I was almost the closest I’ve ever been, in time, relation, notoriety, to someone famous. Yesterday, my housemate was sorting through a tableful of women’s underwear. She told me that her sister lives in Fortaleza and makes the stuff, and she ocassionally helps sell it here to make some extra money.

Today, the New York Times has a glowing article on the growing economy of Brazil. It opens with the human interest story of a Ms. Souza, of Fortaleza, who built her business of making women’s underwear from two sewing machines to a 25 person factory.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/31/world/americas/31brazil.html

I asked. No relation.

I think people here think small in economic terms, and by virtue of that, more democratically. When I went with friends to play Karaoke, we picked up the karioke game from someone’s garage. There was a little sign outside: R$7,50 to rent it for a day, and we loaded it in our trunk while the owner’s baby girl banged against the bars of her door. Everywhere in the streets, people sit behind little tables of candy and goodies– all they needed to buy was a table and some goodies. In the US, no one would rent from some random person’s garage or buy from a table in the street.

I think it’s a result of their different history with capitalism. They didn’t have as long a period where capitalism was organized by wealthy monopolists. And the Brazilian Way is to do things yourself, in little ways (jeitinhos), because society at large, and particularly the government, is often more trouble than its worth.

I’ve begun to realize the class differences here.

The economic power I’m used to having– that is, the amount of money I have to spend and what it can buy– is roughly equivalent between the US and here. Money goes a little further here, especially in some areas (I can get a dozen Brazilian haircuts for one in the US!), but generally it doesn’t go much further.

However in the US, that economic standing characterizes me as upper-middle class, and here it’s distinctly upper class. And people treat themselves like the upper class, but they do it with the means I’m accustomed to. The basics of their lifestyle– work, after-work friends, the role of home– are the same as mine. They often struggle to make ends meet and quibble over their Real’s worth. But they have hired help, wear jewelry all the time, have art all around their homes, and discuss society from a privileged and empowered standpoint. Stores that I think of as middle class, like C&A, are the domain of the upper class here.

Of course, there’s a lot more upper class above us, particularly in other parts of Brazil. My friends don’t have helicopters, like the elite of Sao Paulo, but they or their parents have gorgeous beach-side houses and top-notch apartments, business-relations, and jobs in law, medicine, and university. There’s a sense, as my new friends introduce me around that I’m rubbing shoulders with the most important people to know in town.

The class lines here aren’t hard or consistent, but they are pervasive. The group I’m referring to often lives, works, shops, and eats in different places than most of society. They’re much whiter and more European looking. They went to private primary schools and public University, and didn’t do much work until afterwards. And they wouldn’t be caught dead in a uniform, as a store clerk, or being on of the hordes of people who sells on the street.

This may all just be part of the Brazilian imperative to always look good and talk big. Button-down shirts and slacks are very common in both work and play. The prototypical Brazilian is loud, uses big motions, and makes talk like a Harvard student.

The causes go very deep. Brazilians are always concerned about what other people think of them. Jokerman had me change out of a shirt because it wasn’t ironed. Jokerman’s girlfriend, Tesão, a ridiculously hot woman, was embarrassed to go to the movies without a change of clothes. They’re also always a little afraid. Jokerman got me a blackout curtain, and plans to get me a lock on the door to my room– but the house is already impervious. But he won’t drive away when he drops me off until he sees me padlock the outside gate.

My Brazilian friends are particularly confused about me. I’ve been dressing young, to look as not-ripe as I feel, and to go with my complete inability to hold a conversation. My uncombed hair looks crazy to them, and a bit low-class. But I found out that I make about as much as a doctor here. As I edge my way into Brazilian society, I’m discovering that it’s high society, and I need to act the part.

Brazil is incredible! An awful lot has happened in the past couple weeks, and then again in the past couple days. I’ve been making a whirlygig tour of this immense country. Briefly, that consisted of:

Sao Paulo, where the hostel I stayed at had a pile of musical instruments that came out every night as people sat around beers and sang Brazilian tunes. Brazilians love to sing, and they’ll use any excuse.

