Sniff sniff. Our second day here.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Last night in Floripa
Yesterday was pretty uneventful. Many of us were frantically trying to finish up our blogs for class and our essay that is also due today, so socializing was scarce.
We did, however, manage to venture out to Lagoa for some "Mexican" food. Actually it wasn´t too bad, but not like back home and I stil desperately want a burrito. We didn´t leave the hotel until about 11 and didn´t even eat until midnight. I´ve become so accustomed to doing everything so late here that going back home will be a big transition since everything is closed by either 10 or 2. That´s one thing I don´t miss about home.
Today was our last day of class and here I am, blogging. I documented our daily walk to school today. I wanted to get a feel for those back home at just how pretty it is here. I hope I captured it ok. I´m a bit scared at how much money the hotel has charged us for all of the water, soda and chips we´ve consumed, not to mention black dyed-towels, carpet stains and god knows what else happened to the room **cough cough Celine! cough cough***
I´m sad to be leaving, but can´t wait to get home, but I guess right now my vacation offially starts. Summer school is over! Woo hoo!
I have loved my stay here in Floripa and I hope to return sometime very soon, hopefully with some knowledge of the language.
I guess I´m not feeling very philosophical right now, I just wrote out all of my good thougts on my essay.
We did, however, manage to venture out to Lagoa for some "Mexican" food. Actually it wasn´t too bad, but not like back home and I stil desperately want a burrito. We didn´t leave the hotel until about 11 and didn´t even eat until midnight. I´ve become so accustomed to doing everything so late here that going back home will be a big transition since everything is closed by either 10 or 2. That´s one thing I don´t miss about home.
Today was our last day of class and here I am, blogging. I documented our daily walk to school today. I wanted to get a feel for those back home at just how pretty it is here. I hope I captured it ok. I´m a bit scared at how much money the hotel has charged us for all of the water, soda and chips we´ve consumed, not to mention black dyed-towels, carpet stains and god knows what else happened to the room **cough cough Celine! cough cough***
I´m sad to be leaving, but can´t wait to get home, but I guess right now my vacation offially starts. Summer school is over! Woo hoo!
I have loved my stay here in Floripa and I hope to return sometime very soon, hopefully with some knowledge of the language.
I guess I´m not feeling very philosophical right now, I just wrote out all of my good thougts on my essay.
Almost over :( And some fotos!
Watching the game with our new amigos.
And I swear that´s not the only outfit I have!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Teaching English as a foreign language
After class yesterday I met up with my friend Murilo and his friend Dalmo for veggie food and after that, walked to the bay, but not before getting caught in the rain. It was so pretty and I haven´t experienced rain in so long in draught-prone California that I didn´t mind that I got soaked.
But the funniest part about yesterday was teaching my Brazilian friends new English words. I was trying to explain my job and what I do and what Section 8 is and what our tenants are like and the word "ghetto" slipped out of my mouth. But much to my dismay, nobody knew what "ghetto" meant. So I had to consult my inner dictionary to try to define the word ghetto. I was pretty much stumped. How DO you descibe what ghetto means? I came up with words like "loud, obnoxious, cheap, too many kids, ignant" amongst others, but my meaning just wasn´t getting across. I settled by saying "sorry, you just have to see it to understand." Big taste of cultural differences. There are no ghetto people in Brazil. How wonderful, eh?
I also had a bit of a cross cultural language difficulty when later on after eating Brazilian barbeque (I settled for the vast array of side dishes, but the waiters kept coming around the table with every type of dead animal you can think of- it was like eating in a slaughter house) we were hanging out with another group of friends at their house near school watching the Brazil vs. Mexico futból game (Mexico won). My friend Felipé shocked and offended both me and the other 3 of my classmates who went when he called me a skank! When I asked him why he called me that, he called me it again! He didn´t understand why I was getting so offended and it took me a minute to realize what he was trying to say when it dawned on me that he meant to say "skunk". I had to explain to Felipe that he had to be careful with what he said in some cases, because the word "skank" is like a prostitute. He was so upset that he accidentally called me a skank, but excited that he learned a new word! We all had a good laugh out of it.
