Super chic part of the city called Pontão - a waterfront hangout

I think the mid-year seminar is held in Brasilia for a couple of reasons 1) It's the capital and seat of government of Brazil with a large part of the city being devoted to embassies and consulates 2) It's not usually on the list of places to visit in Brazil; had it not been for this seminar, I probably wouldn't have made it here.

President Dilmah's house - no fence or anything, just a moat

Brasilia is odd.  It feels like I am worlds away from Bahia and in a concrete, futuristic and eerily clean city in the middle of a dessert.  For some, Brasilia is a miracle and model of construction - it was built in only three years and officially made the capital in 1960.  Here, everything is super organized, meticulously planned and beautifully manicured.  Everything is arranged on a logical grid with names that appear like code to the unitiated: SDN/SDS, SBN/SBS, SMHN/SMHS . . . there's a lot of S's.  The government buearcrats herald the airplane-shaped city as a modern utopia and like to remind you that it's the only city in the world constructed in the 20th century to achieve World Cultural Heritage designation by Unesco.





For the rest of us,  Brasilia feels a bit contrived, soulless and lacking any real identity of its own.  When I told my students that I was going to Brasilia for a week the answer was usually, "Why?"  It's also not for those on a budget as there aren't really any hostels or guesthouses in town.  Food and drinks are ridiculously expensive and it's very hard to get around without your own car.  It's definitely a city for the affluent and not for the penniless backpacker.

Protestors on the lawn in front of congress - notice all the matching perfectly lined buildings on the side

Congress - under each dish is a different chamber

The main reason why tourists visit Brasilia is to check out the architecture.  Today, after a morning session about how to improve our second semester here and go out with a bang, we took a city tour.  The layout and architecture of the city of Brasilia was done entirely by urban planner Lúcio Costa and famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.  His buildings are unusual because they started to use curves in concrete.  Our tour guide called it "tropical modern architecture" and said that the design of the buildings helped keep them cool as well.

Cathedral of Brasila

Inside the cathedral

For me, the coolest buildings were by far the churches by Neimeyer and the two that we visited were each jaw-dropping in their own way.  The first one, the Cathedral of Brasilia, is half above the ground and half underground.  When standing underground the curve of the wall has amazing acoustics so that when you whisper along the wall someone can hear you all the way across the room.  The second church, the Sanctuary of Dom Bosco, had incredible stained glass windows that bathed everything in a calming blueish-purplish light.  Though spending the afternoon studying Brasilia’s architecture was fun and interesting, for much of the group the highlight of the day was an evening excursion to a giant food court in the mall.  After months of American/International culinary isolation and kilos of beans and rice, the rows upon rows of incredible gustatory choices were quite the feast to behold.

Dom Bosco Sanctuary

(I'm interrupting the posts about recent past travels to jump to talking about what I'm doing currently.)


One of the main reasons that my experience in Brazil has been so positive and enjoyable so far is because of the effectiveness and organization of the Fulbright program and commission here in the country.  Our program directors are efficient and are very good at taking care of us; they also know how to put together a great orientation and mid-year seminar.  This week, I feel very lucky to be able to attend the Fulbright English Teaching Assistants Enhancement Seminar in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil.  We are spending our time giving presentations on our teaching activities and projects, sharing our experiences and future plans with the other ETAs as well as participating in some workshops and listening to some really interesting guest speakers.  I am trying to soak up as much as I can and am loving every minute of it!



Today we had all of our meetings in the CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior) building and had to go through a lot of security, dress code rules and passport checking because Secretary of State John Kerry was going to be there in support of the new Science Without Borders Program.  We were fortunate enough to be able to attend the news conference and meet and talk with the secretary.  It was super exciting to have cameras and secret service officers everywhere!

 
After lunch we spent the afternoon listening to John Matel, a public affairs officer in the U.S. Foreign Service in Brazil.  He has been in the F.S. for over 25 years and had lots of interesting stories to share about his experiences as well as many suggestions about where to go and what to do after Fulbright.  Tonight we have the evening free to get out and explore the city a little bit before another jam-packed day of activities tomorrow.

Looking up at the stairs we were ready to climb to get up to the church

After cruising through the canyons, we kept driving further and further from civilization until our environment changed once again, this time from caatinga (cacti, thorny shrubs, dry grasslands) to sertão (the semi-arid vast hinterlands in Northeastern Brazil).  Heading out to the sertão is like entering the Wild West and in Portuguese, the word "sertanejo" is used how we use the word "cowboy."

