Last week I began co-teaching an after school English class to a group of 12 fifth graders at an NGO called Educari (http://www.educari-ong.org/homesite/) within Vidigal (a favela just south of Léblon beach). They are the cutest things ever! They are so excited to be learning English and love talking to us. According to the director, students in Brazil have classes either in the mornings (7-12pm) or afternoons (1-6pm). Educari provides extra classes, programs, and sports for these kids to keep them out of trouble and off the streets during the remaining hours while their parents are at work.
The school itself is nicer than my grade school. It has a great playground area, nice classrooms with plenty of supplies, TV’s and internet in most rooms, and even a movie theatre and popcorn machine! Apparently, the school was built for rich kids, but somehow got handed down to the school/NGO.
I am co-teaching with 2 of my friends, which is great because we can split the class into small groups for extra practice. It is definitely challenging because we have no experience teaching or preparing lesson plans, and we have the freedom to teach whatever we want. Scary thought, huh? It’s fun to make up games and activities for them, though. Only one of the 12 students has had an English class before so we are starting with the basics. However, they all started singing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” to us the first day of class! It is incredible how much American pop culture has impacted Brazil. My host brother blares Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift in his room everyday. NBA jerseys seem like the thing to wear, and probably 50% (or more) of the TV shows and movies are in English with Portuguese subtitles.
As for the kids I teach; So. Freaking. Cute. Johannes told his friend (who then told me) that he has a crush on me. He always hugs me after class and walks us out to the entrance of the favela. Another cutie with wide eyes and a huge grin on his face all the time, Jonathon, asked to take a picture of us on his phone after class. The other day, we were walking down the hill back home and three of the girls in the class were walking up the steep staircase clinging to the side of the mountain back to their homes. They spotted us down below and started jumping up and down, yelling our names and waving! Talk about rewarding… I can already tell it's going to be very tough leaving them in 4 months!
March 30, 2010
March 17, 2010
School updates
What?! You're actually STUDYING while studying abroad? Yes. I know from the look of this blog that it appears that I'm just using this opportunity to hang out and have fun for a semester (right, Dad?). Who does that? Contrary to popular belief, I am actually doing something productive (at least some of the time :) ). School is almost three weeks underway and I’m starting to actually feel settled in here. With the Intensive Language Program, Carnaval, and summer vacation behind me, it now seems like less of a vacation and more like I am actually living here.
This semester I am taking Portuguese, Brazilian Foreign Policy, Social Political & Economic History of Brazil, and Community Development. All of my classes are in Portuguese and with Brazilian students except for the Foreign Policy class which is taught in English. In my history class, I am the only exchange student. So cool, right? I’m really excited about it because already several people in the class have introduced themselves and offered to help me out if I ever have questions. This makes a huge difference! Especially when the teacher talks rather quickly and writes illegibly. The class also includes a group project in which we study one particular aspect of Brazilian history/culture and give a presentation about it to the class. SCARY! Fortunately, my group seems really cool and I don’t have to go until June. Hopefully by then I’ll speak well enough not to completely embarrass myself :/
The Brazilian Foreign Policy class is so interesting and right up my alley. The flamboyant professor is constantly parading around the room theatrically so it’s rather easy to stay awake despite the fact that it is during my usual afternoon nap ☺. It’s crazy how much Brazilian foreign policy (and history too for that matter) is dependent on US actions. We spent 70-80% of our last class just discussing how the US policies have affected Brazil, and many were not for the best. There are many examples of the US going back on treaties and agreements that we made with Brazil when it was in our own best interest. We just left ‘em hanging. It’s not that Brazilians are bitter towards the US, but it is clear that they don’t agree with our foreign policy in recent years... but I don’t know many Americans that do either. Oops, I didn’t mean for this to be a political commentary, but I blame it on the great documentary I just watched tonight. Check it out if you want to here some interesting interviews with the top government people about the decision to invade Iraq. It's called "Uncovered : The whole truth about the war in Iraq."
The Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro (aka pook-ey ☺). It is a private Catholic school located in the wealthy south zone of the city. The students who go there are typically very well off, and you can definitely tell. Let’s just say they don’t roll into their 9am class in pajamas. Although PUC students sometimes get the reputation of being stuck-up and rude, the ones that I have met have certainly not fit that stereotype. One thing that is different for me though, is some students are very rude to their professors. It is not uncommon for students to talk throughout the whole class, answer their phones, get up and leave ten minutes into class, or even have a full-on make-out session in the back of the room. (Ok, the last one is definitely not “common” but my friend did witness this last week). But for that matter, professors have a much different attitude about class as well. For one thing, most classes start at least 15 minutes after the time on your schedule. Sometimes the teachers come in 20-30 minutes late (but so do the students). I even hung out in a class for an hour once before the teacher finally started teaching. Although after 3 weeks I should know this, I can’t bring myself to be over 5 minutes late to class. I just can’t do it. I blame the years of conditioning. Maybe a few more weeks of sitting in an empty classroom and doing crossword puzzles, reading the newspaper, and awkwardly pretending to text people will crack me. Only time will tell.
More updates on school are sure to come. Thanks for reading!
This semester I am taking Portuguese, Brazilian Foreign Policy, Social Political & Economic History of Brazil, and Community Development. All of my classes are in Portuguese and with Brazilian students except for the Foreign Policy class which is taught in English. In my history class, I am the only exchange student. So cool, right? I’m really excited about it because already several people in the class have introduced themselves and offered to help me out if I ever have questions. This makes a huge difference! Especially when the teacher talks rather quickly and writes illegibly. The class also includes a group project in which we study one particular aspect of Brazilian history/culture and give a presentation about it to the class. SCARY! Fortunately, my group seems really cool and I don’t have to go until June. Hopefully by then I’ll speak well enough not to completely embarrass myself :/
The Brazilian Foreign Policy class is so interesting and right up my alley. The flamboyant professor is constantly parading around the room theatrically so it’s rather easy to stay awake despite the fact that it is during my usual afternoon nap ☺. It’s crazy how much Brazilian foreign policy (and history too for that matter) is dependent on US actions. We spent 70-80% of our last class just discussing how the US policies have affected Brazil, and many were not for the best. There are many examples of the US going back on treaties and agreements that we made with Brazil when it was in our own best interest. We just left ‘em hanging. It’s not that Brazilians are bitter towards the US, but it is clear that they don’t agree with our foreign policy in recent years... but I don’t know many Americans that do either. Oops, I didn’t mean for this to be a political commentary, but I blame it on the great documentary I just watched tonight. Check it out if you want to here some interesting interviews with the top government people about the decision to invade Iraq. It's called "Uncovered : The whole truth about the war in Iraq."
The Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro (aka pook-ey ☺). It is a private Catholic school located in the wealthy south zone of the city. The students who go there are typically very well off, and you can definitely tell. Let’s just say they don’t roll into their 9am class in pajamas. Although PUC students sometimes get the reputation of being stuck-up and rude, the ones that I have met have certainly not fit that stereotype. One thing that is different for me though, is some students are very rude to their professors. It is not uncommon for students to talk throughout the whole class, answer their phones, get up and leave ten minutes into class, or even have a full-on make-out session in the back of the room. (Ok, the last one is definitely not “common” but my friend did witness this last week). But for that matter, professors have a much different attitude about class as well. For one thing, most classes start at least 15 minutes after the time on your schedule. Sometimes the teachers come in 20-30 minutes late (but so do the students). I even hung out in a class for an hour once before the teacher finally started teaching. Although after 3 weeks I should know this, I can’t bring myself to be over 5 minutes late to class. I just can’t do it. I blame the years of conditioning. Maybe a few more weeks of sitting in an empty classroom and doing crossword puzzles, reading the newspaper, and awkwardly pretending to text people will crack me. Only time will tell.
More updates on school are sure to come. Thanks for reading!
