chuva chuva e mais chuva...

So, it's been raining like crazy here. Just thought i should mention that.

Back to the blog, I just noticed, while looking at the pictures that i forgot to talk about Liberdade, which is a neighborhood in São Paulo which hosts a great number of oriental, mostly japanese, people. It is worth noting that the largest japanese population outside japan resides in Brazil, even though that might not be one's first guess. One more peculiarity of this interesting city full of contrasts and diversity.

Anyway, we took the metro to Liberdade and got there to walk around a place that we didn't know. It is a very nice area near the center of the city and it has lanters on the sides of the streets that make it look authentic. Also, on Sundays it has a street market (feira) which is very popular and has a lot of traditional brazilian, japanese and chinese products and food, as you can see in the picture below. We tried some of it and had lots of fun walking around the hot and steamy food stands.

Something funny happened while we were walking around the shops. We went into an aisle with a dead end so the entrance was the same as the exit. It was a little crowded and the people selling things were just standing in their mini-stores. So i decided not to go all the way to the end and stopped at one of the stores and stood there while waiting for the rest. Ten minutes after that, a gentleman and his girlfriend asked me for the price of a dress! hehe. I didn't want to be rude so i told them i could find out and asked the actual owner of the store. They saw me going to the lady owner and asking her so they realized i was nothing but one more tourist. We all laughed.

We walked around the shops on the area and the market. Afterwards, we were a little tired from walking so we decided to go to a place where we could sit, talk and be ok with speaking in english. We went into McDonald's got some fries, some guaranás and sat down in the good old family restaurant. It was actually enjoyable and fun.

last pic from this entry:
'reflection... '

p.s.> thanks for coming to the same program linha. haha

Joga bonito...

So i went to play futebol today. My first time in Brazil and with brazilians... LOVED IT!
i went with my host brother, Marcos (or Marquinhos) to this place called Playball something. It is a set of private futsal courts that people can rent. So from now on i will be playing there every Monday night from 10 - 12 pm. So, in case you need to find me on Monday nights, you know where i am...

In general, this is going to be a good place to learn a lot about the culture and more specifically the street soccer vocabulary. In case some people don't know, this proves to be very useful not only inside the courts. I have two specific ways to prove this. (1) I now know how to better defend myself in case of an insult dispute with other portuguese speakers; and (2) i know how to say 'calf' and 'ankle' in portuguese.

I should also mention that the group of people is slightly older than me. To put it this way, i am the youngest by about 4 or 5 years, and the majority might be around their high 2os or low 30s... but they could all be considered moderately good at playing the beautiful game. It's good to see and live soccer in a country where it's so important. Playing here also makes me miss playing with my friends in Guatemala and with the Scots (including Scott the scot). Also, I acquired many different nicknames that arised from nationality, looks, age, etc... some of which were 'gringo', 'filho' and 'guatemala'. I happen to like the last one.

p.s.> the schedule for these game-sessions shows how much the city doesn't sleep (even on mondays)... hopefully i won't have early classes on tuesday...

p.s.2> today's portuguese vocabulary lesson:
calf = batata da perna & ankle = tornozelo

Sambando... (wow!!!)

Finally i got to see what the whole fuzz about Samba was about... and it is indeed something worth experiencing. As most of you may know Carnaval occurs every year all over Brazil and it has different characteristics but it is always something to celebrate. Well, here in São Paulo, it works like this.

There are different schools that compete every year to be the best Samba School of that year's Carnaval so there is a parade in the Sambodromo and there are judges that look at the steps, the music, the different blocos (sections) of the school and evaluate them. At the end, the one with the highest points is the winner and in a city of 17+ million people, winning this is kind of a big deal...

Given that this is so important to them, they come up with new songs, new costumes, new steps every year. In order for people to learn these steps, songs, etc. the schools practice every week (normally on Sundays) and they play the same song over and over again. Lucky for us, we went to one of these schools, and not just any school but 'Mocidade Alegre' which was champion in 2007 and 2nd place in 2008.

We went there as a group in this bus and at first i didn't know what to expect. I didn't know how to Samba (and still don't) so i was wondering if it was actually going to be that good for people that didn't know a step of samba. We were given two 'spaces' on the top platforms and we had this great view of the whole room, the people playing the instruments, the stage and it was also fresher than the ground floor.

Anyways, we got there a little after 7 and we came back at 11 at night. they played music the whole night and it was the same song over and over and over and over again... i know it sounds tiring but it's actually not because one is learning the steps and the lyrics so it's actually very cool... we also tried on the fantasias (costumes) from the previous years. We did this while being very sweaty, after ±1 hour of dancing, but they seemed to be fine with it (which made me wonder how many other sweaty people wore them before us...) --> see pictures...

