Professor do IFCE é morto em assalto no Benfica

Yesterday after lunch, Sarah came back with some sad news. A professor from the IFCE, Vicente de Paulo Miranda Leitão, had been killed during lunchtime. Two young assailants approached the professor when he was at his car. When he reached over to help his wife undo her seat belt, one of the assailants panicked and shot him in the chest. This had happened about a 5 minute walk from the IFCE, where we we're working at the time, in the middle of the day. While the 17 year old assailant who pulled the trigger was caught last night, there second still hasn't been found.

Although this story is truly sad, I've heard from a couple of people that such situations happen often here in Fortaleza. When I first told my mother that I would be going to Brazil for this internship, she was fairly worried because of the dangerous reputation that some cities have. However, it is often the case that with any big city, crime does occur more frequently. Although such homicides do occur in Ottawa, the homicide rate is fairly low in comparison to other Canadian cities. (see chart below)

Taken from StatsCan

So when someone is murdered in Ottawa, it definatey makes the news. According to Wikipedia, the most reliable source for information (sarcasm), the murder rate is in Fortaleza is steadily increasing. Although Fortaleza is not at the same level of homicides as bigger cities, such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, homicide rates in these cities are steadily decreasing. (see chart below)

This chart was taken from Mapa da Violencia 2011

Ok, I won't start writing an essay comparing violence in Brazil and Canada on my blog. This was just me sharing what I found when I went into research mode after hearing about the tragic death of the IFCE professor.

Next week I will be going to Rio de Janeiro for a conference......I know, I know, its even more dangerous than Fortaleza. I will take the standard precautions (See Amber's post) and some more of course. I want to enjoy my time in Rio, without putting myself at risk of any danger. Wish us safe travels.

Foto da Semana 12

Elisabeth (CIDA intern from Quebec), Renato and I. This was taken at Renato's going away party, he will be in Paris studying for a year. Miss you already!

Foto da Semana 11

Went to the Natiruts concert with some CSers on the weekend, Brazilian reggae is really starting to grow on me :)

O mar e eu somos amigos

I’m not the most active person in the world, and that’s for sure. I used to play a lot of sports during elementary school and high school. However, when I reached university, I was overwhelmed with assignments and readings. After graduating this year, I’ve contemplated running, but I’ve never been a good runner and having asthma definitely doesn't help. Where Amber and I live, Beira Mar, many Brazilians run back and forth on the touristic path along the beach. People here are very health conscious and take their body image seriously. I’ve seen people of all ages and all body types jogging back and forth in front of my building. But again, I’ve never been a great runner. I also “forgot” to buy running shoes before coming to Brazil and here sneakers are just way to expensive.

So where does this leave me in my quest to become more physically active......kite-surf. I’ve never tried anything remotely close to this type of sport in my life. I and large bodies of water have never been great friends. Unfortunately, I'm a weak swimmer. I can clearly remember two instances, when I was younger, where lifeguards had to come to my rescue during summer camp trips to pools. I rarely go swimming, probably 3 times max a year. I never even swam in the ocean until last year (Dec. 2010) when I went to the Dominican Republic. So swimming has never been a great part of my life until I came to Fortaleza. Here, I go to the beach at least once a week with friends, mainly every Sunday. Going to the beach is like going to the movies or the mall in Ottawa. It’s become part of my weekly routine that I know I will greatly miss when I go back to Canada.

Excited for my lesson, got my harness on and my kites behind me...on the ground  :(

My roommate, Kevin, is currently taking kite-surfing lessons and I jumped at the opportunity to go with him. Since this was my first lesson, I wasn't allowed to go in the water just yet. I spent two hours learning to control the kite with the wind. Depending if my instructor thinks I’m ready, I might get to touch the water next lesson...hopefully soon because these lessons are definitely not cheap. At least I can now cross surfing off my bucket list of things to do in Fortaleza.

Cumbuco, the best place to kite-surf

Kevin controlling his kite

The wind is very strong, need to be able to control the kite when the wind changes strength and direction

Foto da Semana 10

I went to my first Brazilian churrasco (BBQ) with some great Couchsurfers.  I had been craving a grilled meat for a while,  hadn't been to a BBQ since I left Ottawa.

