A generous shower and two loads of washing later and I finally felt revived enough to mix with the rest of the group at Casa Amarelinho where around twenty five fellow volunteers found the hike up numerous steps under a stifling Rio sun up to the house almost as strenuous as I did. It was hard to get the head around such a mixture of nationalities ranging from Estonia to Colombia as well as the mélange of personalities. Most disturbing of all though was the inhabitants unusual kindness and immediate generosity towards each other which I simply could not adjust to, questioning their motives and quasi interest in my life and instead opting to keep a safe distance to such awkward behaviour.
With the Brazilian elections coming up in Autumn, why not vote for World Cup 1994 winning striker, Bebeto
On the Monday I decided to join my new colleague at my project, Alex from Vienna (he is so proud of his motherland that he should work at their tourist board), for the fifty minute bus ride to the communidade favela in Batam, in order to take a closer look at our social centre Tatiane Lima - run by Luciano, a good natured and jolly fellow, beside him his wife - a touch more school matron but a wonderful cook. For my first English class with Alex I prepared some thought provoking white board pictures of various fruits and meat for the children, only it being an overcast Monday morning nobody attended.
In the afternoon we took on the advanced English lesson - focused more for the community members who wish to enhance their language skills in preparation for the upcoming tourists opportunities that coincide with the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio and 2014 World Cup.
An hilarious misunderstanding occurred when our student, with his jesters facade, asked us mid demonstration on transportation, as to the translation for the word ´Banheiros´. Alex and I assumed his query was related to the transit world and when dumbfounded by badly sliced guesses we asked him to act out and draw up on the board what word he meant. It appeared that he wished to visit the loos. His actions and drawing were a little too graphic to share.
The lovely team at Tatiane Lima, Batam
On route home we conquered the unscheduled buses (there are no timetables and at times no fixed stops - so very Brasil) leaving through the streets back to Centro. An urban myth I cared to overhear is that the bus conductors are paid by the total distance covered during their shift which provides an easy answer to the soaring velocity at which the omnibuses blaze over the tarmac with little care for the pedestrians or swaying passengers thrown around like tarzan on a twisting vine (Jane is replaced by an irascible Carioca).
In store back at the Iko Poran office in Santa Teresa was an intensive Portuguese course that all the new intake had to prepare and attend to for four hours each evening on their first week of the programme. Orchestrating the ordeal was an ex-Melbourne-ite lady with snake and skull fascinations and between castigating us for our mispronunciations would divulge in glorious raw detail her perfume laced trail of seduction across the city with weekend millionaires and local biker boys.
In store back at the Iko Poran office in Santa Teresa was an intensive Portuguese course that all the new intake had to prepare and attend to for four hours each evening on their first week of the programme. Orchestrating the ordeal was an ex-Melbourne-ite lady with snake and skull fascinations and between castigating us for our mispronunciations would divulge in glorious raw detail her perfume laced trail of seduction across the city with weekend millionaires and local biker boys.
Some light reading aimed at the children, found at the Tatiane Lima library
On our first free day on the Friday (hallelujah for three day weekends) a group of us including Bimo - Chicago, Alex - Vienna, Shakira - St Lucia via East 17, Nick - Boston, David - Santiago, Jen -Seattle, Elissavet - Greece and two Spanish senoritas, threw our worn beach towels over our shoulders and arrived at Poste Sete on Ipanema beach to make the most of the incalescence in the atmosphere. The highlight for all of us was spying a rather glamorous photo shoot in the distance featuring a long blonde haired and leggy naiad on the pier who on closer inspection was nothing more than a transsexual. A disappointment.
To make up for this disaster, Bimo, Alex and I found some sort of solace by eating a warm churros - a Brazilian version of a donut, layered in fine sugar and filled with ample warm dulce de leite sauce. An utter revelation.
In the evening, the group bought in a few of bottles of terrifically cheap vinho tinto and Antarctica chopp before meandering down the steps towards the well trodden and destructive Lapa. After a couple of muscular caipirinhas and some ill advised tequila shots sponsored by Shakira, what followed can be described only as...
[SCENE MISSING]
In the morning, wearing the same clothes and without my keys, Alex and I were joined for lunch at the nearby favela Cochina restaurant by Aaron all the way from downtown L.A. During mouthfuls of grelhado frango and a sheer mountain of batata frittas, he divulged to his two sunglass wearing and still slightly inebriated friends of what occurred the night before. Apparently Seattle Jen and I fell on a pile of garbage on our staggering route home and after sitting atop the mound for several minutes in fits of laughter we realised that we were in fact sat on a homeless man and his cardboard empire as if we were in the comfort of a leather sofa. Fom what I can gather, the bum was found rocking gently in a foetal position when we arose. Perhaps our initial good intentions for addressing social injustice in South America was not quite going the way it ought to have been.
Tatiane Lima kids try out some capoeira
At the project with (l-r) Eabhall, Me, Shakira, Aaron, Jen, Luciano, with Alex and Nick in the background looking shady
Tatiane Lima kids try out some capoeira
At the project with (l-r) Eabhall, Me, Shakira, Aaron, Jen, Luciano, with Alex and Nick in the background looking shady
At the weekend, after a kind invitation from the team at Tatiane Lima, a swarm of us visited the social centre in order to celebrate Shakira´s imminent departure, though we found out on arrival that it was more of a general caipoeria dance fiesta aimed for all the community. However, after a noose enticing litter of speeches in Portuguese, we passed around heaps of local cuisine and plastic cups of Caipirinhas - which were more akin to pure liquor and some sugar. To close the evening the children at the project, aged from anywhere between three and twelve, proceeded to entertain and shock us in equal measure with their body popping and intimate grinding on the dancefloor. They learn at a very young age over here indeed.
Some of my kids get street
i-Pod Song of the Day - Orestes Barbosa - Chão de Estrelas
My first foray into the wonderful world of Brasilian music was through the film Woman On Top with the luminous Penelope Cruz. The album celebrates more the acoustic side of the country´s warm rhythms and tepid verse.
It was one hell of an awesome time! And I´m sure the next 2 weeks are going to be as awesome as the first onees.
ReplyDeleteI´m also glad to announce that Krish and I finally "got our shit together" after recovering several days.
Cheers!
Alex (all the way from lovely Vienna)