Written: Saturday 17-07-10.

We are here!

The flight from Heathrow to Sao Paulo went relatively quickly, and we arrived around 06:00 local time (Brazil is 4 hours behind the UK). The excitement is building - just one more flight and then we will be in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro.

Am I nervous? Yeah, a bit - but more excited than nervous though!

My expectations of Rio as I sit here in Sao Paulo airport?...From what I’ve read, Rio is a beautiful city, and the area where we are staying is quite reputable. Before the pre-departure briefing, one of the tasks was to watch a DVD on Brazil - I watched “The City of God”, based on the ‘tender trio’ in Cidade de Deus, on the suburbs of Rio. The film in a nutshell is one of the guys takes the route of being a photographer and is pretty successful, and his mate breaks away and becomes heavily involved in drug dealing. Based on a true story, it would be easy to assume that Rio in general has a similar ethos. I would like to think, based on previous experience, that those who do not have much in terms of material possessions to have a surprising amount of hope and aspiration. It would be wrong to completely prejudge what I will find though.

Will there be obvious gaps between rich and poor?...unfortunately there probably will be. But we will see - the stat of around 5% of the population sharing 85% of the wealth speaks volumes, and it will definitely be interesting to see if/how this is evident. It will be interesting to experience the culture first-hand, and to form the first part of my presentation.

Once we arrived in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro, the street where the hotel is reminds me of any typical European street with designer shops etc. Food is surprisingly relatively expensive here though, and we have been shopping in the local supermarket which again is similar to supermarkets back home, but with a more relaxed feel about it. The Brazilian people seem very relaxed and happy, and despite it raining, the first signs of us actually being in Brazil are apparent, people who are very patriotic.

Looking at the confectionary available in shops, it seems to be between Kraft and Nestle. There is also evidence of having to know your market - have seen ‘Trident’ chewy being sold in packs of five as opposed to bigger packs in the UK, there is also less packaging - instead of plastic and then card as in the UK, is just paper.

Going back to the point about rich and poor, on the coach journey from the airport to the hotel, we came through the largest road tunnel in Latin America, leaving a relatively poorer-looking part of town behind with favelas on the hills on one side, and then entering into a world of wealth. On the face of it this would look like a distinctive divide between rich and poor, but will find out more. The amount of money an individual has should not define them, it is merely an observation.

We were meant to be going to Sugar Loaf Mountain tomorrow, but has been postponed until next week because of the weather!

Ian

(P.S. for those interested, it doesn’t even come close to the Savvas!!)

Welcome to my Brazil blog! I’m told, a blog is like exposing your innermost thoughts and feeling to the world; something which I’m not used to. Follow my journey from Manchester to the shantytowns of Sao Paulo, through both the people I meet and my experiences. Also, if I’m doing this newfangled blogging thingy wrong, please tell me now rather than after six weeks and I’d really like to hear your comments!  

Right now I can see the Manchester Piccadilly sign roll past the window of my Virgin train- on the first leg of my journey to the Capital then on to Rio de Janeiro. As I sit next to Amar, a Londoner who visited Manchester for a job interview, I’m only half listening as the heady reality of my own journey only now begins to dawn.

Last night my friend Jack at our school prom recalled the story of two people who were forced to strip naked at gunpoint whilst the Brazilian muggers stole their belongings. I can’t help but think that as soon as I land I, too, will be a prime-target. It makes the niggle of making the airport baggage allowance simply sink into insignificance.  

I will do my very best to update you daily on the latest news and events on a regular basis. The first two weeks I will spend in Rio learning Portuguese (of which my current abilities can only be described as virtually nil), then on to Sao Paulo where I’ll be teaching English, staying with a host family, the very welcoming Almedia family, and working with Cambridge University Press.

Right, with all this talk of crime, I’m off to the train’s shop for a calming cuppa. Next stop, Rio!

Well, I had said my goodbyes (6 weeks worth!) and told my friend to text me with my results on 19th August....now it was off to Brazil!

I was nervous slightly going to a place I had never been, but I knew I would learning a lot including an awesome language (Portuguese!), and talking to Brazilian teenagers my age, and learning about their likes and dislikes, I knew I would be making friends forever...

