So, I was going to structure this entry differently, as I realized there are more similarities and differences to note (and thus, I thought a Part II was in order), but in light of recent events, I decided to take a different approach.
On Monday night, I fell prey to something that happens quite frequently around here and while I could take the easy way out and not broadcast it to all my readers out there so as not to cause any alarm, there are other issues it raises that I think are worth mentioning (but still, I hope it doesn´t cause alarm -- I´m not worried about it, so you shouldn´t be, either). Anyway, what happened was that my cell phone got stolen. Right out of my pocket. Brazilians worry about this on a day-to-day basis, and so when they go out, a lot of people don´t bother taking their cell phones, but since that night I was going to be meeting up with people, I thought that it would make the most sense to take it with me. It was an old cell phone anyway (I didn´t buy it in Brazil) and it didn´t have much money left on it, but it is just an annoyance in itself that it happened.
One of the issues it highlights is the class differences that are present in Salvador. It is really very noticeable -- the middle/higher classes seem richer than they are and the lower classes seem that much poorer. On my way to school, I pass an average of two people sleeping on the street (and many more throughout the course of the day), and it is not uncommon to see people carefully selecting seven-course meals out of sidewalk dumpsters at any given point during the day. I live in an area called Campo Grande (which is a fine area of town), and I walk through two other neighborhoods to get to school, passing all sorts of people along the way -- people going to work, people selling fruit, other students, etc. One of those other neighborhoods has mansions and health-conscious joggers (that´s how my guidebook describes them) who are out running when I am walking to school. Even generally in the city, you (or, I suppose, I) come across all kinds of people on a daily basis -- ranging from the taxi drivers who blast Brazil´s latest top 40 songs, to the (friendly) transvestites who hang around Pelourinho and ask if they can give me hair weaves (I have yet to be convinced)...But anyway, moving on....
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Now I´ll backtrack a bit to where I left off last time....
Sunday, I ended up going to this beachfront restaurant called Caranguejo do Farol (Crab of the Lighthouse) with Auana (host sister) and two of her friends. We spent a few hours there, hammering crabs and whatnot. Later, I met my Praia do Forte group (Greg (USA), Salvador (USA), Jamilly (Brazil), and Tatiana (Brazil)) at the movies and we saw ´´Love in the Time of Cholera.´´ It was great timing, really, because I finished the book the day before, and I always like reading the book before watching the movie when considering books I want to read. Then, since we saw the movie at the Alliance Française, we got crêpes and ice cream at their restaurant after the movie.
Monday turned out to be different from most school days, since one teacher at the school was sick, and three new kids joined the school, so there was a teacher shortage, and since now I am the only person in my class, the school needed Tatiana to teach the class...so I agreed to let them ´´borrow´´ Tatiana for the day, which meant I didn´t have class. (Since I am alone in my class, I don´t have five full days of classes anyway, so I just took one of my ´´off´´ days on Monday.) Because I had a few hours to kill before meeting up with some people who *did* have class, I ended up in search of air conditioning. Next stop? Shopping mall a 15-minute walk away! Easy way to kill a few hours...and closest A/C around. Then, in the afternoon, I went with Greg (USA), Salvador (USA), and Marcelo (Brazil -- teacher) to pick up our T-shirts for Carnaval, which was a ways away. Thankfully, Marcelo offered to drive us. Afterwards, we went to a nearby shopping area and got lunch and walked around there for a bit.
It was at night that the trouble came...I met Sheberon (Sweden) and Beth (UK) for dinner before Cortejo Afro (the same ´´show´´ we went to last Monday night, but this one was to be the last one of the year, because after Carnaval, all of these ´´shows´´ stop, uh, ´´showing´´), and then afterwards we headed toward the party. Since this show was the last of the year, though, the streets were PACKED and it was hard to move just to get into the place, but since we were to meet up with Tatiana beforehand, we were waiting outside. I put my hand in my pocket to get my phone to call her, and that´s when I noticed it wasn´t there. I went back to the restaurant to see if it was there, but to no avail. Since I didn´t get my phone in Brazil, though, my phone didn´t have a Portuguese language function, and since very few people here speak English, I can at least rest assured that whomever it was that stole my phone had a nice little wake-up call at 6:17am the following day. (It´s always the little things that make you happy.) We ended up meeting up with Rômulo, who got in touch with Tatiana, so everything worked out fine. And, in the interest of letting things go that you just have no control over, we went into the show and had fun anyway. (There was also a guest appearance from Daniela Mercury, a Brazilian singer who is well known in Bahia.)
Tuesday, I had class as scheduled, just me and Tatiana. I spent the latter part of the afternoon hanging out with my capoeira friends in Pelourinho, and one can tell that Carnaval is quickly approaching because the city is getting more packed by the day. There were a ton of people watching the capoeira guys, so I didn´t even ask to play drums. It was fun watching, though.
Today was a regular day of class, lunch, dance class, etc. The days seem to fly by these days, and the closer it gets to Carnaval, the more the locals think I am a tourist and just here for Carnaval...kind of annoying, but I suppose it makes sense that they would guess that.
***
Other things worth noting (the Part II from the last entry):
*In the U.S., we pay in installments for big purchases -- houses, cars, furniture, etc. In Brazil, you can pay for clothes in installments, too....
Whenever I go to charge my credit card for things, I have the option to divide that by 1, 2, 3, or 4..or something like that. You can´t pay in installments for everything (like restaurants), but sometimes for clothes and other things, you can. It´s just so weird (sorry, not weird....´´different´´) seeing a sign that says R$11 (equivalent of ~$5 USD) and thinking, ´´Hooray! What a bargain!´´ and then realizing that it´s probably really $20 and that the fine print most likely says x4 or something to that effect. What a bizarre-o system. I´ve had to get in the habit of telling the cashiers to just divide things by one.
*In the U.S., toilet paper goes in the toilet. In Brazil, it doesn´t.
The water system can´t handle it, so you have to throw it out in garbage cans right next to the toilet. Weird to get used to ...no, sorry...not weird..just ´´different.´´ Different culture, different customs. And when you live abroad, you have to get used to the way people do things with respect to their own contexts.
*In the U.S., you pay for the bus when you get on the bus (at the front). In Brazil, this is not necessarily the case.
There are three options. 1) You can get on at the front of the bus and pay immediately. 2) You can get on at the front of the bus and pay on your way out. 3) You can get on at the back of the bus and pay immediately (and then when you leave the bus, you exit through the front). (Note: You do not have a choice in the matter. It just depends what bus you take.) It is also important to point out that what makes this process infinitely more annoying is that there is a turnstile at the back/front of the bus, depending on where the checkpoint is.
***
Okay, well that concludes today´s entry on lessons learned from the rua (street). So y´all be careful out there, and be sure to keep your hands in your pockets.
missy
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com
(PS For all of you who think I am cell phone-less and thus I am no longer a functioning member of society, a) shame on you for having such an attitude. You should take four months off and go travel and b) I am actually now back in business with a cell phone and have the same phone number I had before.)
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