Homesick blues for Ecuador

 Even though the title suggests that this entry is / should be about me and Ecuador, I'll use some time to describe some first impressions. I have visited Brazil multiple times but I was never alone. It was always a place for me to visit friends or a place where I had the chance to travel around with my sister. It was great! Now, it's my time to set my foot in here, to explore something just for me, something that I can know and show even my Brazilian friends around! :-) 

Things I have learnt: 

... there is a law in Brazil... 

I can't count on my fingers how many times I have already listened to this sentence. Speak and ask about workload, food quality, shop opening and closing times, contract terms... everything! Brazilians are very proud to say that the law protects them. I guess this is the one of the perks of living in a federation because if one law does not sound correct, there is always a federal law above that which would protect the person's rights. 

Heritage 

Brazil is such a multicultural country! Its foods, people, languages, everything! After arriving here from Ecuador, I'm quite shocked since Ecuador is one of the most homogeneous countries in the continent. People living here are very proud of their heritages. They like to add, I'm Brazilian but I belong to this and this heritage. Maybe, it also explains the fact why I am the only one person at the school with a visa. Same same but not quite when you have a heritage. As my roommate says, Brazilian passport is one of the most wanted passport in the world since everyone could pass as a Brazilian. I was told that I look like someone who comes from a German heritage (actually there is state here in Brazil which is inhabited by German descendants), Sao Paulo is known to have the biggest Japanese community, after Japan, and so and so forth. Here, in Mato Grosso, I see some people who look quite indigenous: the proximity of the Amazon, borders with Bolivia (there are many bolivianos said to have settled here). Is it a coincidence that MT is the agricultural state? 

Paraguayan war 

Cuiabá used to be the "bed and breakfast" city for the soldiers coming from Brasilia. (Not my words.) One night, I sat in a café with two girls after work. It was a nice experience, we talked about a lot of history. I have learnt so much that night! I've learnt that Mato Grosso is one of the biggest states in Brazil (the biggest one is the State of Amazonas), it was so big and people wanted to separate from the "agricultural state" so they blocked and founded Mato Grosso do Sul, and, Brazil had one war about the territory (which was not against the European colonizers) and it was called the Paraguayan war. Just yesterday, we stumbled upon a huge complex colonnial building which now functions as a place for exhibitions and museums, but during the war, it was used to keep the weapons. Its name still carries the past in it: arsenal. 

(From Sesc Arsenal official page)

We also agreed on it that Brazil is like many states in one big state. 

The language 

Oh my, the language is so confusing! It's almost like Spanish but not quite. This week the Spanish teacher has arrived at the school and I was happy to brush up my Spanish a bit. :-) It turns out that she is from Bolivia. I listen closely when my colleagues start talking in Portuguese and I try to use my limited knowledge, but in the end, my sentences always come out with a Spanish ending. It's okay, I'll get used to it. But maybe, I won't learn Portuguese so quickly as I had already imagined it. First of all, Spanish is quite hindering it. But, perhaps a biggest reason is that we are not supposed to speak in Portuguese at the school since it's an international school and we are modelling English speakers to the kids. So, they should get used to us speaking only in English. 

The colleagues