After an exhausting flight journey (11 hours!), we, the Brazil fellows, landed in Sao Paulo International Airport. However, our flight to Rio wasn´t for another 3 hours. This gave us fellows the chanc to practice our little Portuguese we had learnt at home for the first time in Brazil. I ordered what I wanted in Portuguese, and the cashier appreciated I attempted to speak Portuguese!

Few hours later we landed in Rio. We were told by aa Brazilian representative in the UK that Rio was a city of contrast....the moment we fellows drove into Rio leaving the airport, I saw shantytowns while travelling on the bus, I also saw a lot of deprived areas which lacked development. However, as soon as we entered the tourist area near the beach (woww!), I noticed how developed this part of Brazil was and how much money had been spent to develop such great looking tourist attractions. Truly, as th Brazilian representative had said, Rio was a country of constast......I just couldn´t wait to learn about Rio´s culture (and Brazil in general) and learn more of the language besides Obrigado and Tchau!

Blog out

Today i truly embraced an Indian toilet, which do not have toilet paper. Although the water tap method was a real culural learning method for me, i do prefer the loo roll western method. 

The last two days have been amazing and although i may have caught the old delhi belly, i have had a fantastic time. Yesterday i was too tired to blog as i felt a bit jet lagged and opted for an early night. We had Hindi language lessons which passed through my brain after as quickly as they went in and in the afternoon we went to CCRT an Indian Cultural centre. We were welcomed by Indian dancers, drummers, men on Stilts and men riding pretend horses dancing. We were then serenaded by various musical acts and finally danced to by some Indian dancers. The colours and music were extremely exciting and truly showed off the great Indian arts. The evening showcased a very different end of Indian Culture, when we took a metro to an area of old delhi, which was generally poorer than the area around our hotel and very overcrowded. I found the experience quite uncomfortable. Being a group of 30 westerners, we stood out like sore thumbs. People just stared at us, but by no means in a hostile way. People just seemed genrally intrested by us and would be extremely fiendly. Its an experience that can not be explained through words, but only through experience. An experience that provoked great excitement but also feelings of isolation.  However, the whole day was what i came to India to see. The real India; what culture is like behind the walls of our hotel and the British Council but actually out on the Street.

Today, we had laughter yoga in the morning, followed by a trip to Amir Jyoti disabled school in the afternoon, followed by a heritage walk around a Indian Slum area and then a trip to Akshardhan Hindu temple in the evening. It was a very contrasting day but a very inspiring one. I really reccomend checking out the Amir Jyoti school website as the work done there for children of all disabilities is inspirational. It is great to know that in a city with so much building work that makes most places very inaccesible for people with disabilities, that there is extremely generous people at places like Amir Jyoti, working for these children to help them intergrate into society, while they work with abled bodied students to make them aware of working with disabled people.

Days 2&3

Mosquito Munch Tally:7

This week, so encouragingly named "Phase 1: Culture Contrast and Change", begins with a City Hunt of New Delhi, which has been painstakingly and thoroughly organised by the students of Delhi University, who have dilligently crafted a trail of clues around tehe expansive capital city. This pursuit involves us acquainting ourselves with India's renowned rickshaws (both cycle and motor), Hindustani-tune-belting, hop-on-hop-off buses and spacious Metro system, whilst taking in sights such as the Delhi Haat market, India Tower, the Lotus and Humayan Tomb. Hard work and dilligence are, we quickly find out, integral features of the lives of our Indian peers, as the students, who walk briskly through Delhi's dusty streets in jeans and casually wipe their faces with flannels under the mid-day Indian heat, happily tell us that they hope to study up to post-grad level to become HR managers and engineers. They seem to take everything completely in their stride, flicking effortlessly from casual, easy conversation in English to briefly fierce Hindi debates with rickshaw drivers hoping to obtain a fee nearly 3x more than usual in light of their western passengers.

And this is our first important lesson in Delhi; if you look like a Westerner, Indian people will be very happy to accommodate you. Alot of them, however, will do this with a price in mind. I can honestly say that our group was not so enamoured with the "Students" of Delhi City, with particular reference to the young Pakistani resident who, on offering a small group of us directions to a local market, proceeded to take time out of whatever he may have had planned for that evening to lead the way.