The language barriers make the adventure all that more fun!
But the funniest part about yesterday was teaching my Brazilian friends new English words. I was trying to explain my job and what I do and what Section 8 is and what our tenants are like and the word "ghetto" slipped out of my mouth. But much to my dismay, nobody knew what "ghetto" meant. So I had to consult my inner dictionary to try to define the word ghetto. I was pretty much stumped. How DO you descibe what ghetto means? I came up with words like "loud, obnoxious, cheap, too many kids, ignant" amongst others, but my meaning just wasn´t getting across. I settled by saying "sorry, you just have to see it to understand." Big taste of cultural differences. There are no ghetto people in Brazil. How wonderful, eh?
I also had a bit of a cross cultural language difficulty when later on after eating Brazilian barbeque (I settled for the vast array of side dishes, but the waiters kept coming around the table with every type of dead animal you can think of- it was like eating in a slaughter house) we were hanging out with another group of friends at their house near school watching the Brazil vs. Mexico futból game (Mexico won). My friend Felipé shocked and offended both me and the other 3 of my classmates who went when he called me a skank! When I asked him why he called me that, he called me it again! He didn´t understand why I was getting so offended and it took me a minute to realize what he was trying to say when it dawned on me that he meant to say "skunk". I had to explain to Felipe that he had to be careful with what he said in some cases, because the word "skank" is like a prostitute. He was so upset that he accidentally called me a skank, but excited that he learned a new word! We all had a good laugh out of it.
The language barriers make the adventure all that more fun!
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Lone vegetarian cafe provides refuge for city´s progressives
Florianopolis vegetarians find difficulties with the lack of restaurants catering to their dietary needs
BY Nicole Signoretti
Florianopolis, Brasil (June 26, 2007)- Brasil is a country that is well known for its tradition of barbequed meats and other meat cuisines, but a growing number of people on the Brasilian island of Florianópolis are mocking this tradition by giving up meat altogether in favor of vegetarian diets.
"I gave up meats mainly for ethical reasons," journalism major Murilo Mellio says.
According to Mellio, the small island and college town of Florianopolis is a very progressive and liberal city, especially compared to the rest of Brasil.
Many students and residents alike are opting for vegetarian diets rather than carnivorous ones for reasons similar to the ethical ones Mellio mentioned.
The problem with this progressive movement is that due to Brasil´s strong meat-eating culture, it is difficult for vegetarians to find nutritious, meat-free meals, even in liberal Florianopolis .
UFSC gastronomy student Pedro Enrique says, "Meat is such a big part of our meals, I usually don´t cook without it."
This appears to be the overall mentality of most restaurant owners in Florianopolis as well. A typical buffet in Florianopolis consists of salads, fruits, French fries, rice and beans, which sounds like it should be a sufficient and nutritious vegetarian meal. The downside however, is that most of the food items have hidden meat products in them.
For example, black beans usually contain pork products and by-products and many rice dishes are cooked in various animal based broths.
This can prove to be most distressing for a vegetarian trying to eat out in Brasil.
Mellio says that he usually avoids this dilemma by cooking most of his meals at home.
But for those who are either too busy or unable to cook their own meals all of the time, there aren´t very many options for Brasilian vegetarians in regard to eating out or on the go.
One exception to this is Hong Ka Vegetariano Restaurant just south of the UFSC campus.
According to UFSC journalism student Felipe Monteiro, the Vegetariano Café is very popular amongst locals trying to find a decent, meat-free meal.
The restaurant is buffet style, similar to many other restaurants in Florianopolis , but all dishes are completely meat free.
The café provides a wide array of Asian foods, such as noodles, fried rice, dumplings, soy orange chicken, tofu and many other fulfilling and nutritious dishes.
The owners of the café were not available for comment due to language barriers.
Aside from the vegetarian café, being a vegetarian in a largely meat-eating society can be a difficult endeavor. For those who are vegans, persons who do not eat any type of animal products including dairy and eggs, eating out can prove to be next to impossible.
