Living in Brazil is, without doubt, a diverse experience. In a country that has such a poor distribution of wealth and such extreme poverty in certain areas, I can only comment on the life that my circumstances allowed. It has been affected by so many things.
Around Curitiba
Curitiba boasts that it recycles 2/3rds of its waste, and everywhere you go you can see one of its schemes in progress. Young kids on wooden carts pulled by small horses spend their time going up and down the streets foraging through bins for recyclable materials which they get paid for at a recycling plant. To actually see people go through rubbish bins for things to recycle is an interesting sight, but I cannot say whether it is a good one or a bad one.
The roads themselves are in much better condition than in Sao Paulo,
and the buildings, although varied, consist of more new than old. Graffiti is quite prevalent here, and most of it is an illegible scrawl,
although there are some good examples of artistic prowess. Where it is bad, it is big black lettering and symbols that
ruins decent buildings and paintwork.
Some things are unfortunately the same everywhere.
The first thing that will strike you about Curitiba and many other Brazilian cities, is how clean they are. This was my first impression when I landed in the country, and it was a view shared by my family when they visited me there. There is also a much higher level of development in the general society than I had expected, but it is the split in society that is perhaps the most significant link to understanding the country.
Accommodation
The first week saw the beginning of our search for an apartment of our own.
The first of our problems: Most estate agents here only do 1-year minimum contracts,
and if you don't know if you're allowed to stay here longer than 3 months, this leaves you with complex options.
There are also hardly any furnished places here,
and this means no bed, no fridge, no cooker, no anything. So, do you search high and low for those few furnished places with the estate agents that are willing to
negotiate, or do you go for the easy to find place and have to spend loads of money on stuff you may only use for 3 or 4 months?
Cancelling contracts early also causes problems, as it brings with it a substantial fine (10% of the remaining), but unless you have friends or family to stay with indefinitely, I would advise getting settled a.s.a.p. and dealing with the fines if and when necessary.
In the end, this is what we did, and because we ended up leaving after fulfilling just 6 months of the contract, we were liable to pay a significant fine.
Architecture
I would have to say that of everything I have experienced so far, the architecture is one of the more varied things I have ever seen and the most removed from what I am familiar with.
There are mostly two kinds of accommodation. High-rise apartment buildings, and bungalows. Although there are other types, these two are the dominating presence here.
Most of the high-rises are about 15 to 20 stories and are all in a different style. Some with balconies; some without. Some long and narrow, some square, some curved. Some even rotate.
Also, a lot of them have tiles all over them, and this must be one of the biggest businesses in Brazil, because wherever you go, the floors, the walls, the insides and the outsides are covered in tiles.
It's the smaller buildings and commercial properties that have the greatest impact though. No two buildings are alike. Unlike the carbon copy Housing Estates of suburban England, here, every property appears to have been built by a different person. The unfortunate thing, is that a lot of the buildings are almost really nice, but are ruined by either the colour they've been painted with, or by a bizarre roof or terrace. It is a landscape that grows on you though and helps to distinguish one street corner from another. By the time I returned to England, I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Language
After the first month, my Portuguese was not improving at the desired rate. This was the first problem we would seek to remedy and for a small fee I found myself enrolled in a twice-weekly class that would hopefully enable solo ventures out of the apartment without fear of getting lost, abducted or arrested. The class was about seven or eight strong, although the number and the faces varied from class to class and it consisted of a couple of Japanese, a German, a Ukrainian and a few Americans.
What I knew already placed me right in the middle of the beginner's group, ability-wise, though I hoped that my desire, interest and capability would help me learn faster than the rest. After four years without a class, I was once again able to sense my irrational feeling of competitiveness and I hoped it would propel my learning velocity, as the sooner you can converse confidently, the sooner you can shed off the feeling of incapacity.
The teacher was friendly and patient and I really felt a part of the class, although the structure of the class lacked a degree of formality. The lessons also improved as it went on, so I would recommend you persist through any boring ones.
