Welcome to Planet Brazil ~ IN & OUT List

Oi, amigos, from Planet Brazil. After a lifetime inhabiting Washington DC, I have headed south to checkout life below the Equator. For the next 6 months I will be making my home in the city of Joao Pessoa, the capital of the state of Paraiba, on the Northeast coast of Brazil. Joao Pessoa (John Peoples) is at the eastern-most point in the Americas to Africa. See the map attached, and get yourself oriented.

As luck would have it, I have arrived just in time for the summer holidays and all the festas. Yes, it’s summer here below the Equator, in this beach town of 500,000 Pessoenses, a place somewhat comparable in size and feel to San Diego, but maybe not quite so glamorous or ‘advanced.’ There are still horse carts on the highways, alongside old VW bugs and brand new shiny Fiats and Renaults, and cows and goats graze on the beach. But they certainly know how to party here. I rang in the New Year with a celebration on the beach, complete with fireworks at midnight, and dancing to Chico Cesar’s band, and plenty of drunken revelry. It reminded me of Forth of July on The Mall – but in December?

Yes, there have definitely been some odd things to get used to my first month here on Planet Brazil. I think I am still in the Denial Phase of my transition. In SeeChange lingo, this is the period when the change is happening, but you pretend it’s not. The prescription to help people through this phase is to ‘confront them with reality.’ So I decided to confront myself on new years day by brainstorming a list of the realities of my change – the things there are OUT of my life for now, and the new things that are IN. (You can take the consultant out of Washington, but you can’t take the consultant out of her head.) So it's a long list, and growing by the day. Take a look…

OUT ---> IN
Emails to Brazil---> Emails to USA
English---> Sign Language
Zydeco ---> Forró (Northeast Country Music)
The Washington Post---> Washingtonpost.com
‘W’---> ‘Lula’
Rowhouses ---> Apartmentos
Runs in Rock Creek Park ---> Runs on Praia Cabo Branco
Starbucks lattes ---> Café da manha
Margaritas ---> Caipirinhas
Chips & Salsa ---> Beans & Rice
Meditation ---> Condomble
Budda ---> Ogum
Wow! Nossa!
Talking (falando) ---> Listening (ouvindo)
Handshakes ---> Beijos
Snow Boots ---> Havaianas
Overcoats ---> Bikinis
Silent Swedish Dishwashers ---> Washing dishes by hand (with cold water)
The President ---> The Americana
Palm Treo ---> Palm Trees
To-do lists ---> Spontaneity
Saudade for Brazil ---> Saudade for USA (it’s always something)

Let me start this story of change by explaining a few key items on the list- things I have to adapt to here on this new planet. For one, English is definitely out. Few people speak it here, and if so, all they can say is Goodie Bye, Very Wonderful or George Bush (which they say with a grimace). So, after a lifetime tongue-tied to English, it’s time I developed competency in this new ‘lingua beleza’ (beautiful language), Portuguese. Either this, or I continue nodding, smiling stupidly, and using my Italian-style sign language to just get by with these people so full of words. It’s true, they really never stop talking here. They can sit in bar all day long and chatter away, as they sip their ‘cerveja bem geladinha’ (beer very cold) out of tall 750ml bottles. I’d love to know what these are discussing – politics, world peace, movies, favorite recipes? I’m told it’s mostly gossip, but I’d like to be able to eavesdrop myself and find out.

My Portuguese lessons start this week with Prof Wallison, and I’ll keep you posted about my progress – and the gossip. Until I am more competent, I’ll continue to spend my time in zen-like silence (talking is out, listening is in), hoping some of the beautiful song-like words sink into my old but eager brain. I fell in love with this language years ago, listening to my collection of Brazilian bossa nova and tropicalia music - Caetano Veloso, Tom Jobim, and Gilberto Gil. Now it’s time to get beyond the music and partake.