Manchester City

I have two things on my mind today. First, it is really hard to find books about Brazil that are not general Latin American histories. I am interested in this topic for many reasons, but the primary reason for its timeliness is that my family's new au pair, Elis, will be joining the family on August 12. She is from a rural part of Sao Paulo state. So, I am trying to find out more about her country. I was hoping to find an author that writes like Julia Alvarez about the Dominican Republic - where there is history, historical context - but also a plot based story line. I would have accepted a Bill Bryson-esque funny travel book about the country. But, I can't find anything other than histories that talk about macroeconomic or currency crises. There is nothing about Brazil since its constitution was ratified in 1988...that's right 1988 - within my life time and with no one apparently wearing a wig. So, I have resorted to reading the Economist's section on Latin America and simply speculating on past activities. So, for example, Brazil has started to give soft money to foreign powers to increase its prestige in the developing world. I think that this is clearly a continuation of their wild espoinage activities of the 1990s. They were so deep underground - that no one even saw them - so now they have been forced to actually make people aware that they care about the rest of the world - politically. So, it is only a matter of time before we see Tom Clancy writing about the Power to our south and its nuclear aspirations. I already have some great plot lines and am craving an opportunity to do research in Copacabana.

More importantly, why does it seem like every mention in popular American culture of Brazil is about four topics - soccer, Amazon rainforest, ethanol, or economic crises. For example, my au pair has expressed a desire to drink her favorite soda - Guarana Antarctica - not available in Omaha. Not available despite being the second most popular drink in a country of $193 million that shares our times zones. This country is larger than Italy, the United Kingdom and France - combined. It has 14 cities with more than 1 million people. It is the fifth largest country in the world. How do we not have their best domestic soda; we still have Tab for crying out loud.

Some other tid-bits. They speak Portuguese. In fact, there are more Portuguese speakers in Sao Paulo then in Portugal (that would be a country).

The flight time from Houston to Rio de Janeiro is roughly the same as it is to Paris and London. Oh and by the way, that holds true for Miami also because Brazil extends much further to the east of the U.S. And Rio de Janeiro, by the way, is almost as far away from the U.S. as is possible in Brazil.

How is this possible? Why do we as a country know so little about a very large country that is relatively nearby. I blame my brother, Jim. No real reason - just because he is there.

So on to point 2.

Second, my brother's (Jim) quest to find an EPL team - and thus the irony that I would write about something that is clearly Jim's fault just before offering yet more good natured, brotherly advice. I have attached a link to a posting on espn.com about Manchester City's efforts to buy an EPL title. As a mercenary fan who is only followishing, this appears to be the perfect team. There are recognizable stars (Tevez, both Toures, Daniel Silva, Robinho (Brazilian)) and will be interesting story lines. I say go for it Jim. Manchester City should be your team.