Vicios. I've got 'em, and so does Brazil.

Vicio. Addiction. It's such an ugly word. It means we have an uncontrollable desire for something. That something is a necessity in our lives. I have various additions, some of which are positive, some of which are negative. Among my positive additions, I am addicted to being physically active--walking, running, hiking, working out, etc. This addiction in the states led me to parking far far away from the door of Wal-Mart, constantly irritating my shopping companions, but think of all the BENEFITS of parking far away! Less chance your car will get hit, it's easier to find, and you get to WALK! I'm also addicted to being optimistic in about 99% of life's situations which doesn't always turn out good for me, but helps me get through all of the typical ups and downs of life. Finally, I'm addicted to music and books and shoes and purses and youtube makeup video tutorials (which I don't use, but I love to watch) and facebook.

Well, those are not all GOOD addictions, but they are at least not HARMFUL addictions.

Anyhow, I do have one seriously detrimental addiction. Coffee. This addiction is confounded by the fact that I live in one of the largest coffee exporting countries, Brazil, and I also live in a coffee producing region. AND EVEN MORE SO because I live one block from a coffee processing plant that roasts beans two times a day, morning and evening.

See See! That's Ji-Paraná! (and surrounding cities) all by itself!
 This map is from the Coffee Museum in Santos, São Paulo.

So, as you can assume, life for this coffee fanatic has not been easy. My intake has only skyrocketed since I have moved here. Fresh, locally grown and roasted coffee available on a daily basis? It's like heaven. The fact I don't even have a coffee maker hasn't been a problem at all, either. I've simply bought a plastic support for the coffee filters (that look just like the spot where you put them in a coffee pot) and strain boiling water right through it, just like the coffee pot does.) I simply haven't decided it was important enough to invest in (they run around 30-50 USD depending on the model) nor do I actually have the counter space to put one, so logically it would be more of a pain in the butt to have one.

The coffee filter fits right in and it drips perfectly into my 0.5L Thermos.

I drank coffee when I was stateside, but nothing like this. I started reflecting on how in all stores, banks, offices, schools, churches, basically any place that gathers people has a community coffee thermos for free (this is NOT the case in São Paulo, but is 100% the case in Ji-Paraná). If you are stopping by the bank to make a deposit, you can grab a small coffee, if you are going to your accountant's office, have a cup of coffee, if you are going to church, sure! Have a cup of coffee! If you are going to the doctor, there is always coffee available for clients. It's part of the culture! When I go to my sogros there is always a thermos ready with some cookies or biscuits in a jar on the table to welcome guests and this is pretty much the case in anyone's house that I have gone to. So maybe it's not all my fault.

Coffee has historically been the central export from Brazil to the rest of the world, especially in the early 1900s. There came a point during the 1930s that as a result of overproduction, the stock market crash and depression as well as the fact it coffee is a primary commodity, prices plummeted and being that the Brazilian economy during this time was almost solely based on coffee the government resolved to burn large quantities of the production to maintain the export value. Here is a chapter (in English) from a great book about the Economic Development of Brazil by Celso Furtado, one of the most respected Economic Historians of Brazil. I've read the whole thing in Portuguese thanks to my Economics professor at USP. There has also been a Canadian movie made about the topic that I would love to see.

The government during this time was a revolutionary military government turned democracy turned military dictatorship again led by Getulio Vargas, one of my favorite Brazilian politicians to study. He single-handedly transformed Brazil's economy, educational system and is the reason that Brazil has so much buracuracy. He was extremely nationalistic, the founder of Petrobras and the Ministry of Education and Culture (among like a million other government entities). He declared the New State (Estado Novo in Portuguese) and is the reason for the importance of Carnival and Samba in Brazil as he was attempting to create a "national Brazilian culture" for national unity, a pretty impossible task that he was actually very successful at. His legacy lives on in the name of the Getulio Vargas Foundation, one of the top research bodies in Brazil (that I would love to work for) that also has a variety of courses and social programs. I love to talk with my sogro about what school was like after his reforms, as he was going to school during the post-Novo Estado era and the nationalistic ideals were still the base of the national educational system. See, all military dictators aren't all bad....

Vargas was a HUNK.

