Vivendo e Aprendendo!

Wow! I have experienced so much since my last post and so I apologize for the abnormal amount of exclamation marks that you will see, but I am just so excited!

So...

On March 17th, our group got a rare opportunity to visit and participate in a Candomble ceremony. Honestly, one of the most memorable experiences of this trip. (Just to let you know words can't describe my experience, but I will try) Upon arrival to the temple, we had to shower and bathe in special herbal water that acted as cleansing ritual. After showering, we then changed into white clothes.

After this process, we then were able to ask questions and have a general conversation with the "mae-de-santo" or priestess of that temple. Through this conversation, we did find out a little about the history of the temple and we were also told what Orixa, the spirit that they believe in, belongs to each of us. We did find out a little about the process of being initiated into the religion. This process includes solitary confinement during portions of the intiation and also the person is required to shave their head. Due to the strict secrecy of the actual initiation time frame and details, we were not allowed to know because only those who have been initiated are subject to this information. After our Q&A session, we then ate lunch and took a tour of the temple and of the shrines for each Orixa. Then came the actual ceremony where the caboco appeared. This ceremony began with all of the practitioner's of Candomble singing chants and beating/clapping on the floor. After several minutes, the actual caboco then appeared. A caboco is the actual spirit of the Orixa that possesses and overtakes the body of the "mae-de-santo", both physically and mentally. I am speaking from watching this first hand and let me tell you, when the caboco appeared everything about the priestess changed. How she walked, talked, carried herself, her voice, every mannerism was no longer of her, but instead the caboco. The caboco then came and greeted each of us and spoke briefly. After that, he (referring the the woman's body overtaken by the caboco and because the priestess Orixa is a male spirit, she now becomes a he) then began seeing people to heal. This experience is SO hard to describe to you, but I do have some pictures and videos if you would like to see them. However, due to the fact that we were allowed special permission inside to witness this, I can only show you them in person. So hit me up if you are interested or want to hear more about this experience because I would LOVE to tell you. :)

From the 18th to the 21st, we returned to our normal schedule of Portuguese in the morning and seminars in the afternoon. This week we began the intial discussion of the public Brazilian healthcare system, SUS. It just blows my mind at how complex, yet simple this system operates. In a nutshell, they have three levels of care. Level one care is just basic care. It is referred to as Programa Saugia de Familia (PSF). In the first level the focus is on prevention and basic needs. Level 2 is specialty care and Level 3 is hospital care. If you keep reading, you will get to read about my experience in the Level 1 and Level 3 of the SUS...but until then there is way too much information to put in a blog about SUS.

P.S....I gave in and read "The Hunger Games" during these few days and wow! I actually enjoyed reading them all! Great series!

On the afternoon of the 21st, we headed off to our first rural excursion! Our excursion would take us to a small neighborhood, Alecrim, which is about thirty minutes away from the birthplace of Candomble, Cachoeira. When we first arrived we had a really neat presentation from the Capoeira school in Alecrim:

They were SO good and when they infused Samba into some of the moves = mindblown! After meeting our new temporary families, we then headed home with them. Here is a picture of my new host mom and the road to our house (you can see our house off in the distance):

As you can see it is very rural and Alecrim is a farming community. The main crop that they harvest is the cassava plant. The take the root and mill it into flour, and then make various products with it. Also, the community has a population of just over a thousand people and they are just like one BIG family. During our stay, the whole purpose was to visit the PSF's during the day and the traditional healer's at night so we could compare western versus traditional medicine.

On the 22nd, we were each assignmed a specific PSF to go to (Level 1 of care). I was assigned to go to the one in Alecrim. It is a very simple clinic and they do not really have that many resources. Staffing the PSF in Alecrim is: 1 doctor, 1 nurse, 1 dentist, 2 technicians, 1 receptionist, and 3 public health agents. I got to interview the nurse, take a tour of the facility, listen to the heartbeat of a baby that is due next month, and just take it all in. Later that afternoon, we went out to visit some houses with the public health agent. He then took us to a piece of land that had many types of vines and trees with fruit and we had a fruit tour. It was SO delicious. After that, we went to a house that makes bijou (made from the cassava root). Bijou is when the root is ground up finely into a flour like texture, then sweetened with fruit juice, and cooked. Many Brazilians eat it plain or dip it in their coffee. We got to help make some and it was so good!

