No reason for the News – Observations

While browsing one of the largest (online) newspapers in Brazil this morning, I noticed one thing…it’s the same thing I always notice, there’s no reason for the (Brazilian) News. While I have no vendetta out for news as a way to introduce a subject to the people, I do have an issue with trash posing as news. One could use the “don’t shoot the messenger” line here but I’m not buying it. Owners have certain preferences which will always make it into their papers and when the populace is kept between left and right politics (aka the Hegelian Dialectic of problem-reaction-solution), it gives organizations such as newspapers the right to say “we’re just reporting what the people want”. Rarely does one take into account the fact that the populace is conditioned by the media and the gov’t, both of which are eternally in bed together…but that’s another story to which I’ll only be devoting the following paragraph.

One can go back all the way to 1808, when the first ever Brazilian newspaper called the ‘Correio Brazilienze‘ began to be circulated in London as well as within Brazil, albeit secretly. The Brazilian owner, Hipólito da Costa, was a well-to-do mason and Brazilian diplomat who once in London, created the ‘Correio’ as a means to disseminate liberal ideas on the emancipation of Brazil from the Portuguese court. Seeing as how the Portuguese royals didn’t take too kindly to such a thing, they funded the creation of a rival newspaper in London called O Investigador Portuguez em Inglaterra. Come 1812 and the Royal Family had had enough of the Correio so they made a secret deal with Hipólito to tone down his criticism of the monarchy in exchange for a the handsome payment of 1,000 silver sterlings (equal to about 500 subscriptions) per year. Meanwhile, his readers were none-the-wiser all the way up until the newspaper ceased circulation in 1822.

Returning to modern reporting, here’s what I found while tallying up the types of articles in the paper today in Brazil.

16 stories on death and violence
7 stories on trivia (entertainment, aka bread and circuses)
9 stories on politics, etc (the kind that are of interest only to select readers)

That’s right. There was nothing to give pause, to require thought or to inspire further pursuit in the news today. Sure, they say some days are ’slow news days’ but I’m not buying that either because I see this day-in, day-out in Brazilian newspapers. I’m not saying the news in other countries is any better as globalization has made us all ‘beat our drum to the same tune’, but it’s sad nonetheless. And for those who are more visually stimulated, there’s always Brazilian TV news, but don’t waste your time, it’s just more of the same.

As with anything else in this world, if you want to be informed, do research, read from multiple sources and multiple viewpoints and find others to discuss those issue with. Proceed with caution though, as it’s important too to not fall into the trap of Plato’s Cave, where we look to our neighbor to confirm our understanding of reality, a ‘reality’ which the media and gov’t hand out on a daily basis.

Why being oneself in Brazil isn’t a breeze

In my time abroad, mostly in Colombia and Brazil, I’ve noticed something significant. No matter how much I study the culture or how good my language skills are, it’s hard to be myself. What do I mean by that? This post by Leo at The Lions Den is self-explainitory, but I’ll repost the part that struck me.

“We hit the Rio Vermelho district and sat outside drinking beer late into the morning. Pretty common occurrence by our standards, but what set this particular outing apart was the subtle cultural interaction that happened between her students and myself. To my glee, I have reached a point in my Portuguese that allows me to be my safado, jokester, no public shame kind of self, and it is indeed most liberating. The process of learning a language has been somewhat difficult for me, as I have had to survive being the quiet awkward observant one for too long. I hate this. Truly hate it.”

I know the pain you’ve endured, Leo. Even with my knowledge of Portuguese being tested at 96%, give or take, that still doesn’t mean I can be myself in Brazil. This has to do with a single factor which has two sides, one is knowing that your spoken Portuguese is fluent and versatile, the other side is being confident enough that you won’t mess up (or that you’ll be okay with sounding like an idiot in the case you do). It’s the former that bothers me.

My spoken Portuguese in a normal conversation with a stranger borders on quite good but not great and this is noticable when you are a native-speaker/stranger talking to me. Luckily, I’ve reached the point where they assume I’m Brazilian but they just can’t place me (although when they do, it’s as a gaúcho while in the North or a Paulista/Carioca otherwise). Nobody likes sounding like an idiot so this makes you think twice about how you say what you say and also about how much to say. For day-to-day operations, I go for ’short and sweet’ but when out to have fun or even to learn, this method doesn’t cut it.

