Deficientes

Here is another word I am not so keen on. This is the portuguese word for 'disabled'. However, it is better than 'cripple' which was commonly used not that long ago in Britain.

There are all the standard rules here for disabled access - but rarely are they applied. But - the brazilians will rush to help if needed.

We haven't seen another chair like John's - which is great for walking along the beach at low tide, when the sand is hard and dry. This is on Jurere beach in the evening.

Cabeleireiros!

What a word! Well I went in for a trim and came out 3 inches shorter!

I don't think it was the portuguese!

The Brazilian Real

We are trying not to think too much about the state of the Brazilian Real. Currently there are 3.6 or 3.7 reais to the pound. Unfortunately - buying a car means that we have some money invested here. As always in Brazil - you never know from one month to the next whether your money is going to be worth anything. We could come out of it quite well. On the other hand we could lose it all!

However, it's nothing like as bad as when we lived here in the 70s - when inflation was about 3000% - yes really!

Photos

The new camera is great. This is a photo of the beach just 5 minutes away taken today at lunchtime.

Some observations.....

I will have to get beyond using the Levels Adjustment and Image Sizer in Photoshop!

• I will have to dig deeper into how Flickr works.

Does everyone else who is trying to use IT to develop ideas spend hours and hours on it - or is it just me?

Will divisions in society in the future be based on who is at ease with technological developments and who is not?

Digital Camera

I have finally bought a digital camera today - so hope to put my Photoshop course to good use and start snapping and editing. I've no doubt that this will also be a steep learning curve. It may be a week or two before I can get anything decent on the website.

Caqui

Here in Brazil it is the season for Caqui. This is such a delicious fruit. According to my internet search it is commonly known as a Japanese Persimmon.

Mamao - commonly known as Papaya - is also so good. I don't know why they bother to import this fruit to Europe as the imported fruit has nothing like the flavour of the fruit here.

I think I will add some information about fruits to the website - although I couldn't possibly convey the taste in words. Suffice to say that 'delicious' is an understatement.

Yet another thought about Blogs

I should imagine that keeping a Blog is a bit like painting, writing poetry, taking photos etc. You are always on the look out for some image, thought, idea to capture. Once this becomes a habit, I expect writing a Blog on a regular basis becomes easier.

Blogs Again

I have been thinking about this and have decided that to be successful Blogs need interesting and useful content (unlike this one, which is more like a personal diary) and the posts need to be short. No-one likes wading through a lot of text on screen!

However, keeping posts succinct and meaningful is an art in itself - which I shall try and practice!

Question: Could a personal diary be relevant in Blog format? Would Sylvia Plath have used a Blog?

Exercise

In Jurere, Florianopolis - exercise seems to be taken seriously. At any time of the day, but particularly first thing in the morning and in the late afternoon, there are loads of people out - jogging, power walking, cycling, swimming or just strolling.

To me it seems a lot easier to take exercise here in Jurere. The beach is 2 kilometres from one end to the other - so that it makes it a 4 km round trip. Walking on sand, particularly in flip flops and at a pace, makes you feel if as if you are taking exercise, but the sea, sun, white sand and spectacular views make the whole thing such a pleasure.

If the tide is right up and it's more difficult to walk on the beach, then there is a paved walkway behind the dunes from one end of the beach to the other. This is a great walk because - first - there are trees, providing shade, which means that you can avoid getting burned by the sun and walk at any time of the day - and second - the walkway is lined by the houses of the rich - fascinating architecture! Why they need such big second houses on the beach, I can't imagine - but the different designs make a 4 km walk very interesting. Presumably they expect everyone to gawp at their houses, otherwise they wouldn't have built them in this location.

Doing this walk, twice a day, plus swimming in the sea every fine day - means that we are definitely feeling more fit - not to mention more tanned. When I get my digital camera, I will post some photos!

My website

Well I have finally managed to publish my website. 1and1 - my host provider - must be so pleased to get me off their backs. They have been receiving daily emails from me for the past 2 weeks!

I have found this the most difficult and frustrating experience. Writing the course in Dreamweaver had it's problems as I made some fundamental errors as I was going along, which I only realised when I came to publish - and then of course (since I haven't used cascading style sheets) I had to correct the errors on each individual page. Very time consuming. There are still obvious errors which I have not been able to correct, e.g. why does my template does not appear in the exact same format on every page - why do some photos take a long time to download - how to size photos etc. etc.

However, writing in Dreamweaver was nothing like as difficult as publishing it in my webspace in 1and1. I have been trying to work out why I have found this so difficult and have decided that the following factors have contributed

• 1and1 make huge assumptions about the prior knowledge people have in the language they use in their help sheets
• Different language is used to describe the same thing both within their help sheets and from the different support staff I have emailed
• Using Dreamweaver rather than their own webbuilding software might have made it more difficult to follow the help sheets
• Each time I emailed the support team, someone different replied, which made it very difficult to follow through a line of enquiry

The problem is that I got so confused that in the end I have no idea how I managed it - so I will no doubt have the same problems all over again if I try and write another website. I wonder how many times my students have felt like this.

