It's All Coming Together (Finally!)

Do you remember the song, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Debelah Morgan? Well, the catchy lyrics go something like this:

"Don't you know there ain't no mountain high enough

Ain't no valley low enough

Ain't no river wide enough

To keep me from getting to you."

This song perfectly describes the mission Amintas and I have been on to find data for our Reforestation model in Paragominas. However, even after searching and searching for the data over high mountains, low valleys, and wide rivers some of the data is still evasive and has been deemed non-existent. That being the case here are a few mug-shots of the data we have found... but before debuting the data...

To refresh your memory, the data is being used as variables to understand where the most suitable locations are for reforestation projects in Paragominas, Para, Brazil using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis. Here's the roll call for the data:

• Forest Cover
• Aridity Index
• Elevation √
• Slope √
• Land Use/Land Cover
• Land Opportunity Cost
• Population Density
• Net Primary Productivity
• Soil Zoning Type √
• Potential Vegetation √
• Soil Vegetation Association √
• Fire Probability
• Bodies of Water √
• Urban Areas
• Deforestation Date √

All data without check marks are absent and remain unknown (at least for the time being).

So the model is constructed using constraints, which limit the alternative solutions under consideration, and factors, which "enhance or detract from the suitability of a specific alternative under consideration" (Eastman, 2006).

Constraints + Factors = Multi-Criteria Evaluation (solution)

*APP = 100 meters of protected area on either side of rivers/streams

*The column of the left shows the data in its raw form and on the right the data has been "normalized." A normalized data set contains data using

*SVA = Soil Vegetation Association and is created by "intersecting" or "overlaying" soil data with vegetation data.

*SRTM = radar data that shows land elevation

In the diagram above, the warmer the color, the better the sight is for reforestation activities. Of course, this map will change as more data is found and inputted into the model.

But for now the model is workable, though far from its full potential...

Sources:

Eastman, Ronald J. (2006). IDRISI Manual. Clark Labs, Clark University. Worcester, MA.

http://www.anysonglyrics.com/lyrics/d/debelahmorgan/aint.htm

Progress...

Back and forth, back and forth. My hammock swings side to side like the hand of a metronome. I think I am in 3/4 time; a nice slow waltz. Tick, tick, tick. Nothing rushes in Brazil. Even the women who walk the beaches match this slow and methodic beat, as if they were walking down the fashion runway, each step originating from their hips- long, and elegant. I have had to adjust my walk and my watch. No one rushes; there is no hurry.

Despite the slow beat here in Belem, my time here runs away from me at an allegro pace. On August 7^th I will have been here for two whole months. Two whole months and I have a measly little tan to show for it. But that is a testament to my time at Imazon. If I could get a tan from the fluorescent glow of my computer screen, well lets just say I would have quite the tan! My project at Imazon is coming along well. Amintas – my IDRISI guru – and I have a preliminary model working to delineate the most suitable locations for reforestation projects in Paragominas, however issues with a lack of available data continue to plague us at each corner. Look left: no land opportunity cost data. Look right: cloudy satellite data (clouds obscure the satellite image and thus its overall quality/integrity).

The current data deadlock has not derailed progress. I am pushing ahead to design a preliminarily outline for a short publication. It will complement an Imazon publication series called: "The State of the Amazon." The State of the Amazon contains policy briefs designed to alert policy makers as well as the public about current issues flourishing in the Amazon.

Finally Some Pictures!

I finally have some pictures to share from Brazil. They are from my weekend in Salinas at the beach. I will also put a link in the top welcome message of my blog.

Enjoy...

New House, New family, New Smiles

Not to brag, but I am living with quite possibly the nicest family now. My freind Rhalime and her family invited me to move in with them and out of my other less-than-desirable house. So in the midst of booming thunder and bright lightening this past Sunday night I got a new address and new happiness. I feel like I am living in paradise: my new family's hearts of full of generosity, kindness, and warmth; they have made me feel like a member of their family.

