2016-02-04
Brazil is much bigger than you may think; it’s the world’s seventh largest economy, with the sixth biggest population and the fifth greatest size by landmass. Portuguese, the native tongue of most Brazilians, is the 6th most spoken language in the world, almost solely because of Brazil (take that French and German). Brazil is not a majority white country: 47.7% of Brazilians identify as...
Read More
2015-11-19
I’ve always wanted to go to a keynote presentation. You know, those events that happen a few times every year where Google or Apple proclaims to unveil the future in front of the gaping eyes of thousands of tech nerds and pundits. After hours of anxiously waiting, they pull back the curtain and the world gasps at...
Read More2015-10-27
For over a month now I have been living in a foreign country with four people, three dogs, a cat, and a variety of fowl. It’s time I gave you all an idea of what that’s like. Introductions Brisa: Hi! My name is Brisa and I love alllll sorts of food (but meat is the best, any...
Read More2015-10-14
How many continents are there really? In the US were taught 7, Australia getting one all to itself, in Brazil, they are taught 6, because North and South America are just The Americas, and in much of the EU (and for the Olympic Committee) there are only 5 (sorry Antarctica, your 4,490 people didn’t make the...
Read More2015-10-09
My urban playground is rarely still, only resting to be fixed and filled. My urban playground is blue, usually, with words scrolling across its semi-human forehead. My urban playground has only a jungle gym, no swings; every crack, corner and crevice built to be lurched. My urban playground has three names and three sets of three...
Read More2015-10-02
I work at the CIA. I translate press releases, make videos, edit powerpoint presentations and have a lot of time to kill. My coworkers are not spies, they are entrepreneurs; all hard at work making their dreams reality. I work in the Centro de Inovaçâo in Florioanopolis, a building off of a main highway brimming with tech...
Read More2015-09-24
What is Settling Syndrome? Settling Syndrome is a bout of hyper sensitivity and hyper openness that occurs whence an individual is tossed into a place he’s never been before, with a language he barely knows and a new family he has just met (Warning: this definition is from the DHD, the Daniel’s Head Dictionary, a...
Read More
2015-09-20
Three weeks ago the six Tufts fellows sat at a hostel awaiting the arrival of our temporary parents. We were in the middle of the city, our new city, Curitiba. Gabriel was the first to go, swooped away in a flurry of smiles and kisses by an as of then unknown woman. We were meeting...
Read More2015-09-13
The participants in the ritual stand around a huge grassy field with nets on opposite ends. Some of them have drums, setting a fast beat for the others to chant to, others are shirtless, their banners painted across their chests. The singers cry their tunes preparing the audience for the biweekly ritual. Their voices are...
Read More2015-09-09
I have only had one Portuguese class. For the past four days I have been living with a family that only speaks Portuguese. —————————— Rule #1: Verbal Charades The past few days have been a big game of verbal charades. I have my list of words I’m not allowed to say, anything in English, but...
Read More2015-09-08
There are times in your life when hours feel like days, days like weeks, weeks like years, and years, decades. Where time seems to stretch in a way it never could before, making what was in another setting trivial, irreplaceable. This was one of those times. There are times where what you expect to be...
Read More