A Golden Contact

It's not good when things do go as planned.

This past week I'd planned to do some sight seeing, but one thing led to another, more work-related things than I expected, and then i realize it's the end of the week and I've yet to see some things I really want to see.

BUT, I will do them before I leave...I promise myself I will.

DOCTOR, DOCTOR, GIVE ME THE NEWS

So yesterday and I was speaking with this successful dermatologist. She'd studied medicine in South Carolina I think. Anyway, one thing led to another and it came out that I'd served a Mormon Mission in Brasil, etc. She then said, "oh, I've always wanted to be a Mormon". As a Missionary, that would have been GOLD TO MY EARS, you know the golden contact. But I laughed and said, "oh really, why's that?". She said that during her training, she'd encountered a training physician that was Mormon. He had a large family and they all seemed to happy and loving. I said, that my family upbringing had been a happy family life..with several kids and lots of love.

She said that some Jewish groups put a strong focus on family, but they seemed a bit cultish, but not the Mormons (wow...so far she was saying all the things a Missionary would be drooling over). She then said that she'd even thought of hiring a Nanny from Utah at one point to help her raise her kids.

I then said, "well, I'm sure they'd take you if you really want to be one." With that, the conversation ended...I guess the dream of being a Mormon was better than the reality. Although if anyone ever does knock on this woman's door, I'm sure she'd be open to it. I have her contact info, maybe I'll send some missionaries to that door.

BRAS-ODDITIES

1. SKINNY SIDEWALKS. For some reason, sidewalk planning has gone awry. Whether certain buildings have been given special clout or not, but it's a hit or miss on sidewalk walking. Some buildings are allowed to jut out, barely leaving enough room for one person to pass before stepping down into the street. Other areas, you could ride four horses side by side, and still have room for a fat woman. It's a bit challenging to navigate during rush hour...and I just hope one day they have the courage to force those buildings to give up their land and create a better walking access.

2. JAMMY CONDIMENTS. I may have brought this up before, but it's starting to gross me out. Their ketchup really looks and moves like a jam...versus a paste. It's rather gross to look at, but tastes the same. And in the end, Ketchup is pretty much all sugar, so I guess it's fitting that it mimics a jam.

Heading out...have a good day.

Funny Funny You

I missed a posting again.  It happens. The elderly misplace their keys, kids miss a tooth, women miss a period, I miss posting occasionally.  :)

SINGING WITH THE INSANE

Ok, she's not crazy, but sometimes she does some crazy things.  Thursday in Portuguese class, we're humming along, going over the present imperfect conjugations, and then my professor gets this idea that listening to a song would be fun.   Hey, it sounds like something I'd do if I were teaching--you know, break it up a bit--so after she recited the lyrics to me, and I had to write them down (testing my ability to write well), we moved into her elder daughter's bedroom (who still lives at home with her--very COMMON in Brasil.  She also rents out two other bedrooms to people--gotta make a living I guess), because the stereo system was there.  She put in a CD, handed me the lyrics sheet and we listened. It's actually a very beautiful duet by a man and woman.  Half way through, she started to sing along.  Sweet, right?  And then she got this hair-brained idea that it would be better if we both sang along.  LOL  

So the next time through, she and I were sitting together, reading from the same lyrics sheet, trying to sound relatively harmonious, while I tried to form the right sounds of each word and she tried to hit the right key.  I had a reminiscent moment of when Grandma Stevens and I would sit beside each other on Christmas Eve singing carols.

It was fun.  She makes me laugh at times.  I've decided I like her a lot.

THINGS I'LL MISS ABOUT BRASIL

1.  Nature all around.  Where else can you be in the middle of a Portuguese class, look out the window and see a family of six small monkeys climbing through the trees.    Or walking down a hallway, and there on a windowsill is a beautiful butterfly with a 6 inch wing span.  Just sunning himself.

2.  Meals by the Kilos.  You aren't so hungry, you don't pay so much.  You're famished, you pay a lot.  You only want meats and a taste of salad..it's yours.  It takes the buffet concept to another level.

