What’s a ‘Bloco’ and what should I expect?

/4 Comments/in ,

Hooray! Carnaval (that’s the Portuguese spelling) season is well and truly under way! I’ve been posting up a few photos from the bloco I went to last Sunday on the Eat Rio Facebook page, but I think it’s time I said a little more about this quintessentially Brazilian festival.

Timoneiras da Viola – the bloco I visited last Sunday. It was great!

 

The main days of Carnaval are from Saturday to Wednesday – the exact date changes each year (the closing Wednesday is Ash Wednesday). This year it will run from 17th-21st February. I say “main days” because Carnaval actually kicked off weeks ago!

Read more

Racial Makeup

Brazil – a melting pot, not a salad.

/23 Comments/in

This post follows on from my previous post in which I waffled about that Suárez/Evra incident and then waffled some more on the subject of language related to race in Brazil. Now I want to continue in my Belgian breakfast-style discussion by telling you a little more about some things I’ve noticed in relation to race here in Brazil.

The races in Brazil have mixed far more thoroughly than in Britain. Six months ago I attended a big get together of my mother-in-law’s family. There must have been at least 100 people there and I was struck by the variation in skin colour and features – there were some very black people, some very white people and every colour in between.

Figures from the 2010 census indicating the distribution of race (people were asked how they would describe themselves). Amarela, “yellow” in portuguese, is a term for people of East Asian origin apparently; Parda is a mix that covered both Morena and Mulata; Indígena means indigenous (Amerindian). 

Read more

Race, language and the word ‘negro’ in Brazil.

/26 Comments/in

I’ve been wanting to write something about race in Brazil for a while. There have been quite a few things floating around in my head on the subject because there are so many differences between the UK and Brazil: history, population demographics, language and attitudes. So, it’s been on my ‘To Do’ list for a while and then recent events in England made me think again about the situation here in Brazil.

Left, Patrice Evra for Manchester United; Right, Luis Suárez for Liverpool.

Read more

I’m moving back to London

/24 Comments/in

Hello everyone. I’ve been a little lazy with the blogging recently so I thought that even though I haven’t had time to prepare anything interesting, I should at least post a quick update. As the post title suggests, I’m leaving Brazil! I’ll fly back to London at the end of the month.

All together now: "Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again..." - I snapped this plane taking off from Santos Dumont airport last night.

Read more

Learning Portuguese, Losing English.

/30 Comments/in ,

I arrived in Brazil just over 18 months ago and during that time there have been some major challenges. Finding a job, getting married, obtaining my visa, finding an apartment and finding some friends! But the biggest challenge has been learning the Portuguese and dealing with communication difficulties.

I’m not only talking about the obvious issues of struggling to understand the locals and struggling to make myself understood. There are other things that I have also found difficult/testing. I am always being asked “So, how is your Portuguese?” – I honestly don’t know how to respond to this anymore! Even worse is the performing monkey routine: “This is Tom. Yes, he speaks Portuguese! Go on Tom, say something in Portuguese for them!” – I realise, of course, that all these issues would go away if I just improved my Portuguese!

 

And it is slowly improving. I mean, the pace is glacial, but nevertheless I’m getting better and becoming more confident. But now I find there is a new problem emerging.

Read more