impressions

brazil is quite an experience--the division of classes, of labor, and of socailly-constructed gender roles; the sexual explicitness and public displays of affection; the value of security (i.e., the fenced-in supermarkets, the guarded apartments and schools, the gated housing); the random fireworks; the barking dogs; the formally-dressed, small-waisted women and the casually-dressed, glaring macho men; the cleaniness (people are paid to clean most public places) and the filth (in the slums, in the cities "streams," in the air); the little trash cans in the bathroom for your toilet paper (their sewage system can't take it); all the buses and little cars (no SUVs!); excellent restaurant service without the expectation of tips... the list goes on.

today sarah and i took the tourist bus around town and stopped at the Jardim Botanico (botanical garden), the Parque Tingue (a city park), the Memorial Ucraniano (a ukranian memorial), the Torre Merces (a vista of the city--at sunset), and downtown curitiba. after returning home, we ate dinner with the fam and went out to a bar/birthday party... that's it for now. off to floripa tomorrow.