The next day, we went back to our PSF but not much was going on because a member of the community died the previous day, so we only spent the morning in the PSF. That afternoon we went to a bee farm and sampled some delicious honey. Later that night, we went and saw a traditional healer and had a very good conversation with him. What interested me the most was his willingness and openness to work with western medicine. He told us that he prefers seeing patients who seek both traditional and western forms of medicine for their treatments.

On Saturday, we went into town and visited Cacheoira. Here we visited the market, bought fruits, saw a Catholic/Candomble affiliated church, ate a delicious lunch, and went to a Samba house.

Just a little of the market...

Morgan's makeshift dressing room in the middle of the market.

Getting our SAMBA on at the Samba House!

One of my favorite pictures so far!

Later that night, the town threw us a party where we ate acaraje and of course..SAMBA! It was a blast and when we had to say goodbye on Sunday it was very sad.

This 9 year old is the Samba Queen! She was so good!

We returned to Salvador late afternoon on Sunday and began to get back in the flow of things. On Tuesday and Wednesday (3/27 & 3/28) we had the opportunity to visit another PSF in Salvador AND a hospital! I was so excited to visit the hospital because when I envisioned "public health" in Brazil this is what I imagined myself doing. I mean it took a month to get to that point, but hey I am glad we are here! The hospital that we visited is the largest hospital in all of Latin America. Once we stepped into the emergency room, I was just blown away. The reason is because you see in the movies where people are just crammed and lined up and down halls in hospital beds....I mean that happens only in movies, right? Wrong. It just blew me away. If the system works correctly, once a patient is received in the hospital they should spend about 24 hours in the emergency room for a actual room in the hospital. That's IF the system works. Well now people are waiting for at least 7-10 days in the emergency room for a bed in the hospital. We did get to talk to a doctor and she believes that the problem within their health system is that the Level 1 and Level 2 of care are not working properly. She said that if they get these 2 levels working efficiently, then most of their problems will be taken care of. Again, just amazing.

Well, I did not intend for this post to be this long, but I hope you can learn a little bit from reading this. I hope that you are all doing well and I would love to hear from you!

Remember, until next time...."It is not the length of life, but depth of life." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Travel and Thought

Hello!

I am in disbelief at just how time passes by so quickly. Portuguese lessons and our seminars are well underway. I am still adjusting to the daily routine of my family (waking up at 6 a.m...), but they are so nice and include me on many family activities. This week has been pretty cool because I have gotten some time to spend with my brother, Anderson. Anderson is 39 and is a Portuguese high school teacher during the day, but at night he teaches Brazilian jiu jitsu and muay thai. The reason that we are able to hangout this week is because the teacher's of Salvador are on a three day strike and are demanding an increase in pay. One afternoon this previous week he got to teach me some Portuguese (and I even taught him a little English) and then we had a Brazilian jiu jitsu lesson! Besides my impromptu Brazilian jiu jitsu lesson, I really enjoyed some things that we got to do this week.

On Tuesday night a few of us walked to one of our fellow student's host home. We got to meet her family and visited with her for a few minutes (and I played with the family parrot too...). After leaving her house and eating dinner at a local restaurant (grilled chicken, salad, anddddd FRENCH FRIES) we then proceeded to "Blessed" Tuesday night in Pelourinho. After a little research, I found out why this is called "Blessed" Tuesday night. It is called this because the poor received free bread from the church on Tuesdays. Not only do they receive free bread, but the streets come alive as bands set up on the streets and play Afro-Brazilian music while people dance, eat and party. So many people with such a rich culture, and I had a blast!

