Help Solidarium! Help Brazil!

While I was in Curitiba I worked for the microfinance section of a nonprofit that also had areas working in education/training and fair trade.  The fair trade section of the organization is called Solidarium, and they recently became finalists for the Unreasonable Institute’s Fellowship program.  The program brings fellows from all over the world to the United States for an intensive six week training, where they are also connected to mentors, investors, and a plethora of resources.  I think that Solidarium would benefit immensely from participating as a fellow– so this is where you come in! The first 25 of the 45 finalists to raise $8,000 become fellows.  However, during the first week all of the donations are limited to a maximum of $10 so that they can prove they’re able to mobilize people all over the world, and show the expanse of their network.  Let’s show Brazil they have friends and supporters all over the world!

Please consider making a donation!  You can learn more about the project and donate here: http://marketplace.unreasonableinstitute.org/ventures/view/54/

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to contact me.  Please send this to anyone you think might be interested!

http://marketplace.unreasonableinstitute.org/index/widget/campaign/54/Solidarium

Just in Case Anyone Still Reads This…

And is wondering about my whereabouts…I’m still here! (But not for long)

This last week in Curitiba they had a city-wide arts/culture event called Virada Cultural that had a bunch of free concerts and other arts programming all over the city.  I saw:

-A concert by Pato Fu
-A capoeira event
-The Brazilian film Quincas Berro d’Agua, which I highly recommend if you can find a subtitled version!
-The play Divorciadas, Evangelicas e Vegetarianas, which was the hilarious story of the chance encounter of three women: one divorced, one vegetarian, and one evangelical (original script written by a Venezuelan).
-Not part of the cultural event week, but a cultural event for me nonetheless: An Umbanda Ceremony. Wikipedia says: “Umbanda is an Afro-Brazilian religion that blends African religions with Catholicism, Spiritism and many indigenous lore.”  The article makes for an interesting read, and the event made for an interesting experience.  (See video of a ceremony here)

Umbanda is believed to have grown out of the poor black population in Rio de Janeiro– however most of it’s followers today are  in the south of Brazil, and are middle-class and White.  It was interesting to observe who was in attendance– as men made their way through the crowd in business suits, brushing elbows with little old women in traditional dress.

I’m headed to the beach this weekend because we have a long weekend through Monday, so I’ll write a longer update next week! Beijos!

 

Wall Art of the Week #7

This wall art was found in Largo da Ordem, the pedestrian street in downtown Curitiba.  I like the wall art, but I especially like the door, and the fact that a dove (albino pigeon) is popping it’s head out of the top of the door.

Rain, Rain Go Away

What’s that? You’re not ready to leave?  Ok, then I will!

I’m hopping on a bus tonight to Ilha Grande to meet my friend Emily and to thaw out for the long weekend.

Here’s hoping that there’s hot and sunny weather the whole time I’m in Ilha Grande…

…and that by the time I’m back in Curitiba the Gods of Summer will decide that sitting in wet/rainy clothes all day at work, $3 flimsy umbrellas, and being chilled to the bone without the relief of Central heating, are a thing of the past here, too.

Wall Art of the Week #6 (ok, street art)

On my way to work on Friday I was intrigued by the people standing around the crosswalk with a video camera, but crossed on the other side of the street so as not to get in the way.

On my way home I saw this in the crosswalk:

Turns out it was a city-wide public art project, and crosswalks everywhere were being painted!  I even found a video of this specific crosswalk being painted.

Also, here’s a view of the plaza I have to walk through every day on my home from work…kinda cute, no?

September showers bring…October flowers?

Just searched for the 10 day Curitiba forecast, and to my dismay, this is what appeared:

September 21st was supposedly the first official day of spring here…which I was anticipating with open arms!  However, in my mind I was going to be frolicking through daisy fields with warm sun on my back…not wading through knee-deep puddles [last night there were definitely flash-flood conditions around these parts].  I didn’t think the sayings “April showers bring May flowers,” or “In like a lion, out like a lamb” were capable of transcending international boundaries and hemispheric seasonal zones.  I mean, this is Brazil, I’m supposed to be on a beach, right?

I think it’s time I buy an umbrella.

Como se fala “hipster?”

A few nights ago I ended up at an indie bar called James in Curitiba– apparently one of the hottest dance spots in town (plenty of Lady Gaga to go around).

The Brazilians explained to me that all of the people that go to the bar are “indie,” which they actually say in English with a heavy Portuguese accent.  To which I replied, “Oh yeah, what you call ‘indie’ we would call ‘hipster‘ in the United States.

I spent a significant amount of time trying to explain what a hipster was in my broken portuguese.

After the entire explanation where I repeated the word “hipster” many times…

A Brazilian girl looked at me and said, “Wait, are you sure that’s what ‘hamster‘ means?”

If Hipster was also a new term to you, dear reader, please also visit:

• Hipster Puppies
• Hipster Kitty
• Hipster Dinosaurs

A Vida Cotidiana

I feel like I’ve neglected writing about my daily life in Curitiba, so I’ll try and cover that in this post if you’re interested!

Living:

I live in the downtown– 15 minutes walking from work, near to a bus stop [Curitiba essentially has an above ground Metro system], close to the university where I’m taking Portuguese classes, a grocery store, a park, etc. etc.

I’m living with one other Brazilian girl who’s the same age as me– she’s also an AIESECer and works part-time at the organization where I’m interning.

