Being A Part of A Community

One of the first things that I did when I got to UEL (the University I work at) was to join a Portugues For Foreign Learners class. I met people from all over the world, but mostly from South America. I am currently taking my second Portugues class, and I have met people from: Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Iran, Hungary, Haiti, and Morocco. In addition, I attend the monthly Intercultural Cafe, which has allowed me to reach out to people studying at UEL from even more countries across the world. 

One of my classmates, Daniela, asked me to participate in a poem reading for one of the Master's classes. She sculpted a video that highlights the differences and beauty that we all bring to UEL with our languages. In the video, we all read the same people, except in a cascading effect in our language. It was really breathtaking to hear the differences in languages. 

From left to right:

Romania- Argentina- Spanish

Brazil- Portugues

Daniela- Venezuela- Spanish

Dominique- Haiti- French

Andrea- Hungary- Hungarian

Me- USA- English

Claire- France- French 

Copa do Mundo- Brasilian Style

I wish that I could describe the love, support, dedication, and excitement that Brasil feels for futebol. It's a breath of fresh air for a girl who played defense her whole life and feel in love with the sport, but lived in a country that it doesn't receive as much love as it deserves. Every game day I get so excited to put on my jersey. Whether we throw a viewing party at an apartment, or head out to a bar, it's always fun to cheer on Brasil. On the days that I've streamed the games online, it's funny because I hear fireworks and the whole town erupt and I know something is coming as my computer lags a minute behind the live television streaming. The commotion that occurs in the bar after winning a match makes you want to jump up and joining in the chanting, which is normally what happens. So far, Brasil tied their first match and won the second two. Tomorrow is a quarter finals game against Belgium, which you bet I'll be watching diligently and spiritedly to cheer them on. VAI BRASIL! Sidenote: the amount of Brasilian memes that get created based on the game is brilliant. Pictures and videos featured the coach tripping and flipping over, Neymar in a baby walker, crazy fans announcing the termination of future revival teams, and so much more. Brasil meme game is very strong. 

Patricia, Simba, Pedro, Ashley, and me 

Junio and me

Me, Bennie, Lara, and Ashley 

Me, Junio, Bia, Henrique, and Lara  

Henrique and me 

Intercultural Cafe

Every month one of the programs at Universidade Estudual de Londrina is called Intercultural Cafe. This brings together students of different nationalities that are studying on campus and gives us the opportunity to connect and learn from each other. This past month's theme was Festa Junina, which consisted on a small history lesson, a game of Kahoot to test our knowledge, and attempting to dance the qaudrillo. Enjoy our crazy attempt!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0N9ZndwgKc&t=21s

Festa Junina Celebrations

Normally when people think of Brasil they think of the month long party Carnaval, but the underrated little brother to that celebration is Festa Junina. This month long holiday honors three saints, and even spills into July to create Festa Julina. The most authentic experience I could have asked for was at a chakara with 150 people, more food than I could imagine eating, a mechanical bull, and the quadrilo (square dancing in sorts). The traditional wear is to dress as a caipira, farmer, in plaid, dresses, braids, and mustaches. Although I've gone to a few Festa Junina events, this by far was my favorite. 

Tackling the Federal Police

Even harder than creating a phone plan account was registering with the Federal Police for my RNE number. On average, we joke that it takes three visits to the Federal Police to get all of the paperwork in and correctly done. Although, it really isn’t a joke. For me, it took three Federal Police visits and one consulate visit.

If you are staying in Brasil for longer than three months then you are required to register with the police and pay a fee. The RNE (Registro Nacional de Estrangeiros- national registration for strangers) requires a passport, the application signed off at the USA embassy, proof of payment, 3x4 photo, a CPF card is helpful but not necessary, photocopies of ALL pages of your passport (I kid you not. Every. Single. One. Whether it does or does not have a stamp on it), and new to the list is- your original birth certificate with an official translation of it or an inscription letter from the US consulate in Brasil. This last part was a new rule put into place as I came to Brasil, and thus I did not know that I had to bring my birth certificate.

