Snapshots Pt. VI

Nine months in Brazil.

-The homeless family that I wrote about in an earlier post was finally kicked out of the abandoned house they were squatting in. They had been there since June. Apparently the owners of the place came by and found them. They're now back in the tiny park where they were before. All of their stuff is under a large plastic tarp. They sleep on a bare mattress every night.

-It's nearly impossible for citizens to own guns in Brazil, but if you are a police officer or a security guard here, you make it clear when you have one. Cops almost always have a hand on their holstered gun. Even when they're standing around in a group of other cops chatting, they still have their hands on them. Obviously, it's just second nature.

Last night we saw a man being questioned by the police. He had his hands behind his back. One of the two cops talking to him had his pistol drawn, stomach level, pointing at the ground. I can only recall maybe once in my life seeing cops in the US with their guns out.

Ad in the Metro for Lollapalooza Brazil. Two-day passes available for US $262.39.

-My first eight months here, we were one hour ahead of the East coast. Now, we're three hours ahead (we sprang forward, the US fell back). The part that confuses me is that the one hour difference lasted for at least eight months.

-The way São Paulo looks seems normal to me now. The graffiti. The trash. The homeless on every block. The resignation everyone has to things not working. This is the reality that no longer catches my eye. Only when I go to the US am I reminded of the other side.

Graffiti/street art a few blocks from our place.

-Brazil's economy is in a downward spiral. The boom of the 2000s (a byproduct of China's economic boom) is subsiding. Brazil's money, the Real, has grown noticeably weaker in my time here. The biggest drop came the day after the election. The Brazilian people reelected socialist President Dilma Rousseff and investors responded by pulling out. The Real has been significantly weaker since.

All of this is good news for Americans who want to get more bang for their buck when they visit Brazil. For the 200 million Brazilians spending Reais every day, inflation continues.

-It's heating up down here. Summer is on its way. Dani went to the bathroom in the middle of the night last night and came back to bed covered in cold water. I asked her if she took a shower (and why hadn't she dried off). In the bathroom moments before, her vision started to go dark. Her body went weak. She used what strength she had to stumble back into our room and fall into bed. She was within seconds of fainting. She hadn't showered. It was sweat.

Of these eight Metro card machines, you'll be lucky to find three that work.

-Everything is decorated for Christmas. Eighty five degrees during the day and twinkling lights at night. Santa is in the mall, listening to children's wishes. He speaks Portuguese.

-I suppose after all this time here I'm a different person. I'm not sure if I can say how. I think overall I'm just stronger. When I first arrived, I counted the days down to March 23, April 23 and May 23. One month in Brazil, two months, three months. They were accomplishments. Nowadays, it's just life. Months aren't trophies anymore. It's just time passing by that I need to make the most of. I'm probably the busiest I've ever been lately.

Merry Christmas from Brazil.

-That being said, one year in Brazil will be an accomplishment for me.