Things In Brazil

     Today I just want to show couple of Brazil's activities and things that I'm proud of. The positive things that I actually miss a lot there. The variety of fresh fruits and the abundant food they give with very low prices, the different types of animals and birds we sometimes see, the gorgeous carnival festivals we get to see in person, the beaches and the water falls and many more.

Dengue fever in Brazil

     Today I will talk about the scariest diseases occurring in Brazil. Its the Dengue Fever. This epidemic disease is a viral infection caused by a female mosquito bite that has been going on in Brazil for some time. According to Brazil's study, it is estimated on average of 1 million cases every year--the most in the world. The summer months which is around November through February are even more mosquito-heavy in Sao Paulo and Campinas. The specific name for these terrible mosquitos are the aides aegypti mosquitos that transmits the disease from the bit of female mosquitos and leads to symptoms like severe headaches, muscle and joint pain, vomiting, and leading to death. Not only that, dengue fever is a disease with no immunization and no cure that has long been a problem in Brazil.

Favela do Brazil

   

 Today I'm going to talk about the favelas in Brazil. Favela is like the slum or the ghetto area really poor people live in. Favela came about in the late 19th century built by soldiers who had nowhere to live. In the beginning, this was the place where former slaves with no land ownership and no options for work lived. Until now, poor citizens are being pushed away from the city and forced to live in the far suburbs where the big favelas are. The people who live in favelas are called Moradores da favela, meaning The People Who Lives In The Favelas. Brazil has favelas because of the unequal distribution of wealth in the country. Residents of favelas have it hard on them because they were forced to live there for being really poor, discriminated against and on top of that they have difficulties finding jobs. So what happens is that the people from the favelas stays unemployed and the favelas keep growing.
     According to 2010 studies, about 6% of the population lived in slums in Brazil. This means that 11.4 million of the 190 million people lives in the favelas. That not the only problems, the cocaine trade are also growing within the favelas, which tend to be ruled by drug lords. There are regular shoot-outs between traffickers and police and other criminals, as well as other illegal activities, murders, etc. The traffickers in the favelas make deals with the people living. They guarantee their safety if they work for or help the traffickers. They do this to maintain order in the favelas and giving and receiving reciprocity and respect, despite continuing high levels of violence.
     Back then when we used to drive kinda close to the favela areas, my mom would make my dad speed pass them and we would run the red light at night for our safety. Usually people would stop at the red light for their safety, but if your close to the favelas you would have to run the red light sometimes for your safety. Another thing we would do is have couple change in the car to give it to the people who walks around the road asking for change. Sometimes it would be dangerous not to give them some change or distract them with candies for the kids. I remember we would have to be sharp and be on our toes because of them. Usually, kids were the dangerous ones and more courageous. Im just glad Im not there anymore. I still look behind me to check when I walk alone.
   

Carnival Do Brazil

     Today I will talk about the Carnival in Brazil that happens every year in the month of February for about a week. Just for background information, Carnival is like the Mardi Gras of what we have here in the U.S. There are huge parades of almost 100 blocks celebrating, most famous in Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Sao Paulo, and Pernambuco. Carnival is a Brazilian tradition of celebrating and indulging on the day before Lent begins because it is greatly influenced by Roman Catholics as a means of sacrifice and abstinence for Easter. So the way they celebrate, is having street musicians, dancers dancing samba on the streets wearing themed costumes, big floats of car, food and beverages.
     Most of the dancers are supported by the students and staff of the city's samba schools. Many are heavily influenced by the favelas, the poorest neighborhoods in the city. The people from the favelas are often members of the samba schools and they participate in these activities as a holy duties. Every neighborhood in the city has its own street band participating in the carnival parade. This is a good thing for the poor people because it takes a very long time to practice and make the costumes and have the preparation done. It actually occupies their time into doing something good for everyone.
     I've been to several carnival parades and they are so beautiful with so many colors, pretty girls and guys, beautiful costumes with beads and feathers, and beautiful body paints on girls. Most of the girls with body paints their bodies are so curvy and gorgeous. They are basically nude and covered with only paint and some beads and feathers. I miss it.

My pets

     Today I will be talking about the pets I had back in Brazil. Well… I was a lonely child who couldn't really go outside and play or had much friends to keep me company. I wanted to have a pet dog but my parents didn't want the trouble of having to care for another living thing. I remember that I had a big fish tank with junks inside so I cleaned it and made it nice because I wanted to put insects inside of it and play with them. I started putting ants and spider inside because they were the easiest to grab. At first, it was pretty boring just looking at them walking around and doing nothing. I then added some roaches and a gecko to see what would happen. As I glued my face into the glass staring at the insects, I knew there were tension inside. The movement of the bugs weren't as fast like the first time when I only placed ants and spiders. As time passed, some of the insects had disappeared. 