Old railway station that is now a museum

It seemed only fitting to make our final destination the tiny town of Piranhas which was founded in 1891 and used to be furthest point people could travel upstream on the São Francisco River.  Because of this, Piranhas (named as such because there used to be good piranha fishing there) became the start of a railway that continued transportation upriver by train.

At the top

I wanted to visit Piranhas because of its history with the famous bandit leader, Lampião.  In the 1930s, the town was attacked several times by Lampião and his gang because it was easy to hide in all of the rocks and canyons surrounding the town.  Lampião became a famous outlaw much like Robin Hood; he resented the government and police corruption and the way that the stole from the local landowners.  He was consantly pursued by the police and is still a legend out in the Sertão - there is a whole museum devoted to him!  The real name of the famous outlaw is "Virgulino" but he aquired the nickname of "lamp" because it was said he could fire a gun so fast that it looked like he was holding a lantern.

Checking out the tiny church

In 1938, Lampião and his gang were betrayed while waiting to ambush Piranhas and the police executed the entire group.  The heads of the leader and his bandits were put on display in the town for everyone to see and were preserved and kept there until 1971 in the museum.  Though I didn't get to see any severed heads, I did get to see a lot of Lampião's gear and loot from raids past.  Quite a lot of action for such a tiny town in the backwoods of Brazil.

The rebel himself (center)

Heads on display

Getting ready to get on the catamaran

I spent the Saõ João holiday in a small town in the middle of the state of Sergipe but was also able to enjoy other areas of Brazil's smallest state as well.  Before the holiday I hung out in the capital city, Aracaju and after the holiday I went on a little road trip with friends to visit Xingó Canyon and to retrace part of the path of one of Brazil's most famous bandits, Lampião, a folk hero who is equivalent to our Jesse James.

Cruising through the canyon

For me, one of the coolest things about the road trip was watching how the landscapes changed.  I moved from the beachy coast and urban sprawal of Aracaju to the dry savanna (called 'caatinga' here) until final we reached the famous São Francisco River where we intended to explore the Xingó Canyon.




To explore the river, we boarded a large catamaran and traveled one hour through the canyon before stopping to have a swim and then heading back.  The scenery reminded me of being out West in the States but what really made an impression on me was our fellow Brazilian travelers.  People were clearly in the mood to party on the catamaran and there was no shortage of loud music, dancing and alcohol.  When I pointed this out to my friends saying that the holiday was over, they informed me that part of the tradition here includes all the pre parties and after parties.  I have yet to find a reason
not to party in this country.

Stopping for a swimming break

Just doing some samba on the way back

Dressed up to go to the São João school party

This week Loni and I are back at the university but since classes haven't officially started yet and there is not much going on, I have some time to share a little bit more about what I was up to this past month.

The traditional dance "forro" came from the Portuguese pronunciation of the words "for all" (so cool!)

One of the biggest things that happened during vacation was the Festas de São João also known as the Festas Juninas.  This festival comemorates the birth of Saint John the Baptist and is the biggest and most celebrated holiday after Carnival here in Brazil.  Although the official holiday is only one day, most parties last several weeks.  As soon as I arrived in Brazil, my students informed me about São João and said that I was going to love it.  From what I experienced, I would say that this holiday is kind of a combiation between Halloween, Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July.  A common saying for Brazilians here is that if you are single then Carnival is the best holiday, but for everybody else, São João is where it's at.



Though São João is a religious holiday, it also celebrates the harvest, the end of the rainy season and rural life in general.  Thus, the best place to celebrate São João is in a small and rural city.  I was lucky enough to be able to stay with my boss and his family in his home town which is 10 hours north of here and out in the middle of nowhere - perfect for São João.  Before I traveled north, I helped out with an elementary school São João party which gave me a taste of what was to come: dancing, tradtional and brightly-colored costumes, specific food only eaten at this time of year and lots of Forró music (reminds me of square dancing both in types of music, the style of dancing and the costumes).  There's also plenty of fireworks and the parties don't stop until 5am or so.

Traditional breakfast in a rural town during the holiday - cous cous, fried sun-dried meat, and papaya

Manioc dessert/snack

Another famous tradition is making bonfires outside of your home and then going from house to house to visit, sampling the homemade treats and drinking hot alcoholic drinks.  It was amazing to drive around the town and see it lit up completely with small fires. While staying with Isaias and his family I learned how to make a lot of the traditional foods using corn, peanuts and different types of manioc flour. 

