Surgery

I'd never thought I would ever want to go and watch surgery performed, I've never considered being a doctor or following that career. Never thought I'd want to be in the same room as someone being operated on and taking pictures of the process but thats exaclty what I did the other night, on two seperate occasions. Emidio not only delivers babies for just about everyone in Valença but he also removes lots of ulcers. I followed him one night to two different ulcer removals, the first was in a private hosiptal and took a little over a half an hour, the second was in a public hospital and took almost two hours. Each time I was given my own scrubs to throw on and was allowed to be right at the doctors side both times, Emidio was assisted by another doctor each time who would help with various little things like stopping the bleeding or clamping certain parts of the operation. I was probably the most nervous one in the room each time, the second Emidio asked me to come along I started freaking out. Not because I'm a wuss, because I'm a sissy. During each operation Emidio would check up on me to make sure I hadn't fainted and before each operation I always made sure I knew where the closest trashcan was, just in case. As exciting as the operations were I think I'll always be haunted by the sound effects I heard, the crunches and the sloop slops of someone being opened up and arranged in a new way. I grew a new sensation of ackwardness as well! My legs developed a new kind of nervous shake which was more like me shifting my weight from leg to leg without knowing it. The nurses were all laughing at me which made me laugh and helped hide the fact that I wanted to cry the whole time. Surgery was great, terrifying and haunting but it was just another chance for me to be out of the comfort zone making people laugh at how manly I am.

Dom Bistro

The first time I visited Valença with Fabiano we stopped by a restaraunt some of his friends were about to open. It was a nice little place they were planning on turning into a little restaruant, a very casual place where people could come enjoy great food and relax. Since then the place has blown up, it's turned into a great location that is always welcoming and you know there's always some good eating waiting for you. Dom Bistro is a must see when in Valença, everyone involved with the restaurant is super friendly and have great attitudes. Now they have a happy hour every friday night that has become very popular with the locals. Cachaça mixed with your choice of fruit is what evryone is usually drinking, that and beer. Of course there are more options of what to drink but thats what I usually see everyone drinking. The employee's all have a great sense of humor and its very easy to spend a whole afternoon chatting with people and trying new dishes. This place has been beyond good to me, I know I can always meet interesting people there and easily make new friends. The welcoming atmosphere Dom Bistro possesses is a great example of how easy and succesful a great attitude can truly be. Any place that can make you realize the simplicity of happiness if well worth visiting or at least knowing about. I've had many great times at the Dom and look forward for more to come.

Motorcycle Tour 18|4|09

About ten minutes from Valença is Rio das Flores. Another small but great place to visit, Emidio (my father here in Brazil) often travels to Rio das Flores to deliver babies and visit the hospitals of the town. Well again I was off to a new event that started with a "follow me Alex" and again this time I ended up in a huge crowd of people going nuts. Emidio took me to Rio das Flores to check out the annual motorcycle show that is held there. On the way there I couldn't believe how many motorcyles were on the road, we would pass a group of bikers that was about twenty deep and then further down the road pass another the same size or bigger. I've never seen so many bikers on the road, it was intense. We arrived at night, right at prime time when bikers from all over were arriving and parking their bikes, and drinking cerveja. There were people from all around representing various motorcycles gangs, lots of interesting people. Everyone had on biker jackets and they all had their own gang patches and were reprsenting their crews hardcore. Tons of yelling, lots of loud music, way too many tattoo's and a Mrs. Motorcycle show going on at the same time. It was insanely perfect. There had to be more than a thousand bikers there. Lots of American rock and roll blaring along with lots of drunk people singing along and yelling at each other. I saw bikes there that didn't even make sense, bikes that could take down a baby elephant they were so big. It was so rediculous how decked out some of the bikers and their bikes were, so many bikes were decorated with skulls and fake decapitated heads. The whole scene was sort of like something Iron Maiden would use for a music video, it was that gnarley. The bikers were great, all of them had their own bad ass attitude and I had a great time trying to tell who in fact was the top dog. All the bikers were strutting around chest puffed out like they had just won a gold medal for successfuly riding their bike to the next town. It was hilarious. I was choking on the amount of testosterone that filled the air. Emidio explained to me how this Motorcycles extravaganza lasted a whole weekend and all the bikers would just roar from town to town giving the people a show. We went back the next day to take pictures since the lighting was so bad at night but most of the bikers had already taken off. The bikers weren't dangerous at all and just acted crazy and laughed all the time. They had a great atmosphere about them and my love for bikes has grown ten fold because of what I witnessed.