The story goes as so- I went online in March to make my appointment for the Londrina Federal Police and the soonest police appointment wasn’t until May 25. I entered Brasil February 23rd, and you generally have to register within three months of entering the country. In a panic, all of us ETAs in Londrina went to the police station together to and plead our case in hopes of a sooner date. No luck. The man told us to return when we had our official appointment dates. We told him that it was crucial for our fellowship and our university placement. To this, he responded by telling us to put our boss from the university on the phone. A surprise to us all, but we had our program manager call, and he pretty much said in exact repetition to her what he said to us.

So, time goes by. It’s now the end of May and I returned to the Federal Police with one of the research Fulbrighters. We went in very hesitantly, only thinking about our last experience. This time though, we worked with the man on the left instead of the right. It made a WORLD of a difference. Santana, our main man who helped us through the process with such kindness and patient, began our process that day by inputting some of our documents into the system. We ran into problems as he asked to see our birth certificate. Tara had her original birth certificate, and I had a believable photocopy of mine. Even with these, we were still rejected. Why? Our birth certificate had our mother’s maiden name on it, but the application for the Visa to enter Brasil had their current last name. Santana instructed us to each visit one of the US consulates and get an inscription letter. We finished out the visit that day by Santana taking our fingerprints and making a list of all of the items we needed to bring next time. For example, I made copies of my stamped pages in my passport and got them notarized. Santana laughed at me for getting them notarized and told me that it was a waste of time because he is a state official and him seeing my passport is enough to verify it. As well, I went to a photo place for my copies and they put two pages on each paper, which is another no no.

The next part of the adventure- how do I even go about getting an inscription letter? It didn’t matter which consulate I went to, as long as I made an appointment ahead of time and visited one of them with all of my materials ready. I went in to Sao Paulo expecting all of the worse; instead, the process to get through security took longer than the paperwork. This was my first solo trip in Brasil, which required an overnight bus in and out of Sao Paulo, and a mixture of five metro lines to get to the Brooklyn area. When I arrived at the gate there was a long line, but as I showed my appointment slip they ushered me in… and then kicked me right back out. At this consulate you’re not allowed to bring any bags in, so you must pay to leave your stuff in a locker across the street. My options were a credible looking building that also offered parking services, or the corner newspaper stand that offered for very cheap. I ended up choosing the safer looking venue, but was ripped off and had to pay 20 reais. Once again, I entered the consulate, went through the metal detector, and entered the American Services corridor. A very kind woman called me up, which was especially easy since I had an appointment booked, and she asked for my passport. I had to first pay the $50USD fee for the service and then returned to her for the paper to fill out. I asked her what documents she needed to see, and she said only my passport. Only my passport? Not my birth certificate? You mean that they didn’t even need to see the item that caused this whole extra work? Nope. I filled out the paper with my name, my parents’ names, my marital status, address, and email, which I had to fill out again because I put “single” instead of “solteira”. After that, I signed it in front of the woman, she did as well, she gave the stamp of approval, and that was that.

Tara, the Fulbright research fellow, and I returned back to the Federal Police for our third time hoping that it would be our last. We sat anxiously as Santana examined the new paperwork, but felt relief as he gave the stamp of success. Four months, three Federal Police visits, and one solo trip to the Sao Paulo consulate I finally walked out of the Federal Police with my RNE number document in hand. Santana told us to come back in August to pick up out official printed RNE, and we laughed because at that point we will have less than three months left in Brasil for our stipend.

Moral of the story- make sure that you go online to check the availability of the nearest Federal Police station (No, not every town has one and some people have to travel for these appointments), bring your passport photocopies of ALL pages, a 3x4 photo, and the paper the embassy gave you. Most important, contact them ahead of time to check if you need to get a translation of your birth certificate, and if they suggest anyone local to do that, or whether you will need an inscription letter. From what I’ve gathered, every single experience at the Federal Police is determined by who you work with, how much they like you, how they are feeling that day, and you never know what will happen- so make friends with your local Federal Police Officer!

Feira das Profissões na UEL

We had students from high schools all over the country come for UEL's feira das profissões day, which is similar to a university open house. I got to talk to students from all over Brasil and work alongside my students to tell them about our program. I did sneak away for a bit with Thais, one of the professors I work with for the first year oral production class, to take some pictures in the Letras Espanhol room. I'm so lucky and glad to have supportive and wonderful students that enjoy hanging out with me outside of class and call me over to join the Just Dance activities. 

