Feliz Natal

It's been a few days since I last posted so I figured I'd catch everyone up on past events.

Christmas - as you can see by the picture on the left - was pretty fantastic. Most brasileiros celebrate Natal on the 24th and stay up until midnight to give out presents. So on the 24th I ate and ate and ate (No presents though). Typical food is turkey, rice, farofa - a fried flour type thing with a little bit of meat, potato salad, chicken salad, habanada - similar to french toast with cinnamon and sugar, rice and carrots, fruit and sangria.

Thursday night was pretty laid back, I watched part of a movie and went to bed.

Christmas day was less eventful: The streets were nearly empty, most people were at home with their families and I was painting walls. Oh and I called my mom to say Merry Christmas, as well as both sides of my families during their respective holiday meals. It was great to hear everyone's voice and I realized it was the first Christmas in my 23 years of life that I haven't been with my family. I am, however, already planning a barbecue for the spring so I can still see the fam.

That night we went out to a club in Botafogo which was fantastic. It's odd, I have never really been part of the club scene in the states, but there is something really enjoyable about it. I tend to avoid crowds, but when people are together for the purpose of having fun and dancing and when you're out with a good group of people it's just fun.

Anyway, Saturday night was similar to Friday, out to a club, but in Lapa (Botafogo and Lapa are neighborhoods in Rio, much like Fishtown in Philly) and home to sleep. And today, I'm going to the beach and coming home early to sleep.

-Josh

Pre-Christmas entry

I have finally settled in down here. I'm working at the hostel (Painting rooms for now) and just enjoying everything. I can't believe it has been two weeks already, where does the time go?

Tomorrow is Christmas eve already and I get to eat tons of food with the hostel employees. It should be pretty wonderful, but I already miss my Grammy's ham and singing on Christmas eve. And mostly I'll miss my family. But there is Skype, which has helped me stay connected so far and I realized that I don't really miss the snow. I'm perfectly fine with the heat for now, although it's supposed to get up to 110 Degrees F sometime next month, which will probably be pretty rough.

As for the images, the top two are from the botanical Gardens in Rio de Janeiro and the bottom two are of Copacabana.

Anyway, FELIZ NATAL everyone, try to stay warm!

-Josh

It Never Hurts to Ask

I think my housing saga has finally come to an end and I think it will end better than expected. Thanks to a last minute, last-ditch attempt, I think I might be doing some work/trade for the hostel I'm in in exchange for a bed (oh, and breakfast).

Over the past week and a half I've become friends with the employees at the hostel and learned about it being high-season here AND that they're doing construction on another hostel just up the road. That little bit of information was fantastic to learn for two reasons: I have construction experience and half the staff is leaving in January to go to the new hostel. People tend to need construction help towards the end of projects to meet deadlines and "free" help is the best kind. Also, once the work is done, they'll have two hostels to run, in the high tourist season, and will most likely need help.

So I asked.

And Henry (O chefe, the boss) said yes. Albeit it's going to be 36 hours a week, but it's a fantastic opportunity to meet and people and be surrounded by portuguese speakers. Then at night I can come back to the hostel and hang out with the employees (pictures coming soon) who are about my age and speak in more portuguese. Oh yea, and it doesn't cost money.

In the end, there are more pros than cons for this option and and more pros than staying in a room farther out of the city by myself. So we'll see how it goes. Also, as an addendum to my previous entry, maybe it's not so bad to wait until you arrive. I feel like I've met more friends out of necessity of finding shelter than I would have by sheepishly talking to people on the streets.

And one last thing that I find odd in Rio: There are so many key-making kiosks on the streets. I have no idea why so many people need keys made. I walked around Copacabana for an hour and I think I found about 10 different kiosks, all of which were making keys as I passed.

High Season

For anyone reading this looking to travel: Find accommodations ahead of time if you want a less stressful experience.

I decided to come to Brazil at the worst time to find housing: High season. Meaning many tourists and increased prices. I have e-mailed about 10 people, gotten 4 responses and have only looked at one room. Granted it doesn't help that I'm not fluent in Portuguese yet, but I probably should have looked ahead.