Final thought - I really could have done with a course on web design as well.

Blogs

I'm finding this experience of writing a Blog very strange. I haven't yet worked out who or what it is for. However, after thinking about this for a year or more I decided that the only thing to do was to launch in and see where it takes me.

I can't imagine why anyone would want to read this. The only Blog that I am interested in is Stephen Downes. According to him a Blog needs to be carefully planned (unlike this one!). Of course his Blog has a definite subject (e-learning and everything connected) - but even he has recently ceased publishing to his Blog. No-one really knows why - but I miss his Blog.

I am hoping that this Blog will help me to decide on whether Blogs have the potential to support learning or not.

Vento Sul!

In England its '...the North Wind shall blow and we shall have snow....' etc. - but here in southern Brazil the problem is the South Wind. When it starts, you can expect at least 3 days of wind and rain and it's definitely cool - but not cold.

Of course, it's autumn here now - although it's difficult to equate to that - as when the sun shines the temperature is in the upper 70s.

The funny thing is that even though it's still mostly sunny and hot, the shop windows are now full of winter fur-lined boots and woollen coats. The Brazilians love the idea of winter because it never really happens here.

Communicating through Portuguese

It is interesting that speaking a different language offers all sorts of opportunities for exploring and re-examining how we communicate with each other. I find that when I speak a lot of portuguese, then the way in which I speak English or write English becomes a translation of portuguese - very strange.

I also notice that when conversing in portuguese I am very selective about what I listen to - so although I may appear to be giving my full attention to the conversation, I am in fact only really listening to parts of it. I suppose I do the same thing in English although I am not so aware of it.

The best thing about speaking a different language is being able to hide behind it!

Communication

The biggest change from the last time we lived here (30 years ago) is in the ease of communication. Although this is obvious, it still takes you by surprise. These are the things I have been thinking about:

- It is possible that we could end up communicating even more with family than we do at home - through Skype. It is amazing that we are able to speak to them at home - through the computer - for free - and even if we Skype a land line at home it is very cheap. And even the Skype software can be downloaded for free.

- I was able to start work almost immediately - within a week - connecting with people in England, via Moodle, email and Skype. An internet connection and broadband has been very easy to get here - and even wireless does not raise any eyebrows - although you have to be very careful with security in relation to wireless. Tip - don't use the wireless areas in an airport in Brazil!

- It is strange to see people using mobiles on the beach. Mobiles didn't even exist last time we lived here. Do we really need to use a mobile on a beautiful white sand beach in a stunning location?

- When we lived here 30 years ago - we didn't use the phone (far too expensive). We did write a lot (letters!). Now we write emails, blogs etc.

- I am spending a lot of time on my computer here - but perhaps that is normal!

- Do we over-communicate now?

Cars and houses

Today we have finally got our car - a Golf VW (tinted windows, automatic etc. etc.) What a palaver this has been. The car actually costs more than the apartment. The apartment is fantastic - all mod cons (i.e. fridge freezer (enormous ), microwave, dish washer, washing machine, gas cooker, ensuite bedroom, additional bathroom, 2 verandas , views over the sea front and back etc. etc.) but the car costs more and has been a lot more hassle to organise.

I have also been told that plastic is cheap in Brazil - but a plastic kitchen chopping board is 4 times the price of a wooden board.

However the mod cons are amazing compared to when we lived here 24 years ago. Brazil has definitely moved on in terms of ease of living - but is this progress. I will have to reflect on this.

When is a banana not a banana?

The answer to this question is - when it is eaten in England and probably Europe.

You wouldn't believe what a banana tastes like in Brazil! So sweet! And so many different types. There are bananas for frying, baking, eating, drying etc. etc. and each one as delicious as the next!

Sunday. We have been here a week. It is obvious that time will pass very quickly and it will be October before we know it.Florianopolis is still a very beautiful place - although it is no longer the primitive paradise that it was in the 1970s.

There has been massive development and in some areas - principally in Lagoa de Conceicao - where we used to live - and it is a pity that development has not been planned and regulated. There has been too much haphazard building. However, in Jurere - where we now have an apartment - they have been more careful. More of this later.

First impressions are:

• Brazilians always were and still are extremely kind, helpful and friendly.
  
• The beaches are amazing - miles of white sand
  
• Driving is scary
  
• Food is amazingly healthy - fresh fruit and vegetables of every conceivable description in abundance and cheap
  
• Brazilians remain football fanatics. On the night of a match, if the home team scores a goal - there are fireworks in all directions and people out in their cars with their hands on the horn - very noisy!
  
• The bureaucracy has improved. Did not have to spend quite as much time with the police having our fingerprints taken. The police were also more friendly this time.
  
• Renting/buying a car is more expensive than renting an apartment!
  
• Anything imported/technology is expensive
  
• Technology is more advanced than expected. Internet connection is easy. We will have wireless next week. We have spoken to the family through Skype with no problems.

That's it for now.

posted by Jenny Mackness @ 4:03 PM 0 comments