christmas in brasil

My infinitely gracious friend Nadia invited me up to the mountains to see the Natal Luz (Christmas Lights) in Gramado. This town looks decidedly German, and is, due to the large amount of German settlers in this quasi-alpine region (I say alpine because it was actually COLD here, a fact which Nadia failed to mention...I felt like a right idiot in my havaianas and summer skirt). Clearly the primary industry in Gramado is tourism, as all the perfectly darling streets are lined with souvenir shops, fondue restaurants, and chique boutiques. During the christmas season every avenida, tree, storefront and intersection is decked out with rather North Americanized Christmas decorations.

We went to a posh (not my choice) Italian restaurant that overlooked the main street where the Christmas parade took place. It felt rather like a surreal Winter Disneyland, complete with blowing fake snow that I was hard pressed to believe was not, in fact, real. After the parade we arrived at Nadia's sister's home, an ornately (and, surprisingly, Orientally) decorated apartment in a gated community in the town of Canela. In the centre of this town, located adjacent to Gramado, was the most beautifully illuminated church I have ever had the pleasure of seeing.

The countryside of the serra (mountains) of Rio Grande del Sul reminds me of a cross between the Okanagan and the sea to sky region of BC. Pines and cedars are common, with some palms and banana tress mixed in to remind us that indeed we are in a sub-tropical area. I do admit I felt a little bit homesick for my province for the first time upon viewing the rolling landscape. This feeling was fleeting however as switching from 27 degrees to 10 was definitely a shock to my system!

Feliz Natal! ...will post more after Rio de Janeiro.

Estou esfriando!

Church square, Gramado.

See, it actually gets cold in Brasil...não sabia

Brazilian angels (that were wearing rollerskates!)

Tree lights.

Main avenue, Gramado.

The Gingerbread homem

Igreja, Canela.

the serra.

cachoeira do sul

"Meu nome é Mika, sou Canadense, faz dois meses que estou aqui no Brasil, e sim, eu falo super-bem Português assim."

Cachoiera (waterfalls) is a beautiful town in the interior of Rio Grande del Sul. Small, quaint, and typically Rio Grandense, it is characterized by rolling hills, large fazendas (ranches) and quietly friendly locals tending herds of domestic animals or cultivating rice and soya. I stayed with my friend Tiele, her mom and dad, adjacent to her two grandmothers, grandfather, aunt, uncle, cousin, and nephew and managed to survive two massive family barbeques. Brazilian families are enormous, and everyone wanted to know everything about me (the most commonly asked questions were, “what are you doing here, a Canadian, in Rio Grande del Sul?”; “how do you speak such good Portuguese after two months? Are you serious?”; and “do they have rice in Canad Fa?”) Note that I say “survive” because churrascos (bbqs) are basically meat roasts, accompanied by fruit and desserts. So I basically ate papaya and doce de leite and ice cream for two days.

Here are some photos...

photoblog um: lugares

Bellatores, Santa Catarina.

Centro, Porto Alegre.

Mathias Velho, Canoas.

Feira do Livro, Porto Alegre.

Gaúcho mural, Porto Alegre.

Magazine store, Porto Alegre.

Sunset, Torres.

Street, near Cidade Baixa, Porto Alegre.

Canta Brasil Sul

À ce moment je suis en train de travailler dans le petit bureau de Canta Brasil, mon organisation culturelle ici en Brésil. Elle est située en Canoas, un banlieue de Porto Alegre. Il y a maintenant cinq personnes dans deux petits salles, ça veut dire un garçon de quatorze ans, trois filles d’entre seize et vingt ans, et la mère, qui est aussi une administratrice, d’une des petites qui danse avec l’équipe de Canta Brasil. C’est assez normal que tout le monde chante, crie et danse autour des salles dans n’importe quel moment pour n’importe quelle raison…En fait, il est bien intéressant d’essayer de faire du design graphique au milieu de cette énergie!

Le mandat de mon organisation est de créer un meilleur atmosphère pour les enfants dans les endroits les plus pauvres de Canoas, au même temps faisant une connaissance positive de la culture ici. C’est surement plus qu’une ONG simple, c’est actuellement un ‘mouvement institutionnel culturel’. Ils ont, comme des associés, des autres ONGs (le plus fortement avec Afroreggae, qui était la partenaire fondatrice de Canta Brasil), des organisations de communications (comme le DCS, une entreprise majeure de la publicité et markéting ici en Porto Alegre), aussi que des citoyens privés qui s’intéressent dans les activités du mouvement. C’est bien intéressant que mon organisation est plus connue dans les cercles “chiques” de Porto Alegre que dans les associations sociales et politiques, mais je trouve que c’est un exemple du classement social qui caractérise la plupart d’interaction sociale au Brésil.

