Move Along
Sunday morning, election day here, or at least the first round of voting.
After watching the UFC fight last night at a place literally called 'fight bar' drinking caipirinhas (terrible things) I awoke with a stonking headache just in time to escort Jose to the polls to witness their democracy in action. I originally took a camera and intended to document it, but with the big burly security guards stood next to signs saying no cameras, I thought better of it. He voted in a country club in Ipanema of where he used to live and gives the security guy a warm handshake.
He tells me he sees this guy only every 4 years but they greet each other as if they are very good friends who share a treasured history. I loved this relationship they shared of only interacting when the elections come around yet both enjoy seeing each other, even for a brief moment.
Standing around waiting, and I was waiting a long time, was very enjoyable, the hall was filled with people, all with different opinions on how the country should be run, lots of them donning Brazil shirts and stickers of their favoured candidates. Crazy and divided as it's been, and will continue to be, I loved just thinking about democracy and how every one can have their say. As the quote says...
I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.
- Evelyn Beatrice Hall
It really is a great thing. Which is why its important to vote, and why its scary that Bolsonaro will get in. He constantly sympathises with the torturous dictatorship they had here in the 60s, 70s and 80s and has said before he wants to go back to one, although he has since backtracked. Jose's sister was going to vote for Bolsonaro until on the way her thoughts turned to how great it is she can vote before realising that to vote for him is against the very thing which allows you to do so.
The results came in last night, and he just missed out on the majority, reaching 46% which means a second round against the left candidate who received 29% of votes. However as discussed before he is being mostly rejected due to his party's recent corruption, another protest vote to spite their face. Lots of people are rejecting Bolsonaro aswell, but he will most likely get the 5 percent he needs to become the new leader.
This topped off a Sunday which actually had me feeling pretty low anyway and for the first time here I was feeling pretty lonely, with thoughts about coming home. It was a culmination of a few things, the alcohol from last night, the fact my Portuguese progress seems to have stagnated, a more confrontational football game and the prospect of a military dictatorship. But I was very sensitive to even the slightest thing, which in turn lead to me getting frustrated with myself for being sensitive and giving myself a hard time. I thought of it as a long wave and settled into bed to watch Guardians of the Galaxy in Portuguese. Its funny, I could understand Groot more than the others. At times like this you just gotta go to bed, accept defeat on the day and pick yourself up again in the morning ready to start again and move forward.
Well the morning seemed to have only gotten worse. I woke up at half 5 to find the internet and the source of my livelihood was down. Upon resetting there was nothing. So back up plan is to use my phones data. Ah. I only had 60p credit left, so I had to wait for the shops to open to get some more before returning sharpish ready to teach. Worst of all we also had run out of coffee for the flat and in my cafuffle I dropped the rest of my cake, a breakfast staple here, on the floor. But I struggled through the morning and made all my classes with no glitches and left the room taking a deep breath.
Out there I encountered 2 of my room mates discussing the internet which appears to be down in the whole region as well as the TV and wont be on till later today, so I'm writing this draft in notepad. We sat and laughed, blaming everything that was going wrong on Bolsanaro basically being in power as Jose munched on a butter sandwich. This morning being a precursor of the next 4 years.
I needed that, laughing as everything was going wrong around me and taking myself less seriously, and as the day drew on I began to feel a lot better, finding a second wind and motivation to continue, feeling the waves washing back out to shore.
