Back where it all began

Rio de Janeiro!


Lívia, Aaron and Alessandra


Milla, Aaron and Alessandra

It seems hard to believe, but it's almost a year since I came here to Rio de Janeiro. It was on Satuday 29th August 2009 that I came here with my good friends Max and Monique. That was for a trip just short of three weeks. On now on my second visit to Brazil and have been here five months this time, and yes I'm now back in Rio de Janeiro!

Last time I was here, as much as I enjoyed it, I wasn't really "allowed" to go anywhere by myself because I was told everything was dangerous for a gringo such as myself. This time around, I've made a point of getting familiar with the public transport - particularly the subway system - so that I can have a bit of a look around myself.

I've caught up with some good friends, particularly Livia and Milla - friend's of Monique - who I met here last time. But this time around they're pretty busy during the week so I've been keep myself occupied. During my first week, I caught up with a friend Eirik who I met back in Floripa. He's from Norway and was here for a holiday. So I did some of the touristy things that I did last time but are well worth doing again such as visiting the Sugar Loaf and Christ the Redeemer statue which is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World (although there seem to be a way to many "seven wonders of the world" variations these days).


This is my first extended stay at a place where I'm not doing any official Portuguese study. But apart from talking with people - which is probably the best way to practise - I've found some other ways. I bought some 'classic' books, kids version (probably designed for 8-10 years old), about 70 pages each - all in Portuguese. The kind of stories I liked when I was a kid and still do now. I've nearly finished Robin Hood and plan to read King Arthur next! I don't understand everything, but enough to follow what's going on. Likewise I bought myself a Portuguese "modern language" Bible. I've been reading about Joseph in the book of Genesis. I was happy because I understood more than I thought I would. Being already familiar with what happens does help.

I've also been looking to do some volunteer work while I'm here. I might be able to help in one of the favelas. I intend to write more about this in my next blog.

Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo

left: Priscila's step-dad, sister Deborah and her husband.
Right: Priscila's step-sister Thais, me and another friend (also called Priscila)




I spent a week in Mogi das Cruzes in the house of the family of my friend Priscila Romeiro - not to be confused with the other Priscila's in Brasilia. Priscila lives in Sydney at the moment, but her family were very hospitable. Her brother Bruno met me at the bus station when I arrived from Curitiba and showed me around over the weekend. Her step-sister Thais is really cool and had some time off during the week which she used to show me around São Paulo. Likewise were sister Deborah and step-father were very friendly. I really liked mum who insisted that I return.

Mogi das Cruzes is a city in the state of São Paulo about an hour or three (depending on traffic) outside of the city of São Paulo - the biggest city in Brazil and one of the biggest in the world. In Australia you rarely get more then 3 lanes of traffic going in the same direction. In São Paulo I once counted 11.

So I spend some time getting somewhat cultured and visiting various museums and parks in São Paulo. I was under the impression that Sydney was second only to San Francisco in having the biggest annual gay event of the world. But it turns out that São Paulo has an even bigger one. It commenced in 1997, but now has overtaken even San Francisco in annual attendance. Amongst other events, São Paulo has a big annual "March for Jesus" day, which is also quite famous.

It was good to have some time to check out Brazil's biggest city and be overwhelmed with the crazy amount of traffic. I have a couple of friends in São Paulo who unfortunately were out of town when I was there, so I may return.

A big thanks to Priscila for letting me stay at her family's place. On Friday I took the 6 hour bus ride to the city where it all began for me - Rio de Janeiro.



Priscila's mum and I


Museum

Curitiba

My host Claudio and I



View from the train




Well, I've had a great time in Curitiba. I don't have a room to myself in this house, but my host Claudio and his mum have been extremely friendly. I arrived here on Tuesday night, Claudio met me at the bus station and we went out for dinner with some other folks.

