Where's Illiana? Adónde se fue? Cadê Illiana?

I went to Japan... oops!

2010-08-08T08:24:00.001-04:00

I was really bad about updating this this past year. I did go to Brazil in August of 2009-- it was... nice, actually. (From what I can recall a year later.) I have tons of pictures but I uploaded them all to facebook because doing it one by one on blogger was not something I had the patience to do.

Then, in January I went to Okinawa, Japan to visit my friend Andy. That was an adventure for various reasons. Again, all of the pictures are on facebook. I think I blogged a bit about what I did but all of that is on my regular blog...

As far as future travel?? I'm not sure... only time will tell, I suppose.

Return to Brazil

2009-05-21T12:38:00.003-04:00

I'm currently writing from the living room of my father's house. Yup. Today is my little sister's graduation from high school. Already there has been drama about whether or not she should be allowed to go to the school sponsored graduation celebration. I didn't get to go to mine because my dad made me go out to dinner with him after my graduation. Apparently he doesn't want to do that with my sister but doesn't want her to go to the celebration either. Eh.

Anyhow, family ish aside-- I have bought my return ticket to Brazil-- I will be there for a bit in August. Until then this blog will be pretty silent-- so please feel free to follow me on my regular blog!

Aaaahhhh where is my brain?

2009-05-14T10:34:00.003-04:00

So I'm back from Brazil, back from Boston, in Texas, and a few days away from Arizona. I am exhausted. My dogs get so excited each time I come home that they don't sleep well... they wake up every hour or so to lick me. It's sweet-- but doesn't allow for optimal recharging on my part. That also means that I haven't been able to start jogging-- kind of hard when you can barely keep your eyes open during the day!

I'm glad to be back... especially since I'm healthy and happy. My weekend in Boston felt like a dream... and I'm hoping that my interview went well.

So many things going on-- I can't wait until I get some stability!

I'm home!

2009-05-06T23:07:00.002-04:00

I'm surrounded by the sound of sleeping dogs. I guess I should say snoring dogs, huh? I have been busy since I got here-- running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I should also mention that I am about 99% sure that I have a parasite. It is not normal to have so many gastrointestinal problems for over 10 days. :( I am sad. I won't be able to take care of this until I get to Cambridge on June 5 for the simple fact that I am not staying anywhere long enough to go through any sort of treatment that will result in deworming. Yuck.

Ok, that's all for now. Must sleep.

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiick.

2009-05-01T15:09:00.004-04:00

These last few days in Brazil have been terrible. I have picked up some creature of some sort (of this I am almost positive-- I mean, who gets sick for as long as I have been (5 days) without the help of some little alien being?).

It sucks because I haven't been able to do anything. If I eat I get sick and have to run to the toilet. If I don't eat I don't have any symptoms... but then I am hungry and weak. I have been drinking lots of water and trying to keep hydrated but this thing will not let up! It is very frustrating. Even just walking around drains me. Ugh. Last night I got sick in the middle of the night and had to leave the hostel dorm room and hang out in the lobby bathroom until I felt well enough to climb back up the ladder to my bed.

I am sad because I have not had enough energy to go visit Lily and her parents. The walk is too long for me when I am running on negative calories... the sun makes it even worse. I'm hoping to go over there tomorrow, though. Today is a holiday-- Labor Day. So everything is closed.

Ugh, I'm starving. I have to find something to eat.... darnit.

Back to hostel life!

2009-04-27T16:16:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I left Bahia Flat for good! I was happy to be out of there for numerous reasons... but sad because I was moving away farther from Lily. :( I am going to miss that dog so much it isn't even funny. Today I'm going to eat lunch at her parent's restaurant. :)

Last night, after coming to the hostel, I decided to go on a little pre-shopping trip. Weird. I have no freakin' idea what size I wear here so I just tried to grab the larger looking pieces off of the rack. So, if this makes any sense-- a 46 fit me well, a 48 was too tight around the bust, and a 50 was too short for my torso and kind of snug around the bust. Then, a G fit me will, and a GG was too tight. I think that either the clothes are tagged incorrectly or Brazilian sizes are just whack. It's probably a combination of both. I did find one dress that I really, really liked. That caught me off guard because usually I do not like dresses very much... but this one was spectacular! I loved the material, the cut, the color... but I did not love the price. It was 99 reais, or about 50 USD. I probably won't get it unless it miraculously goes on sale in the next week. :'( What else? I was tempted to try on some shoes-- but eh, I don't really like how the shoes fit me here-- they are often times too narrow and too high for my tastes. Not to mention that the bottoms are frequently not slide-proof-- so if I were to ever wear them on a wet day I would most certainly fall flat on my arse. Too much trouble I think... I hope that when I get back to the states that I can take a trip or two to Marshall's, Ross, TJ Maxx, etc. For some reason I really feel like doing some shopping that is difficult-- I think after the weird shopping trip last night I really need some sort of victorious find-- something that fits well and is easy on the wallet. :)

In the midst of my shopping trip last night I had a temaki (hand roll) at this place called Gattai. I regretted it this morning. It did not agree with my stomach. :( That makes me sad because I really enjoyed it. I guess I should have known that I would have an adverse reaction to it-- while they were making my temaki I kept looking at the guy's hands... wondering if he had washed them before fondling my food. Probably not... people here are piggies. I'm surprised I haven't caught some sort of serious communicable disease.

On to more pleasant news-- there is a really HOT Nicaraguan guy in the hostel. Correction, there is a really SMART really HOT Nicaraguan guy in the hostel-- and he decided to join my table for breakfast. He's trying to learn Portuguese so I chatted with him in Portanol. It's nice to have some intelligent, good-looking company... especially after being bothered by a horny Turk.

