Fortaleza

Well, here I am in Fortaleza. We've been here for about 2 weeks now, but I haven't had any time to really use the internet until now. I'm here in an Internet cafe a few blocks from my homestay with Kevin and Jean-Christophe who also live in my neighborhood, which is great because they are both incredibly cool guys.

Fortaleza is a lot different from Salvador. First of all, there's less people. Second of all, there's less black people, which is really weird for me right now, after spending 5 weeks in Salvador. In Salvador, when I walked down the street I could blend in, but here I stick out and am a target for all kinds of comments, mostly from men who think I'm exotic. Let's just say that it's uncomfortable to objectified that way all the time and that I'm glad that I'm doing my ISP in Salvador. Not to say that Salvador doesn't have issues with racism, but I prefer dealing with that than having men on the street scream out "oi preta" (hey black girl) at me all the time.

As far as the SIT program goes, it is sooooo much more organized here than it was in Salvador. Now we actually know what's expected of us, lol. This weekend we did our first excursion to an MST settlement. The MST is the landless workers movement here in Brazil, it's one of the key social/political movements in the country right now. The Brazilian constitution says that the people have the right to claim unproductive land for farming, building homes for their families, etc... Unfortunately, the people who own the land are the rich people in power, and when poor farming families try to break out of the system of sharecropping and latifundios and get their own land, it rarely goes through or it takes forever. So the MST organize these people to occupy the land and force the government to speed up the process and basically hold the government accountable for the rights that it has promised to the people. So we visited a settlement that was more established and then an encampment that has only been there for a year. In the encampment, the people live in shacks made out of sticks, dried palm leaves, plastic, and whatever else they can find. Even though conditions there are bad, the people still have so much faith and so much strength. It's their right to have a piece of land to farm and provide for their families. It's their right to be treated like human beings. It's their right and they refuse to back down. It was a really intense experience. If you want to read more about them, check out this web site: www.mstbrazil.org/
Spread the word, publicize the struggle.

On a less serious note, today is Halloween, but it's been pretty anticlimactic so far because it's not a big deal here in Brazil. But tonight we are going out to a bar called the Pirata. During the day it's a store but at night there is a pirate ship underneath and it becomes a bar. Fun times.

My camera is broken right now (I think there's sand in it or something) so I'm afraid that there probably won't be anymore picture post here, sorry. I am going to buy some disposable ones to take more pictures while I'm here though.

Alright, gotta head home now and get ready for tonight. Shout out to my mom (her birthday was last week). Shout out to all the peeps who email and comment on my blog, it really makes my day. Shout out to everyone else too. I love you and I miss you all.

pictures!

Alright, I finally have some pictures. I can't post a lot right now because I need to head home soon, but here goes. The first 2 pictures are from the houses that we initially stayed at for orientation in Fortaleza. In the next row there's a capoiera group that welcomed us to Salvador and a little girl in my neighborhood who was showing me and Ashley her dance moves (right). Then there's the girls again in the next row and me and Guimel rocking out at jam session. Then there's some beach pictures from Praia do Forte, Guimel chilling on the left and Jean-Christophe, Oona, and Michelle and the right. The last two pictures are from the birthday party I went to last week. In the first picture, the woman on the far right is Eva, my host mom and the boy next to her is Danilo, my host brother. And then last but not least is me rocking my new red dress. If you want to see more pictures you can try your luck with this website: http://groups.msn.com/JazziesPictures/

Otherwise you'll just have to wait.

say goodbye to Salvador, pt. 1

I've been so busy these past couple weeks and I really haven't had time to update this, sorry y'all. Right now I'm sitting in an internet cafe in a town called Rio de Contas. We arrived here late last night/early this morning, it was about a 15 hour bus ride, so exhausting. But let me back track a little to last week.

Last weekend we went to this island called Ilha de Mare, which is a mostly poor mostly black community on an island not far from Salvador. It was a really intense experience, to be in a place where they don't have basic sanitation, but the people I met there we're really amazing. In Brazil, the right to health care is in the constitution, but it's a right that has been denied for the people living on the island. But the communities are organizing and demanding their rights, they're building a clinic, they have a radio station to broadcast news, they're working to improve their lives and their holding the government accountable for it's failure to serve it1s citizens just because they are poor and black. My host family was really kind to me, especially my host mom, she treated me like I was a part of the family.

