News from Brazil, where the nuts are from: May 2009

Sunrise from my apt.

Well, it's been a little while since I've written here, but things continue to move along in Sao Paulo. This city has everything, it's just that you have to feel well to really enjoy it, and unfortunatley, I think about 75% of the time since I arrived, I haven't felt very well. I don't know, maybe it's the pollution because my eyes are always bloodshot and I am exhausted much of the time. Hopefully this will change as I get more used to the climate. Ironically though, I love the weather here. It's fairly cool and it rains often. As long as you don't need to drive anywhere and can just walk, it's wonderful.

And I feel really lucky because within a few minutes of my house, I have the largest bookstore in Brazil, Livraria Cultura, as well as FNAC (my favorite book/music store in France)and lots of cafes and restaurants. Plus there is the Art museum of Sao Paulo (MASP) and several other galleries that have free exhibits and music on certain days of the week. This morning I was able to go SESI Art Gallery to see an exposition of Argentinan paintings from 1961, and then to a photography gallery to see a display of Luiz Carlos Felizardo's photos (O Sonho e a ruina), plus walk through one of the best parks in Sao Paulo (Trianon) on the way home - all on Avenida Paulista. This is definitely one of the best things about living in a large city!

Otherwise, I feel like I am starting to get to know the different neighborhoods as well. At first I didn't venture out as much on my own, like I usually do when I arrive in a new city, because I wasn't sure which places were safe to walk alone, etc. But despite all the violence that does exist here, I haven't felt uncomfortable walking around most areas. The downtown has wonderful historic buildings and viaducts, churches and monasteries. On the weekends, there are always flea markets (feiras) as well. So, this has been fun to explore.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend from Minneapolis, Katie, was visiting some friends of hers in Sao Paulo and we had a chance to do some site-seeing in the historic areas downtown, which was great. We went to the Mercado Municipal, which is the large food market of S.P. and were able to eat falafel! This is the first time I had seen it in Brazil. There are tons of wonderful Arabic restaurants here, but I hadn't found falafel - so happy about this because I've really missed it! Plus, at the market you can buy all kinds of spices, cheese, fruit, etc. They had some of best fruit I've ever tasted, and there were at least three kinds of fruit that I had never seen before! I will definitely have to go back there to do some more grocery shopping!;)

With Katie at the Mercado Municipal

Prior to Katie's visit, I also had the chance to visit Valinhos, a lovely town in he countryside, as well as some beautiful parks in Sao Paulo with friends from Londrina. We walked a lot along Avenida Paulista, went to Trianon park, where they have international music and dance lessons that you can join on Sunday mornings, and also visited Ibirapuera park in the Moema neighborhood. Ibirapuera is the largest park in Sao Paulo, and it's gorgeous - parts of it look a bit like Minneapolis:) In the evening we were there, they had a free concert inside the park in an auditorium designed by Oscar Niemeyer. His structures are always very bizarre and unique so it was fun to be able to see it by night.

This year, 2009, also happens to be The Year of France in Brazil. All over the country there are French exhibits, conferences, classes, concerts etc. And of course Sao Paulo has a large majority of these activities. Last weekend I went to the Museu da Lingua Portuguesa with another French teacher. They had a whole special exhibit on French-Portuguese language, comparing the two and discussing French influences on Brazilian culture - very interesting! Plus, there was a three-hour class on France for anyone who was interested. A Brazilian woman who had lived many years in France was talking about politics and French lifestyle. It was very nice and I guess it's going to be every Saturday through July, on a variety of topics all related to France, French culture and society. Superb, non?:) So, now that I have sought out a detailed map and have found all the websites with cultural events,and which ones are free on which day:), I will continue to post pictures as I explore more of the city. Here are a few from the past couple weeks.

Até logo!

With Katie at her friend Patricia's barbeque