Here are pictures from out my window:

While my vertical blinds don’t do the best job keeping the light out, and it can be noisy at night, my doorman is quite pleasant, and everything’s been great so far!  Additionally, the apartment is structured so that I have a view from about 15 feet directly into someone else’s apartment from our kitchen window.  I can only imagine that this convenient set-up will either lead to me being a key witness in a murder mystery, or a steamy Brazilian novela…I’ll keep you updated.

Work:

Work has been great so far (despite a few internet glitches in the office- aka not being able to connect at all).  In the office it’s all Portuguese all the time, which is both nice, and mentally exhausting.  I’m working for Impulso, the microcredit branch of the organization Alianca Empreendedora, which works to develop low-income entrepreneurs through training, credit, and access to resources and a marketplace [see earlier post about their online store hosted by Walmart.com.br]

I’m currently researching online money transfer systems [like PayPal, etc.] that we can integrate into their web portal for international investors.  The trouble is most services require 501c3 status to receive reduced nonprofit rates…does anyone know of some great ones that I’m missing?  Let me know!

Once we get the system and portal in place I’ll move into the international investors recruitment phase– so I hope to get as many of you to try out investing on the portal as possible!

Portuguese:

Some days I impress even myself when I convince Curitibanos that I’m Brazilian for a few minutes, or when they insist I must have been born in Brazil and then moved to the United States…other days I’m quite sure there’s someone from Fail Blog waiting in the wings with a video camera.  It’s hard to say what tomorrow will bring.

I am however attempting to be proactive by taking Portuguese classes at the University here.  They’re twice a week in the afternoon for 3 hours.  When I arrived to the school for a placement exam, instead they just talked to me and decided that I would be placed into Intermediario para Hispanos, or Intermediate for Latinos, haha.

My teacher is a total hoot, I really can’t think of another way to describe her.  It seems like a good portion of the class will just be listening to her tell hilarious stories.

For example: The first day she went on and on about why she really misses/loves her small town roots, as she grew up in a town of a few hundred.  She told this story of how when she was 8 years old she woke up in the early hours of the morning and noticed that her parents still weren’t home, and her brother told her they were at the town bar.  So she decided she wanted to go find them…but first she wanted to put on her duck costume left over from the school play [this was no ordinary duck costume-- it was covered in real bright yellow feathers from head to toe].  So she got ready in her duck costume and then walked into “town.”  When she arrived the doorman told her that ducks were not permitted in the bar so she couldn’t enter.  After a little begging [but never taking off the head of her costume to reveal her identity] she was allowed in.  The whole bar watched the little duck walk in to her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc.  None of them were surprised that she was in a duck costume– they were more worried that she was quite hot and sweating a lot in the costume.  Her mom took her to the bathroom and took the costume off, but she was only wearing her underwear underneath.  She said her parents never sent her home, but she was more embarrassed to be sitting in the bar in her underwear than she was as a duck in the bar.

She ended with, “And that’s why I like small towns, because when you’re 8 you can go to the bar at 5 in the morning in a duck costume, and not get sent home…you could never do that in Curitiba.”

The mental image of a little duck in a bar has left me laughing out loud by myself at unpredictable moments all week.

Ate mais!

The No-Pants Dilemma/It’s still winter in Brazil

This morning I got back from my overnight bus back from Iguazu Falls at 6:30 am.  Thinking I was clever while in a half-awake state, I took all of my clothes out of my backpack and threw them right in the wash.  I awoke around lunch time to hang all of my clothes on the line to dry, when I realized that the only three pairs of pants I have here were now soaking wet [as well as most of my other acceptable looking clothing].  I wasn’t too worried as I didn’t have anywhere pressing to be– until I realized that I had no food or drinking water in my apartment [can't drink out of the tap-- just take my word on that].  So, suddenly the grocery store was quite the pressing place to be.

I lallygagged* around and thought about my options while talking to Carybeth on Gchat:

4:03 PM Carybeth: no pants is quite an obstacle to conquering no food
4:05 PM me: bahaha, I’ve realized

So my options were:
A) Stay in my apartment and not eat or drink until my pants dry [sometime tomorrow]
B) Put on wet pants and risk leaving a trail of drip marks through the exit hallway of my apartment
C) Put on ridiculous looking, weather-inappropriate clothing and risk being gawked at by Brazilians

I went ahead and came to terms with option C– no matter what I’m wearing/doing I usually look a bit out of place.

So I stepped into the brisk 57 degree afternoon with a pair of sandals, a skirt, a sweater, and my head held semi-high [let's face it, I'm already tall enough].  As I walked past Brazilians in their winter coats and snow boots I thought about how I can’t wait for summer here to start, and how next time I’ll do a better job packing!

*Who honestly knew that “lallygagged” was spelled that way?  It’s always appeared as lolligagging in my mind.

Wall Art of the Week #4

When I was in Santiago I started doing a Wall Art of the Week posting on my blog…but I only made it to Week 3.  Unfortunately, I still can’t promise a weekly post, but the alliteration is just too good for me to change it to Wall Art of When I Find Something Beautiful and Remember to Post It.  So here I am, picking up at Week 4:

“Quando nasce um filho, nasce uma mãe” –
“When a child is born, a mother is born”

Shout out to my cousin Kristen and her little fishbowl.

Unfortunately, I will have to temporarily retire Fabulous ‘Do of the Week until I once again make my way to a location that has ridiculous hairstyles.

[This wall art was found in Sao Paulo, Brazil; photo credit: Emily]