School in Valença

I was offered the chance to go to school with one of my friends in Valença, at first I was nervous because I thought everyone would just make fun of me the whole time. Then I realized how little I actually cared because I was so eager to see the difference in the school systems. When I got there the only person who gave me any trouble was the schools bodyguard, he was the kind of person who looks at everyone like he's about to punch them in the face, great guy. All the students and professors were very nice to me and eager to ask lots of questions, mostly about what music I like to listen to. I sat through four classes and by the end was sitting in the middle of circle of desks of curious teenagers. The language barrier was there but I was in school so there were plenty of paper and pens to draw out explanations and give better descriptions of whatever I was attempting to describe. Kids in Brazil get a snack break! Even in highschool these kids got a little twenty minute break between certain classes to get drink juice and eat cookies, c'mon USA! Wisen up! No nap time though, something I will fight to incorporate in the school system the rest of my life. One big thing I continued to notice is how much the kids talked while the teacher was talking, in the United States this is looked down upon heavily, here it was nothing. Students were just yapping it up the whole time the teacher was teaching laughing and having a good time. the atmosphere in the classrooms was very positive everyone smiling and laughing and giving each other the asnwers to problems. It was very different and a good experience, I'm glad I got the chance to get the first hand look at a different school system. There was even a fight in front of the school! I missed it but was in the crowd trying to see who was smacking around who. So is school cool? Well at least in Brazil you get cookies in school.

Foooooooood

I love food, I always have and always will, I love eating meat, it is historically correct. Meat in Brazil is very cheap, you can buy it everywhere and everyone eats it. Brazil has tons of walk in eateries, something the United states really needs to wise up on. These walk in joints are great, fast service, wide variety of sucos (juices) and lots of baked goods. My favorite snack to grab is the Cochinha which is like a hot pocket shaped like a minature hot air balloon. There are many different kinds of cochinha's all stuffed with a different kind of goodness. Everyone here eats fashow which is beans and rice and it served at just about every meal, very simple and very very good. Most of the meals and food here are simply prepared which compliments my hungers ever growing pace. Emidio Cafure is a great cook, he and I have prepared many meals together and he continues to share his knwoledge of the food world with me, he's a great guy to get hungry with. Almoco is my favorite time of the day because I always know there's gonna be some fashow waiting for me accompanied with some carne. Food brings people together, it calls for a merry time, a time when we can talk, laugh and enjoy each other company. When visiting other countries or eating new dishes someone has prepared for you its importnat to clean the plate and not be shy, express your hunger! Eat! Smile! Make a funny face if the taste demands so, but always try everything, experience the goodness. Tempt your taste buds. Laugh and be merry.

Concórdia

A thirty minute drive from Valença will take you to the Parque Natural Municipal do Açude da Concórdia. Concórdia is a beautiful nature reserve where you can come to hike, rock climbing, go canoeing, camp, fish, grill out, and do all sorts of other outdoor activities. Leading down a dirt road off a route heading towards Rio de Janeiro you pass a picturesque historical farm house and then come to the gates of Concórdia. The park mainly surrounds a huge lake with all different kinds of vegetation and wildlife. Most of the trails circle and loop around the lake and there are a couple little waterfalls and tons of benches and places to rest and soak up the views. Although my day there was a bit gloomy with a major lack of sunshine I still was amazed by how calm and peaceful the park was. I got the chance to see trees of all sorts and crazy tangled branches alsong with some pretty flowers. I felt like I was in a dreamland, lost and walking around with no particular direction in mind, partly because of my major lack of sleep the night before and also because Concórdia seems so unreal. We've all been places that just seem to good to be true, this was one of my many.

Valença's beauty and it's pool hall.

