This post is dedicated to try and understand deeper the relationship between Brazil and Ireland, Brazilians and Irish, their connections and disconnections. Today it is agreed that these two nations have always been together trying to prove their best. This goes as far as to the time that Ireland got independant from UK in 1923. In fairness, Irish people are so much more fun than British, they love the craic!
One (like me) can think that the Brazil X Ireland sort of relationship started when I met Ken and we started our lives together but to my amazement this goes far back to other times. There have always been a sort of rivalry between these two countries but in a very harmless way. Of course Ireland tries to prove better than Brazil, but usually loses it.
And one can ask why in the hell Brazilians continue to come to Ireland. My answer is I don't know! If you want to know go to Gort, Co. Galway and ask there, where 30% of the current population is made of Brazilians. I came to Ireland to run my sabbatical year in Trinity College Dublin, and then an interview process to become a lecturer in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences came across and I went for it. And then I got the position. And by then I had an Irish boyfriend. So these are the reasons why I stayed in Ireland. But I reckon my way to this country was slightly different from the other Brazilians. I never intended to live in here before, but then I fell in love for the country, the culture, people and of course my bf. No reasons to look back. And plus the advantage of having the same job that I had before coming. Delightment!
There are still several disputes between these two co-habitant population in trying to prove themselves better and although I recognise Ireland is fantastic in Music and Literature, Brazil has also several countless talents in these fields, never heard of in this country, probably due to the language barrier.
Two fun examples of the Brazilian superiority can be outlined below:
Ieda Maria Vargas, Miss Brazil 1963, Miss Universe 1963.
Marlene Margaret McKeown, Miss Ireland 1963, 2nd Runner up in the Miss Universe Pageant 1963. She is perhaps the most beautiful miss Ireland this country has ever had (Sorry Pam, you are beautiful as well) probably due to her first name that although has German origins is very popular in Brazil.
This is the way Brazilians vote for more than 10 years and although there are lots of corruption in Brazil and a vote-buying system going on, the eletronic voting never failed and proved to be very reliable and difficult to fake. Ireland has also tried to implemment the eletronic voting system but unfortunately the country spent a fortune buying the "technology" from America, which failed in the first go, proving to be inaccurate and faulty and propense to frauds. If they have bought it cheaper from Brazil, they would have things up and running now with no problem. Now what they have is a massive giant white elephant sat at the corner and it will cost another fortune to the country to get rid of these machines.
But aside of all competitions, connections and disconnections, these two amazing interesting bunch of people, when decide to move away from their countries, they go to the same spot, America - Massachussets - Boston. This American city has the biggest Irish and Brazilian Colonies in the whole world.
And this is good for the Americans indeed because they have in one single city the friendliest people in the world (Brazilians) together with the best craic people in the world (Irish). That's the reason why it is always a joy and a guaranteed fun to go to Boston.
But at the end of the day, I came to the conclusion that there is no losers or winners, the two nations are in fact marvelous. Regardless the dispute in sports, beauty pageants, music, literature, etc. one thing is certain! There is no better mixture than Irish and Brazilian and I want to finish this post saying that I am really happy in my personal relationship and that is probably because we have the balance of these two different nations and their explosion of cultures and I just love it!
There is no doubt of the above statement. If you are seeking perfection, look around and try this combination. It is the best you can possibly get!
