Evento de Capoeira

Greetings! I am taking capoeira classes (read: I am playing capoeira with 4-10 year olds who can all kick my ass) and the day I got back from Jacobina, my mestre invited me to go to a capoeira event over the weekend. I guess once a month, different capoeira schools get together, play, practice, and party. I said yes with some hesitance: a lot was going on at AEC-TEA over the weekend and I wanted to be here, but I figured I wouldn´t really have the chance to go to an event like this when things get busy.

I went from being very nervous to sahooooo happy in those two days. We played a little in a town called Pereira with the kids from Capim Grosso, piled 50+ people on a rickety bus, and drove on roads a school bus should not EVER be on to a small small small town called Rua Nova. Hot and dry and small, with landscape just like Arizona. Anywhooo. It was kind of like going to summer camp, except you don´t know anyone there, they have been going to camp together for 5 years, and you speak a different language. I was nervous.

The first night, we walked to the praça playing the instruments and singing, and played in the praça. I sincerely regret not capturing this on camera: the entire town gathered and watched incredible capoeristas play. At one point, one of the professors took me in the middle and introduced me to the ENTIRE TOWN (who, during the parties, treated me like I was a shiny new toy). It was quite embarrasing but really so fun.

I can´t say enough good things about brasileiros, they just want to know you and help you understand the language. At one point, my mestre took me aside and said ´you know you are the only person in this town who speaks english, right?´this was a WILD realization for me! Some kids asked me to say phrases in English, and when I did were speechless - wide eyed and mouths open. I told them ´yeah? this is how you sound to me when you speak Português!´

The next day the real event started: capoeira from 10-3 and then a giant samba party from then on. I played, took photos, videos, etc... here is a teaser of some of the photos!

My body was tired after large amounts of capoeira, my mind was tired from only-Português, and for some reason I got a little homesick here (I think it was watching mestre with his daughter - made me miss my dad!). However, I am so glad I went!

Jacobina, entendeu?

Since we still have some time before we begin the hustle of teaching and associação business, we took a day off to spend time in Jacobina (fun with the Finns part 1), a city twice the size of Capim Grosso 60 km away. I really loved this city, I love Capim Grosso but unlike CG, Jacobina is HILLY and GREEN! Our main quest was to find a waterfall since Capim Grosso, you know, has been absolutely sucked dry by the ever present sun.

The first afternoon we walked up a steep, steep set of stairs (that made me nostalgic for the incline)...

That led to Alto do Cruzeiro!

Ate, looked around Praça Castro Alves...

Stayed in a cheap, phenomenal hostel and the next morning woke up early early early to find a waterfall. Our guide Alex took us to two: Cachoeira dos Britos and Cachoeira dos Amores.

I wasn´t only taken with the physical beauty of Jacobina but also the people! Every person we met was so kind, SO helpful, and for me what stood out was after every sentence or two, they would ask ´entendeu?´(Understand?) And not in a bad way - really taking time to make sure I understood what they were saying. It felt very personal to me and you can bet your butt I´ll be back here soon enough!

Dias primeiros

eThings are slow here because classes at AEC-TEA have not started yet - they begin in about a week and a half. My routine is simple but enough for now; I run, eat (rice, beans, fruit and vegetables every meal hehehehehe ahhh), clean (brasileiros are the cleanest people I have ever known), read, play capoeira, walk around town, go to the market, do some more housework, maybe a português lesson, maybe yoga, whatever I feel. We have teacher training on Monday and Tuesday, and in between now and then I am probably going to travel a little bit to find some water! Capim Grosso is H-O-T (I explain frozen yogurt every day to someone different - maybe I miss it?) and would you believe it there is not a single lake or pool here. So we will quest to find a waterfall. And later this month, Carnaval, stay tuned.

Seven people live in the volunteer house, and they are all nice, however only one is local. The rest are from Europa, and three of them speak zero portuguese so it is very frustrating for me to speak english with them. My brain is in full-speed-ahead português mode right now and I feel like it is a set back to speak so much english, so often.

HOWEVER! This will change when classes start. Because, along with classes, we can choose whatever projects we want to work on in the community - and nobody in the community really speaks english because in Capim Grosso, there is absolutely to reason to. I will offer yoga classes at AEC-TEA (in português...real life!) and I have my eye on two community projects: a mental health center and a village three miles out.

The health center offers classes and workshops (read: music, dance, capoeira, arts, yoga) for people with ´mental health issues,´also this term spans anything from depression to down syndrome to mild physical dysfunctions; because Capim Grosso is so small, they don´t have enough resources or people for such a separation.

I also want to go twice a week to this small small teeny tiny village, where unemployment is high and child prostitution and child labor are rampant. I would work with kids there twice a week, playing, teaching yoga, bringing the guitar, whatever. These two places are great opportunities for me to connect with people in the community, and while I am excited to teach english classes, I am really over the moon that I get the other opportunities as well!! My experience thus far with people in the community has been really special - these are some extraordinary people - and I am so excited to build deeper relationships in my time here!

Routine, Travel, Etc.

Capim Grosso! Wahooow. Lots has happened the last few days. I will begin first with my reflections on routine.

In the four days of traveling alone (verrrry alone), with only my carry-on (the airport left my baggage in Sao Paolo), in a state where, hello, the portuguese spoken is SO different than the one I learned (they swallow letters and syllables in almost every word - very african sounding), I realized that not only do I cling to routine, I strangle it. STRANGLE. I am addicted to routine, and when I don´t have one, I truly freak the F out.

And now, as far as traveling goes, I was stressed to the point where it was almost crippling. Like I said - portuguese here is really, really hard to understand. So the 25+ hours spent in airports, navigating my way through hostels, bus systems, my thought process looked a little like this: ´Is this my plane? Is this the right gate? What are they saying right now? Crap, are they saying my gate is changed? Should I ask that man in Portuguese? What if I mess up the phrase? Should I just wait? WHAT IF I MISS MY PLANE? Is this my bus stop? Crap, if I miss my bus stop, when is the next one?´ (etc, etc, etc.)

None of those things happened. I was FINE - but the knot I had in my stomach the entire time was indicative of how much stress was induced.

Now for the good things. I spent two (dirty dirty) days in Salvador at the Nega Maluca hostel (crazy black lady). Swimming in the thick portuguese and making some friends - we went to a few bars in the city and an electronico concert. I took a bus to Capim Grosso - a five hour ride - and the entire time, passing tiny, tiny, TINY towns in BFE, actually. I started to get nervous - did I choose to spend FOUR MONTHS on a patch of dirt with a market and a few houses??! Imagine my joy when we pulled into the centro of Capim Grosso and it is a hustling, bustling city. Phew. My new, dear friend Rosangela picked me up, I am working with a great crew of people at AEC-TEA (google it if you want to know more), I have a room, a navigable town, and most importantly ROUTINE at last!!!