Speaking of the Turk-- so my luck is so bad that I have managed to land a room in the hostel with four very messy boys-- one English, one Australian, and one Swiss dude. They are such porkers it's not even funny. Their clothes, underwear, toiletries, etc are scattered all over the room. I don't know how they operate with such a mess. It is pretty gross. I will probably take a picture once they all wake up and are out of the room... it is a sight to see! Luckily, they are nice dudes... so I don't really mind sharing a room with them. The Swiss guy is a little annoying because he has this thing for drinking water out of his plastic water bottle at all hours of the night. It makes a lot of noise when he squeezes it. He sleeps right underneath me too... so I feel his constant shifting. :( Sad. I hope he leaves soon bc I kind of want to take over his bed. I'm on the top bunk... but I'm kind of enjoying it. The fan is right next to me which means I stay cool all night long... and I kind of like the idea of being up high for once. I have no idea what that's all about... superiority complex, perhaps? It reminds me of something my friend Andy once told me about her dog Pumpkin. Andy has a queen sized loft bed that is probably 4-5 ft off of the ground. Pumpkin doesn't really like other dogs and is really territorial about her momma's (Andy's) apartment. Andy says that when she is dog sitting for someone else that she usually puts Pumpkin on the bed... somehow being above the other dogs makes her feel better and she is calm. I think I understand Pumpkin...

And, finally, I had a really weird dream. I know why I had it-- I'm frustrated with people's inability to do simple tasks here-- count, for one. I had this dream that my 5th grade teacher (who I did not really like at all) was one of my high school English teachers. She kept making us do really stupid, easy stuff and so I told her that she sucked (repeatedly) as being an Extended Learning Program/Gift and Talented teacher. I kept saying this over and over and I think I was the only one in the class who had a problem with her teaching style... everyone else thought the stuff she did was fun. Interesting how my frustrations manifest themselves in dreamland, no?

Ok, time to take a nap in the hammock before REALLY starting my day-- one of the benefits of being in the hostel!

Update on the horny Turk...

2009-04-21T09:22:00.003-04:00

The more and more I think about this whole Turk thing the more upset I get about it. I'm not exactly sure why... it probably has something to do with the fact that he is a horny bastard. Yesterday I told my maid the story and she said that he had tried to kiss her... he said that she was very beautiful and asked to kiss her. At least he asked her! But still, what the hell is wrong with him that he feels the need to touch, kiss, have sex with, etc every woman he sees? It's disgusting and it makes me want to vomit when I think about the number of diseases he might be carrying around. Ugh.

What's worse is that he won't leave me alone. Yesterday he rang my doorbell at 7pm. I stayed very still in my room and tried not to make any noise. He left. And then, at 10pm... when I was already in bed just about to fall asleep... he came again. This time it was much easier to pretend like I wasn't there since I was in bed with the lights off. What part of no does he not understand? I know it was him because I told the Norwegians that if they came to my room to ring the doorbell an obnoxious number of times-- that way I would know it was them.

So anyway, I'm left with the strong desire to kick this guy in the balls and/or slap him across the face for being so darn hard-headed. Or perhaps I should brush up on my French cuss words and just tell him to leave me the fook alone! (kind of ironic, no?)

I can't wait to leave this stupid apartment complex.

I ate Turkey and then a Turk wanted me.

2009-04-20T07:46:00.001-04:00

Well, I must admit that some things are improving-- namely the age-range of men who seem to be interested in me-- while other things are... getting worse. Let me explain-- the weather was crappy today so I didn't get to do everything I wanted. I don't really like standing outside in the rain waiting for the bus to Iguatemi because I usually end up getting filthy-- from the mud, puddles, and cars that splash when they drive by way to fast. So, I kept my research local this Sunday. I ate lunch at the Subway down the street-- a turkey sub. Yum.

Then, I came back to the apartment and tried to see if I could get some internet access. While I was standing out in the hallway moving my computer around to see if there was any signal at all I was stopped by a couple-- a middle-aged woman and a younger guy. They were asking me about the internet and what not. I learned that the woman was French and that the guy was a Turk. After conversing for some time I learned that they were friends. Given that this woman was at least 45 and the guy appeared to be 30 I thought that he was gay (also, he was wearing tight pants and a tight shirt...) and that they were just friends. Boy was I wrong... and right (about the friends part).

At 6pm I was sitting in my room watching the X-Files-- waiting for a decent time to get dinner (people here eat late and some restaurants don't open until 6 on the dot-- I usually try to go around 6:30pm). The doorbell buzzed. I went to see who it was and it was the Turkish guy-- I forget his name-- it starts with a B, I think. Sounds like Berashr or something. Anyway, since I thought he was gay I didn't see anything strange about talking to him. I let him into my room and tried to speak some weird combination of French-Portugusese-English. It was shocking to see how bad my French was at first but how quickly it sort of came back to me. I couldn't remember how to say a lot of things but that is mainly because I haven't heard, read, or spoken French in almost 2 years! Or maybe longer actually-- the last class I took was in the Fall of 2006-- so over two years! =-o! It is quite rusty-- but it was interesting to see how I would start to remember things and how I could still understand him (he had a weird little Turkish-French accent...). ANYWAY! so we are chatting, blah, blah, blah. And all of a sudden I realize that he is trying to explain to me that love and sex are separate. I'm confused-- because I have no idea how we got on this topic-- initially I was trying to explain to him what the X-Files were (a TV series from the 90s-- not a movie) and he seemed really lost. Anyway, all this to say that the guy asked if I would like to have sex with him-- just like that. Amazingly, I kept my cool (well, wait... now that I think about it-- when have I not kept my cool?!) and suddenly realized that this guy, although Turkish, was dressed like a normal EUROPEAN male-- not a gay male. *sigh* I forget these things after being in Brazil for so long, I guess. Anyway, he kept touching me, kissing my neck... asked me if I would make-out with him... all the while I was trying not to be mean and keep my food down (he was a smoker and a non-deodarant user-- not very pleasing to my olfactory senses). Finally, I decided to tell him (in broken French) that I had a copain in the States (boyfriend, for you non-French speakers-- it took me a while to remember this word-- stupid me) and that he would be very upset if I was unfaithful to him. This resulted in a loooooooong drawn out conversation between him and me about how my brain was messed up (according to him). He kept saying that my bf was in the States (his name was Dudley, btw... hehe) and that because of that I slept alone. That I should indulge in love, blah, blah, blah and have fun, blah some more. Whatever. I told him that for me this was not possible-- I could not separate love and sex. He said he would respect me (all the while trying to convince me otherwise...). I was so confused... and it was so awkward. He kissed my hand and left my apartment.