What is the most interesting this is that as a result of the huge excess of coffee, it became a central part of Brazilian culture and today that feeling is still largely felt. Especially here in Ji-Paraná. My husband's cousin's wife's father (did you follow that?) was a huge coffee fazendeiro. I love hiking through his old coffee fields and hearing him talk about "the good old days of coffee" which was one of the main reasons he migrated to Rondonia. BY A HORSE DRAWN WAGON. He reaped the rewards of the coffee boom and managed to buy tons and TONS of land and today is extremely successful. He has turned large portions of his old coffee plantations into passion fruit plantations (equally delicious) and it's so interesting to talk about the changes, the challenges, the successes and the failures of living in a country based on primary commodity exports, being that I have studied this stuff for the last, ohh... 8 years.

In closing, it's not my fault I am addicted to coffee. It's Brazil's fault. If they didn't have such delicious coffee I wouldn't be drinking so much of it. Also, if it hadn't been an essential economic tool for survival, it wouldn't have become such an integral part of their culture. Brazil simply loves coffee and Becky loves that Brazil loves coffee. Case closed.

And now, I'll leave you with a beautiful song from the late 1940s sung by Frank Sinatra (re-recorded in the 1960s) about Coffee and Brazil. It's such a perfect song for any professor that is going to begin a lecture about the importance of coffee in Brazil!

"You can't get cherry soda 'cus they've got to sell their quota And the way things are I guess they never will They've got a zillion tons of coffee in Brazil" (see more lyrics here) 

Sing it, Frank.

I particularly like at the end when he says "Eiiii Pedro! Get the flashlight! I can not find the sugar!" in a really bad Brazilian-ish accent. Nothing like being politically correct.

My Easter Weekend

Well, what can I say. It was incredible. I originally was getting all depressed about yet another holiday away from my family, but excited to experience Easter in Brazil (a holiday that I had not yet experienced here). I had been seeing the giant chocolate eggs taking over the grocery stores over the past few weeks and my anticipation continued to build as I thought about devouring one all by myself on Sunday whenever I had to make a stop to buy milk, bread or laundry detergent. I was reminded of when I first started dating my husband in 2009 and he brought me a giant chocolate egg. My grandmother and I spent weeks and weeks eating it and BOY was it delicious! Mainly children and boyfriends/girlfriends exchange these types of goodies, plus they are super super expensive here so needless to say, I did not get one this year. However, I am planning on stopping by the grocery store today or tomorrow to buy one at discount since Easter is already over ;)

The Eggs are hollow chocolate with chocolate candies inside, typically bon-bons and other goodies!

The whole weekend started on Good Friday (which is even better in Brazil since it is a holiday. Read: NO WORK!) and we went off to the farm. My in-law's farm to be exact. We had a few beers, relaxed, grilled some huge delicious fish and had a great lunch. Afterwards we went off to Humberto's cousin's farm where we spent the day swimming in the river and riding down the small waterfall in an innertube! Ice Finally lost his fear of swimming and swims all over! He got swept downstream a few times since the current was pretty strong but he paddled his way to the riverbank to run back up and try again! He's gotten extremely strong over these past few months and he had fun showing off his strength. He even rode down the waterfall with Humberto in the tube!

After all of that excitement I laid in a hammock by the river while the rest of the crew worked on the farm. I picked up a super inspiring book called Encontrando um caminho by Koji Sakomoto and practically finished it. I read a few chapters more than once as well as it is a really interesting book about self-realization and how to find true happiness. Unfortunately there isn't an English version but if you speak Portuguese I highly recommend it!

Ice and I spent the rest of the day playing fetch (which he still sucks at... He prefers to take all the sticks and such and make a nice pile of everything that I throw for him to fetch instead of bringing the same thing back to me every time. He's not as eco-friendly as I am, I guess.)

Later that evening while talking with my friend's uncle (and admiring the giant moon) we came up with the idea of hiking up a nearby hill (it was really big!!!) to sit on the rocks on top and look down at the city since we had nothing better to do. We had a BLAST. We got up to the top super sweaty and hot, but within minutes a nice breeze started to come through and we had fun taking pictures and being goofy, relaxing and finally simply sitting in silence looking at the beautiful valley surrounded by hills, the bright moon, the beautiful clouds and the simple fact that we were able to be in that location, at that moment and appreciate nature and the presence of some great people.

(Pictures of the outing to come....)

