Photos from Floripa!

Okay!!! So here is a compilation of a FEW of the photos I have of the past five weeks! It was so hard  to choose.

This is Barra da Lagoa, a beach nearby the pousada.

Here are some of my lab mates on a boat ride around the lagoon one Saturday

Here are Chloe (Curitiba) and myself with some Peruvians we met at a bar in Lagoa

This is downtown Florianopolis near the Central Station

Ellen (Sao Paulo) came down for a weekend, and we went to an awesome bonfire on Joaquina Beach with her friend from UT Knox, McCall. McCall was here from February to June with a ton of American students who studied in Floripa.

Here I am with some high school girls on the south of the island. My lab volunteers to teach science experiments once per month here.

Here are some of my lab mates (L to R): Gabriel, Ricardo, and Rosie

This is a nightclub that us girls went to not far from the pousada. It's called Mustafa.

This is an old asylum that can be seen from a hiking point in Lagoa.

This is Daniele, one of my lab mates. She and I hang out a lot, and she has been my teacher in the lab (all said in Portuguese; she speaks NO English!)

And last, but not least, I have to post a picture of Mychelle and myself (working hard). She and I have become really close, and we hang out so much outside of the lab. I adore her!

This is a video, featuring Mychelle out in Lagoa. I cannot be in Brazil without discussing football (soccer)--the next World Cup is here after all! So, it was a great opportunity to watch the championship match for Central and South America at one of the local bars. Mychelle is a huge fan of the Corinthians, and it was their first time in the finals in 100 years. Well, they won, and this was the result in the street afterwards. Mychelle cannot contain her excitement :)

Mulheres brasileiras e signos do zodiaco

We are already halfway through our learning adventure here in Brasil, and I can honestly say it feels like home to me already. Every day I'm astounded by the culture, the people, the food, the customs and traditions, the values and morals and just day to day stuff. Yesterday, I went out for lunch with my lab mates to the "Restuarante Ilheu" as we usually do, conveniently located at a 5 min walking distance from my lab. As I sat down at the "mesa para as meninhas" (table for the girls) with our plates full of food, the girls started having a very interesting conversation about horoscopes. Every day is a different topic, but honestly this has been my favorite so far! Lila, one of my lab mates who's married to Jacó (who also happens to work at the lab), started talking about the moon and how beautiful it had been the past few days. Maya, another of my lab mates and who helps with the lab's administration, mentioned how the position of the moon influenced each zodiac sign. From there on Lila went on about the horoscope and zodiac signs, one by one, and described the different traits that characterized each particular one. She also happened to point out the similarities and differences of each person working at LABCAI with their respective zodiac sign! We all laughed whenever she happened to guess someone's zodiaz sign if she didn't know their "aniversario" (birthday) just by describing their personalities. I truly enjoy spending my time with these women and just everyone at the lab. They already consider me a part of the team and they make me feel so welcome! I don't know if the horoscope and zodiac signs are topics that everyone here in Brasil know a lot about or it just so happens I got mixed in with some very cool people, but I definitely have to find out!

That's all for my highlights of the week! Tchau! Até logo!

First 5 weeks in Brasil

Pastels and Sugar Cane Juice

Pasteis and Sugar Cane Juice! Its everywhere here in Brazil. You can find the delectable duo at the shopping markets on the weekends or you can find them at your local lanchonete (cafeteria) station. A pastel is a delicious deep fried bread pouch pastry and is typically served with a side of "caldo de cana" or sugar cane juice.

Pastel filled with ham and cheese

I have found that for many Brazilians, pastels serve as a quick convenient lunch with almost anything you like. Pastel fillings can include various items such as ham, beef, chicken, tomatoes, onions, and of course cheese. What I have discovered is that pastels have been apart of Brazilian culture for almost a century. Many food historians believe that the origin of the pastels can be traced back to the early 20th century wave of Japanese immigration to Brazil. As newly-arrived immigrants from Japan began to leave the coffee plantations and move into the cities of southern Brazil one of the ways to succeed there was to open a restaurant. Anti-Japanese sentiments were strong at that time, and Japanese cuisine was unknown, so most of these restaurateurs opened Chinese restaurants. One always-popular item in such restaurants was the deep-fried spring roll, and it is from these small rolls that the pastel supposedly developed. Pastels come into all types of shapes; they can round, rectangular, or oval. Whatever shape you want your pastel to come in, Brazil has it! I wonder if McDonald's apple pies have any history with the pastels of Brazil. Hmmm.....!

The makings of caldo de cana (sugar cane juice)

As I enjoyed my pastel, I was able to witness the makings of caldo de cana. It was very interesting. For the life of me, I could not figure out how it was possible to create a liquid sugar drink from a cane of sugar which resembled a simplistic wooden stick to me. Anyways, if you ever get a chance to come to Brazil, I strongly suggest you grab a pastel, bursting at the seams, along with some caldo de cana. It is a such wonderful yet simple lunch meal. 

X-tudo: More is More aqui no Brasil.

Here in Brasil, if you stop into a lachonete, a small restaurant serving burgers and snacks, you can get a X-Ovo(egg), a X-Linguica(sausage), or even a X-Frango (chicken). These sandwiches may be my favorite example of “cultural innovation” I have encountered in Brazil, or the uptake of ideas from other places articulated in a very, very, unique fashion. When I arrived in Brazil last year, I was puzzled by the X-… that made up the entire menus of restaurants. Until one day I pointed at one that had contents I knew I would enjoy and the waitress said, “Um Cheese-ovo”, to which I was completely stunned as to why she said the English word cheese instead of queijo. Well, posing this question to a friend last year I learned that the letter X, in Portuguese is pronounced “sheez”. Brazilians exposed to American films saw and heard many sheez-burgers being consumed by the povo Americano. Through their lusophone ear, the Brazilian people associated a hamburger and cheese, with the letter X. 

Here comes the brazilliance of it all, the X just marks the start. When you order a X-frango, you get a cheeseburger with the standard ham, cheese and lettuce with the additional chicken you ordered. The same goes for any of the other toppings, including egg, cheese, steak or sausage. As a long time meat fan, I looooove (from a distance) the X-tudo aka the Ode to Protein the most. Tudo means everything, and this sandwich humbly consists of your standard hamburger, ham and cheese, chicken, sausage, egg and steak. I say humbly, because the short title and ubiquitous presence on street side menus misrepresents the fact that these 6 different proteins hail from no less than 3 different animals. This kind of gustatory assault would be the next challenge on Man v. Food in the U.S., but it is just another lunch in Brasil. Not to say we don’t have our own consumption practices that would appall even the most adventurous Brazilians (Doritos Locos Tacos, I'm looking at you). Still, my American aversion to mixing meats was offended by this odd mix, but now I embrace and appreciate this flagrant dish. The X-tudo is an allegory for the production of culture and Brasilianismo, where ideas are taken up and transformed and performed in their own cultural vocabulary. In a country where more really is more, the sheez-tudo reflects a very brazillian expression of contact with a very tasty aspect of American culture.