30-2 3,4 09

Valença! Holy moley, Valença. Located in the country side about two hours north west of Rio de Janerio. This now small University town had a huge impact on Brazil's colonization way back when coffee was becoming a major commodity. The rolling mountains and vivid greens that surround Valença are like non other I've ever seen. The sheer beauty of the place is so captivating, one morning we drove up one of Valença's many surrounding mountains and it felt like we we're in the scene from the Lion King, looking over the pride land. I've climbed many mountains and have had the chance to experience great views but this one was just so surreal.
Also I finally got the chance to witness brazillian pool at its finest. I love pool, it facinates me with all its endless possibilities, all the various styles people have, the math involved, everything about it, I love it and I support it. The rules of the game are different here of course, the point of the game isn't to sink all the stripes or solids. There is no cut throat in Brazil. The game which I've seen is based on a point system based on which colored ball you sink. Each color has a different significance in points, and the balls are assembled in a different formation, three balls forming a triangle on one end and three balls forming a line at the other. After days of visiting the pool hall I'm still not completely sure the rules of the game, there is no final score to reach, mainly it's a team based game where you have to keep up with the opposing teams points, when you fall to far behind the game is over.
The pool hall I've been accepted in is like something out of a movie. The entrance is a very small alley that leads to a basement of a building where there is a large room half kitchen and half recreation. The men who come here every night are rediculous. Loud and robust, full of cheer, always making fun of eachother, "That guy there, he my girlfriend" "those two there, fat boys, gay fats!" All of these guys had me laughing nonstop, yelling ruthlessly at each other and making some of the funniest sounds I've ever heard just to distract one another from the game. My last time there before we returned to Rio Fabiano's father prepared a famous dish for everyone at the pool hall, cow tongue. As nasty as it looked and sounds, it was actually pretty good. There's nothing cooler then an alley way that leads to a pool hall.

Caixa Cultural

24 3 09

“Do you have your phone? Good then follow me.” Next thing I know we’re on the metro heading to Centro Rio. Just a block away from Largo da Carioca is Caixa Cultural. Which is a Cultural center that is funded by Rio’s banks, I’d never heard of anything like that before. The exhibit we came to see what the work of Rubem Grilo. Rubem worked for a newspaper company during the reign of the Dictatorship up until its fall in 1984. That’s when Rubem felt his work as an artist truly began. Most of his work has a very somber tone, dark and somewhat twisted. Lots of the pieces reminded me of Tim Burtons Nightmare before Christmas mixed with Hunter S. Thompson’s attitude. He’s very good at making his simplistic work stand out. Many of his negatives were also displayed in the exhibit to show just how much detail went into most of his work. It’s almost as if Rubem himself had a crooked attitude towards the characters and images he was creating. His creations are very powerful and pertain much that is not seen at a first glance.
After getting a close look at Rubem Grilo’s work Fabiano wanted to show me the market part of Centro Rio. You could find anything in this market it’s so big and all of it is super cheap. Needless to say the market had just about every kind of person walking around bumping into each other and rushing around. We would be squeezing past a group of people covered in tattoos and then I would look to my left and see the creepiest man alive with the most bloodshot eyes ever staring me down and tapping a samba drum very slowly. Needless to say, you have to back and bags in the market. We stopped to get some canvas and more paper for Kreatori’s printer. I bought some havaianas which are Brasil’s famed flip flops that truly are the most durable and comfortable flip flops in the world. All in all great day, Fabiano mentioned that next week I’m going to have some time to myself to do work on some sort of project. Looking forward to what’s in store.

Oi Futuro

Please click visual original to the top right. Sorry about that. http://www.slide.com/r/wDOMCcppxz8dqOP7B-8MvOeqxQZPs3WD?previous_view=lt_embedded_url

Oi Futuro by alex babbitt

18 3 09

Today I got the chance to go and visit Oi Futuro which is a museum all about various forms of technology. There were tons of hands on displays that we got to play around with, ranging from sound manipulation to image distortion screens. The museum is located near Botafogo, and is in an old restored eight story building. We walked in and had eight floors to investigate, some requiring head set tours. One of the sections was all about mankind’s advancements of communication and had historical phone sets. This was a very new age museum because just about all the information given was displayed on a screen. Practically the whole museum was interactive giving us plenty of time to play around and see how we could tweak our own images and sounds.
Oi Futuro is located right down the block from where the Governor lives so it’s in a very peaceful and quite part of Rio. Fabiola, Fabiano and I went straight to the roof to look at the view and take some pictures before we descended our way through the museum. It’s completely free and there’s always different exhibitions changing and coming to the museum. Fabiola did a good job of interacting with every interactive tool she could get her hands on and boy was there a lot. She jumped behind a screen that distorted images off a screen and pulled me behind to play around. The staff enjoyed watching us run around like a bunch of kids, touching everything we possibly could. There was internet offered on the top floor right next to a bar, very interesting. The security in the museum had a very abrupt presence to them. One minute I would be watching a video on my head set tour completely alone and then bam, security guard right behind me staring me down. Oi futuro is not only located on a nice quite street but its less then a five minute walk from the metro Largo de Machado.

