It is hard to believe that this first week has blown by so quickly and so much has happened in such a short time. I wish it would slow down just a tad so that I can "smell the roses" and savour each moment a bit more but there is just so much to do as we put the final touches on my itinerary here and my workload ramps up. I previously blogged about the exhaustion of basic things like communicating and translating - it also takes up to twice the usual amount of time to articulate ideas between people when knowledge of the other language is minimal. I have become much more adept at charades to get my communications across and am also starting to pick up some of the basic parts of conversation. Similar to French, there are a number of common roots with English that is helpful. For example: instruction & instrução; transaction & transação; and, confusion & confusão). Muitas vezes sinto confusão com as instruções em minhas transações. And, the crossover happens with some words I recognize in French. I have downloaded the Google translate app for written words on signs, menus, and text WhatsApp messages, and another app for translating spoken phrases, Voice Translator AI. Time consuming and mentally demanding, yet also fun. And my charade actions and exaggerated gesticulation seem to fit right in with the Latin way of communication.
Most mornings or evenings, Angela and/or Marlene will come up with some idea to get me out to see something new and get some exercise in. One evening we went to the Floripa waterfront and walked along the Avenida Beira-Mar Continental path that has a pedestrian walkway and a two-lane bike path. In terms of infrastructure this is amongst the best I have ever seen rivalling the seawall in Vancouver but able to accommodate way more people, bikes, and scooters). And literally hundreds, if not thousands, of people were out on this brilliant but very warm evening. The sky and cloud formations were accented by the sun's glow providing a spectacular canvas of colours that reflected off the waters of the channel that separates Ilha de Santa Catarina from the mainland.. To the north there were huge thunderheads of varying shades and we could see the lightning coming down in the far distance. Phenomenal!
One morning, Marlene and her son, Alvaro, invited me to join them on an excursion downtown near where the old port had been located. There were many examples of original colonial architecture that has been maintained since the 1800s. The main port building houses a marketplace and huge indoor seating area with a variety of different restaurants around the periphery. Along one side is the fish market and other food outlets that specialize in spices. In spite of the heat (and it would get up to +42C with the humidex) there was an energetic buzz due, in part, to being vacation but also with set up for Carnivale that happens in about 3 weeks.
Alvaro is an amazing person who speaks excellent English, is well-read, and provided me a historical background about the area, the original immigrants who settled here (from the Azores), and how Brazil has tried to deal with its colonial past. Not unlike Canada, the impact of colonization on the Indigenous peoples was huge but Brazil also has a huge legacy related to slavery. In Alvaro's explanation, Brazil tried to "whitewash" parts of its colonial past by encouraging immigration to help provide a racial, ethnic, and cultural mix. And it was not just Europeans that were encouraged to come here but many different nationalities, such as an influx of people from Japan that peaked in the 1960s and 1970s. This resulted in an estimated 1.5 million Japanese people in Brazil, the largest population outside of Japan. As it happened, there was a Japanese exhibit at the Santa Catarina Historical Museum in the area featuring kimonos, origami and, of course, Samurai weaponry.
In the museum is an honour to João da Cruz e Sousa, the son of freed slaves who was essentially adopted by his parent's former master, a wealthy ex-military general, and his wife. They had no kids of their own and ensured that João received a fine education that included several languages, mathematics, and natural sciences. João went on to become a preeminent poet known for work grounded in symbolism.
To conclude the first full week in Floripa, Angela took me to the Health Sciences Centre and the Nursing Department to meet some of the main members of the leadership team - Anna, Lucia, Patricia, and Jose Luiz. I am not sure if it was an omen or foreshadowing, but within minutes of walking into the building the power suddenly went out taking with it the A/C and Wi-Fi. Much like in Canada, being vacation it is the time of year when maintenance is done and so it is one of the seasonal hazards. But something that is quite different is that, being summer break, the university has a policy to shut down at noon and so all support staff and faculty go on to enjoy the summer. The warm welcome and initial exchange with the leadership group was so refreshing; no pressure, appreciation for this opportunity, and a chance to begin learning about each other and our respective programs. It was so great to finally meet Jose Luiz in person, as he had been a part of Maria Alice's PhD committee with Angela and me.
My main purpose as visiting scholar is to mutually benefit from sharing knowledge, expertise, and ideas with faculty and graduate students. I have always loved the synergy of rich collaborations and teamwork, so networking and building more relationships will be top-of-mind for me. My secondary purpose is to explore opportunities for building a partnership between their nursing department and our College of Nursing; the potential for a meaningful and enriching experience for future grad students and faculty from both institutions is a definite possibility - the work will be to figure out what is possible and how to make it happen. The crucial goal of this first meeting was to finalize my itinerary for the next 2 months and aside from a few minor details to sort out, this was pretty much accomplished.
On the way back to Angela's condo, after a successful meeting at the university, I managed to snap a picture of a very common sight here - a motorcyclist using the third lane of a two lane road. Motorcyclists here tend to zip up the middle, whether on a slow street or busy highway, and it matter not if the center line is yellow, white, solid, or dashes. It occurred to me that this might very well be a metaphor for my own path in life and my career - few things I have done have been completely in a single lane and, similar to the motorcyclist, I often do not wait for others to move out of the way but go around if things are slowing me down. Professionally I rarely honk my own horn to draw attention to what I am carrying (doing) and tend to carry on finding my own path - aside from my last career move, I have usually not swerved head-on into a potentially devastating situation. My arrival to this place and point in time, where I find myself in the paradise of Floripa, did not happen by waiting in line; methinks a little off-roading has been part of the journey.
Comments