I feel so welcome, so loved, so special here. My last house was just not a warm and fuzzy environment and to top it off it wasn't in a great area of town, there was never any food to eat, and I lived in a room with no window and a hole in the wall that welcomed all mosquitos near and far to enter for a tasty treat of courtesy of Courtney's arms and legs.

If you are wondering how I made the switch and left my old house the answer is simple. I said that I wasn't supposed to be in Belem for as long as I am now staying (this is actually true - I had travel plans to go to another state about two hours away from Belem, but when the flight was more than my entire ticket from the States to Brazil I said no-no), and that I thought I was overstaying my welcome. The hard part was leaving Thais, but I set up her very own email account and taught her how to email. The very next day I had an email from her. I hope we can stay in touch, she is a very special girl.

So now I am living my last weeks in Belem with an awesome family and totally enjoying myself here. I will be going to Salinas (the beach town) with my new family again this weekend and I am hoping for a barnacle free time!

"Can We Be As Smart As Bats?"

Before I left for Brazil a family friend gave me a newspaper clipping, "Can We Be As Smart As Bats," on the Amazon Rain Forest and then much to my surprise it turned out to be a strikingly similar topic to my research here at Imazon.
No, I am not studying bats, but I am researching incentives to avoid deforestation and encourage sustainable development in the Amazon. So I invite you to read this New York Times article and imagine the day when the act of not cutting down a tree is more valuable than removing it.

Picture Source: "NASA Earth Observatory." Available at: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NasaNews/ReleaseImages/20040727/05_Forest_burning.jpg

What I've Learned

Belem gets better each day. I am learning all sorts of things here: portuguese verbs, deforestation issues in the Amazon, Belem's gems, laundry washing by hand, toilet paper protocol, and not to swim with barnacles.

Lesson 1: TP Protocol
Now in the US, toilet paper is ripped off the roll, used, and tossed in the toilet. In Brazil, toilet paper is ripped off the roll, used, and tossed in the trash. Such a subtle, but oh-so-important difference. Now, I haven't seen any signs explaining this protocol, so after the janitors at Imazon got fed up with the American clogging the toilet, my professor sent me this email:

Courtney, you'll find this funny but the janitors at Imazon asked me to tell you that you should not dispose the toilet paper into the toilet but into the trash bin that is located next to the toilet. In Brazil, toilets have a slightly different design and might get clogged when toilet papers are disposed. I prefer the American system... no further comments :)-

But even though I have been to other countries where this TP Protocol is applied, it has been difficult to reprogram my brain and the hand reflex. So I have had to go on a couple toilet paper fishing expeditions. The first time I forgot I was lucky and ended up fishing my toilet paper out with yellow plastic gloves that I found with the janitorial stuff. However, about three hours later I made the same fatal flaw, but this time no janitorial yellow gloves were at my disposal. So what is a girl to do? I found a dust pan and started fishing my toilet paper out of the toilet and finished the job up with a toilet seat cover that very nicely extracted the soggy mess from the toilet. Yikes, how stupid can I be to make such a mistake twice!!! How is that for a morning - fishing out used toilet paper from the toilet with my hands! Ok, so that was one lesson learned and I am very happy to report no more toilet paper fishing expeditions have been required.

Lesson 2: Thank Your Washer and Dryer
"Your clothes really get dry in a machine," asked my friend Elise (a researcher from Imazon) during a English conversation class at Imazon on "Life in California." The look on her face was priceless: perplexed to the max. Everyone else in the room wore the same expression. I really like the clothes line drying method becuase it is so pretty and really dolls up the yards and balconies of all the houses here, not to mention it is a huge energy saver.

So I urge you to thank your washer and dryer: two hours and your clothes are good to go. In my house here it more like a week and you are good to go. Now, allow me to explain the one week phenomenon. The clothes get hand washed (either by Thias or myself), hung on the line in the backyard, dryed in the hot July sun (the hottest month in Belem I might add), and then go into a mysterious bag that I have only ever glimpsed at hiding in a back corner of a bedroom to wait for another maid (who comes once a week) to iron the clothes.

