Todos me perguntam as diferencas entre o Natal no Brasil e o Natal nos EUA.
Ha algumas diferencas, claro. Por exemplo, aqui realmente se celebra o significado do Natal. As pessoas procuram clebrar com suas familias o aniversario de Jesus. Aqui eles ainda parecem lembrar em maior numero que o Natal tem uma "certa" conexao com Deus.
Nao ha uma ceia tarde da noite como no Brasil e o peru nao eh um prato importante. Trocam-se muitos presentes na vespera e no dia de Natal (nesse ultimo, trazidos pelo Papai Noel). O povo aqui gosta de gastar muito dinheiro, diria eu, em presentes para a familia e amigos.
O pessoal aqui, ate nas casas mais isoladas, nao poupa esforcos pra decoracao natalina: de renas a Papai Noel na chamine tem de tudo (e muito bem iluminado)...
O clima do Natal ja eh construido desde Novembro: algumas das radios mais populares comecam a tocar musicas natalinas classicas (ou nao)... algumas estacoes as tocam o dia inteiro...
Aqui ate as renas tem nome e historias pra contar... sendo o Rudolph, a rena de nariz vermelho, a rena mais famosa...
O mais interessante de se ver aqui e que, por mais que se comprem presentes e se decorem as casas, o Natal ainda eh uma epoca de celebracao do nascimento do menino-Deus, ou Deus-menino...
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Monday, December 25, 2006
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Christianity in China
I never really realized how close together Christianity and Capitalism could walk.
Apparently, opening Chinese territory to the capitalist way of life also brought to the country symbols from the west Christian cultures, amongst those symbols of Christmas: trees, candles, Santa Claus and his red-nosed reindeer, etc. Somehow I think that Capitalism brought along to this part of the East more chances for inquires, questioning about who Christ is: you see symbols of Christianity everywhere. Cross-shaped pearls are sold at the pearl markets accross Beijing, bands play X-mas songs live at hotel/resturant lounges, you have breakfast listening to American seasonal music, waiters say "Merry X-mas"...
Apparently, opening Chinese territory to the capitalist way of life also brought to the country symbols from the west Christian cultures, amongst those symbols of Christmas: trees, candles, Santa Claus and his red-nosed reindeer, etc. Somehow I think that Capitalism brought along to this part of the East more chances for inquires, questioning about who Christ is: you see symbols of Christianity everywhere. Cross-shaped pearls are sold at the pearl markets accross Beijing, bands play X-mas songs live at hotel/resturant lounges, you have breakfast listening to American seasonal music, waiters say "Merry X-mas"...
Korea and China second time/ Segunda Vez Coreia e China
I collected some interesting, some not so interesting facts from Korea this time:
- Motorbikers have hand protectors to keep their hands from getting hurt in a fender-bender (I guess it's easier than driving carefully ;)…
- Women carry the food on trays to stores (where the workers ordered from) and go back to the restaurants, when the costumers are done they leave the trays and dishes out on the sidewalk so the ladies come back to pick them up later.
- If you ask for information they really want to help you, even drawing a map to tell you where the best places are.
- They eat sweet beans with frozen yogurt . Arrrrgh!
- Taxis only open the right-hand side doors so other cars dont damage them.
- There are always riot trucks parked by the government buildings ready to stop any demonstration.
- I didn't rip my pants this time on the bullet train... I'm already losing all my pants for gaining some American pounds, all I needed now was for them to be lost because of damaged bags...
- Wal-Mart didn’t succeed in Korea because they prefer spending a lot of money on fancy stuff
- The first time since I was about 12 that I am called "Endjo" again. Roberto (my friend from childhood) used to yell my name like that, at least that’s how my brothers made fun of the way he sounded when calling my name at the gate.
- South Gate is a street market like a feira hippy in Brazil + some stores in open buildings (where I bought a nice suit). You can buy every kind of trinkets imaginable... nothing really useful besides the clothes...
- Sabado dia 16/12/2006 deixamos a Coreia do Sul de manha e chegamos em Beijing a tarde. Semana cansativa de treinamento em 4 faculdades diferentes: 2 em Seoul e 2 no sul da Coreia do Sul.
China:
- Oh, one thing that's funny is that IN CHINA (a communist country where the majority FOR SURE isn't Chrostian) they have x-mas trees at the airports, hotels, on the streets, xpmas songs are played everywhere you go, etc... but the USA that defends minorities and even gives right to illegals can't have a tree because some guy says it's either the tree and the minora (whatchamacallit) or nothing...
- The girls that work at the Pearl Market speak better English than many college professors and educated people I know. They use the language!
