Sunday, April 3, 2011

Return of the Blank Stare

I've now been to Brazil twice.  The first time was during Semana Santa (Holy Week/Spring Break) three years ago; my friend Tina and I visited the Amazon region, spending four days in the Brazilian rainforest and one afternoon wandering around the isolated town of Tabatinga, across the river from Colombian's Leticia.  Last week I was in Campinas, Brazil, for an educational conference where I was on hand to help present the teacher evaluation system a committee of international educators helped develop over the coarse of last year, meeting several times in Quito, Ecuador.  But that's not what I want to talk about.  (The conference was phenomenal, however; I got to meet a lot of interesting and inspiring people as well as learn to look at the education profession from a fresh perspective.)

Bom dia, Campinas!  Morning traffic
from my hotel window in Campinas.
I want to address the fact that Brazilians speak Portuguese and not Spanish, like the majority of the rest of the continent.  Even when I arrived in Colombian with, what I always claim to be, no Spanish, I was able to count, exchange pleasantries and ask for both a bathroom and a beer.  I far as speaking and comprehending verbally, I might as well have gone to China.  Since Portuguese is similar in many ways to the other Romance languages - French, Spanish, Italian - it often comes across sounding like a fusion of all three, to the uninitiated ear.  Almost like the speaker is trying to speak Spanish with a bad French accent while moving a few marbles around inside their mouth.

One thing I didn't have to struggle with was the fact that in Brazil it is common to serve cake at breakfast.  And not pastry-type cakes, cake cake.  Like "happy birthday" its 7am cakes.  Thanks for waking up, you deserve frosting and sprinkles!  I have an automatic positive bias for a country that embraces dessert for breakfast.

On the plus side, my tourist visa is valid for ten years - longer than my passport's expiration date - so I plan on making use of this situation.  It will take some effort to learn to function in the Portuguese language but I'm excited at the prospect.  I just need to start forcing myself to say "obrigado" instead of "gracias," which, it turns out, is my knee-jerk foreign language response to a lot of things!  Hopefully the next time I return I'll have a few more words up my sleeve and not have to play charades with [beautiful] people of Brazil.
Strolling the steets of São Paulo, Brasil.  This street, Ave.
Paulista reminded me a lot of Michigan Ave in Chicago.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

uggs on sale, louis vuitton outlet, chanel handbags, louboutin pas cher, nike free, nike roshe run, louboutin outlet, louis vuitton, sac longchamp, louis vuitton, christian louboutin outlet, jordan shoes, oakley sunglasses, ugg boots, louis vuitton outlet, nike outlet, nike air max, longchamp, tory burch outlet, oakley sunglasses, longchamp outlet, ray ban sunglasses, oakley sunglasses, nike air max, burberry, cheap oakley sunglasses, ray ban sunglasses, polo ralph lauren outlet, ugg boots, louboutin shoes, michael kors, louboutin, longchamp outlet, tiffany and co, ralph lauren pas cher, oakley sunglasses, kate spade outlet, prada handbags, ray ban sunglasses, air max, prada outlet, nike free, replica watches, louis vuitton, longchamp pas cher, replica watches, tiffany jewelry, polo ralph lauren outlet, gucci outlet, air jordan pas cher

Unknown said...

giuseppe zanotti, nike roshe, longchamp, nike trainers, reebok shoes, timberland boots, lancel, abercrombie and fitch, converse outlet, mont blanc, hollister, ferragamo shoes, hollister, ralph lauren, p90x workout, nike air max, babyliss, beats by dre, vans, iphone cases, chi flat iron, nike air max, nfl jerseys, mcm handbags, lululemon, ray ban, wedding dresses, louboutin, valentino shoes, bottega veneta, soccer jerseys, herve leger, hollister, celine handbags, nike huarache, asics running shoes, soccer shoes, new balance, oakley, ghd, instyler, gucci, north face outlet, insanity workout, baseball bats, vans shoes, jimmy choo shoes, north face outlet, mac cosmetics, birkin bag

Unknown said...

pandora jewelry, canada goose uk, canada goose, ugg,ugg australia,ugg italia, louis vuitton, moncler outlet, ugg boots uk, bottes ugg, replica watches, pandora charms, moncler, links of london, swarovski, hollister, thomas sabo, moncler, barbour jackets, canada goose outlet, barbour, louis vuitton, louis vuitton, canada goose, juicy couture outlet, canada goose, toms shoes, canada goose, moncler, louis vuitton, moncler, doudoune canada goose, wedding dresses, pandora charms, karen millen, ugg pas cher, juicy couture outlet, moncler, coach outlet, sac louis vuitton pas cher, canada goose outlet, pandora jewelry, moncler, supra shoes, marc jacobs, montre pas cher, moncler, ugg,uggs,uggs canada, swarovski crystal