March 9, 2010
Life is Good
This is one phrase I have been using a lot lately. How can the phrase not slip from your lips when you are living in one of the most beautiful places in the world, meeting new and interesting people everyday, and experiencing new things on a daily basis? But is this phrase about attitude or reality?
Until tonight, I would have said that it depends on the person. Some people (like me) have had incredibly easy lives. We have had most things handed to us without much fuss. The place we were born, the economic status of our families, and the opportunities available to us made it very easy to acquire a wealth of rich experiences, and I for one, am very thankful for that. However, if my life weren’t so easy, would I still have this positive “life is good” outlook? I’d like to think so, but how can I know?
Tonight was one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. My Community Development class is an interesting mix of people. About half of the class is exchange students who are interested in learning about the social development projects within Brazil. A handful of others are middle to upper class Brazilian students, but the other students have a much more real perspective of these issues. These are mostly people who live in the favelas within Rio and want to learn how to better help their own suffering communities. Most are attending the university through NGO or government scholarships. For the entire two-hour class we were paired up with another student to get to know every aspect of that person, their experiences, and their everyday realities.
I was paired up with a 26 year-old woman named Francilene. She lives with her mom, dad, brother, nephew, and 5-year-old child in a one-room house in Rocinha (the largest favela in Brazil) just down the street from the university. She works for a community health organization within her community where she visits people in their houses to give them vaccinations, medicine, and information on diseases. She is studying at the university through a governmental scholarship and hopes to return to her community to further help the people there.
When it was my turn to talk, I was at a loss for words (and not only because I was struggling to speak in Portuguese). My reality is completely and utterly different than her reality. The opportunities that I have had in my own life to travel, go to school, learn new things, see new places, and live on my own, were literally handed to me on a golden platter. Guilt sunk in as I spoke about my own experiences and I found myself highlighting (and probably exaggerating) the problems within the US of poverty, healthcare, and expensive education.
I walked out of the class almost in tears. My naivety had smacked me square in the face. My perception of the world is a mere sliver of the whole picture. Our attitudes are shaped by our experiences. I praise God that my experiences have been so positive, and I realized I must use these advantages to help those who aren’t so lucky. Life is good but sometimes reality can be brutal.
Until tonight, I would have said that it depends on the person. Some people (like me) have had incredibly easy lives. We have had most things handed to us without much fuss. The place we were born, the economic status of our families, and the opportunities available to us made it very easy to acquire a wealth of rich experiences, and I for one, am very thankful for that. However, if my life weren’t so easy, would I still have this positive “life is good” outlook? I’d like to think so, but how can I know?
Tonight was one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. My Community Development class is an interesting mix of people. About half of the class is exchange students who are interested in learning about the social development projects within Brazil. A handful of others are middle to upper class Brazilian students, but the other students have a much more real perspective of these issues. These are mostly people who live in the favelas within Rio and want to learn how to better help their own suffering communities. Most are attending the university through NGO or government scholarships. For the entire two-hour class we were paired up with another student to get to know every aspect of that person, their experiences, and their everyday realities.
I was paired up with a 26 year-old woman named Francilene. She lives with her mom, dad, brother, nephew, and 5-year-old child in a one-room house in Rocinha (the largest favela in Brazil) just down the street from the university. She works for a community health organization within her community where she visits people in their houses to give them vaccinations, medicine, and information on diseases. She is studying at the university through a governmental scholarship and hopes to return to her community to further help the people there.
When it was my turn to talk, I was at a loss for words (and not only because I was struggling to speak in Portuguese). My reality is completely and utterly different than her reality. The opportunities that I have had in my own life to travel, go to school, learn new things, see new places, and live on my own, were literally handed to me on a golden platter. Guilt sunk in as I spoke about my own experiences and I found myself highlighting (and probably exaggerating) the problems within the US of poverty, healthcare, and expensive education.
I walked out of the class almost in tears. My naivety had smacked me square in the face. My perception of the world is a mere sliver of the whole picture. Our attitudes are shaped by our experiences. I praise God that my experiences have been so positive, and I realized I must use these advantages to help those who aren’t so lucky. Life is good but sometimes reality can be brutal.