Rio, in which I wound up with a working girl wrapped around each arm, and a previously-unknown relative across a table littered in beers, whose indigenous-Brazilian girlfriend was telling me that all her 16 year old cousins were pregnant, but she had one 15 year old cousin who would be perfect for me.

Belo Horizonte, with its impeccable design, and the cobblestone-clad grandmother city Ouro Preto. The latter wasn’t on my schedule, but my bus was full by the time I got to the bus station. So I bought a ticket for the next day, and decided to spend the wait exploring.

Salvador, a haven of Afro-Brazilian everything. In Salvador, I attended a beer-filled birthday bash, with more singing and some of the prettiest women in Brazil. I missed my bus out, and it couldn’t have turned out better– I got a ticket on a better bus at no cost, followed by better pizza than I ordered, followed by a free seat to sleep on.

Recife and art-packed Olinda. The woman of my dreams probably lives in Olinda, where every color-framed window reveals another artist’s workshop. My Portuguese is getting better, but I was so confused by the buses in Recife and so inept at understanding the answers people gave that it took a bus-full of people to help me out. But Brazil is filled with such good-will.

And Belém, where I’m going to stay a while. Belém is about a degree south of the equator, on the mouth of the colossal Amazon River. It’s beautiful, busy, filled with fairs, and has an artsy underscene. Within day of posting about rooms for rent on the Belem couchsurfing group, I had a pile of new friends; a room almost secured with an gregarious, entrepreneurial pothead; and lunch, beach, exploring, and shopping plans. Now I’m staying in the lavish apartment of a fun, kind, and hot lawyer/traveler, a block from ground-zero of Belém’s biggest festival.

I sort of bused myself into a corner, with the south of Brazil still unseen. But I figure I can get a plane ticket in about a month from top to bottom and go from there.

All told, the past two weeks involved over 100 hours of long-distance busing, spending time in 4 hostels and 9 individuals’ houses, and uncountable new foods and musics. And I don’t have pictures from any of it. My camera has been without power since Boston, and I left my charger in the “moving bag” I have stashed away in Sao Paulo.

Can you help fill-in my photo gap? Do you have pictures from the past few weeks of Boston? I want to see my friends, and how you’re all getting along! And I haven’t read a word of LJ recently, but I’m crawling back out of my hole.

I’m in Brazil! I forgot how incredible it is to be on this continent. Different manners, different trees, different ways people clump together outside their juice bars.

My last days in Boston were a *wild* ride. If anyone could have convinced me that I had so much stuff, I would have started packing a lot earlier. But I’m now the proud owner of a 10x5x8 storage space, filled to bursting; my turtle has a new home; and U-Haul is a little richer.

The Brazilians have a word saudade, which is central to the Brazilian soul, and has no English translation. Saudade is the feeling when someone is away, lost, or unattainable, or when a event you tried to hold on to has slipped into the past, but mixed with the longing and melancholy is a kind of happiness and cherishing, because when you feel saudade, the people and moments are with you in memory.

It is with saudade that I write now. You’ve all had a huge impact on my life, and I’m carrying you all with me. Thank you– I hope to hear about your own adventures, and that our paths cross again. I know its not as good as getting a personal note, but I need to say it.

I’m going into radio silence now for a week or so. My last blogging projects were for the internet masses from the beginning, so this time I’m going to spend a while just writing for myself. But if you want to know how it’s going, just send me an email.

I had an absolutely wonderful going away party, thank you all for coming!

This party was definitely an overreach of my grasp: It would have been a better party (and cleared out more of my stuff), if I’d aimed a little shorter. But hey, what’s a going away party for if not to be as big a bang as possible? I enjoyed every minute.

Starting the moment I rolled out of bed afterwords, I’ve been cleaning, clearing, boxing, reorganizing, and packing my bag. I have one more day of it, and I’ll be done!