"I don't want nothing from you, we are just students, we are just talking....." he tried to convince himself, having sensed our reluctance to turn a brief enquiry into a cosy chat. Cue a fifteen minute walk (which was only ever "two more minutes") in a direction which a street police officer later confirmed led nowhere, and we had solidly confirmed our original instinct; when lost, seek someone stood behind a desk in a hotel reception or tourist office. If you enjoy being taken on a merry little dance, ask any friendly stranger in the street.

By far the most joyful and also the most heart-wrenching encounters come courtesy of Delhi's children. Before jetting to these beautiful shores I had heard about the widely-held Indian belief that touching people with fair hair and comlexions is lucky and waited apprehensively, wondering how exactly I would react to this outward fascination. I like to think of myself as an open and laid-back person, but it's difficult to know how to respond to children who have clearly had it drummed into their head that fair skin is supreme or the only form of beauty. The children who ran up to me during the second day as I meandered one of Delhi's circus highways soon laid to rest my concerns, as they gleefully threw up their arms and seemed genuinely happy to run towards me, give me hearty hugs and ecstatically run off in teh other direction, squeeling with laughter as they got tangled in my floaty cardigan as they tried to make their speedy escape.

In general the children are adorable-they are happy and inquisitive without any hint of intrusion or hostility. They are equally delighted when you ask for photos with them. There are few things more humbling than the genuine contentment on their faces when all you've done is taken a photo of them and shown them. Thye happily wave and use any English words or phrases they may have learnt in school or simply out and about in Delhi's streets. 

Unfortunately, no sooner have you passed a smiling child than you feel the soft fingers of a child "teasing"-stroking your arms, gently tugging your clothes, listfully following your every step, pressing themselves against your car window, verbally pleading with you for food, to buy little pens, necklaces or anything else they trail around with them on streets that most of us wouldn't want our children to see on their own. It's never easy to ignore children who are in such appalling situations, but the hard truth is that any contribution we make will only be in the cast context of poverty in India. Making a difference will involve focused, long-term action with a charity or aorganistion that works closely with Indian communities, and this is something that is definitely worth looking in to as a really erwarding line of work.

Another unfavourable selection of Delhi residents are the Rush Hour Perverts, those charming, seasoned Metro riders who create one of India's biggest contradictions. Any concept of modesty and mutual respect is quickly shattered for those female tourists who find a selection of hand pressed against chests and thighs during the fierce rush to board the home-time train. It was rather disturbing to watch members of our group dissolve into tears, having been completely unprepared and un-informed about the casual attitude of a small selection of Indian men-no doubt the same who so stringently demand modesty from their female counterparts. The truth is, as horrific as it is for us first-time visitors, this kind of horrendous disregard for other individuals is the norm for many Indian girls and women, and isn't restricted to public transport.

On the other hand it must be noted that these people are more than overshadowed by the quietly repsectful, tolerant commutors and other Indians; those who keep a wise eye on everything that's going on and won't so much as blink before insisting that their Indian peers move away, allow tourists through to the front of queues and generally restore decency in an otherwise exaggerated show of "Inexperienced, Sheltered Westeners". It was a really refreshing show of humility and patience which was so gratefully received by some slightly shell-shocked 18 year olds.

Which is where I would choose to leave my blogging activity for the time being; anything you may have heard about India, however exggerated or horrific, is likely to apply in certain areas at certain times. However the fact that I can't stress highly enough after only three days in the country is that the warmth, understanding and generousity of the majority of the Indian population speaks more than loudly enough to hold it's ground against the negatives.

July 19^th

Today’s itinerary involved a Hindi lesson, visiting the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT) and taking for a heritage walk.

The schedule was slightly changed but boy was it a fun filled day; amazing folk dancing, traditional music that stretched my ear drums and finally packed trains (believe me when I say, having a sweaty drenched tee rubbed in your face is not a pleasant experience).

