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Brazil Through Foreign Eyes
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August 29, 2008
Meet Jeremy Clark from Canada who has visited Brazil several times. Read the following interview in which he tells us about some of his most memorable experiences and gives some useful advice to newcomers.
1. Tell us a little about yourself, where are you from, what do you do etc.?
I am 56 years old and am a telecommunications design engineer. My work interest is in HF radio for remote area communications and I teach engineering technology as well. I grew up in Montreal, Canada and later worked in Zambia and Indonesia. My hobbies are amateur radio, squash, cycling, reading and movies. I now live in Toronto, Canada.
2. When did you arrive in Brazil and what brought you here?
My first trip was an 8 night package deal to Rio de Janeiro in 2003. The next year I returned to Rio for 2 weeks. Then in 2005 I went to São Paulo for 3 weeks, 2006 I went to Salvador for 1 month, then this year 2008 I was in São Paulo during May & June.
My first trip to Rio was a gamble, I guess. I had never visited South America and I thought that Brazil seemed to be a good place to start. I noticed a special travel brochure in our local tourist agency and the package was just a perfect fit. After my first trip, I decided to return on my summer vacations to learn Portuguese and research whether there were possible applications for my radio system in Brazil.
3. What were you first impressions of Brazil?
My first morning, I wandered from the hotel to walk along Avenida Atlântica, on Copacabana beach. It was a Sunday and the whole community was out jogging, walking etc along the boardwalk. I stopped at a small beach café and had an espresso. The whole scene was just so cool.
4. What do you miss most about home?
I would love to live in Brazil for a year, so maybe when this happens I can answer this question then!
5. What has been your most frustrating experience in Brazil?
When I arrived in Guarulhos from Toronto in 2005, I was supposed to get on a VARIG connection to Salvador da Bahia. Unfortunately, when I went to check in, I discovered that the airport was like a Cecil B. DeMille movie! VARIG had gone bust! Thousands of stranded fliers filled the airport. They gave me a voucher for the flight. I then proceeded to try to get a ticket on TAM and GOL. No luck, so I went to Congonhas. I sat around there from about 11am to about 11pm. Finally a VARIG agent felt sorry for me and they put me up in a hotel and bought me a ticket on GOL the next morning. So a bit frustrating, but everyone else was in the same situation and they did honor their ticket so I was happy. I have learned from my previous foreign assignments to go with the flow and things usually work out.
6. What has been your most memorable experience in Brazil (specific incident)?
My most memorable incident occurred on my first trip. I was on Copacabana beach at Posto 4. I am no surfer dude, but in my mind I am still 25. Anyways I went out too far in the water and got caught in a rip tide. It took me right out and down the beach. Fortunately, an Australian guy saw me and notified the life guard. He came to help me because I had got pretty cold and groggy. Thanks Oz, I would be fish bait! Later that evening, I went to a bar on the beach so happy to be alive. I bought everyone a beer and we all wandered down the beach to sit outside the Help disco where we had dinner. It was so much fun. I regret that I was so stunned when I got out of the water that I did not get a chance to thank the life guard and the Australian.
7. What do you most like about Brazil (in general)?
Brazil reminds me very much of the province of Quebec where I grew up. People work very hard, but they also know how to enjoy life. I love the food, the music and the language. The country is immense with great geographic contrasts.
8. What is your favorite restaurant/place to hang out here?
I love the Conjunto Nacional on Paulista in São Paulo. I go to the café in the Livraria Cultura for a double espresso in the morning. I work on my daily assignments and they also have free wireless. In the evening, I work out at BioRitmo on the top floor. They have a fantastic program of various exercise & spinning classes. Later on in the evening, I like to read all the latest books in Cultura. They have author evenings which are amazing. I met Fernando Morais when he launched his new book "O Mago".
9. Do you have any funny stories/incidents to tell about your time in Brazil?
An amazing thing happened to me on the beach in Barra, Salvador. Prior to my trip in 2006, my doctor told me that my Cholesterol was sky high and I had to take pills for the rest of my life. I decided to put the pills on hold. Anyways a girl on the beach asked me whether I wanted a foot massage. I am a total sucker for such advances so I immediately agreed. Anyways from rubbing my feet, she started to tell me my whole medical history, and my high cholesterol! Boy that was pretty weird. Then she gave me a list of fruit/vegetables that would remedy the situation. I followed her advice and with a few other ideas I learned back in Canada I can report that I am totally back to normal without any pharma!
10. What difference between your homeland and Brazil do you find most striking?
I think Brazilians are very much like Canadians. They love soccer like we like hockey. The one thing I notice in SP, however, is how busy the city is. In Toronto you can wander about at night and never see anyone after 10pm. In SP it is perpetually busy.
11. How is your Portuguese coming along? What words do you find most difficult to pronounce/remember or are there any words that you regularly confuse?
For my first trip, I studied a great book called "Portuguese in 10 Minutes a Day" (Bilingual Books). It was a very easy read and very practical. This was fine for tourist things. I found that when I did not know a word, substituting the French equivalent worked for me.
On my subsequent trips I enrolled in local schools to take formal Portuguese lessons. The classes were generally from 0830 to noon which left me the rest of the day for work activities. I was very lucky to get great teachers and learned fairly quickly. Thanks to Gringoes, I found a wonderful teacher that gave lessons via Skype! During my last trip I realized that I had really begun to internalize the language when I was actually dreaming in Português, "aumente carga!!!"... "increase the tension", Marcus would cry out during spinning class.
12. What advice do you have for newcomers to Brazil?
Treat everything in a relaxed fashion as it comes along. Things will not happen necessarily at the same pace as in your home country. However, everyone is in the same boat and things do work out.