There’s a ton of stuff I have to try to give back, and a much bigger ton (left over or otherwise free) for anyone who wants it. Do you want it, and can you grab things for people you’re going to see?

I can bring stuff to the rocky preshow meeting (at MIT, 7:30pm, 2-105); in general, any time before my bus at midnight tomorrow is possible.

Specific Peoples (mostly returns):

• Amy Y.: The Cartoon Guide to Genetics
• Anarchism Prof: The Anarchist Collectives
• Benji: Baby Ball
• Caera: Ancient Ways
• Ciana: Harmony and Voice Leading
• Claudia: Cake Pans, 2 books
• conana: Bottle
• Dave C.: The Story-Teller
• ESG: 8 books, Handyboard, Lego Equipment
• exponentialdk: D&D Spells & Magic
• Family Library: Riverworld Series, Mists of Avalon, Harrad Experiment
• Friend of Sussman: Distributed Algorithms Book
• Grandpa Michelsen: Books on Germany
• Jackie G.: Blanket
• jostlegrievance?: 101 Philosophical Problems, Ulysses
• katiesaur: Bird Hat
• Kimmie Bear: Canterbery Tales
• Lee: Delightism, The St. John’s Review
• MIT Libraries: 2 books
• Matt G.: Probability and Statistics
• Matt of Rocky: Riff Laser Circuit, Color Films
• residualentropy: The Eyre Affair
• siderea: Parzival
• stars_gone_nova?: Slaughter-House Five, Art & Party Supplies
• Unknown: Impossible Cure

For anyone who wants them:

Random Stuff:

• 6 black unmatched socks, 4 white unmatched socks
• White Wig (medium guy hair)
• Black Wig (long-for-guy hair, but not very much)
• Rock Revo T-Shirt (XL, tag still on)
• Office Hole Puncher
• Adult Report Card (include sections like “fidelity” and “big tipping”)
• Small work of art: “Paris” with drawn tower
• Small work of art: “Anarchy” 6 times
• Office Staple Remover
• Hand-made Paper (3 sheets)
• Globe Notepad (on stand)
• G.I.Joe Action Figure
• Wooden Dinosaur Back Rubber
• Slightly-bigger-than-pocket-size Photo Album
• Small Frog Stuffed Animal
• Small Alien Stuffed Animal
• Pink Happy Face Pillow
• Big Tropical Flower

Free Beers (and similar):

• 6 Amstel
• 15 Bud Light
• 4 Coors Light
• 8 Hoegaarden
• 2 Left Hand Haystack Wheat
• 3 Magic Hat Not Quite Pale Ale
• 3 Palma Louca
• 1 Paulaner Hefe-Weizen
• 3 Rouge Dead Guy Ale
• 4 Samuel Adams Summer Ale
• 6 Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
• 3 Smirnoff Green Apple Bite
• 1 Smirnoff Ice
• 2 Smirnoff Ice Strawberry Acai
• 1 Smirnoff Wild Grape

Other Alcohol:

• Baileys Irish Cream
• Barenjager Honey Liquor
• Beleza Pura Brazilian Rum
• Dekuyper ButterShots
• French Kiss Vanilla Liquor
• Half Bottle Sweet Vermouth
• Half Bottle Dry Vermouth
• Bacardi Grand Melon shot bottle
• Dr. McGillicuddy’s Lemon Drop Schnapps shot bottle

Spices:

• Basil Leaves
• Bay Leaves
• Bee Pollen
• Chervil Leaves
• Cilantro Leaves
• Cinnamon Stick Bundle (x 2)
• Cream of Tartar
• Eucalyptus
• Fennel Seed
• Green Cordamon Pouder Seeds
• Ground Coriander
• Ground Cumin
• Ground Ginger
• Ground Jamaica Allspice
• Ground Nutmeg (x 2)
• Ground Red Pepper
• Ground Thyme
• Imitation Vanilla Extract
• Lemon & Pepper
• Mulling Spices
• Organic Parseley
• Poultry Blend
• Red Pepper
• Sage Leaves
• Saigon Cinammon (x 2)
• Salt (Unopened)
• Sesame Seed
• Tasmanian Pepper
• Unknown Spice from ESG
• Unknown Spice from my hippieish sister
• Whole Cloves (x 2)
• Whole Pepper Corns