It's very hard to describe the experience but i hope the pictures help. If i were to attempt to sum it up i would probably use some of the following words:
energy, samba, people, sweat!!!, music, rhythm, fast, colors, more sweat, closeness, tight, quase-eternal, more sweat, brazilian, fun, refreshing, vibrant, hot (therefore sweaty), and a little more than that...

p.s.>
and now... enjoy me with a Fro! not something you'd see everyday, but thanks to photography and internet blogs, you can have as much of "RUDY's AFRO" as you wish!

Maracatu (catu catu catu)...

Today we went to a school where we listened and played and danced in a group of people that perform MARACATU. It was one of the best days here so far. I liked it so much that i want to keep coming there every week (and probably will).

But let's begin with the beginning and then we'll continue with the middle and end at the end...

Maracatú is a type of Brasilian music which was originated in the state of Pernambuco and it has afro-brazilian origins. The music has a strong percussion beat. It uses big drums called alfaias and other percussion instruments. There are also dancers sometimes in costumes involved in maracatu. It was originally played for the coronation of the king and queen of the Naçao Negra. Pernambuco is on the Northeast part of Brazil and is also the state where the stadium 'Rei Pelé' is located (for those soccer fans).

The event that we went to as a group (the group from the program) was a session where a bunch of people plays maracatu and it is sort of a jam session. Their name is Bloco de Pedra and they have a project called 'Projeto: Calo na Mão' (Blister of the hand/Callo de la mano - literally translated) that tries to include more people in Maracatu for free. You can join them as it goes and anyone can learn how to play. Since i always wanted to learn how to play an instrument this was really cool to go to. People were very friendly and open to the people that didn't know how to play. they would teach you and show you how it was done. Almost all instruments are available for everyone and anyone can just go and dance. Normally, the people that go add up to 200 people during the 2 hours that they play.

We got there and i didn't really know what to expect because i didn't know what maracatu was and it's hard to know from the name so i just went along with it. The guy running the thing gave us a short talk about what it was and as he talked it started to look like something i would really enjoy. They do this every saturday, it's free (and you know i love free whaterver) and after Carnaval, they will have workshops for people to know how to build their own alfaia (that's the name of the drum) and learn how to play it. I will definitely be going to that if i can. Anyways, it took two songs for me to stand up and play. After the first song that i played i loved it and didn't want to give the alfaia away. It was really cool and i had a lot of fun.

People danced, played the alfaia, played other instruments or simply watched but i think almost everyone liked it a lot from the Sao Paulo group. I still have the beat of the songs in my head... Maracatu-Catú-Catú...

if interested in hearing some of it...
Myspace page for Projeto: Calo na Mão

every kind of...

A pesar de que solo he estado aqui una semana y un dia, ya he visto casi la mitad de los lugares que muestra el video este. Por supuesto que no es perfecto, ni mucho menos completamente representativo de una ciudad de 17 millones de personas pero tiene mucha razon al decir que hay de todo porque hay de TODO!

por lo que veo hasta ahora, este viaje va a ser muy diferente de los otros viajes que he tenido por ser en un pais con tanta diversidad, y por vivir en una ciudad tan increible y tan grande como São Paulo.

churrasquinho e caipirinhas com a familia hospedeira

Oi Pessoal!

Today I came to meet the rest of my host family and the house i was going to live in for six months and i really liked it. It seems like a good semester ahead. I haven't gone around the entire house yet because i'm a little tired so i'll make this short.

I came after 2 pm to have a 'churrasquinho' at my host family's place. When i arrived to the house I first met Zizú, hopping around the garage, and then I met my older host brother, Fabio (28) and his girlfriend. Later, my host uncle and aunt came and finally after eating came my other host brother, Marcos (25). He's not in the picture because he got there after we took it.

The food was really good so as you can imagine i ate quite a lot. I tried different types meat and i liked them all but above all i liked linguiça the most. It was so good and tasty. Also, an important thing to learn about brazilian culture is learning what they drink here so the family taught me how to make caipirinhas in the traditional way. I really liked the meal. We talked about São Paulo, Guatemala, politics, poverty and the family. We laughed a lot too. It was a lot of fun and the brothers are really crazy and talkative. With them i will learn most of the portuguese 'palavrões' just in case someone insults me or if i need them some time. It seems like it will be a good time here.

P.S.>
just in case you're thinking of having some party soon:
Crush lime and sugar, add caninha (or 'pinga' which is how they call it here and it's weird for me to say...) and finally add ice. Shake well. Enjoy.

and this is my floormate: Zizú. part of the family and official poop-making-machine of the garage.