Brazilians are absolutely obsessed with ironing, as I have discovered the hard way. My clothes disappear while they wait to be ironed. But it is not only my clothes. My sheets, my pillow cases, absolutely everything gets ironed! And to a wrinkled American like myself this is a very strange concept. I guess the nicely ironed clothes compliment the fantastic high heels that Brazilian women wear 24/7. I really don't blend in: no ironed clothes (because I snag them off the line now before they can disappear into the ironing bag), no high heels, blond hair.

Lesson 3: Belem's Gems...
Look and you will see there are amazing things to do in this city. On the banks of Rio [River] Guamá sits a gorgeous nature reserve and one of my favorite places in Belem. White herons, scarlet ibises, and vibrant blue butterflies fly throughout Mangal das Garças in an environment that mirrors the natural Amazon ecosystems: a small igarapé creek feeds a larger lagoon that eventually empties into a gorgeous mangrove forest. To get a birds eye view of the grounds my friend Hugo and I took an elevator ride to the top of a 45 meter tower. There is also an aviary to view over 20 different species of local birds, "a butterfly world" with hundreds of gorgeous butterflies, and a small little museum telling the history of Amazonian navigation. And then after, we went to a really cool restaurant that sits in the middle of the preserve and ate amazing local cuisine!

Another gem is a well- kept secret that most locals don't know even about. It is a park called Parque Ambiental de Utinga. This natural area sits right on the edge of the city of Belem and is a huge area dedicated to preserving two lakes and the surrounding rain forest in pristine condition so that the city can have fresh drinking water. (And just as a side note: the city's electricity comes from a hydropower plant located several hundred kilometers away -- hydropower is a very controversial subject here in Brazil with issues similar to those of Hetch-hetchy in Yosemite National Park, CA). After Amintas (a friend from Imazon) and I got clearance from the military, who protect this park using huge guns, we were able to drive on the dirt roads and explore the area. What a gorgeous park with trees towering into the bright blue sky, cicadas buzzing loudly, and many bird singing contests. We even spotted a troop of monkeys. It was amazing!

And then for a little fun, Estacao das Docas is a great place to sit back and relax by the bay. It was an old shipping yard that was recently converted into a chique, happening locale. There are about five restaurants here and a platform that moves back and forth above the restaurant tables for live bands to play music well into the night.

Lesson 4: Learning vocabulary is essential
"Voce sabe pato?" For the non-Portuguese speaking crowd, which clearly includes myself, this line translates as, "Do you know what pato is?" My answer this past Saturday, as the family was preparing for my host brother's 17th birthday party, was no. However, right after I said no, my host-mother pulled out the pato, a freshly killed translucent skinned duck with little black feather bits still attached. The pato still had a long neck, but the head had been crudely hacked off the same way a logger cuts down a big tree -- a series of imprecise saw cuts.

Now one does not want to eat little feather bits in their duck, so every single remnant of feather stubble had to be removed using the same type of tweezers that I use to pluck my eyebrows. While this process was occurring I was diligently shredding a huge pot of chicken outside in the backyard on the table. (If you have never hand shredded chicken you have missed out on a possibly life's most tedious task). I thought shredding chicken guaranteed me minimal contact with the dead pato, but I was mistaken and soon my host mother slams a huge cutting board right next to me and proceeds to butcher the duck. It can only be described as CSI autopsy meets AP Bio rat dissection. And being so close, I was privileged to the opportunity of learning what a duck heart, liver (the most savory part of the duck I hear), and intestines look like. I am not squeamish at all, but I must admit to have been thoroughly disgusted with the idea of having to eat a sad little duck - maybe I will go vegetarian upon arrival to the US. I know people eat duck, cow, fish, chicken in the US, but somehow it is much more real here in Brazil. I go into the freezer and a fish the length of my entire arm is staring at me with her porcelain glass eyes. This is much different than going to Safeway or Wegmans (or whatever grocery store meets your fancy) and ordering a fillet of fish - no eyes, scales, fins, etc. Now the duck butchering activity was not all blood and guts and actually afforded me a great bonding experience with my host-mother and of course I learned new vocabulary and will never ever forgot the word "pato."

