don´t quite work like that.

Stay tuned for Chapter 2, "The Huge Ones," about a soccer team made up of guys who only like extremely fat women.

apparently, women´s shaving cream is a rarity in brazil

Hello kids. So between yesterday and today I have had some pretty terrible mood swings, much to Eli´s chagrin, but all in all it hasn´t been a bad weekend so far.

Yesterday, I did some errands, which included dropping some stuff off at a tailor, getting movie tickets for Sunday, and picking up some stuff at Pacheco, the South American CVS. However, one of the things I needed to get was shaving cream, and tried as I might to explain what it was, nobody knew what I was talking about, nor did they have any. At the fifth pharmacy I went to, they had men´s shaving cream, but no women´s. I may have to break down and buy men´s. Apparently, using depilatory creams and waxing are more the rule here (though I noticed a lot of poor/lower class women don´t shave at all). Anyway, after that Eli and I headed to Barra in the POURING rain (here, when it rains, it rains for about a week). There, Eli ran over to Downtown to pick up Thiago´s newly arrived, brand new Ipod, and I went to find the theater where we had tickets for yet another Rio Film Festival Movie.

This time, we saw a French movie, called "Haiti Querido," made with real people and based on true stories, with not astounding acting nor filmaking but a very interesting movie nonetheless. It told the story of a Haitian couple working in slave-like conditions in a batey (sugarcane plantation) in the Dominican Republic. The movie opens with the death of the couple´s infant, who died of hunger. The Dominican overseer refuses to let them bury the baby and makes them go to work. At one point, a Dominican overseer tries to rape the wife, and the husband beats him down. A Spanish doctor helps them escape from the batey and agrees to take them to the Haitian border, since the wife has decided she wants to go home. They cross the border, and once they do the husband gets shot by some Haitian soldiers who rob him, and the wife is left entirely alone in an unknown village, pregnant and penniless. There was a little text at the end but the morons failed to translate it so I´m not sure what the moral of the story was. In summary, though, it showed how much the Dominicans abuse the Haitians, paying them literally around $4-5 a month, refusing them basic rights or medical care, and subjecting them to unspeakably horrible living conditions (for students of public health, it is interesting to watch, as you can pick out one by one the health disasters going on). Not an award-winning movie, but really interesting and sad. Needless to say, it will never come out in the DR since almost all the Dominicans portrayed in the movie are portrayed as "abusadores." If you are interested in this, however, a documentary was released in New York this week called "The Price of Sugar" about a priest who went to the DR and tried to better conditions in the bateyes and point out human rights abuses in the DR.

After that, we went to a little Thai restaurant in the mall there, to matar saudades (kill my nostalgia) for some exotic food, and then we took two buses to Eli´s parents house (through Cidade de Deus, not the most relaxing trip, but ok). There we ate more food and passed out.

Today we had a big lunch and now supposedly we are going with Fabio and Natalie (the Brazilian/Russian couple) to a pagode party (pagode is a traditional, upbeat, party kind of music) this afternoon.  We spent the rest of the afternoon watching home videos, which were hilarious, of a very fat Thiago, a chubby Larisse as a baby, and a devious skinny little Eliseu as a kid. I love that kind of thing, to see what people were like when they were little and to see how they changed. Eliseu as an 8 year old is a lot more similar to his 25 year old self than his 18 year old self, when he wore gold chains and shaved his sideburns very very skinny, kind of like the Dominicans in my high school. Little Larisse was so freakin cute, with a head of very curly black hair, all her teeth, and a lot of words to babble. They also had a cute little white dog who liked to attack everybody. And Eli´s dad had all his hair in its original color. Oh how times change. Now I want to show Eli my embarrassing childhood videos, which are, I think, still in our basement closet, except for the ones destroyed in the hurricane in 2003.

international love and bush wants poor children dead

True to the holiday, there were poor kids all over the city yesterday with huge plastic bags filled with candy. It was a happy day for the kiddies.

