Silvio Theodore (1960-1993)

Silvio Theodoro da Silva was a young man I met in early 1981 at an English-As-A-Foreign-Language (EFL) teacher's training course in São Paulo. He won a scholarship from the Rotary Club and spent the 1978-1979 school year as an exchange-student in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was very skillful in the learning & teaching of foreign languages so when he was back in Brazil he immediately started teaching EFL at CCAA, which was then the most popular of the many EFL courses in town.  

We became fast friends and soon started making plans to go and live  abroad somehow. Just at this juncture I received a letter from Edson Pinho Rosa, a Brazilian man who had lived in Sydney, Australia from 1974 to 1979, then traveled through India, Afghanistan and other countries in Asia. I had met Edson when I taught EFL at Gloria's school on Avenida Rebouças just opposite Escolas Fisk in 1980. He & his wife Mirian had to go back to Oz to renew his permanent residency status, so once they got back there, he wrote me a letter inviting me to go to Sydney. I showed Eddie's letter to Silvio and invited him to go along too. Silvio eagerly embraced the idea and soon we started planning details on how to get to the other side of the globe. 

Sandra, Luiz Carlos, cousin Dulcinéia, Silvio and Clelia, my sister-in-law saying goodbye at São Paulo bus terminal on our way to Argentina. We took a bus to Buenos Aires in early September 1981 and flew to New Zealand by Aerolineas Argentinas on 5 September 1981.

Queen in an empty Morumbi Football Stadium in São Paulo, on 20 March 1981. 

Silvio and I used to see each other quite often since we first struck a conversation on that Monday morning in early February 1981, during the teachers' training course on Avenida Santo Amaro which was given mostly by Paraná, who I had worked with the previous year. 

After class we would take a bus to Pinheiros where Silvio was staying with his former girl-friend Elaine, who was in the slow process of moving out of their flat on rua Theodoro Sampaio. They had split and she was on the lookout to rent another place. Once I went into the barely furnished flat where there was an upright piano and Silvio would play me a few songs at Elaine's piano. Then I would be on my wary back to Rio Pequeno. 

Eventually, in early March 1981, we started teaching at Gloria's Rebouças school. Silvio was soon dismissed for reasons I don't know. I went on teaching for a few more weeks and then I also quit. I knew we would be traveling to Australia soon and it made no sense to keep on working till the last day. 

We used to stick together most of the time for I had finally found someone who was in the English teaching business and had a socialist point of view as well. From my own experience I knew the crowd in the English-teaching metier were usually apolitical with a tendency to be conservative. 

On the night of 20 March 1981, the British rock band Queen played at the Morumbi Arena. Silvio had taken me along to a house not far from Largo de Pinheiros to visit a lady who had been his teacher somehow. We arrived at her place with the TV was blasting for she was intent in watching Queen play to a packed stadium. It was supposed to be a big night. 

Silvio and I had already smoked dope together before, but now he came up with a novelty: he had scored some portion of a weed called stramonium for us to smoke at his former teacher's house for she apparently was liberal-minded. We smoked it in an upper room so a few minutes later when we climbed down the steps to the living room where the lady watched Queen sing 'We are the champion', I noticed I started stumbling onto the steps. I realised the drug had altered my vision and I could not figure out correctly the measure between myself and objects. I knew I was in trouble just like other occasions mainly in Newark, N.J. in the winter of 1971-1972. I started experiencing something utterly unpleasant and I knew I had made a mistake in smoking that weed. There is nothing one can do except wait out until the poison you inhaled is expelled from your system. Welcome to my nightmare, copyright by Alice Cooper. 

Silvio & I still had to wait April, May, June, July & August until we could hop on an Argentina Airlines jetplane bound for Auckland, New Zealand. We spent most weekends together visiting his parents' house in downtown Guarulhos. Silvio had a big family with many brothers and a few sisters. 

One Saturday night we sang 'The boxer' at a musical competition in a packed-to-the-rafters restaurant in Guarulhos which belonged to, strange as it may seem, one of Jaime Ponciano's brothers. I played the guitar and we both belted out the Simon & Garfunkel tune pretty well. 

We had practiced it many a time at Silvio's place where we would be joined by other young people who either played the guitar or sang along. I remember those kids really rejoiced when I played Lulu's 'To sir with love'. Back at the competition, I thought we would win but a particular singer who sang 'Andança' had the whole place sing along with him took the 1st prize. We were # 2 which was not bad after all.

There was another time when we were out on a Saturday night; this time Silvio's younger brother Cícero was with us. I don't remember exactly where we went to but we ended up all sleeping over at Elaine's new house which was on rua Girassol, Vila Madalena, believe it or not. It must have been June or July for the night was cold and we slept with our clothes on. 