Lesson 5: Everyone needs a manicure and pedicure
I look down at my hands and I have to laugh, every finger has a cute, little flower on it looking all bright eyed and bushy-tailed. Thais loves painting my nails and doing my makeup. At first I was really scared to go out in public with pink flowers dancing around on my nails and then I started checking out other women's hand and was astonished - everyone has the most intricately painted finger nails.

Lesson 6: Don't swim with barnacles
This past weekend I went to Salinas, an awesome beach town a few hours east of Belem, with a friend, Rhalime and her family. The beaches here are really different: everyone drives their cars out onto the beaches and just sets up shop. It is so funny and crazy. The sand is so hard, which allows the cars to drive effortlessly over the beautiful white sand. Truely a bizarre and unique sight. We had a great time, despite ending up in the hospital with legs, feet, and hands sliced and diced from being thrown by the waves onto barnacle-covered rocks. There were about seven of us that got trapped in the water by the waves and a very strong current, however Rhalime and I were the ones that got banged up the most. So for now we both have super attractive cuts on our legs and walk with a limp because our feet are swollen. We put a natural tree oil from the Amazon on our legs and feet and it seems to be helping, but it smells absolutely horrible. I think we are on the mend!

Portuguese?

“A different language is a different version of life.”

--Federico Fellini

“Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run out of which they grow.”

--Oliver Wendall Homes

“Learn a new language and you get a new soul.”

--Czech proverb

I have not found my Portuguese soul (yet). I hear my new soul at times: a complete sentence with a subject, verb, correct pronunciation, and point. But most of the time I want to speak “franguese,” a sad and often quite pathetic mix of Portuguese and French; “franguese” guarantees a blank and confused stare in return.

In my defense I am capable of having a real Portuguese conversation, but it requires a level of patience that is almost unbearable. Thais carries these traits, lots of smiles, quiet laughs and I carry a dictionary. So we can talk and somehow words and sentences grow. For better or for worse most of the people at Imazon and most of my friends speak English to a greater or lesser degree. English is the language of science and at Imazon there is a wide and captive audience of people eager to speak English with me.

I have been living this different version of life for a month now: satisfying and filling watermelon and pineapple diet, exciting (but long) work days, and tropical sunshine. It amazes me that time has flown by so fast. I am really settling into my new scenery and I am thoroughly enjoying my time south of the equator.

The Wonderful World of IDRISI!

Please meet IDRISI, a "highly sophisticated [computer] system... [that] is very easy to use." Whenever any computer program claims to be "easy to use" red flags should imediately pop up. But so far IDRISI has been a very been a good friend and hasn't thrown too many curve balls my way, but our friendship is quite new and I am only beginning to understand his personality, likes and dislikes. I have waited a long time to meet IDRISI - there was a lot of preparation that led up to our introduction, but we had a good first meeting when we were introduced by my IMAZON mentor, Amintas.

IDRISI is a program specializing in land change modeling, time series analysis, multi-criteria and multi-objective decision support, uncertainty and risk analysis, simulation modeling, surface interpolation, and statistical characterization. So IDRISI has a lot of tricks up his sleeve, but our friendship will be based on multi-criteria decision support analyis.

Multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) aims to support policy/decision makers who face many difficult decisions that can sometimes generate conflicting results. MCDA highlights these conflicts and uses a transparent method to derive a new solution.

So... here is an example of how IDRISI can help decision makers analyze policy problems. Consider a new residential development is slated to be built in Westborough, New York. Even though it sounds like it would be a great idea to build more houses in the community, there are concerns that have been brought to the at the town meeting.

