The Silent Month of March
Autor: Shiva | Publicado: 2012-04-06T22:48:00-07:00

Well,
this has been an awfully silent month. The following sentence will not be
shocking: I have been working a lot lately. The translating job has officially
been quit. Now I am working simply as an English teacher, a bit over 20 hours a
week in the school, plus private classes. Other than work, I spend my time
procrastinating at starting my Master's applications, and other activities
related to said Master's: I am attending some linguistics lectures at USP just
for fun in the mornings, trying to read all I can on my possible research area,
and studying for the TestDAF (German proficiency exam) which I will take in Rio
on April 26. I'm still kind-of doing translations and editing, but more
freelance this time, and not the
trapped-in-my-dark-bedroom-nine-emotionally-exhausting-hours-a-day way like
before. I'm a lot happier now that I spend my days working with real people and
not just my computer. Teaching at the language school is fun because it is in
groups, and each group is different.



To get
back into the rhythm of things, here is a selection of things that happened
during the Silent Month of March with a few days of April thrown in:


1)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
I saw my first motorcycle
accident. Motorcycles are extremely common in Brazil, at least in São Paulo,
because they are cheap and allow one to weave through traffic while the rest of
the city is stuck in a traffic jam. Motoboys are everywhere to be seen.
Want a pizza delivered? Your delivery boy will come to you by motorcycle.
Motoboys even do private deliveries (documents, that kind of thing) here. Every
now and again you get the lewd ones who make a big show of slowing down to let
you pass right in front of them so that they may call you gostosa, but
generally these guys go fast and don’t slow down for anyone. I have had more
than a couple near-death experiences with these guys here in São Paulo.
So, a couple of weeks ago, when I saw a motorcyclist go flying onto the ground
on my way to the English school, I was a bit shaken and mentioned it to my
workmates, who nonchalantly responded, “Oh yeah, that was your first time? Seen
it already three times on that road out there...”&nbsp; *insertshiva'sshockedfacehere* I then
enquired about the Brazilian emergency number,which, incredibly, I had never
learnt before. I think its 922... I think...

2)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
We went to Guillaume’s uncle’s chácara (shack) a
few hours away from São Paulo city, in the countryside. It was a nice change
from the crammed and littered streets of the big city. It reminded me a bit of
Australia – the houses there are spread out, one-storey, people have front and
back yards, etc.. We pet some cows, chewed some sugarcane, and had churrasco.
OK, they had churrasco. I’m back to being vegetarian.


Guillaume and Bessie.
  Because every cow in an Anglophone country has the name Bessie. I
  wonder what the typical Brazilian cow's name is..?





 



3)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
The Brazilian Federal Police
wasted two pages of my passport with their foolishness. I went to ask about the
documents needed to extend my visa; they, unsurprisingly, did not listen to my
question at all (which, mind you, was asked in very clear Portuguese), made me
wait more than an hour long, only to call my name and present me with a
document to sign. I looked at the document, and asked the stupidwhorebehindthedesk
secretary, "O quê é que é
isso que eu deveria assinar? What is this that I am supposed to sign?" She
snarled that I should read the document more closely. She explained that I was
being fined nearly R $ 200 for overstaying my visa. I stood there arguing with
the stupid secretary for ten minutes about her idiocy, pointing out my second
visa and entry stamp. Absolute fools. I mean, the Federal Police here are
generally idiots, that's nothing new. But this time, I was shocked by how far
it went.&nbsp;

4)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
It was Persian New Year on March
21st. Naturally, Brazilians were not aware of this (neither are my Aussie
friends, generally). It was a normal day, nothing special – but Guillaume, a
wonderful cook, did surprise me with zoolbia, a Persian sweet which is
eaten on the New Year and for celebrations. We gave it to our housemates to
taste; they were shocked by the thought of cooking with rosewater! &nbsp;


Zoolbia for Persian New Year








5)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
I was robbed of my mobile phone
yesterday morning at the bus stop outside the geography/history building in the
university. Ah, well. I knew some minor crime had to happen to me sometime
here. My phone was a piece of crap and barely worked, though, so, in my
opinion, it was really just a waste of time for the thief! Anyway, it’s
probably a good excuse to get away from my TIM contract... (There’s a
tip for anyone looking for a mobile phone providor in Brazil: TIM is alluringly
cheap but their SMS and calls policy is something along the lines of “when we
feel like it”.)



Meanwhile,
today it is Sexta Santa (Good Friday) and we are relaxing at Guillaume’s
aunt’s place. Last night I had my first Thursday off in a million years; we
went to a vegetarian sushi rodízio (remember rodízio, which I have previously described?) in Vila
Madalena, São Paulo’s ‘arty’ district (If you’re from Adelaide, think: Rundle
St.) ...I&nbsp; know, I know, not exactly
comparable, but it’s about as ‘artsy’ as Adelaide gets). Something that I
notice when travelling is the way that different ‘international’ foods are adapted
to different host country’s tastes. Lebanese food, for example, is one way in
Australia, another way in Germany, and another way in Brazil. With Japanese
food, it is the same. The sushi that we had last night was definitely Brazilian
sushi.&nbsp;





 

  

On the plate on the left: Fried – yes, fried –
  sushi. This is something I have only seen in Brazil. The fillings were
  shimeji mushroom or abacaxi, pineapple. On the right dish were
  california rolls with shimeji and cream cheese (another Brazilian invention
  as far as I know), pineapple california rolls, dried tomato sushi, and – wait
  for it – 


















 

  
...Cream cheese and goiabada (dried guava
  made into a kind of jam. It’s very common here) You think it’s weird? So did
  I! But it’s sooo good!

 







So, that was Silent March and a bit of April.
Happy Easter, or Feliz
Páscoa!