Monteiro expresses hope that if more Florianopolis residents opt for vegetarian diets and the demand for vegetarian friendly restaurants increases, then maybe restaurant owners will respond to that demand.
Until then, residents must either cook all of their meals, go back to being carnivores, or just plain starve.
BY Nicole Signoretti
Florianopolis, Brasil (June 26, 2007)- Brasil is a country that is well known for its tradition of barbequed meats and other meat cuisines, but a growing number of people on the Brasilian island of Florianópolis are mocking this tradition by giving up meat altogether in favor of vegetarian diets.
"I gave up meats mainly for ethical reasons," journalism major Murilo Mellio says.
According to Mellio, the small island and college town of Florianopolis is a very progressive and liberal city, especially compared to the rest of Brasil.
Many students and residents alike are opting for vegetarian diets rather than carnivorous ones for reasons similar to the ethical ones Mellio mentioned.
The problem with this progressive movement is that due to Brasil´s strong meat-eating culture, it is difficult for vegetarians to find nutritious, meat-free meals, even in liberal Florianopolis .
UFSC gastronomy student Pedro Enrique says, "Meat is such a big part of our meals, I usually don´t cook without it."
This appears to be the overall mentality of most restaurant owners in Florianopolis as well. A typical buffet in Florianopolis consists of salads, fruits, French fries, rice and beans, which sounds like it should be a sufficient and nutritious vegetarian meal. The downside however, is that most of the food items have hidden meat products in them.
For example, black beans usually contain pork products and by-products and many rice dishes are cooked in various animal based broths.
This can prove to be most distressing for a vegetarian trying to eat out in Brasil.
Mellio says that he usually avoids this dilemma by cooking most of his meals at home.
But for those who are either too busy or unable to cook their own meals all of the time, there aren´t very many options for Brasilian vegetarians in regard to eating out or on the go.
One exception to this is Hong Ka Vegetariano Restaurant just south of the UFSC campus.
According to UFSC journalism student Felipe Monteiro, the Vegetariano Café is very popular amongst locals trying to find a decent, meat-free meal.
The restaurant is buffet style, similar to many other restaurants in Florianopolis , but all dishes are completely meat free.
The café provides a wide array of Asian foods, such as noodles, fried rice, dumplings, soy orange chicken, tofu and many other fulfilling and nutritious dishes.
The owners of the café were not available for comment due to language barriers.
Aside from the vegetarian café, being a vegetarian in a largely meat-eating society can be a difficult endeavor. For those who are vegans, persons who do not eat any type of animal products including dairy and eggs, eating out can prove to be next to impossible.
Monteiro expresses hope that if more Florianopolis residents opt for vegetarian diets and the demand for vegetarian friendly restaurants increases, then maybe restaurant owners will respond to that demand.
Until then, residents must either cook all of their meals, go back to being carnivores, or just plain starve.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Why is everything closed on Sundays????
After our exciting week-end of sand boarding, dancing, boating and hick parties, I was absolutely beat and needed to sleep something fierce. I slept in on Sunday (as much as I could, I was up by 9:30 so that I didn´t miss breakfast). I then returned to my room and slept some more. A little while later, I was hungry again and went with Angie to search for food.
I think Brasil is the complete opposite as the states in terms of how they percieve days of the week. In America, we live for the week-end, in Brasil, they live during the week and recuperate on the week-end. Practically everything is closed down on the week-ends, making eating very difficult.
I was really feeling the lack of kitchen yesterday, because mine and Angie´s search for food was becoming desperate. All the restaurants on our street (with the exception of the bakery, but I wasn´t going to survive off of cake) was closed. Our only option was to head to the mall and the food court (I must have been desperate to willingly go to the mall!)
