Moving my website

I finally found the time to move this site from my own Joomla installation to Blogger. The reason is that I don't want the administrative overhead anymore. And for those of you who scream that I lose control over my data: This blog got hacked once so the question is where my data is more save. Google or my own installation where I don't have the time to install security patches and configure all options properly.

Most importantly, here is my new RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/HolgerHagedorn

Photo album from Brazil

Finally I found a way to upload the photos from Brazil. Click on the slideshow below to get to the gallery.

My accident in the national park

On the weekend I was in the national park of Chapada Diamantina. I took the nightbus to Lençois, arrived at 6 a.m. and booked a three day tour right away. I paid a bit more and went alone with an official guide. First two days should have been hiking and the last day with a car. The hike was pretty intense and I was glad that the sky was clouded although, nevertheless, I was sweating like hell. In the late evening it started to pour rain all of a sudden. The rocks became very slippery and I slipped and smashed my ankle on a stone. I had quite a few sport accidents in my life but this was by far the worst swelling I have seen. Since I have never had a fraction or a ruptured tendon or muscle I first thought it was one of the three. Since we were in the middle of nowhere we had no other options than to hike to a cave close by (2 hours!!!) and spend the night there. I can tell you this was one of the most painful experiences I've ever had. The next morning the pain and swelling was a bit better and we started our hike - and by hike I really mean steeply up and down - to the next village. It took us 10 hours and 20 km until we reached it. I took a car of another tourist tour back to Lençois to catch the next nightbus back to Salvador. The only problem left was to get my money back for the third day. Since I booked over individual agents and not a company this could have been quite a challenge. But the guy whom I paid was honest enough to find me to return my money. Although of the 400 Reais that I paid him he only wanted to give me 70 back. I'm pretty proud of myself that I negotiated in Portugese and got 160 Reais in the end. Back in Salvador, my host family brought me to a clinic specialized in orthopedy. I didn't understand the specific diagnosis properly but by now it is just a big swelling - no rupture and no fraction. I'm so lucky because on friday starts my 12 day trip to Manaus, Rio de Janeiro and Foz do Iguaçu.

Random thoughts about Salvador and Brazil

Okay, I don't have mucht to say about the last week because nothing interesting happened. The daily routine is kicking in. I'm also trying to lose the connections to the other students and spend more time with the family I'm staying with to improve my Portugese. On the weekend I have just been to Itacaré which is an island close by.
So I will use the lack of experiences to share some random thoughts that crossed my mind during the past weeks.

1. Many people from the school got robbed. I didn't. I find life here much more secure than I expected. I guess crime is just common in Favelas and places with many tourists.
2. Brasilians like to help other people. However, it is often hard to distinguish whether someone wants to help you or just wants to sell something to you.
3. I do not see many watches aroung here. Punctuality is very uncommon.
4. Almost everybody in Salvador who has a white skin is a tourist.
5. I cannot eat Brasilian food everyday. It is too heavy for me. And it is also not my favorite dish.
6. The tropical fruits here taste much better than in Germany. I am addicted to abacaxi (pineapple). And they are so cheap that people buy tons of them.
7. Talking to strange people is normal. And when they do it to my, I always think: "What does he want from me?" I really hate this German behavior but I guess I would have to spend much more time here to get rid of it.
8. Middle class people have a housekeeper/cleaning women (empregada) because they are very cheap. Often this person lives in the house (empregada domestica). I'd really like that.
9. The water of the ocean is warm, even in the evening.
10. Brasiliens like crowded beaches. That means, that you either have problems to find a free spot or you have the beach almost to yourself.
11. People cannot calculate without a calculator - even the most simple equations. I'm not sure whether it is a lack of education or lazyness or both. Also sometimes you get stuff cheaper because they are too lazy to give you proper change.
12. Brazilians use friendly language. E.g. it is normal that the waitress calls me "Meu amor". I like it.