On the Wednesday I woke up at 5:50am in order to get the train to a small historic town called Morretes. Apparently the Brazilian government made a decision to get rid of passenger trains for some reason, so there's not many rides like this. But views on this 3 hour trip are fantastic. I spend a few hours walking around the town and had lunch there where the waiter - an old Dutch guy who decided to move here - told me about the place. The buildings look great and it's very peaceful here. If I ever retire, I think this place will have to be on my Top 5 places to live.

I got back to the train station 20 minutes before the 3pm (only train) was due to leave back for Curitiba and even had time to fit in a quick hair cut. In the evening Claudio's mum prepared dinner for us and Claudo's girlfriend - she spent a year in NZ and speaks English well. Even though Claudio speaks some English, we usually communicate in Portuguese.

On Thursday I got a tour bus around the city of Curitiba to see what it has to offer. The Couchsurfing community has a weekly dinner/get together on Thursday evenings, so I joined them. Seems like a great way to meet new people when you're travelling.

It's now Friday and I have a 2pm bus booked for São Paulo - a six hour trip.



The town of Morretes

Blumenau

I took this picture of Blumenau from a bridge






View from Fernando's house

I arrived here in Blumenau yesterday. My host Fernando, 26 has been very hospitable . I arrived yesterday around 4pm. He picked me up at the bus stop and took me back to this house. He lives with his parents and sister in a big house with a great view of the city.

Last night we went out for dinner. It was a Brazilian style restaurant (surprisingly) where salad is a "buffet style", and the waiters continuously bring around different types of pizza and meats. The meat is really really good! We finished off the meal with "chocolate pizza" and then went to a pub where he introduced me to a couple of friends of his (husband and wife).

Blumenau is a city of about 300 000 people with a particularly strong German heritage. The building have a European look and and feel to them. I'm told that a lot of the street names were German until WWII when they changed them to Portuguese. Although the street signs still have the old German names written underneath.

Anyway, just a short 24 hour stay here. My bus to the next city - Curitiba - leaves at 4:15pm!

Time to move on

Well, it's been a good five weeks in Floripa. I've made some new friends here and got to see some of what this city has to offer. I went on a hike for nearly 3 hours yesterday with some friends. We then had lunch at a restaurant and got a ferry back .

But I'm leaving tomorrow. This also marks my final official Portuguese course. I've studied the language for about four months now - a month more than I had initially intended. I hope to keep learning more through listening, reading and speaking (I still have a long way to go) but this marks my last official course.

The plan is to head back to Rio and spend about a month there. I'm going by bus which would be a good 15+ hour trip if I went directly, but I plan to break it up and spend a few days in some different cities.

First, tomorrow (Monday) a 4 hour trip to Blumenau - a small city with a lot of German heritage. Then on Tuesday I plan to get the bus to Curitiba - a city which I've heard lots of good things about. I plan to stay there until Friday.

For these two cities I plan to do something a bit more adventerous/crazy than I usually would in terms of accomodation. A few people in my travels have told me about http://www.couchsurfing.org
The idea is there's a community of people over the world who offer to let you "sleep on their couch". It sounded a bit crazy at first, but I've met some people that have done it and I kind of like the idea of meeting people who actually live in the city rather than a whole lot of other tourists which you tend to find at a backpackers place. Reminds be a bit of how in Bible times people would go to the town square and wait for some hospitable person to take them in.

So in Blumenau a chap by the name of Fernando has been kind enough to offer to host me on the Monday. He lives with his sister
http://www.couchsurfing.org/profile.html?id=5RSOSR5
Then in Curitiba for the Tuesday-Friday, a guy by the name of Claudio said he would host me. He lives with his mum
http://www.couchsurfing.org/profile.html?id=E3L8LBK

On Friday I plan to get the bus from Curitiba to São Paulo (a 6 hour trip)- Brazil's largest city. My friend Priscila Romeiro (I know lots of Brazilian Priscilas) has been kind enough to organise for me to stay with her family while I'm there!
So I'm looking forward to seeing some new places and meeting some new people!

