Booties Back in Brazil

April, 2018

After two years of the desk life I decided to take a bit of a leap... or perhaps a jump? and start my next chapter. #quarterlifecrisis? Nah, no motorcycles or flashy convertibles were bought, just a one way plane ticket. Its been a bit of a whirlwind but was time to switch it up a bit and challenge myself in different ways, so here we go...

1. Left my job (PEACE)

2. Moved out of my apartment (end of an era)

3. Bought a one way ticket to South America

4. Set my Aliyah date for July 31 (moving to Israel eekkk!)

5. Signed up to start a masters program in Jerusalem in October (Back to the books baby!)

2018 is gonna be a big one.

As gringa as I am, I atleast wanted to be a prepared gringa, so every day on my way to work I would listen to my Pimsler Portuguese language lessons. I think I began to really creep people out on the NYC subways, a flustered girl mumbling broken Portuguese to herself at 8am, It wasn’t a good look, but gotta do what you gotta do. I packed my backpack and went to visit my #1 bae, BRAZIL .

This trip to Brazil was particularly special. One of my friends who I worked with in Rio in 2015 made a beautiful documentary about the favela that we lived in, Rocinha, and the vibrant surf community. We all returned to premiere the documentary for Rocinha residents and our friends in the community. He did a beautiful job portraying the intricacies and complexities of the lives of many of our friends living in the favela and hopefully the documentary will gain traction and help open peoples eyes to life in the favela.

Rocinha is one of the largest favelas in South America, it feels like its own mini-city and is still unlike any place i’ve ever been. Walking through the streets I sometimes wonder how a place like this even functions, so chaotic and heavily populated with mototaxis flying in all directions (VERY fun), electricity wires hanging just above your head (VERY creepy), alleys with bars, grocery stores, barbers, laundry mats all perched into the side of a mountain, its pretty flipping remarkable. Unfortunately all of the beauty and culture of Rocinha is paired with a lot of violence that comes along with life in a favela. I have written about this before, but things have escalated a lot since the last time I was here and it is very common to hear shootings throughout the day between drug traffickers and police. Sometimes my friends can’t go to school in fear of leaving their houses...

It’s hard to put my feelings into words but I have experienced many different sides of life in Rocinha. One side makes me feel a little hopeless and another side is incredibly inspiring and resilient. Majority of people just want to live their lives, have a beer (orrr 5) on their porch, have a little festa festa (party party), raise their families...and are caught in something bigger than themselves. So much of our opportunities are given to us by chance, where we are born, the families we are born into etc. and it’s frustrating that people are treated differently due to reputations and stigmas of their communities.

I’ve learnt a lot since I’ve been here last; whether it be the ever changing politics or even my 12 year old students teaching me how to pop lock and drop it like a true Brazilian (kind of concerning that they can twerk so well but man, do they have #skillz). Its been wonderful starting my trip in a place that will always have a sense of home to me. This gringa is content.

Brazil, its been a banger. My next stop, onto Chile!