Shortly before returning to the UK, I began my second series of lessons. This time it was at intermediate level and by that stage I was comfortable having flowing conversations in Portuguese. I only regret I was not able to continue developing my ability, as now I am living in the UK, it is much more difficult to practice.
I could give no stronger advise than to urge you to learn the language. Without it, Brazil can be a lonely place, as few speak English as well as they do in Europe and there is no better feeling than managing to string a short conversation together in another language.
Working
Unfortunately, despite the favourable exchange rate, it is still necessary to work in Brazil in order to survive.
As a tourist, I was not officially allowed to work and I would not have broken this law had it not been made so easy for me. In fact, during my 7 months, I never once met anyone who sought to warn me against working. What I did find, was a network of English schools that were enthusiastic about welcoming a native speaker into their ranks.
Teaching English is probably the only way I can earn a living in Brazil until my Portuguese reaches a very high level and until I have no legal working restrictions. It is though, an excellent way to make money until such circumstances come about.
The incredible demand for English lessons is what creates this opportunity. As native speakers of the most popular language in the world, it is easy for us to forget how fundamental the ability to speak English is in the advancement of so many peoples' careers. Certainly, this desire is paramount to Brazilians.
There are several ways to go about teaching English in Brazil. The most common way is with a school, where you can be guaranteed students to teach and a support network of teachers and literature to help you. There are many types of school and they can follow very different methodologies. Some favour the principals of repetition. Some prefer a conversational approach and others use a combination of techniques. Which ever theory they support, most schools will put you through a course that will get you familiar with their textbooks and ways of working. From the outcome of this course, they will decide if and to what extent they want to employ you.
Remember that if the schools do use you, they are taking on various liabilities. You are not only illegal, but you also pose a flight risk. For these reasons, it may not always be as simple to find classes as you think. You should also be modest and respectful enough to recognise that being a native speaker does not automatically make you a good teacher. In fact, you will find most Brazilian teachers have better grammar and more awareness about the structural aspects of the language. As I realised, most of what I know is inherent through years of usage and when asked to explain the past imperfect, I am at a loss.
Of course, there is another way of teaching, and that is privately. For this to work though, you need to be very organised. If you have no reputation for teaching, then it may be difficult to find students and once you have found some, it may be difficult to get regular work through them, as private lessons can be very expensive and they may not be able to afford them for long.
One thing you will notice immediately, is that most Brazilians speak with an American accent. This is due largely to the methodologies and to the teachers themselves, many of which have developed their mastering of the language in America. What I found though, was that most actually preferred the British accent, which gave me great pride. I agree with them that the British accent is more beautiful, but then I am biased.
Whichever way you decide to teach, you will find that as a native speaker, and especially as a British speaker, you will be respected. I had wonderful experiences whilst teaching and learning to teach and I will certainly return to it in the future. It is a wonderful coincidence that it also has a relatively high rate of pay, at around R$15 Reais per hour upwards.
People
The people of Brazil have, of course, played a huge part in my experiences here. From the family I have inherited, to the porters that let me in and out of my apartment block every day. There have been wonderful people and not so wonderful people and not one of them will be easily forgotten.
I cannot give a resounding generalisation of Brazilians, as I know that there are all kinds of people in every corner of the world, even if some qualities follow a trend. Therefore, please don't interpret anything I say as being a definitive account.
One of the wonderful things for my wife Dutchy upon returning to the city of her higher education; both in the classroom and elsewhere, was the long awaited reunion with the accomplices of her former days and a chance to re-find old friendships, as ones in London, with changing jobs and homes, were made very difficult to cultivate. I too, looked forward to finding interesting people who were raised in very different conditions and who harboured alternative ideals and views of the world.
When I meet an Englishman or woman, I am able to vaguely pre-construct a history that they might have possessed. I am able to make assumptions about the nursery rhymes they were sung to sleep by as a baby, the television programmes they may have watched on a Sunday morning as a child. I can guess how they were taught mathematics, where and why they first had their first drink, cigarette or kiss and I know what it felt like for them to begin university, to finish it and what realisations fell upon them when they walked into the real world with all its responsibilities.