Minha rotina em Florianópolis

Eu escrevi este em Português. Se você não ler Português pode usar http://translate.google.com/#

Estou em rotina bom aqui em Florianópolis. De manhas eu tomo café da manhã em minha casa. Café da manhã sempre é pâo, cajo, fruitas e suco de laranja. Depois eu vou para um orfanato e ensinar inglês lá. As crianças lá têm ou correm o risco de AIDS. Eu gosto de ajudar lá, mas algumas vezes as crianças estão difícil rsrs
http://www.recantodocarinho.org.br/index.php?cnt=quemsomos

Depois almoço vou para aula de Português. Eu tenho aula de Português por 3 horas por dia.

Eu fiz novos amigos na escola e também através da igreja eu visitei. Eu gosto aqui, mas está frio pouco no inverno.

Futebol

During the game



One thing I was looking forward to before coming to Brazil, was being here while the world cup is on. As one might expect, in general they have a very big interest in soccer here. But just as in Australia, not everyone's into cricket or rugby, not everyone here is into soccer. But when Brazil plays in the world cup - it seems like the whole country stops. During Brazil's second game (it was my first full day here in Floripa), I was in an electronics store, but it appeared all the "customers" were just using the demo tvs to watch the game - the staff too.

For Brazil's last couple of games I've been invited to a friend's place a 15 minute walk from where I live to watch it - there's been about 10 people there each time. Most people usually have work or study, but that doesn't matter. Likewise my Portuguese lessons at the school I'm at have been arrange around Brazil's games.

With that said, I was disappointed Brazil lost last game. there's been five games of Brazil playing and I was hoping for a couple more - for the atmosphere if nothing else! People seemed a bit sad afterwards, but picked themselves up pretty quickly.


Lunch after the game. Brazil lost, but you wouldn't know it by their smiles


Now for a few of my observations about the game. It seems to me that there's a couple of issues that should be sorted out.

Firstly, unlike most other major sports these days, they haven't introduced any technology to help the referees in making the correct call. This goal by England against Germany easily went over the line and should have counted http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkCnUTIWBAc
but the ref missed it. In a game where so few goals are scored, they really should do teams and fans justice by making sure goals count when they're supposed to. In the year 2010, technology is available to assist the refs in making this sort of decision (without slowing the game down). To add insult to injury the FIFA websites recap doesn't even admit the mistake but simply says "Meetings between these two sides often provide talking points and this one's came 60 seconds later when Lampard's shot from the edge of the box struck the underside of the crossbar and bounced down, with the referee ruling the ball had not crossed the goalie."

Secondly it seems to me that there's too many pansies who pretend to get hurt in order to get a call to go their way. In a game where a red card means the player is sent off (so that the team is down to 10 players) AND misses the next game, it can be rather harsh if they get penalised in this manner unfairly. Take this example where Kaka got a 2nd yellow card (and therefore missed the next match), when he didn't even appear to touch the other player's face.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkIQ6pRcvv8
Now the ref has to make the decision on the spot, but at the very least they could review the tape overnight to see if some if the yellow card was warranted and rescind it in a case like this so that he doesn't miss the next game. Furthermore they could look to penalise players for faking it so badly. But no they don't do that. The ref's call is final. I'm told soccer pride's itself on being a game with constant motion and just a few simple rules. But the thing is, it seems to (perhaps somewhat nievely) rely on players being honest. I think they need to amend the rules to discourage this sort of behaviour.

Lastly, I was disappointed Ghana last yesterday - I was really hoping that'd pull it out. That said, some people seem to feel that Uruguay won by cheating. In the final minute of extra time Ghana had what would have been a goal, but a Uruguay player used his hand to defend it. The result was a red card - meaning he missed the next match and Ghana got a free kick. While I really wanted Ghana to win and therefore am sad they missed the free kick (which mean the game then went to a penalty shootout where Uruguay won), I don't feel Uruguay cheated. In my opinion they made a last desperate attempt to save the goal - which paid off. If that's not meant to be part of the game, then again they should consider changing the rules such that its an automatic goal in these situations, rather than just a free kick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qpTNnFFbr0