Planning to go to Brazil initially satisfied my desire to be off the beaten track. I decided to go to a city people don't automatically think of when they hear "Brazil". Surely this would placate my ego for a while and allow me to feel a little bit original (For those of you who know what I'm talking about when I describe this really self-serving need to feel unique, check out this book that I only half agree with: THE LOST COSMONAUT--and the anti-tourist's manifesto)
Like with anything, once I started paying attention, Brazilian-y things surfaced everywhere. I began to pick up on people speaking Portuguese on the street. I met Brazilians at the mall. News articles miraculously started covering stories about Brazil. It's an amazing phenomenon. It reminds me when I learned the word "iconoclasm", I swear the New York Times only started using that word after I learned it. And I began to realize students of Brazil are everywhere... and I'm about to join their ranks.
Once I settled on Brazil, I began to justify the choice to myself this way:
1. I'll learn a language besides Spanish. This will begin to satisfy a promise I made to myself when I was 10, to learn many languages.
2. I'll "try on" an issue (public health) so I can start narrowing my idea of what I want to do with my life. See if I fit. See if I like it. See if it likes me.
3. The movies I've been liking best come from Brazil. I think I'm a little in love with a place I don't know yet.
If you want to see what I mean:
1. Pindorama, a 1970 film about a dwarf-run circus
2. Wasteland, a more recent film about the recycling industry the largest landfill in the world
3. Manda Bala, a documentary weaving together organized crime in Brazil
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