3.  FAST buses.  Buses always pretend like they are in a race to get somewhere.  And generally with no thought to anyone on the bus.  You get on a bus and you have to go through a turnstill and pay a fare.  But once you step on the bus, the race resumes.  Off it jerks to a start and you have to hold on for dear life.  Not that hard for an able bodied young man or woman, but it's the same if you're an 80 year old woman on crutches--or a foreigner holding his stuffed portuguese book fumbling for cash and coins.  Hold on or fall down.  That's the policy.  THE GOOD THING IS they do move quickly through the city.  The same distance driven, if comparing a NYC bus versus a Rio bus,  the times would be:  NYC: 30 minutes, Rio: 10.   I'll take the 10 minute ride any day of the week.  And relatively cheap too.  NYC:  $2.25, Rio:  $1.50

SUE ME AND I'LL SUE YOU

I may have to go to NYC to prepare some stuff on the lawsuit--search for files, etc.  If so, that might happen quickly.  

And speaking of the lawsuit, nothing ever goes as planned.  Timing, costs, etc.  We are working towards finalizing damages and preparing documents.  We had to switch representation, because of the costs of our original attorneys.  Things look promising, based on some other things that have happened in other states/suits, but you never know.  You never know..and I can't plan my life around it.

If we do win the suit, and are compensated for damages, that will go a long way towards me meeting some financial goals that were taken away when DHL left the US.  If not, I'll have to figure out something else...at 50...it's not something I had planned on doing.

FUNNY CULTURE THINGS

Every culture has their funny things, but I experienced some Brasilian customs recently you might find interesting:

1.  An over turned sandal (shoe) is an indication that someone will die close to you.  Don't leave shoes overturned.

2.  When leaving someone's house, it's not appropriate to reach for the doorknob.  By doing so, it means you will never return to the house.

3.  If you leave someone without the double kiss, cheek-to-cheek, goodbye, it means you didn't like the visit and may never see them again.

4.  The OK sign we American's give all the time with our hand, is a MOST offensive sign...worse even than the middle finger left upturned.

OK, outta here.

Here Comes Papai Noel

Well, another day, another dollar (or several). Without a job here, it's all money out the door. But I have been trying to live frugally--as best I can and still enjoy life.

Like I've proven you can go months without paying for a gym membership--tried out a new one today, ON THE HOUSE. Even got a private training session--FREE. AND, it was air conditioned.

DASHING THROUGH THE SAND

So to try and give the place some holiday cheer, in upper 80 degree heat, I stopped by a dollar-type store and bought four strings of lights and 10 christmas tree balls. I've now hung the balls from the chandelier in the dining area, and the twinkle lights are out on the terrace in the tropical plants...doing what they do well...TWINKLING. It's a little much for me, all that twinkling, but hey, for $1.50 a strand of 100...who's complaining.

Overall, it's not a lot, but hey, it will help Santa find his way. (Or as they call him here, Father Noel).

WHAT'S THAT PULLING ON MY LEG

I remember that story Dad used to tell about being out hunting with his brothers...and shooting a mountain lion, and chasing it, following it's blood trail. Then spotting it up a tree, climbs the tree and suddenly SOMETHING was grabbing his leg!

At that point, he'd end his story with a laugh, after he'd scared us all to death, with this line, "just like I'm pulling yours".

For some reason, as a little kid, I couldn't hear that story enough. I loved it. Every time he told it, I loved it.

Well today I was entering the ocean to do some body surfing (around 6 p.m....as the sun set), and as I got waist deep, something was pulling at my legs. And then they were pulled the other direction.

In this story, it wasn't a mountain lion, but I think it was a riptide...so I promptly exited. I've said this before, THOSE THINGS SCARE ME, so it didn't take long to exit to higher ground, without water around me, where no one was pulling my leg.

GIVE ME THAT AND THEN PAY ME

Tomorrow I have to change my flight back to NYC. If not, I'm on the flight Friday or lose it's value. Of course I'll have to pay some extra, but what you gonna do. The way the airlines work with money is just so irrational. Anyway, DON'T LET ME FORGET!

Ok, off to bed.

Choveu hoje a noite.

Bread For Those Who Hunger

The more you learn, the more you realize how little you know.

That's Portuguese for me. I do fine..I can get by...but far from fluent right now. And as I sit in my lessons and realize all the words and all the conjucations yet to learn, well, I better get CRACKIN'!