After the band finished playing, we followed the crowd into the street and soon encountered people playing drums. We all stopped and joined in more dancing in the middle of the street...SO much fun!

Public transportation has become more "natural" for me as this week has progressed. It is just an unavoidable fact of life in Brazil, but I get SO frustrated by the system. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason (that I see or others see) as to how the system operates. You can stand at a bus stop for 2 minutes or an hour waiting for your bus to come. It is frustrating to me because I have to take the bus to get to the SIT building for school, and I get a grade for punctuality. I leave at the times my parents tell me and some days everything works out just fine, but some days I have been 15-40 minutes late! Another frustrating thing with the public transportation and Salvador in general is that they hate...literally hate...giving you change. It is like pulling teeth from a cat! It is somewhat of a touchy subject that I found out while riding the bus one day. While on the bus, a man entered and tried to pay with a big bill, but the person who collects the bus fare didn't "have" the change. Long story short, the bus driver pulled our bus over for 15 minutes as he, the bus fare collector, and the man (as well as other various people riding in the bus with me) yelled and argued. Finally, he was kicked off the bus. The issue is that many times, the people actually have the change, but they just do not want to give it to you.

In our seminars this week we have been focusing on race and human rights. Our speakers have been really neat to listen to and we have had some interesting discussions. What does being a citizen mean to you? Is it a form of identity or does it mean nothing at all? Do those who are not citizens of a particular country have basic human rights? Who determines the definition of being a citizen? Where do you find your identity? These questions are very important when talking about equal access to health care.

This weekend we are going to a Candomble temple (a religion that is commonly practiced in Salvador) and will be watching some of their rituals. I really do not know what to expect, but I am extremely excited to see this holistic and spiritual side of Salvador.

I hope that everyone enjoys the last few days of break!

Until next time remember..."When the sun rises, it rises for everyone." - Unknown

Passo ir ao banheiro?

Oi! It is hard to believe that I have been in Brazil for almost two weeks already! Time has flown by so fast and I have embraced every second of it. This week was our first "official" week of classes for SIT. Every day we have Portuguese lessons for two hours and then in the afternoon are lectures that involve the topics of public health, race, and human rights.

Since I stepped foot in Brazil, I have felt so stripped and bare of everything that I have ever "known". To not understand transportation, the language, culture, and lifestyle of a whole country really humbles you.

Our Portuguese teacher, Bira, is an excellent teacher and I have learned SO much and very quickly. I feel like I am a child again as I try and learn this new language. We are learning our ABC's, basic verbs, basic commands and structures, and how to introductions. (I did get complemented from a taxi driver that my Portuguese was good...but that was because I was only using the sentences we had learned so far in class...haha) The most difficult thing that I have a problem with in my Portuguese is the pronunciation of the words. For me, Portuguese is a blend of Spanish and French. Portuguese has a basis in Spanish because a lot of the meanings of the words are the same, BUT the actual spelling and pronunciation of the words remind me of French.

For example, take the word dad. In portuguese the word is "pai". Now, it is not pronounced as you would imagine it. Instead, you literally pronounce it as POW! You have with a strong "P" sound, but you essentially "swallow" the "OW" in the word. Make sense? Probably not, but I couldn't resist as I thought about all the people reading this and trying to actually say the word out loud. You know you tried....(:

My new family is doing great and my ability to communicate with them has improved! We have had conversations about the government, public health system in Brazil, and other various topics. Something that I have failed to mention until now is the FOOD of Brazil! In Salvador, there is a hugeeeeeeeeeee African influence on the food and everything that I have tried so far is delicious. My favorite part of the food has been the exotic and delicious fruits! (I know mangos are not exotic, but they have the absolute best mangos here.) I wished that I could tell you exactly what fruits and foods are that I eat here, but most of it I do not know the names of...yet. So later as I learn more I hope to be able to share some of that information with you.

