cookies are good for the soul

This morning I had to drag myself to Centro for a 730am class which I was basically in a stupor for, teaching the pre-Canada girls' dad for the first time. It was fine except that I felt like a zombie. But on the way back to the Metro I found a place called "Pao de Queijo e Cookie Cia" (Cheese Bread and Cookie Company) which has the most delicious chocolate chip cookies so it was semi-worth it to be up so early.

Then I passed out for a few hours before I had to go and teach the daughters, who informed me they are taking 4 hours of French a day from Monday to Friday along with an hour of English a day. Poor things. Now I'm back, revitalized from an acai but still physically exhausted. Luckily, next week will be a short week because of a holiday.

Random cultural note:
Many Brazilians don't find it acceptable to blow your nose while at a meal or while eating, nor do they find bodily emissions acceptable even in the most informal circumstances (aka burping). Yet-- it is OK to hock and spit on the street or in public and for men to scratch and adjust their nether regions anywhere they please. Today I saw a guy hike up his shorts just to be able to adjust himself. Aren't cultural norms funny?

So, now for the news, since there are a lot of interesting things going on.

First of all, the big news this week is that Brazil has announced a study that shows evidence of oil reserves off the coast of Rio and Sao Paulo that if properly exploited could catapult Brazil to the world's 9th largest oil producer, right behind Kuwait and Venezuela. Petrobras, the state oil company, announced the report, saying it was still just a "hypothesis" and needs to be explored further. Petrobras' current market value is about R$40 billion, but the new reserves could push this value to almost US$222 billion.This is good news because 1) it could help make Brazil the real Latin American superpower 2) give more political clout to the country in general 3) generate funds for the government to route to social programs (in the best of all worlds) and 4) help the economy. This could be bad for Brazil because the US loves to meddle in oil-rich countries (hello Iraq) and could try to think of a pretext to screw with Brazil. We'll see.

The second thing in the news is that the Rio soccer team Flamengo broke records for the Brazilian Championship by selling over 70,000 tickets for a play-off game in advance. There was a service held at a local Catholic Church to aid ticket sales before the box office opened yesterday, and after the record was broken, the presiding priest demanded a Flamengo jersey for his spiritual efforts to help the team. I'm not kidding.

In a really interesting and dare I say juicy story, Globo reported today on "a boca de classe media," or the Middle Class Drug Traffic Ring. Yesterday, local police arrested 8 middle class traffickers from the neighborhoods of Leblon (one of the richest in Rio), Copacabana, Lagoa, Botafogo, and Humaita, inlucidng 7 men as young as 18 and one 18 year-old girl. The group sold drugs at parties, raves, high schools, and colleges, including marijuana and ecstasy. The main ringleader was 18, had 3 cell phones, and spent a lot of his time on the phone communicating with members of the ring and traffickers in the favelas. The cops were shocked that these kids' parents hadn't seemed to notice anything. The investigation had gone on for months and police did a sweep and arrested all the people in their homes and schools in one day. There's even a picture in the paper of one of the kids in his boxers and handcuffs with his girlfriend next to him weeping. All of the kids look like typical rich Cariocas and they all look like whipped puppies. The main trafficker and one of his helpers denied all charges, but it's pretty obvious they're lying. The one girl who was arrested worked for the main guy, and the look on her face in the pictures gives her away. I'm not sure what will happen to them or if they'll get special treatment, but right now all of these little rich kids are rotting in a horrible Rio jail. It just goes to show that "Elite Squad" really shows the truth of the situation, that not only do the upper and middle classes help fuel the drug-funded wars by buying drugs but are among the most important traffickers in the city. According to the story, marijuana is the most used drug in Brazil, followed by ecstasy and then coke. Here are some pictures from the newspaper.

 

In two slightly strange stories...
In Santa Catarina state in the south of Brazil, a 5-year old boy named Riquelme (named after an Argentine soccer player), rescued a one-year old girl from a terrible fire in a neighboring home, while clothed in a Spiderman outfit. When he saw the fire growing, he yelled, "I'M SPIDERMAN!" and ran into the house and saved the girl. Click here to see the little (Spider) hero.

In another weird story, a 20 year-old woman from the northern city of Santarem gave birth to a girl on an airplane in flight, on the way to Belem, even though she DIDN'T KNOW SHE WAS PREGNANT. She was in her seat when she started to feel terrible abdominal pains, and luckily a doctor on board realized she was actually in labor and the woman managed to give birth safely. She said: "It was a surprise!" The only picture I found of her doesn't make her look obese, but I have to assume she was obese not to realize she was pregnant. Here's her picture.

According to a survey in Venezuela, Chavez was voted the fifth most sexy man in the country. This to me is real proof that he is authoritarian and isn't allowing much freedom of speech because ladies that man is just butt ugly.

Lastly, apparently orchids grow in the wild here, right on the street in Flamengo, the neighborhood next to ours.

 

Comments

[jenna]

hey gringa! i saw your comment on my blog and had to come check out your site...

fun stuff. where's the latin club??? i LOVE latin music!!! and samba really doesn't do much for me, which is sad....

we should get together for lunch sometime!

[carin]

Wow, this is fascinating stuff.... like anthropology, only better! please bring your camera with you everywhere, cause i always want to see pictures of what you are talking about!!
(oh, and have lunch with jenna!!)
Love
XXX
CR

[CARLOS]

CIAO! ABOUT THE GIRL WHO GAVE BIRTH TO A CHILD ON A PLANE..

Ainda de acordo com Maria Fernanda, a filha estava em fase de recuperação de uma cirurgia de redução do estômago, realizada no início do mês de maio em Belém, por isso decidiu voltar à capital paraense para procurar a equipe médica.

“No primeiro mês após a operação, ela perdeu 19 kg, superando as expectativas dos médicos. Há cerca de um mês a barriga aumentou, mas nunca imaginamos que era gravidez”, afirma Maria Fernanda. “A barriga crescia de forma flácida, não caracterizava uma gestação”, diz

IF YOU READ THIS TEXT, WHICH YOUR BLOG IS LINKED TO, YOU CAN SEE THAT THE GIRL FIRST HAS GONE THROUGH A SURGERY FOR LOSS WEIGHT, THAT'S WHY SHE DIDN'T REALIZE WHEN SHE GET PREGNANT.
SHE HAS LOST 19K GS!!!