So we randomly hopped on a bus and ended up at the centro, nowhere near where we needed to go. We hopped on another bus and it started to take us back down the exact same route that the previous bus took us down! So we got off at a radom stop and just walked to the mall. It was freezing! It was sprinkling a little it and bitingly cold. When we finally made it to the mall, it was like a refuge! We ate at the Texano BBQ place and I spent $20 on a plate of food that would´ve cost me $6 somewhere else. I was pretty irritated by that. So we ate and then went to the BIG store (like Brasilian Wal-Mart) to try to find things to eat throughout the week, like Cup of Noodles or something. The only Cup of Noodles we could find were creamy and pizza flavor (blech!) so we ended up getting crackers and cookies. Food of champions!
If there´s one thing that I don´t like about Brasil, it´s the lack of food on the week-ends. I just can´t comprehend how everything is closed on Sundays (and in most cases, Saturdays too). I guess people stay home with their families and cook, which is so odd to me because so many people in the states go out to eat on the week-ends. I guess it´s a concept that I´ll never wrap my head around.
I wouldn´t mind staying home and cooking, but my lack of kitchen makes that next to impossible. Also, since I´m forced to either eat out or eat nothing at all, I´m running out of money really fast. I know I shouldn´t be complaining about the food here, but man how I want a burrito! And a stove that I can cook on! If there´s one thing I´m horribly homesick for, it´s food! I´ve been going to bed without dinner for about 2 weeks now and quite frankly, it sucks!
As sad as I am that this is our last week in Floripa, I´m so glad that I won´t have to try to search for food again on Sunday!
I think Brasil is the complete opposite as the states in terms of how they percieve days of the week. In America, we live for the week-end, in Brasil, they live during the week and recuperate on the week-end. Practically everything is closed down on the week-ends, making eating very difficult.
I was really feeling the lack of kitchen yesterday, because mine and Angie´s search for food was becoming desperate. All the restaurants on our street (with the exception of the bakery, but I wasn´t going to survive off of cake) was closed. Our only option was to head to the mall and the food court (I must have been desperate to willingly go to the mall!)
So we randomly hopped on a bus and ended up at the centro, nowhere near where we needed to go. We hopped on another bus and it started to take us back down the exact same route that the previous bus took us down! So we got off at a radom stop and just walked to the mall. It was freezing! It was sprinkling a little it and bitingly cold. When we finally made it to the mall, it was like a refuge! We ate at the Texano BBQ place and I spent $20 on a plate of food that would´ve cost me $6 somewhere else. I was pretty irritated by that. So we ate and then went to the BIG store (like Brasilian Wal-Mart) to try to find things to eat throughout the week, like Cup of Noodles or something. The only Cup of Noodles we could find were creamy and pizza flavor (blech!) so we ended up getting crackers and cookies. Food of champions!
If there´s one thing that I don´t like about Brasil, it´s the lack of food on the week-ends. I just can´t comprehend how everything is closed on Sundays (and in most cases, Saturdays too). I guess people stay home with their families and cook, which is so odd to me because so many people in the states go out to eat on the week-ends. I guess it´s a concept that I´ll never wrap my head around.
I wouldn´t mind staying home and cooking, but my lack of kitchen makes that next to impossible. Also, since I´m forced to either eat out or eat nothing at all, I´m running out of money really fast. I know I shouldn´t be complaining about the food here, but man how I want a burrito! And a stove that I can cook on! If there´s one thing I´m horribly homesick for, it´s food! I´ve been going to bed without dinner for about 2 weeks now and quite frankly, it sucks!
As sad as I am that this is our last week in Floripa, I´m so glad that I won´t have to try to search for food again on Sunday!
Student differences
So after our long voyage on the boat Saturday, at night, Jena, Pedro, Matt and I headed up to the school for a party at the journalism department. It´s so different than back home, because entire departments all hang out with eachother. If you asked me to name 10 people who were journalism majors at CSULB, I wouldn´t be able to do it!
The party was a theme party: Hicks! It was hilarious! These people went all out for this party. There were guys dressed up with overalls, they had straw hats, pitchforks, blacked out teeth, unibrows... the girls had pigtails, painted their cheeks with big freckles and a few of them had some really cool square dancing dresses that makes me wonder where they got them from. There were teachers there too, which I thought was really interesting, because there was food and beer at this party. I thought it was really neat that everybody in the department, students and teachers all meet up on campus to party together. They played many different types of music, a lot of older American songs (ie- Spice Girls) and a lot of samba too.