Personally, I like to see how long I can go with others thinking I’m Brazilian but it doesn’t bother me in most cases when they know I’m not. At this point though when they find out I’m not, I’ll get one of two treatments. Either they will pretend I’m a complete moron linguistically or they will treat me normally. Being an American interested in South America has its advantages here. For one, I’ve grown up in a culture where no one really talks to each other so in the case I’m seen as the linguistic moron, it’s a good way to not talk to people I otherwise wouldn’t talk to. A personal interest in Brazil though gives me another option, I can talk to those who treat me normally and that is a chance to learn more about their (regional) culture.

One may come across certain situations which come down to taste, preference and environment rather than language skills. One such example is when you find yourself in a noisy bar and you are with a group of around 5-6 people, perhaps more. Let’s assume, as is the case most of the time, that the conversations going on at the table are in Portuguese. Let’s also assume you can’t understand 85% of what is being said and therefore you have trouble following along. This has zero to do with study-time and everything to do with how you are in your home country. In the U.S., I like bars but I don’t like crowds and by extension that means I don’t like noisy bars. Why? Because you can’t hear a thing, meaning you can’t concentrate, meaning you can’t join in on the conversation and enjoy yourself without going hoarse. In Brazil though (or any other country), not participating makes you seem like you are either a quiet foreigner or a stuck-up foreigner…no one seems to consider the fact that it’s just not your thing to be in a noisy place (if you go to Brazil, get used to it, it’s a noisy place all-together).

Getting back to the main point; being yourself. The things I’ve discussed can definitely make it hard to relax and ’shoot the breeze’ or even to get into a conversation that is on the more intellectual/philisophical side. The solution to being able to be yourself is to either give in 100% to your efforts…meaning study spoken, informal Portuguese like your life depended on it without fear for error and with a mind open to corrections OR to find people who are bilingual, especially if you consider yourself to be bilingual too. In the case of the latter, you can make jokes in both languages and discuss the finer points of an issue in either language, etc., etc. In my experience though, with a long-time conversation partner (be it a friend or what-have-you), you’ll fall into using one language most of the time with the occasional code-switching for words you both understand have a more loaded meaning in one language or the other. Over the years, I swear I did not try to meet and become friends with English-speaking Brazilians but most of my good Brazilian friends are fluent in English. It’s refreshing then to be able to be oneself for a change, to not be the quiet and possibly-frustrated foreigner but to just be the same person you’ve always been, whatever that means to you.

This post goes out to my good friends (you know who you are) whose own interest in my native tongue have allowed for a fuller experience of friendship than I could have had with anyone who is monolingual. After all, my Brazilianist inclinations almost require that a good friend be bilingual so we can be free to share ourselves and our interests in the language we see fit.

Le Café (with English and Portuguese subs)

A French animation on the dangers of having too much caffine and since Brazil is a coffee-drinking nation….(for English subs, check the link below the video)

“A song of the French band Oldelaf and Mr D. from their LP L’album de la maturité. The movie clip has been directed by Stephanie Marguerite and Emilie Tarascou.”

Le Café (in English)

Eu não sei, não quero saber – Informal Portuguese

The phrase is “Eu não sei, eu não quero saber e eu tenho raiva de quem sabe!” (I don’t know, I don’t want to know and I’m angry at who does know!). I’d say it kind of shares the same meaning as the phrase “I just don’t really want to hear about it” in English. Correct me if you have a better translation! ; )

700 Posts on Eyes On Brazil!

Not much to say aside from the title. I’m averaging 32 posts per month and if Eyes On Colombia is counted, that jumps to 39. Getting closer to the answer of the question “now who is going to pay me for this?” I’m just saying, I wouldn’t complain if someone wanted to pay me for doing something similar but for a different subject.

Who owns U.S. debt? Brazil does (kind of)!