This isn’t a vacation, this isn’t a break, I haven’t earned

either of those yet. My time here is to be spent learning about a new culture and learning how to indulge myself in the arts. I’ve never considered myself an artistic person; I’ve never been into drawing pictures and painting on canvas. However I have been skateboarding for almost nine years, I’m a blacksmith, I can play guitar, I can sing and god damn can I dance. Moving to Rio and surrounding myself with an artistic community has been like a punch to the face. There’s so much to learn and experience, I know nothing, I have opinions but I need the facts.
The other day Fabiola, Juliana, Thiago, Fabiano and I went to check out Vik Muniz’s exhibit at Rio’s Modern Art Museum. Vik Muniz is a remarkable artist who uses trash, dirt, thread, toys and all sorts of other different everyday accessible items to form his art. He’s replicated the Mona Lisa with peanut butter and jelly! He’s even used chocolate syrup to form brilliant murals. His perception is truly amazing, to see an artist use everyday things no one would consider as a tool of art and then captivate the viewer with its simplicity is very impressive. I highly recommend checking out his work to get a first hand experience of how anything and everything can be considered art.
Art surrounds us, in every form, we can see it, write it, draw it, paint it, smell it, taste it, feel it, speak it, sing it, play it, it is everything and it is nothing, it’s your own perception. There’s always something to share, something to give, finding out my own effective form of expression is without a doubt going to be one of my most meaningful chapters in life.

Rain, Maracana, and Lapa 14,15| 3 | 2009

Friday I got to experience Brasil’s rain at its best. Feeling the temperature drop an hour or so before the rain came was very surreal. That hour before the rain came was very soothing, the calm before the storm. We were spending the day taking it easy, Fabiano was introducing me to Brasils filme industry and then half way through the movie the rain came. I’ve been through some small showers here but this one was a full fledge down pour. The power soon went out and Fabiano, Fabialo and I were soon running all around Kreatori lighting candles and trying to stop the kitchen from flooding. As obnoxious as it was rushing around the house shouting at each other and scrambling to keep up with mother nature I couldn’t help but laugh at how crazy of a situation it was. The instant panic, the need for light, the confusion, que merde! I went and watched the power of the rain and what do you know, Rua alice (our street) was a raging river. I watched in awe for about twenty minutes and then a guy on a motorcycle pulled up in front of the house and started honking his horn at me. The pizza man! Even in the middle of a crazy down pour our pizza was successfully delivered, that’s true delivery service, no other pizza delivery will top that. Ever.
Saturday I finally experienced Maracana, one of the biggest futbol stadiums in the world. Fabiano’s father and I are futbol buddies, when I’m in Valenca and need sometime to myself I meet up with him and watch futbol on t.v. It’s a great relationship. He was the one who took me to Maracana to watch Flamengo play a match against the Tigres. Brazilian futbol is something to be reckoned with, the pace is completely different then that of English premiere or crummy MSL. The fans were exactly what fans should be, insane and loud! There were drums being pounded the whole match accompanied with cheers and taunting. Flamengo’s fan base is supposedly one of the biggest in the world, their dedication is nothing to be trifled with. A small shower led to one of the biggest rainbows I’ve witnessed, right over the pitch, everyone was taking pictures, except me, I don’t have a compact camera yet, sorry. When you come to Rio, don’t be an idiot, go to Maracana!
That night I met up with a real good buddy of mine and he took me to check out Lapa which is sort of like college park with all the bars and nightlife but there’s also a very historical background as well. We went to a five story party house, three floors of pool table and two floors of live music and dancing. It was a great night. People here dance from the waist down, I like to use my shoulders when I dance, I get confused following the step pattern, so I look super cool on the dance floor. Super gringo. I still can’t get over how many people are in Rio, often it doesn’t feel like a big city but when you go to a futbol stadium or Lapa for the night and you remember just how many people are always ready to have a good time here.