On the way back down, we ran into  a tatu or armadillo! Amadillos are popular in the rural areas as a food source and I had never eaten one (and I'm always complaining about that! You can't buy armadillo meat in the stores, though, because they are a protected species, of course, but I just want to try it at least ONCEEEE!) Anyhow, Humberto and my friend's uncle tried to chase it down (Ice enjoying the hunt to the FULLEST) and unfortunately for us (and fortunately for the tatu) he found his way back to his hole and was safe out of reach. We got home, fully exhausted after 1am and I crashed in bed until 10am! Ice was so exhausted when I got up to go say hello to my friend's grandmother and drink a cup of coffee with her and her husband (my morning routine when I am at their place since I normally get up earlier than the rest of the crew who stays up until 3am playing cards) that I thought he had gone on an adventure. He normally follows me over to her house without me even calling but as I was drinking my coffee I realized he was nowhere to be found. When I went back home I found him sleeping soundly on the porch, completely unaware to the fact that I was there. Poor buddy, all that swimming, running, playing fetch and mountain hiking wore him out!

The rest of the day we spent at our friend's farm, helping put together their fence and clearing out the old corn fields so they can plant grass for horses and cows. (By WE I mean everyone else. I continued to lay in the hammock by the river with Ice and only helped when it was necessary! haha!) I spent a lot of time thinking about my current goals and objectives (since I have realized I finished off my Pre-30 Bucketlist I had made in college (with the exception of saving a ton of cash...) I managed to write a few personal development goals and am still trying to decide what types of professional goals I would like to achieve in the next 5-10 years. I feel that I won't be able to decide that until Humberto and I really decide where we want to be living in the next 5-10 years since going back to the US is looking like more of a possibility, especially when we think about our potential future children. (We don't like Brazilian schools at all and don't even want to consider that option, however, home schooling is out-lawed here in Brazil, so we put into an interesting situation...). Needless to say, there was lots of thinking going on Sunday afternoon....

Later on, we had a huge lunch of stuffed grilled fish (MmmmMmMmMm!) and then went back to my in-laws later in the evening for churrasco and to watch the famous Fantástico, the most popular Sunday News show on TV in Brazil. I hate Brazilian news becuase I think it is largely manipulated by the government. They always show a few cases of corruption that are being taken care of, a few bandits that were caught, some suggestions on how to stay safe, make money, and stay fit and usually end on some type of documentary from British or American TV that takes you off to a far-away destination. It helps lesser educated Brazilians feel that the political problems are being taken care of (which I doubt any real improvements are being made) and that they are going to be okay (financial and personal security as well as personal health) and then makes them ooh and aah as they look at different places in the world and forget about the real problems. I might be being too pessimistic, but I think it's a big hoax.

After we got home around 10pm I worked on my lesson plans for today knowing not many students would show up (since in Brazil all holidays are extended longer than the official calendar dates...) and here I am now at the University working on my blog and some translations, getting ready to eat lunch. mMmmMmMmmmm.....

What did you do this Easter? Brazilians? Americans? American-Brazilians? Did you get any Chocolate Eggs? :)

Just Shut-up and Drive

So, we're nearing my one-year anniversary of finally getting all of my suitcases not only on the same side of the equator but finally in the same city after over 8 years of diving my life between Erie, Indiana, Puebla, Sarasota, Nashville, São Paulo and finally Ji-Paraná. It's been an intense ride and it's finally starting to set in that I'm growing up, paying bills, starting a business and what? Now I'm freaking out.

Anyhow, back in 2007, my car that my grandmother had sold me for $1 finally died. It was a 1992 Cavalier and I loved that car. I still would be driving it if it was in working condition. Too bad I sold it off to a guy who was into demolition derby and I'm sure its in millions of pieces now. My mother then helped me out by buying a car that only lasted another year (mainly because I was an idiot and drove too fast in the crazy heat for too long of a period of time without checking the engine coolant or oil levels--I don't need to elaborate on the fate of said car.) I then decided to be eco-friendly and get around by bike, bus and my beautiful friends who had automobiles. Also, it is important to point out that these cars were both automatic. Which leads me to my big huge problem having moved to Brazil.

I can't drive a freaking stick.

This is essential because automatic cars are extremely expensive here. I'm so sick and tired of hearing, "It's SOOOO easy!" "Come on Becky! It's simple!" It's not. It's not because I am terrified of the car dying, meaning my feet start to shake so bad that I can't figure out if I'm on the clutch, the break or the gas or on a pedal at all. My first solo experience led me to sliding backwards into a ditch and being pushed out by a few guys that I had swear they wouldn't tell ANYONE what had happened (luckily H didn't see and still doesn't know about that one... SHhhhhhhhhhh!) so you can imagine that didn't help me at all with dealing with this fear and frustration.

