I heart Fortal

Last night we took students to Fortal, the regional equivalent of the famed Carnaval of Rio de Janeiro and Bahia. Courtesy of GLA (and the exhorbitant amount of money students paid to be part of the program) we rocked the VIP section that was elevated above the parade path (see Brasil knows how to get down - Photo #1). Once we locked the students in and forbade them to leave the VIP boxes, Dawn and I fled to the streets to investigate the party scene. Staying on the periphery of the festivities, our escape started out innocently: walking around eating caramel popcorn, giggling at all the public displays of affection, and snapping photos of the hoards of partygoers dancing frenetically alongside the moving concerts on floats (see Brasil knows how to get down - Photo #2 and #3). And then, we turned to the dark side...

Melanie: Do you want to go in and dance with the parade?
Dawn: Yeah, ok!
(5 minutes later)
Both of us jumping and pumping our fists
Dawn: Wanna get a beer?
Melanie: Yeah, ok!
(2 hours later)
Melanie (voice now hoarse): Maybe we should go back and check on the students.
Dawn (with flat affect): Mmm.

I heart Fortal. Next time I come back somebody please remind me not to bring 36 teenagers that I'm legally responsible for. Such a buzz kill.

Brasil knows how to get down- Photo #1
(note our VIP section in the background)

Brasil knows how to get down - Photo #2 and #3

In conclusion,
Fortal = debauchery + PDA + moving concerts on floats + tasty libations + caramel popcorn MINUS 36 teenagers

Brasil: An exhilirating place to sit on your a%#

Donkey riding is not for the faint of heart.

Do not attempt this at home.

The model photographed here is a trained stuntsman.

No animals or humans were injured in the photographing of this scene.

Dont Tell Hotels

Like in most Latin American countries it is common for people in Brasil to live with their families until they are married. The need for couples´privacy has given birth to a healthy market of amorously named hotels.

I´ve entertained myself on long bus rides by searching for these hotels and writing down their names. Here is a sampling...

Bem que me quer (It´s Good that You Love Me) Hotel
Castile do Amor (Castle of Love) Hotel
O Romance Comenca Aqui (Romance Starts Here) Hotel
Hotel do Amor (Hotel of Love)
Ele and Ela (He and She) Hotel
Momentos Hotel (with the silouette of a man and a woman ballroom dancing)
Love House
Hotel Passion (silouette of...oh, never mind)
Swinger Hotel

Everything I dune, I dune it for you

For your viewing pleasure here are some photos from our dune buggy excursion at Praia Caucaia. Our guide drove us to the top of a dune then we sandboarded down into a lake. It was brilliant even though I ate my weight in sand. I´m voting DuneBuggying in Brasil as the 8th Wonder of the World. Ask not what your country has dune for you, but what you can dune for your country. DuneBuggying in 2008.

Peter and I sandboarded down together successfully. But when I doubled with Jamie (a student) we plowed full-force into the back of an unsuspecting innocent bystander. I don´t have a picture of that incident but I still have Jamie´s teeth marks on the back of my head.

This is just seconds before I face planted.

Meet the People Who You´ve Entrusted Your Children To

Trust us. We know what we´re doing. No, really.

(left to right)
Peter Assistant Program Director Extraordinaire & Friend

Peter and I taught together at Leadership High School in San Francisco. We are recording a Greatest Hits CD together. Stay tuned for that.

Melanie Mentor and Glamour Shots Coordinator

Currently lobbying the GLA (Global Leadership Adventures) governing body to change the name of the program to GLA (Glamorous Leaders Academy).

Richard Mentor and Learner of the English language

Richard is a British man living and teaching languages in Switzerland. Although we all speak English, we often need a translator in order to understand each other.

Carley MegaStar Assistant to the Program

Carly hails from Los Angeles. She enjoys long walks on the beach and expensive bathing suits.

Andrew Program Director for GLA
Andrew hired me for Brazil even though I trashed the program in South Africa last year. Thank you, Andrew, for teaching me the meaning of forgiveness.....sucker! ;-)

Dawn Mentor & Spokesperson for her people

She is attracted to funky men who play the guitar. I anticipate that one day we´ll have to duke it out.

Lina Chaperone

Lina is a computer teacher from Lebanon. One of her limbs is a camera.

Tiago In-country Program Coordinator & Local Stud

Tiago is a fine looking man. Period.

P-Diddy, MelyMel & D-Money

Send your children to us. We´ll treat them right.