THAT AGNOSTIC TAUGHT ME A THING OR TWO ABOUT CHRIST--MAS

So again I kind of got some insights from my Portuguese Teacher. At the end of today's class, she was giving me some slang that people use, and one of them was Step-by-Step. I countered with the question, how do you say Line Upon Line...it's very common in the English vocabulary.

She'd never heard it. I said it was in the Bible. She's never read it. I said, WHAT, this is such a Catholic Country, how could you not have read even some part of it? She said her parents were Agnostic and so is she. In disbelief I said but you must have heard some lines from the Bible--especially during Christmas.

No, she's never read any part of the Bible. EVEN about Christmas--I couldn't let that go. Jokingly I said, well you're a SINNER then.

And then she enlightened me a bit.

She said she didn't know sin as most people do. She said that to her, seeing all the people go hungry, is the real sin. That we as a civilized society will allow the sin of hunger to still exist on the earth.

And then she said that Christmas is a very sad time for her. She sees all the happy faces, the merry making, the frivelous gifts being given to one another...and all these people are walking past the starving child on the street to get to their next party. THAT, she said, is a TRUE SIN if there is such a thing as SIN.

I'm not so sure Christ would disagree with this person that professes she doesn't believe in him.

As I left, she said that when her Father sat his family of seven children down for dinner, these are the words he offered before eating (in my humble translation from Portuguese to English):

"Give bread for those who hunger, and give charity to those that have bread."

It's a good thought. One to live one's life by.

THAT BRASIL-ILOGCAL CLOCK IS TICKING

I had a sinking feeling today. My original ticket was to leave Rio this Friday. 2 1/2 months have almost come and gone.

Even so, I'll be returning the first part of January. I'm not gonna get all melancoly about about it now, but I really am going to miss so many things about living here.

So many...

BACK TO SEEING THE SIGHTS

If the weather holds up...I'm gonna take in a couple of museums, maybe the Christ Statue, and some palaces tomorrow. One never knows. :) But I'm gonna make a day of it.

So pack the sunscreen and maps...I'm off.

BTW, tomorrow I try my second batch of beans...maybe even tonight. We'll see how this one goes...hopefully without burning--although I finished of the pot i made a couple of days ago yesteday and actually they weren't half bad.

Even tasty, if I MUST (and I MUST) say so myself.

I called them CAJUN BEANS...Mom, you should have done that.

Hey everybody, Mom's Making Cajun Toast again...and she LOVES eating it.

I'm Late for a Very Important Date

Drama back at the old place...the oven without A/C.

Well, one of they guys got a boyfriend that pretty much never leaves the apt. They stay in their nice A/C'd room, so what did/do I care. But the other guy told me today that he overheard them making plans to move to another state and start a business there, which essentially could put the other roommate in a living situation bind.

I'm glad I'm out of there...I just go back occasionally to do some laundry, or pick up some clothes. BOTH really nice guys, but the house needed some work.

SPEAKING OF HOUSES

So I took Max, my British friend who's remodeled 17 apartments, to this MESS of an apartment to see if there could be any hope for remodeling it into something cool. He had to leave before I could pull him aside, but his last words of advice were this..."have you ever remodeled a place before? I responded in the negative. He said, "well you might not want to make this one your first...it's a LOT of work!"

:)

I'll get more scoop tomorrow, but I think it's gonna more on that theme. MOVE ON, as my NYC roommate always says...Just Move On!

BRASILIAN WAYS

One thing that does kind of annoy me is that they can't seem to keep an appointment of any kind. NOT everyone, and NOT everytime, but definite times don't exist here.

I had an appointment to go with my realtor, his boss, an architect, and my british friend to revisit this apartment. Over the past three days, we've exchanged several phone calls confirming...everything was always a go.

One hour before I am to show up, I get a call from the realtor..."um, we can't do it today. My boss has other appointments, etc. etc.." "We'll didn't he know this earlier?" He mumbled something in Portuguese I didn't understand. "Thiago, are you saying that the other appointments are more important than My appointment." (I thought that ought to get him). He answered very professionally..."if it were me only, yours would be the most important".

And with that, three days of planning, getting people there, were just OFF.

It wouldn't fly in the US, but here, people accept it as common place. I'm sometimes amazed they get anything done. But overall, business and the economy is thriving. So maybe everything doesn't have to be so rigid.

