Muito Obrigado, Brasil, Tchau Tchau, Ate Logo

Farewell, Brasil, Te Amo

 

Foi otima a estadia, muito obrigado. Vou recomendar aos meus amigos. Obrigado pela hospitalidade. Loosely translated, that is thank you Brasil, goodbye, see you later, I had a great stay, I´ll recommend you to my friends. I am writing this on my last full day in Brazil, a quiet day with only a quick visit to the nearby Flamboyant Mall close to my hotel in Goiania and a long and leisurely stay at poolside. I have become somewhat reflective and a little heartsick as I end my two week stay in this wonderful country. I got to see alot and do alot and saw a lot of sides of Brazil that one normally does not see on the usual tourist track. There´s alot to this largest country in South America, alot to it´s politics, culture, cuisine, art, architecture, beaches and most of all it´s people.

I began my trip as an international volunteer, spending a week in Salvador, Bahia, a coastal city that served as the first capitol of this nation. My days were spent with the children of the Frutos De Maes Daycare School, assisting the teachers and caregivers in organizing activities including coloring, playtime, and serving the little ones their breakfast and lunch. I never would have thought that I, a 43 year old writer, advertising copywriter, cosmopolitan citizen of New York who spends most of his waking hours working with adults in the corporate business world would be doing something like this. What´s even more surprising is how much I enjoyed it and what a mind blowing experience it was for me. While I was soul-shaken by the poverty and conditions these children lived in, I was impressed by the purity of their joy and happiness and the love and care they receive from the staff. They may be poor in material wealth, but they have an abundance in joy and energy that is contagious. So to Tia Mira and all the staff of Frutos De Maes, I want to say thank you. Thank you for letting me be of service to your children and the gift that has given me. In my heart and sould I dound things that I did not know existed, or were frozen for so long that it took this experience to discover them. The simple act of coloring with a child or playing with them or comforting them when they were crying brought out a side to me that I never knew I had in me. My cynicism fell away and I felt compassion and honor, and I felt that I could perhaps survive the idea of being a father someday. If I can spend a week in a daycare center with 30 2-year old children and survive and thrive on that, I can perhaps open myself up to the idea of parenting. Or at least working with children, who are our future no matter where they are located . A role model is not something I ever considered myself to be, but perhaps I can evolve into one. So thanks to Fructos De Maes and Cross Cultural Solutions for allowing me to be of service and to find a place in my heart that I thought was gone, missing, or non-existent. I had to control my emotions on my last day of my volunteer work when I had to say goodbye to all the precious ones. I could feel the tears well up inside me and my heart ached as I said goodbye. But it won´t be forever. I´ll be back with more crayons, more stickers and lots of love

I also want to thank the people of Brazil for their warm hospitality. From Bahia to Brasilia, Sao Paulo to Goiania, I was greeted with nothing but friendliness and kindness . Your hospitality and warmth are genuine, and that is what makes you great. In 2008, Brazil celebrates the 100 year anniversary of the Japanese immigration to Brazil. I find it refreshing to be in a country that celebrates the immigration of a people to its land, rather than complain or demonize it.

I thank the staff of Cross Cultural Solutions Salvador for making our journey and service easy, and making us feel at home, from the warm hugs and greetings, to the home cooking, to the organized cultural activities, to helping us be better volunteers, you are special people and I thank you and will miss you. To my companions who I served with, I also say thank you. Most of you are in college or are just starting out your lives. You impressed me with your desire to make the world a better place. Your study plans, your life plans are an inspiration to me. Thanks for your friendship and not making too much of the fact that I was the old man of the group. You will do  big things in your lives, teachers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, international relations. This is your time. Embrace it.

To the friendly people of Bahia, from the newstands to the ice cream shops. Thank you. I can see why Bahia is called the land of happiness

To the staff of the Comfort Suites Flamboyant in Goiania, thank you for your hospitality and friendly attitude. You sure never seem to tire of the gringo with many questions. To the guy from the Goiania Museum of Art who called me a taxi because this New Yorker did not understand you just don´t flag them down, thanks. To all the friendly faces in the bookstores, restaurants and shops who bent over backwards to help me find what I was looking for, thank you. To the staffer at the Goiania Legislative Assembly who showed me around and explained what was going on in Brazilian politics, thanks for giving this political junkie his fix when he was far away from Obama and McCain.