We began the day with a Hindi lesson that complimented the things we had learnt form our pre-departure briefing as well as contributing a little more vocabulary. It was very interesting to learn about the deeper meaning of  “Namaste” which is the general greeting term. The lesson also offered a deeper understanding of the traditional welcome and what it stands for. Hands are put in prayer position; head is slightly bowed followed by “Namaste”. This is meant to signify that this person is close to your heart, their god is your god and their spirit is also yours. Now that I know this it makes the greeting even more special. The idea of having respect and acceptance for each other’s gods and beliefs demonstrates tolerance. This simple but heart-felt act is a clear example of how India offers huge scope for a variance of customs that merge into a very rich culture. It is possible that one day we that a global culture that reflects India's set up? Globalization certainly provides a platform in which such global culture could develop and evolve. 

Following on from the insightful Hindi lesson, we visited the CCRT. One word WOW! We were greeted with very loud enjoyable lively music, sophisticated dance moves from friendly people wearing intricate clothing. We had our heads marked with the  “tikka” which is a fresh smelling dye. The beautiful smell is representative of how guests are to be treated like gods in the Indian custom.  It was very touching to have such a huge warm welcome, they really appreciated our presence. It made me wonder how Indian people visiting the UK feel about our idea of a welcome, offer a cuppa maybe, give a long boringly excited talk? The people at the CCRT got so carried away with trying to impress us with all the different fabulous dancing and amazing music that we were too late for our heritage walk.

I was a little disappointed but what followed when we went into “Chandni Chowk” really, really made up for it. Apart from the very distasteful journey on the Delhi metro (extremely cramped conditions), the trip to the markets in Chandni Chowk was incredibly memorable. The smells, the influx of people, the noise just hit you all at once. Vendors trying their hardest to get some money to take back home to their families, car horns, rickshaw horns, bus horns, motor bike horns all alerting their presence. It was brilliant. The stench of the filthy streets, although unpleasant some how added to the character of place. The uncomfortable stares from the locals were a bit disconcerting but then again a group of twenty-four diverse western looking young people would make heads turn anywhere let alone a busy market in Delhi.

Brazil is amazing!

Whether it be the perfectly clichéd beaches with their golden sand, palm trees and huge waves; the unassailable mountains that point straight to the sky until they are ´flat´ enough to build houses on; or the flowing but pleasently nasal language that everybody speaks here- I don´t think I could´ve come to a better place, and there are still six weeks of it left to go!

First and foremost- the journey. A quick (well, 3 or 4 hours) train journey to heathrow was the tip of the iceberg as our Brazilian tour guide told us we had a 16-hour journey head of us to get to Rio. The first plane journey passed relatively painlessly however! We had an uber-snazzy plane with a TV screen in the back of each chair with a choice of about 25 films each, and if we got reeeeaaally bored we could even choose to speak to the other fellows ;) The plane journey was my first meeting with Prab, and we had a good natter over the lap of a bemused-looking portuguese man- poor him. After touchdown in São Paulo airport we then had a 3-hour wait for our connecting flight to Rio de Janeiro, on which I promptly fell asleep. Our greeting to Rio was, of course, rain. Not what any of us had been expecting, and it only got worse as once we~d found our hotel we went exploring for food and all ended up soaking wet. Maybe I should´ve packed a few more clothing options than shorts and t-shirts... Our hotel is nice, but the lift is prehistoric and getting 30 of us up and down to the 6th, 7th and 8th floor can take nearly half an hour! We´re all getting very fit going up and down the stairs.

I refused to be drawn in to going out on the first night- I needed my sleep, having had none on the plane! But then Martin´s bag, which had been lost at the airport arrived at around 11 at night... It would´ve been rude not to go with him, surely? On the second day, Sunday, we were assigned a ´treasure hunt´ around the hotel area designed to show us all the important shops we´d need across our 2 weeks in Rio. After finishing this at 2 we were in free time for the rest of the afternoon- many of us explored the market, where I bought a nameless meal which seemed to be deep fried bread with various sauces and some prawns inside, as well as a bit of tourist tack to take home for Mumsie and Dadsie. We then meandered to the beach... definitely the best beach i´ve ever been on! Despite it being winter in Brazil right now, the sea was warm (compared to Blackpool anyway) and the sun... tried to shine. Even without the sun, the temperature hasn´t made it below 19 degrees yet, even at night. We played a bit of football with some Brazilian kids, who predictably were far better than us despite only being around 8, and then a very tiring game which we somehow won with 3 Swiss guys and an American. Hannah is popular with the Brazilian traders, managing to somehow get a free henna tattoo, whilst poor Jonny was made to pay full price for his.