After having many people who I love and care about (my husband, my brother in law, my husband's cousin's wife to name a few...) I decided to finally enroll in auto school. I'm just paying for two lessons at two hours each. We'll see how it goes. My plan is to drive drive drive until I get rid of my fear. I can change gears with no problem at all, I just 1) am terrified I'm going to hit the gas when I want the break 2) the car is going to die and 3) I'm going to put the car into the wrong gear and it's going to breakdown. I think 4 hours of straight driving with an instructor who I am not related to is going to be the best. Also, the fact the car isn't ours is going to help a lot, too, since I know I'm not going to destroy an investment that we had made.

I'm also terrified of driving because of the insane amount of traffic. Ji-Paraná may be a small town but every single semi that comes from south or north of us comes barreling right through our town. One block from my house. In addition, Ji-Paraná is the city with the most motorcycles per capita than any other city in Brazil and I am guessing that about 70% of them are uninsured, unlicensed drivers. This causes for a ton of headache for me because since I am a good law-abiding American I believe everyone should just freaking follow the rules. BUT when getting a driver's licence costs about R$1000 (or two months of minimum wage salary here) and takes 3 months of classes every day AND legally maintaining a vehicle incurs the yearly IPVA tax (which for our car was R$1000 this year) it makes sense that most people drive completely illegally.

IPVA=Tax for Politicians to Travel by Plane

Finally, as one of my professors and thesis advisors, Marshall Eakin says in his book, Brazil: The Once and Future Country, Brazilians are such big fans of Formula One, not just because of the famous Ayrton Senna, but because they simply think that all roads are Formula One race tracks. Lines mean nothing, stop lights mean nothing, speed limits (even when posted, when I have only seen one actual speed limit sign here in the city so far) mean nothing and of course, driving defensively simply doesn't even pass through the minds of the majority of the people here. It's all about driving offensively and I'm the most defensive driver in the world.

So, wish me luck. Hopefully by next week I'll be able to listen to the following tune while I'm blazing down BR-364 in 5th gear.

Oh wait, I won't be able to go past 3rd gear because of all the stupid pot holes.

Last Friday Night.... (Thanks Katy Perry)

Well, actually, it was last last Saturday night, meaning the 24th of March. I was busy working (read: facebooking) and Humberto had gone out for a drink with a buddy of his when he came home with a smile on his face, "LETS GO OUT!?" and I jumped for joy. I love dancing. I especially love techno clubs. (Note: I suck at dancing. I always have since the famous Becky Dance was coined when I suggested a dance move for the Ace of Base Littles - the first and last dance troupe I was ever part of. I assume that you have already made the assumption that this dance troupe was based on top-charting hits of Ace of Base during the 1990s, and yes, you were correct. Don't hate me. Also, don't ask me to do the Becky Dance for you as I may have an emotional breakdown remembering the torture that I was put through after that fateful day. I was kindly asked to step down from my position as secretary but then later re-installed after I wrote a letter to Ace of Base, thanks to their snail-mail address in Teen Beat magazine, about our group and how much we enjoyed their music. Of course we didn't ever receive a response from them, but I digress...)

I quickly got myself dressed, slammed down a beer before heading out the door and we were off. After another drink and dinner (I'm in Brazil, so obviously we ate dinner at 11:30PM...) we made our way to the dance club. Ji-Paraná is not renowned for it's dance clubs, nor should it be. There are only two that I would recommend you check out if you ever come to visit me, one being the Imperium and the other being the Parthenon. I know, they both are greek/roman references and I know it's pretty odd and I'm sure they are owned by the same person. Anyways...

The evening was incredible. Usually in Ji-Paraná, there is techno music for a bit, then a Brazilian Country Music Duo comes on stage for the next few hours and destroys the vibe of the location (unless you're already drunk, then it's awesome to square dance around the room in heels). However, this night was different. Instead of a live country duo, it was a LIVE SAXOPHONIST AND VOCALIST PERFORMING TECHNO DANCE MUSIC WITH A DJ. It was stellar. It was like Kenny G on ecstasy and I was enjoying every minute of it. We stayed until about 4:30, which was still early by Brazilian standards, but since I'm nearing 30, I was totally beat and I just remember giving money to the lady at the cash register and thinking really hard about how much she needed to give me back in change on my way out to pay my bill and then crashing, fully clothed and with full makeup in bed.

Anyhow, to prove how awesome this night was, I thought I would upload this photo that was taken by one of those "now required in every single dance club" photographers that are probably the cause of a million and one breakups every year. QUICK! SMILE! I HOPE YOUR GIRLFRIEND DOSEN'T SEE THIS! YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO YOUR MOTHER'S HOUSE!