Places I looked for housing:

Easy Quarto
Craig's List

Anyway, the place I found is alright, a little dirty and about a twenty minute bus ride from the fun stuff and more than I really want to pay, but it's a place!

And tomorrow I'm going to ask if I can do work trade in the Hostel I'm in. It has been, by far, one of the best experiences of my life and I would love to continue it for as long as possible. If I get it, I could even afford to take a language course while I'm down here which would be amazing!

So, wish me luck.

Boa Noite,
-Josh

O Primeiro Nota

I've been in Brazil for four days and so far it's fantastic. The first few days the weather was cloudy and rainy, but it gave me a chance to explore the city and go for a run along the beach. It's beautiful here: The forest covered mountains nearly touch the white sandy beaches and the old colonial architecture is amazing.

However, I don't have too many pictures of this stuff yet, I'm finding it hard to motivate myself to walk the city and take pictures. I did go to Cristo Redentor (The giant Christ statue) yesterday and the trek up was amazing. I hiked with 7 other people for about two hours up the side of the
mountain. There were beautiful waterfalls and
the plants were incredible. Also, the weather has
been between 70 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit: I
love it

As for the pictures:
The first one is of a favela near Botafogo where I'm staying.

The second is a view of Rio from the Christ statue.

The third, ruins in the Tijuca nature reserve.

Fourth: All the people I hiked up to the statue with. From left to right: Ali, Andy, Mattie, Maggie, Montse and Thomas. The fifth picture


Fifth: Another view of rio.

Sixth: Cristo Redento.

Location, Location, Location

Less than a week until I head down to Brazil and I still haven't found housing.

I booked a hostel for one week so I could look around for housing, but I was hoping to find something before hand. A few months ago I tried to find anyone I could who knew someone in Brazil and might be able to offer housing: I recommend this to anyone who wants to travel.

For starters I asked all of my friends, which gave me few results. One friend had a brother who traveled to Argentina and stopped into Brazil for a short stay. Another friend had a friend whose brother stayed in Brazil to study Samba for awhile. And that's about as far as that got me. I did receive some good information (Spirit Air is great for cheap flights to Peru), through these two friends I e-mailed a few more people, but nothing came out of it.

Next I joined a meet up group in Philadelphia, this was pretty neat, yet a little over whelming. If I stuck with it , it could have been advantageous, but the hours never seemed to work for me and then the group ended a month later.

I also contacted my Portuguese professor from RIT, my Capoeira Instructor, and all the colleges in my area with a Portuguese class (I was hoping to sit in on the class for free - no luck though). My professor wasn't much help, but she was nice about it. My Capoeira Instructor (http://www.comexpressao.com/) sent me some e-mail addresses from his friends in Brazil, sadly they never responded to me, but I probably could have sent more than one e-mail. Lastly, the colleges: UPenn and Temple. UPenn's professor was strictly by the books and told me to go through admission. Temple's professor, Dr. Marco Silva, is amazing.

When I first contacted him he told me he was no longer going to be the professor because his contract had run out, yet he offered to meet with me and talk about Brazil. When I met with him we just talked about what I wanted to do and he had some great stories about Brazil. He also mentioned he was moving back to Rio de Janeiro in a few weeks. Since we met he has moved back and I've kept in touch with him. One of the reasons I decided to travel to Rio is because he lives there and it can't hurt to have a friend in a strange new place. He's given me tons of advice on where I should look for housing and the places I should avoid. In fact, Marco even looked for a few places and sent the e-mails along to me. And so far I might end up staying in one of those places (Casa Convivio). Or I might not, and this is why I booked a hostel for a week.

In that week, I plan on finalizing my housing arrangements and checking out more places if need be. I'm hesitant to give anyone money without seeing the place first and so it's hard to secure housing on my words alone. Maybe I'm being to cautious, but I recently heard about someone from California who paid $1,800 for a place in Philadelphia, when she got here the address didn't even exist. So, I'll err on the side of caution.


Some other things I looked into were Couch surfing and WWOOF. Couch surfing seems great for short trips (Maybe a week or so), but I was hesitant to ask for anything over that because I felt it might be a burden on someone. I don't think I would want anyone staying on my couch for a few months and if I didn't like them then I'd need to find a way to kick them out, but knowing me I'd be too nice. WWOOF is a farming exchange program. The family gives you housing and (possibly) food for 20 - 30 hours of work a week. This sounds like a great program, but I've found positive and negative reviews online and I wanted something with a little more positive assurance. I'm also going in the rainy season when not as much farm work needs to be done and so my options would have been greatly limited.