What have I learned from this? A few things:

1. My gaydar needs some readjusting-- for my own benefit and safety.

2. Apparently I am attractive to Turkish men while wearing stained shorts (the back right pocket has a bleach stain from when I sat on the floor too soon after it was cleaned), holey socks (my left sock had a hole), old tennis shoes, an old ratty t-shirt, glasses, and no make-up. Did I mention I was also sweating because I had just closed the windows and hadn't turned on the A/C yet? Yeah. I guess that made me look like a regular movie star!

3. I really have no desire to be anywhere near smokers... or people who don't use deodarant.

4. Love and sex really are inseparable for me. I was pretty sure about this before-- but I am absolutely sure now given that I almost wanted to laugh in his face-- his suggestion was so preposterous.

5. Not only 70 yr old men find me attractive.

6. For some reason every encounter like this that I have had results in me being labeled as-- intelligent. Perhaps it is my ability to talk my way through (out of?) any situation and my poker face. If I am freaked out or disturbed I don't show it. This leads guys to think that I'm really serious and thoughtful-- or something. Really, I just don't want to make things worse by overreacting, I think...

Interesting lessons, no?

Btw, I am totally leaving the building tomorrow... I am going to the shopping mall and watching back-to-back movies if I have to. I just don't want to run into him again-- I did run into him after this episode but it was in front of the reception desk and I was playing with a dog (THANK YOU CANINE!!!) so it was ok.

Anyhow, I am grateful for two things-- first that he did not try to kiss me on the mouth. I would have surely puked into his mouth. Ugh. And second, I am thankful for my Norwegian friends. After this episode I ran upstairs to their room and hid out there for a bit. They found the story as ridiculous as I did and I told them that I wished I had spoken to them before his arrival-- I would have put two and two together, I think I would have if I had been with Europeans-- who are used to men with tight pants and tight shirts.

It's funny, I had been thinking of brushing up on my French.... I will need some time away from Brazil and Portuguese before I will be fully able to start re-learning grammar-- but now I'm not so sure. It also made me question my sanity-- what the hell was I thinking letting an unknown guy into my room? I really thought he was gay-- but still! Perhaps I should affirm that guys are gay before I let them into my room? Sounds like a good plan. :) I guess this is what I get though-- earlier today I was thinking about what it would be like if I had hooked up with a guy here. I had decided, however, that it wouldn't have really worked out and was glad that it wasn't something that I ever seriously looked into.

Ok, end of story/rant/complaint. Thank goodness I only have 7 more nights in this building!!!

Oh, wait. I FORGOT TO MENTION THE BEST PART!!! He thought I was only 18. He is 30. He was surprised when he walked into my room and saw that I lived alone. How CREEPY is that?!?! I hope I grow up soon-- I am almost 26... I can't be passing as an 18 year old forever... I'd be happy with 22 or so. :)

Nice weather!

2009-04-15T14:04:00.002-04:00

Just when I am about to leave the weather turns nice. It is really really nice. A cool breeze, perhaps in the high 70s... and just... beautiful. I guess all of the rain last weekend cooled the city down. I actually enjoy being outside now... and find it hard to go indoors to do my research! I think the last 8 days will be nearly impossible for fieldwork being that I will be staying in a hostel... in a room with 5 other people. So, I think those days will be pure vacation! I will try to get some interviews done but I don´t know how much work I will get done being that there will be 20 something around me at all times... intrigued by my Portuguese skills and wanting to hear about Salvador, etc. It always happens. I am trying to prepare for it now by doing double the work... or rather, as much as I can. It is hard though when the weather is so enticing. I think tomorrow I will make a point to get up really early and go lay out on the beach for a bit... it should be pretty deserted at 7am ish... we´ll see if I can actually pull myself out of bed at that time, though.

Other than the weather-- everything is the same. Not much going on... which sometimes is a blessing in itself. Oh, I did get a little sick last night-- I had a fever and I was sneezing a lot. I think I took care of that with a hearty dose of acerola juice. I am about to go get another cup now... better to remove any chance of getting sick!

Show da Lily!

2009-04-13T21:06:00.001-04:00

My doggie friend who reminds me SO much of Diego...

Salvador from a bus Pt. II

2009-04-13T21:05:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the somewhat bumpy footage-- the roads here aren't the best!

Documentation

2009-04-13T13:51:00.002-04:00

It is really odd when you feel like you must document everything around you. There have been so many comical things that I have noted that have gone without being blogged because I forget in the midst of having to record all of my fieldwork stuff. Funny things that I hear, funny things that I say, things that I observe and have a notable reaction to-- it just all slips away after I spend an hour or so typing up notes. I think I also am getting some sort of wrist disease... and finger disease. My joints ache a lot. I think it is because I have spent most of my time typing on the keyboard of a 12 inch laptop... not the roomiest or the best for long-term usage.

Case in point-- yesterday as I was waiting in the shelter of a bank´s building these two girls came running toward me and started shaking off all of the water on their bodies right next to me. I thought this was really rude and inconsiderate being that there was plenty of space for them to do this without wetting me. It is like sometimes people have no idea of what they are doing. Bad manners. Or, how later on when I was walking back a little kid who was walking right in front of me stopped to pee on the wall of the building bordering the sidewalk. Just like that. Zip. Pee. Zip. I could not believe it. His parents did not tell him not to do this... they just kept walking. It amazes me how people just pee in the streets here. I can never see myself doing that.

I just wish I could remember more of these things that way I could write about them. In 10 years I will read over this blog and laugh... the more craziness included the better...

Bus trip Pt. I

2009-04-12T20:37:00.002-04:00

Here you can see some of the streets of Ondina... a neighborhood sort of near where I live.