I have done really good with the public transportation so far...until yesterday. Through a series of events I somehow fell asleep on the bus which turned out to be the wrong bus, AND I ended up in a bus stop an hour and a half away from my house! Through my little knowledge of the language I somehow communicated what town I needed to go back to. I took the bus that one of the nice people told me to take and I did end up somewhere close to my house in Barra, but by the time I arrived it was dark so things looked different. Because this was my first experience of seeing Barra at night on the street, I needed help trying to find my street, Princesa Isabella. I stopped a little old lady on the street and told her what street I was looking for. She tried to explain it to me in Portuguese, but I couldn't understand it. She could see that I didn't understand so she motioned for me to walk with her. I thought that by her actions and what little I picked up in the conversation that she was going to walk me to my street or close by. Well I was wrong. We stopped at a grocery store where I thought we were going to find someone to help me that maybe could speak some English. Wrong thinking again. She grabbed a grocery basket and proceeded to grocery shop. I just followed her around like a lost child and would assist her from time to time and get the things that she needed off of the top shelves. After we finished grocery shopping, we walked and then I just knew that she was taking me to my street. Wrong again. Instead, we went to her house. There I met her husband, son, and had dinner with them! Very nice people! By this time it was approaching 8 P.M. and if you are an American who is carrying around a backpack, it is probably not the best idea to be on the streets at that time. Finally, I just had to bite the bullet and get a taxi. A trip that should have just taken 30-45 minutes took over four hours, but I am thankful for the experience and people that I got to meet on this little adventure.

I can't wait for this next week and to learn more Portuguese and to begin to dive into public health in Brazil. I hope that you are all doing well and you are enjoying SPRING BREAK!

Until next time........"Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely." - Auguste Rodin

Buttons and Driving

Oi! (Hello!)

I would like to say "obrigado" (thank you) to all reading this blog. I hope that you are learning a little about Brazil's culture, lifestyle, and people. Hopefully, you will gain just a little glimpse into how rich and diverse these people are.

Living with my new family has been great and they have really treated me very nicely. A lot of my "conversation" with my family includes me typing multiple words into google translate and somehow we manage. I am still adjusting to the cultural "norms". In the states I typically take 2 showers a day, but in Brazil you take at LEAST 3 and typically 4 a day. Minimum. As many of you know, I LOVE coffee and Brazil has delicious coffee. I of course fill my cup up every time to the brim when I am in the states, but here that is just not how you do it. You only pour yourself at the most half of a glass and that is it. If you do pour anymore than that (like I did the first day....) then you get some glares. This is all part of living with the culture and learning their way of life. By no means am I complaining, but instead just adjusting to their lifestyle.

Today I had to face one of the things that I had been most nervous about and that was taking the bus to the SIT office where our seminars and such are held. Your family is supposed to take you back and forth to school until you feel comfortable doing it on your own. Well in Salvador, "normal" people board and pay for the bus fare from the back and exit through the front. BUT if you are pregnant, a child, or OLD (like my Brazilian father), then you board from the front. This information was shared with us during orientation, but in the heat of the moment during boarding the bus this morning that somehow slipped my mind. I have never been so nervous and felt my heart beat so fast as my dad motioned for me to get on the bus. Right as I began to step foot onto the bus he then turned around and walked away!

"Wait, I thought they were supposed to come with us."
"Where is he going? Why is he walking away from the bus."
"Oh my lanta! I can't back out with all these people because I can't even politely say 'Excuse me.'"
"How and where will I know when to get off? Or pull the cord?"

These were the thoughts that were running through my head as I saw my dad begin to walk away from the bus. And then it hit me. He was just walking to the front to board because he was an older man! WHEW! Crisis averted. Thank God!

Well, I believe that just because I was solely focused on my dad leaving me behind and stranded on a bus in Brazil I was not paying attention to what was going around me. As I stepped forward on the bus, I was somewhat tugged backwards. So I tried to move forward again and then I felt pressure on my back pocket. As soon as I felt that, scenes of last week's encounter flooded my mind and I whipped around expecting to catch someone trying to pick pocket me or something. Instead, I find that my back button on my pocket had somehow been tangled on a ladies shirt that had "fringes" hanging off of it. Both she and I awkwardly picked at my button and her shirt for 15 minutes, and finally she had to just cut those few "fringes" on her shirt. During this whole encounter we were receiving many glares and looks on the bus, and of course all I could say was...well nothing. After this minor incident with my button and her shirt, my dad motioned to get off at the next stop and then he took me to the SIT office.

