we're always touching by underground wires

monday night (technically now tuesday morning), and it's my penultimate night in brasil. i'm planning to stay up late tonight, packing and writing. with two of my favorite brazilian friends...




cebolitos and bohemia confraria!
cebolitos ('little onions') are similar to funyuns, except less crappy and more awesome. bohemia is a brand of brazilian beer, easily my favorite, and this particular one (confraria) is a special edition that i fell in love with in campinas. and these two things go together really, really well.

i've also been putting new music on my ipod to refresh my listening options for the flight back (12 hours to ATL, 1.5 hour layover, 6 hours to LAX). apparently i have some things that i've never listened to. one of these things is the latest album from of montreal - 'hissing fauna, are you the destroyer?'. my favorite 2 songs from the album (so far) are in the playlist below, followed by some of my preferred brazilian music. enjoy! (mom- you won't like the first two. skip them.)



this weekend, my last weekend in brasil, was low-key but enjoyable. friday night i stayed home and wrote, which was a little sad but productive. saturday was great- i slept in, had a late breakfast at the bakery (including an avocado smoothie) and went to dinner with some friends at a churrascaria. i. love. churrasco. i also love my friends, and i will be sad to say goodbye this week. sunday was another busy day- had to take care of some cells in the lab and write some more. sunday evening i went to the mall with a friend and watched the movie 'orphan'. the movie itself was not impressive- good enough for a rainy sunday with popcorn. but, after watching the movie, i realized i have a new screen-crush: peter sarsgaard. i'm particularly excited about another movie coming out soon that he's in, trailer below




today was independence day in brazil, so i slept in. went into the lab this afternoon to get some work done and the place was a ghost town. went to dinner at the bakery (when i'm alone at night, i won't go much further than that) and had an interesting experience. see, i've been going to this bakery for over 3 months now. usually i go in the morning. i almost always get the same thing (coffee with milk, bread with butter) and the 3 girls and 1 guy that rotate the morning shift all know me- most importantly, they know i'm american, so they're patient with me. this is the morning shift, ok? then there's the night crew, that starts at 2pm. i've been to the bakery at night maybe 4 times total. i hate it. it somehow gets this seedy vibe- the people that work there, the old-ish guys hanging out drinking beer with their bellies hanging out of their shirts, etc. the crew is rude and everyone is crass and it's just not enjoyable. but, sometimes, i have to go there if i want dinner. tonight was one of those times.

as i was walking up the small hill to the bakery, there was a guy sitting outside on a stoop, alone. i looked him in the eye (as i normally do, so people know i'm aware of them) and walked past. i hadn't been sitting down for more than a minute before the guy came inside the bakery and sat next to me. he stared at me, and i ignored him, reading my book while eating. a few minutes later, some of the federal police came in- i see them around on occasion, checking to make sure everything is in order. they walked straight up to the guy sitting next to me, made him stand up, and lifted up his shirt, checking around the waistband of his pants as if looking for a gun or something. people were upset. they police then checked on another guy sitting nearby, then hung around the front of the bakery for awhile. i finished eating, waited for the guy next to me to leave, waited some more, then left. walking home, he was sitting in the same place as before, smoking. i crossed to the other side of the road and walked quickly home. i miss having my car, and i'm glad i don't have any more walking to do here in SP.

tomorrow i'll go to MASP (sao paulo metropolitan art museum) and then to have lunch with some friends before leaving. i still have writing to do, postcards to post, and people to visit before i go home, so i won't be posting anymore before i get to LA. then i'll post the remaining photos from the trip and any stories i've missed.

rio de janeiro, take 2

of course i woke up for the sunrise again, and took a short video because it was just so beautiful.

i spent most of my time sitting by the window...




then we walked from copacabana to ipanema, where we bumped into 2 other american students from the program that are studying at UNICAMP, so we all hung out for a while on the rock jetty there.

the whole gang @ ipanema

ipanema on the rocks

it ended up raining that night, so i didn't take any photos, but got this one of j. before we checked out the next day.

pensive j.

rio de janeiro, take one

apologies for not posting anything lately. i'm behind my deadlines for writing my prospectus, i've been sick for over a week now, and have to make a poster of my research for a required conference this weekend at a university 2 hours away. a nanomaterials conference. that is not related to my research or anything i've ever done, ever. and i have to attend every single workshop, seminar, and presentation... while my real research here at USP languishes!

enough melodrama! here's part one of my series on rio de janeiro. this particular entry is all about events that took place over the weekend of july 10, for the holiday. enjoy!