Rosângela, Marcel (one of Humberto's friends from Orlando who lives in Ji-Paraná), Humberto and I (and my vodka and Redbull that became just vodka after the Redbull ran out...)

That was my last, last Saturday night! What about you?

Thanks/Gratidão

I wish that everyone you meet on this day will be blessed by you.

This video made me stop and reflect in some of the most incredible ways, and I hope it has the same effect on you.

Once again, I must inform you that I love, love, love every single TED lecture. 

Saudade

The word saudade is one of my favorite words in Portuguese. It means to miss someone or something, but has an incredibly complex meaning that I feel "I miss you" simply doesn't capture. It's a deep, passionate, feeling and can be used equally for people, places or things. Today, bateu uma saudade (I got hit by a saudade), and I'll leave it up to you to imagine of what or who.

The Song: Saudade by Tião Carreiro

I tried to embed the video but it won't work since the user responsible for the video disabled the feature.

This was the song that H's father sang to us on our first night on the farm after our long trip to our new home. I'll never forget the emotions I felt on that day.

As the rain comes to an end....

This weekend was the first weekend that it didn't rain since November. Well, it did actually rain, but it was a 30 second drizzle so I don't count that as rain. Since we are in the Tropics there really isn't a summer or a winter. We have a rainy season and a dry season. From November or so until April, it's the rainy season. From April until November, it's (da da da DDAAAA) the dry season.

I have to say that I love the rainy season. It doesn't rain all day, but the rain is so refreshing when it comes. It heats up all day and then BAM it pours around midday, just like when I was in Puebla, Mexico in 2007. The rain brings a nice chill and cools off everything until the following day around 10 or so when it starts to heat up all over again. However, with the rain, comes all sorts of other problems. Mud. Flooding. Mold. New bugs. Mosquitos à vontade. And it actually gets COLD. Well, cold to my newly adjusted Brazilian circulatory system. I find myself in long sleeves and sweaters almost every single night. I LOVE IT. We don't spend money to run the A/C unit but we do spend money on our electric showerhead. And yes, it was terrifying for me as well to know that there was an electrical apparatus above my head that was shooting out water, while I was standing in water... but hey, life is more interesting when you live on the wild side, right?

With the rainy season also comes the POTHOLE season! This year is the absolute worst since there is a huge hydroelectric plant project in Porto Velho ( about 5 hours from us ) and all of the giant pieces of the turbines and such are being transported on our sad little BR-364, the only highway that connects this half of Brazil to the other half. For the majority of the road, it's only one lane. One each way. There are spots where it turns into two lanes, but this is only near big cities. This year the road has crumbled to bits. You can find all sorts of protest groups on Facebook and the web about how this road needs to be urgently fixed and they are not exaggerating. The other day we went to the farm and there was one curve where you couldn't figure out which way anyone was going since they were swerving everywhere. Semis, trucks, cars, motorcycles, bikes, everything on wheels was all over the road. Everyone was basically going 2 miles per hour trying to avoid the bumps. I found this image online and I thought it was hysterical, but so true. (And FYI, the majority of Rondonia does NOT look like this dry, sad, treeless landscape. The majority of it, at least where we are, is beautiful, lush and gorgeous! This photo is just infront of an old clear-cut style farm which, as we all know, destroys everything.)

It says:
Abort mission! You are in Brazil in the state of Rondonia!
The base looks like the moon but it's BR364. Repeat. This is not the moon. Over.

The rain has eaten away at the terribly thin pavement and on top of that, the huge, heavy parts of the turbines have completely destroyed the road. Humberto and I have stopped going to the farm every weekend simply because there are so many accidents on the highway. People just lose control, their tires burst or simply crash since there is no way to drive on one side of the road. At night it's completely impossible.

Finally, the issue is getting national coverage on the largest (and practically only) national news show, Journal Nacional. Even if you don't understand Portuguese, just watch the link to see the situation. The worst part is between Presidente Medici, which is the city just to the south of us (my in-law's farm is just before the small town). 

There is talk about how much money has been and is going to be spent to renovate this super important road (since the majority of Brazil's soy export, which comes from Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul, travels this road before it is exported to China and other countries). However, as in almost any case in Brazil, the numbers don't always mean there is some type of result, as most of the money is eaten by politicians and friends of politicians. According to Globo, DNIT (The National Department for Infrastructure and Transportation) has invested 92 MILLION REAIS in this highway over the last three years. There are parts of the road where you can see the results of this investment... nicely paved beautiful two lane each way US-style highways, however, these are in the MINORITY. That is a TON of money. Where is it going? I'm pretty sure I have a good idea.