We had spent 5 months planning that trip to Sydney. There was only one flight a month to Auckland. It took off from Ezeiza, Buenos Aires in the first week of the month. My dear travel agent Licia Wielenska was the one taking care of that business. We were supposed to fly out in July, but our passports didn't get back from the Australian and New Zealand embassies in Brasilia in time. Then, Licia booked our flight to Auckland for August 1981, but somehow it was aborted again. We finally made it on 5th September 1981, and flew from Ezeiza to Auckland with a stop at Puerto Gallegos, in the southern most tip of Argentina 

Silvio in Porto Alegre-RS on our way by bus to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Silvio walking through a double line of Volkswagens made into taxis. I remember showing this photo to my co-workers in Sydney and they could not stop laughing. They had never seen VW beetles used as cabs in their whole lives. I couldn't say anything... I just shut up and thought I should've hidden the photo.

1977, 1978, 1979, 1980 & 1981

I'd like to regress a little here and see what the past five years had been like since I came back from the USA in late 1976. In early 1977, my family moved from Bela Vista aka Bexiga an inner suburb of São Paulo to Rio Pequeno, in the outskirsts of town, only 5 km from Osasco, the next town. 

While I taught EFL at Fisk in 1974-1975, I became fast friends with Lidia Piccolo, a girl who was really fond of the language. Lidia lived in Vila Beatriz, next to Vila Madalena and entered Fisk-Rebouças as a student in the early 1970s. Lidia took all the courses Fisk offered and after graduation ended up being invited to become a teacher herself, which she took it to heart and gave all her best. I had met Lidia during a teachers' training course at the original Fisk school at Rua Francisca Miquelina. We used to talk a lot and exchange lyrics of the latest Anglo hits that played on the radio or TV. She had already been to the USA as a tourist and planned to go back in July 1975, for she intended to stay a whole month in Vermount, USA, having an 'immersion course', in which the teaching of English is conducted exclusively in that language. I was glad to know Lidia was going to the USA for I was about to travel to New York as well. Lidia flew on the fourth of July and I flew the next day, 5 July 1975. We intended to meet up there but since I started working in the Catskills in mid-July, we ended up missing each other... but when I came back to São Paulo in October 1976, we started right where we had left off. Lidia was the one who suggested I should try and teach at Rebouças.

I visited the Rebouças-school and met dona Maria Turchinski, who was the de-facto director of the school even though her official title was 'secretary'. I taught at Rebouças on and off most of 1977, 1978 and 1979. I wrote 'on and off' because during this time I came down with hepatitis B twice which made me stay in bed for at least 6 months each time.  

In 1980, I literally 'crossed the street' and started teaching at a new school on Avenida Rebouças opened by a Nissei-lady called Gloria, who employed a plump youngish Black man whose nickname was Paraná to give teachers' training courses. Yes he was native of the State of Paraná. He was partly raised in the USA and spoke fluent English on top of being very effective in the art of teaching how to give a proper class.  

I wish I knew the name of this Argentina town... (it's actually Paraná, the capital city of Entre Rios) the coach made a pit-stop there and we were eager to get our first photo-op on Argentine soil. We made friends with this Brazilian fellow who was going to Buenos Aires to get married to a Porteña he had met in Brazil the previous summer (Carnaval). What a story! But our story was even more colourful... We were travelling on a bus from São Paulo, Brazil bound to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to get an airplane bound to Auckland, New Zealand...

After 30 years I finally got to know this place's name: Paraná, the capital city of the Argentine province of Entre Rios, located at the eastern shore of the Paraná River, opposite the city of Santa Fé, capital of the neighbouring Santa Fe Province.

See that tower in the back of us in the photo? I have just realized it is Entre Rios Province's government house - Casa de Gobierno, Paraná, Provincia de Entre Rios.

Paraná, Entre Rios in 2012. 

Silvio & Myself in Paraná (Entre Rios) the first Argentine town our coach made a stop.

Silvio and a bloke I forget-the-name who was traveling in the same bus to Buenos Aires.

more coaches at Paraná-Entre Rios bus terminal. with the government house in the background.

a map of the region Silvio & I traveled on the General Urquiza Argentine bus-line.

This is the route our bus took from Uruguaiana in Brazil through Road 127 to Paraná, Entre Rios. From there all the way south through Roads 11 and 12 to Buenos Aires. If I remember right: we left São Paulo around 9:00 PM; had lunch in Porto Alegre at noon, the following day; arrived in Paraná-Entre Rios in the 2nd morning; rode all day & night and finally arrived in Buenos Aires very early in the morning of the 3rd day. I remember it was still pitch dark when we arrived in Buenos Aires.

