Monday, November 12, 2012

Fifth round of journal entr(y)ies!


TOPIC: If you had to describe Brazil to someone who knew nothing about it, what would you say? Interpret this question as lightly or seriously as you'd like. You can include anything from travel tips to your opinions about social and political issues, and everything in between.

Robinson
No, I don’t see monkeys on trees very often, only at the Zoo. No, I’m not going to work wearing only my underwear. Yes, we have electricity. Yes, I have an iPhone. No, politics sucks everywhere. Yes, we are the third world, or at least we used to be. Yes, I live in the South but it’s not a paradise. No, we don’t have the best bus system, it’s only a theory.
Ok, I exaggerated a little bit (or not, who knows?!), but I still hear these kinds of astonishments, or people who can’t believe that I have never been to the Amazon forest, as if we were neighbors. Whenever a foreigner asks me about my country, I say if you like Carnival, come to Brazil in February and of course, to Rio de Janeiro or even Salvador. If you like nature, go to Bonito – MS, if you miss cold weather, try to visit Rio Grande do Sul during the winter. My country still needs to learn a lot, regarding its political, health and education systems. We are so unequal, having rich getting richer and poor getting poorer, and it’s not changing at all. On the other hand, we have natural landscapes, people here are so welcoming and according to lots of people who already travelled abroad, our food is the best. 
Maybe I’m not the right person to talk about my own country, because I often think that I was born in the wrong country, sometimes I feel I don’t belong here. Don’t ask me to explain why, I just feel it. Yet, I still recognize that I’m privileged by living in a country without hurricanes and tsunamis, where people try to make a living every day, without giving up. Still, you can come and visit my country and I assure you won’t regret it, just go to the right places as you would in any country you visit. And make the most of it. 

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