What a weird Easter...

2009-04-12T20:22:00.002-04:00

I slept really badly last night. I tossed and turned for hours... probably due to the cup of espresso that I drank because it was so generously offered to me by some friends. Oops! I forget sometimes that caffeine, although tasty, has a strong effect on my body.

When I finally woke up the first thing I saw, to my horror, was a giant black triangle on the wall. Now, sometimes I exaggerate for your entertainment, dear readers, but not this time. This triangle was the size of the triangle that my fingers make when I put my two thumbs and two pointer fingers together. Huge. I slowly reached over to the night stand to grab my glasses-- half afraid that "it" was going to attack me. As soon as I had my trusty spectacles on I knew-- it was a mariposa. Now, in Spanish mariposa refers to a butterfly-- a beautiful, dainty creature. In Portuguese it refers to ugly, black, huge MOTHS. I have seen a few of these things dead outside and their sheer size sent shivers down my spine. Somehow one got into my room without me noticing... I don't know how that is possible because when they fly they look like small birds. :(

So, with groggy eyes, messed up hair, and probably a bad dose of morning breath I set out to free the moth by opening every window and door possible and chasing it out by waving my shorts at it. Needless to say I'm sure the people walking by my room got a kick out of it. Oh well. Once Mr. Moth was gone I laid back in bed and groaned-- I was exhausted-- but I couldn't sleep anymore if I was going to get my Easter fieldwork done. No candy for me. *tear*

I got dressed, put on a skirt, the whole nine yards. I noticed that my room was slightly cooler than usual after my shower but I attributed it to the leftover a/c-ed air. I walked outside to see tons of kids running around with their parents on the pedestrian island created every Sunday in front of my apartment complex. It was nice. Then I turned to walk toward the bus stop-- uh oh... clouds. I thought nothing of it as it has rained TWICE in the entire time I have been here in Brazil and only one of those times was during the day. (Which I should mention was an experience in itself-- I served myself a glass of grape juice on that day-- standing next to the open door of my veranda. Just as I lifted the glass to my lips a HUGE crack of thunder decided to make its presence known. It scared the caca out of me and the juice out of the glass. I had to move my fridge in order to get all of the purple juice off of the floor.) Anyway, so I didn't think much of the clouds. Of course, as soon as I'm too far away from my apartment complex to turn back it starts pouring. I took cover underneath the awning of a bank... and waited for 45 minutes. As soon as the rain stopped up a bit I decided to go back home-- and when I got there it started pouring again-- this time with wind. I decided it was fruitless... I could have taken a cab but because the street in front of me was closed off I would have had to walk about half way to the bus stop anyway-- rather than wait out in the rain for a bus or cab to come by I just gave up. So much for Easter sunday!

I had sushi tonight to celebrate the occassion (somehow that makes sense to me-- Japanese food on a Christian holiday?) and I am now doing a good deed-- translating the menu of a restaurant that I go to a lot into English from Portuguese. Random factoid-- did you know that picanha in English is rump cover steak? Apparently S. American's love this stuff (it is more prized than filet mignon around these parts) but in the US they just throw it away! I can't believe it. I guess it shouldn't surprise me though given that in most of Latin America liver and tongue is gobbled up with glee whereas it just rots on the shelves of US grocery stores if not scooped up by an eager immigrant. Interesting-- one man's trash is another's treasure I guess, no?

That's all for now...

Vid of apartment complex pool area

2009-04-10T08:26:00.001-04:00

What's up...

2009-04-10T07:28:00.002-04:00

Nothing much is going on these days... well at least not in my life. It is holy week so there are tons of tourists from around Brazil in Salvador. They are celebrating their holiday by generally causing mayhem... appears to me that there is nothing really holy about this week for most.

I still have yet to see Slumdog Millionaire. I went to Salvador Shopping on Wed (the day that going to the movies is cheapest, for some reason) and they had canceled the showing that I had planned on seeing. This resulted on me buying a ticket to Gran Torino-- I was so upset. I thought that the movie was going to be some lame thing about race car driving. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised. I cried when Clint left his doggy Daisy. There is just something about that human-doggie connection that I can't shake. It is so profound.

While at Salvador Shopping I decided to pick up a book. The only book I have left is a biology one about stress' effect on the human body. It can be turgid at times (but still entertaining becuase the author is great!). I read it slowly because I want to be able to remember all the stuff about how the body works. Anyhow, I decided that I needed something a little more mindless to read during my down time and I picked up Twilight! I am pleased with my choice. Although this first book seems to be written a little oddly-- I'm not in love with her style and I think she takes a LONG time to say what she wants to say-- it is exactly what I needed-- easy reading. I'm kind of afraid that it won't last long though-- it's only Friday and I have already read 100 pgs. Damn my fast reading skills!

I can't believe that in one month I will be in Boston... it's insane. I have been here for so long now that I have kind of resigned myself to living in Brazil. I have forgotten what it feels like to be in Boston-- what the snow feels like-- what the streets smell like. I think going back after 9 months away will be spectacular-- I have enough distance to re-appreciate my little city all over again. :)

Ok, that's all for now. oh! Yesterday was Diego's 3rd birthday-- happy birthday, dieguini!!!

Multimedia hello from Brazil!

2009-04-07T20:40:00.001-04:00

The Norwegian tan

2009-04-07T16:18:00.003-04:00

You can see how my back is currently representing many skin colors at once. My hope is that by going out in the sun one day without sunblock that I'll be able to get rid of the dark line created by my one day in the sun last week. :(

Uh oh...