In the evening we sampled the local drink of Capirianhi, which is the Brazilian spirit Cahaça, lime, ice, sugar and nothing else. It´s very effective, and the last of us left at the bar then met some Brazilians who spoke English who then took us on a guided tour of the beach, taught us Portuguese swearwords and persuaded one of us to climb a tree to fetch coconuts! That person wishes they hadn´t been caught Stevie´s video camera...

Yesterday morning we quickly shook off the previous night´s effects to attend our first Portuguese lesson, which went pretty well, before visiting a project called Afro-Reggae in the afternoon- it was basically a big music thing in the middle of the most violent favelá in Rio... famous for when police shot 21 unarmed civilians. The effect the project has had in the area is profound- it started out in the streets, as they couldn´t afford a building, but it´s grown, especially through the sponsorship of many corporate partners, most notably Brazilian cosmetics company Natura (who are linked with the GF) who have been synonymous with the project for many years now. Crime rates have dropped dramatically, and people in the area now have a real alternative to crime. Wars between rival drug factions have calmed as there are similar projects in neighbouring areas. We were greeted by around 15 people playing old oil drums and empty barrels, before being ushered into an upstairs room to see a striking drama in Portuguese. We then saw the main Afro Reggae building- it is huge, modern and colourful and a social hub to the entire surrounding area. We were treated to a local band´s warmup gig before they play some European dates, and not one of us was left sitting down and Ashvin somehow weedled his way into the band and was happily playing a drum for about an hour. We then had the chance to try out some instruments ourselves, and as darkness fell the locals were all joining in with us- this was a really special moment as we were told the slum never gets visitors, and we´d been drawing funny, even accusatory looks all day. Soon we were playing football with the children and our guides had to practically drag us away as we bid farewell or ´O Brigado´in our sketchy Portuguese.

Overall we are having a great and really informative time so far- cannot thank the Global Fellowship staff and the British council enough.

Okay, so I tried to blog on Sunday, but of course being me it wouldn’t upload so this is an epic blog of the past couple of days!

Got to India on saturday after my first long haul flight (not an experience I want to repeat really given that long legs + small seats = absolutely no sleep at all!) and now blogging from our amazing hotel room...thank you british council! The bathroom alone is enough to put a smile on my face!

Anyway, so delhi...what can I say?! It's absolutely boiling...hot and humid...my friends said i'd melt but I didn't realise they meant literally! But although i've only been here two days, I really love it! The roads are absolutely manic...there's no road markings and the only rule seems to be honk your horn to overtake and then pull out and cut across any other cars! And the people are all really lovely - we went on a city hunt around the city with local university students on sunday who were all so nice - it was great being shown round New Delhi by someone who knew what they were doing! Getting auto-rickshaws at a reasonable price is much easier if you can argue in Hindi! And of course the food's great too...although I am on a hunt for some fresh fruit - not sure if it''s still mango season but i'm keeping my eyes peeled! A friend told me before I came away that everything in India is a picture and she's right...it's so hard to really describe what this place is like - it's developing so fast and it's so vibrant that things seem to change every minute. Like at the moment - New Delhi is going to host the commonwealth games in October so at the moment literally the whole city is a construction site. But an ever-changing, exciting, fast paced construction site!

We went to the CCRT (centre for cultural research and training) on Monday which was brilliant – they aim to propagate Indian culture by pairing it with education and offer scholarships to young people (25% of whom are from old cultural families) to study classical Indian culture. It was so great to see people who passionately believe that culture can enrich all areas of education, and we were given performances by dancers and musicians who introduced us to different classical forms of Indian culture…it really demonstrated how diverse this country is.

And then today we got the chance to go to the Amarjyoti rehabilitation centre which was utterly inspiring. It’s a school for able and ‘disabled’ children to be taught side by side and it really is a magical place. All the children are so happy and it was wonderful to see the cultural barriers that sadly so often exist between able and disabled people being brought down. The centre also runs adult vocational lessons to get adults into work and runs programmes where prosthetic limb makers go into the slums and make limbs for children who need them for free. I’m hoping to go back there over the next few weeks and offer any help they need…it’s a place that makes you realise there really are good people in the world.

