Music at the Pinacoteca

I didn't have my camera, but this is exactly what the Pinacoteca looked liked from where I was sitting tonight. (Thank you Pinacoteca Benedicto Calixto website for the photograph.) Actually, the colors changed - blue, green, pink, purple, red. The house is painted white so it's chameleon-like when you shine different colors on it. It's right on the beach (well, across the avenue from the beach), and at one time was a residence. Now it's a historical site where traveling art collections are displayed and other cultural events take place.





Tonight they had a concert with three choruses, and the last two were outstanding.

The second group to perform was Coral da Alfândega do Porto de Santos, and the last was Coral Zanzalá from Cubatão. Both had at least one coral director in common, and she was really great.

Here's a clip I found of Coral da Alfândega. This is a fun song, which they didn't perform tonight, titled Disseram que voltei americanizada, which translates to They said I've come back Americanized, and was originally sung by Carmen Miranda. It's not as beautiful a venue as I saw them this evening, but it gives you a feel for the choir and their director. Well, slightly different members as this is from 2006.






Here's one that Coral Zanzalá performed tonight called Que Maravilha. Very nice. There's a nod to Mas Que Nada at the end.



And speaking of Mas Que Nada (by Sergio Mendes), they sang that, too! As well as Garota de Ipanema (The Girl from Ipanema), one of my all-time FAVORITE songs. And let me tell you, the goosebumps covered my body as all the people around me, the entire audience it seemed, sang along in Portuguese. Que maravilha, indeed.

Old Architecture

I love the feel of the school that the boys attend. It's old. It has history. It's peaceful. The architecture reminds me of New Orleans - home.

A few weeks ago, Sam wanted me to be at school with him again. At first I was in the classroom for about a week. Even though his teacher was very welcoming and reassuring, I felt like I was distracting the students. So the next week I sat outside on a bench in the recess area. Then, the last couple days in the office. The secretary gestured for me to sit in a side room. Thank you, Elisabet! Those rock-solid benches in the foyer were a little hard on the rear after just 10 minutes.

This room was such a nice place to spend time. I was out of people's way, and I could knit, read the paper, look out the window... And after sitting there on Thursday, I knew I needed to bring my camera back on Friday.


The crossbars on the windows (not sure what their proper name is) are a bit big to keep mosquitoes out (luckily I didn't notice any anyway), and pretty flimsy for thieves. I think they're meant to keep birds from flying inside.

Reading the paper. On the left is Pele, one of the best futebol players in the history of the sport - he played for Santos. On the right is an up-and-coming futebol player that also plays for Santos. His name is Neymar. I don't know the sport well enough to know if he is as good as Pele was, but they seem to be compared in the paper quite a bit.


After a while I decided to venture over to the room across the hall.


This is the room where we met and filled out some paperwork on the boys' first day of school.

Sam running, having lots of fun and not needing me in the least.



After Elisabet told me the floor was over 100 years old, I felt it deserved a close-up.


Later, the sun came out!


Bathroom window.


There were a few cracks in the plaster on the ceiling. Did I mention I was there for almost FIVE hours?

These little burlap dudes were in the corner.


Stained-glass window on the chapel, though from this side it's hard to tell it's stained-glass.


Reflection in the window.


At some point I noticed some doors leading outside. I tried to open them, but I was making too much noise.


Although there were more productive things I could have been doing had I NOT needed to be at school, I had fun playing with my camera this day. And was happy that Sam was happy just knowing I was there.

Pode ser?

This Pepsi commercial was showing on TV regularly last month, and really helped us to learn the phrase Pode ser? Literally this translates to Can it be?, but when used means more along the lines of Is that okay?

The first line of the commercial is a waiter presenting the can of Pepsi to the fella, stating/asking "Só tem Pepsi. Pode ser?" There's only Pepsi... is that okay? Presumably the customer requested a Coke. Actually, Coka is what they say here.




We think it's funny. ;o)

False friends, linguistically speaking

False friends are words that sound similar enough between the language you know and the language you are learning that you think you know what they mean.

Many times this IS the case. A word sounds similar in English and it means the same thing in Portuguese. Such as:

example=exemplo
fine=fina (at least in the thin, or finely ground flour sense of the word, pronounced FEE-na)
clip=clipe (like a paper clip, pronounced CLI-pee)

But it's the false friends that jazz up a conversation because they can be taken the wrong way, which may create tension or comedy. Or both. A few that I've encountered so far:

Emprego - this sounded like pregnant to me, and that's how I took it when someone told me that a woman they knew was emprego. I smiled and made a gesture of a big round belly and said "Ahhhh... bebê??!!!" To which they laughed and indicated that's not what they meant. A few days later I saw the word again in the want-ads of the newspaper. Emprego = job, or employed.

A viola in English is the big sister to the violin. In Portuguese a violão is a guitar.

Balconista - this is another word that I saw in the want-ads of the paper. Maybe it's just me, but my mind went to a pretty lady hanging off a balcony, possibly with some pole dancing involved?? My trusty dictionary informed me that a balconista is a sales clerk.

The biggest example between Spanish and Portuguese that I've heard so far is mas. Mas means more in Spanish, and but in Portuguese.

Off the topic of false friends, but on still on the topic of linguistics, I've noticed there is a one letter difference between luxury (luxo, pronounced LOO-sho), and garbage (lixo, pronounced LEE-sho). This screams of an excellent title for a trash-to-treasure television program on a home&garden type channel! Lixo ao Luxo - it must exist!!