Over at Global Shift, there’s an article called “Who owns the U.S. debt?” which talks about and lists those countries and institutions that hold U.S. debt and why that is important. Check out who is number 12 on the list!

“it’s important to know just who owns our debt, not just for domestic reasons, but because it deeply affects foreign policy and international relations. Who does the U.S. have to compromise itself for? Without further ado, here’s the 15 biggest holders of U.S. debt:

15. Russia – 128.1 billion

14. Depository Institutions – 145.4 billion

13. Hong Kong – 146.2 billion

12. Brazil – 157.1 billion”

Freebies, Links & Cybercafes in Belém

While I close out my Eyes On Belém site, here’s some content that someone may find of use one day.

What to do for free/Coisas pra fazer de graça

Monday/Segunda-feira

A Walk in the Utinga Park/Caminhada no parque ambiental do Utinga
It’s worth it to get to know the Bolonha lake and all of the shades of green that surrounds it. Vale a pena conhecer o lago Bolonha e o tanto de verde que existe por lá.

Open from Monday to Saturday but given that on Mondays, the Emilio Goeldi Museum and the Rodrigues Alves Forest are closed, it would be a good thing to do on this day. De segunda a sábado…mas como segunda-feira o Goeldi e o Rodrigues Alves estão fechados, seria uma boa programação para esse dia.

Location/Local: Perto da Castanheira.
Time/Hora: 8AM to …anyone know?/das 8 até ..alguém sabe?.

Tuesday/Terça-feira:
Timbers of the Amazon/Timbres da Amazônia
Presentation of instrumental music produced by artists from Pará. Apresentação de música instrumental produzida por artistas paraenses.

Location/Local: Capela do São José Liberto
Time/Hora: Starts at 6PM/a partir das 18h

Egret Mangrove/Mangal das Garças
Ecological area with aviary, exhibits and lookout over the river. Um complexo turístico com quatro espaços de visita monitorada que lhe permitem uma aproximação maior com a natureza.

Location/Local: Passagem Carneiro da Rocha, Arsenal
Hours/Hora: 7AM to 5PM (external areas) and from 9AM to 5PM (monitored areas)/das 7h às 17h (área externa) e das 9h às 17h (espaços monitorados)

Wednesday/Quarta-feira
Theater of Peace/Theatro da Paz
Neoclassical theater from the golden era of the rubber boom. O maior teatro da Região Norte e um dos mais luxuosos do Brasil, com cerca de 130 anos de história.

Location/Local: Rua da Paz s/n, Praça da República, Campina, Nazaré
Hours/Hora: Guided visits on the hour, from 9AM to 1PM. Visitação guiada de hora em hora, das 9h às 13h.

Friday/Sexta-feira
Sound-Set/Pôr-do-Som
Celebration of the sunset with a presentation of popular groups from Pará. Celebração ao pôr-do-sol com apresentação de grupos da cultura popular paraense.

Location/Local: Orla da Estação das Docas
Time/Hora: Starts at 6PM/a partir das 18h

Saturday/Sábado
Open Rehearsal/Ensaio Aberto
Presentation of independent bands/artists from local music scene. Apresentação de bandas/artistas independentes do cenário paraense.

Location/Local: Espaço cultural da loja Ná Figueredo da Gentil
Time/Hora: 5PM/17h00

Sunday/Domingo
The Artisan Fair/A Feira de Artesanato

The Fair is considered a cultural heritage point in Belém and has been operating for over 20 years along the sidewalks of the Praça da República. A Feira é considerada Patrimônio Cultural de Belém e acontece há mais de 20 anos ao longo das calçadas da Praça da República.

Location/Local: Republic Plaza/Praça da República
Time/Hora: From 8AM to 2PM/a partir das 8h00 e até as 14h (se não me engano)

Sunset Theater/Teatro ao Pôr-do-Sol
Presentation of theatrical shows involving popular culture & Amazonian legends. Apresentação de espetáculos teatrais voltados para a cultura popular e lendas amazônicas.