I worked the night shift of the event, between 6-9 pm, and by then the crowds had died down. In order to try to attract the attention of passing by people, we put on Just Dance videos to popular English songs. Depending on the song we attracted some pretty big crowds. I got a bit too into it and jammed out with my students, which resulted in them pointing out just how bad of a dancer I am. To me though, if I can't be who I am in front of them (which is a total goon and crazy goof ball) then how can I ask them to trust me by doing the same. My bad attempt at dance moves was just met by my students encouraging me to continue and calling me over to join. I may have only talked to a hand full of perspective students, but I think we let our personalities shine out to those that we did. 

The Long Haul to Get A Cellphone Plan

Getting a phone plan is hard enough in your native language, between the jargon, and being offered deals and plans- it’s difficult. Now throw in a new language. After four months, I finally have a phone plan under my name.

When I moved to Brasil, I thought that the easiest option for phone service would be a rechargeable fill as you go plan. I bought a sim card from a supermarket and just needed to register it for it to start working. As I continued to try to use it I found that although I had money loaded onto it, my phone was still not working. So, I headed to my nearest Vivo store. This would be the Vivo store where they talked at me for one hour, even though they were trying their best to help me and explain the situation, and I teared up in front of three store associates. In my little to just very basic Portugues, I deciphered that for some reason, the prepaid plan wasn’t working and they convinced me that I had to buy a monthly plan. Why the prepaid did not work, but is working for several of my friends, is still beyond me. Anyway, I took their advice and tried to set up a monthly plan, which ended up being an adventure in a half.

In order to buy a lot of bigger items- gym memberships, furniture, cars, etc, one must provide his or her CPF number. In other words, they must give their social security number to the cashier, which to me is an odd concept. In the USA we guard our social security number heavily and fear identity theft, but in Brasil they give this number even when checking out at a grocery store. All of the purchases logged on a person’s CPF number then is processed into their taxes that year, or a process along those lines with Federal monetary involvement. So, Vivo told me that I would need a CPF to register a phone plan. Getting a CPF was on my to-do anyway, so no big deal. It only involved a day of going to the Post Office and Receita Federal- a process that took a few hours, but was easy enough. Later that week, I returned to the Vivo store, and when the women recognized me they had that “oh no, she’s back” look. For an hour, we tinkered with the system and they tried adding my CPF number to create an account for me.

Surprise, surprise, my CPF number was too new. They told me that because it was so new, it was as if I was just born in the system and could not be accepted. Defeat, once again. This time, they told me that in order me for to create an account I needed to use someone else’s CPF number and register it under their name. That meant that I dragged my poor friend Mario along for another hour long adventure visit to the store, in which they had to record all of his information, made him sign papers, and then technically created the account under his name. Here we are, about a month to living in Brasil, and trying to live off of solely wifi to communicate with everyone. The store clerks told me to return in a few weeks when my CPF was more used, and could be recognized by the system, to swap the account.

When I returned, you can guess what happened- no success. This time though, the ladies told me that I needed an RNE number register the plan. This RNE number can be received by going to the federal police, registering with them, and paying a few hundred reais. Little did I realize that this is what I had an appointment for the next month, which is a whole other story. By this point, I have a working plan, but it’s under someone else’s name. I wasn’t too worried, but I felt bad making my friend be accountable legally for my account.

Month three and a half of living in Brasil…. I have my CPF, passport, and RNE document in hand, along with a bit more confidence in Portugues, and I return to the Vivo store. I laid out everything, explained my situation, and TADA! Finally, friends, I completed the process. Thank goodness Brasilians are so kind and were very patient with my lack of Portugues, but man was that a tough pursuit. Moral of the story is, if you are living long term in Brasil and want to get a phone plan either A. bring a Brasilian friend with all of their documents and register under them or B. be prepared to bring your CPF, Passport, and RNE registration.

Thanks for sticking with me through that long rant. It was the first time that I really realized the struggles of doing something that, I honestly don’t like even doing in the USA, took months and months to process that I assumed would be completed easily. In some ways, I wish that the prepaid plan would have worked, but I know that working through the whole process was a good learning experience.