We got back to Salvador for what was basically our last real week in the city. I put the deposit down on the apartment I'm going to be living in when I come back to Salvador for my ISP. I'm living with Kevin who is one of the coolest people ever. So we're sharing a 2 bedroom apartment and Jessie and Guimel are sharing one upstairs, we're all really excited for it. We're living in a neighborhood called Barra which is right by the beach, ahhh. Also, night before last there was a big party in my neighborhood for Criola's (Ashley's host mom) birthday. I wore my new little red dress and let me tell you, I was hott stuff (pictures are forthcoming in my next entry, finally!). I had such a great time, dancing, eating, drinking. It was also my host parent's wedding anniversary and Kid's day so the neighborhood was packed with people. It's crazy to think that on Wednesday I'm leaving my neighborhood in Salvador for an entirely new one in Fortaleza.

Unfortunately, I have to go now, but in my next update I'm going to write about my experiences here in Rio de Contas and also post some pictures (yes, I finally uploaded some).

free weekend

As usual, I'm pressed for time so I have to make this quick. This week Portuguese classes ended and we won't have them again until we go to Fortaleza. It's kind of scary, we're on our own for now. Unfortunately our director decided that it would be cool if our Portuguese midterm, journal entries, 3-4 page reading analysis, and money we owe the program for books were all due on Wednesday, after we had been gone all weekend. Let's just say that Tuesday night sucked for all of us. I'm really frustrated with the administrative aspects of the program, a lot of the things the director asks us to do don't make any sense and then when we ask questions she gets really defensive. But it's okay, I'm here in Brazil and I'm having an amazing time and I'm not going to let anything ruin that. I've always been a "go with the flow" kind of person and I find that it's helping me a lot here. There's a saying here, "o jeito brasileiro", or "the Brazilian way". When I get lost, or confused, or frustrated I just take a deep breath, shrug and say "o jeito brasiliero" and move on.

Anyway, after a complicated week, we had a free weekend, and a three day weekend at that. So on Friday we went to this beach about an hour away called Praia do Forte. It was a perfect day to go to the beach, but then again, almost every day here is. So we swam and ate and drank cachasa (sp? it's Brazilian rum) and told stories. Then we headed back to the city to hang out. There's this club in the Pelourinho called "Phantasy Night Club" that we always pass by so this time we decided to check it out. Baddddd idea, haha. We thought it was a dance club, but it was a strip club. You haven't seen stripping until you've seen someone strip to "Power of Love" and "Beauty and the Beast" by Celine Dion. Wow.

Yesterday I took it easy during the day and then headed to Guimel's because we were going to have a party for Michelle's birthday. The party ended up being 6 of us American girls, Guimel's host cousin and a bunch of his friends (the same guys we had a jam session with before) and one of their girlfriends, hanging on on the third floor of this house. We had a good time though. Our motto is that no matter where we go it will be fun because we'll make it fun, and we rocked that joint. The girlfriend was really cool, she spoke a little bit of English so we could switch back and forth between Portuguese and English. So we danced and played a little music. I made up some new words to a song to make it about Michelle's birthday, it made me think of my dad because he's good at doing stuff like that. Speaking of dads, my host dad finally came back from Recife yesterday. It's kind of weird because I got used to it being just me mom and Danilo, but my host dad is a cool guy. And I looooove my host mom, she's so cool. Today when I came down for lunch she showed me how to make fresh orange juice. Then we danced and sang Brazilian music, and then we had beers and watched a DVD. It's crazy to think that we're only going to be in Salvador for 2 1/2 more weeks and then it's off to Fortaleza for an entirely different experience.

Okay, so I'm not as pressed for time as I previously said. I'm at an internet cafe with Ashley and we decided to buy another 30 minutes. Time for a list:

A few things about Brazil

- Almost all of the juice is made fresh here, even in the restaurants. And the coffee is amazing.

- Pedestrians do not have the right of way here. You have to watch yourself because cars and buses will hit you if you get in the way.

- It's perfectly acceptable to drink whatever you want, whenever you want. Yesterday afternoon on the bus there was a guy drinking a beer.

- Fashion for women here consists of really tight and revealing clothes and high heels and/or platforms. And it doesn't matter how big you are.

- In Salvador, there so much history surrounding you all the time. The Piedade, which is were my bus stop is, is where 4 free blacks who were part of the tailor's rebellion were executed. Rua da Força, a street I walk down nearly everyday, is the street the led down on the way to the execution.

There's tons more stuff but that's all I can think of right now. And now I am honestly pressed for time and should end this entry. Hope all is well in the States and thanks to everyone who comments on this blog or emails, etc... I appreciate it :)