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Ok so, a week on my last post I've decided to write a few observations about Brazilian culture and Fortaleza in general!
Football:
Is huge and is a national obsession. If you thought the brits were crazy about it, Brazil might just make you think again. The local two teams are Ceara (the better state team) and Fortaleza (the bad loosers with a large following due to the fact that we are, afterall, living in Fortaleza) which team you choose to support essentially determines your friends and who you'll constantly be having the reoccuring argument about which team is better. I'm currently feeling the pressure to choose a side as a big match between the two teams is looming and Andersson and Arlisson have decided to take me along. The problem being that Anderson supports Ceara and Arlisson is a passionate Fortalezan fan. Looks like I'll have to make a choice soon! Also, when football is on TV the whole country comes to a standstill, especially when it involves a national game and if they're playing Argentina any hopes of getting any work done can be pretty much thrown out the window. In the evenings if the footballs on, in my neighbourhood, large crowds of men gather outside the small shop/bars and cram round a tiny tv to watch it. They might as well just stay at home, but its the typical pub mentality which is obviously a world-wide phenomonom except over here they lack the Sky TV and Wide Screens which frequent english pubs. Football is also played on every street corner by aspiring Pele wannabes with make-shift goals. The older kids and young adults play in specially made street pitches which are rarely empty. It took some explanation to say why I dont play football, I think with my garbled portugese I managed to say I preferred Rugby but liked watching Football. Not suprisingly, Rugby is unheard of out here!
Religion:
James was right when he warned me that Religion 'hits your like a stick out here'. Belle had told me of the problems she'd faced with her puritan host family, but it wasnt till I actually got out here that I realised how big it actually is out here. Cars, trucks and taxis frequently have painted onto them 'Deus e Fiel' or 'Jesus' some have even been customly pimped out to include these religious reminders. The general outlook in Brazil is that once your a christian you dont 'drink, smoke, party, have fun, have non-christian friends, listen to certain types of music or watch certain films' it pretty much controls your life. As Paixinha (our project coordinator) pointed out: in Brazil the only thing bigger than religion is family. Gemma and I had been of the opinion that going out in the weekends would be fine as we were going out with Arllison who was a church member and that it was our own time. Apparantly this drew complaints from the church so that now we have been banned from partying at all and are having several meetings to resolve this. Gemma and I are rather shocked as the lively party atmosphere of Brazil was one of the reasons we chose to come out here rather than helping at a quiet reclusive budist monastry in India for example. Our trump card is that if they want any more volunteers out here they are going to have to except that British teenagers will want to go out and have a good time in the weekends with their Brazilian friends. In our view the church shouldnt be meddling with out private time. However, this has effectivly driven some of the youth away from the church as Arlisson recently (ie yesterday) quit the church after the Pastors told him never to take us out in the weekends again and Arlif another one of our friends (who incidently is the lead pastors son) quit a few months ago. Luckily theres an english baptist minister out here who translates our meetings and tells the pastors about the english point of view although he still, being baptist, cannot understand why we would want to go out past 10.30pm in our weekends! This strong emphasis on religion seems to clash with another huge part of Brazilian culture which is:
Sex:
No questions asked, Brazil is one oversexed country. As Pastor Mark (the British Baptist minister) put it 'The Sun wouldn't sell over here because nudity just isnt a scandal'. Brazilian tv itself is a perfect example. I remember being shocked at turning on the TV at 3pm and seeing a childrens program being presented by a bikini clad woman who used every opportunity she could get to flaunt her stuff whilst teaching numbers to the general child populace of Brazil. This shock was greatly enhanced by the revelation that the number one childrens presenter in Brazil who is widely regarded as the gold standard in Children entertainment, made her fame and fortune by baring all for Playboy after a relationship with Brazil's football legend Pele. Rather than being scandilised, the Brazilians naturally elevated her to the top spot in childrens tv and she is universally adored although some of the more hardline christians have logically come to the very reasonable explaination that she has obviously made a deal with the devil -hence her success! Brazilians also get away with sexist jokes which would even make even the most liberal of Feminist's blood boil! Last night Arlisson, Tchiago and I watched a comedy show which consisted of two men walking down a beach in Florinopolis putting stickers saying 'Eu Vo' (Meaning I'd go, or shes good looking) and 'Eu nao Vo' on random girls on the beach, if they thought the womens body was goodlooking but the head not, they'd stick a sticker of a crab on her. This was followed up by a program in which three models were asked to spell words by two professors, the emphasise being on how stupid the girls were. The boys thought it hilarious although I seriously doubt that the BBC will be introducing this show in the near future! Brazil has even taken well-known British programs and 'sexed' them up. Big Brother Brazil is a stark constrast to the show in England whereby we fill a house with twenty obeise, middle-aged, vulgur examples of British society and then watch them constantly clash on live tv. The Brazilian approach which is to put twenty male and female models in a house and then deliberatly create tasks for them which lead to them wearing as little clothing as possible. Of course no nudity is actually going to ensue as, being Brazil, Playboy naturally signs contracts with every female contestant that enters the house leading to an after house shoot!
Dancing:
Every Brazilian can dance, it's like their born with it. When at a Forro (the most popular brazilian dancing round here) club two weeks ago, I tried to convince the Brazilians who were advising me to use my hips whilst dancing that this move was considered 'gay' back in the UK, their simple explaination was that in Brazil, 'the guys who get the girls are the guys who dance'. However, not only can the Brazilians dance, but they're incredible at it. Whenever music comes on in my house-hold my Brazilian brothers and mother unashamedly start singing along and dancing round the room. Unlike England, where dancing involves jumping up and down whilst wildly flailing ones arms in as many directions as possible, Brazilian dancing is highly coordinated and revolves around pairs. A club in Brazil is enough to make you dizzy as the girls spin and twist as the guys smoothly move from side to side. Some of our Brazilian friends Mirelle (who's just about to start her own radio show about Forro) and Vatussa have attempt to teach me how to dance Salsa and Forro but these sessions quickly deteriorate into free-comedy for all people present and I've taken to sitting on the sidelines as an observer not a participant. Dancing is combined with Football as one of those things a Brazilian boy must be able to do. On explaining that I dont play football or dance, a startled Mirelle exclaimed 'You dont play football and you dont dance? What can you do!?'!
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