Le semaine passé je suis assisté à la Semaine de Communication, une semaine des ateliers, conférences et débats sûr des topiques diverses concernant la communication, la publicité et le graphisme. C’était vraiment une évènement tellement bien réalisée, et j’ai trouvé qu’il était tellement instructif d’avoir eu une chance de comprendre quelles sont des perspectives particulières du graphisme ici. Il y avait des cérémonies des prix donné de la part du Semaine de Communication, et l’entreprise qui a fait l’annonce suivant (en bas) pour Canta Brasil, a gagné un prix pour le même campagne dans la catégorie des annonces des journaux.



Ça me plait beaucoup d’avoir l’opportunité de contribuer aux projets ici pour Canta Brasil, car je crois qu’ils font quelque chose assez différent en se focalisent de l’importance du talent et de l’éducation pour améliorer des vies des jeunes ici. De plus, mon directeur, Rubielson Medeiros, et une personne vraiment pleine de l’énergie de vivre, qui est évidement une pointe d’inspiration pour tous les gens ici. Je vais additionner des points intéressants dans les prochaines sémaines, puis merci pour lire.

brasil -- duas semanas depois

pensamentos pra as primeras duas semanas...


Dia das Crianças, Porto Alegre

Brazil...strange and beautiful. the first thing you notice is the smell. Meat, shit, sweat. The air is heavy here, at times, thick with moisture and dirt and sound and yes, sex. But the beauty of this country is either brilliant or muted. Brilliant, as in the myriad of fresh fruits and vegetables of the public market, or in the smiles of the children of the church-turned-dance school in the favela, or muted, as in the quiet sadness of the man with his four emaciated, sleeping dogs lying down amid the bustle of my city's central square.

Sometimes it is ugly as well, particularly here in Porto Alegre. On days when the sun fails to break through the clouds, and the gritty reality of decaying concrete and inadequate garbage collection presents itself with unabashed certitude, yes, this city can be called feio, dégeulasse, sad, angry, alive. In stark contrast to the Disneyesque beauty of downtown Belo Horizonte, the centre of this city is a violent mishmash of grace and anger, desire and desperation. Rows of delicate colonial architecture, like the candy-coloured neighbourhoods of children's novels, frame a game pantomime of ordinary workers and beggars hustling to earn their daily Reais.

There are so many products available here, it is overwhelming. Farmacias stock hundreds of boxes of women's hair colour; the chain store Lojas Americanas (literally,"American Stores") carries everything from Barbie dolls to incredibly overpriced home electronics (A basic Sony digital camera goes for more than $800 Réais...the average Brazilian makes less than that a month); and the local supermarket has an entire aisle dedicated solely to cookies. In the streets, hawkers sell indigenous jewelry, sandals, toys, pirated DVDs, brassieres, electronics, gold, barbequed meat, sunglasses, fake rats, dreams. I begin to wonder what development has really brought to this region, supposedly the richest in Brazil.

Here in Rio Grande do Sul the regional symbol of the 'solo gaúcho' is everywhere. The Gaúcho is essentially a cowboy, typically costumed in tall boots, billowed pants, a beret, scarf and often a moustache. He lives in the serra, or plains of the southern and eastern parts of the state, tending cattle and/or farms with his family. Often he can be found in bars that don't close, buying drinks for foreign nationals (ahem) and stamping one booted foot in regional pride. The other symbol indicative of this region, dependably omnipresent, is maté. Often we see people walking about parks with their thermos of hot water and their ceramic pots of maté, drinking this concoction (chimarrão) for two or three hours.

For the next week and a half the Feira do Livro (Book Festival) takes place in Porto Alegre. The feira includes author and academic talks, live musical performances, kiosk upon kiosk of booksellers, and a free film festival. I attended my first Portuguese movie tonight, alone. (That should probably read, I went to my first movie alone, which happened to be in Portuguese.) Titled Achados e Perdidos, it was a well-rendered, passionate and sombre tale of death and love in Rio. When the movie ended, and I exited the theatre, it was raining. Magically, the few street merchants scattered along the Rua das Andradas were selling umbrellas.