March 1, 2010
My first excursion outside of Rio: Foz do Iguaçu and Buenos Aires
With all of February off, me and four other girls from my program took off the day after Carnaval ended for our first excursion outside of Rio. We flew to Foz do Iguaçu, a gigantic expanse of waterfalls that sits between Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina.
We spent two days exploring the Brazilian side of the waterfalls where we hiked down to the base of one of the largest waterfalls, got thoroughly soaked, marveled at all the butterflies, played with a kuati (a funny looking animal that looks like a cross between a raccoon and an anteater) that approached us for food, took a million pictures, and stood in awe of the majesty of the Falls. How so much water can possibly exist in one place blows my mind! We also went to a bird park where they had hundreds of colorful birds, many of which were flying free.
We stayed at the most amazing family-owned hostel called “Klein Hostel.” The mom makes the wonderful breakfast in the mornings, the dad cooked the guests an amazing Brazilian barbecue dinner, and the son introduced us to Brazilian country music, called Sertaneja. In fact, the first night we were there, it was “quinta-sertaneja” night… aka: COUNTRY NIGHT!! What are the chances?? I also took the opportunity to introduce him to Brad Paisley, Zac Brown Band, and George Strait. We all spent the night meeting other guests from around the world, and dancing. The next night at the hostel, the family had all their friends over to play music and sing. We all feasted on sausage, beef, vegetables, rice and beans, and relaxed by the pool enjoying the music long into the night. Talking to the other guests in Portuguese really made me realize how much my language skills have improved. Really, once you move outside of Rio, people speak much slower and clearer. Rio has a distinct, thick accent and people speak very quickly. I had no problem speaking and understanding Brazilians from other parts of Brazil. In fact, close to Argentina many people speak a mix of Portuguese and Spanish (Portoñhol). In fact, the man from our hostel that picked us up from the airport was Brazilian but spoke Spanish!
After two nights on the Brazilian side of the Falls, we crossed the border into Argentina where we spent the day seeing the Falls from a different perspective. We hiked to the largest and most well-known part of the Falls called “Garganta del Diablo” (Devil’s Throat) and peered down into the misty abyss below.
That night, we stayed at a rather dingy and rundown hostel, but everyone was very easy-going and we ended up having a blast! Again, we feasted on Brazilian barbecue and partied with the other guests (mostly crazy Australians) well into the night.
The next afternoon, we hopped a 20-hour overnight bus to Buenos Aires. We had been warned that Argentinean police stop busses quite a bit, and that turned out to be quite true. Three times, the police stopped our bus, boarded, checked passports, and looked for drugs and other illicit things. The third time, they even brought a dog on to sniff out drugs. Two rows behind me, the dog signaled that he found something and it turned out a 14 year old boy traveling alone had a tiny bit of marijuana on him. This turned into a 2-hour ordeal in which the police found other Argentinean men on the bus to be witnesses while they opened the boy’s bag and found the drugs. Then they removed him from the bus, called his parents, and did paperwork. MEANWHILE, we made friends with the two bus drivers, convinced them to blare Reggaeton music from the bus, have a dance party on the side of the road. They even let us sit in the drivers seat and take pictures ☺
The next morning we arrived in a flooded Buenos Aires. The rain was coming down very hard and we went straight to our hostel in Palermo. Luckily, that was the last we saw of rain. In fact, the rest of the week was absolutely gorgeous!! We welcomed the “cool” weather (75-85 degrees) and explored all that Buenos Aires had to offer. Here are a few highlights from B.A.:
-An amazing Tango show at a famous Tango Bar called Café Tortoni
-Moved to a great hostel in San Telmo (the older section of town well-known for their antique shops and Tango
-Had a picnic in a park
-Went paddle boating
-Took a double-decker bus tour of the city
-Celebrated Jenny getting accepted to law school in Miami with a dinner of fruit, desserts, and champagne
-Took a tour of underground tunnels beneath the oldest church/monastery in Buenos Aires
-Went to a planetarium to see a show and we all ended up sleeping through the entire thing!
