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PUBLIC HOLIDAY EVE

Today is Finados, or the Day of the Dead. Brazilians visit graveyards and mope, or spend half a day in a traffic jam to the coast, and mope. I, personally, shall be staying here on the coffee plantation to make sure none of the children try to bunk off work early.

There is an interesting phenomenon that occurs here in the sugar-cane-alcohol-fuelled Latin American economy, which is "véspera de feriado", or "public holiday eve". The night before the officially-sanctioned day off, people cancel all non-life threatening engagements in preparation for some intense relaxation - two of my three classes were no shows last night, and I suspect the students will begin to wander back around next Wednesday. One of my private students, who's under pressure from her company to learn Inglês asap, recently cancelled her two-hour Saturday morning lessons until January, due to the barbecue season (similar to the shooting season, but without the Labrador Retrievers) and Christmas being a mere two months away. If, like me, you haven't stockpiled your nuts during the year in preparation for the dry season, you can be left red-faced when expected to buy a round of soft-drinks at the works Christmas pagode session.

To those who are working today, I will sip a chilled Caipirinha to your enterprise.
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No Good Boyo said…
Congratulations! In Ukraine, the spirit of multiculturalism has taken a surprising hold. The pug-faced Slavs now take off Catholic Xmas, New Year, Orthodox Xmas and the Julian New Year, ensuring that the entire country is hammered from 24 Dec to 13 Jan. That's why Russia always makes a mistake in cutting off gas supplies over New Year. Everyone's too stuffed with lard and horilka to notice. Cheers!
2 November 2007 at 20:10
M C Ward said…
Sound like my kind of people. Do the womenfolk wear pixie boots, like some Russian vamps I have stalked? And is it socially acceptable to sup nalyvka or spiced spotykach, rather than pure horilka - much as I like potato peelings...
3 November 2007 at 17:41
Anonymous said…
Sure you must have the Brazilian equivalent of the Spanish "puente" or French "ponte" as well- a "bridge" between a holiday and the weekend that everyone uses as an excuse not to study or work. And that is the whole excuse- "Why didn't you come to class?" "It was a puente", something like "Why didn't you come to work?" "I decided to throw a sickie". And then the public servants in Spain take the next day off too everytime there's a holiday...

TEFLtastic blog- www.tefl.net/alexcase
3 November 2007 at 19:50
M C Ward said…
Indeed, I am familiar with this Latin contrivance - it does wonders for Brazil's storming economic performance. It's the only country I am aware of where banks shut on days when the national football team plays in the World Cup.
3 November 2007 at 20:39
Anonymous said…
When I worked in one of the very distant outposts of the former SovU, it was common knowledge that any single day's holiday could be converted into a whole week of alcohol-driven 'relaxation'. "Three days before and three days after" was the expression used to refer to the extended razzle, andnI must admit to having partaken of it myself on the odd occasion.

Incidentally, did you know that a good cure for a winter cold is a large glass of vodka with copious amounts of garlic and honey? You can even try drinking it first thing in the morning before you get the cold, just to ward it off - and for three days before and three days after!
4 November 2007 at 06:59
No Good Boyo said…
Ukrainians swear by vodka with honey and chili peppers. It could catch on, as no virus in survive in a body brimming with that combination. Nalyvanka is a popular way of purging all goodness from berries and turning them into Pellets of Oblivion, while spotykach is popular with Poles but serves Ukrainians solely as boot blanko. Ukrainian men wear shoes as pointy as the women's, although the latter have largely been convinced by US straight-to-video films and the Playboy Channel that dressing like a dominatrix is normal for shop assistants. Visit now!
4 November 2007 at 13:33
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