All my posts so far are about the good things that I have experienced in Brazil. But life is not this: I have experienced several things that have been bothering me, and I think it’s fair to share them here, objectively.

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Do you eat dogs? 

The very first question that one of my Brazilian friends asked me, before even asking me about my studies, age, why I’m interested in Portuguese, why I came to Brazil, my family etc, was, “Do Chinese people eat dogs?” I was expecting it, to be honest, but not from him, so soon, so unexpected. But he was asking me, so I said yes. Then he said, “Do you eat dogs?” When I told him that I didn’t want to talk about it, he kept insisting. I didn’t know what to say.

Same thing happened countless times. I guess people were interested, but every time that I answered them honestly, I could see that disapproving expression on their face and I know they are looking at me and Chinese people differently. It makes me very uncomfortable.

This morning I went to a workshop taught by my host mum. During coffee break, one of the people there, after learning that I’m Chinese, asked me the same question. After seeing that same expression on his face, I told him that just like Brazilians eat people, Chinese people eat dogs. But it’s not like everyone in China eats dogs, and it’s not like every Brazilian eat people (cannibalism). It is true though, that some original tribes still practice cannibalism. Some cultures eating cows is unholy, and some cultures eating pork is disrespectful, some cultures catch and kill whales, and some cultures kill bulls. Then he said, “but dogs are pets, how can you eat a pet, part of your family, like your brother and sister?” I think he was going too far, so I said, “Some people have pet fish, but they also eat fish and seafood; some people have pet chicken, but they eat chicken; some people have pet birds, but they eat birds.” Eating doesn’t mean maltreatment, eating doesn’t mean that you don’t respect dogs, and eating doesn’t mean that eaters are cruel or uncivilized.

The other day we were having churrasco, the Brazilian BBQ, and one Brazilian boy jokingly said to me, “ah, since Miranda’s here, let’s also BBQ a dog.” To me, that was extremely offensive, insensitive and disrespectful. It hurts.

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You have slanted eyes.

I have never seen people doing this until I arrived in Brazil. Everyone I met knows this, and would do this to me if I tell them that my name is Miranda (a Brazilian name), while I’m having an Asian face.

Okay, I accept it, because some people do have eyes pushed back, ie. slanted eyes. But what I’m not very comfortable about is how everyone thinks that all Asian people have eyes pushed back, especially when it is mostly Japanese people (and only some Japanese people) have eyes like that.

One day a Brazilian said to me, while pushing his eyes back (like this picture), “Ah, you feel at home now, right?” That was just so irritating to me and it didn’t make any sense.

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Why do Asian people look the same? 

One day one of my Brazilian friends asked me, “Miranda, why do Asian people look the same?” I smiled and told her, because we are so comfortable with our own ethnicity that it is hard for us to distinguish the ethnicity that’s different from ours. For example, when I first arrived in Australia, I thought two of the girls looked the same and I couldn’t distinguish one from the other. Over time, after living in Australia for a long time, I could tell that people are different, everyone is unique.

Then I explained to her, to make sure that she doesn’t feel ignorant: For my parents who haven’t lived in Western world, it is sometimes not that easy for them to tell one of my American friends from the other. Then she said, “ugh, your parents don’t know the difference! But we have different colors of eyes and hair.” It sounded to me as if my parents were not so intelligent, and that the fact that she couldn’t distinguish Asian people from each other is because we all look alike.

It was a lot of work for me to explain to her, in Portuguese, that it is because of the “cross-race” effect, that we are “trained” and so used to seeing people of our own ethnicity that it makes hard for us to identify people from the other ethnicity.

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You are Japa. 

I have mentioned about this term before. Brazilians usually call all Asian people “Japa” because they have a strong Japanese influence, mainly from migration for more than a century from Japan.

But when “Japa” becomes a “nickname” for someone, when this name is being used instead of their own name, then it is not funny anymore. Luckily, I haven’t adopted any nicknames, but I know people who are called by that, and people feel so comfortable calling that name that it becomes their name in class.

I think it’s unacceptable.

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What’s your religion? 

Apart from the dog question, people would ask me, “What’s your religion?” as they would ask everyone, I believe. I usually say to them, “I don’t have a religion.” Then I usually get a surprised face, or a follow up question, “Then if you have a problem, who do you talk to?”