All in all, I'm excited and terrified. And it's a great thing to be. 6 days, I can't wait.

Making Money

Back in May (Of 2009) I decided I wanted to make this trip happen. I decided that I wanted to travel for the Fulbright as well as see some of the world. So I asked myself what steps I would need to take to make this happen.

First I figured out how much the whole trip would cost me (approx.):

Plane ticket: $900
College Loans: $1000
Food: $900
Hostel: $100
Place to stay: $1500
Travel around: $300

Total: $4700

I used the airfare at the time, I pay $300 a month in college loans, I figured I could make due with $300 a month on food pretty easily if I cook most of my meals. As for the place to stay, I booked a hostel for the first week and just estimated that a small to decent apartment would run me about $500 a month, but it's just a guess. And $300 for any extra travel, although more could be nice. And anything on top of this would be for souvenirs and other fun stuff.

From that list I knew a rough amount of money I would need to save and I started cutting my spending: I bought in bulk and bought cheaper products when possible (I still went for the softer toilet paper at an extra $.12 a roll). I've tried to eat out less, but it's one of my favorite things to do, so I just eat out at cheaper places. If you're ever in Philadelphia check out Nanzhou hand-drawn noodles on race st. between 9th and 10th. Big noodle bowls for $4.50. OR Paesano's on Girard ave. just west of Front st. Delicious subs from $6 - $8.

But still, how would I make enough money? The truth is, it's not easy. And as I write this I'm still about $1,000 short with six weeks to go. But I'm not too worried. I started to find as much paying work as possible, while keeping my studio (4 hours of work a week) and apartment (10 hours of work a week). That left me with three to four days a week (not including weekends) where I could make some money.

In May, June, July and August I did a lot of work for Steve Ford - One of three owners of a city - block of warehouses converted into studios - and I made some pots to sell online at my etsy site. The online sales are slow, even if you keep up with the updating. I also found two galleries (Or they found me) to sell my work through on consignment. This has also been slow, I think I've made about $30 over three months.

September until now have been a bit better on the financial side. Rob (My landlord) has had a few people ask him for work and he needed some help so I got to work on some big projects and save money off of that. I also started doing a few computer consulting jobs which is great pay, even if the work isn't very exciting. Once I get back from Brazil I'll probably avoid the consulting stuff if I can, I don't want to get sucked into i for the money.

For any artists fresh out of school or anyone wanting to travel but not financially capable yet, I would say try to have some computer skills, they can be really helpful in a pinch. Also, don't lose hope and buy a plane ticket as soon as you can. I bought mine in the beginning of August for $600 (woohoo! The recession helped me!), and now I'm locked into it. Whether I save up enough money or not I'm still going. And I have learned to be ok with that. If I need to I'll meet people in Brazil who will need some kind of help doing something, or maybe I can teach English a few times a week. Regardless of what happens, I'll still be in Brazil.

When it began...

I decided to get this show on the road around June, 2009. I had been out of school about one year and I decided it was time to get on with my life.

Living in the real world has been pretty fantastic, I started doing construction for the potter Rob Sutherland. In exchange for 20 hours a week of work he gave me a studio to work in and a room to live in. But perhaps I should give some back story first as to how I got connected to Rob.

In the Summer of 2003 I attended the Pennsylvania Governor's School of Information Technology(PGSIT) in Philadelphia. Because of it I learned a little bit about computer graphics and decided to pursue that through college. With this arts background I applied to work at PGSIT for something to do over the summer and to support such a fantastic program. Since 2005 I have been working there every summer and beginning to learn more and more about Philadelphia. Just before the summer of 2006 (During my second year in school) I asked my ceramic professors if they knew anyone living in Philadephia who might be willing to show me their studios and talk about their work. My one professor, Julia Galloway, suggested that I look into Neil Patterson and Sandi Peirantozzi and Rob Sutherland. At that time Neil and Sandi were out of town and I couldn't catch up with them. However, Rob was around, so that summer I went over to his studio one day and just talked to him for about an hour. I saw him working in his studio and I learned what he was up to with life. I also learned that he recently bought three properties and he was in the middle of fixing them up.

