White People Like to Study Abroad!

But I've already noted that. If you're interested in finding out more things that white people like you might want to check out the appropriately-titled website "Stuff White People Like". Mostly it's a collection that describes a "...stereotype of affluent, environmentally and socially conscious, anti-corporate white North Americans, who typically hold a degree in the liberal arts". Like the authors of the blog themselves. Considering a solid portion of my SIT group fits this bill--I know that I do--we can have a lot of fun thinking of all of the things we've been doing here that white people like!

I think that most of us (at least I did) paid attention to how Brazil did in this summer's World Cup (#133) in South Africa. Even though they lost to the Netherlands, it didn't stop me (or anyone else) from liking the idea of soccer (#80). So it was good preparation for studying abroad (#72) in a soccer-loving country like Brazil. (I guess that "traveling", #19, works here too).

And being here leads to so many other things that we like! I think that everybody was genuinely excited upon arriving, and we might have been a little bit anxious but everyone was prepared for a great semester. And what better way to start than promising to learn a new language (#115)? It really is an asset in a lot of different ways, and it definitely leads to greater awareness (#18). In Brazil especially, historically a very ethnically and racially mixed society, speaking Portuguese increases one's chances of being the only white person around (#71). Then when we go back home we can share all of the things we learned with the Brazilians we know and be the experts on their culture (#20). Part of which, like I said, is soccer. And during our one-week orientation at a farm outside of the city, we played a lot of co-ed soccer (#65).

We also got to pick our own fruit there (#132) which was most definitely organic (#6). Meanwhile, during the rural homestay, one of the first things that I did was drink the coffee (#1) offered to us upon arrival. In most of Brazil, especially in rural areas, coffee is consumed throughout the day, especially during breakfast and between all meals. But my host family in Pau D'Arco were great hosts and made me three different kinds of tea (#13), one of which was even made from the bark of a tree! And these beverages were just supplementing the bottled water (#76) that we had (and have to) drink. Unfortunately, the city reservoir in Belém is in the same watershed as the sewage dump...so, yeah. That's not good.

And like I wrote before, the diversity (#7) here, particularly in terms of food, is astounding. In every place we've visited--Belém, Manaus, Santarém, the Trombetas and Tapajós rivers, and the waterfalls--we've been living by bodies of water (#51). At Ver-o-Peso, in a way the city's huge farmer's market (#5), I bought a natural medicine (#59) to help with some pain I was having in my foot. And it worked incredibly well. Thankfully I haven't come down with anything more serious, and hopefully my new layer of bug bites won't lead to malaria or dengue fever...

We've spent extended periods of time without televisions (#28), especially during orientation week and on the boat, and have visited a number of cool non-profit organizations (#12), doing a lot of different things in the region. On the other hand, like I wrote before, we also visited the largest bauxite mine in the world, which gave us all a chance to express hatred for corporations (#82). But through it all we've been able to maintain a lot of our interests that aren't as common here, frisbee sports (#110) and indie music (#41) being among them. And I'm typing this on my Apple computer (#40), with Facebook (#106) open in another window. And despite the warnings of many, I've maintained my vegetarian diet (#32), and this weekend even found the tahini that I need to make hummus (#112).

So, it seems like this has been a really good place to be for "left-leaning, city-dwelling white folk". I've certainly found a lot of things that I like.

That was really tedious. But in all seriousness it helped explain our time here a little better than I normally can? Anyways, visit the site and feel free to ask me questions about anything!

And here's a photo of (in order) my host sister, Amanda, host mother, Maria Clara, me, my other "host" sister, Cynthia (who has her own house), and the student she's hosting, Amanda.

It's All About the Manioc, Baby.

It's everywhere. And in everything. Okay not everything, but it's in a lot of stuff. Manioc here comes in all sorts of different forms and is delicious in just about everyone of them. Like I wrote before, one of my favorite foods here has been farinha, a yellow crumbly substance which people here put on top of just about everything they eat. I guess the flavor is close to that of the manioc itself but it's really hard to pinpoint. And actually, during our rural homestays in the Trombetas region two weeks ago I spent one morning peeling manioc in order to make farinha. Because it's a three-day-long process and there's no industrial technique used to make farinha, it's all made in little farinha kitchens like the one I was in. The picture I've added is of the last step in the process, toasting.



But the past few weeks have introduced me to an abundance of other uses for the plant. In the kitchen itself where the farinha is made, at least three other foods or beverages are made from the different types of manioc here. One that people even in the states will be familiar with is tapioca. There's also pajiroba, a (possibly alcoholic) drink made from a type of manioc that people in rural communities, like the one I'd stayed in, drink throughout the day to keep their energy up. And then there's the manioc itself, a type of which can be cut up and cooked/eaten more or less like a more fibrous potato. Here it's called macaxeira, but in the U.S. you can find it in the supermarket under the name "yuca". Then there was beiju, an extremely hard cracker-like treat that everyone there eat with breakfast lunch and dinner.

