12/28/03:
Marvilhosa
I had plans to go south to Florianopolis. Instead I'm turning west and heading off to Rio de Janeiro tomorrow.
This abrupt change is all from two simultaneously recieved emails. One, from a friend who landed in Brazil then was immediately sent back to the US. This is a really interesting story, naturally, but putting it up here would be a little indiscreet, no? Sorry. Anyway, this friend had the houses in Flor?pa and now there's a lot of sad twentysomethings who risk having a lousy New Year's.
The second was from a surfing-backpacker friend who was making his way down from the Northeast, saying that he was staying by Rio on the 29th, then stopping by S?o Paulo the next day, not sure about New Year's but wondering what I'm up to. I immediately shot back - "Stop! Stay where you are! Sampa sucks! I'm going over to you.!"
Those weren't the exact words. And I don't actually think that Sampa sucks, but everyone here jets off to their own personal favorite beach to pay hommage to Iemanj? and one is best to leave this dirty noise for a little bit of ocean cleansing before jumping back into the grind.
Anyway, Rio is probably bursting with tourists right now (and with the tourists, the stalkers, the pickpocketers, "creamers," errant cabbies, etc.), but I could use a little a little of its craziness right about now. And after an afternoon of listening to those gorgeously thick Carioca accents on the phone while finding hostel reservations I realized that I've been missing something in S?o Paulo's more buttoned-down version of Brazilian-ness. Exciting stuff, this New Year's.
posted by jeremy @ 5:19 PM
12/25/03:
Boas festas
Probably the coolest thing about Xmas in S?o Paulo is how impressively this giant jackhammer of a city contracts to such a complete silence by the 25th. The streets are all blank sealed storefronts and the occasionally crossing homeless person. I?m listening to the sounds of birds in the trees and breeze for the first time. It's the first time having that giddily strange after-the-bomb feeling since those Sunday mornings of riding my bike into an deserted Loop at 7am to start double-shifts at two jobs. The air in the past few days has dropped down to a cool and breezy 60-degrees giving me a slightly better reminder of Xmas than if it were the blazing 95-degrees that its been most of the month. I?m starving and didn?t have the foresight to buy any groceries for today, so I?m looking for one enterprising lanchonete but settling for a disgustingly dry empanada and a sandwich from a gas station. Xmas in Brazil is celebrated at midnight until the morning, and now the whole city sleeps it off.
For my first Brazilian Xmas, I was one of a few other expatriates adopted by a friend?s exceedingly warm Lebanese family. I indulged the family?s fluent English speakers, most of whom were fascinating at describing their stints living in both the US and the Middle East, but had me pretending to know about American football a few times too often. The food included cuts of lamb, couscous with shrimp and vegetables baked into a sort of cake-like shape, a churasco with a rich shitake mushroom and Worcester sauce, a giant baralho (which my host said was a codfish, but to me was redder and flakier with an unforgettably potent taste) baked with potatoes and soy oil, and and unforgettable heart-of-palm pie. Washed down with a dozen or so flutes of champagne and my yule-tide bliss was more than complete.
posted by jeremy @ 8:17 PM
12/15/03:
Moema
posted by jeremy @ 5:13 PM
12/12/03:
Ainda ocupado
La beta corpo is currently undergoing a little renovation - hold on a sec.
Cool... done. My classes are slowly starting to drop off this week, leaving me with a little extra time to learn how an iframe tag works and have a new place for the little web-flotsam that everyone loves. Hope you enjoy it. Hopefully, this humble little bit of bloggery will once again be a worthwhile daily stop. Have a last look at Yves to your left before I put him away for good.
As mentioned a few lines ago, next week will be the last of this year's classes. Apparently, the whole country's going to shut down and scatter for the holidays. I can't quite synch up to Xmas and New Year's being summer holidays, and seeing a Santa Clause in the 90-degree heat is a bit nauseating, but it's really, truly the first break I've had since last January and can certainly use a little mindlessness for a while. In the next few weeks I'll be taking photos with actual film, re-visiting Florianopolis for New Year's, and maybe a short, solitary trip to Ouro Preto is also in the works.
A crash Portuguese self-study is definitely in the cards as well. My Brazilian roommate's Italian cousin is staying at the apartment for the next few weeks, so Portuguese is now the lingua franca of the house. The phenomenon of understanding a second-language speaker better than a native is in full effect here and I'm actually quite amazed at how far I can go now despite so far going about learning it in the worst way possible. I've hardly a lick of wit yet, but at least the incredulous stares have subsided. Still, somewhere in the back of my brain, I'm remembering an episode of the Simpsons where Bart French sudenly pops into his head after weeks of being the exploited servant of some dirty wine bottlers. Somehow, I seem to think the same thing is going to happen to me soon. I've made it through dinner parties, hanging out with friends' entire families, cashing checks in the circle of hell known as Brazilian banks, e acho que eu estou consigindo um pouco.
Lastly - hey Mac users! Can I ask a quick favor? If the frame in the right column shows up wacked in your browser could you let me know. I've only Windows to work with right now. Appreciated!
posted by jeremy @ 12:09 PM
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