Location/Local: Anfiteatro da Estação das Docas
Time/Hora: 5:30PM/17h30

Links on Belém

A quick apology to English-speakers looking for links on Belém in English. Aside from Wikipedia, they just don’t exist.

Blogs

• O Oásis da Inutilidade (journalist from/in Belém, PT)

Culture

• Cultura Pará (guide to art & artists from Pará, PT)
• Música Paraense (Pará music blog, PT)
• Outra Belém (entertainment guide, PT)
• Pará – Cultura, Fauna e Flora (PT)
• Paidégua (portal, PT)

News

• Notícias da Amazônia (news from the Amazonian regions, PT)

Cyber Cafes

Upon arrival in Belém, it can be a bit hard to locate free wi-fi hotspots and cybercafes so this page will be dedicated to the latter.

Ao chegar em Belém, pode achar um pouco difícil localizar pontos de internet sem-fio e grátis e LAN houses também então vou dedicar esta página para o citado em segundo lugar.

Batista Campos

Canal 13 Informática
Avenida Serzedelo Corrêa, 1000, LJ 2, Belém – PA

Campina

Amazonet
Avenida Presidente Vargas, 882, SL F, Belém – PA

PlanetCyber
Rua Conselheiro João Alfredo, 357, Belém – PA

Cidade Velha

Empório Saber Café
Rua Ângelo Custódio, 85, LJ A TO, Belém – PA

Guamá

Snippers Lan House
Av José Bonifácio, 2146, Belém – PA

Tecnocenter
Rua Augusto Corrêa, 1, BL D, Belém – PA

Maracangalha

Al Cyber Games
Alameda Providência, 19, Belém – PA

Março

Cyberbotecco
Avenida Duque de Caxias, 219, Terreo B, Belém – PA

Universal Informática Ltda
Avenida Primeiro de Dezembro, 962, Belém – PA
Barrio: Março

Nazaré

Equant Brasil Ltda
Avenida Governador José Malcher, 815, S 201, Belém – PA

Pedreira

Qgweb Lan House Internet
Avenida Marquês de Herval, 2547, Belém – PA

Sacramenta

Lan House F4
Travessa Barão do Triunfo, 907, C F, Belém – PA

Umarizal

Pesquisa Pronta
Travessa Dom Romualdo de Seixas, 823, Belém – PA

Information pulled from Catálogo Fácil.

Belém is going bye-bye

After 3 months of living in Belém, with an initial plan of just visiting and heading on to Rio, I moved back to the States on account of having spent more money in Belém than I planned. Rio will be for another day. In any event, I made Eyes On Belém about 10 months ago when I was under the impression that segmented sites would help me define the reader and the content. One became two which became three then four. In line with the consolidation of the sites, the sun will be setting on Eyes On Belém today.

I’m almost done with integrating all the content from that site and soon all will be as it was. Some of the pages however (‘pages’ are the lists of links to the right such as ‘Links on Brazil’, etc) that were left over will become a new post so as to not lose the content.

Now if anyone notices a slight focus on Belém among my now-nearly 700 posts, they’ll know why.

Two full-length Brazilian films on Youtube

I’m not sure when it changed but sometime in the last several months, Youtube started allowing full length films instead of its normal 10 minute limit on each video. There are two I’ve noticed which are Brazilian and which have good ratings on IMDB, although they don’t come with subtitles.

Cinema, Aspirina & Urubus
(A road movie about a German man who went to the North East of Brazil in the 1942 to sell Aspirin)

O Prisioneiro Da Grade de Ferro
(Documentary about Carandiru Penitentiary, with scenes filmed by the prisoners themselves)

Pitaia – Tastes like kiwi’s cousin

Pitaia, or Dragon Fruit (also known as ’strawberry pear’), is native to tropical regions and actually comes from a cactus. Taste-wise, it’s not too sweet but due to the tiny black seeds, it looks a bit (on the inside) and tastes a bit like a kiwi.

The red flesh version shown in the first picture above is called a Costa Rican Pitaya in English. Other versions include the Red Pitaya which has red skin and white flesh while the Yellow Pitaya has yellow skin and white flesh. All three are quite high in vitamins and minerals.