“Complicado”

A word used here frequently is “complicado.” As an American experiencing life in South America this word really hits home. It is an adjective used to describe something “complicated” or “difficult”. My life here is “complicado” that’s for sure. First of all I have the language barrier going against me. If it wasn’t for years of studying Spanish and Portuguese and Brazilian’s “carinhoso” nature I don’t know how I would make it through the day.

I will provide an example of obtaining texts for my homework. Here in Brazil students do not use one fat textbook per class like we do in the U.S. In several of my classes the professors use several books that are not cheap. Many of them happen to be American and are not nearly as expensive to purchase in the U.S. But, since I am on a different continent that is not really working in my favor right now. To save money, most students do not buy the books. The library has some but you can imagine that once a text is assigned that book tends to disappear from shelf. My experience in Chile has really helped me to adjust here. The idea of obtaining a packet from somewhere outside of the classroom for every homework assignment did not blow my mind.

What did surprise me is that in my school the copy center does not copy books. In Chile and at other schools here, teachers leave material in the copy center and students buy a copy at the copy center. In Chile, the main problem was actually catching the copy center open. Here somehow getting my hands on at least five different texts a week can be overwhelming. Sometimes I check the book out from the library; sometimes it is not in the library and the teacher leaves material in the copy center, sometimes students organize making copies off campus. Again, I am grateful that other students are willing to help me out when they see the lost look on my face.

Every day includes a battle with my desire to complete things in the most efficient way possible. I experienced this inner conflict in Chile as well but as an American I find it to be one of the most challenging things to adapt to. At the end of the day I try to remind myself that for a person living in Sao Paulo, who doesn’t know the transportation system, or many of the processes and is still learning the language, I accomplished a lot. Even if all I really did was go to school and get one other thing done in the afternoon.

Brazilians themselves are often frustrated that things are “complicado.” When I told the owner of my hotel that I still had not found an apartment after being here for a month he replied “e complicado.” He told me that people from worse places should come to Sao Paulo; not people from better places. He has mentioned to me before that he does not like Sao Paulo.