Monday, July 25, 2011

Parking, Metal, and Stress

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"I will watch your car," the man said, in Portuguese of course. He wore a sleeveless shirt, shorts tattered and frilly at the knees. No shoes. His wrinkled, sun worn skin sported a number of bruises, scrapes, cuts. Maybe a track mark or two.

I started to wave him off, tell him we were all set. There were plenty of other vehicles parked outside the zoo. The area looked nice--and safe--enough. I wasn't worried.

Maria caught my hand. "Let him do it," she said, low caution in her voice, eyes always alert and darting from the man to the two kids climbing out of our car. "It's okay. Just give him a quarter when we leave."

Later, I found out just how common this practice was in Brazil, or at least in that part of the city. It's complete pretense, a way for poor people to earn a little change by watching your vehicle. But from whom are they protecting it? Don't be fooled; you're not paying them to protect your car as much as you are paying for them to not destroy it.

For some reason, this backdoor manipulation shocked me. It seemed so shady, so insincere, so passive-aggressive. But what did I have to compare it to? Is it really that different than the drunken homeless guy outside of Circle K in Boston begging for five bucks so he could score another 40-ounce? Or the woman sitting next to the drive-thru at Jack In The Box in Tucson, half a tit swinging out from under her sweat stained t-shirt, accosting customers as they order their burgers? "I know you got change," she'd say. "You didn't order off the goddamned dollar menu."

Maybe I should have asked the guy to help me move the car when we left.


On a completely unrelated note, I have secured my ticket to the Machine Head/Sepultura concert at Via Funchal on October 14. As I've been a fan of Sepultura for over twenty years, and Machine Head since their inception in 1993, I've seen both bands a number of times across the world. Seeing them together--and in Sao Paulo, no less--will be something special.


Also, as some of you may be aware, I am writing a biography of Sepultura, so I'm working to score some interviews with the band and crew while they're in town.

Things are getting hectic here. I have a deadline tomorrow, and at least a few thousand words to write today. My apartment looks like a Tazmanian devil has swept through, and I have to be out of here in less than a week. I'm waiting for my passport (with renewed visa) to come back, after being returned once already, unapproved, due to an application error.

I'm trying to make friends with stress. It looks like he's going to be here for a while.

Friday, July 15, 2011

All Is Revealed

[Please visit www.jasonkorolenko.com for updated content]

I've been dropping hints here, and on Twitter and Facebook, so if you've been paying attention at all, you have likely figured out already that I am heading to Brazil soon. More than just a vacation, this will be an attempt to integrate myself into a culture I have been obsessed with for many years. My fiancee is there now, writing her own blog about coming home after such a long time living abroad. I'll be joining her on September 2, returning stateside in December for Christmas with the family and my winter residency with SNHU's MFA program, and then back to Brazil early next year.

This blog will serve several purposes. It will be:

1. A log of my adventures for family and friends to easily follow.
2. A writing exercise exploring cultural experiences and the process of change, eventually to be expanded upon and turned into a book.
3. A compendium of stories about the Brazilian lifestyle from the perspective of a gringo.
4. A literary study of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a variant of the Japanese martial art known as jujutsu.

I've been involved with martial arts since I was fifteen, experimenting with everything from kung fu to karate to capoeira, but only discovered my passion for Jiu-Jitsu in 2006. In 2008, I received my blue belt from Matthew Gomez (a certified black belt instructor under the great Julio "Foca" Fernandez), and while in Brazil, I've been invited to train with Leonardo Vieira at the Checkmat HQ in Sao Paulo. Much of my personal philosophy comes from the translation of martial arts' lessons into everyday life--a journey inspired by my first instructor, David Walters, some twenty years ago--so you will get a taste of that, too.

Follow along, be inspired, and let's do this together.

Jay

Friday, July 8, 2011

[Please visit www.jasonkorolenko.com for updated content]

Been a busy couple of days. Wrote and trained jiu-jitsu, as usual, but also met with the landlady about terminating my rental contract. Made appointments to get my wisdom teeth pulled and a medical check-up, two very important things that had to be done while I still have insurance. Arranged my training. Took head shots and mailed out paperwork to get my visa renewed. Skyped with the girl and got to see our temporary digs. It's coming closer, and becoming more real with each day.

Still have to figure out what to do with my car, and I keep looking around this apartment with a terrible heaviness in my gut. There's so much stuff, but I'm trying to slip into Life Simplification Mode, which means a lot of it will be sold or trashed. I'd like to store as little as possible: mementos, pictures, books, guitars. It's funny how we hang onto things we don't really need, and sometimes it's only years later that we realize how much these things weigh us down.

That's all for now. Still can't talk specifics, but as posted below, all will be revealed on August 1. Maybe a few days before, if I'm feeling saucy.

J.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Mark Your Calendars

[Please visit www.jasonkorolenko.com for updated content]

The shroud of secrecy here will finally be pulled back on August 1, 2011. See you then.