Dia 3 O Malandro

We left on our house a little later than we were supposed to, but somehow we got off about 10 minutes earlier than usual! What nice luck!

In class, we talked about how the term Jeitinho came about. In 1930, when Getulio Vargas was the president of brazil, he made a great effort to urbanize the country and take away Brazil's image as a primarily agricultural country. With this, many people from small villages came to the cities, only to find that there was no work. These backlanders, or "malandros"had to pull strings in order to sustain themselves and their families. These acts were called Malandragens "Maul anne dra hangs". Now this as known as pulling the jeitinho. It's interesting to see how things have evolved.

Afterwards, we went to Olinda, a place which is colorful with history!! We saw several old churches and a really cool statue of Princess Isabela. According to the Portuguese, "First comes God, then the saints, then Princess Isabella". She was a huge advocate slave liberation, who in 1888 helped facilitate the legislation which led to the slaves being freed. Pretty cool!

The bus ride home was another reminder of how grateful I am to live close to work/school. One luxury that most of us have in the United States is that we have personal transportation, and even the public buses which I have ridden on are nicer, and A LOT less crowded than the ones in Brazil. 

I'm trying to think of a funny story to tell but I'm pretty tired. Sorry if you were expecting one. Thanks for reading, and please don't get discouraged.