Policia, familia nova e Morro de São Paulo

The last week has been quite interesting. As usual, we went to Pelourinho on Tuesday evening to see the drum band. Afterwards, we were standing in a crowded street drinking beer when suddenly the police arrived with round about 10 men. You should know that the police is relatively aggressive here and they always wear bulletproof wests and guns. They picked about 15 people out of the crowd which had to stand against the wall of a house - including myself. They had German shepards with them and we had to face the wall and put our hands against it and they were searching us. Obviously they were looking for drugs. One of the last persons they searched was arrested - they threw him on the ground, put him in handcuffs and kicked with their boots in his face until it began to bleed. Then they carried him away and everything was normal again. My impression was that they were not specifically searching for drugs but rather showing their presence and the means by which people who break the law are treated by them. I wouldn't wonder if they let the arrested person go 10 minutes afterwards.

The next event of the week was me changing my host family. My old one was very nice, supportive and friendly but I didn't feel very integrated since they had to work a lot and mostly stayed in their own rooms. Now I'm in a new family where there is always someone in the living room and I learn much more about the Brazilian culture and have more possibilities to speak Portugese.

From Saturday to Sunday we visited Morro de São Paulo which is a touristic island close by. They basically have four main beaches: one for living, the other for parties, the other for honeymoon couples and the other for old people. To make it short, we sunbathed during the day and went out for a party the whole night. It was the first time in Brazil that I went to a club with non-brazilian music but electronic music. The American I went with talked to a girl which turned out to be a prostitute which seems to be normal here.

Beaches and more

First of all, I wish I could write more and shorter articles but it is hard if you don't have internet all the time. Also sorry for not uploading any pictures but something is wrong with my image gallery and I also forgot my USB cable for the camera at home. There are, however, some pics on Facebook.
Last week was quite interesting. On Thursday evening we went to Pelourinho to see a percussion show. Every tuesday a drum corps walks through the small streets and the crowd is following them and dances a lot. Another German had an unpleasant encounter with a hooker because he didn't know she was one. So he talked to her for an hour and as he wanted to leave she got angry and attacked him and followed us and was screaming a lot. However, it was more amusing than scary.
At the weekend we have just been to a fort ouside the city center which was more or less interesting. We also rode the famous Elevador Lacerda which connects the upper and the lower city (Cidade Alto and Cidade Baixa, respectively). On Saturday evening we have been to Rio Vermelho, a neighboring suburb where I found it better to spend the nights than in my suburb, Barra. We've also been to Itapuá beach on Sunday but I didn't like it. It was very crowded since families spend their Sundays regularly at the beach.
Some final words about my progress with the Portugese language. In theory, i find the language very easy. Except for vocabulary and some grammar I'm still waiting to learn, I can write and read most things. However, speaking and understanding is very difficult for me - yeah I know, I'm more of a theorist. ;-) What I find particularly hard is the speed by which the people speak here. In consequence, both Mondays I found myself in a class at school where I was bored by the exercises but could barely speak. Then I switched classes and I felt I learned enough new material but I could not participate in the conversation. In effect, I had to switch back. I'm still figuring out which is the right way to go here...

Bike-tour, favela, and daily life

On Saturday, we went to the Parque Metropolitano de Pituacu. Besides the nice bike-ride we also went to the nearby beach. I was "lucky" to forget my backpack since we got robbed that day. At the moment it happened, I was having lunch with some others but the robbers grabbed two bags and ran away. One of our guys was chasing them but quickly returned when he saw a gun. :S In the evening we went to a bar/club where they played music to which people dance "Forro". It is a pretty slow dance which I don't like so I didn't stay long.
The next day one of the administrators from school invided us to his mums house where we ate traditional Brasilian breakfast.The house was in Tancredo Neves, the poorest slum (Favela) in Salvador. The food was pretty delicious, mostly made of the Manioc root. We also watched a movie about the Favela directed by the boyfriend of the adminstrator. The key message which I can support by my own impression is that despite being so poor those people are very happy with their lives. Thinking about how people in Germany always complain about everything, they should really come here and learn that happiness can be achieved very easily.
I just want to write some final lines about my daily life. If anyone has met me he knows that I work efficient, have a good time management and go late to bed. This is just not possible here! For instance, if I walk too fast along the street, I am sweating and exhausted when I arrive at my destination. So I have to calculate with more time because I have to walk very slow. And even if I arrive in time, people might be late by half an hour or more. Furthermore, the sun rises very fast at 5:30 a.m. and shines into my room. And I am so exhausted in the evening from the heat that i go to bed at 10 p.m. latest and get up in the morning at 6 a.m. to study. However, I like this lifestyle here and don't want to change it! :)