2009-04-06T23:08:00.002-04:00

I had the sudden realization today that I am going to miss Brazil. How did that happen? I think that I can honestly say that I've been mildly miserable here for a wide array of reasons... but today I looked at things and saw the "glass half full" version of events. I saw how friendly (if racist) people are here. Not an hour passes by that I don't hear a "Tudo bem" or see a genuine smile cast my way. That definitely doesn't happen in Boston. In fact, I think I smile at unknown people more than I see smiles. Must be the high-stress, cold, somewhat distant environment. Hmm. Another example is I realized how attached I have gotten to some people (and dogs) here. I decided not to stay in my apartment for the last week because it is getting to be ridiculously expensive. I booked a room at a hostel that I like in the area. I was telling the restaurant owner downstairs about this and she offered to house me. Talk about being incredibly generous. She said she has a guest room and that I'm welcome to use her kitchen and not to worry about paying anything. Wow. She also said she'd leave her dog Lily at home with me so that I could play with her. I was seriously thinking of taking her up on her offer when I realized that if I did stay with her I would lose my deposit on the hostel room. Not to mention that having someone leave at 3 a.m. for the airport is more than a slight interruption. Anyway, all of that to say that I will definitely miss her, her husband, and their doggie Lily.

I also realized how much I was going to miss the weather. Even though the weather has been the bane of my existence here because it is HOT... I will miss being able to wear sandals everyday. I will also miss my instant tanning ability. (Side note: I went to the beach with the Norwegians last weekend and Helena put the sun lotion on my back. Apparently she missed a line and that line now looks like it belongs on the back of an African-American-- at least it does juxtaposed to the skin that got no sun and the skin that was protected... sheesh!) So, I guess in sum, I will miss the warmth of human connection and warm weather here.

I'm glad that I have realized this before I go back... because now I can savour my last bit of time here. *sigh* Change is always tough for me...

Some reflections...

2009-04-04T08:54:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the temporary silence... the internet was down in my apartment complex for TWO WHOLE DAYS! Can you believe it? It was torture... I hate having to pay for something which should be free so I limited my trips to the internet cafe downstairs-- which ended up being a good thing because it was super crowded. Anyway, here is a post that I wrote during my time away from the net:

After living here for a while I have thought of two inventions that could potentially make a lot of money if implemented/sold here in Salvador.

The first is solar-powered A/C. It doesn't make any sense to me that a place that has more sunshine than anything else is not taking advantage of it's good fortune. There should be solar-powered everything here... I think that solar powered A/C would be a good place to start. Instead of getting burned and melted by the sun's rays you could actually be cooled off by them. What a novel idea. :)

The second is sweat-proof sunscreen. I have the sports stuff... it doesn't work here. It is so freaking hot and humid that sweat just wipes anything you put on off in about 20 seconds. There has to be some solution for this... I also hate that when I put on sunscreen I sweat MORE because my pores can't breathe. I guess maybe the best solution is that sunproof clothing that they are making these days... but that isn't very practical at the beach.

If you can't tell, the sun and hot weather really irk me. I miss the rain, the snow, and the general concept of having seasons. Here it is the same everyday... hot, sunny, and humid. I can't say that there has been much difference over these three months... which is pretty sad. I don't think it was that much cooler or wetter in the winter months either. I guess there is something to be said for the value of not knowing what the future holds... a surprise every now then and an unexpected change around the corner is nice. It keeps things interesting.

In other unrelated news I made my hotel reservation for when I return to the States. I have to spend the night in Miami... and I found a good deal with Days Inn for 50 bucks. It comes with free breakfast, free shuttle, and is around a ton of restaurants. It should work out just fine for my purposes. I wanted to stay near this mall place... but it was 30 dollars more. When I thought about it I realized that I probably wouldn't be doing much shopping given the fact that I will have been traveling for over 13 hours. All I will want is a hot meal, a warm shower, and a chilly room to sleep in. So, that's what I opted for. :)

Strange pizza, icy teddy bears, questionable maids, and threadless

2009-03-30T20:16:00.002-04:00

Last night I had dinner with my Norwegian buddies. I had THE strangest pizza ever. I picked a pizza that had turkey, catupiry (a creamy Brazilian cheese), green apple slices, tomato sauce, onions, and mozzarella. It sounds a little disgusting, no? It was actually pretty good. The other girls got plainer things-- namely a Hawaiian pizza and a pepperoni. I had to be the weird one. I followed this up with a petit gateu-- a dessert so chocolately that I am still impressed with myself. (I usually do not like chocolately desserts-- I tend to go for fruity things with berries, apples, or citrus in them. Yesterday for some reason I was in the mood for chocolate though.) It consists of a small chocolate cake with a molten center. It is usually accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It was good but I had had enough after about 4 bites. I made myself eat the whole thing though because it was kinda pricey-- 5 bucks. You can't just throw 5 bucks of food away! (I think this is residual backpacker economics...) On the way back to the apartment complex I saw the maid who cleans my room in a really sexy outfit... going into the apartment complex. I haven't asked her about it but I'd hate to think that she was selling herself on the side to tourists to make ends meet. That would make me really sad. I might just comment that I saw her and she what she says... she might have a perfectly reasonable explanation for coming to her place of work at 9pm... right?

Today I went to the mall with Norwegians. This was a mall that I had not been to yet-- it opened in November so it is REALLY new. It is absolutely beautiful. I think it will become my new hang out spot. I got on the wrong bus-- well not really-- the bus driver said that he was going to go "close by" the mall and that we could walk the rest of the way. What I didn't know was that this involved going over a highway on one of those pedestrian bridges and a 5 minute hike. I think the Norwegians were not pleased. Oops! I liked the walk though-- the breeze on the bridge was amazing... as was the view.

Anyhow, when we got to the mall (around 10:30am) it was EMPTY. The girls hadn't had breakfast yet so they ate some baked potatoes (here in Brazil you can get baked potatoes with just about ANYTHING on them... it's quite amazing, really). Anyhow, we walked around a lot-- saw a lot of stores. I am making a mental list of things that I want to get before I go back to the States. I really like this one store-- Marisa. It has so much cute clothes... in a European/Brazilian style. In addition, I saw some teddy bear ice trays that I really want to get. They also have a Saraiva there-- a big media store where you can get books, cds, dvds, video games, etc. I will have to comb their sale section for some new music. I really want to get some more forro and axe.

