Border Crosser: Five Countries, Five Months, One Big Adventure: The City Of Twelve Million

HEY GUYS, I'M IN BRAZIL! The fact that I'm here does not seem real at this point. Every morning when I leave my house and walk to the subway (which is a MASSIVE and terrifying) to get to school, I feel like I'm walking to the Wheaton Metro to get to work in DC. When I walk through the city or down Avenida Paulista I feel like I'm in any other giant city, except on steroids. Minus the whole not being able to speak Portuguese thing, the adjustment to a new country is much easier than I expected it to be.

I can't stop thinking about Sao Paulo as this massive, consumptive monster of a city that eats everyone up and spits the unlucky ones out to the periphery zones. The fact that my homestay family and I are two hours away from some other people in my class and are still considered to be in the same city is a bizarre concept to get used to. I know I'm getting a bit redundant, but try wrapping your head around the idea that twelve million people (probably more if you consider all the ones that the government chooses to ignore who live in informal settlements) are living together and fighting for the same resources is mind-boggling. I am definitely enjoying myself, but I miss nature. I love Brazil, but the slice that I have seen so far is not really my cup of tea

BUT ANYWAYS, on a lighter note, I got to start my day off yesterday with a run through Parque Aclimacao, which is near my house. Finally being able to run was quite the relief, and being able to do it on a nice level path in beautiful green space made it all the better! It was incredibly crowded though, with runners, walkers, bikers, skateboarders, and dogwalkers fighting for a piece of the path. I also had the pleasure of visiting the Museu Afro-Brasil which alluded me to the influence that the Afro-Brasilian community has had on Brazil as a whole. The museum is also located in the "central park" of Brazil, the Parque Ibirapuera.

Since I've only been here a week a lot of time that I have spent in the city has been in the classroom, going over orientation materials, survival Portuguese classes, and attempting to explore the area around my classroom. The amount of lecturing that was occurring got a bit old, which is why my trip to a periphery community called Cidade Tiradentes was so incredibly moving and liberating. In the 1970's the area served as a public housing experiment and tons of giant concrete buildings painted bright colors were erected to serve the growing need of the community. People began to flock to the area in the hopes that the government would provide more housing and set up informal homes while they waited. Once they realized that the government was not going to help anytime soon they began to make more permanent fixes to their homes such as added bricks, jerryrigging pipes for running water, or haphazardly adding electric lines. As more and more people lost hope the informal settlements began to grow, eventually taking over the landscape.

Although the people of the city are extremely impoverished, those we met were so incredibly willing to share their stories with us ranging from the health centers that were finally brought to the area to the hopefulness they have about the potential for job creation due to the new World Cup Stadium being built 30 minutes away. I have never been to any sort of favela or slum before, and did not know what to expect, but the kindness and perseverance of those in Cidade Tiradentes was inspiring to say the least.

So much more has happened but I am far too lazy to blog about it now considering I got home at four am from Vila Madalena (shoutout to all of the people who think I'm lame and stay in all the time, ayyyy) and need to sleep and catch up on some HW.

Besos from Brazil!