finishing up the semester

Well, the most painful part of this semester is finally over. I finished my ISP (independent project), wrote a 30-page single-spaced paper (it took me 50 hours over 3 ½ days), and survived my 40-minute presentation (just barely…) — all within this past week. By the time it was over, I had so much stress (and self-doubt) running through my veins that I treated myself to a full-body massage at the Projeto Quarta Varas (see entry from early October). There, the massage therapy "salon" is an outdoor circular hut made of bamboo that sits right off the beach; so while you're getting the massage you can hear the waves and wind... SO nice and SO what I needed! now I feel like a new person.

Too bad the stress is not quite over. I still have to write an 8-to-10-page paper (in an elaborate response to Eduardo Galeano’s Open Veins of Latin America) by Tuesday and I still don’t know how or what about.

Plus, I also need to do all the last minute soaking in… of the culture, the beach, the warm weather (tonight it’s 27° C, or ~85° F ?), time with my host family, time with the other students in the group, the language, and the Brazilian crafts, music, clothes, night, and people. I’m SO ready to be done with the academic semester and to see my family again, but I’m also not ready to leave Brazil. Oh, what saudades! (which means everything from longing for something, to feeling like something’s missing, to being sentimental about something that soon won’t be there anymore, etc.)

The last 2 ½ weeks of my stay in Salvador were great but far too short. When I wasn’t doing field research (i.e. interviewing folks, observing them in their environments, reading material, etc.), I hung out with either my host cousin or an awesome girl I met from New York, Inasia. I also went to an Olodum concert/show (they’re a famous “afro-bloco” group, a hip hop show, and a “roda de samba” (samba music jam circle), among a few others… Overall, Salvador was great! I loved it there. The people are so beautiful and loving… I was sad to leave.

Now that the semester is (nearly) over, I will fly home next Friday night, spend Christmas with my family in CT, drive back to NC with my sibs, and start school on January 7 (already!!!). Crazy, no?

So if you ever want to know what’s going on with me or if you just want to drop me a line, email me. hopedeifell@hotmail.com

i'll try to share more details and memories later. right now i've gotta worry about that paper and my final days in Brazil.

Until then, take care and spread the love!

P.S. Once I have the chance to edit and fine tune my paper, i'll create a link of it and attach it to the blog.

National Black Consciousness Day

Thursday, 20 November

To make a long story short, I decided not to explain Brazilian racial relations (here), mainly because it’s so complex and deeply rooted that I wouldn’t be able to lay it all out for you in just a few words… but also because I had trouble coming up with an explanation that would suffice… All in all, my experiences have given me new way of seeing the world, period.

Around 3 p.m., 200+ people congregated on the street in front of Ilê Aiyê’s home in the Liberdade neighborhood, where this world famous Afro-Brazilian “bloco” prepared its lines of drummers to lead the crowd on the 5-km walk (“caminhada”) from there to Pelourinho, the center of Salvador’s historical district. Samba-like music and announcements related to black consciousness blasted from speakers the size of the truck that carried them. Mobile venders were ready with their wheelbarrows balancing coolers which overflowed with 50-cent cans of beers or bottles of water. Around 4 o’clock, fireworks went off to signal the start of the march.
With every step we took and every corner we turned, more and more people joined the march… until it was virtually impossible to move freely. Walking to either the beat of the drum or to the beat of the music broadcasted by loud-speaker, we moved rather slowly at first—practically stepping on each others feet, weaving around the venders, the news reporters and the drumming “blocos,” trying not to lose each other (I walked with two colleagues, our program’s co-director, and her parents), etc. Overall, I felt like a fish swimming in a huge flowing river of beautiful dark waters.

After 2 hours of walking only 3 km, some of us went down to the lower city of Salvador to take a bus to get to our destination faster—Pelourinho. There, we (along with at least a thousand people) wondered through the streets, listened to some (free) conscious Brazilian hip hop and reggae music (on the main square), watched the “caminhada” (that we were in) arrive, and hung out with our friends there.

… Since then…
I’ve been real busy with my project—interviewing, reading, writing, etc…
I’ve enjoyed spending time with my family and friends…
And I plan to write more later when I have time… (in another 2 weeks, right before coming home! – Dec. 20!!)