In an unrelated update-- I am embarking on the crazy world of t-shirt design. Threadless.com recently had a crazy spring sale. I got an idea for an awesome T today while I was at the mall. If it gets printed on the site I would get 2,000-- and possibly even more if it were to be re-printed or selected as a select tee. I won't say what my idea is yet because I am still working on it but I will say that it is related (loosely) to my research. Hopefully, if I get printed I will be able to donate part of the money (I got debts, people!) to the organization that gave me Dudley-- animalfriendsforever.org. I love them for uniting me with my puppy dog.

That's all for now!

Life is a beach, at least in Brasil.

2009-03-29T15:33:00.003-04:00

This morning I went to the beach with my two Norwegian friends. They are so silly. They showed up at my door around 11 am with towels wrapped around their bodies. They looked like they were about to take a shower-- not go to the beach. So there I was, wearing an actual beach cover-up walking next to two very light-skinned, light-eyed, towel-wrapped Europeans. Pretty freaking hilarious. Being the good bud that I am I told them that they looked ridiculous and we all laughed.

Skip forward 5 minutes and we are scoping out the beach for a spot to plop ourselves down. It was SOOO hot. The sand was hot. The sun was hot. No clouds. Very little wind. Did I mention I hadn't eaten breakfast yet? Bad. We found a little spot and put down our towels. I immediately started to melt off all of the sunblock that I had put on. Yuck. I felt like a picole (Portuguese word for a popsicle). I hate going into the water in Salvador though because there are these little spiney sons of beaches that sting you and leave their stinger in you. They are all over the rocks. There are also fish, which I don't trust. So, I stayed on the beach while the Norwegians took their chances with the ocean wildlife. I got so hot that I had to ask for an umbrella. What a difference that made! For some reason once I was under the umbrella I could feel the wind and was actually comfortable enough to take a nap.

Then, my stomach started to grumble. My Norwegian friends convinced me to try some queijo coalho-- it's basically grilled cheese on a stick. The cheese is sometimes covered with oregano-- depends on the vendor and the taste of the person buying. I have NEVER EVER eaten anything sold by a beach vendor because I value my life. There is an expression here for street/beach vendor's fare-- Jesus me chama-- Jesus is calling me-- in other words, you eat it, you die. Anyway, so I took a "risk" and had some cheese. It was weird. But okay. Unfortunately it didn't kill my hunger so I eventually left the girls on the beach and came home to make some pasta. (p.s. I'm still alive-- no adverse effects (yet) from beach cheese...)

Now I'm laying on my bed-- stomach full, skin slightly browned-- writing on my blog. As soon as I post this I will start doing some media research... and then probably take a nap. Something about the sun makes me really sleepy... now that I'm cool, clean (i.e. de-sanded), and full I think it's a perfect time to get a few z's... *snore*

Two Norwegian friends

2009-03-28T12:35:00.003-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I noticed two blondish, blue/green eyed girls that were always reading and writing in the courtyard of the apartment complex. I thought that they were studying abroad and that they were Americans. As I am generally busy here I never really had time to sit down and talk to them. One day, however, while conversing with Mauro, the restaurant owner, I was informed that they were Norwegians studying sociology.

A few days ago I decided to introduce myself. Apparently they never approached me because they thought I was Brazilian. Heh. One of them is named Helena and she is a 29 yr old special education teacher. The other is a 24 year old named Inger. She is an occupational therapist. They have been in Salvador since last semester doing this study abroad program at this Norwegian friendly school in Ondina. The class that they were scheduled to take this semester was canceled. It was something about social work. So, the university let them do an independent study course on sociology and they stayed in Salvador anyway.

Anyhow, that is their brief intro. They are pretty cool. Laid back and fun. I am going to the beach with them tomorrow and because they have friends and family coming next week I may go to Morro de Sao Paulo with them sometime during the first two weeks of April. It should be fun. I have heard great things about M d SP. It is beautiful-- many tourists come to Salvador just to go there. Also, since I will be surrounded by Norwegians there is a good chance that I will learn some Norwegian. I have already discovered that I understand quite a bit (or rather, more than I ever imagined I would understand) because of my brief study of German. The languages are somewhat similar and I understand enough to get a general feel for what they are trying to communicate to me when they can´t remember the word in English.

Last night we went to eat at the mall together and then went to the grocery store. It was kind of funny because along the way they got cat called SO MUCH. I did not realize how invisible I was until I saw them constantly get attention from everyone-- even the guy who hangs out on the street behind our apartment complex in his wheelchair (his favorite thing is to have someone push him really hard down the street--- I am surprised he hasn´t crashed into a car yet). I could not believe it. I remember when I used to want green eyes... I think those days are over. My brown eyes and dark brown hair are definitely an asset when traveling in a vast majority of the world. I told them how when I was in Japan that people assumed that I spoke Japanese and would try to ask me for directions and the like. The same thing happened in Portugal and Peru. Pretty weird.

In addition to my newfound appreciation for my dominant genes, I have really learned to appreciate the freedom that I have in Boston. The freedom to walk around without being harassed and the freedom to expect to be treated like an equal. These are things that many women here do not have the luxury of experiencing.

Ok, I have to go and try to be productive today since I am going to the beach tomorrow!

The Lambada

2009-03-24T12:25:00.003-04:00

As I previously mentioned (I think it was on my other blog) I have repeatedly wanted to kick myself over my time in Brazil because I did not bring my mp3 player with me. This has resulted in me listening to my favorite tunes on Youtube. Often times I will satisfy a craving to listen to a particular song and then decide to listen to one of the songs from the related videos list. While doing this yesterday I somehow managed to get from Shai to Kaoma.