-Saw the Eva Péron museum—absolutely incredible!!
-Got a tour of the Argentinean version of the White House, aka: the Pink House (Casa Rosada)
-Saw the madres of the desaparecidos at the Plaza de Mayo
-Went to a bar and watched teenagers competing in a rap contest... HILARIOUS =)
-Went shopping at outdoor markets
-Ate lots of steak, dulce de leitche (caramel) and chocolate
-Learned salsa at a dance club and danced till 6am =)
-Laughed SO MUCH!!
Also, I almost got robbed at a restaurant. It was about 3pm and we ate a Spanish restaurant downtown. We were sitting inside a huge empty restaurant kinda near the door. No one at our table noticed, but an older man dressed well came in the door talking on a cell phone and stood near our table. He brushed past my chair, and I assumed he walked by to sit down at another table. Well, he didn’t. He took my purse and walked out of the restaurant. Luckily, the waitress noticed him and yelled “sua bolsa!!” Me, Garazi, and two restaurant employees ran after him out of the restaurant. When he saw we were chasing him and realized he was too fat and slow to get away, he dropped the purse and took off running down the street yelling over his shoulder that he had dropped it! Luckily, he hadn’t even opened it so everything was still there. I was so lucky!! I think I was off guard because I felt so safe in Buenos Aires. That just goes to show you have to be careful no matter where you are!
Overall, the trip was an absolute BLAST. The five of us got so close and I couldn’t have gone with a better group☺ Now it’s back to Rio to finally start classes.
We spent two days exploring the Brazilian side of the waterfalls where we hiked down to the base of one of the largest waterfalls, got thoroughly soaked, marveled at all the butterflies, played with a kuati (a funny looking animal that looks like a cross between a raccoon and an anteater) that approached us for food, took a million pictures, and stood in awe of the majesty of the Falls. How so much water can possibly exist in one place blows my mind! We also went to a bird park where they had hundreds of colorful birds, many of which were flying free.
We stayed at the most amazing family-owned hostel called “Klein Hostel.” The mom makes the wonderful breakfast in the mornings, the dad cooked the guests an amazing Brazilian barbecue dinner, and the son introduced us to Brazilian country music, called Sertaneja. In fact, the first night we were there, it was “quinta-sertaneja” night… aka: COUNTRY NIGHT!! What are the chances?? I also took the opportunity to introduce him to Brad Paisley, Zac Brown Band, and George Strait. We all spent the night meeting other guests from around the world, and dancing. The next night at the hostel, the family had all their friends over to play music and sing. We all feasted on sausage, beef, vegetables, rice and beans, and relaxed by the pool enjoying the music long into the night. Talking to the other guests in Portuguese really made me realize how much my language skills have improved. Really, once you move outside of Rio, people speak much slower and clearer. Rio has a distinct, thick accent and people speak very quickly. I had no problem speaking and understanding Brazilians from other parts of Brazil. In fact, close to Argentina many people speak a mix of Portuguese and Spanish (Portoñhol). In fact, the man from our hostel that picked us up from the airport was Brazilian but spoke Spanish!
After two nights on the Brazilian side of the Falls, we crossed the border into Argentina where we spent the day seeing the Falls from a different perspective. We hiked to the largest and most well-known part of the Falls called “Garganta del Diablo” (Devil’s Throat) and peered down into the misty abyss below.
That night, we stayed at a rather dingy and rundown hostel, but everyone was very easy-going and we ended up having a blast! Again, we feasted on Brazilian barbecue and partied with the other guests (mostly crazy Australians) well into the night.