PUC, Sao Paulo y sus colinas...

so, many of you might be wondering by now, 'how do i find Rudy...' and that is why i am writing this entry.

well, the city is amazing and huge so it's hard to say which sector of the city. from what i can see in the map, it is close to the center of the city but still a little northwest of it. i live aproximately 20-25 mins from the center, if i take the metro and depending on traffic, it might be more or less by car. it is worth mentioning a little about how i go about transporting myself from place to place...normally i walk, sometimes take public transport and rarely go in a car. walking is very safe in the areas that i have to be and the areas worth visiting. the public transport is amazing here but it still falls short when attempting to transport this many people. i was reading an article about the guy who is in charge of transportation for the state of São Paulo and his job is so overwhelming. over 5 million people use the metro everyday and it covers an immense area of the city - again, it falls short. - i like taking the metro but it is a little expensive for my taste so i am getting used to the idea of walking to most places and not using it unless necessary. people should know that the metro is also part of going out at night, because one of the reasons people stay up until 6am is that they need to go home, taxis are expensive and the metro doesn't start operating until early morning. so, they might as well party!!!the buses start at 4;30 or 5am and they are also very good. they do not run on a schedule but there is one after the other so if you miss one it's not such a big problem, at least that's what i've learned from my experience. every bus here has two people in it, one being the driver, driving the bus, and the helper/charger, with his seat near the entrance door in front of the place where you pay. this is something i have found to be very efficient because they divide the work, just like they do in guatemala but in an organized way. instead of having one person moving around the bus charging people or hanging from the side of the bus they are organized and it seems more civilized. maybe this should be one of the things guatemala should do in the future to keep all those helpers/chargers or as we call them, 'brochas' employed and prevent disorder in buses.

the picture to the left is a picture of my house. it is in a neghborhood called sumaré. the neighborhood i live in is very nice, peaceful, residential and full of buildings. i, luckily, live in a house, so it's something that feels more like home. i do envy the view from the buildings though, some are really tall and you can see a lot of the city from their windows. i am not too sad though because my view is actually really cool so i don't complain much. the reason why i have this view is mostly because i live on a huge hill, which is sometimes an inconvenience. just before i forget, the mtv studios in brazil are very close to my house. they are at the top of the hill because that's where they put their anthena. you can imagine how tall the hill is...

my house is located very close to the university where i will be studying, PUC - Pontificia Universidade Catolica. the only problem is that i have to go down this huge stairway, then across avenida sumaré, which is the closest mainroad near my house and then up the hill to get to the university. during the first days, it was very easy to get to PUC with a few drops of sweat because of the heat and the hills. hopefully that will improve as the weather cools down. this picture on the right side is a picture of the stairs i have to go down and climb up... they are a lot more intimidating from below...

PUC is really nice. it is considered to be the 2nd best private university in Brazil and is well recognized in latin america. it was founded in 1946, it has six campi in sao paulo and it offers undergraduate and graduate titles. there are about 180,000 alumni, 17,000 in undergraduate and 4,000 in graduate school. they have a new building and an old building.

the picture to the left shows the courtyard of the old building and the other picture i'm showing is of the corridor in between the old -right- and the new building -left. this area is called 'prainha' - little beach- because in one of the protests that the students organized some a while ago, they brought sand, filled the place with it and acted as if they were sunbathing in school. i didn't fully understand the story but i'll try to find out exactly how it is...

Summary
sao paulo = huge, lots of hills, lots of buildings
public transportation = large, fast but not efficient enough for the city
my neighborhood = residential, cool and hilly
my university - PUC (pronounced 'pooquee'), good academic level, political and also in a hill

finally, if you'd like to write to me, my address is as follows

RUA ANDRÉ DREIFUS 142
SUMARÉ - CEP 01252-010
SÃO PAULO, BRASIL

Orientation at the Cæsar Business...

So, orientation was at this hotel called Cæsar Business Hotel and it is located in Avenida Paulista. this street is famous for its Gay Parade and because it is one of the coolest streets in Sao Paulo. Giant Buildings on the sides, all types of people walking down the street... really cool. When i got there i met the 'monitores' who were our mentors during orientation and since i got there late i had to take the test at another time. It was three days long and it was with the people that are going to Salvador, Bahia for the rest of the semester and for the people staying in São Paulo.

We did most of the official documents stuff there, we walked around different places nearby, we went to this really cool park, many different things. Also we went to some clubs and got to know each other more. During orientation we were encouraged to speak portuguese so that's what we've been trying to do since. As of now i don't feel comfortable speaking only portuguese all the time but i'm getting there. Check back later in the semester and maybe i'll have more entries in portuguese.

During one day we got to meet our host families and it was really cool to see people interact with their families. I think mine is going to be cool. I still have not met my host brothers but i will see them when i go to their house in a few minutes. My host mom is really cool and she is a portuguese teacher so it's going to be very good for me. I'll be corrected more which is good. I also met Karlita's family and they look nice. She will be living very close to me so thanks to destiny we will be able to keep seeing each other often and we will walk to PUC (the University where we will be studying) together.

