My husband once quipped that he’s yet to see a t-shirt in Brazil that has decorative words in Portuguese on it. Everything is in English. Y’know what? I spend a lot of time people-watching as I work the market every Saturday and he’s right. There’s church t-shirts and marketing for local businesses–those are all in Portuguese–but …
The Lost Generation
A friend passed along this fun parody of the Gangnam Style video. Thought I’d share it. For those that don’t read Portuguese, here’s my attempt at the lyrics: Vu pra Cametá Cametá Vu pra Cametá Tava numa roça com um trampo meia sola Passava muita fome E até pedia esmola Foi quando a minha sogra …
Fotocrônica: Nutryllack
This photo is one of those “lost in translation” moments that made me chuckle. Judging by the name, there is no nutrition in these banana candies. Not quite sure if that’s what the marketing team meant to imply.
Word Jumble
At seven months of living in Brazil, my languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese) are still a bit of a mash-up. It’s a wonder that I manage to communicate at all. Portañol will only get you so far. It’s as if someone up there with a devilish sense of humor cross-wired these languages on purpose. In Portuguese …
Sometimes, the books they choose you.
My first library card Here was my first official document in Brazil. A library card. A small thing, really. Nonetheless, it gave me a finger-hold on normalcy in this mental terrain still trembling with the aftershocks of my relocation. I drifted among the stacks, comforting myself with the familiar patterns of books on shelves, familiar …