Food:

• 2 Easy-Open Coconuts
• 4 Avocado
• 5 Plantanes
• 1 Mango
• 12 Cobs of Corn

Rocky Party Lost and Found:

• Twine bracelet (necklace?) with three pale stone beads
• 3/4 circle piecing with pink stud
• Necklace with Q-Link pendant
• Green bracelet
• Orange foam dart
• Light blue winter cap
• White Hanes T-Shirt
• Brown with white threadlines hat (ivy cap?)
• Medium Black fleece sweater
• Small Black top with embroidered flowers design
• Black zelda shirt
• White reinforced Hanes socks
• White studded belt
• Small black hoodie (stretch material)
• Black lace underwear
• Small black sock, “12-24 mths *circo*”
• Grey Fruit of the Loom undershirt

Take it!

The ICA (Boston’s Contemporary Art Museum) is free Thursdays after 5pm. I’m going there today with a couple friends, and you should come too! I leave from Central Square at 5:30 today, and arrive at the museum at 6pm.

It looks like they have good exhibits now– take a look at http://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/onview/

Tell me if you’re joining us!

Holy Clouds! That was incredible. It was clear outside the door I used to enter Harvest Coop, and the perfect storm was thundering out the other side. I swam home, to find a tree in the middle of my street! Two women came out to help as I was dragging its pieces to the sidewalk. I’m drenched!

Whew! My visa for Brazil came today. I was worried it wouldn’t come at all.

I first sent the application in two weeks ago, and they sent it back: they wouldn’t accept my check (it had to be a money order), they wanted to see my round-trip ticket (and I didn’t get a round-trip), and they wanted to know what the hell I would be doing in Brazil. So I re-applied– money order, one-way ticket, and a little letter saying I would just be traveling around Brazil all the while employed by a US company (almost true). They had every right to just refuse me entry. And if they had, the FAQs say I would have just had to change my travel plans.

But they didn’t, and they gave me the longest valid tourist visa they could. I may still have to spend half my year in Venezuela, but even if so, it could be worse.

I built a Community Auction site to sell my stuff! Take a look: Garage Sale Site

There are a bunch of items up, and I’m adding more every day.

This is Community Auction, (described here) which is different from normal auctions in three big ways:

• The seller only gets what they ask for (mostly).
• If you lose the auction to a higher bidder, you get the difference.
• You bid as high you want other people to pay to take the item from you, because if you win the auction, you only pay the second-place bid’s price (or you pay the asking price, if you were the only bidder).

There’s more information on the What is Community Auction Page.

Bidding on my items stops either 2 days after last bid, or 11:59pm on June 27 at the latest. And, they’re all on a “you pick it up” basis, but I might send it to you if you pay the shipping. Some of my items at higher-priced than normal garage sale prices, because sometimes I don’t mind not selling them and storing them instead. But it’s all cheap, and the more I get rid of, the better!

And you can add items your own items too! Feel free to pass the link on, and use the contact form if you see bugs or have suggestions.

There’s one very big thing of mine that’s not on the site, but desperately needs an owner. I have a soft-shelled underwater turtle. His name is Api. He’s wonderful and cute, but I can’t bring him to Brazil. He lives in a big 80 gallon aquarium currently on top of a bigger piece of wooden furniture (I don’t know what it’s called– it has cabinets and drawers).

Do you want him? You may change his name, his diet, even resell him. I only ask that you treat him well: I don’t want to run into him 20 years from now working at a turtle sweatshop in China. The turtle, his fishy friends, tank, furniture (if you want it), and all supplies are free to a good home.