1. "I want my kids to be able to grow up in a community close to the center of town where the schools are located" (Mrs. Long, concerned mother and wife).
2. "There are wetlands and streams in Westborough and building next to them or on top of them will severly impact the ecosystems and the endangered species of salamander that live in the area" (Matt Green, an environmental activist).
3. "I cannot build on steep slopes. So just because there are sensitive ecosytems in the area does not mean that you can push my development into the hills. Wetlands are great to build on because they are flat" (Joe Smith, Smith's Construction Company).
4. "This development is vital to the town of Westborough and will bring revenue to the town in the form of increased sales and property taxes" (Ann Apple, member of the Town Council).

So with these concerns at hand, IDRISI can be put to work. The variables used to help make this decision easier will be: slope, distance from roads, distance from town center, distance from streams and wetlands.

First, we must understand the behavior of the variables: are the relationship linear, sigmoidal, etc? Below are the variable slope and distance from town center are analyzed. Slope displays a sigmoidal relationship (low slopes/ "flat land" are much more preferable to steep land, yet there are some areas that are inbetween that are not totally undesirable). On the other hand, the desirability of the distance to town center can be best understood as a linear relationship (the farther the distance to the town center the more undesirable the building location).

The next step is to generate factor images for each variable (distance from roads -shown, distance to town center, slope of land -shown, wetlands/rivers). To better use the variables each variable must be normalized (percents, distances, degrees, etc. need to be evaluated equally using the same units). Each variable is transformed to a scale from 0 to 255, as shown below.

After, each variable has been normalized the data can be evaluated and given different weights depending on their relative importance. The final map for Westborough shows areas of high desirability as deep reds.

So this example is just a preview of what my analysis will be like for IMAZON. But for my work at Imazon I will be analyzing the best locations for CDM reforestation and afforestation projects in the county of Paragominas.

Got GIS?

Like milk, GIS is virtually used in everything and is everywhere! Check it out:

Do you use a cell phone? The transmission towers were located using GIS.

Do you drive a car with a GPS? GPS uses GIS.


Do you eat at McDonnald's and Burger King? Fast food restuarants use GIS to maximize their profits by choosing a location most accessable to their customers.


Do you hike, climb, kayak, run, or ski? GPS units can guide your route.


Do you want to leave in a community with less crime? GIS helps police department track crime patterns.


Do you call 911? GIS helps ambulances get to their destinations using “computer aided dispatch.”


Do you watch the weather channel to know if you need to bring an umbrella to school? Weather forecasting uses GIS technologies.

Do you use natural gas to make pancakes in the morning? Chances are the natural gas deposit was located using GIS technologies.


Do you watch the discovery channel? Forests, oceans, grasslands, mountains, and lakes are studied using GIS.


And the list goes on: Real estate agents, bankers, city mayors, pilots, army, military, health care professionals, state departments of transportation, utility companies, National Parks Service, etc. Everyone uses GIS!

Sources:

http://www.esri.com/industries/electric/graphics/gis-solutions-wheel.gif

Geographic Information Systems, a.k.a GIS

IMAZON uses GIS to view, understand, question, interpret, and visualize data in order to reveal relationships, patterns, and trends in the Amazon (ESRI 2008). GIS allows IMAZON to answer questions and solve environmental problems; “the ultimate aim of GIS is to provide support for making spatial decisions” (Malczewski 15).GIS connects science and policy.

GIS (in Portuguese “SIG,” pronounced “sigy”) is a simple three letter word for an intricate system known as Geographic Information Systems; “GIS should be viewed as a process rather than as merely software or hardware” (Malczewski 16).

5 Main Components of a GIS:
1. Hardware (computer)
2. Software (computer program)
3. Data
4. Procedures
5. People

Ultimately, GIS integrates decision support systems and spatially referenced data in a problem solving environment (Cowen, 1988). My internship at Imazon aims to create a sound and meaningful reforestation policy plan for Paragominas using GIS. (More to follow on my experiences using GIS, but at the moment I haven't started!).

