Beach!

Took a weekend to go see some beach's with some friends (mostly AIESEC) Julliana, Ericka, Roldolfo, Fillipe and Bia. We went to another town called João Pessoa, it is the capital city of a small province called Paraíba. Apparently, it is the city with the most trees in the world, aside from Paris. Also, it is the the city that is the furthest east in Brasil, meaning it is the closest point from Brasil to Africa.
We also made stops in Pitimbu, Praia Bela, Tambaba and Praia do Coqueirinho. Tambaba is interesting becuase it is a nudest beach. Unfortunately, I was the only one willing to go to the nudest part, but I was not going to go alone.
Pics

Tobias!

My friend Joao's dog Tobias


Tobias was a street dog. So he does not like people, this is a big problem since he is so cute everyones first reaction is to pet him. Tobias sees this as his opportunity to show how tough he is and will bite.

Tobias finally came around to me and will not leave me alone when I see him now.

Tobias likes to spend his days chasing his tail and following Joao around.

Coque

It is very interesting how the roads just seem to go around favela's. One of the real roads in Coque was from on old Go-Kart track. Here are some pics to get more of a sense of the town. These were taken on my home the other day. And horses are quite common in Recife, not just in favela's but also in the city. Chickens, pigs and cows can also be seen walking around. For some reason I keep seeing ducks and horses hang out together?



In contrast, here is some pics of the sound studio we are working on.

Recifie Antigo

A few weeks ago I went to Recife Antigo with Vivi and another intern Diego from El Salvador. Most of the information here is from Vivi, she was like our tour guide. This is where the european settlers first came to Recife and it is the oldest part of town, Its kind of like the old port of montreal (except for with the port).




The big phallic looking thing was erected in 2000. Ironically the artist is known for sculptures of female body parts. Apparently there was some opposition to building a giant tower of Rupert Russell the wonder muscle but the locals have grown to become quite fondle fond of the big baby arm holding an apple.

ok, sorry, I had to get that out of my system...
More pictures!



Recife Antigo is known as the Venice of Brasil because it has a lot of different colour buildings and water. One of the cool things about having buildings like this is that there is no need for ugly signs. The green building is known as the green bar and plays rock music and is a very relaxed atmosphere. In contrast, the black bar (no picture but looks the same as the green bar but is obviously back) is emo/gothic and gay.

Throughout Brasil you can find amazing graffiti art and Recife Antigo is no exception. Above is just a small example.


We went to a modern art museum, its kinda cool and I got some good pics


Finally here is a video of a drum band that plays and marches in the streets. It was one of my best days in Recife...

Things I like about Brasil

1) Showering

People here shower 2-3 times a day.

2) Sleeping

Whether its sleeping in or taking a nap Brazilians get their 8 hours!

3) Feasting

Every meal is a feast and they always have extra for guests!

4) Dancing

When people go out to dance they actually dance

More work Stuff

Here are some pics



The picture of the little blue house was taking from the entrance from where I work and is a typical house in Coque. The picture of the big building is where I do most of my work. It is the NEIMFA. Nucleo Educacional Irmaos Menores de Francisco de Assis or something about educational brothers of St. Francis of Assisi. I'm going to try to explain something now that even I still don't really understand. It is a non-profit spiritual and educational group that has been working in Coque since 1986. It let's Coque Vive use its building and classrooms so a natural partnership has formed. Now with a name like NEIMFA you would think it is a christian groupe, WRONG! As far as I can tell they are some sort of mix of Buhdisim, Christian and Taoism? It is very holistic. Here are some pic of Buddha and St. Francis and a couple of other entities chillin together. Anyways even if I don't understand them, they do good work.

Here is a video of one of my classes and some of my students. The other teacher is named Help or Help-e as her students call her.

Food

Keep Checking this post because I will update it from time to time.

So the main staple of food here is rice and beans, but there is so much more! With so many different cultural influences, almost all types of food are available here. The only noticeable missing food here would be Indian, which is strange because the most popular show here is Caminho das Índias. Anyways, my favorite new food here is galinha do coracao or chicken hearts, mmmmmmmmmmmm I could go for some right now, they go perfect with a cold cerveja.
One of the stranger foods I have eaten is Buchada de bode or goat stomach. As far as I can tell its like Mutton, although I have never tried mutton. It is very salty and apparently is full of all the good parts I don't want to think about. It wasn't too bad and I would eat it again.
In case you haven't noticed I have indirectly written that I am rather enjoying the beer here. I have tried Skol, Bohemia, Antarctica and Brahma and enjoy all of them and there respective variants.
This white stuff is consumed like salt in North America. When I first saw it, it was served with spaghetti and everyone was piling it on. So I thought, nice, Parmesan cheese! Nope, Farofa! Don't get me wrong I love the stuff, but it was quite the shock eating it on top of my spaghetti. From what I can tell its from a root and eaten with everything, I personally enjoy it on meat (especially galinha do coracao) and mixed with a type of bruschetta and beans.

Forte Orange

So after two great weeks in the lovely Gibson house, I have moved to a new host family. Actually as of writting this I just left them, wow the week went by fast! Anyways Deborah and family were also great, and they actually took me sight seeing. We went to a Forte Orange, on the island of Itamaracá. From what I gathered, the Dutch used it to fend off the Portuguese because it is the first place you pass going to the port of entry. The little kid in one of the pictures was named Alexandre, he gaves a nice little tour of a church.

Work

Well I have been doing some work in Coque. I have no pictures because I was scared to show my camera around, but now I have friends there so it should be no problem. I spent last Friday with a professional Nikon taking pictures of an old women and of the the Coque Vive volunteers filming her and interviewing her. I am not sure exactly what it was about, I know she works in the Coque Vive librery and she has lived in Coque for a long time. All the children around the town were running after us or watching us trying to figure out what was going on. The Children love the Coque Vive girls I was working with. We had no problems walking through town, even with thousands of dollars worth of video equipment. Since it was not my Camera I currently do not have any of the photo's but I will try to get some when they are finished whatever they are working on. I start some classes tomorrow and will try to take some pictures and explain more about the classes soon.

Sport Game

I went to a Sport (the name of the team) football game. I like Football and was really excited to go, but I think I went to a bad game. Only one goal on a penalty shot, no drinking in the stands and the food was marginal at best. Oh well at least they won, Foi ensurdecedor, devido aos apitos. Foi com rouquidão, pois não parava de gritar: - CAZA, CAZA, CAZA, CAZA, CAZA TURMA MESMO BOA MESMO FUZARCA SPORT SPORT SPORT!