27 March - tive que mexer as mãos...

After class today I met up with Jefferson at USP to study.

While we were heading to the library, i saw a tree and got the urge to feel the bark...it looked smooth (I’m the girl that pokes the packaged meat at the grocery store). So as we pass by the tree, I gave it a good WHACK. It felt kind of like sand. And when i glanced at my hand, it was covered with what looked like little dog hairs. COVERED. I thought it was pretty funny at first...but then as I rubbed my hands together and they wouldn’t come out, the smile on my face quickly faded away. basically the hundreds of "dog hairs" were little splinters that got stuck all over my palm. Of course. Hundreds of splinters! I get punished for being a kinetics learner! All I remember is Jefferson’s "oh Leah...você teve que mexer as mãos..." another priceless "Leah moment" brought to you by me, hehe. I pulled out as many as I could and surprisingly, water and paper towel did the trick. No mini-surgery this time, hehe.

We spent the afternoon at the library and then headed over to the student dining hall with Bruno and Tulio (some of Jefferson’s friends). Unlike Rand at Vanderbilt, food at the bandejão is cheap. I paid less than a dollar for a plate full of rice and beans, salad, meat, some veggies, and a cup of juice.

26 March – Churrasco!!

Today the CLJ (Comitê Local de Juventude) planned a churrasco, i.e. BBQ. We had an EXCELLENT turn out (considering we just sent the email out 5 days ago…about 30 people showed up!

This is Kevin, our unofficial mascot, hehe. Squishy cheeks! He is at all our study groups and meetings and gets passed around to everyone.

Bryan (Kevin’s brother) brought his guitar, and a couple of the guys took turns playing and singing. Much fun.

Mmmmmm, Brigadeiro!

the Brigadeiro process: boil condensed milk, add cocoa powder, let cool, put butter on hands, roll fudge into little balls, roll in a plate of chocolate sprinkles, EAT your wonderful creation!

Celso Jr., Atussa, Said Jr., me
Comitê Local de Juventude

Ruhi

The Ruhi Institute is basically a study process (a series of about 7 courses) that focuses on spiritual and intellectual development directed toward promoting social change. And a study circle, an interactive study group for one of the courses, is where we study the Baha’i writings around a certain theme, learning about our spiritual nature and acquiring the skill and motivation to take effective action. Book 1 for example, Reflections on the life of the spirit, is a study of prayer, the purpose of life, and the journey of the soul.

So, I recently joined a study group on Book 5...it’s what I look forward to each weekend. We’ve been meeting for the last couple weekends and are gonna finish up the book next month.

15 March – PUC goes on strike.

I asked one of my classmates to clarify the situation and this is what he wrote:

"A situação é assim: os alunos fizeram uma assembléia (reunião onde eles discutem e votam sobre o que vai em relação a um assunto, no caso a crise da PUC) e decidiram fazer greve.
Bom, o que ocorre é que a maioria dos estudante não concorda com as idéias das pessoas que vão nas assembléias. A maioria das pessoas nem vai nessas assembléias, por não concordar com as idéias que são debatidas. Então fica nisso: um grupo de estudantes fazem essa bagunça toda, se legitimando por causa de uma assembléia que reúne uma parte bem pequena dos estudantes. De outro lado, a maioria dos estudantes fica revoltada.

Quanto a segunda-feira, vamos ter aula sim, isso eu garanto. Mesmo que o pessoal tire as carteiras da sala, faça barulho em frente a porta da sala de aula, pode ter certeza que vamos ter aula.
Os professores não aderiram a greve (pelo menos não a maioria). Caso aconteça alguma coisa, pode deixar que eu te aviso."

So, basically the Centro Acadêmico voted on a strike, therefore, PUC is on strike. but the majority of students and professors don’t agree with the student government...most don’t even go to the meetings. The first couple days of the strike, students blocked entrances to some of the buildings and took seats out of class rooms, vandalized school walls (which makes no sense because they’re tuition money is gonna have to go toward repainting them), and made a big ruckus. Most of us continue to have classes though...which makes this a weird strike.

I FINALLY registered for classes, by the way. I’m taking two classes through CIEE (Portuguese and Brazilian culture) and 2 classes at PUC (Contemporary Latin America and History of the United States). Now, before you give me flack about taking a US history course, let me just say that it’s not what you learn in 4th grade! First of all, it’s been a loooong time since I studied US history, and 2nd, the teacher often makes comparisons to Brazil, which is really interesting. The Prof., by the way, spent some time in the US and actually taught at Catholic University, and when he found out I was from Montgomery County, he made lots of references to Maryland throughout the class, hehe.