13. What are some things that you would recommend for a visitor to do in São Paulo (or anywhere else in Brazil)?
I love many things about Brazil. I am very interested in the history, early Portuguese navigators, the aviation industry, Santos Dumont..
The first thing I recommend is to learn a bit of Portuguese. There are so many possibilities now. One thing I do all the time is listening to Brazilian radio stations on the Internet. We also have Brazilian soap operas on TV in Toronto. As I mentioned, I like the Conjunto Nacional in SP. I have walked for miles in SP and was never bored. There are many movie theatres as well which are great. On Sundays, I like the arts & crafts exhibits at Praça Republica. In Salvador, I visited the nautical museum in the Farol da Barra which was awesome. Ancient astrolabs, sextants etc. In Rio, I took several excellent tours given by Rio Hiking. Back here in Toronto, I see every Brazilian movie that comes to town. The Toronto film festival starts in several weeks, so I am going to see 4 new films!
You can contact Jeremy via clarkj@rogers.com.
Are you a foreigner who has lived in, or is living or travelling in Brazil? Are you a Brazilian who has a lot of contact with foreigners and/or lived outside of Brazil? Are you interested in telling your story? If you would like to volunteer for our interview series, or if you would like to recommend someone, please send a blank email to gringoes@gringoes.com with "Interview" in the subject. We will send you the interview questions by return email.
To read previous interviews in the Brazil Through Foreign Eyes series click below:
Don Fredrick - USA
Jase Ramsey - USA
Ben Pearce - UK
Nitai Panchmatia - India
Johnnie Kashat - USA
Jeni Bonorino - USA
Eric Jones - USA
Bill Martin - UK
Bernard Morris - USA
John Graves - USA
Deepak Sapra - India
Alison McGowan - UK
Brent Gregory - USA
R Dub - USA
Tara Bianca - USA
Jack Hurley - USA
James Woodward - Canada
Tony O'Sullivan - Ireland
Anna Belavina - Russia
Jim Kirby - USA
Linda Halverstadt - USA
Michelle Monteiro - USA
Chris Mensah - UK
David Sundin - USA
Stephanie Glennon - USA
Julien Porisse - France
Hans Keeling - USA
Jim Adams - USA
Richard Murison - USA
Will Periam - UK
Jan Sandbert - Sweden
Jim Jones - USA
Mike Stricklin - USA
Edward Gowing - Australia
Adrian Woods - USA
Kevin Raub - USA
Pierpaolo Ciarcianelli - Italy
Zachary Heilman - USA
David Johnson - Bermuda
Cipriana Leme - Argentina
Timothy Bell - USA
Patti Beckert - USA
Timothy Bell - USA
Paul James - USA
David McLoughlin - Ireland
Pat Moraes - USA
Richard Dougherty - USA
James Weeds - USA
Tom Sluberski - USA
Peter Kefalas - USA
Sylvie Campbell - UK
Kathleen Haynes - USA
Matt Bowlby - USA
Alan Longbottom - UK
Eric Karukin - USA
Eddie Soto - USA
Kieran Gartlan - Ireland
Bryan Thomas Scmidt - USA
Emile Myburgh - South Africa
Bob Chapman - USA
David Barnes - USA
John Milan - USA
Chris Coates - UK
Matthew Ward - UK
Allison Glick - USA
Drake Smith - USA
Jim Jones - USA
Philip Wigan - UK
Atlanta Foresyth - USA
Lee Gordon - USA
Carmen Naidoo - South Africa
Lee Safian - USA
Laurie Carneiro - USA
Dana De Lise - USA
Richard Gant - USA
Robin Hoffman - USA
Wayne Wright - UK
Walt Kirspel - USA
Priya Guyadeen - Guyana
Caitlin McQuilling - USA
Nicole Rombach - Holland
Steven Engler - Canada
Richard Conti - USA
Zak Burkons - USA
Ann White - USA
Monde Ngqumeya - South Africa
Johnny Sweeney - USA
David Harty - Canada
Bill McCrossen - USA
Peter Berner - Switzerland/Brazil
Ethan Munson - USA
Solveig Skadhauge - Denmark
Sean McGown - USA
Condrad Downes - UK
Jennifer Silva - Australian
Justin Mounts - USA
Elliott Zussman - USA
Jonathan Abernathy - USA
Steve Koenig - USA
Kyron Gibbs - USA
Stephanie Early - USA
Martin Raw - UK
Sean Coady - UK
Hugo Delgado - Mexico
Sean Terrillon - Canada
Jessie Simon - USA
Michael Meehan - USA
Thales Panagides - Cyprus
Tammy Montagna - USA
Samantha Tennant - England
Ron Finely - United States
Bob Duprez - United States
Peter Baines - England
Youssef Bouguerra - Tunisia
Van Wallach - USA
Lesley Cushing - England
Alexander von Brincken - Germany
Hank Avellar - USA
Ed Catchpole - England
Penny Freeland - England
Yasemin de Pinto - Turkey
Amy Williams Lima - USA
John Naumann - England
Marsye Schouella - Eygpt
Rita Shannon Koeser - USA
John Fitzpatrick - Scotland
Liam Gallagher - Northern Ireland
Lorelei Jones - England
Adam Glensy - England
Tommie C.B. DeAssis - Japan
Aaron Day - Canada
Graham Debney - New Zealand
Silke Tina Tischendorf - Germany
Tanya Keshavjee Macedo - Canada
Frank de Meijer - Holland
Carl Emberson - Australia
Kim Buarque - Wales
Damiano Pak - South Korea
Jonas Helding - Denmark
Pari Seeber - Iran
John Milton - England
Ken Marshall - Australia
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8/29/2008
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