happy new year
for those still viewing this blog, please accept my apologies for the lack of recent posts. since my last entries i have finally become employed. i am currently working as a behaviour support worker/teaching assistant/mentor (the role is flexible)in a specialist learning inclusion centre-meaning: i’m working as one-to-one support for a 14 year child-excluded from mainstream education, with complex needs and demands. as you can imagine, it’s a tough role with great demands from all involved. that said, the experience is valuble and has plenty of scope for extending my interest in facilitating cultural projects in the field of educational outreach. the mission now is to work hard and save for return to brasil-particularly an exploration to bahia and a visit to my folks in jamaica, taking in a trip to america too. i can’t as yet put a date to these plans, but at least i’ll get a taste of brasil when daniel makes his way to england, hopefully this coming summer.
i’ve started a log of all my brasil photos on my flickr page, the address for which is to right of this text. i’ll endeavour to keep posting here as and when i feel the need to ramble on about brasil in whatever form. as you can imagine there’s less emphasis on the travelogue aspects of this blog as i’m not in transit. it may well morph into something else brasil related. here’s wishing you all a happy new year!
thoughts for peace
pieces…
cold, dark, european nights
as autumn begins to bite here in blighty my thoughts stray a long way from lanquid days roaming the dusty, mosaic strewn streets of rio. three months on and not only am i dealing with my own effects of the credit crunch-yes i’m still skint and jobless.
so it’s job application after job application and hope after hope. i try to keep focused with thoughts of training for a 5k run sometime in the future and dreams of running the rio marathon (yet another reason to return). contact with all but a few of the people i met at casa aurea has trickled to a stop. maybe they need a nudge like i do when i get stuck in my own self centred world. i’ve started a flickr page, posting all my brasil photos in one place so those of you who don’t want to wade through my self absorbed ramblings can just see the pictures without the distraction of prose. the address for which will follow soon.
so what concerns me besides getting back on the gravy train:
how manchester city f c and our newly aquired brasilian quartet will get on in the premiership?
how can i return to brasil without busting a gut working for ‘the man’?
how many murakami novels can i devour while i have the time?
how do i use this precious time while it’s all mine?
how long can i stay on the road (running, that is) without getting back w/ the wife (those that know, know what i mean)?
let’s hope i get a few more postings up before snow starts to fall, i’m sure these cold, dark european nights are a bit more suited to staying in and remaining focused with the job in hand. the more i think about, the more i think this’ll probably turn into my online diary. am i that indulgent?
como poderia eu esquecer
ABRAÇO (hug/embrace)
here’s the lyrics to one of my favourite gilberto gil tracks from historia da musica popular brasileira. it’s one that spins around my head constantly. i think it sums up for me the energy, excitement, longing and love for rio and brasil.
AQUELE ABRACO- (este samba vai para dorival caymmi, joa gilberto e caetano velso. vamos la!)
o rio de janeiro continua lindo / o rio de janeiro continua sendo / o rio de janeiro fevereiro e marco/ alo alo, realengo, aquele abraco! / chacrinha continua balancando / a panca / e buzinando a moca e comandando / a massa / e continua dando as ordens no terreiro / alo, alo seu chacrinha, velho guerreiro / alo, alo, teresinha, rio de janeiro / alo, alo, seu chacrinha, velho palhaco / alo, alo, teresinha, aquele abraco! / alo, moca da favela, aquele abraco! / todo mundo da portela, aquele abraco! / todo o mes de fevereiro, aquele passo / alo banda de ipanema, aquele abraco! / meu caminho pelo mundo, eu mesmo traco / a bahia ja me deu regua e compasso / quem sabe de mim sou eu, aquele abraco / pra voce que me esqueceu, aquele abraco! / alo , rio de janeiro, aquele abraco! / todo o povo brasileiro, aquele abraco!
basically a big hug to everyone…and a big up to brasil as ever! seek out the track, the link to lps do brasil is just beside this posting. blissful and heartwarming.
belo rio de janeiro
enchanted guitars 2
i’ll never forget this day, sweltering hot and inspirational, so much so-after daniel’s mum’s feijoada in the afternoon i could have done with a siesta
…there was no denying this was probably the hottest day i had in brasil and inspirational due to the kids enthusiasm and dan’s amazing patience and kindness. just writing this is heart wrenching. i so want to get back there and help out.
enchanted guitars 1
kite flying
favourite rio graff 2
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