Watching soccer with boiled peanuts and popcorn

Making pamonha from corn

What I liked most about the June parties was the general happiness, the sense of community and the remembering of times past.  It's like how we feel when we start to hear Christmas music or snack on Halloween candy.  The São João traditions only appear once a year which makes them all the more special.  I was glad to be able to participate and I have a feeling that the this holiday was a little more my style than Carnival.

Playing dominoes is also popular to do

Waiting for all of the tasty treats to finish cooking

The finished products - delicious! People eat it with fresh cheese.

"Fulbright wasn't founded in 1946 to send people on vacation; it was founded to bridge communities, to build ties, to share knowledge, to solve some of our pressing global challenges, and to work for peace." - Tom Healy (Sharing the World Through Storytelling)

Various 8+ hour long bus rides in the last few weeks have given me plenty of time to reflect on my experience so far in the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship program in Brazil.  In addition, I have been receiving several emails and Skype calls from future Fulbrighters bound for this country next year and from those that are only just starting their application and are looking for advice.  Finally, having Sue and Erica visit gave me a chance to think about how Brazil has changed me and the hopes that I have to make a difference here.  These reflections are well-timed because in August Fulbright sends all of us ETAs to Brasilia for a mid-year seminar to re-connect with colleagues, share experiences and to modify existing/make some new goals for the upcoming semester.

It's fun and easy to stay up-to-date concerning my time off with Sue and Erica, but I haven't written much about how I actually stayed busy this last semester.  Reading Healy's article was a good reminder that although being able to explore Brazil with friends and family is a huge perk of the Fulbright grant, it's not the main reason for why I'm here.  The past semester was one of the most challenging ones that I have ever experienced for various different reasons, but I'm happy with what I was able to accomplish and with what I was involved in.  In brief, here's how I spent the last four months:

Teaching:  Although my official contract says that I am supposed to be a teaching assistant, I was in charge of three different English classes at the university and co-taught an additional one with Loni.  Each class met once a week for two hours and the focus was comprehension, communication and conversation.  I also taught quite a few classes about the language and culture of China to students who specifically requested such a class. 

Culture:  Every month Loni and I gave a two-hour, university-wide presentation about some aspect of American culture.  We were also asked several times to speak in other classes about anything from the English language to how education works in the U.S.  I was also invited to speak about linguistics and my time in China from time to time.  For me, public speaking has been a huge part of my time in Brazil.  Though it wasn't something I was expecting I am grateful to have had all of the practice.

I like this quote from the same article cited above.  "Fulbright is not just about changing the world. It is about sharing the world."  To me, before the world can be changed, it has to be shared.  That might involve me standing in front of a group of people talking about American politics, listening to my barefoot and shirtless landlord talk about what it was like for him when he was growing up in Brazil or writing a blog post about my experiences for my family back home in the States.  I hope my next semester here can be just as jam-packed with experiences and activities but I also know I'm going to value the time I have with people here to listen to their stories and share some of mine.

View along the coast during our hiking trip

Yesterday, when I went to drop my sister Sue off at the airport my friend, Erica, had already landed and was waiting for me.  It felt a bit like the changing of the guard as I hugged my sister and saw her off and then turned around and greeted my friend who was excited to start her own two-week adventure here in Brazil.

Ropes course/zip lines through the jungle in Itacaré

I had an absolutely fantastic time with Susie.  I didn't have a plan and we just did what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it.  Sue wanted to take things easy at the beginning so for the first week we hung around my city and some neighboring towns visiting friends and students and frequenting many beaches.  The second week we spent in a beautiful, beacy, hippie town a few hours north up the coast called Itacaré.  We had thought to visit some other cities as well but were having so much fun in Itacaré since we had met some friendly locals that we decided to stay the whole second week.  Part of the week involved a three-day long hiking/camping trip along the beach from Barra Grande back to Itacaré.  It was quite the adventure.  Really.  But, more on that later.

Beach hike to Prainha

I've missed being able to blog but the break from the internet has been refreshing.  More importantly, though, I've been able to soak up every single precious minute of time with my sister and now with my friend.  It's one thirty in the morning currently after Erica has gone to bed and I am frantically packing for our two-week jaunt up to Salvador and then to one of Brazil's most famous national parks: Chapada Diamantina.  I'm really excited!  I already don't want her to leave as I know it will be a long and lonely dry spell between visitors before the next one . . . Sean on September 5!  Saying that I can't wait for him to get here doesn't even begin to cover how hard it's been.  Thank goodness for Sue and Erica who came to visit during my vacation and brought a lot of love and support with them - I really appreciate it!

Getting ready for surf class

Learning to stand up paddle on the bay