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we left at about 1 am from the bus station in SP to go to rio. a one-way ticket is about $50USD, for a 6 hour trip. they gave us nice blankets and pillows, and a little snack box and a soda. the overnight trip was nice because we were able to sleep the whole time and arrive early in the morning. we took a bus from the main bus terminal to the metro, which in hindsight was a bad idea. the metro in rio is INSANE! i've never seen such crowded trains in my life (but i've never been to tokyo). we had to split up to get on, and even then i'm pretty sure my feet weren't touching the ground, i was just suspended in a crowd of people. eventually we made it to the building where our temporary apartment was, and it was all worth it when we looked out the window.

just after arriving at our flat, view of copacabana and pão de açucar

the first day we bummed around on the beach in copacabana, which was excellent. the sun was out and the water was refreshing- though the waves and riptide were quite strong, and i got a nice mouthful of water a few times.

we left the windows open in the apartment, so in the morning we woke up to the sound of the ocean and a nice sunrise.

copacabana sunrise

i got a phone call from a friend (m.) who is studying at UNICAMP, as he and a friend (j.) had just arrived and were checking in at the same building. we met up with them, and with a friend of gustavo's who is staying in rio for a little while. we walked down the beach in copacabana, where we bumped into another group of american students on vacation for the weekend! after parting ways with them, we continued to botafogo (en route to sugarloaf).

to get to this different part of town, you have to pass through a tunnel (can you see where this is going?) which is not very long, but, well, it's a tunnel. it's dark. and you can only move in 2 directions. the walkway was narrow, so we were walking in pairs. i was next to m., and v. and j. were behind us. at one point v. began walking quite quickly, passing us, and we turned around to see what was going on- i thought someone was trying to pass on a bicycle or with a stroller or something. instead i see a man with a 9" butcher knife held up to j., who is looking terrified. i grabbed m. and walked quickly out of the tunnel where the others were waiting, and j. came out right behind us, alone. he was obviously upset and told us that the guy had taken all of his money (not surprisingly).

there's a nice shopping mall right at the exit of the tunnel, so we went inside to regroup and get j. something to drink to calm his nerves. really we all needed something to drink, as everyone was shaken up by what happened. i went with m. and we found a place in the food court that sells fountain drinks in 'american sizes' so we got j. the largest coca cola to be found in all of brazil, which cheered him up a little. he was upset for obvious reasons, but even the brazilians agreed that it's much better that he had the money to give the guy... if there hadn't been cash in his wallet, the probability of violence would be dramatically increased. eventually we all felt well enough to go on, and walked to pão de açúcar quietly, and with everyone's head on a swivel (truly the best defense is being aware).

after waiting in line for about 30 minutes, we got on the cable car that takes you to the first mountain, before pão de açúcar.

aaron, gus, and me in the cable car

on our way up to stop #1

me and v. with corcovado in the back... no idea what he's doing

we hung out there for awhile, taking photos, and then proceeded to the next segment of our trip.

the gang walking to cable car #2


the view from the top of pão de açúcar is truly amazing!

gorgeous view of copacabana!

cable cars

j.'s hand and jesus

goiaba! (guava)

beginning of sunset

as we went back down to the first stop, the sun was setting and the sky was gorgeous.

pão de açúcar

at the base of sugarloaf, there is a small beach called praia vermelha, so we walked there to hang out for a bit before taking a taxi home.

me at praia vermelha (red beach)

pão de açúcar

the following day, there was another gorgeous sunrise. i couldn't believe how lucky we were with the weather (in winter!) and the apartment.

sunrise in copacabana

more sunrise

leaving, on a jet plane...

(from wikipedia)

well it's another holiday tomorrow here in SP state (Revolução Constitucionalista de 1932), so i'm going to Rio for the weekend with some friends (not on a plane, but a bus actually). i'll have a (hopefully) interesting post when i get back, but for now here are some photos from the last few weeks.

liberdade, aka japantown

e. enjoying suco de maracuja (passionfruit juice)

bolinho de carne & suco de limao....

balloons @ parada

SP as seen from ibirapuera park

ibirapuera park

ibirapuera park

happy 4th!

hope y'all enjoy your BBQs today. i am currently in the lab, as i need to fix some cells to be counted next week for my growth curve. there will be a BBQ here at IQ shortly, to celebrate the birthday of one student and as a 'farewell' to another who is travelling to the states to do research at Berkeley for 6 months. there will be neither hot dogs nor watermelon, but it's good enough for me. tonight, some of the other american students and i are going to a bar where there is supposed to be an american expat meetup of sorts. if that falls through, i figure we can rent the movie 'independence day', have dinner at mcdonalds, and go shopping at walmart. it is, after all, the american way- will smith, crappy burgers, and plastic goods from china.

love and kisses from brasil!!!

guarujá

first: apologies for not posting anything recently. the internet at my apartment has been dismal at best, and it's been too busy at the lab to get anything else done. i'll have time tonight and tomorrow to fill in the gaps, but for now here's a photo entry to appease you. these were all taken last saturday, on the way down to guarujá (a beach town on an island just off the shore of SP) and in guarujá. one of the professors here in the chemistry institute, Professor Awesome, has a house near the beach and invited the american students down for a barbeque. Professor Awesome's house is the one shown below, and it's amazing. his spouse is also american, so we were able to hear the opinions and stories from an american that has lived in SP for over 40 years, which was a lot of fun. it was a great trip and we're all hoping to make it back one of these days...