Fluent Portuguese in 7 Days

When I arrived to Brasil I had no prior knowledge of the Portuguese language. I´ve been communicating with pronunciation modifications of Spanish, thumbs up and the universal high-5; but obviously I´d like to actually be speaking correct Portuguese so I borrowed the book ¨Fluent Portuguese in 7 Days.¨ Yes, in just one week you too can be fluent!
DAY 1: Greetings
DAY 2: In a restaurant
DAY 3: In the airport
DAY 4: Speak Portuguese well
DAY 5: Speak Portuguese better than ever
DAY 6: Speak fluent Portuguese
DAY 7: Day of rest

A couple of days ago I had my first conversation in Portuguese with Izabela at Polo Timbo. We talked about impunity for sex offenders. Powered by my linguistic inertia from that conversation I continued on my quest for Portuguese fluency last night when we were out for dinner. I found out the word for ¨napkin¨then asked the man at the restaurant ¨Can I have a napkin please?¨ He acknowledged and nodded. I asked two more times which yielded no result. After the third time that I asked I realized that his nonchalance was neither incompetence or defiance. It turns out the man I was asking wasn´t our waiter. He was our bus driver.

Portuguese Man of War

Capoeira is a Brasilian dance, game or ritualistic fight that African slaves invented to protect themselves against oppressors. They disguised practicing the movements by incorporating music to give the impression that it was a dance.

We had a professional capoeira group come do a demonstration on the beach for us yesterday during which I was selected from the crowd to fight. Here are instructional pictures of how to do capoeira:

CAPOEIRA in 3 EASY STEPS

STEP 1: Begin in traditional starting position called ginga.

STEP 2: Don´t get kicked in the head.

STEP 3: Make nice. Shake hands. No hard feelings.

That´s what it´s all about

Today at Polo Timbo community center where we are working, the locals taught us three Brasilian dances: forro, samba and capoeira. My inner dancer always envies countries and regions that you can easily associate a dance with: ie. Philippines - tinikling, parts of Latin America - salsa, Argentina - tango, Spain - flamenco. It always gets me reflecting about what is the culturally defining dance of the US. One could argue that the US doesn´t have readily identifiable national dances because of the diversity of the population or because of its sheer enormity; but Brasil is equally diverse (African, indigenous, European lineage) and large (same size as the continental US) and yet most Brasilians can dance forro, samba and capoeira and define these dances as uniquely Brasilian.

Anyway back to my story...When the Brasilians finished showcasing their dances they were rightfully beaming with pride. Then they asked the US students to teach one of our national dances. We racked our brains for a US dance that transcends generation gaps, socio-economic divide and regional disparities. Appalachian clogging? No. Square dancing? Not so much (as the name implies, that´s a dance for squares.) The Macarena? No, gracias.

So what great all-American dance did we teach them?

The hokey-pokey.

Dance divas

Sand worms, triangle, et al

6:30AM - Dawn and I did stretching exercises outside before breakfast. Cursed my reckless decision to volunteer for this duty.

10:00AM - Facilitated discussion about leadership. Bo-o-o-o-ring. Notice that half the students aren´t paying attention. Also note that my own eyes were closed.

12:00PM - Played soccer at our community service site. Since the field was filled with sand, we played barefoot. Later we found out about notorious sand worms that bore into your feet to feast on your organs. This doesn´t scare me. I sincerely hope it chooses my appendix though.

4:00PM - Enjoyed capoeira and other Brasilian dances as part of the Maracanau community´s welcoming event for us.

6:00PM - Accompanied the local samba players on the triangle. And I didn´t even have to recall the Pythagorean theorem. My geometry teacher said we´d need that formula in life. I knew she was lying.

11:00PM - getting sleeee...p...y

What about Bob?

Comedian Bob Saget´s daughter is on the program so I have his cell phone number in case of emergency. I fantasize about calling him and wonder if I´d interrupt him doing a standup act at the Borgata or having tea with the Olsen twins. I imagine phoning him to say, ¨Hi, Mr. Saget, your daughter has a stomach virus. Please let Uncle Jesse and Uncle Joey know.¨

Phortaleza Photos

Sipping jugo de coco with co-Mentor Richard ¨Sharing is caring.¨

Fortaleza by day

Fortaleza sunset

Brazil Nuts and Such

Before I boarded my flight from PHL to MIA the man in the seat next to me spilled his V8 on my seat. I was content to just cover the seat with a blanket but instead I was ushered to a new seat in first class. I´m quite certain that the other first class passengers were aware that I was in fact an imposter from coach; but that only emboldened me to order seconds of everything which I merrily wrapped up in my first class cloth napkin and stored it in my first class air sickness bag. I ate it when I was put back in coach for the next flight.

Famous People Sightings: MIA airport - Eva Longoria and Tony Parks
How much I cared on a scale of 1-10: a hair above pi

When I think of Brasil, a few things automatically come to mind: Brazilian wax job (ouch), coverage-challenged bikini bottoms, carnaval, and Brazil nuts (as in the legume, not the variety found in the aforementioned bikini bottoms). Speaking of which, I found a Brazilian magazine called ¨TESTES¨and wonder if it is dedicated to articles about Brazil nuts.