Sources:
Arima, E. (2008). "Fundamentals of GIS: Introduction Presentation." Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Cowen, D. (1998). "GIS versus CAD versus DBMS: What are the Differences?" Photogrammetric
Engineering and Remote Sensing. 54(2); 1551 - 1555.
ESRI (2008). "What is GIS?" Available at: http://www.gis.com/whatisgis/index.html
Malczewski, J. (1999). GIS and Multicriteria Decision Analysis. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

All About IMAZON

IMAZON, a non-profit research organization, promotes sustainable development in the Amazon region of Brazil guided by social, economic, geographic, ecological, and policy research. Founded in 1990, the Institute strives to identify policies enabling sustainable natural resource use and conservation in the Amazon supported by objective and unbiased scientific methods.

If you were walking down Rua Domingos Marreiros in Belem you would never notice the small, plain green sign hanging above the simple barred door. But once you ring the buzzer another world is opened up before your eyes. It is the world of Amazonian research. In front of each computer screen is a researcher working to understand the primary drivers of deforestation, the economic factors of beef production, the pattern of deforestation, or possible preservation policies. The Institute has about forty team members all devoted to this quest.

I feel extremely privileged to be a member of IMAZON's community for the three months I here and I absolutely love my work at Imazon! I am working with two researchers (including a Brazilian Stanford master's graduate) to identify locations suitable for reforestation projects within the municipality of Paragominas in Para State. Below is a map showing the location of Belem (the city where I am living) and Paragominas.

Twenty percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions come from deforestation… so curtailing the rate of deforestation and the reforesting devastated areas can have a large impact. The State of Para has recently pledged to plant one billion trees - this is a similar to the United Nations’s initiative to plant one billion around the world, however the twist on this project is that the one billion trees are concentrated in one State. So lots and lots of trees need to be planted and this is where my work comes in… My project’s goal is to identify locations within Paragominas eligible to receive carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism. Therefore, a developed country (only the EU, Japan, and Australia at this time) could fund a reforestation in Paragominas at a lower cost than an equivalent carbon dioxide reduction would cost in their home country. It’s all about economics!

Paragominas has witnessed over four decades of logging, ranching, and farming to become the most devastated area in the Amazon. Therefore, this municipality serves as an excellent model of how reforestation projects could be, if this project is successful, replicated elsewhere in the Para. I will also have the opportunity to travel with my research mentor to this region to see the devastation first hand.

My project will use GIS (Geographic Information Systems - computerized mapping) to identify the areas that qualify for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. Also, my goal is to design educational curriculum for high school and middle school science students using my work at Imazon. This part of my project will be concluded in the Fall at Cornell University.

The Outlook is Good!

First, I want to thank everyone for their support and kindness over the past week regarding my mugging incidence. All of your kind words have meant a lot to me and have really make me feel closer to home.

This past week has been much, much better and I am finally adjusting to the Brazilian life style… here’s the scoop on what’s happening south of the equator! I still can’t believe I have been here for two weeks already!

Monday to Friday from 8:30 to 5: Life at Imazon
I absolutely love my work at Imazon! I am working with two researchers (including a Brazilian Stanford masters graduate) on a project to identify locations suitable for reforestation projects within the municipality of Paragominas in Para State.

Twenty percent of the global carbon dioxide emissions come from deforestation… so curtailing the rate of deforestation and the reforesting devastated areas can have a large impact. The State of Para has recently pledged to plant one billion trees - this is a similar to the UN’s initiative to plant one billion around the world, however the twist on this project is that the one billion trees are concentrated in one State. So lots and lots of trees need to be planted and this is where my work comes in… My project’s goal is to identify locations within Paragominas eligible to receive carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism. Therefore, a developed country (only the EU, Japan, and Australia at this time) could fund a reforestation in Paragominas at a lower cost than an equivalent carbon dioxide reduction would cost in their home country. It’s all about economics!

Paragominas has witnessed over four decades of logging, ranching, and farming to become the most devastated area in the Amazon. Therefore, this municipality serves as an excellent model of how reforestation projects could be, if this project is successful, replicated elsewhere in the Para. I will also have the opportunity to travel with my research mentor to this region to see the devastation first hand.