The next afternoon, we hopped a 20-hour overnight bus to Buenos Aires. We had been warned that Argentinean police stop busses quite a bit, and that turned out to be quite true. Three times, the police stopped our bus, boarded, checked passports, and looked for drugs and other illicit things. The third time, they even brought a dog on to sniff out drugs. Two rows behind me, the dog signaled that he found something and it turned out a 14 year old boy traveling alone had a tiny bit of marijuana on him. This turned into a 2-hour ordeal in which the police found other Argentinean men on the bus to be witnesses while they opened the boy’s bag and found the drugs. Then they removed him from the bus, called his parents, and did paperwork. MEANWHILE, we made friends with the two bus drivers, convinced them to blare Reggaeton music from the bus, have a dance party on the side of the road. They even let us sit in the drivers seat and take pictures ☺
The next morning we arrived in a flooded Buenos Aires. The rain was coming down very hard and we went straight to our hostel in Palermo. Luckily, that was the last we saw of rain. In fact, the rest of the week was absolutely gorgeous!! We welcomed the “cool” weather (75-85 degrees) and explored all that Buenos Aires had to offer. Here are a few highlights from B.A.:
-An amazing Tango show at a famous Tango Bar called Café Tortoni
-Moved to a great hostel in San Telmo (the older section of town well-known for their antique shops and Tango
-Had a picnic in a park
-Went paddle boating
-Took a double-decker bus tour of the city
-Celebrated Jenny getting accepted to law school in Miami with a dinner of fruit, desserts, and champagne
-Took a tour of underground tunnels beneath the oldest church/monastery in Buenos Aires
-Went to a planetarium to see a show and we all ended up sleeping through the entire thing!
-Saw the Eva Péron museum—absolutely incredible!!
-Got a tour of the Argentinean version of the White House, aka: the Pink House (Casa Rosada)
-Saw the madres of the desaparecidos at the Plaza de Mayo
-Went to a bar and watched teenagers competing in a rap contest... HILARIOUS =)
-Went shopping at outdoor markets
-Ate lots of steak, dulce de leitche (caramel) and chocolate
-Learned salsa at a dance club and danced till 6am =)
-Laughed SO MUCH!!
Also, I almost got robbed at a restaurant. It was about 3pm and we ate a Spanish restaurant downtown. We were sitting inside a huge empty restaurant kinda near the door. No one at our table noticed, but an older man dressed well came in the door talking on a cell phone and stood near our table. He brushed past my chair, and I assumed he walked by to sit down at another table. Well, he didn’t. He took my purse and walked out of the restaurant. Luckily, the waitress noticed him and yelled “sua bolsa!!” Me, Garazi, and two restaurant employees ran after him out of the restaurant. When he saw we were chasing him and realized he was too fat and slow to get away, he dropped the purse and took off running down the street yelling over his shoulder that he had dropped it! Luckily, he hadn’t even opened it so everything was still there. I was so lucky!! I think I was off guard because I felt so safe in Buenos Aires. That just goes to show you have to be careful no matter where you are!
Overall, the trip was an absolute BLAST. The five of us got so close and I couldn’t have gone with a better group☺ Now it’s back to Rio to finally start classes.
Carnaval in Rio
Carnaval was unbelievable!! It officially began the Saturday before Lent and lasted till Fat Tuesday. Although many Catholic countries celebrate Carnaval, Rio is considered the Carnaval capital of the world because it is the biggest. Every year more than 500,000 visitors come to Rio for Carnaval. For Brazilians, Carnaval sums up their culture. People sing, dance, party, and have tons of fun with their families.
Here is a brief history of Carnaval from a website I found:
The roots go back to the ancient Romans and Greeks who celebrated Spring with parties and dancing in the streets. This carried over to modern Europe and then to the New World. When the Portuguese colonized Brazil, they brought the tradition with them where it mixed with Amerindian and African traditions. Aristocrats dressed as commoners, poor people as royalty, and men dressed as women to symbolize that social roles and class differences were to be forgotten during Carnaval. Slaves were even able to be free for the three days!
Carnaval Today:
Recently, the biggest parade, the Samba Parade, was moved from the downtown streets to the purpose-built Sambódromo. Tickets to the Samba school competition run from $30 for crappy “you can’t see a damn thing” seats to $1300 for the best seats in the house. Each samba school picks a theme, writes music and lyrics, makes costumes and floats, and practices all year for the Parade.