The pictures above are some of the views of where we were during orientation. I really liked this area. It reminds me of the Avenida Reforma area in Guatemala but much taller and with less green in it. At the moment i'm waiting for my host mom and i'm staring at my luggage. It's always a funny/weird feeling to see my semester packed in two pieces of luggage under 50 lbs each. I actually feel proud of being abl to pack my life but it will be nice when i can finally settle down and know that i'll be in one place for longer. Nevertheless, i'll be honest with you, i don't see that happening soon. When it comes to traveling, as Karlita (my Ecuadorian friend from Macalester, who also came to São Paulo) says: "do it young and often". I like it this way!

Bienvenido a Brasil... - Welcome to Brazil... (?)

Vengo ahora en el bus yendo hacia el aeropuerto Guarulhos. Yo se lo que estan pensando pero asi es la vida. Supuestamente mi avion tenia que aterrizar en el aeroopuerto Guarulhos pero no. Habia demasiada neblina y guarulhos estaba cerrado. Mi avion aterrizo en Campinas, una ciudad en las afueras de Sao Paulo. Eso significa que ahora, en lugar de estar haciendo el examen de portugues para que sepan mi nivel, tengo que atravezar Sao Paulo en este bus por unas dos horas y despues tomar un bus o taxi hasta llegar al hotel. Ya se imaginan lo alegre (y oloroso a rosas) que estoy.

Pero bueno, mejor me voy a dormir porque tengo demasiado sueño y la ya se me acabaron cosas de que hablar con la señora japonesa que tengo al lado mio.

Writing while high

Bueno, despues de dos días de ajetreo y estres, por fin obtuve mi visa de estudiante y me enecuentro sobrevolando las tierras guatemaltecas y salvadoreñas que dan al océano pacifico. A pesar de no recibir la visa a tiempo para viajar con el boleto que habia obtenido originalmente, todo se soluciono de buena manera y logre utilizarlo sin tener que comprar uno nuevo. Gracias a la ayuda de Elsa Leal, una amiga y ex-compañera de mi hermana mayor, Madeline, logre utilizar el mismo boleto que habia comprado mi papa en Octubre. Ella trabaja en la aerolínea TACA asi que fue buenisimo que ella me ayudara.

Antes de salir comi la ultima comida hecha por mi mama en los proximos cinco meses, Hilachas, y no se porque estaba un poco nervioso. Espero que esos nervios sean de emoción y no de miedo. Ya estoy menos nervioso pero siempre me entra un poco de nostalgia al dejar a mis papas y hermanas. Me gustaria que se vinieran ellos tambien, pero despedirme por unos meses o años es algo que vale la pena sacrificar ya que la experiencia es inigualable. (no puedo evitar pensar en el carnavalazo que me voy a echar jaja!).

Estoy emocionado y no puedo dejar de pensar en lo que va a suceder pero de eso les contaré cuando suceda. Por ahora solo les puedo contar que el avión va revacío y que la película ya casi va a empezar. Vamos a ver una que se llama Dan in Real Life con Steve Carrell. Llevo la ventana cerrada porque el Sol brilla demasiado fuerte al abrirla y no puedo ver la pantalla si abro la ventana. Lo unico que veo el reflejo increíble mente fuerte océano y como no naci poeta, se fregaron y solo eso les puedo contar para que se lo imaginen. Y para fregarla aún mas, les pongo una foto con lo que ya dije.

Bueno, en lo que terminaba el ultimo parrafo me trajeron mis opciones de comer, pollo o pasta. Entonces, pongan sus apuestas a ver que escogi y en lo que termino esto tambien se me enfria la comida para que no me queme. Les cuento al final. Tambien ya empezo la película asi que estoy medio escribiendo y medio viendola. El principio parece ser bueno asi que creo que la voy a ver.

Espero que todos esten felices porque voy a hacer un blog porque soy re malo para contarles a todos lo que me pasa. En cuanto vean que no lo estoy cumpliendo, les pido que me recuerden seguir haciendolo. Esta fue mi manera de decirles a todos los que estan leyendo esto que me escriban correos porque aunque no contesto, siempre me gusta enterarme de lo que estan haciendo y como les esta yendo.

Bueno como la película se esta poniendo interesante y la comida ya esta tibia, mejor los dejo y escribire después. Saludos a todos y sepan que extraño estar en Guate, Noruega y Minnesota. Es como si estuviera inconforme con donde estoy todo el tiempo jeje lo bueno es que me da risa. Y lo mejor de todo es que ahora voy a extrañar a gente de Brasil jaja.

Saludos

p.s.> pollo con champiñones… fue difícil pero asi decidí.