My project will use GIS (Geographic Information Systems - computerized mapping) to identify the areas that qualify for Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects. Also, my goal is to design educational curriculum for high school and middle school science students using my work at Imazon. This part of my project will be concluded in the Fall at Cornell University.

A Word on the Weather:
I really don't know what season it is here… I have heard that it is technically winter, though I have been told there are really just two seasons here "dry" and "wet" (I would refer to them as "wet" and "wetter," personally). But we are in the "dry" season ... It rains almost every day here in the afternoon with tons and tons of thunder and lightning. Even after four years of thunder and lightening in upstate New York, I am still not used to this loud and bright weather event! The rain is nice though because it cools off the temperatures a little bit and makes the heat a bit more manageable.

Meet My Host Family Vlamir, Iranley, Neto, and Thais
Vlamir and Iranely are my host parents. I believe we had a language issue and they were scared that I wouldn’t understand what they were saying. (Ha – this is probably true, but still…) However, after about a week of silence, the words and hand gestures are flowing just fine!

Neto is my host brother. He is a tall, very skinny 16 year-old boy and the one that lent me clothes for the party. He is very nice and spends most of his day playing computer games in English. These games are his way of learning English. He is pretty good in English and much prefers English to Portuguese. But I have started forcing him to speak Portuguese – at least a little bit!

My favorite is Thais. She is a 14 year-old, perky girl with a beautiful smile. She is the family “maid.” Yes, you read that correctly, she is the maid. I still have a hard time understanding how she really can be the fulltime maid and definitely not treated as a “14 year old girl,” but apparently it is perfectly normal and common here. Not every family has maids, only weathy ones from the "interior" (i.e. the country side). But it is not perceived as strange or bad.There are clear differences between her treatment and Neto’s… for example she goes to public school (which are apparently horrendous here - the teachers were on strike for a month and a half) and he goes to private school. Her teeth are not straight and Neto wears braces. She goes to school and comes back to do the wash by hand, scrub the floors, and make the family meals and he sits in front of the computer or in front of the mirror combing his hair and asking me if it looks good.

Anyways, Thais and I have bonded and she teaches me Portuguese and I teach her English. She comes in my room and we both plop ourselves on my bed and read over grammar and vocabulary lessons. She also brings me her English homework and I help her or maybe I should say she helps me! Last night she taught me the Brazilian States and their capitals. She is soo sweet! And she is very patient and we struggle together in languages not our own.

Ok, that’s all for now!

Hope everyone has a great week!

Tchau!

A Rough Sunday in Belem

I will be posting more updates on my daily life here in Belem, but for now I thought I would share an incidence that happened to me on Sunday. However, for reasons described below I will not be posting pictures or video clips of the city anytime soon... but will hopefully be able to describe the city in words!

On a positive note before I begin my story, I am loving my work at Imazona and my host family is slowing warming up to me. In fact last night they gave me q-tips and cotton balls - I'm taking this a very kind gesture, otherwise they must think I am dirty! But at least they are talking to me now - it took about a week for the parents to even utter a word to me, but now they are acting much friendlier.

Here is my Father's Day in Brazil:
Sunday afternoon I went out to go sightseeing with a Canadian friend from Imazon. She just arrived here a couple weeks ago for her Ph.D. research and I didn't realize where we were walking to get to a really pretty area... It turned out to be a horrible section of town and I got mugged/robbed. It was horrible and I still can't believe it happened; it seems like a really bad dream to me.

The incidence occurred right after we took cover under an overhang to wait out a downpour. As we were starting to leave, I saw a man sprint towards me. He grabbed my purse, but I didn't let go - he was a tiny-little, 25 -30 year old man and I was pretty much winning the tug of war game, until my friend yelled at me that he had a huge knife. He was trying to cut my "theft-proof" bag with a 8-10 inch, large, rusty knife. I dropped my bag and he ran off with my two cell phones (US and Brazil), my fancy camera that I received as a graduation from my parents (it was the first time that I had taken it out because I was scared of theft), my credit card, and some money. Turns out that I got a cut on my wrist from the knife and it bled like crazy all over me and my friend. But we were safe and I didn't really get hurt that badly, so that is all that matters. I feel horrible for my friend though, I can't imagine what it must have been like to watch what happened. I imagine it to be even scarier than having it happen to myself because when you are watching it happen you would feel so helpless.