I talk to my parents, friends, or I write it in my diary.

“How can you not have a religion?”

I almost felt like not having a religion means that I am uncultured, that I’m unclean somehow. At least that’s the impression that the people I have talked to has given me.

But for me, I don’t believe in certain things that other people believe in. I have my philosophy of life that is sufficient for me to hold my moral standards, and I have ways to release my stress.

Not everyone has to be religious, just like not everyone has to be Christian, or Catholic, or Muslim, or Jewish, etc. And I shouldn’t be judged, in one way or another.

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It is often difficult to look at other culture without a pair of glasses because we are human, and as humans within a social context, we have beliefs and cultural practices that affect our view of other cultures. Stereotyping, assumption, and judging happen all the time. When we are being ignorant, it is important to realize that other people might get hurt. It might not be a big deal in our culture, but to other people it means that dignity and fame are destroyed and mocked.

Some of these comments, questions and jokes are due to ignorance, but some, are purposeful. Because of the long distance, 10507 miles or 16905.76 kilometers between Brasilia and Beijing, as well as the language barrier, people in both countries don’t have much knowledge of the other. When confusion comes, people assume and it is wrong.

I have a dream, I wish more Brazilians would one day visit China and get to know more about the culture, the good and the bad, similar or distant to the Brazilian culture, agreed or disagreed, communication is crucial, understanding is essencial.

I know as long as I’m here and as long as I show them my face, these questions would pop up again, and I would probably get upset as usual. But I hope that every time that I explain to them, more people would understand where I come from, and treat it with respect.

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The program organized several excursions to neighboring cities, and one of my favorites was the trip to Blumenau – a German-style city in the state of Santa Catarina.

Founded by Dr. Blumenau, a pharmacist in 1850, Blumenau first received 17 German immigrants. Over the years, more immigrants from Europe, mainly from Italy, Russia and Poland, arrived in the city and started to develop the city. The original immigrants worked in the sectors of agriculture, some are artisans, potters and carpenters. Until now, the textile industry in Blumenau is quite famous because of its historical records. These immigrants created a new society and economy, making use of cultural heritage that brought in their luggage. For this, Blumenau is very German – you don’t have to speak Portuguese, speaking German is more than enough. Immigrants have also made an impact in their economic, social, administrative and intelectual life. Nowadays with more than 300 thousand habitants, Blumenau continues to carry its German heritage and tradition. The annual Oktoberfest in October attracts over a million tourists and is claimed to be the second largest Oktoberfest, the biggest in Munich, Germany. The standard of living is quite high, with HDI of 0.855.

Because I’m a geography major, I have to talk a little about geography of Blumenau. Because it is situated in a valley with the Itajaí-Açu River, the city is very prone to flooding. Floods are common and when they happen, a lot of buildings get inundated. Naturally, you can imagine, the rich people live in the mountains.

  Blumenau is a valley

When you mention Germany, I guess people would think of beers.

And yes, Blumenau is the hometown to the renowned Brazilian beer brand – Eisenbahn (link to official website). The name, according to Wikipedia, is an analogy to an old railroad station, close to buildings now used by the company as a bar and beer production base. Founded in 2002, Eisenbahn is one of the favorite beer brands in Brazil. It has won so many competitions worldwide and exports beer to Uruguay, Australia and the United States. Visiting the brewery was a great experience. The factory is right behind the small bar. If you don’t tell me, I won’t believe that this is the place that produces the most tasty Brazilian beer. (I can’t remember how much they produce every year, so I won’t tell you the wrong information here, but it’s a lot.) We all had to wear hats because of hygienic requirements. They use quite a lot of spices – different wheats to produce different types, some even have a chocolate flavor! The best part of the tour was beer tasting – each person had 300ml straight out of a tank. It was so fresh and I had it all! I guess I cannot leave Blumenau without any remembrance of Eisenbahn so I bought two packets of beers – one for my Brazilian sister, and one for my parents. Yes I am going to take them to China and drink with my parents, haha.

   Brewery tour

 Keron and I tasting the fresh Chopp!

 Periodic Table of Beer Styles – you can only find this in a German bar

 Outside Eisenbahn

 With my roommate Keron in the bar

 Beer tanks – our beer came from there!

We also visited the museums, showing the 19th Century lifestyle of German immigrants. Without further adieu, here are some pictures!