It was just so cool and so much different than back home. Many of the students spoke English, and when they found out that we were from California, they flocked over to us to practice their language skills. In talking to them, I discovered that Brasilians are so much more open minded than Americans are (at least, as far as I´ve seen). A lot of them have lived in the states at some point, either working or studying for extended periods of time, something that I´ve always wanted to do in another country. It´s just so cool to me how so many people are bilingual here. It makes me feel dumb that I only know one and a half languages, but totally inspires me to become fluent in Spanish ASAP!
A lot of the people that I talked to asked me if we had parties on campus back in California. I had to try to explain to them that California and Brasil are like two completely different planets in terms of the mentality of the people. People in Cali are so much more closed minded and almost self-centered. I thought it was so cool that the students all get together to hang out in such an open environment. They all danced with eachother and ate hot dogs and just had a good time. I had to try to explain that in Cali, you have your group of friends and you go out with them and stay with them and never really meet new people, because the mentality is just not open like it is here in Brasil. Personally, I like the mentality here much better. I love it how everybody is so open minded and so willing to go out of their way to learn English and even more willing to practice it with native speakers.
In trying to reflect on this, I can´t really comprehend why Californians are so much more introverted (for lack of a better word). I guess it´s just the way we grow up in the states, striving for independence and staying safe within your little clique. When I get back home, I´m going to try to be more open in terms of meeting new people and practicing my Spanish with anybody who speaks it, because coming from my experience here, I´m very grateful that so many people are so willing to speak my language. I refuse to let myself become a stuck up American who´s too busy in her own world to care about how the rest of the world lives. If there´s one thing I bring home from Brasil, I want it to be that.
The party was a theme party: Hicks! It was hilarious! These people went all out for this party. There were guys dressed up with overalls, they had straw hats, pitchforks, blacked out teeth, unibrows... the girls had pigtails, painted their cheeks with big freckles and a few of them had some really cool square dancing dresses that makes me wonder where they got them from. There were teachers there too, which I thought was really interesting, because there was food and beer at this party. I thought it was really neat that everybody in the department, students and teachers all meet up on campus to party together. They played many different types of music, a lot of older American songs (ie- Spice Girls) and a lot of samba too.
It was just so cool and so much different than back home. Many of the students spoke English, and when they found out that we were from California, they flocked over to us to practice their language skills. In talking to them, I discovered that Brasilians are so much more open minded than Americans are (at least, as far as I´ve seen). A lot of them have lived in the states at some point, either working or studying for extended periods of time, something that I´ve always wanted to do in another country. It´s just so cool to me how so many people are bilingual here. It makes me feel dumb that I only know one and a half languages, but totally inspires me to become fluent in Spanish ASAP!
A lot of the people that I talked to asked me if we had parties on campus back in California. I had to try to explain to them that California and Brasil are like two completely different planets in terms of the mentality of the people. People in Cali are so much more closed minded and almost self-centered. I thought it was so cool that the students all get together to hang out in such an open environment. They all danced with eachother and ate hot dogs and just had a good time. I had to try to explain that in Cali, you have your group of friends and you go out with them and stay with them and never really meet new people, because the mentality is just not open like it is here in Brasil. Personally, I like the mentality here much better. I love it how everybody is so open minded and so willing to go out of their way to learn English and even more willing to practice it with native speakers.
In trying to reflect on this, I can´t really comprehend why Californians are so much more introverted (for lack of a better word). I guess it´s just the way we grow up in the states, striving for independence and staying safe within your little clique. When I get back home, I´m going to try to be more open in terms of meeting new people and practicing my Spanish with anybody who speaks it, because coming from my experience here, I´m very grateful that so many people are so willing to speak my language. I refuse to let myself become a stuck up American who´s too busy in her own world to care about how the rest of the world lives. If there´s one thing I bring home from Brasil, I want it to be that.
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