Just a reminder that this is where I am geographically. Sometimes I cannot help thinking how little Brazil is known by many and how it hurts to hear "now our jobs are going to Brazil." as if it was an explanation.
I wonder what do Chinese think when they hear it, and I met Chinese people two years ago that hated the same phrase.
Karoshi is a Japanese word for "death from overwork". I never bought at Wall-Mart and will never do.
Mexicans are also to blame for the job crisis. Work for peanuts is understood as a choice people do: "When I grow up I want to work as a slave. Yippee! Yippee!"
One of the many stories I have was an American that once told me:
"You know, I was amazed that you said you know James Joyce being a Brazilian."
This man is a writer so he is part of a certain elite. The conversation kept going and I told him how I like Lawrence Sterne's Tristram Shandy, that influenced one of our most important nineteen century writers, and he didn't know Lawrence Sterne.
I also mention a couple of writers from Ireland and England that he also didn't know. But what does this man think that Brazilian cities are?
By looking at the map and considering the area of this country the conclusion is obvious: there is a lot of regional differences and just by taking into consideration the city we are born we know that there are different groups of people according to different criteria I don't want to mention now.
I am getting in touch with many Americans lately because what happens in US affect us all and also because it is easier to talk to some Americans about certain topics that I care.
I don't know why I started writing this post. It started when I looked at my Facebook account I finally noticed that I have only one Brazilian friend that is a virtual friend I met in 2005.
I started blogging in English about the pharmaceutical industry in 2008 because all my research was in English and only Americans and British people are fighting to raise awareness about the medicine bad practice.
I met amazing people doing a great job.
As it is a very hard topic and many times I got angry or sad because it is very difficult to see not a single change and things getting worse instead I decided to start this blog that was only about art and culture and good things people do in institutions or great initiatives... but all of a sudden I got involved with the US foreign politics and it's capability of spreading horror all over the world, and, now with the movement Occupy Wall Street.
Sometimes I feel like an alien at the internet and I blame it on my citizenship: "Ana, that Brazilian?" is how I'm remembered.
Funny because when you are living in another country as I lived in the eighties it is not mention because you are face to face talking with your accent doing the gestures with your hands that are not local so it is not that necessary to remind others that you're an alien. What people knew about Brazil was the horrors of some few headlines.
When I feel an alien in my own country I blame it on my agenda.
Guess it's hard to feel home when one has lots of concerns and cares too much.
The most strange is that I would not feel comfortable having a blog in my own language but I'll spare you the details.