 The widow clothes back then – so good to live in the 21st Century – imagine dressing like this every day

 The hair-curling machine: looks like torture, no?

  I approve the fashion

This is where they took bath. They only changed the water twice for the whole family – again, how good it is to live in the 21st Century.

   Women usually sat at home and did embroidery

  Pavilion where the Oktoberfest is held – I’m a German girl!

We also visited a crystal factory

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One’s Brazilian experience won’t be complete without a visit to the favelas, in English, “shanty towns.” Remember I missed a post from Rio? Well, that day I went on a favela tour and I know that I cannot leave the country without writing down what I experienced and learned from that trip. I’m glad that I waited until now because since then, I have learned much more about favelas, from our culture classes and from films. It is extremely difficult to explain everything I know about favela in one entry, but I’ll try to tell what I know.

According to Wikipedia, 6% of Brazilian’s population live in favelas, that’s 11.4 million of the 190 million. There were about 950 favelas in Rio, but only around 400 today. 20% of cariocas (people that live in Rio de Janeiro) live in these 400 favelas, that’s 1 in 5 cariocas. Now you know why I did a favela tour in Rio.

A little history of favelas: during the Canudos Campaign in the 1800s, the slaves that were just freed from slavery did not have places to live, so the people in the campaign asked afro-brazilians for help and promised them if they win, then they would get their own land. Those people won the campaign, but the afro-brazilians didn’t get their land. So they stayed in the bushes on the hill, and the trees are called “Favela.” From time to time, more people settled down on these hills, building cardboard houses, and the term “favela” became the name of these shantytowns. Also during that time, the state was making it difficult for the afro-brazilians, and racism existed in terms of housing, job opportunities, education, and public service. One of the most challenging area for the black and brown brazilians was housing. Favelas then became their residence.

During the Great Depression, a lot of people from the north and the northeast region of Brazil came to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo principally, in search for a better life. However, because they couldn’t afford to live in the city, they chose to live in favelas. It was then and during the 1950s and 60s that favelas really started to grow. Favelas are usually very crowded, with basically no government presence. Traditionally, they steal services – that is, they don’t pay for water or electricity, one of the reasons why people choose to live in favelas. There is an economy within an economy – the drug dealers are the “governing body” of the favelas. Every favela has a leader, who is the head of the drug dealers, and this leader has absolute say of what’s happening in the favelas. People say that favelas are dangerous because drug dealers carry guns everywhere and they kill a lot of people. However, drug dealers also keep the order of the favelas, of their communities. Smuggling and stealing are prohibited by drug dealers, and so the favelas are relatively peaceful for the moradores (residents). If you want to visit a favela, you have to get the permission from the head, and you can’t walk by yourself. If people there don’t know you, then you are more likely to get into trouble. There is no garbage collection like we have in the city, no postal service, no road signs or buses. However, favelas are also small cities – they have their own ways of living. They put garbage in one place (outside), have a small “post office-like place,” people know the streets, and motorbikes take people up the hills.

A glimpse of favela garbage collection

The motorbikes

You might wonder the culture of the favelas. Who live there and what do they do? Well, drug dealers aside, the people are all honest and just normal people. They work hard, mostly as manual labors. They have jobs in the city and they commute to work every day. My professor told me that because she used to volunteer as a teacher in a favela, one of the parents works in 3 places – leaving home at 5am and coming back at 10pm. Even with that, the family still lived in the favela because it was too expensive to live elsewhere. They respect professors and knowledge. My professor said that when people knew that she is a teacher, they treated her very well. Later when she went to teach in a private school in the city, nobody cared about her being a teacher. She said, she could feel the warmth of the people in the community.

The Brazilian government knows that the presence of favelas is a big social problem, so they are trying to solve this by pacification as well as gentrification. Pacification, as the name suggests, is to use police and military force to crackdown the drug dealers and take control of the favelas. This would guarantee the security of the community. Gentrification is when the government invests money in building schools and better housing to make sure that people are living in better conditions. In Rocinha, you can see these policies in place. First, the community is pacified. Second, there are newly-built apartments with beautiful colors, schools, libraries and hospitals. Interestingly enough, there are only 3 nurseries, 3 primary schools and 3 high schools that serve the community. 1 library that was closed for 8 months (reopened in June for the Rio+20), and 1 hospital for the whole 69,000 people. The tour guide showed us the painted houses. They are located on the edge of the favelas – next to the highways where people driving past can see. Inside the favelas, many houses are still in cardboard and unreliable materials. Nevertheless,  the living conditions of favelas has improved, and this made a difference in Brazil’s overall living standard. When the United Nations reported that Brazil’s living standard has improved, largely was because the favela’s population reduced by 16%. Another aspect of the gentrification is to have development programs. Whether to encourage local business such as artwork, or build after-school facilities to allow kids to improve their learning, government has invested money to support the local community.