I still remember the first time I heard the Lambada... I must have been 9 or 10 sitting in my living room watching some movie that had the song on it. A few months later I remember going to the Cracker Barrel with my mom (Cracker Barrel is this country-style restaurant with a little store in front-- they sell all sorts of random stuff) and finding a little green top that lit up and played the tune of the Lambada while spinning. It was so cool. I convinced my mom to buy it for me and I still have it somewhere in my room this day... although it stopped working. :(

Anyhow, so I watched the Lambada video several times and reflected on how idealized Brazil, Brazilian culture, and a wide array of other things are in the video. Check it out here for a brief reminder of Lambadaness:

Anyhow, first I would like to say that I have never ever ever!!! seen orangina in Brazil. Ever. I wish they had it because it would become my drink of choice. This first observation leads me to believe two things-- 1. Organgina was some sort of sponsor for this video and 2. this video was not filmed in Brazil-- probably somewhere on the coast of Europe. My guess is France. Why France? Because the Lambada is fake! Apparently some producers from La France came over to Bresil and started researching local music. They took the tune to the lambada from somewhere in the Northeast. They then went back to France... got some random group of artists together and voila! The Lambada was created. Sad, no? You'd think that something with such pop culture status would at least be real. :(

Second, I'd like to mention that the little relationship between the girl and boy portrayed in the video is interesting. Not only because everyone starts dancing after the girl's dad slaps her but because it says something about racial relations in Brazil. (Note: apparently these kids went on to have some show together in France-- neither of them was Brazilian. Lies, all lies, I tell you!) Most "white" families want to maintain their whiteness by encouraging their kids to marry people just as white or whiter than they are. I use white in quotation marks because what is white in the US is not exactly what white is here in Brazil. White is money. White is class. White is also skin color. On the other end of things, "black" families want the same for their kids-- for them to marry whiter people. This whole phenomena was given the name of "embranquecimento"-- or "whitening." In a way, this video offers a somewhat accurate portrayal of this social institution. I've witnessed it myself. When I was in SP I heard my friend's family say some pretty racist stuff... for example, when I mentioned that I wasn't loving Salvador one member of the family said "It's because there are lots of Black people up there, right?" Uh no. Try the weather. Or the poverty. Or the racism. *sigh* (Can you tell this bugs me?)

Another interesting observation-- I have never seen a beach that clean in Brazil. Nor have I ever seen so many people dancing on a beach without sweating every bit of water in their body out of their pores.

Time for lunch. :)

Did NOT need to see that...

2009-03-20T22:25:00.002-04:00

So today I am perplexed... by both people's seemingly lack of need of privacy and my own invisibleness (is that a word?) here in Brazil. Let me explain:

Today I decided to treat myself to dinner. I went to the usual place-- the restaurant downstairs in my building because it means that I get to hang out with my favorite Brazilian pooch-- Lily. I walk into the place and there is a table with about 14 people in it. I sort of look around and try to decide where to sit... basically there is nowhere that will allow me to sit far enough from the raucous crowd. I now am mentally kicking myself for not having brought my book with me (a book on stress, ironically) because it means I have to stare out into the street for entertainment. I left my book in my place because when I picked it up there were about 10 ants crawling over it. I was too hungry to figure out why and decided to just leave it for further investigation at a later time.

So, anyway, I decided to take a seat by the railing. The street is usually pretty quite around 7pm on Friday nights. I am trying to find some place of peace and relaxation... because the people at the table of 14 are seriously starting to get rowdy. I look out into the street and watch necklace vendors wander up and down... in search of customers. I then see the parking peeps-- a ubiquitious member of the street scene in Salvador. It's basically a person (male or female) that helps you park, watches your car for you (in other words doesn't steal anything in exchange for a few reais), and sometimes washes your car while it is sitting there parked. I watch them for a bit and then this random guy walks into the middle of the street and stares at me. I look away because it was awkward. The first chance I get I take another glimpse and realize he's come closer to the wall where I am sitting (I was about 12 ft. above him so there was a lot of space). I look down to see that he is... peeing. Yup. Saw everything. I definitely learned my lesson about people watching at night... I will ALWAYS bring my book with me from now on. Sheesh.

So that's part one. Part two involves my apparent invisibility. This trip to Brazil marks the fourth time I have been to the country. By some miracle of God I have never been mugged (knocks on wood) or approached by any weird characters. Of course, I don't wear jewelry or nice clothes and I make it a point to not match. If your poor you wear whatever you got no matter if it's in season, out of season, out of style, flattering, etc. I took this to heart when packing. It seems to be working well because I honestly feel like the most invisible "tourist" ever. A few weeks ago on a Sunday I stopped by this little acaraje stand to buy a soda. I was wearing some khaki pants and a button-down, sleeveless shirt. I looked as touristy as I possible could. Anyhow, when I walked up this guy who was sitting next to the acaraje vendor said "How are you?" or something like that in English. I ignored him and said "Oi, tudo bem?" He then asked me... "Voce e brasileira (are you Brazilian?)" I of course said "Nao." He then proceeded to go through a long list of nationalities including-- Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Canadian, Australian, French, etc. I told him simple "Voce vai perder esse jogo (you are going to lose this game.)" So, I just told him that I was American. He was so impressed because he could have sworn I was not American the moment I opened my mouth and spoke Portuguese. :) If I had been wearing a less I'm-a-foreigner-dressed-to-go-on-a-stroll-along-the-beach-esque I'm sure he probably wouldn't have even addressed me in English to begin with. Heh. Anyhow, point of that story being that I feel like I slither around like some sort of sneaky, snakey spy. Kind of cool... but sometimes I want to stand out.

This place is insane... but so am I.

2009-03-12T17:39:00.004-04:00

I don't think I have ever been more perplexed by a culture as I have been by Brazil. There are just so many backward things that don't add up. Everything from how people give you change for your purchases to Easter eggs to racism to machismo. I just don't get it. I think the longer I am here the more I feel like I'm being polluted by everything. I say this not in an elitist sense but in that the mere fact that this alternate way of viewing the world exists puts my own understanding of the world on its head. It's like a mirror-- I realize how arbitrary and pointless my own beliefs, actions, and motivations are. Everything just seems so empty in the end-- as if to make life interesting we have to attach some stickers on to our own personal briefcase of belief. After being in a place where everyone has a brown briefcase and yours is purple you begin to notice that the stickers they choose to place on their briefcases are just as valid as yours... or as invalid, depending on how you look at it.