Friday 13 | 3 | 09

After drowning myself in water I’m finally reaping the rewards, clean health! The other night we had a group come to Kreatori and perform a play they’re about to release. There were a number of guests invited and we had a sushi catering service hooking it up all night. 

There were a couple of critics who came to check out the performance before it went public and all of them were very interesting people to meet. After the production we all got to hangout out and talk together giving one another our perspectives on how effective the play was and ways it could have been more effective. The acting was top notch with three people playing a number of different roles. It was a great night filled with lots of laughter and many friends. 

The possibilities here at Kreatori seem to be endless, it’s hard for me to label this place as a gallery because there’s constantly so much going on. That night opened my eyes to how endless the possibilities and boundaries are that Kreatori possesses.

A small glimpse

5 | 3 | 09

Sick in a foreign land, reknown to be one of lifes worse experiences.  I woke up this morning with throbbing ears and it hurt to swallow.  I’vê been sick hundreds of times and whenever I’m feeling crummy I usually have a sense of feeling weak and alone.  But this time its different Fabiano, Thiago, Juliana and Fabiola have all been treating me so kind.  Now that I’m ill I’ve gotten a better understanding of how much they really care about me.  Each one of them stops in my room to check up on me and bring me medecine or água.  Fabianos told me he would rather leave me in Valença (the countryside two hours north of Rio) with his parents if I continue to stay sick.  No one wants that to happen because of all I’d miss out on here at Kreatori.  Whenever I got sick at home growing up Mom would make me a nest and have the nurses watch me.  My nurse was my dog, Kelly.  It was a weird Mom joke but it’s stuck with me.  Kreatori has a new member, Chico, the wiener dog.  He’s been a good nurse, sticking close and making me smile.  This being sick experience has opened my eyes to just how special these people are I’m surrounded by.  I’ve got alot to learn here and I think I’ve met the perfect people to learn from.  

4 | 3 | 09

I’m not sure if Carnaval has truly ended because last Sunday I spent the day at Ipanema meeting friends, drinking mix drinks, and swimming in the beautiful ocean.  But once the sun set the main strip of Ipanema was packed with the sound of Samba drums.  I asked a friend what the deal was and she told me it was a post Carnaval party.  So I guess the party never really stops here.  On another note Kreatori has changed immensley, the office that was a room with a one large shared table is now a room with multiple tables and a decietful new spacey feel.  There are finally books here to read as well.  I’ve been reading to Juliana some and we both agree that reading a different language is a great way to become more familiar with the language.  Spirits are high as we can all see Kreatori developing more and more into the artistic hub it will soon be.  Everyone is very excited for all of our various projects to unfold and be viewed.  Fabianos been inviting friends over to come check out Kreatori in a sneak peak fashion.  This is no doubt a special household with untold gifts,  I’m very excited to see how it all shapes up.

26 | 2 | 2009 - What happened during carnaval

It’s been awhile since I’ve found time to sit down and write about what’s been going on in this new lifestyle.  Carnaval has come and gone and it was everything I wanted and expected it to be.  There were so many people gathering at different blocks and places in Rio to come together and have a good time.  

There were parties that started at eight in the morning and my god were they parties.  The convenience of vendors was impressive, every ten feet “Cerveja!” “Cerveja” Água” ”Cerveja!” the costumes and colors people dressed in were just as impressive as all the music.  Tons of guys dressed up as women, tons of girls with barely anything on, tons of drunk people, Mona Lisa......