Art project in favelas

Good contrast of the beautiful houses and the normal ones

It is said that Rocinha was the first favela in Brazil. Today it is the biggest favela in Rio and in Brazil. With only 0.8 square miles, it is home to more than 69,000 people, according to official population census. However, it is believed that more than 100,000 people live in this area. Our bus driver is actually from Rocinha, and he drove us up the hills. We went into a building of about 8 stories, and this building has only one owner – you can then imagine how well-off he might be. Up at the terrace, it has one of the most amazing views of Rio de Janeiro. Probably not as good as from the Christo or the Sugarloaf, but still pretty spectacular. You can see the favelas on your left and a very wealthy neighborhood on your right. The guide explained that when they evaluated Human Development Index (HDI) in this area, the neighborhood on the right has an HDI equal to Switzerland (#1 in the world); and Rocinha was ranked the last (equal to Zimbabwe). Ironically, you can see both areas from the same view. One of the most urging social problems existed in Brazil is exactly inequality. In November 2011, the government sent police and military to Rocinha to pacify the community and crackdown the drug dealers. Since then, Rocinha is in the hands of the government, and that’s why I could visit the area as a tourist and didn’t need permission from the head drug dealer. I could also walk on the street and take pictures. As part of the gentrification, the community has several initiatives: locals are encouraged to sell their work to toursits, there is a school where they teach people how to use recycled materials to create mosaic, and an after-school program that facilitate learning. I bought quite a few things from the local people and I know that my money would contribute to their wellbeing and development. Part of the earnings from the trip would also benefit the community, which was something I really appreciated.

Rocinha (the one you see in a lot of pictures)

Walking on the street, I don’t see sad faces. Although poverty doesn’t, and shouldn’t  have any connections with happiness, people assume that residents of these favelas are miserable. I think that’s completely untrue. They help out each other and they are so welcoming. Seeing us as tourists walking on the street and walking past their windows observing what they are doing inside the houses, they all give us smiles and greeted us warmly. Kids were running up and down the hill, motorbikes carrying customers, vendors yelling to promote their vegetables. If I didn’t know this place is called Rocinha, I would assume this is a very tight community just like many others in Brazil.

Yes they welcome visitors

Even though government tried to implement a few policies, one of the negative consequence of gentrification is that only the relatively rich people can afford to live in favelas since they are becoming more expensive. The poor ones moved to other favelas, where they continue to live in bad conditions. Even though the drug dealers are cruel and illegal, they kept the order of the communities. When a favela is pacified, smuggling and crimes are common. There is a very interesting story about the crimes in favelas. There exists a favela in Rio. Before pacification there was a bank robbery. Guess who robbed the bank? Well, the corrupted policeman. And who came to stop the robbery? Ironically, it was the drug dealers. The drug dealers keep an order in the favela. The movie “Cidade de Deus” (City of Gods) explains how the drug dealers keep the community under order so people won’t commit crime.

Just a few days ago, one police officer was shot dead in a pacified favela. Pacified favelas are safe now? Not really, so I guess I took a risk of visiting Rocinha, but I’m glad I did, and if I could, I would visit again. If I could (when I speak better Portuguese), I would volunteer and teach in the schools. I really enjoyed my trip to Rocinha, not because I want to see how poor the people were and feel good about myself, not because I want to experience poverty as if I have never lived or seen it before, and not because I want to kill my curiosity of the notorious Brazilian shanty towns. I wanted to see because I want to learn more about the favelas, because I want to understand why everyone has been suggesting that I should visit and what’s the life like for 1/5 of the cariocas I see on street. And I’m so glad I was able to see it and had the opportunity to interact with the residents there. I’m not saying that Rocinha is a great community, and that it doesn’t have problems, but I’m glad that at least now I was able to see Rocinha and the rest of favelas from both angles – the good and the bad.