So Thank you Brazil, not only for soccer (football everywhere else), the dental floss bikini and samba, but also for your culinary delights. I think the ice cream here is the best I have ever tasted and the Creme De Papaia Com Cassis was the closest thing to heaven I´ll ever taste. The fruit was like it was picked in the Garden of Eden. And thanks for the coffeem which is strong as Hercules, hot as hell and sweet as love. I am addicted. And for Guarana Antartica, which is made from an Amazonian berry and rivals Coca Cola and could give Red Bull a run for it´s money in the US for it´s energy boost, not too mention its taste. To Billy Deeter, I say thank you for showing me the World Heritage City of Brasilia, seen in a vision by Saint John Bosco, but born out of the vision of heroic President Juscelino Kubitschek, architect Oscar Niemeyer, Urban Planner Lucio Costa and landscape architect Burle Marx. It´s a city like no other in the world, an architectural gem and a centerpiece for the modern day utopian city. In Brasilia, Brazil has a gem for a capitol.

To Goiania, another planned city, thank you for your beautiful green spaces. I am impressed by your parks and how deeply you care for your green spaces. So I say goodbye, Ate logo Brasil. For two weeks, it has not just been a place where I went for vacation. It has been my home. May God bless you and your country, and may you continue to grow and prosper. You are the country of the new century and there is much you have to offer the world and much you have to be proud of. For the last two weeks, I have been proud to say “Eu sou brasilero“.

Ate logo, see you later, tchau tchau, saudades

Goiania

City of Goiania

 

Goiânia is the capital and the largest city in the state of Goiás. It is also the largest city in the Central-Western Regionof Brazil. With a population of nearly 1.25 million people, Goiânia is the twelfth largest city in Brazil. It is the anchor of the Goiânia metropolitan area, which has a population of over 2 million people, making it the eleventh largest metropolitan area in the country.

Goiânia is a planned city founded on October 24, 1933 by Pedro Ludovico the governor of the state at the time. It is located on a fertile plain criss-crossed by numerous rivers, the most important being the Meia Ponte River.

The name, Goiânia, came about in 1933 after a contest was put on by a local newspaper. Readers from all over the state contributed, with some of the most voted names being Petrônia, Americana, Petrolândia, Goianópolis, Goiânia, Bartolomeu Bueno, Campanha, Eldorado, Anhanguera, Liberdade, Goianésia, and Pátria Nova, among others. In 1935 Pedro Ludovico used the name Goiânia for the first time signing a decree creating the municipio of Goiânia. The city has one of the largest populations of motorcycles, which was quite evident as I headed downtown today for a little exploration. I started at one of the city´s many famous  green areas, their public parks are to die for, and some of the most beautiful and well planned I have ever seen. I started my morning walking in the Falmboyant Park, not far from my hotel, which is one of the newer parks in the city. In the afternoon, i headed downtown to Buritis Park. Situated in the center of the city this is Goiânia’s oldest green area. It has an area of 120,000 square meters. There is a running track and exercise area, that has pull up bars and situp benches with various inclines. There are three artificial lakes created by Buriti Stream. I also found the Goiânia Art Museum and the Free Center of Arts, which had a nice exhibit of regional artists, and the world monument of peace, which contains soil from countries all over the world.Ialso stumbled upon the Legislative Assembly building, which would be the equivalent of the State Legislature or Assembly and Senate in the United States. I walked right in, and was treated to more beautiful artwork, and also right into the middle of an election campaign. In my very broken portuguese, I managed to talk to several people who worked there and got a little flavor for Brazilian politics. Like all things Brazilian, their political campaigns have a lot of energy and excitement, with sound trucks cruising the city supporting their candidates, accompanied by loud energetic rock and reggae music.  Barack Obama and John McCain are you reading this? Breathe a little life into your campaign and get some soundtrucks and cool music.  The same television ads are not working.  Goiânia is a nice city and the people are very friendly, much as I have found the hospitality to be all over Brazil. When this New Yorker got a tad confused about how to get a taxi back to his hotel, one of the people from the art museum called one for me.  This is still very much a growing city, with new construction going on, and a real respect for its green areas, parks and vegetation. I am glad I have put this one on my itinerary. Sure it´s not Rio or Bahia. But it does have a nice laid back feel and the parks alone are worth the visit. Plus, this was the chill out portion of my Brazilian stay and was the perfect place for me to relax after spending a week with the children of the daycare center in Salvador. I miss them horribly. I think about them every night and hope to God they are ok. Next time I come down, I will do two or three weeks service. One week was not enough and I found out alot about myself. I could not only survive assisting a teacher with 32 two-year old children, I managed to love every minute of it.  Well tonight is a relaxing night and tomorrow is my last full day in Brazil. It has been an incredible stay and I cannot believe how fast it has gone by.