     Strangely, for a 7 years old girl, I became very amused and interested. So I added some more leaves, dirt, and rocks to have some hiding places for them. I also started to add flies, butterflies, more roaches, spider, and other small creatures I could find around. Again, I stared with excitement. I finally saw these creatures attacking each other. It seemed like the gecko was the alpha insect. Poor roaches were the first to be eaten either by the gecko or the spiders. The flies and the butterfly were only flying around and barely landed so they were fine for the first 2 hrs. As people would guess…after a few days passed, Mr. gecko was the last insect alive. 

     After 3 days of having fun with the bugs, my mom threw the tank away without letting me know. I was very sad at the time and I think my mom was concerned with me. She ended up letting me have a pet dog the very next day. 

     Today I will be talking about the drivers in Brazil. In general, the drivers there are maniac. Most of them don't really obey the laws very much. If someone is in a rush to get somewhere, they will definitely speed to get where they want to be. And if someone is driving slow in front of them, they will cut them off and give them the finger. If a pedestrian is crossing the street slow while someone is trying to turn, the driver will open the window and tell them to hurry up. Another thing, if a pedestrian is trying to cross and steps down from the sidewalk waiting for the light to turn green and the driver is gutsy, he will carefully graze the pedestrian just enough to scare and teach the pedestrian to stay on the sidewalk. 
     

Not only the drivers were crazy enough to do things like this, but the pedestrians had no respect for the drivers either. They would cross anywhere if they have the chance and has no considerations for the drivers either. In general, if anyone does things like this in U.S. they will get fined or even worse. But in Brazil, people are most likely to get away from it. Im not quite sure if they are still like that but about 10 years ago this was happening. Im just glad Hawaii isn't like that.

Today I will talk about the school I went in Brazil. It's actually pretty different compared to Hawaii's school. Well… for one, if parents don't have money to pay for their child's schooling, then they can't attend school. Ten years ago, the unfortunate ones whom weren't able to go to school, didn't know how to read and write correctly even when they became adults. I'm not sure if it is still the same today, but back then many lacked even the basic education.  Compared to Hawaii's elementary schools, where there are good public schools and free until high school, in Brazil,  people had to pay to get an education. Luckily, my parents were able to pay for my private school and after school classes. The name of my school was called "Escola Barifaldi". It was one of the best private school in São Paulo, Brazil. It was in the middle of the city next to the police station. One of the interesting fact, is that we had a 12 story-high building where we used the elevators to get to different classes. We also had the regular building blocks for pre-schools, patio and cafeteria area. Another difference was that I don't remember having field trips anywhere while in school. The area was pretty protected with fences and security guards, that way the school had no problems dealing with the outsiders. In general, I like Hawaii's schools better.

One of my favorite things to do in Brazil is to eat. Brazil's food is so rich in any type of foods. I think is because Brazil is a big place with lots of food products and production. Not like Hawaii where almost everything is shipped from somewhere else filled with pesticides and chemicals for preservation. There, almost everything was fresh. One of my ultimate favorite food in Brazil is called "feijoada". Its soup-like filled with every kind of pork meat embedded in black beans. Its a complete meal with Brazilian rice, veggies, wheat grain "farofa", lomi lomi salad, and a hint of tabasco. The history of how 'feijoada' came about was way back during the slavery times. The scraps of meat the slaves used to get from their owners were preserved with salt to keep them from getting spoiled faster. It wasn't just scraps, but the weird parts were saved. The pig's ears, the nostrils, pig feet, stomach, tail, etc… When the slaves would eat their scraps of meat, they would add black beans and make it into soup to make the meal filling and heavy. And so "feijoada" came about. Today, the original feijoada has changed, but its still one of my favorites.

Well… this is my first blog.. don't really know how to work this. On top of that… I don't think I understood the assignment very well.. but.. here it goes

My name is Bruna Joo, Im full Korean born in South America, Brazil. I am fluent in Portuguese and understand Spanish a lot because of the similarities between Portuguese and Spanish; Im fluent in Korean, English and now learning Japanese. I've been in this Island for about 10 years now and the funny thing is that I still have a hard time with English. Im pretty sure if anyone finish reading my first blog, the person will probably find an error or more.
Anyways, now let me tell you why we moved here. My parents were very rich in Brazil. They gave me everything in their powers to get the best education and protection from the unfortunates that lived there. But that wasn't enough in my mother's eyes. She wanted me to have a good career, a normal life, and live in peace without worrying about my surroundings if maybe one day I get shot in the streets or get kidnapped or killed. Being a rich kid, isn't very fun in Brazil. Always hiding and studying, can't go out to have fun without supervision, no sleeping over at friends house, limited time to do things, and so on. I wasn't a happy kid when I was a child, but people on the outside didn't know anything and always told me I was lucky. Was I really lucky? Should I have compared myself with other unfortunate ones? Did I not appreciate my childhood life?