- The girsl at the market say, when you pretend to walk away (sign that the price is high and you're a tough costumer about to be lost) they say: "You can bargain, you say how much..."
- I told one of the girls (that obviously wasn't in a good mood) after I said that the price she was asking for a camera was more expensive than I could pay for in my country snapped at me: "Why cheaper in my country?!!!" to what I replied: "Because what you sell is fake!..." (which is true, basically...
- Restrooms might be the last place they think of taking care of, let's say it like that...
- Our driver, who loved being given the English name of Dora, speaks almost no English (besides basic words like "bad", "good", "traffic", "I'm sorry", "Morning!", and a few others)... She is a very nice lady, very helpfulm but it is an exercise Steve likes me to do: communicating through patiently/slowly pronounced keywords, drawing and gestures...
- Steve, Karla and I went to the Forbidden City on monday (before going to the market, as became our habbit since the first day we got here). Steve paid a guide to explain he History behind it, it was worth it. Many interesting facts regarding good luck and bad luck numbers, murders, betrayal, curruption, bribary and romance. An interesting fact is that Heaven (including the earthly paradise) only has 10.000, meaning the Emperor and his family cannot have a building more than 9,999 rooms, the last one will be in the Heavens above (or something crazy like this)... well, lately they built 1/2 a room (so we still have 9,999 and 1/2 rooms).. guess what that 1/2 room is? A Starbucks... in the Forbidden City... and we had some hot chocolate there to see if it was true...
- Odd numbers are lucky numbers in China, good numbers... but when they gamble they play "8" ... go figure...
- One thing we learned on this trip: "Huh?" is universal...
- Fomos ao Mercado das perolas, legal demais. Tudo muito barato importado, quero dizer, feito na China. De iPod falsificado a bolsas Coach tinha de tudo, mas a atracao maior mesmo eram as perolas que variavam em tamanho, cor, preco, formato e origem (de agua salgada ou doce).
- Experiencia que todos deveriam ter, ir ao mercado das perolas eh bem diferente de outras feiras e mercados. Chega a ser engracado o desafio de se caminhar em um corredor sem ser agarrado pelo braco ou barrado por algum vendedor dizendo “Want belt? Good price, you say!” em ingles ate que inteligivel, isso mesmo vendo que suas calcas nao estao caindo. A melhor tecnica eh perguntar o preco de um item, barganhar (eles ate dizem “You can bargain”) e fingir desapontamento e se afastar em direcao a outra banca: o preco cai drasticamente, pose-se ouvir as dezenas ou centenas de Ywon caindo... de W600 voce consegue uma pechincha de W150 facilmente.
- Na nossa terceira ida ao mercaod da perloas (segunda-feira18 de Dezembro), nao sconseguiamos parar de rir: comprei um casaco com mangas mais curstas que o desejavel (tenho que ir trocar), Steve e Karla compraram muito mais do que queriam, ao sair o Steve foi atacado por vendedoras que o fizeram comprar gravatas e bolsas por um preco bem mais que razoavel, mesmo que ele nao precisasse...rimos bastante, depois fomos a um resturante italiano no qual uma banda de garotasd cantavam musicas dos anos 80 muito bem e alguns ritmos natalinos como Rudolf the Red Nose Rein Deer... Karla ria apenas de olhar para o decorativo sundae que ela comprou.
- Motorbikers have hand protectors to keep their hands from getting hurt in a fender-bender (I guess it's easier than driving carefully ;)…
- Women carry the food on trays to stores (where the workers ordered from) and go back to the restaurants, when the costumers are done they leave the trays and dishes out on the sidewalk so the ladies come back to pick them up later.
- If you ask for information they really want to help you, even drawing a map to tell you where the best places are.
- They eat sweet beans with frozen yogurt . Arrrrgh!
- Taxis only open the right-hand side doors so other cars dont damage them.
- There are always riot trucks parked by the government buildings ready to stop any demonstration.
- I didn't rip my pants this time on the bullet train... I'm already losing all my pants for gaining some American pounds, all I needed now was for them to be lost because of damaged bags...
- Wal-Mart didn’t succeed in Korea because they prefer spending a lot of money on fancy stuff
- The first time since I was about 12 that I am called "Endjo" again. Roberto (my friend from childhood) used to yell my name like that, at least that’s how my brothers made fun of the way he sounded when calling my name at the gate.
- South Gate is a street market like a feira hippy in Brazil + some stores in open buildings (where I bought a nice suit). You can buy every kind of trinkets imaginable... nothing really useful besides the clothes...