The trip finished sooner than I expected, so I was strolling on Copacabana beach. I went into a tourist info office, and I wanted them to tell me where I can go the next day, hoping the experience would be as real as the one today. As I was telling the staff that I did a favela tour, she opened her mouth and said she couldn’t believe I did that. I asked her, “have you ever visited one yourself?” She said no, and that she would never go close to a favela, not even think about visiting.

Me in Rochina – small size because it’s blurry

After I left the office, I was thinking to myself: you see, this is the problem. People need to know favelas, they need to change the stereotypes of these communities. Brazil still has a long way to go.

The other side of Rocinha

Strolling on the street

The existence of road signs – huge development of favelas

Toursits visiting the favela

The after-school program & artwork

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It’s winter here in Brazil. Because Florianópolis is located in the south, it’s especially cold in winter. Since there’s no central heating in the rooms, it feels even colder. Elissandra (the niece of the host family) wanted to lend me her jackets so that I won’t feel that cold. But this morning I left the house very early to catch an earlier bus since I have an exam, so I didn’t take her jacket. While I was walking to the bus stop, she called me and asked me to come back. She said she would go to work early so I can get a ride. Well, I was almost at the bus stop but I thought it would be nice to take her offer. She’s a lovely lady.

Anyways, my class starts at 8:30 and it usually takes about 15-20 minutes by car. Well, Elissandra took some time – so we didn’t leave the house until 8:20. Oh well, I’ll just be a little late for class then! However, when we just got on the main road, there was such a long queue! Elissandra told me that it never happens in the winter. The line moved so slow so we chose another route. But the other one was even slower. It was already 9:20am when we could finally see a clear road with less traffic. Elissandra said she felt bad because if I were taking the bus, I would have arrived in school already. She said because I’m really studious that I’m never late for school. I smiled at her and said it was okay.

After we got off the car, Keron and I started talking about this ride. Both of us said it was nice to take the offer, and Elissandra meant well. She also felt bad for not arriving to school on time. Well, there’s always pros and cons of something, right? I ‘m not regretting riding with her – and although it was a little embarrassing to explain it to my professor (I was more than 1 hour late!) I still should thank Elissandra for the ride.

Later that night I have been thinking about it and I really like Brazil for this. I love the people here. They are so caloroso (warm-hearted) and it makes me feel that I’m part of the family. For this, I want to stay here longer.

Brazilians are the cutest. They don’t know the difference between Asian people so they would call everyone Japanese. In class today, my professor was talking about how Brazilians on average read 2 books every year; while Chinese read 2 books every week. Then she paused and started thinking, umm, is it the Chinese or the Japanese? Then she said, “Ahh, whatever, they are all the same.” All of a sudden, I was a little upset and mostly surprised. Everyone in the class was looking at me. And I said, “Professora…” in a way to express myself. I was mostly surprised not because it was the first time that people are generalizing nationality, but it was because it came from my professor, in class. It came from a cultural class too! While we are learning about culture, this statement seemed very insensitive if you take it out of context. Later she realized and apologized to me. Then after class, she apologized to me again.

Well, I was upset for sure, but then when I started thinking about it, this is really the culture in Brazil. I mean, because the Japanese migrated to Brazil ever since 1908, they have such a large presence in the country. For me, it’s easy to tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Korean, but to be honest, for anyone that’s non-”Japa,” it really is very difficult. Then I started reflecting on my own culture. I have quite a few Chinese American friends in college, so whenever I’m skyping with my parents and my friends are around, I would introduce my friends to my parents. Then my parents would ask, “Where are you from?” When they hear that my friends were born in the States, and don’t speak Chinese, they would be very surprised. I know because my parents assume that everyone with an Asian look was born in China, then later migrated to the States. Little did they know that a lot of Asian Americans have had a long history living in the States, ever since the 20th Century, just like the Japanese migrants in Brazil. Sometimes I would get a little embarrassed for their comments, but I forgive them because they don’t know the history. It’s the same for my professor and for Brazilians. For them, it’s so hard to tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese and Koreans. For them, it’s not offensive to assume everyone is Japanese because 99% of the time, they are probably right!

After class, we joked about me being “Japa,” and I’m just taking it easy.

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