Today we had to wrap up some visa registration with the Federal Police (which was a complete was of a long bus trip and time because we all have to go back next week), went to a mall, ate, purchased cell phones, and called it a day. It was good to see all of my new friends and to get to hear about their experiences with their families. All in all it was a great day, but I am very tired and ready for some sleep!

Until next time remember..."If we're growing, we're always going to be out of our comfort zone." - John Maxwell

What is this..."Princess Busses"?

Brazil constantly amazes me at how diverse and rich the people are. Every time I step outside I constantly learn something new and am just blown away. Everything here is so fresh, crisp, and the people live a simple way of life.

A staple of the SIT program is called "The Drop-Off". Basically the director places us in groups and then gives us assignments to a location where we have to go. The best way that I can describe it is like the Amazing Race. The location that my group was assigned is Mercado Modelo. We first left the convent and headed to the bus station. After about 20 minutes of reading bus signs and asking locals in broken Portuglish...we found out we were at the wrong bus stop. We then headed to the other bus stop and in about 10 minutes our bus came. It took about an hour and fifteen minutes to arrive at our location. Now this little part of the adventure, public transportation, is one of the huge "fears" that I have while here in Brazil. I have never had to take it before and it is just an intimidating part of my trip, but regardless I must adjust because I will be utilizing this everyday while in Brazil. We made it to the Mercado Modelo after we met a friendly man who told us that he was headed to our stop and once we got off he would direct us to the location. With his help and guidance we found where we needed to go and off we went! While at our location our assignment was to interact with the people, interview the people, observe, and purchase a souvenir. We entered the market and made our way through as we observed everyday Brazilians. Once we made it to the other side of the market we heard some live music and saw capoeira (It is an African fight brought to Brazil by the slaves from the Angola...it consists of martial arts and strange dancing) going on across the plaza! We headed towards them and began taking pictures. Then the next thing you know they invited us over to teach us some moves and let us take pictures with them! Here is a picture of Leah and I posing!

After we finished we then headed back into the market to purchase our souvenirs. I ended up purchasing some map pencil sort of things that were made out of real wood. They were pretty cool and I got them for RS$5 (Or about $2.50). Next, we needed to conduct our interviews and we tried to talk to many of the vendors at the market, but they were not really interested in talking to you unless you were going to buy something. We gathered as much information as we could and then headed back to the convent. By the time we arrived in the convent it was 1300 (they use military time here) and in all took the trip took a little over 4 hours. Once we got back and had lunch at the convent, we then debriefed over our little excursion and we had to tell the group what we found out about our location and what we did. We told everyone everything we found out and who we interview, but Damiana kept telling us that we missed something huge about Mercado Modelo. That huge something was that the basement of this building used to be a prison for slaves during the slave trade! Here is a picture of Mercado Model:

After debriefing we tied up some loose ends on orientation then went and packed as we prepared to meet our new families for the next couple of months! I cannot tell you how much excitement was in the air...not only for the families who were picking us up, but also from us as students! It seriously felt like Christmas morning. Our mothers slowly began to trickle in one by one and began picking us out as they recognized us. My mother, Daize, immediately recognized me and came and gave me hugs and kisses as she welcome me. Here is my new mom and I!

Just to let you know a little about my new family...I have my mom, dad, two sisters, and one brother. Both of my parents are in their late 60's. My dad is retired and my mom works at the local university's hospital. One of my sister's is married and one lives at home. The one that lives at home is in her last semester at college where she is studying to become an elementary teacher. She is 29 years old and has been very nice! My brother is 36 years old and lives at home. He is a teacher for Portuguese at a local high school in Baha. My family has been very hospitable and has gone above and beyond for me. In the past 24 hours we have "played" many games of charades as we try to overcome the language barrier. Here is a picture that I was give by SIT of my whole family:

I am very blessed and excited for my new family. I know that they have said MUCH more than just that little bit that I was able to tell you about them, but as my portuguese improves I hope to be able to tell you more.