- Sabado dia 16/12/2006 deixamos a Coreia do Sul de manha e chegamos em Beijing a tarde. Semana cansativa de treinamento em 4 faculdades diferentes: 2 em Seoul e 2 no sul da Coreia do Sul.
China:
- Oh, one thing that's funny is that IN CHINA (a communist country where the majority FOR SURE isn't Chrostian) they have x-mas trees at the airports, hotels, on the streets, xpmas songs are played everywhere you go, etc... but the USA that defends minorities and even gives right to illegals can't have a tree because some guy says it's either the tree and the minora (whatchamacallit) or nothing...
- The girls that work at the Pearl Market speak better English than many college professors and educated people I know. They use the language!
- The girsl at the market say, when you pretend to walk away (sign that the price is high and you're a tough costumer about to be lost) they say: "You can bargain, you say how much..."
- I told one of the girls (that obviously wasn't in a good mood) after I said that the price she was asking for a camera was more expensive than I could pay for in my country snapped at me: "Why cheaper in my country?!!!" to what I replied: "Because what you sell is fake!..." (which is true, basically...
- Restrooms might be the last place they think of taking care of, let's say it like that...
- Our driver, who loved being given the English name of Dora, speaks almost no English (besides basic words like "bad", "good", "traffic", "I'm sorry", "Morning!", and a few others)... She is a very nice lady, very helpfulm but it is an exercise Steve likes me to do: communicating through patiently/slowly pronounced keywords, drawing and gestures...
- Steve, Karla and I went to the Forbidden City on monday (before going to the market, as became our habbit since the first day we got here). Steve paid a guide to explain he History behind it, it was worth it. Many interesting facts regarding good luck and bad luck numbers, murders, betrayal, curruption, bribary and romance. An interesting fact is that Heaven (including the earthly paradise) only has 10.000, meaning the Emperor and his family cannot have a building more than 9,999 rooms, the last one will be in the Heavens above (or something crazy like this)... well, lately they built 1/2 a room (so we still have 9,999 and 1/2 rooms).. guess what that 1/2 room is? A Starbucks... in the Forbidden City... and we had some hot chocolate there to see if it was true...
- Odd numbers are lucky numbers in China, good numbers... but when they gamble they play "8" ... go figure...
- One thing we learned on this trip: "Huh?" is universal...
- Fomos ao Mercado das perolas, legal demais. Tudo muito barato importado, quero dizer, feito na China. De iPod falsificado a bolsas Coach tinha de tudo, mas a atracao maior mesmo eram as perolas que variavam em tamanho, cor, preco, formato e origem (de agua salgada ou doce).
- Experiencia que todos deveriam ter, ir ao mercado das perolas eh bem diferente de outras feiras e mercados. Chega a ser engracado o desafio de se caminhar em um corredor sem ser agarrado pelo braco ou barrado por algum vendedor dizendo “Want belt? Good price, you say!” em ingles ate que inteligivel, isso mesmo vendo que suas calcas nao estao caindo. A melhor tecnica eh perguntar o preco de um item, barganhar (eles ate dizem “You can bargain”) e fingir desapontamento e se afastar em direcao a outra banca: o preco cai drasticamente, pose-se ouvir as dezenas ou centenas de Ywon caindo... de W600 voce consegue uma pechincha de W150 facilmente.
- Na nossa terceira ida ao mercaod da perloas (segunda-feira18 de Dezembro), nao sconseguiamos parar de rir: comprei um casaco com mangas mais curstas que o desejavel (tenho que ir trocar), Steve e Karla compraram muito mais do que queriam, ao sair o Steve foi atacado por vendedoras que o fizeram comprar gravatas e bolsas por um preco bem mais que razoavel, mesmo que ele nao precisasse...rimos bastante, depois fomos a um resturante italiano no qual uma banda de garotasd cantavam musicas dos anos 80 muito bem e alguns ritmos natalinos como Rudolf the Red Nose Rein Deer... Karla ria apenas de olhar para o decorativo sundae que ela comprou.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Monday, December 04, 2006
Casamento do Jon / Jon's Wedding
Esse espaco esta reservado pra fotos e fatos do casamento to Jon. Queria ter estado la em um dia como esses (ontem), mas nao pude infelizmente. Ele sabe o quanto eu queria estar la. Como nao tirei fotos, obviamente, vou esperar pra postar algumas aqui.
This area is reserved for Jon's wedding pics and facts. I wish I had been there in a day like that (yesterday). He knows how much I wish I could have been there. Didn't take pics, obvioulsy, I'll wait to post some here...