Yesterday I had another class in Centro, after which I had to go to Barra and had a whopping R$2 in my wallet, so I had to run around trying to find a Global ATM (after about 6 Caixa ones and 2 other ones, I gave up and hiked over to HSBC). On my way, I saw a girl, probably around 7 years old, sitting in the plaza with a screaming infant in her lap, all alone. I know I see homeless people, and kids, all the time, and I usually just walk by because there's just so many. Imagine the number of SUVs you see on the road every day in New York or LA; that's how many homeless people you see in the streets of Rio. So when I came back from the ATM, I gave her R$10 and she said, "Obrigada, tia, muito obrigada," (Thank you miss, thanks a lot). It brought tears to my eyes, and it felt good to do, but it's so hard in this city with so many needy people. In the meantime, today, on his own accord, Eli gathered up some shirts that don't fit him anymore and gave them to some very grateful homeless guys on our street.

Anyway then I went to Barra where I only had to give one class and go home early (yipeee). When I got back, I met Eliseu at a little bar restaurant in Botafogo, where he was with his friend Fabio and Fabio's girlfriend. Fabio is one of Eli's good friends, who I met the couple of times I was traveling with Eli here before I moved here. He is one of the funniest and nicest people I've ever met, and he just got back from about 6 months of being abroad. His girlfriend, a lovely girl from Belarus is a professional synchronized swimmer. She was performing and living in China, so Fabio went there first to hang out for awhile, then they went to Belarus to meet her family, then they went to Turkey to work at a resort for awhile, then they went back to Belarus, then to Moscow, and then they came back to Brazil. It took them 2 and a half days to get back! They went from Belarus to Moscow to Paris to Rio. No longer shall I complain about a nine hour flight.

Anyway, so they just go there on Tuesday and they are staying at Fabio's parents for now, in Eli's parents' neighborhood. They are engaged! Natalie wants to try to teach synchronized swimming or actually try doing it here, and I'm not sure what Fabio's going to do. Natalie is super sweet and kind of still in that wide-eyed, what the hell am I doing thousands of miles from home look, but she also is a seasoned traveller so I'm sure she's going to be ok. I'm just happy to have a new gringa friend! The funny thing about this particular couple is that he speaks a little Russian, she speaks a little Portuguese, so their main mode of communication is English! Albeit...mostly broken, kind of confusing English. It's so cute. Thank god I speak Portuguese! Anyway they are two awesome people so I'm excited they're back!

In other news...

the Brazilian women's soccer team beat the US women's team, 4-0, putting Brazil into the finals for the Women's World Cup. Here is a video of Marta (the star of all women soccer stars) making the winning goal.

In other news, Bush is planning on rejecting a bill that calls for an expansion in children's health care, for kids who aren't poor enough for Medicare and aren't wealthy enough for regular health care. It also raises taxes on tobacco, which would increase funding for the plan. The bill proposes to insure about 10 million children, and to help provide coverage for the currently 9 million uninsured children. According to the White House Spokesperson, "The president will veto this bill because it directs scarce funding to higher incomes at the expense of poor families."  Full story here.

For the love of god people, please vote Democrat in 2008. Unless you like war, the government spying on you, and dead American children.

The Brazilian government isn't that much better, but the US government is undoubtedly one of the most evil organizations in the world, at least during this administration.

Sigh. Anyway, I have a bunch of errands to do today, and then we are going to another Rio Film Festival movie and then I don't know! It's going to be a rainy weekend so I sense a lot more movies and beer to come.

Day of Sao Cosme and Sao Damiao

Sorry I didn't write yesterday, I didn't get the chance.