Since most people can’t afford to attend the Samba Parade, street blocos are where the real party is held. Over 300 groups (usually consisting of a percussion group, singers, dancers, and a tall truck with speakers) perform in the streets all over the city. Many of the roads are closed and the groups are followed by crowds of enthusiastic revelers dressed in costumes, bathing suits, plain clothes, and even many in drag. Everyone from children to grandmothers can be seen breakin’ it down side-by-side in ridiculous costumes throughout Carnaval.
Almost all the Carnaval music is samba, although there are a handful of different samba styles. The fast-paced dance step is something that takes practice, but very fun once you get the hang of it!
My experience:
Carnaval was everything I expected and more. Most business were closed and people young and old were dressed in ridiculous costumes, crowns, hats, or masks. One day I literally saw a flock of Avatars. Their entire bodies were blue and their faces were painted to look just like the movie characters! No need to look where the blocos were each day, just wander the streets and I found them everywhere. Most of them began in the late afternoon but I went to one that began at 8:30 am. So fun! Blocos range in size and I went to small neighborhood ones and huge blocos on the beach with over 100,000 people! I think I prefer the smaller ones. Dancing through the streets in 100 + degree heat can get tiring… especially when you do it all day for 4+ days straight, but Brazilians don’t seem to get tired of it and I tried to take their lead ☺ The lucky people whose apartments face the streets where the blocos travel, hung out their windows and threw confetti on the people below. The mood of the crowd was so enthusiastic and happy and everyone had a great time. ☺
Here is a brief history of Carnaval from a website I found:
The roots go back to the ancient Romans and Greeks who celebrated Spring with parties and dancing in the streets. This carried over to modern Europe and then to the New World. When the Portuguese colonized Brazil, they brought the tradition with them where it mixed with Amerindian and African traditions. Aristocrats dressed as commoners, poor people as royalty, and men dressed as women to symbolize that social roles and class differences were to be forgotten during Carnaval. Slaves were even able to be free for the three days!
Carnaval Today:
Recently, the biggest parade, the Samba Parade, was moved from the downtown streets to the purpose-built Sambódromo. Tickets to the Samba school competition run from $30 for crappy “you can’t see a damn thing” seats to $1300 for the best seats in the house. Each samba school picks a theme, writes music and lyrics, makes costumes and floats, and practices all year for the Parade.
Since most people can’t afford to attend the Samba Parade, street blocos are where the real party is held. Over 300 groups (usually consisting of a percussion group, singers, dancers, and a tall truck with speakers) perform in the streets all over the city. Many of the roads are closed and the groups are followed by crowds of enthusiastic revelers dressed in costumes, bathing suits, plain clothes, and even many in drag. Everyone from children to grandmothers can be seen breakin’ it down side-by-side in ridiculous costumes throughout Carnaval.
Almost all the Carnaval music is samba, although there are a handful of different samba styles. The fast-paced dance step is something that takes practice, but very fun once you get the hang of it!
My experience:
Carnaval was everything I expected and more. Most business were closed and people young and old were dressed in ridiculous costumes, crowns, hats, or masks. One day I literally saw a flock of Avatars. Their entire bodies were blue and their faces were painted to look just like the movie characters! No need to look where the blocos were each day, just wander the streets and I found them everywhere. Most of them began in the late afternoon but I went to one that began at 8:30 am. So fun! Blocos range in size and I went to small neighborhood ones and huge blocos on the beach with over 100,000 people! I think I prefer the smaller ones. Dancing through the streets in 100 + degree heat can get tiring… especially when you do it all day for 4+ days straight, but Brazilians don’t seem to get tired of it and I tried to take their lead ☺ The lucky people whose apartments face the streets where the blocos travel, hung out their windows and threw confetti on the people below. The mood of the crowd was so enthusiastic and happy and everyone had a great time. ☺
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