9/27/2005

I feel like another email is in order... I must begin this email (althoughugh you should never begin a speech like this) by making a disclaimer, a warning, making sure that you all realize that my perception of Brasil is that of someone who has lived here for a mere 10 days... hardly a resident yet... but I want to you get an idea of what I experience and see everyday. My lack of explanation about my city and host family was brought up in emails from my own family and I figured you all probably have similar questions. (by the way, I intend on sending some pictures this week)... I want to start this email with some interesting perceptions and stories my parents told about Africa.When my parents first go to Africa, they were talked to by both Africans and missionaries about perception and reality. One of the teachers said that your perception is reality. Of course, my dad being the man he is, had to disagree. My dad said, "no, your perception is just more important that reality." It's too true, whether we really hear, see, or experience things all has to do with how are minds perceive all these things. On that note, here is MY perception, MY reality in Brasil.

It's cold. It's supposed to be hot, but it's cold. It's been raining for nearly a week straight now. They say that never happens… but well, it's happening… They say it's never cold like this… but it is cold. Brasilian women wear what Micah (an African man that my parents worked with this summer in Tanzania) calls "hot dog pants" because it looks like they've been poured into them. And truly there's no other explanation on how they could possibly squeeze into what they're wearing. Short, tall, fat, or skinny, whether they're working-out, shopping, or going to a club, Brasilian women show as much skin as humanly possible while still wearing clothes. I couldn't believe it! I found a country that makes American women look conservative!… Another perception, another reality. After spending a year in Thailand, a place where women cover their shoulders and legs and wear minimal make-up and don't even paint their nails for fear of being mistaken for a prostitute, coming back to America and its "scandalous" women was a shock-a place where people don't even go swimming for fear of getting a tan… I come to a country where the bikinis barely cover the necessities and the entire population lives for the chance to go to the beach and bask in the summer sun.

Are Brasilian people as hospitipal and kind as I thoughught they'd be? Yes. Remember the story of the airport worker who took me to her house and let me use all her bath stuff and take a shower??Are Brasilian people as accepting as I thoughught they'd be? No There is a definite separation of the classes here, and nobody seems to care… It reminds me of a couple stories of South America. In one, I asked an American exchange student who lived in Venezuela for a year what it was like to live around a poverty stricken country. She replied "I never saw any poor people, they don't even go to the same grocery stores as us." And another would be when I talked to a Brasilian guy about Araçatuba. He said that he'd see me around when I got there. I said, "Araçatuba has 200,000 people! How are you going to just see me around?!" And he replied, "You will only ever see about 20,000 of thoughse 200,000 because the rest are poor people." It's like… out of sight, out of mind… if they can't see the children starving…. Then it's not happening?!? Wrong, but I can't change an entire country in one year… I can merely observe and help when I can.

Here are some basic descriptions of my city and house.I have a 12-foot electric fence around my house to keep out unwanted "guests." Most houses here adobe houses and nearly every single one, no matter how small, has a large fence. Also, nearly everyone has a dog (including my family-of course, we have a toy poodle… so I'm not sure what good he's gonna do…) to alert the family of visitors and scare off robbers n such. There are trees lining the street. We have a big mall-and there's an ice skating rink inside it! We have a movie theatre where both English (with port subtitles) and Portuguese movies are shown. We have a market on the weekends. We also have clubs on the weekends that open at midnight and stay open until 6 or 7 in the morning. They usually play lots of techno music. There are lots of trees. The roads are really REALLY poorly made. Nearly everyone drives a stick shift. I live a block away from a zoo (which I haven't been to yet). I don't see crocodiles… but yes I do see parrots, and also lots of pigeons and morning doves Brasil is a place filled with as many different religions and ethnicities as the US. Many people claim Cathoughlicism here, but many aren't actually practicing Cathoughlics. Yes, I have been to mass once with my family and it was very strange-pretty different from an American Cathoughlic church.

With all of this new information, I hope that you can kind of begin to picture Brasil, well, at least Araçatuba and I want to leave you with one last story: A couple nights ago I went for my usual run ( I run around the outside of the zoo which is 1.5 km). As I was running, I saw a homeless man on a bicycle. He pulled his bicycle over and pulled out a plastic bag. He took out a loaf of bread and began to break it up. Then I heard it… quiet meowing. And I saw the stray cats that live around the zoo flocking to him. He was sharing what little food he had with his homeless little friends. A tear came to my eye at this beautiful generosity, and even more beautiful was that he didn't believe that he was doing anything special-just doing what he believed any human being would do. It has been said that the less you have, the more you share. And on that note, I will leave you all to enjoy your day!

Muitos beijos, (many kisses)

Kati ps- I really enjoy getting emails from all of you and keeping updated on your lives. please to reply. I may not always be able to respond as quickly as I'd like to, but please keep sending the emails!!