But there’s also another side of Delhi...you go past children working alongside their parents to lay the pavement for visitors to the commonwealth games...no matter how hard you try and prepare yourself for poverty - seeing young children working and begging is incredibly difficult...and to be staying in a place as luxurious as we are while your seeing that right outside your window somehow makes it even harder. It's strange...I may only of been here for a couple of days but I appreciate what I have now a lot more - £3 here is a lot of money and that brings you back down to earth…

Anyway, I’m off now to go and have a well earned rest…monsoon season began today with an almighty downpour and so after battling through the rain I’m ready for sleep! 

I’ll write again soon!

hey peoples, hope alls well in your host countries

im having an awesome time with all the other brazillian fellows. top quality people its great. we went to check out a typical band, you the percussion bands you see on tv with make shift instruments and all, it was unreal. we even composed our own litle jam, im sure someone took a video so ityou can all check it out. we´ve had chill time on the beach and mucked about in the ocean. life couldnt get better.

the people (staff) looking after us are really cool as well, i really wanna stay in brazil. im lo9ving it

Up until this point the trip has been relatively touristy. We saw some sights and ran around Delhi learning little about the depths of the country's culture and more about the various modes of transport we would be using to navigate the city. Despite this being incredibly entertaining, it failed to help us understand the real reason we are in India (although the real reason is unique for each of us, and it is likely we will not really know until we return to England). Today we were given the chance to see something a bit more tangible. After some hilarious if mildly frightening laughter yoga (Hasyayoga) we made our way to Amar Jyoti, a school which aims to (and succeeds in) provide 'equal opportunity and full participation to persons with disabilities so that they can be on the same platform as the non-disabled'. I had heard a lot of stories from previous fellows saying how much they were changed by the experience and admittedly I was sceptical, doubting that 6 weeks could affect any significant change in the way I lead my life. However after spending time at Amar Jyoti I saw for the first time that there was a lot more to be found in this country than just the busy streets and the impressive history. When you look a little deeper the ambitious spirit of Indian people shines through and the reason for their emergence as a leading economic power becomes more evident. 

The school ensures that every student there get put on the right path, be it academic or vocational. In order to accommodate the variety of students they have attending they have a range of vocational classrooms for skills ranging from sewing to electronics. Students train at the school, obtaining the skills needed to get a job with a company in the city or start up their own business. All of the products produced at the school are sold to help fund it. Enough of the little details though, more important was the immense feeling of pride that emanated from the various members of staff we met there. Our guide showed us every aspect of the programme with intentions bent solely on simply explaining the good they were doing for the community rather than trying to get us to support the college financially (false passion- something we had encountered at other places prior to this- really gets on my nerves). What was most inspiring about the day was recognising how well integrated all of the students were, whether they had a disability or not. One blind child dropped his white cane and within a matter of seconds another young girl, no more than 8 years old, rushed to his side to help guide him to his seat and pick up his stick. The deep understanding and respect felt by the children without disabilities for those with them was incredible and incomparable with anything I had encountered before, especially with children of such a young age. 

This understanding and respect came directly from the staff. Through their explanation of why they integrate the two groups of children so constantly I realised something else about the Indian mindset. They believe that regardless of your physical or mental capacity you are always capable of working to help provide for your family. The help given to the children extends out into the local community as well, making sure that those in the area can utilise the resources available at the Amar Jyoti in order to improve their own standards of living. 'Work is God'; just one of the many quotes I noticed pinned to the walls of the staff offices at the school. The work ethic there seemed to revolve around two things 1) The betterment of the children 2) Providing for your family/community/country. All of the people I talked to spoke passionately about the ways they were changing the local area with their work. The intensity of their pride was fantastic, and taught me that success spawns from your dedication to something you care about and that finding out exactly what that is should become first priority. 

All in all my experience at the school at the very least opened up a pathway into the minds of the Indian people. Whether this was just a pocket of ambitious spirit and goodwill or if this attitude extends across the entire subcontinent I do not know but hopefully I will find out in the next 5 weeks, I know that I will do everything in my power to explore this country to the very heart and discover everything I can about its people and what drives them. Hopefully when I return to England I can translate what I have learned into something usable for the rest of us. 

All the best, goodnight