Me again. This isn't the promised Kosovo blog, or pictures from Bosnia or Kosovo, since I am without my laptop, but instead I hope I can share some interesting stories from Brazil, or at least let my parents know I am still alive...
I am currently in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, with something around 20 million people inhabiting the greater area. The sheer scale is something I've never contemplated before, and after five days I am still no closer to understanding what this much urban-ness means. A lot of people and a lot of concrete...
I am staying with my good friend Joao, who is my co-year at UWCAd. With us are Gabriel, my british 'secondo' (who is also incidentally the only person I have ever met who I am aware of having elevenses and afternoon tea as a daily fixture) and Davide, another Italian co-year, both also from UWCAd. We have all arrived early to Brazil, as the main reason for us coming is that along with a number of other students from the college, we will be spending three weeks volunteering with a number of organisations in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. For the first week and a half we will be working with a children's centre in a favela in Sao Paulo, as well as with a homeless charity called 'Minha rua minha casa' ('My street, my home'), and then in Rio de Janeiro we will be primarily visiting and helping at a children's home, which will be especially interesting as this organisation receives very little volunteer support, compared to some of the more commerical 'voluntourism' outfits there are around.
That starts on monday and I shall report in due course. Before that, though, I have had the chance to relax in a very nice house, with great hospitality provided by the Baltazar family. As well as a couple of late nights spent playing on the Wii, we have been able to sample a cultured, vibrant city. On Wednesday we visited a sprawling park set amidst a vast backdrop of skyscrapers, and enjoyed the winter sun with Joao and some of his friends, followed by a 5pm lunch at a shopping mall. It was a nice opportunity to speak to other young people our age, and as usual I am humbled by how well so many people speak English, and how much of an effort they make to accomodate us. I am actually picking up quite a bit of Portuguese (although the Brazilian 'dialect' varies from Portuguese Portuguese much more than American English differs from British English) but it just reminds me not only of how embarassingly ignorant, but also how poor our education system is that it does not push us to learn any languages. In my opinion it would be quite possible for children as soon as they start school to learn at least one extra language, eventually gaining knowledge of even three or four over their school career. Ultimately it is us who will lose out, as on a global scale how can we expect our graduates to compete with so many other, more talented people...? Anyway, rant over.
Yesterday (thursday) was another lovely afternoon. We also experienced the buses for the first time, as previously Joao's parents had given us lifts everywhere. After meeting two of Joao's friends, Carol and Mariza, we were treated to what I can only describe in cliche' fashion as a 'rollercoaster ride', so much did the twisting and potholed roads rattle our bones. But it was very fun, nonetheless. We went to one of the kind of centres of the city, Avenue Paulista, which is certainly an urban hub of activity. Here we went to one of the events of an ongoing international animated short film festival ('Anima Mundi') and watched a series of short films hailing from as close as Rio de Janeiro and as far as Poland and Egypt. After this we went to enjoy some cafe culture for a short while, which ended up being about 4 hours, as we enjoyed basking in the hustle and bustle, watching the street sellers going about their business, the police duely taking their bribe from the brothel owner and the odd busker passing our way. We sampled the local 'Caipirinha' as well as the familiar greasy chips. Leo, another friend of Joao, joined us and added some appropriate Latin American communist spirit to the conversation.
Today (friday) was another lazy day, with us only getting out of the house by 4 (following a swim and a sunbathe), and instead of Joao, who had to work on the dreaded 'Extended Essay' for the IB, we were babysat by Carol and Mariza, who we had met the previous day. We went to another 'centre' of Sao Paulo, although this time a more modern one, again by shaky bus, to the Latin America 'Memorial', a collection of museums, offices, libraries and performance spaces dedicated to the history of Latin America. We were again here for the animated short film festival, and were treated to some gems from Quebec, Denmark and Iran, among others. Sadly, the problem with getting your arse into gear so late does mean that you tend to get less done, and this way of being was upheld by us having to leave as we were having a big dinner back at the house, a bit like Sunday lunch... but at dinnertime and with no meat (since Joao's family is also vegetarian).
So far I have seen very little of the city, and I think that when we start our work we will see yet another side, but I can definitely say that Sao Paulo has a lot, almost too much in fact, to offer.
Just a few interesting things:
-Billboard advertising is illegal within the city boundary. A highly civilised idea.
-Police cars have red lights instead of blue. I actually think blue lights make more sense. Especially in Sao Paulo at night you can see a hell of a lot of rear-break lights...
-Brazilian law dictates that all passengers flying to and from Brazil are legally permitted 32kg of luggage at no extra charge. Another highly intelligent law.
Oh yeah and so far I have not taken any photos, as I have not taken my camera out due to fear of pickpockets. Actually I get the impression that as long as you are not hanging your camera from a nice thin strap out of your vision on the outside of your rucksack, like any good 'gringo' should, there is not too much of a problem with theft. But we shall see... When or if I do take any photos, I shall dutifully upload them.