Yesterday I had 2 classes from 8-10, then came home and fell asleep for awhile, and then ate lunch and did some to-dos. One of them was to call the University of Rio de Janeiro's language school, which offers Portuguese for Foreigners. Emphasizing my accent and speaking in broken Portuguese, I got through to the director of the program (Eliseu didn't have such luck when he called the day before). They guy told me in-very-slow-and-careful Portuguese that I have to send him a letter of request to be admitted into the program and to get a student visa. But they won't be able to sign me up and get me the paperwork until December. Also, the program goes from the beginning of March-July, and my current plane ticket is not on par with that. Hence, I am still kind of screwed.

Then I had class with my 9 year old. This brought a whole onset of confusion, since yesterday was SUPPOSED to be the day I got paid, which we had agreed. After several phone calls and conversations once I arrived, they wanted to know why they owed me almost R$500, which I explained several times (after sending various memos to the mom during the month). This was mostly done through the secretary, who finally put the mom on the phone who was like, "This is too much. Next month I only want you to give her 2 hours a week, not 3." Ok, fine. Cheapsake, whatever. Then at the end of the class the secretary came in and was like, why are you still here, I thought we agreed you'd only give an hour per day, after which I explained, it was still August, and the total they owed me included that hour and a half. So. dumb. Also, they refused to give me cash and so I had to give them the info for Eli's bank account. When there was still no sign of the deposit today, I called (the secretary) who informed me the mom had "until the 5th" to pay, because that's how it works here, since people get paid at the end of the month (not twice a month). I was like, ok, that's ok for this month, but perhaps she could put aside the money she owes me for October now to pay me on the agreed day, which is the last Wednesday of the month. No, she said, that would not be possible. I'm so, so sick of these people, but right now my other job prospects are not imminent so I'm going to give it another month and make sure I get paid for this month, and then, we'll see.

So I came home really irritated so I bought myself this chocolate pastry at my favorite coffee shop down our street that is called a petite gateau that is a little chocolate pastry filled with liquid chocolate. It helped a little. Then since we have almost no food left in the house and I fell asleep yesterday instead of going to the food store, we decided to go out to dinner. We went to Botofogo Shopping and I had this strange desire to eat fresh food; everything here is fried or boiled or sauteed or drenched in some sort of sauce. I got an overpriced ok salad and some mango sorbet, and I felt a little healthier. Then we decided to go see "Knocked Up" because Eli hasn't seen it and it's so so hilarious, but while we were waiting for it to start I wound up doing a little shopping (such is the danger of going to the mall), and bought some fun jewelery and a pair of really pretty flats that I'm hoping will keep my feet cool and comfy when it starts getting hot. In the jewelery store, a gayish guy working there plucked a piece of dust out of my hair, and I thought it was so funny because Americans so do not do that to strangers. Then we saw the movie and it was hilarious but not very well translated, but OK. Here are pictures of what I bought:

 

         

Today I had 3 classes and got official confirmation that I'm going to get paid to translate! My plastic surgery student needs her CV translated into English, and after scouring the translation sites I decided on a very fair price of R$60 for 3 pages plus total reformatting. I am going to print up business cards and try to see if I can get more of this kind of work, because I am getting way, way fed up with most of my students.

So, today is the Day of Sao Cosme and Sao Damiao, a set of twin saints who lived in Syria in the Fifth Century. It is a big religious holiday in Brazil (albeit, sadly, not a national holiday), principally amongst Catholics but also is celebrated as a Candomble festival. The two saints were doctors who refused payment, and today they are considered the protectors of children, orphanages, preschools, candy makers (yes, seriously), and protect against hernia and pestilence. In Candomble, the saints are called the "ibeijis" that will grant the wishes of children in exchange for an offering of sweets or candy. But this tradition has become widespread, so on September 27th children flock to the streets and to homes of neighbors where they are given bags filled with candy. My student told me it's kind of like Halloween in Brazil, except without costumes. The kids sometimes even get invitations to neighbors' homes in order to ask for candy there! Anyway today is a happy day for kids because Brazil-wide they are getting massive disgusting amounts of candy.

