After hosting Rachel’s guest post just a few days ago, the karmic wheel of blog has come full circle and today I guest posted at Street Smart Brazil! I have to say I’m pretty excited – as far as I can recall it’s my first ever guest post! I’m sure many of you will already be familiar with SSB (like all best-buds, we’re on acronymic terms now), but if not, I’d love it if you’d pop over and say hello, check out my humble offering (which will explain the image below). I think it represents an absolutely fascinating insight into one small part of Brazilian history. Not a particularly nice part of Brazilian history to be fair, but interesting how something from so many years ago still survives today. Intrigued? I hope so!
I’ve mentioned a few of my favourite Brazilian albums in recent months – music by artists such as Jorge Ben, João Gilberto and Novos Baianos to name a few. There are a lot of other artists still to talk about, but one name is particularly conspicuous by its absence.
Antônio Carlos Jobim
Also known as Tom Jobim, this colossus of Brazilian music is known as the main force behind the creation of Bossa Nova and one of the most talented and successful composers of the 20th century. You can’t mention the man without also mentioning his most famous composition, Garota de Ipanema (The Girl from Ipanema). The original (Portuguese) lyrics are so much nicer than the English version that it’s reason enough to learn Portuguese in itself!
For me, it seems like this subject is almost to big to cover – I don’t know enough about him and besides, you can get a better run-down of this man and his story on Wikipedia.
Tom Jobim (sounds kind of like Tohn zho-been). The man credited (along with João Gilberto) with the creation of Bossa Nova.
So instead of trying to cover Jobim’s entire career, I’m going to focus on just a single song.
https://i0.wp.com/eatrio.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/TomJobim.jpg?fit=400%2C300&ssl=1300400tomlemeshttps://eatrio.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/eat-rio-logo.pngtomlemes2012-10-14 10:40:182024-02-23 14:16:39Não fala que grava!
Today I’m taking it easy and letting someone else do the work! I am delighted to say that Rachel from Rachel’s Rantings in Rio is guest posting! I’m sure many of you will already be familiar with Rachel’s blog – it’s a brilliant mix of observations on everyday expat life in Rio, comments on what’s going on in Brazil and in her life and all number of other things in between.
Below is a lovely piece on the idiosyncrasies of the Brazilian family – thanks Rachel! I couldn’t have said it better (and I wouldn’t have dared! ;))
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A Brazilian family is like an entourage, an opinionated and not necessarily accommodating entourage.
This is the “beauty” of a Brazilian family. They actually want to be a part of your everyday life. They would never kick their child out of the house at 18 yrs old. They sure as hell wouldn’t send him to a Scottish boarding school at 12. No, Brazilian families are like the mafia, you are a member for life and if you can live at home in your childhood bedroom so much the better.
Of course, just like the mafia, there are some definite perks. For starters, they love you. Seriously, I’m almost overwhelmed by the love and caring at times. As an American I don’t feel like I return the affection adequately. I’m not comfortable with people invading my red, white and blue bubble. I really have no idea what the Brits do with all the overt Brazilian affection. I’m sure that amount of hugging, kissing, calling, and chatting is far from what the Queen would consider proper.
As a foreigner, when you are really a part of a Brazilian family you know it. For starters you lose at least one Saturday a month, two if both of your spouse’s Grandparents are living. Those days are dedicated to the infamous Brazilian family lunch. By the way, the lunch goes from 12:30pm to 4pm.
[Tom speaking]: If there’s one thing Brazilian family likes, it’s a big group photo!
https://eatrio.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/eat-rio-logo.png00tomlemeshttps://eatrio.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/eat-rio-logo.pngtomlemes2012-10-13 12:36:552024-03-04 08:43:38What you need to know about the Brazilian Family
When people come to visit me here in Rio, one of the first things they ask is “What are the best things to do in Rio?”. Once they’ve seen a few sights they come back with more questions (they’re very demanding) – “Can you recommend a good restaurant?”.
As discussed before, I try not to be a bore about food, but that doesn’t stop me being a little food-obsessed and keeping an eye out for the best places to eat. Recently it occurred to me that there may be other people coming to Rio who’d like a few recommendations. I don’t pretend I’m a food expert (well, maybe deep-down I do think that a little bit), but perhaps some honest recommendations could be helpful.
Hmmm, Restaurants in Rio!
I decided not to bother with negative reviews – what’s the point in me telling people “Hey, you know that place in Ipanema? You know, the one next to Praça General Osorio? Well don’t go there, it sucks”.
Instead I’ve put together a list of my favourite places in Rio. It’s not a complete list by any means. There are places like Oro that I’m still saving up to visit (I’m not made of money you know!) and I expect that there are still places I need to discover (in case you haven’t guessed, this is my disclaimer in the hopes of avoiding angry messages telling me I missed the “best place in town!”).
People who’ve never been to Rio often have quite extreme notions of what life here must be like. Some assume it’s a never-ending beach holiday, others think we are constantly ducking bullets and running from armed thieves. The reality for most is more prosaic – bad traffic on the way to the office, work 10am-7pm, bad traffic on the way home. No beaches, no samba, no guns and no fatalities.
Of course that’s not to say that good and bad things don’t happen here. Yesterday on Ipanema beach something quite shocking occurred. As is often the case, there are various versions of exactly what happened, but it seems to go something like this: A large group of Guardas Municipais (Municipal Guards) moved onto the beach. Some reports say that they were there to remove a pitbull dog that had been brought onto the beach – other reports say that they were there to stop a group of kids playing Altinha (in England we call this keepy-uppy) which apparently is not permitted on the beach before 5pm.