Educacao sobre DST/AIDS

On Friday we held our second Mulheres Mil meeting to figure out where we stand with the new community. Only 31 women had applied so it was decided that the deadline to accept more applications would be pushed back to September 16^th. During this meeting, it was determined that Amber and I will be teaching the English course for Mulheres Mil. I, along with another Professor, will be teaching the DST/AIDS class. My involvement is mainly based off of my volunteer experience with the National AIDS Commission of Malawi. One that note, here are a few pictures, taken in 2008, of the Blantyre District Youth Festival.

The welcome sign...

There were various tables set up to provide information on HIV/AIDS prevention.

Local herbs used to prevent STIs.

Various youth associations from the community were present during the festival.

They performed plays to depict various scenarios to educate people about HIV/AIDS. 

These schoolgirls danced and sang, very creatively.

These guys had a very entertaining yet informative performance, kept the crowd laughing.

These warriors danced, jumped, and sang. MANJA MANJA MANJA! (Chichewa word for "hands", in this sense it means to applause)

Although the strike has been going on for a month now, we're hoping to start classes the first week of October.

Foto da Semana 9

This past Saturday, Elisabeth, Amber, and I went to Sarah's daughter's school where they were having a fair. The children dressed up and performed dances that represented the diverse cultures of Brazil. She's soo cute.

Os filmes são melhores em outras línguas

This past week we had a few things take place. Sarah had asked Amber and I to translate the transcripts of students that will be going to Canada. Initially I thought this would be a simple task but I had forgotten how meticulous I can get. The whole of Wednesday was spent translating courses from Portuguese into English and double (triple) checking that everything is in order.

Official Mulheres Mil Meeting

Since Sarah will be in Brasilia for the whole of next week, we had an official Mulheres Mil meeting on Friday to discuss the plans for the up-coming weeks related to Mulheres Mil.In attendance were four IFCE professors who are dedicated to keep the Mulheres Mil program going. The other two interns from Montmorency College, Elisabeth and Denise were also in attendance. They have been here for about two weeks now and they seem cool. I envy them both in their knowledge of the Portuguese language. While Denise is a Brazilian-Canadian, Elisabeth has been studying Portuguese for the last 3 years. I hope one day to get on their level of Portuguese.

In terms of my language skills, I am always trying to continuously improve my Portuguese. Our roommate, Kevin from France, has “somewhat legally” downloaded Portuguese movies for us to watch. Some are Hollywood movies with Portuguese voiceovers while some are Brazilian movies. I prefer to watch the movies with Portuguese subtitles, this way if I hear and see a new word, I can easily write it down and look it up later. Watching these movies is helping me not only improve my pronunciation of words, but also realizing when to use certain phrases in a specific context or situation. Here are just some of the movies I’ve seen so far in Portuguese:

Thought I would throw in a random, somewhat funny, story of the week:

When Amber and I had initially landed in Fortaleza I had mentioned in a previous blog about the stares we constantly get when we are out in public. Amber and I have gotten used to ignoring the constant stares. Once, while waiting for the IFCE driver on the sidewalk with Sarah, our Mulheres Mil boss, she was astonished over the amounts of looks that Amber and I receive from people in vehicles driving by and people walking by. Apparently staring is something Brazilians don’t do to each other, just to foreigners.

On the topic of staring, yesterday while sitting on the bus there was a man standing and staring down at us for what seemed like forever. Assuming he had grown tired of looking at us, he eventually took a seat in front of us, while Amber and I shared a moment of “that was awkward.” However, he then proceeded to turn his head around to stare at us more. Not only has he chosen to sit in our line of vision, but he has no issue making it even more obvious that he’s looking. I must say, this was one of my main breaking points because I then shot him the look of death and shouted “What! Stop staring!” My only regret is that I was too annoyed to say it in Portuguese. However, I’m positive my reaction alone got the message across because he never turned his head around again.

Next mission: how to tell people, POLITELY, to stop staring in Portuguese. :)