The Monobloco parade is over... my very last parade... and Carnaval is truly over, and I've gone into nearly completely hibernation. I'm overdue by at least three major blog posts (one each on Cubango, Monobloco and Banga), but I think I've spent at least three days asleep in recovery. Getting over my stubborn cold, catching up on sleep. It's the Ressaca do Carnaval, the Carnaval hangover.
The worst part of the ressaca for us foreigners is saying goodbye to all our friends, as one after another they leave town and flown back north - first Renata and Brian (well, actually, they flew west), then the Germans, then Philip and his American crew, Ben, then JP, and now even dear Xuxa has left me. And Wendy goes tomorrow.
And next will be ME. I have ten days in Bahia coming up - the end of my trip - which means I leave Rio next Thursday - which means today is the first day of my last week in Rio! argh!!!! That means that every time I see one of my Rio friends it might be for the last time. Dudu at Banga on Saturday, Freddy at Monobloco last Sunday, talking to me about killer whales (in what sort of crazy universe do I live in that my brilliant Monobloco caixa leader also turns out to have a degree in marine biology???) - Daniel and his extremely lovely wife at Xuxa's party decoding all sorts of Brazilian cultural mysteries for me - Chris, laughing and taking pictures and belting out "You Light Up My Life" at the top of her lungs (Chris is a Brazilian cultural mystery all by herself) - Denise, last night, dancing forro with me at Democratikos... will it be a year or more before I see any of them again??
I avoid the goodbyes by not saying goodbye, by just saying "See you soon". Which is true enough. Whether in this world or the next.
My main consolation is the wonderful dawning realization that since I won't be teaching next year in Portland, maybe I'll be able to come back to Rio next year! Except, of course, I won't have any money to pay for the plane ticket! Or the rent! Since I don't have a job! I'll be holed up in Jerry's place in Seattle, or Pat's house in Hood River, or living with benevolent family members ("Who's that in the back room making those strange noises?" "Oh, that's my crazy old aunt... she was never the same after she came back from Brazil...just sits in there banging on that weird little snare drum all day") Maybe playing pandeiro on the street for pennies, standing on street corners with one of those hand-scrawled cardboard signs: "WILL TEACH BIOLOGY OR SAMBA FOR FOOD". (All the neighbors will be saying, "man, we thought the crack addicts were bad enough... but then the homeless drummers showed up! hell!")
Got to earn some money. So I've actually spent a lot of time this week revising my CV and sending out job apps left and right. To textbook publishers, to odd teaching jobs here and there, to my fieldwork friends. A few short-term contract jobs have materialized pretty quickly (two textbook jobs that I'm working on right now, a summer bird job)... pretty good for a week's effort, I just need to get more! Got to get enough jobs to not only break even, and pay my health insurance (which IS MORE MY THAN MY RENT - why oh why do I live in such a messed up country!), but also put some savings into that special savings pot: The Carnaval savings account.
Next up: Cubango. Monobloco. Bangalafumenga.
good to hear you're ok.
ReplyDeleteever thought about looking for a paid job in rio ?
There must be a biology job in Brasil for you. It is soooo big and has such a diverse ecology, and they are relatively environmentally aware. And you speak Portuguese! c'mon. Anyway glad you've got a few prospects back in the US. Oh, and way to get well from a cold? Go dance Forro!! If you get to Oregon before me, email and I will tell you where the key is. The house is all yours.
ReplyDeleteHey, that's us up there! We are still intrigued about whale pooh being orange. Fun evening!
ReplyDeleteWhen you say "Cubango, Monobloco, Bungalafumenga" on the same line people must think portuguese is a very funny language.
My dream life would actually be 3-4 mos in Brazil per year, the rest of the time back north. I could write a whole post on this but it actually wouldn't really be ideal to live here full-time. The main problem being that then I'd be working and wouldn't be able to play with the escolas! (they are just too late at night. Not really compatible with a full-time job).
ReplyDeleteThen there's the language barrier, the difficulty of getting a work visa (especially difficult for scientists), the draining fatigue of always being the outsider, and - the terrible lack of berries, bagels and English-language bookstores with sit-down cafes where you can bring your laptop and stay all day.... In the US I practically eat nothing but berries all summer, but Brazilians don't even have a word for "berry", can you imagine? I saw a TV special recently on a new rare exotic imported food that they called "Very Tiny Fruits" which turned out to be blueberries. There's no lack of amazing fruit here but I JUST MISS BERRIES! It's just one of those things!
Someday I'll come live and work here - but not yet. I've still got to work SERIOUSLY on my Portuguese, which is a major goal for the rest of 2010 for me, and right now I just need to go back north to refuel with some bagels-with-peanut-butter and a few dozen of my special Mixed Berry Mini-Pies. Then I'll be ready to come back.