The music was so great, it kept everyone bouncing, smiling, and moving to the beat.  People here are good at pissing in public, I’ve never seen people piss in public right in clear view of everyone else.  You could always tell the designated piss zones by the rank of piss in the air and the huge gross puddles.  But when you’ve been drinking since eight in the morning shit happens.  It was great dancing with strangers and lip syncing to music I barely understood.  Being on T.V. dancing in the Samba parade the second day of Carnaval was probably the highlight of my Carnaval experience.  I’ll never forget walking to Sapucaí in that rediculous costume.  Getting on the metro and having Fabiano tell everyone how much of a gringo I am and explaining my lack of communication.  That hurt my feelings a bit but it was good to hear to understand how I had to step it up with the language process.  Another major highlight of Carnaval was when Juliana captured me and took me up the mountains on a beautiful trail rapping around a mountain right behind the statue of Cristo.  We were so far up and were looking right over the city and could hear all the different block parties going on along with all the drums and cheering. That was very cool hearing all the celebrating rummbling up the mountain from the city.  When Carnaval was all done with I felt like I had been holding my breathe for four days.  So much excitement, astonishment, joy, surprise, shock, so many feelings all at once.  That is the essence of Carnaval to me.  All the expectations instantly met and fulfilled, yet fulfilled beyond the brim, overflowing with a new understanding for what it truly means to celebrate.

There is a general understanding here for all that Carnaval encompasses and stands for.  Just like the Vegas logo “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”  The way people cut themselves loose in Carnaval can be very extreme.  But now that Carnaval is over with everyone is back on track being productive and living it up.  Carnaval was the only time I’ve seen the street we live on bare with no parked cars, now it’s back to being jam packed.  Every neighborhood and all the blocos celebrated Carnaval as separate groups.  Although everyone was acting the same and participating in their intoxicated cheers and dances, there was a big sense of pride coming from the different neighborhoods and blocos as if everyone was showing one another who really knew how to party.  Up until Carnaval I’ve never seen so many dressed up Babies! and Babes!     

Carnaval 2009 - Must See Pictures!!!!!

19 | 2 | 09 - Couple days before Carnaval

Losing lots of hair helped me appear more like a Brazilian.  That transition was remarkable and an eye opening experience.  Yet it wasn’t until I went to Samba that I gained sensation beyond anything I’ve felt before.  The beat of the Samba drum now compliments the beat of my heart.  My blood now flows with a new sense of passion.  My new caffeine.  Nothing has made me feel so alive.  There was a sense of unity that was new to me, the way hundreds of us were dancing down the street in unison.  The best part is we were practicing for a parade festival during Carnaval. A parade Fabiano got me into, we were going to Samba right through Sapucaí!  In a couple days I’m going to get to wear the most extravagant costume I’ve ever worn and express myself in a new form doing the Samba through Rio with hundreds of others.  Just imagine.  I’ll probably spend most of my time here finding out about new things that will bring my mind, body and soul more clarity, for that I feel truly blessed.  My point is hearing the Samba drums and dancing to the beat has put a new feeling inside of me.  A new feeling that was instantly declared life changing.

What's KREATORI?

KREATORI = Creators in Croatian 

Formed by the artist Fabiano Cafure, the scenic artist Juliana Terra and the administrator Thiago Fraga, Kreatori is a collective of art that inhabits a studio and it holds an art gallery where the results of the research of the collective is presented, and also represents national and international artists.

Kreatori accomplishes customized creation, elaborating concepts and managing projects in the areas of arts, scenic arts and music. It accomplishes the elaboration of the profile of work, visual creation, writing of the project, and application in laws of incentive for funding.

New Face

After a week of standing out like the gringo I am it truly does feel good to blend in with the Brazilian crew.  I feel so naked now since I can finally feel the wind on my face.  This will help me build courage to fala português sempre, courage that is paramount.  Things will always be strange to me and I expect that out of life.  For what is life without mystery?  I’m looking at this tranistion in life as na opportunity to start anew, a fresh beginning to a new chapter.  When I look at my reflection I don’t recognize who is looking back at me, I have to make people and myself know who’s reflection that is.  This is the time, now is the opportunity.  I am blessed with this life, how can I show my appreciation and help others celebrate this occasion? Time only knows.

12 | 2 | 09

Been busy, day four and alot keeps hapenning, everybody is very direct with their work and daily life style. It’s a beautiful world down here with united group of people who think on a much more practical level.  My friends who’ve brought me into this world are very passionate and kind people.  I’ve got no ear for the language, yet as expected my pronunciation and speech needs more practice, but that’s just how it góes when learning a language.  All in good time.  There’s alot to do here and I can’t wait to get into some obscure situations.  Fabiano is one hell of a guy, he’s amazing with how passionate and engulfing he is with his work.  I’m ever thankful for his being.  His partners Thiago and Juliana are both just as insightful, upbeat and beautiful as Fabiano is.  Each one hás thier skill to compliment Kreatori’s success.  Fabiano has a zeal about him that allows him to capture people and show them his ideas and visions while always having something to give them during the process.  Thiago always hás his stuf together, I’ve never met someone as organized yet quick to burst out into song like him.  Juliana is just as organized, always thinking about work, always so passionate.  They’re all very alive and upbeat.  Their attitudes and good nature is very impressive.  I am blown away by this beautiful life.