Until next time..."Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." -Leo Tolstoy

Life in Brazil...

Bom dia!

(Pronounced bonjh-jhi)

Good morning! It is a beautiful day in Brazil and the sun is shining! I am just constantly amazed and blown away at the way of life and how rich the culture is here in Salvador. Salvador is located in the northeast part of the state of Bahia. It is also the third largest city in Brazil. It is right on the coast and the ocean view is absolutely beautiful. About 85% of the population in Bahia are Afro-Brazilians and many are descendants of those that were involved with slavery. The reason for the high concentration of Afro-Brazilians in Salvador is because it is a coastal town which has a port where many slaves were deported from. Another little fact is that slavery was not abolished in Brazil until 1888, which is of course much later than other countries took action. Never have I seen a group of people so rich and connected with their culture.

The past few days have been a little bit of a rollercoaster for the group. We have bonded really well as a group and we have also gotten comfortable with where we are staying, but as we found out we may have gotten a little too comfortable with our location. On Wednesday the group was walking from the beach to come back to the convent in the afternoon in small groups of 3-5 people. Well along the way people were taking pictures and enjoying the beautiful scenery. This attracted some unwanted attention and each of our small groups were held up at gunpoint by some Brazilians and the electronics that everyone had were taken. Needless to say we quickly realized how comfortable we had become and therefore we became less aware of our surroundings and what was happening. Please do not think that I am in an unsafe part of Brazil or that the people are bad because that is NOT the correct thing to think. Instead, we learned a lesson as a group and that we just need to be careful and more aware of what we carry. Yes, Brazil is an exciting and fun place to be, but there are dangers and risks associated with this country and it is a fact of living life as a Brazilian. Not only do foreigners get robbed, but many locals are also robbed. Our directors at our program told us to expect it to happen again and to just be aware.

DISCLAIMER: If you see that I am not uploading a lot of pictures on Facebook, it is because I am not taking pictures at this time...maybe later. I don't want to attract any unnecessary attention that may place me in a bad situation until I feel more comfortable.

On Thursday we had a full day of learning about our schedule, expectations for our assignments, and also discussion of our Independent Research Project (ISP). I am tossing around some ideas for my ISP currently that include: dissecting the chain and flow of command in the hospital and looking at effective communication; holistic healing in the Candomble religion; Hepatitis A,B, and C treatment in pediatrics. Healthcare is free to everyone because they do have socialized medicine in Brazil. According to our instructors this system, SUS, has many pros and cons and throughout the semester we will be exploring them.

Anyways, after a long and boring day of syllabus and assignment instructions we got to leave the convent and took a bus to Pelourinho, the historical district of Salvador. While here we went to a theatre and watched a Ballet Folclorico. Here we saw many traditional Afro-Brazilian dances. This was one of the most culturally enriching experiences that I have ever witnessed. The performance included dances to the Candomble's gods (Ogum, Oxum, Omolu, Iansa, Oxossi, and Xango), a fisherman's dance, a dance performed by the slaves in the Brazilian colonial period, a Capoeira dance (Capoeira is a African fight brought to Brazil by the slaves from Angola), and lastly the famous SAMBA! I would love to try to explain to you in words how awesome and beautiful this experience was, but I could not do justice. (If you would like to check out the dance company here is the link: http://www.balefolcloricodabahia.com.br)

Today we had conversations about the many tropical diseases and how to best protect yourself from them. Later today we will go to the Federal Police in Brazil and get pictures taken, and later tonight we get to read our letters from out host home. Then tomorrow we finally we get to meet them and we begin our 8 weeks of living with them!

Until next time remember..."The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." - Marcel Proust