Incidently, today is also National Seniors Day, so in Rio they are offering medical and dental services, exercise, and workshops on the beach to seniors. At Botafogo Mall they are offering discounts for seniors, including on geriatric diapers.

I came home for lunch which is why I'm writing this now, and there have been a ridiculous amount of fireworks coming from the nearby favela and it's a little nerve-wracking. Usually they set them off when the cops are invading, but maybe it's for the holiday.

I have one more class and 2 private classes scheduled for today. We'll see if they all actually happen. If so, I won't get home until really late.

I'm getting really really sick of my current job situation and of cheapskate cariocas.

Send me emails and make me happy!

i love cancelled night classes

...especially at the last minute when I get paid for them. And then can come home and change into my PJs.

Today I taught three classes, had a long lunch, joyous. I found a huge stationary/art supply store in Centro that had tons of cool stuffs and I got some new palm-tree covered notebooks to use for classes. I really am a sucker for palm trees.

Anyway, some interesting things. Globo announced the winners of the "Seven Wonders of Rio," and here they are in order:

Sugarloaf Mountain
Ilha Grande
Botanical Gardens
Copacabana Beach
Imperial Museum of Petropolis
Municipal Theater
Flamengo Cliffs

I, lucky me, have been to all these places, and have posted pictures of most of them on my blog already! Here is a picture from Ilha Grande, where Eli and I went in January.

The runner-ups were:
Maracana Stadium (where we went to watch soccer)
the Lagoon (Lagoa)
Tijuca Forest
Buzios (beach town outside of Rio which I went to in January)
Paraty Historic Center (old charming city south of Rio where I visited in March)
Museum of Modern Art in Niteroi
National Park Serra dos Orgaos
Lapa Arches

I think the Pedra da Gavea should have been nominated because it is one of the funniest-shaped rock formation-mountains ever, but ok. Anyway there are a few places on the losers list I haven't been to so they need to go on my to-do list!

Another interesting thing. Today I was reading Veja Magazine, and there was an article called "Peace, Shade, and Fresh Water," about the Brazilian soldiers serving as UN Peacekeepers in Haiti. Here are the most important parts.

• there are currently 1200 Brazilian soldiers stationed in Haiti as UN peacekeepers
• According to the article, when they arrived in 2004, the capital was basically at war, and now it is calm and peaceful (this, however, is not entirely true, and the article makes it seem like the Brazilian troops have totally stabilized Haiti; though it is in slightly better shape, this is a bit optomistic)
• According to a UN study, 78% of Haitians approve of the Brazilian soldier presence in Haiti
• the Brazilian soldiers live in barracks much nicer than Brazilian ones, which include air conditioned dorms, personal fridges, work out rooms, internet access, and an entertainment room. In Haiti, also, this is a big deal
• The lowest ranking Brazilian soldier works 44 hours a week and earns R$618 a month in Brazil, whereas in Haiti they work over 60 hours a week and are paid in dollars, R$972/month for six months; captains are paid R$3600/month in Brazil and $3,250 in dollars in Haiti; you can understand why Brazilian soldiers are eager to go (many use the money to buy cars or houses when they go home)
• The Brazilian government has spent R$430 million on the mission in Haiti and will spend another R$134 million in 2008. The author points out that despite the great work they've done in Haiti, perhaps it would not be better for Brazil to spend money on its own poor and its own problem of violence; he asks, if the Brazilians can pacify Haiti, why can't they pacify Rio? However, the government is hesitant to conduct an operation in Rio or Sao P like they did in Haiti because it would inevitably "cause civilian casualties." But thousands of civilians in Rio have died this year in Rio alone due to violence in the favelas...
• The author ends saying: "Here, we still live in a Haiti, but Haiti has just gotten better."

 

I got a book about by a Brazilian soldier who did a tour of Haiti, so I will let you know what he says once I read it.

Ate logo!