2 | 9 | 09

First day in Brazil was practically an uproar.  Fabiano and his his two partners Juliana and thiago had just started moving things into Kreatori (where I’m living) a couple of days before my arrival.  When I went out to collect things for the house in different parts of Rio Juliana’s boyfriend’s truck kept stalling out and we probably got out to pop the clutch about five times.  This was one of the best days of my life.  The pressure was off, you can’t look like this and attempt to blend in with Rio’s culture. I realized how I have no idea how to speak Português but the way everybody was so generally nice and positive made me understand its goign to be one hell of a learning experience.  

16 | 2 | 09

It's been a couple of days and Kreatori is real close to being up an running.  This once vacant house is now starting to fill with images of beauty captured by Fabiano and other various artist.  We left Rio for the first time to travel to Valenca and visit family.  Valenca is without a doubt one of the most beautiful cities I've ever visited.  When I was there I could look in any direction and see beautiful mountains and hills everywhere, untouched beauty.  At one point we went to a bar and I was the first foreigner some of the locals had ever seen, and with my beard I am like THE foreigner.  When people find out that I'm an American they always say "Obama! we like Obama here." which is really cool to see how Americas image is changing for the better.  This country is so unique that there's no surprise to the global acknowledgment that this is one of the most beautiful countries in the world.  I feel truly blessed to be here. 

The first day - Comic book 8 | 2 | 2009

Before I came down here I wanted my first week in America to fly by and that's exactly how it went.  Now that I'm here in Brasil I've realized no matter what kind of preparation I had done, I still wouldn't have been prepared for this kind of transition.  There's a certain kind of acceptance here in Brasil that as an American I've never understood.  During my first day right after I got picked up from the airport we were driving around Ilha do Governador (Governors Island)  in Rio picking up furniture to move and the truck we were using broke down about five times.  Nobody yelled at us or gave us a hard time, we would just hop out push the truck out of the way and it was all good.  I remember thinking to myself "Man I could get used to this"  people here in Brasil have a special way of dealing with situations and it's really cool to see how everybody works together.  So here I am dealing with all sorts of things I'm not used to and I couldn't be happier.

Brazilian Initiation Ritual

Imagine coming to a new land with a beard you've been growing for ten months. A beard you've learned to love and rely upon.  My beard was my best friend, my best hiding place.  I felt my beard connected me with all the radicals who grew beards centuries ago, those deep thinkers acknowledged for their intelligence and success. It felt good to stand out.  My beard was me, my work of natural art, my own little world.  I had the chance to do other projects and montages with my beard that have been documented, projects that have celebrated my time with my beard.  This was an initiation into a new culture, an initiation a handful of people were a part of.  It felt like everyone involved complimented the beat of my heart, my face became a blank canvas that was soon slathered with beautiful colors.  

More comments:

Safi, maintaining, clean, shaven.  I've just received a ceremony that has welcomed me into the Brazilian culture (one of many to come) .  It was the most intense experience I've ever been a part of.  Several car crashes have no relation to the documentary of what just happened.  The last time I saw my face was ten months ago, april, right after march mustache.  It's been practically a year since then and I'm still amazed by how different I look without a beard.  Four hands just went to work on film shaving my face with different segments.  After a week of standing out like the gringo I am it feels good to blend in better with the Brazilian crew.  Abrupt transition, planned transition, all transitions engulf us for a moment, the change of life, the ever occurring.  I'm in a part of the world I've never been in and now that I just lost a beard I'm naturally feeling a bit bare.  I like to consider the situation as this, I'm here meeting people I can barely talk to, in a culture rich with passion, I can't recognize my own reflection, now it's time to help others understand the reflection I can't seem to comprehend at the moment.  I've let those who are going to be closest with me here in Rio and those abroad see just who I am,  bare form, raw, my being.  I'm grateful for the opportunity to do so.  My awakening.