Summer Classes...

June 18^th

Today was the first day of real classes at PUC. They decided to split our group into two language classes, but since there were not any real distinguishable levels in the group they split us in half by our interest in Portuguese, basically in to a grad vs undergrad group. I really like our teacher, she is the right amount of excited and enthusiastic but without being condescending and she understands that even though our level of Portuguese may not be collegiate we want to discuss things in academic terms. They also have planned several trips as part of the language learning part of class which is very appreciated in a 4 hour language class! For example yesterday we went to the local feira, or farmers market that comes to Perdizes every Tuesday. We toured the market with our professor and she explained the different used of the fruits and veggies in Brazil and showed us many that we had never seen before!

                At the end of the class we had a break so that we could eat lunch, most of us decided to stay at the market and get food from the local food trucks. I got coxinha, a type of fried Brazilian dumpling that you can get with several different types of filling; chicken, cheese, meat. One of the other favorite foods is fried pastry dough with cheese in the middle! It’s been very hard living in the land of fried meats, perpetual bread, and with everything covered in cheese… the Brazilian taste buds lean toward the very sweet and salty foods.

After lunch several of us went to the central courtyard to work on the readings and relax before our second class. At 1:30 our second class, taught by professors from Tulane and Emory, began. This class is also going to be taught in Portuguese and we are learning about a variety of themes in Brazilian history and culture and music, and for most of the classes we will be actually going around the city to see everything in person.  However, yesterday we were just in class discussing the readings, but tomorrow we are going to the old center of São Paulo! We got a late start leaving from the university so we ended up in rush hour traffic, but even with the extra traffic it still did not take that long to get home, only about 40 min rather than 20, which is a relief since the traffic here can be legendary!

We got home at about 6:00 and decided to rest a bit before going out to get dinner at a local bar where they were having a part for the Couch Surfing network (a site that connects travelers with people who are willing to host them) so that foreigners could meet local Brazilians in the neighborhood. The party was only about 8 blocks from our apartment but it was a bit complicated because the ongoing protests in Brazil led by the youth movement and an activist group called the Free Pass Movement (they are advocating for lower transportation costs but are more interested in larger changes in the path of the nation (the debt and changes being prioritized for the World Cup and Olympics) and are concerned that the voice of the young people are not being heard).There have been protests every night since last Thursday and they have been mostly peaceful with a few troublemaker anarchist protesters and some edgy riot police (here called the tropas choque). We saw the protesters coming back on Avenida Paulistas on Monday and they were very relaxed (and worn out from walking) as it was the end of the protest. Tuesday, however, the protest was much larger and more enthusiasitic than the night before and they began much closer to our area of the avenue. The road was closed in preparation for the protest and there were many people marching with banners and talking in groups as we walked to the restaurant but everything was very civil and the police were staying out of the way, although they had set up mobile police posts and vans, and we got to the restaurant without problems. At the party Allison, Justin and I met a lot of cool Brazilians and fellow visitors. It turned out to be a very good way to meet people and practice Portuguese outside of class. As the main protest ended more of the regular Brazilians arrived at the restaurant and we were able to talk with them and learn how excited they were by the idea of free protest in their country and the idea that their actions could cause the political change they were hoping to inspire. At the end of the party we were able to walk home on Avenida Paulista the same way we had come without any trouble and the protesters were almost completely gone.