I don't care about my stuff - it is all replaceable and insured too, but the big thing now is that I feel like my "identity was stolen." Not my identity like ID (and thank goodness I only had a copy of my passport with me at the time), but my identity as a person who can travel by themselves and be totally self-sufficient. I am scared to walk anywhere now and probably won't for a long time. I am scared just to be here. I know this can happen anywhere, but it seems almost unbearable to be in a country where I don't speak the language well and am so unfamiliar with anything here.

But everyone has been very supportive and Professor Arima and his wife came to pick me up from my host family's house after it happened and take me to his wife's parents' house and I spent the night there.

Hopefully, my fear will go away and it will seem like it never happened, but for now anyone that walks near me almost makes me jump. Though at this point I have nothing else of value: no purse, no wallet, no camera, no cell phone... so really what is there nothing else to steal.
I really feel bad the people who have a life of stealing though, what must their life be like? They live in poverty and obviously feel there is no hope for them to survive without petty theft. It must be a dismal and very unhappy existence to say the least. I've also been told that the money stolen goes towards drugs a lot of the times. Just not a happy life at all.

It seems like a lot of my professor's family and people at Imazon have a story about being mugged themselves, so it is not that they picked on the American blond girl as an easy target. (Though in a city where I have seen no tourists, me and my blond hair stick out like a sore thumb). In fact, my host family's son told me last night that he had been robbed four times last year within blocks of his house. So it really does seem like everyone knows someone who has been a victim of theft or has been one themselves.

Well, basically it all has to get better from here on out - I hope...

The Adventure Begins...

Out my window I see lush vines with leaves so big they would be hats, skyscraper-like trees towering over the forest’s understory and I hear “caw-caw.” The whole orchestra of sights and sounds are woven together by the hot moist air, so thick you can taste it.

Ok, well that was how I imagined my experience…

“So where exactly is the rainforest,” I ask on a car ride with my professor, Eugenio, his wife, Norma, and his wife’s mother. Before I get an answer, a roar of laughter is heard, “not for a long distance - it is no where near here.” My question quickly gets translated into Portuguese so that the Norma’s mother can also get her laugh in. Clearly I asked a stupid question! Yet, I am reassured that one city block of rainforest exists in the heart of Belem. Phew… there is a little rainforest in the rainforest.

So the bottom-line is that I haven’t seen the rainforest yet… but I will! For now though my sights, sounds, tastes, and feelings are limited to city life in Belem: exhaust, honking, and scattered litter on the sidewalk.

My first sight in the country was the Rio de Janiero Airport. And might I add that I saw it for a very long time: 8:30 am to 7:40 pm. I was only supposed to see it from 7:05 to 9:15. I’ll let you fill in the whole story for yourself… suffice to say I heard my name paged at 9:07 as I cleared customs, panting as I sprinted with two rolling suitcases through the airport.

I spent my first night and first full day at Norma’s parents’ house where I felt like a pampered princess. They don’t speak a word of English and I’m not going to advertise how many words I know in Portuguese, but we had a great time. We went sightseeing to the big bay here, to an old fort, and I had my first Brazilian Agua de Coco (Coconut juice in a coconut prepared by machete).
After my fabulous day of sightseeing I went to my new casa (i.e. my homestay). After getting clean sheets on my bed, toilet paper, and have the promise fixing a huge, window-size gaping hole in my wall, I think all will be well in Courtney’s world!

I had my full day of work at Imazon yesterday and I love it! Everyone is super nice and incredibly hospitable. I even have my own desk! I get my assignment tomorrow after I talk to the Carlos, the executive director!

Boa Noite!

Getting Ready!

Today is my last day in Estados-Unidos. I take off tomorrow for Brasil in the morning. I will write when I get settled in Belém!

Tchau!