We know so much about one another and yet we look upon each other as strangers until we are duly fed confirmations of our preconceptions. Now, I was looking at real strangers, whose rules are from another book and learning about them becomes such a basic quest. It is ironic therefore, that it is people from other countries that we deem suitable for categorising into boxes, that we know so well as to describe with such sweeping generalisations as 'they play football on the beach' and 'they dance in a carnival'.
Below are a few descriptions of people I met and the characteristics I encountered. Some are more favourable than others:
Estate Agents
I probably don't have the words to describe the lowness of Estate Agents, and the words that I would think to use, I certainly didn't pick up in A-level English. As a topic that breeds misery, contempt, frustration and disbelief, I will not hover over the details. I will only leave this advice. Get everything in writing and trust not one of them, no matter how friendly they are nor how much they appear to be helping you at the time and please, please, never become one. (This is advice which, if possible, is even more urgent to heed whilst in Brazil than it is in England)
Time-Keeping
It is only since spending time in Brazil that I have begun to realise that the time-keeping of my wife is not only understandable, but to be applauded. Examples are difficult to give, but any plans we have made here have had to be with the utmost flexibility and patience. Perhaps because the bars are geared up; especially on the weekend, for very late nights, and perhaps because of a willingness to leave the house at a late hour, there appears to be no sense of urgency in getting ready. Those who know me, know my love of schedules and so can probably comprehend how I had to adjust.
The first indication I got was when I went to the Theatre. From working in several Theatres in England and from acting in a few too, I know prompt they are on starting and a five-minute delay is very much noticed there. On this occasion, the curtain was about twenty-five minutes late coming up and this experience was not a one-off. I marvel at how the actors are able to prepare properly, not knowing when they are going to be asked to take the stage. So in summation, if you should ever find yourself making an appointment with a Brazilian, don't presume you've been stood up if they are running an hour or two late and don't be surprised if they decide 11:45 is a good time to head out for the night.
Bodily-contact
Maybe it is only as an Englishman that I noticed this, but it soon became apparent that all my relationships in Brazil would involve a lot more touching that those in the UK.
If anything, it is the men who demonstrate this best. It's as if they can't feel comfortable in your presence until they have made physical contact. At first I found this unusual and I had to keep reminding myself to shake hands in case I offended someone, but after a while, I too felt a need to seal my greetings with a handshake and often a pat on the shoulder also.
An Englishman in Brazil
It must be remembered that I am only able to speak of Brazilians from the point of view of an Englishman. In this regard, I was often treated favourably for no other reason. However, this was not a universal experience and I would advise you to get over the feeling of being special quickly, because it can't be counted on. I would also imagine that this reception wouldn't extend to Rio or any of the other tourist spots where foreigners are common.
Favelas
The distribution of wealth in Brazil is their greatest fault, and it has fuelled this divide between the civilised, affluent part of Brazil, and the poverty-stricken, educationally stunted part, within the favelas.
My time in Brazil was spent purely in the developed areas and I did no more than pass-by the poorer parts of the country. I did get close enough to see the gulf between the two though and it was something, the likes of which, I had only seen before on television.
There is great variety in the standard of the housing in the favelas, but very little of it compares to that of the higher level of society. Many places are constructed with only bare bricks and corrugated iron roofing and have a distinct unfinished look to them. There also seems to be little planning involved in the layout of the buildings, the community growing in all directions, as if a living organism.
The supply of water and electricity to these areas still remains something of a mystery to me, although I was described a process that was often carried out, where the main overhead cables were 'tapped' for energy. At night, someone goes out and connects wires to the cables, and downloads energy into a battery, which they then take away when it gets light again.
I may never find out how accurate this recounted tale was and I am not sure I have the desire to experience life in the favelas first-hand, but it is a subject that I want to explore further in the future.