The following year I knew I would be back in Philadelphia and I knew I would have some free time during the days (I only needed to be available for PGSIT from 4PM - Midnight). I called up Rob and asked if he would be willing to do a work trade situation for some studio time. Since July is a down time for him, he said we could try it out and see how it goes. I would work one day and have studio time the next this arrangement worked out pretty well: I began learning construction and had time to make pots while his properties improved, albeit slowly.

In January or February of 2008 Rob called me up and said one of his tenants was moving out. He asked if I might be interested in doing work trade for my apartment and since I wasn't sure of what else to do, I took him up on the offer.

Taking a year off after college is probably one of the best things I have ever done in my life. I now know that I can make it on my own, it let me relax after an intense senior year at school and it gave me the opportunity to meet many great people. The time let me decide where I really want to go in life and I have just recently become truly excited about making work again.

And now, knowing what I want to do, I have begun putting all the pieces in order to make this trip happen.

Why Brazil?

I'm starting this blog to document the steps I took to make this trip possible. I hope that in the future this will be of use to someone, or a least remind me that doing what you want isn't always easy, but is always worth it.

So, why Brazil? That is probably the question I get asked most and seems like a good place to start.

About five years ago I was at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), just entering my second year at the university and my first year in the ceramics program. I needed a gym elective and I decided to try something new: Capoeira.

Capoeira is Brazilian martial arts. People stand in a circle called a "roda" and cheer on two players in the middle. The game is beautiful. There is a nearly constant circular motion between the players with constant give and take: action and reaction. But it is also much more, it's about the energy of the group and the tempo of the music. It's about a conversation between the two players and a conversation between the players and the rest of the group.

I really began to enjoy Capoeira and the culture around it. I took the class six or seven times while I was at RIT and eventually started taking classes at Capoeira Mandinga under Contra Maestre Carcará. In these classes I began playing the instruments and learning the music. I started to love the music and love interacting with everyone who was so passionate about the art.

Because of Capoeira - because I wanted to learn the music - I started taking a Portuguese language course my senior year of college. I instantly fell in love with the language and my ideas of the culture. My professor, Dani Morschbacher is a fantastic woman who truly loves Brazil. More often than not she would speak of Brazil in a very romantic way. I do believe she loves Brazil. And so it seems in my life that if there is a teacher passionate about a subject I feed off that passion and begin to love it.

That is where the idea to travel began. Those events planted the seed for this adventure and it has finally begun to grow and take shape.

The second reason I am going, besides curiosity, is to apply for a Fulbright Scholarship. A Fulbright Scholarship is one of two things: First, it is a grant given to a US citizen to do a research project in a different country. Second, it is a grant given to a US citizen to teach English in a foreign country.

I'm going for the first. This trip is for a few purposes.
1. Learn Portuguese
2. Research ideas
3. Get contacts at Universities

To apply for the scholarship I need to be fluent in spoken and written Portuguese. I felt immersion would be the best way to learn, although I have also been using Rosetta Stone to try and get a leg up before heading down. I also tried Pimsleur, but that is less interactive and it didn't really hold my attention.

I also need a research project. As of now, my ideas concern Ceramics (The field I have a degree in), but I'm open to changing that.

My first idea is to incorporate the movement and music of Capoeira into my pottery. Pretty basic and probably not enough to develop into a research project.

Next I was thinking of incorporating the colors and designs of the costumes at carnival general culture into my work.

Or maybe I can research the divide between the favelas (shanty-towns outside of the major cities) and the city proper. And contrast the wealth, technology, quality of life, safety, cultures, colors, etc. And begin to bring that into my work. I feel like this idea might be pretty common place, but it seems like the most in depth idea that I have for now.

A final idea I just recently began tossing around was working with a group of students at a university to construct and fire a wood kiln. Or perhaps move to a more rural area and build a wood kiln that could be used to purify water.

Just ideas.

First Time Traveler

A blog about my experiences with going to Brazil.

Also a test post.