em que eu tento comunicar

saturday night, blair was invited to a party at a bar, and he brought us along. blair, emily, shaina, and i took the bus to el dorado where we met up with david, an american student at UNICAMP in campinas who came to SP for the night. we took a taxi to the bar and went inside. i was terrified! we were all wearing jeans and casual clothing, and everyone is dressed up and looking nice. plus, it was the birthday party of several people, so we all felt like we were crashing a house party. how sad! blair's friend joana was there and she was really friendly, plus her english is excellent so we all felt a little more calm. we hung out for awhile, and i had my first caipirinha in brazil. it was great- i had it with strawberries instead of limes. delicious, but the problem is that you can't taste the cachaca (brazilian sugarcane rum). joana said to be careful- that it's easy to tell who the tourists are by seeing how many caipirinhas they drink, and how quickly!

there was a guy there that kept hanging around 'the american girls' but joana said he didn't speak english so even though he clearly wanted to talk, he couldn't. david (from UNICAMP) is pretty decent with portuguese, so i told the guy to come sit with us and talk. it was hilarious- the guy (i don't think i caught his name) was speaking a mix of spanish (so i could understand) and portuguese (so david could understand), and david and i responded in portuguese and spanish, respectively. i actually understand a lot of portuguese, i just can't respond in kind! but spanish has been very useful. anyway, the guy was telling us all about brazil, culture, economics, etc. apparently there's a guy by the name of santos dumont who had the first flight, or at least that's what the brazilians are taught! the guy had never heard of the wright brothers, and insisted dumont was the first. it's strange to see history through someone else's biases! he also said that we were nice for americans, as the general consensus amongst brazilians is that americans are snobby and greedy.-i'm glad to be here defying stereotypes!

while our portu-spanish conversation was going on, blair was busy chatting up joana's friend valdir. he's a lakers fan and is one of very few people (or students, anyway) that has a subscription to SkyTV- including ESPN! blair is very charming, despite speaking almost no portuguese, and convinced valdir to have us over to watch the game sunday night. things started to die down so we took a taxi home and passed out until...

sunday! blair came over and we hung out with rafael and renata downstairs (the brother and sister that live in the place where i'm staying). we dropped renata off so she could go to church, then the three of us went to a park to watch the sunset. it was gorgeous!

with blair, en route to the park

the park

me at the park


blair, me, and rafael

sun-setting

it's done!


after the sunset, we decided to go have pizza. rafael took us to faria lima where we went to a pizza buffet. it's about $8 USD and the pizza doesn't stop. i must have had 5 slices- it's different from the pizza in the states, but still delicious. one strange thing was the cheddar pizza, which had a kind of soft (think velveeta) cheddar cheese on top. it was my least favorite, but i had to try! after the regular pizzas they bring out pizzas doces, dessert pizzas. the crust is a mix between pie crust and pizza crust, and the toppings include chocolate pudding and fudge with strawberries, just chocolate, coconut cream, and my favorite... grilled bananas with vanilla ice cream! i couldn't believe i ate so much, but it was just all so appealing. we will definitely have to go back to that place soon.

we came home from dinner and valdir was there to pick us up for the basketball game. we went to his apartment where we met his roommates and waited for the game to start. once the game began, all the roommates left the living room (i guess they aren't into basketball) and it was just blair, valdir, and me sitting around the TV. valdir and i were both rooting for the lakers, but blair was for the magic. it was really entertaining because valdir doesn't speak much english and neither blair nor myself speak much portuguese, so it was a lot of 'yeah fisher! yeah kobe! defense!' from me and valdir, and not much else. lakers won so i was happy, and valdir took us back to our neighborhood.

monday morning, blair and another student, justin, met me at my house at 8. we went to the paderia (bakery) up the street to eat before school. we all had pao a chappa (sp?) which is a roll, cut in half and buttered, then toasted on a griddle with a heavy metal press (kind of like an iron) on top of it. i also had my first cafe con leite since arriving in brasil, and immediately regretted it (only because i know there will be much, much more where that came from.) The woman working behind the counter, Andrea, is familiar with blair because he goes there a lot. she introduced herself and figured out that i could understand her, so with some broken english and portuguese we realised we could both speak spanish, which we did. she was very sweet and patient with us, and told me to tell blair he looks like eddie murphy (he kind of does...) while i still wish my portuguese was better, it felt good to communicate with someone (someone not american, that is) and to feel useful because i can understand what's going on! i'm just thinking of it as more motivation to study the language.

my work in the lab was uneventful- i'm just learning how things are done around here. this is a long weekend, so i'll post more later.