It is a mystery why we didn't take any photos whatsoever in Buenos Aires. Silvio & I arranged to stay in a 'pension' for the night. If I remember correctly we stayed in the big city for 2 days. We arrived at 6 o'clock on one day; left our stuff somewhere; we soon found out a 'pension' to stay. Silvio had an Argentine friend he had known when he had traveled through Bolivia and Peru the year before. I remember we went to this fellow's flat but didn't stay there too long. We slept in the 'pension' for 2 nights and left for Ezeiza Airport around 4:00 AM on the 2nd morning.

Silvio at Camperdown Park in Sydney circa 1982.

Marcia Rizzi & Silvio Theodoro on a sunny afternoon at Camperdown Park, near by where I used to live in a bed-sitter on Marion Street.

Marcia Rizzi arrived in Sydney on 10 March 1982, and shared a rented flat in Bondi Beach with some guys she had met on the plane. Marcia started working at Saint Vincent's on 25 May 1982. Soon after, Marcia rented a flat in King's Cross which was near the Hospital.

In early 1984, Silvio decided to move down to Melbourne where he lived for a couple of years. 

Silvio Theodoro & Marcia Rizzi on a tram in Melbourne, Australia 1984.

Luiz, Marcia & Silvio on a Sunday afternoon in Melbourne - 1984.

Letter written by Silvio Silva on 28 November 1983. Silvio wrote it while he waited for his laundry to go throught the cycles in a laundromette in Melbourne, Vic. 

Luiz,

... E ao chegar em casa... vi um envelope e uma caligrafia conhecida... fiquei contente... Pensei em responder no ato mas lembrei que a lavandeira fecha em duas horas.

Hoje é segunda-feira: dia de fazer tudo que ficou do fim de semana. Tem chovido muito por aqui... sábado e domingo fez sol de praia de manhã, trovoada de tarde... Tive que mudar os planos; a cidade inteira ficou no escuro quase 4 horas. Corri p’ra vendinha da esquina , à luz de velas fritei  a berinjela , misturei o purê de batata e o pão nosso de cada dia... que por falar nisso já custa mais de... conto.

Lugar estranho este. As pessoas vêm, jogam as roupas na máquina, fumam, lêm, lêm, fumam, tiram a roupa (da máquina) e olham no relógio... Ainda bem que só se vem aqui uma vez por semana. Lavar a roupa em dia de semana não é a mesma coisa... a cara das pessoas parecem com a roupa torcida na máquina, esperando a roda viva das secadeiras... Não se conversa muito na segunda-feira às 8 e 15 da noite... ainda não escureceu .

O meu primeiro violão custou vinte dólares... quando vi o anúncio no jornal, pensei até comprar um tubo de cola antes de ir ver como era... Foi surpresa. Andando com ele na mão pensei em uma porção de coisas, tudo ao mesmo tempo... Se fosse música acho que só eu mesmo ia gostar. Sentando, esperando o ônibus comecei a (tentar) tocar uma musica: ‘I’m gonna make it with you...’ (Bread’s ‘Make it with you’)...

Acho que esperei mais de duas horas; o ônibus não veio...  ou se veio, eu não vi... mudei de posição... dei ré e resolvi ir p’ra lá onde tem mais condução. No bonde, um carinha me pede p’ra tocar. Digo que estou começando... Afinar violão parece carta que se escreve, lê, relê, re-escreve e nunca manda... Mas a gente sempre acaba tocando p’ra gente mesmo.

Comecei a fazer uma coisa estranha, mas interessante... as vezes converso com Silvio-67... faço perguntas, ele responde. Outro dia ele resolveu me apresentar p’ra um conhecido dele Silvio-77. No meio de uma discussão (eu?) pensei: ‘Nossa, que pessoal estranho! ... Mas daí percebi que comecei a me relacionar com algum deles e observar (do meu ponto de vista).

Sabe, Luiz, nunca pensei que a rotina fosse tão importante... No serviço o dia passa tão rápido que, as vezes, penso que sou eu quem faz o tempo passar ou parar.

Agora já são 9 horas (da noite). As duas estão fazendo tricô e conversando, olho para elas... smiles and giggles. Lugar estranho este. Abraço, Silvio. Melbourne, 28 Novembro 1983.

Silvio Silva

Box 1145

City Road 3205, Vic. 

Silvio at a Lebanese restaurant on King Street, Newtown, Sydney circa 1984.

Silvio & Myself in Glebe, Sydney - 1984.

Silvio in a pensive mode while waiting for his food at a Lebanese eatery on King Street, Newtown.

Silvio moved from Sydney to Melbourne sometime in 1984. Lutch went to visit him there in October 1984. Lutch was another Brazilian friend who had arrived in Sydney on 22nd February 1983.

Silvio Teodoro da Silva 

* 30 September 1960  

+ 30 August 1993.