Classes have started and as I expected, it has been harder finding time to write. In addition to homework, I am expected to read the Brazilian news in Portuguese everyday. I am teaching classes in English and will start working with on a permaculture project at the end of the month. To make matters worse, the bus ride to school is over an hour one way and with various other daily tasks, my time for creative ventures can be quite limited.
The good news: I was given the best of host families. Monica and Christina, my Brasilian moms, are both artists and have decorated the house with artisan crafts. They are always saying things like: feel at home, why aren’t you using the pool? you aren’t eating enough! Etc. They also know the best places on the island and their house has a pool, a view of the lagoon and the ocean as well (its well worth the commute). My roommate is a DJ studying in New Orleans. He has had a little more trouble adjusting since he didn’t speak a word of Portuguese, but I hope I’ve helped him out learning some important words.
These first few weeks I’ve been frequenting the beaches and checking out the night life which hasn’t provided much to write about. I also hiked to a village, “Costa da Lagoa,” only accessible by boat or hours of walking. I talked to a teenager there and he explained that the community is extremely close. There are none of the plagues of drugs, homelessness, and crime that you find in the city. But plagues spread and there are developers who hope to develop the area.
Whenever I ask old people about Florianópolis they always have stories about how their neighborhood used to be forest. Tourists wouldn’t flood the beaches and fill the streets during Carnaval . The aforementioned drugs, crime and homelessness were almost unheard of just a few years ago. Talking about this shift with an old lady, I asked how she felt about the changes. She said “I don’t like it very much. But at the same time its progress and the future.” Progress, it seems, is when a beautiful beach or a tranquil community gets "developed" and filled with worthless junk and unhappy people to “cash in” on all that value. If its something you don’t like that is progressing, the idea of progress should lose its positive connotations.
On my street, a tourist from New Zealand has already been assaulted on my street and now has a pirate-like scar on his face. Its not strange for cars or motorcycles to disappear (including my host mom's motorcycle) and several houses nearby have been robbed. And I live in a good part of the island! This morning I hitch-hiked to the city and they picked up a dentist who's car was stolen last night and he only had one real (not enough for the bus).
I really must be studying too much if I’m already complaining about effects of development on society and nature. It must be because all my professors are Marxists. Florianópolis is still breathtakingly beautiful, especially now the tourists are heading north.
One last thing about classes. Here, class is more like a 3 hour discussion. You study before class and then the teacher clarifies it by leading a discussion. Instead of having knowledge stuffed down your throat to be quickly expelled, you have to think, speak, and actually have a grasp of the material. I just need a little more confidence in my Portuguese to speak up more.
I really must be studying too much if I’m already complaining about effects of development on society and nature. It must be because all my professors are Marxists. Florianópolis is still breathtakingly beautiful, especially now the tourists are heading north.
One last thing about classes. Here, class is more like a 3 hour discussion. You study before class and then the teacher clarifies it by leading a discussion. Instead of having knowledge stuffed down your throat to be quickly expelled, you have to think, speak, and actually have a grasp of the material. I just need a little more confidence in my Portuguese to speak up more.
Costa Da Lagoa
Bryan, my American roommate
Dandara and Raoni, my Brasilian brother and sister
I've been learning to cook seafood: Oysters, Mussels and Shrimp
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