Back in the city, manioc is just as present, though maybe in less obvious ways. One of the most popular dishes consumed during the Círio de Nossa Senhora de Nazaré festival, which happened on Sunday, is maniçoba. It's made with the leaf of the manioc plant and must be cooked for about a week to remove the toxins from the leaves. I abstained on account of the meat but we had it here at my homestay and apparently it's delicious. And I can't forget tapioca flavored ice cream! People here--or maybe just students from the U.S. searching for comfort food--love ice cream. And popsicles. And I swear that the "crackers" that people eat for breakfast are actually cookies.

But speaking of the Círio procession, I'm happy to say that I walked with it through downtown on Sunday and survived the mass of (literally) millions who I walked with. Wikipedia is much better at describing things than I am, but suffice it to say that the whole day was very moving, and that I'd never before witnessed so many people with so much faith. Here you can see a photo of the image being taken to the plaza in front of the basilica, where mass was held at the end of the procession.

In an attempt to avoid the crowded city, we headed to Salinas, a beach about a three-hour drive from Belém. It was a great couple of days relaxing with the homestay family before we got back to classes today. And we ate ice cream, literally dozens of popsicles, and farinha.

And I was almost eaten by a giant crab.
Yeah.

Capoeira(s)

A couple of interesting things that we did in the last week involved different forms of "capoeria". The word comes from Tupi-Guarani words which mean "a forest that used to be". The first form of capoeira that we learned about was perhaps the more well-known form. This is the capoeira that combines music, dance, and martial arts into a uniquely Brazilian art form. We had a short "class" outside of the Forte do Castelo in downtown Belém. The fort was the first building constructed in Belém, at the beginning of the 17th century, and was used to protect against incursions from England and the Netherlands (and later an indigenous uprising of Tupinambá Indians). So, we were in a heavily trafficked area and all of the primary school field trip groups stopped to watch 19 gringos look ridiculous.

As our teacher for the day told us, capoeira is a Brazilian art form with an African mother. Capoeira first formed when enslaved Africans in Brazil would practice martial arts but disguise their actions as dance. As we were told, the name of the art form came as a result of runaways who hid in the low-lying secondary forests, or capoeiras.

The second form of capoeira that we learned about was the more literal kind. We spent the last three days in São Francisco, a municipality about two hours east of Belém. There are portions of relatively undisturbed primary forest there as well as pastures, farms, and a large number of secondary forests. One of the things we learned about was the difference between those primary forests that remain and the secondary forests (or "capoeiras") that have regrown after being slashed and burned. Here's a picture of a regrowing capoeira plot next to a piece of land that was burned only about a week ago.

We also visited several farms in the area that have stopped using slash and burn and instead used heavy machinery to chop and mulch the land. They also plant a greater variety of plants and inter-plant to keep the land healthier. So we got to eat yummy tangerines at one farm and sample freshly made farinha at another.

Now that I have your attention...

It's getting hotter here. It's getting colder at home. Right now I consider that something positive. Anyways, I decided to create this site in order to let friends and family know what I’m up to in northern Brazil this semester. It also saves me the trouble of sending individual emails with pictures!

So, obviously, I’m studying abroad this semester. I arrived in Belém do Pará the morning of September 2nd and met the group at the airport later that night. The city is located in northern Brazil, at the mouth of the Amazon River, and has a little over 2 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area. It also has an informative Wikipedia page. I’m here studying through and SIT program here, which pretty much means that they organize the classes, excursions, and homestays for myself and the other 18 students here (all from the U.S.). We spent the first week in Brazil at a farm outside of Belém. We sat through (almost) extremely exciting orientation lectures, played a lot of futebol, and even got to venture (kind of) into the rain forest. Part of that

walk-through included "helping" to harvest açaí (which was later made into a juice for us).

We also had an introduction our classes for the semester: Portuguese, a Thematic Seminar (classroom-based), an Environmental Field Studies Seminar (field-based, obviously), and the Independent Study Project, in which we choose individual topics and research them for four weeks, either in and around Belém or somewhere else in northern Brazil. Our first "field" experience was a trip to the mangroves near Belém and a meeting with a fishing family who operate out of a small island at the beginning of the Atlantic.

And on Wednesday the 8th we finally came to Belém and met with our host families! I'm living with a mother and daughter (and a poodle) just outside of the city. After dropping off my luggage here that night we drove to Icoarací, a town north of Belém where we sat on the banks of the river and drank the water of cold coconuts. Delicious. They've also taken me to the Botanical Garden here and the Museo Paraense Emilio Goeldi, a combination of a zoo and museum of the flora and fauna of the Amazon region.

So, since Wednesday we've mostly been studying Portuguese and spending time with our host families here. Obviously I'm a little late starting this but the more things we do the more I'll have to post!