Porto Alegre/Brazil – The Art of Latte

Shooting Stars

This is a reflection that my friend wrote close to the end of her stay at Casa do Campus. I wish I could say I wrote it. Although the words didn’t come from me, I identify with them. They express my deepest feelings about my stay in Porto Alegre.

At first I wasn’t going to try to translate it so as not to miss any signification or nuance, but I suppose it’s worth the attempt.

As she stayed a whole semester rather than just a couple of months, it was an even more transformative experience for her.

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Rio Grande do Sul: The Texas of Brazil

In the short time that I’ve been here in Porto Alegre, many have compared the State of Texas with o Estado do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. At first, I wasn’t really sure what the deal was besides the obvious geographic correlation. Now that I have a better feel for the region, though, I can clearly see the parallels. Here is a blog post (in Portuguese) written from the perspective of a brasileira (Brazilian) who now lives in the the United States. Among other similarities, she writes about churrasco and barbecue, vaqueiros and cowboys, geography, German influence, and state pride.

CHURRASCO AND TEXAS BARBECUE

Churrasco is one of the first cultural phenomena that I experienced in Brazil. In fact, our first meal in Brazil was a welcoming churrasco. It’s a style of meat that originated in gaúcho (similar to the word cowboy, originally used to refer to a person with experience in livestock and farming) culture. The word “churrasco” seems to encapsulate the way that the meat is cooked, the way it is eaten, and the social gathering that is centered around it. A lot of houses in Rio Grande do Sul have a churrasco-style grill, and churrasqueria restaurants are everywhere. Similarly, Texas is known for it’s barbecue – and not only in the U.S. A fair number of Europeans also associated Texas with this style of cooking.

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Portuguese Opinions

*Please note that, by “Portuguese”, I am referring to the Portuguese from my experience… The Portuguese from Porto Alegre and from the perspective of a learner. There is probably quite a bit that I’m missing out on and don’t understand*

It seems like a lot of things are expressed in the same way in Portuguese and Spanish, so the experience hasn’t been quite as eye opening as the Spain immersion experience. However, as time goes on, I have been catching some more interesting expressions that are quite different from Spanish.

“Meu” and “cara” are similar to “dude,” but are much less stigmatized. “Cara” is literally “face,” and “meu” is “my.” It is very common to throw in a “cara” at the beginning of a phrase, or a “meu” at the end. Although the average person uses them regularly, conversations at Rockhead are saturated with them. Talk around the office is informal, and is characterized by what some may call “bro talk” in English.

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Language Links, Not Barriers (pt 1)

Language is the window to expression.

Where does language fall, for you, among other forms of expression: music, dance, painting, clothing, sculpture, gestures, song?

Do we reflect our language(s), or do our language(s) reflect us – both on a personal and societal level?

To understand multiple languages is to understand multiple perspectives on life. When considering any two languages, many words and phrases do not have translations because every language uniquely expresses ideas, and even seemingly synonymous words don’t carry identical connotations. Every language equips its speakers to communicate and relate and convey emotions differently. Describing nuanced examples of this is difficult, sometimes impossible, because English words and constructions simply won’t explain them.

Arthur Koestler was quoted saying, “Real creativity beings where language ends.” I don’t quite agree with that; I find that a lot of creativity lies in language. It plays a role in the shaping of our overall take on the world, but it doesn’t hold our creativity and imagination back. I do think, though, that it limits interpersonal communication to some degree.

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A Warm Welcome

I arrived at the Porto Alegre airport late this afternoon after about 24 hours of travel. I was running on 4 plane-hours of sleep (one plane-hour of sleep is ~¼ bed-hours in my book) and an airport nap (which looked a little like this), but I was eager to see familiar faces. We waited a bit for Allie, checked in at our hotel, and met our university host: Professor Carlos, Dean of Engineering. But before we had time to think about anything else, Prof Carlos told us that we had been invited for a welcome dinner – a “barbecue” – by one of the faculty members, Ana, her partner, Marcelo, as well as some of their family.

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