Crisis at PUC-SP

meeting of the Centro Acadêmico in the courtyards of the Social Sciences building at PUC

From what I understand (and I’m sure I’m missing a lot here), PUC is going through a financial crisis...and like any crisis in Brazil, or in the world for that matter, the issue is much deeper than what's on the surface. first, PUC is a catholic university and their funding comes from some Church bubble that has a local department in the state of São Paulo. PUC receives money and then later has to pay it back. Except over the years, PUC has not been able to pay back the money, so they've turned to banks here in Brazil for loans. Needless to say, loans here have VERY high interest rates and there's no way PUC can pay them at the moment. so they kept taking out loans, and now not only owe money to the church, but to the banks also. the banks stopped loaning PUC money and requested that the church put pressure on PUC to pay back the money. so what've they had to do? they've had to cut back on their expenses, and the biggest expense is professor salaries. PUC was supposed to get rid of 30% of their faculty in January/February. so they fired a large number of professors, mostly professors without contracts who were teaching now and then when they were needed. except they didn’t reach that goal of 30% and now the church is pressuring them to fire actual professors ( i.e. what we would consider professors with tenure). the issue with this is that now there are several classes without teachers, and the students are starting to mobilize because they have classes without profs, and this is a breach of contract. PUC is a paid university, and so when you pay the money, you're paying for professors to be in your class, and now that this is being put at risk, the students are rising up about it. there's been a lot of talk about having a strike, but that's only part of the student population. they have a student government here called Centro Academico, and the representatives in this assembly are calling for a strike, but the deal is that not everyone agrees with their point of view. for example, the people in one of my classes are opposed a strike, where as the people that take night classes tend to agree more with the assembly. so there's no telling what's going to happen at this point. our CIEE classes will continue as normal. in any case, this is an extremely interesting time to be at PUC.

4 March - Itaparica, last hours in Salvador

Saturday…my last day in Salvador.

Gilmara and I left her house early in the morning to catch the ferryboat to Itaparica, an island about an hour away. It was BEAUTIFUL. We spent the day there, then headed home to pack.

On the way back, the seat we were seating in on the bus suddenly fell…to the ground. We apologized to the people in back of us and then moved to another seat, hehe.

Gilmara's parents

Hugo picked me up that evening since he was taking me to the airport and we spent the evening at the mall, then a movie, then the 24 hour cappuccino place for my last hours in Salvador. I barely made my flight at 3:50AM and then crashed as soon as I got home to Sampa.

3 March - souvenirs and sea urchins

Friday we hung out in the comercio part of town and waited for Hugo to get off work. Did some souvenir shopping. We watched the sunset (my absolute favorite time of day…especially when fasting, hehe), grabbed a bite to eat, hung out on the beach, i.e. I turned into a 5 year old and played in the sand, and then headed back to Gilmara’s.

Of course, with my luck…or just being me, while on the beach, we came upon an ouriço do mar (sea urchin). It’s a creature that looks like a rock covered in spikes. First of all, there are no ouriços in Salvador, or so allege the natives, i.e. HUGO. And second, the ONE that HAPPENED to be there, on a clearly lit beach, was DEAD…and I managed to step on it. Way to go Leah!! the little creature managed to get one deeply lodged in my foot.

I limped home and then me, gilmara, and her mom performed a 2 hour mini-surgery. Except it was futile because the freakin thorn or spike or whatever you call the sharp thingie that got into my foot…it crumbles! So, we had to first try to open some of the skin to be able to reach it and then when we tried to pluck it out with tweezers, the tip would break off. And so it went until we reached the bottom, or we just gave up and convinced ourselves that we got it out. My foot was in pain, but I don’t know if it was because the thing was still in there or because we messed with my skin so much. In any case, I later learned that the spike kind of surfaces and falls out with time. So all the skin poking was for nothing. Oh well, you live and you learn, right?

Speaking of learning, I’ve gotta learn to have balance in all aspects of my life, including (especially) when it comes to watching where I’m going. I concentrate on the ground and I get attacked by a sun umbrella. I concentrate on what’s in front of me, and I get attacked by a dead sea urchin! And that doesn’t count all the times I’ve almost walked into traffic and gotten hit by tree branches that "come out of nowhere". What’s the deal?!? Well, I’ve come to accept that this stuff is just part of what makes me Leah. When I talk about the time l got toothpaste in my eye, or broke the seat on the bus, saw a jellyfish and stepped on a thorny sea creature (when neither of them allegedly exist in Salvador), or when it was pouring here in Sampa and then a deep puddle managed to take one of my flip-flops a block down the street and I of course went running after it in the middle of traffic (I love my havaianas!)…My friends have just come to the point of smiling and saying "oh Leah, you’re just special."

2 March – 21 March: Baha’i Fasting period

During the Baha’i fast, we abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise to sunset.

"…the fasting period…is essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are, therefore, fundamentally spiritual in character. Fasting is symbolic and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires."
- Baha’i writings