And don't get me wrong, they work long, hard hours. They stay late at work. They have a strong work ethic, just not a strong "appointment on time" ethic.

CHRISTMAS AROUND THE CORNER

I bought some Christmas gifts today. Now I just have to get them shipped there. I wish I knew a good shipping company--that wasn't running on fumes. :)

Simple, No Nothing Day

Passed by a catholic church and witnessed a bit of mass. That in itself isn't that special, but the overall church was a bit interesting.

It's kind of a modern church, built withint two buildings. On the front steps, they have several statues of children, singing, reading, etc...I guess it's the church of some saint that loves and protects children.

I've passed by it before and always thought it bit creepy, but this time on the step landing, they have build a nativiy scene. Since it really doesn't feel like Christmas here, I thought taking a moment to look at that might be a good way to get more into the spirit of things...but not really. That didn't work. The nativity was rather tradtional, but whoever was in charge of decorations this year went too far...she threw in some little lawn variety statues...you konw the statue of the girl with basket gathering flowers. I didn't know she showed up at the manager. Or a little boy plahing a flute...looks like a roman child...hum...well, they had a drummer boy, why not a flutist. Sara Palan plays the flute...it could happen. Maybe she'll be in the scene by next week.

Needless to say, didn't get much feeling from all that.

WHERE'S MY MORTON SALT GIRL WHEN YOU NEED HER

It rained pretty much all day today. Hum...it's good, I'm nursing my sunburn anyway, so good to have to stay in doors.

And with that, gonna log off today. Sorry, a slow writing day, but really don't have that much to chat about.

Location, Location, Location

I thought yesterday when I went to the Favela (Slum) Gym, I'd reached the gamit of gym variations in this city, but today I experienced JUST ONE MORE.

There's a section that divides Copacabana Beach and Ipanema Beach...it's called Arpoador. It~s a rocky penninusla that actually is quite beautiful. See the picture. If you look closely, you see the part where to the two sandy beaches come together right before the rock that sticks out like a ship. well, there atop the rocks is my lastest gym find. (By the way, my new apartment is very close to this area).

On this beautiful rocky stretch of beach, they've built an every man's gym--sort of. The benches are concret slabs. The barbells are flower pots on each end with cement inside to give weight. There's pull-up bars, dip bars, bench press bars...etc. The best way to describe it is it's kind of like a Fred Flintstone gym set on the sea shore, in beautiful Rio, with the sun setting and fresh smells of trees and flowers and salt air as you watch the surfers and ships passing by.

Nice picture, right. Abba, Dabba, Do!

So, I tried it out, and as nice as the best gyms can be, this one seemed to do the part just as well. (I might have been overcompensating for the surroundings). There were some men there with great bodies, and I'm pretty sure they only use this little open air gym.

A lot to be said for less-is-more.

Got a good work out, and it was so beautiful...God's A/C, and the walls were bautifully painted with God's masterworks, (not that horrible green color at the one gym).

I'll go back, I'm sure.

PLEASE WAIT FOR ME ARGENTINA

So the British gentleman I'm renting from in Ipanema (Max) and my American friend doing the New Years Celebration here (Mark)--we've all decided to take 4 or 5 days and go visit Buenos Aires the first week in January. I'm excited to go do that. Should be interesting. I've never been there and have always wanted to visit. They say it's got an European flare with a Spanish Accent. We'll see how right THEY are.

More on this to come.

DANCING QUEEN

Last night I went to a big dance club called The Week, International. It's located near the downtown area, in not the best neighborhood--they never are. It's a big club, big dance floor, big price tag to get int ($30) etc. However, the music was thistechno, tribal beating, pulsing bass, laser lights, etc. etc. that I think you have to be drunk or drugged up to like--I've never liked that kind of music, much less at 2 in the morning. So I have to give a big thumbs down on the music, but the space was really cool and clean.

SLASH AND BURN

Stupid me...I went to the beach yesterday with sunscreen. But thinking I'd be OK under a umbrella, I was there for like two hours, and at MAX only out in the sun for 30-40 minutes.

But that did it. Plus, I think the sun relfects of the sand (which is really just glass), and i burned my face for the first time since I've been here. I ususally get my shoulders and back, but no, this time I'm looking like a drunk Irishman.