Have a great life with Tati Jon!
This area is reserved for Jon's wedding pics and facts. I wish I had been there in a day like that (yesterday). He knows how much I wish I could have been there. Didn't take pics, obvioulsy, I'll wait to post some here...
Have a great life with Tati Jon!
Monday, November 27, 2006
How to save a life...
I am sure all of you have heard The Fray's new song "How to Save a Life" but I found a website that tells the history of the song... If you get a chance, check out the website: www.howtosavealife.com
It has a valuable lesson to those of us (me) who just want to change people without walking with the person and feeling their pain.
It has a valuable lesson to those of us (me) who just want to change people without walking with the person and feeling their pain.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Hawaii, China and Korea
Vai ser esquisito assim la na China... Oh lugar estranho, mas nem tanto ao mesmo tempo...O povo dirige cruzando as faixas e bem no meio das listras, corta na frente dos outros e ainda buzina... me lembra algum lugar :)As ruas, inclusive avenidas principais como a Afonso Pena tem um faixa (quase metade da rua) pra bicicletas e motonetas...
Em Beijing a poluicao eh horrivel, ainda soma-se isso a poeira do deserto que fica presa por causa da inversao: neblina o tempo todo...
Hoje eu e o David, outro rapaz que trabalhava com a empresa antes de mim fazeno o que eu faco, fomos a Muralha da China (de onde mais seria. nao?).
Lugar bonito. No pe da montanha havia uma especie de feirinha de artesanato... 2 camisas por 1 dolar e tal... oh povo que insiste pra comprar: entram na sua frente e nao te deixam andar...
O povo nao entende o que eu falo e eu nao entendo o que eles falam, fui a umas lojinhas hoje na rua e ninguem fala ingles (so agencias de viagens e hoteis mesmo)... Quando entro e "pergunto" o preco de algo, me mostram na calculadora... dando um preco mais alto, obviamente, o que nao aconteceria no Brasil ;)
Mendigos pedem dinheiro ajoelhados, hierarquia pelo que parece...
Interessante como convencoes do ocidente "ainda" nao os afetam. Hoje instalamos e conversamos sobre o programa numa escola muito renomadda do governo aqui (tudo de primeira qualidade, predio impecavel (tirando os banheiros que nao tem papel, descobri o detalhe tarde demais e tive que dar a apresentacao e depois voltar com duas folhas de caderno disfarcadas no bolso 1 hora depois... ah os banheiros tambem sao do estilo privada-fossa com um buraco no chao...). Ate mesmo pessoas dos mais alto cargos nao parecem se preocupar em conversar com a boca bem cheia ao comer.
Povo bem hospitaleiro e humilde, todos muito atenciosos com a gente.
Os ternos aqui sao finos demais..pena nao ter muito dinheiro em caixa e espaco na mala...
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Viagens/Trips
Cheguei no Havai na quarta-feira (08 de Novembro de 2006). Que lugar mais cheio de janpones! Nao fiz muitas coisas, fiquei mais no hotel e quando sai foi pra ir as escolas trabalhar. Andei um pouco nas ruas.
Saimos do Havai na sexta (10 de Novembro de 2006) as 10:50 da manha. Oito horas depois estavamos fazendo escala na Coreia, mas ja eram 3:50 da tarde do sabado (dia 11 de Novembro de 2006). Da Coreia a China levaram 2 horas pra chegar na China, eram 7:50 quando chegamos aqui.
Dia 14 voltamos pra Coreia pra ficar ate dia 19 quando voltamos pra Atlanta.
Estranho nao entender o que o povo fala...
Saimos do Havai na sexta (10 de Novembro de 2006) as 10:50 da manha. Oito horas depois estavamos fazendo escala na Coreia, mas ja eram 3:50 da tarde do sabado (dia 11 de Novembro de 2006). Da Coreia a China levaram 2 horas pra chegar na China, eram 7:50 quando chegamos aqui.
Dia 14 voltamos pra Coreia pra ficar ate dia 19 quando voltamos pra Atlanta.
Estranho nao entender o que o povo fala...
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Enzo got a new job!
This past week Enzo started his new job! His first trip was to BYU in Utah for training. He is working with a Language Learning software which is pretty cool because he gets to travel all over the world. In Novemer he will be traveling to Honolulu, Korea, and China. PLEASE PRAY FOR SAFE TRIPS!
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Friday, October 13, 2006
Tio Mario e Tia Renata
It is strange how people meet these days through the internet...here are some pics of people we met through Orkut (online messaging website) that lived close by...see the internet isn't 'just full of weirdos!
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