Semana Farroupilha

It seems that it is only when I sit down with nothing in particular to say that I am actually able to write anything. I don't know how to write about actual things. This past week has been Semana Farroupilha, which is, in short, a week long street party to celebrate a war that we lost. Any excuse for a party. But then, thinking about it, in New Zealand we have a day off in June, to celebrate the birthday of a queen we don't really care about who was born in April. There is no precedent for these things making sense. So anyway, some history. Rio Grande so Sul, where I live, is the southernmost state of Brazil, and is very keen on differentiating itself from the rest of the country. So keen that in the 19th century they had a revolution and declared independence, which lasted all of 7 years, the war of farroupilhas. This history is irrelevant, the point is, this part of Brazil has a very distinct culture and we just spent the week celebrating it.

With accordion playing. (the songs never seem to quite scan right. This may be a general problem that folk music has)

And little house things (casinhas I think) set up all around the park for the week. I think the deal with these was they are set up by the local council (thing, whatever, i don't actually know what it's called) and then you could rent one for the week. So we shared one with my host dad's work colleagues. There were people around all the time, but we ate there about 6 times during the week. Lots of churrasco (see the picture below) which is a kind of barbaque and incredibly yum. Not a good place for a vegetarian.

This is what the whole park looked like. Lots of people wandering around in their traditional outfits (including me, whoo! But I don't have any good photos of that, I will try to get one some time. Suffice to say I adore my gaucha pants (bombachas) and I see no reason to confine the wearing of them to this one week.

More churrasco, almost done now...

And there were concerts of traditional music and dancing

She probably won't thank me for saying this, but I think that Larissa and her dance partner are the cutest thing that ever existed. 

And finally a parade with people riding horses down the street.

Looking back at my photos there are a lot of things i failed to capture. Like there are no good photos of what the traditional costume actually is. There was also a lot more sitting around in the casinhas chatting (not my favourite, being as my chatting abilities are not exactly scintillating) and wandering around the park and a fair amount of drinking and playing cards (playing cards appears to be a manly thing to do here). It kind of reminded me of going camping over christmas in New Zealand, with barbaques and beer and sitting around in deck chairs. About the same amount of rain too.

Mum suggested I blog again, so here I go with the bloggings. This week is Semana Farroupilha (get your googling skills out if you like folks), so there's been lots of exciting cultural stuff happening, but I am waiting to blog about that until it's finished, because I like completeness. Have a teaser photo:

So today's blog post is just going to be random things that I've been up to, whatever happens to pop into my head. First, today is Larissa's birthday. Happy Birthday to my beautiful little sister!

Other things. I found a cafe with amazing hot chocolates the other day. It was like really really good hot chocolate custard. That sounds a bit weird, but it was amazing (especially after my other two cafe experiences in Brazil- one that was so sweet it was undrinkable and had fake jam in it, and the other was kind of beige coloured and as far as I could tell contained no hint of chocolate). To go along with that, it's weird the things that you do regularly and you never think about how you do them, because that's just what you do. Like we just take it as given that you go to a cafe, and you order your drink or whatever and then you pay and go sit down. But in Brazil you don't pay until you leave (that was a bit awkward the first time). Also most restaurants are buffets, where they weigh your plate and charge you based on that. The food is amazing, but I have no photos, because I always have that moment where I wonder if it would be awkward to pull my camera out, and decide that yes, it would. 

I've also been going for runs quite a bit, in a vain attempt to conteract the effect of the aforementioned hot chocolates. And the brigadeiros, which are pretty much just condensed milk and cocoa. And the pastels (kind of pie-ish things). Yeah, you get the idea. Maybe I should just talk about food. Food is good. 

What else... I've now posted enough letters that the people in the post office know me. I guess that's a good thing? If you want a letter message me your address :)

Basically life is pretty normal. I wouldn't say I'm full of ecstatic joy, I'm just content. This is my life, and I could carry on this way for a while. I read books, I sit through school half comprehending, I smile at people in lieu of actual conversation, I live. 

It's only September!!!

Independence Day

This Saturday was Independence day in Brazil, so there was a big parade of all the schools. I'm not really feeling like writing much in the way of words, so the pictures can tell the story.

I was feeling restless and disatisfied yesterday, so I wrote this. I don't really know where it's going, but I thought I'd share anyway. Will blog about actual Brazil things soon.

I’m just a teenage girl living in Brazil, struggling day by day just to communicate, and yet I want to change the world. I want to be big and strong and make sweeping changes to the way the world works, and yet I can’t. I can’t even say no to buying bottled water. It makes me feel so trapped and frustrated. There’s so much wrong with the world, do I even need to list the ways, and yet what can I do? There are so many people who could change the world, but they don’t, and it’s really hard not to see them as evil because of that. I’m watching a world that WE are destroying. It’s not destroying itself, this is our fault. It’s not ‘their’ fault, we are collectively as humanity to blame. And so I accept my share of the blame, but I don’t know how to be my share of the solution. I know that I am in a priviledged position compared to so much of the world, and so I must be more than just my share of the solution. I must take reposnibility for those who can’t and for those you won’t . But I am still just me. Little me. Waiting for my life to start. Waiting for the bit where I am able to change the world. I know it’s not going to come just through waiting, but right now I feel awfully small, and I need someone bigger to do it for me. Even if that bigger person is Sophie-of-the-future. If Sophie-of-the-future is going to change the world (not ambitious or anything) what can Sophie-of-the-present do to make that possible? I really don’t know. Right now I’m going nowhere, just waiting. 

Hey, so, I thought it must be about blogging time again. I got back yesterday from a rather loooong 4 days of more sitting in buses than anything else. Actually it was the AFS orientation in Porto Alegre, but the buses have consumed all of my head space so I can't think about anything else. There's only so much bus one person can take, and 17 hours over one weekend is a wee little bit too much. Brazil is a big place, with terrible roads...

So anyway, orientation. It was just so nice to have the opportunity to chat with other exchange students. In english... The orientation sessions themselves were nothing to write home about, but oh how wonderful it is to be able to talk and be understood and understand people and ah, sigh. I've missed that. Also helpful for my self esteem was that when people spoke Portuguese they mostly talked slowly and simply, so I understood everything. I begin to think maybe this learning Portuguese thing isn't impossible after all. (Though my newfound confidence was somewhat shattered by eing asked to write about the history of New Zealand today, and realising I don't know the past tense. So I wrote history in present tense. Very badly)

Look at the pretty!

I think going to Porto Alegre was a reminder that I needed that Frederico does not represent the whole of Brazil. Just like I would hope we wouldn't judge New Zealand based on a month spent living in Levin. There's a whole lot more to Brazil than the tiny sliver I have experienced. Also I didn't realise how much I missed the sea until I saw it again. New Zealand is a beautiful place... But so is Brazil. 

I'm sure I had way more that I wanted to blog about, but now it's all vamooshed from my head. It's amazing how normal this life in Brazil is becoming. Blah, I have no idea what I wanted to say. So I will just post this anyway. Enjoy the nothing, my lovelies