I think after a while this all begins to mess with ones head. This is probably only exacerbated by the fact that I'm here studying people all the time. Nearly every conversation I have here is one that requires active thought. I can't ignore anything... I must mull over everything. I think I need a break. I thought SP was a break but now that I find myself reflecting and comparing I realize that my brain was just as active there as it is here. I wonder if I will ever be able to turn this off?

A friend of mine once told me that one of my greatest talents was my ability to discern. I guess that is the best way of putting it. Basically, he said that I could analyze a situation and figure out what was "really happening." I agree with him, I've always been mildly analytical of those around me... but this, this is too much. In some way I think it's stripped my ability to admire human creativity... because I feel that in the end everything is meaningless. Even stranger is that I think these things in a rather apathetic way-- I don't have any emotional attachment to them-- it just is.

Maybe my brain has some how found a way to view my own habitus (Pierre Bourdieu reference for my non-social sciency readers). It's an odd feeling.

I think I'm ready to go home... and possibly ready to write a dissertation. :)

P.S. I found out yesterday that the summer school scholarship I was offered last year was quite an honor-- only four students are chosen for it every summer. Too bad I had to turn it down due to my prospectus. I think I will kick ass in veterinary school...

New stuff on the blog!

2009-03-10T00:26:00.001-04:00

I have added a few new gadgets to both this blog and my "normal" blog. Please feel free to poke around and check them out. They should make navigating around my wordiness a bit easier. Also, please fill out your answer to the poll. I really have no clue of where I want to go next! Any encouragement offered will be highly appreciated.

Hasta soon...

Summarizing my time in SP

2009-03-03T14:11:00.000-05:00

I got back two days ago from Sao Paulo and I am now readjusting to the heat of Salvador. The city looks terrible. All of the camarotes (i.e. iron and wood contraptions that are built for the elite to watch the parades from during Carnaval) are half deconstructed. They are ugly skeletons of what once was a colorful array of posters lining the main streets. The city also smells terrible. I didn't realize how much Salvador stank until I went to Sao Paulo. During Carnaval things seem to have only gotten worse-- there are places where it smells like someone just peed or took a dump. It's pretty gross.

I have decided to spend these first few days hanging around my apartment, the pool, and the beach to let myself acclimate to the heat. I think it might be a little cooler now than when I left-- but maybe that is just wishful thinking.

But back to Sao Paulo-- the real reason for this post. I ended up staying with my friend Paty the entire time due to a confusing lack of conversation with my other friend Bruna. It ended up working out ok because Bruna got sick and Paty broke up with her boyfriend. So, in other words, Bruna wouldn't have been able to do much with me and Paty was in need of a companion. Paty lives in a huge house in a suburb of Sao Paulo called Cotia. Her house is beautiful. There is a pool, a mini soccer court, and tons of open space. Perfect for her golden retriever Mel. I met Mel in Santos, a city that we went to for two days that is about 45 minutes away on the coast of Sao Paulo state... but I digress. Let's see if I can remember what we did during those days...

The first four days I hung out with people from the hostel that I was staying at and I think I already blogged about that-- but basically I just went to the DRCLAS branch in SP and hung out with Tomas and his friends. Tomas has a little doggie named Sofia who won my heart with her enthusiastic desire to play. Super cute.

On Friday, the 20th, Paty and Daniel (her bf) came to pick me up from the hostel. From the hostel we went to New Dog-- a little snack/lunch place. I had an omelette with buffalo mozarella. It was pretty good. It was also here that I rekindled my love for Iced Tea! I had forgotten that they sell iced tea in a can here in various flavors. They have Red Tea, Black Tea with Lemon/Peach/Mango, Green Tea, and White Tea. Anyhow, after our lunch we headed to Paty's house out in the burbs. I think at this point we also did my laundry but I can't be sure. Maybe that was the next day?

Speaking of which-- the next day I got my tattoo! Originally we were going to go to this guy named Sergio who has a studio next to Paty's dad's house in Morumbi. However, Sergio was pricey-- part of the reason I was doing this in Brazil is because in the States the minimum charge for a tattoo is the studio min.-- usually about 50 to 60 dollars. For a small tattoo it isn't really worth it to pay that much. Sergio was about the same price as the US-- not surprising given the neighborhood that his studio was in. So, we did some internet research and found a place called-- TATTOO YES! Brazilians have a soft spot for cheesey names. My tattoo artist's name was Ling Ling-- pronounced Lingee Lingee. I thought he was going to be of Asian descent but when I saw him-- he wasn't! I was going to ask him where he got the name from but I forgot-- he was so dreamy in an inky kind of way.

Anyway, after permanently marking myself with a little purple paw we headed to eat lunch at the mall. We met up with Bruna. I had sushi (this will be a recurring theme, I promise). We walked around a bit and then headed to Paty's dad's house in Morumbi. It was there that I fell in love with a spunky 12 yr old poodle named Ozzie Osburne Jr. (again, with the cheesey names). He is sooo hyper for a dog his age. I loved it. He's super demanding when it comes to affection. He will walk up to you and stick his nose into your hand so that you will pet him. He also jumped up on the couch and snuggled next to me. It was so much like Muigi that I almost cried. I miss my squeegee Meaner Moomoosh. There were also two cats there-- Fred (a big fat cat) and Pretinha (a long-haired black cat). They both seemed really interested in me and crawled on my lap-- sniffing me and receiving some love. Thankfully I took the generic form of Claritin before going over there so I was fine. I even got all up in Fred's face when he was sniffing me. I love cats' eyes. They are so beautiful.

Paty's dad also has a huuuuuuuuuuuge DVD collection. About 500 DVDs or so. I told him that his new name was Senhor Blockbuster. He thought that was pretty funny. We borrowed Seven Years in Tibet (Sete Anos no Tibet) and High Frequency (Alta Frequencia). After hanging out for a bit and meeting Paty's step mom, playing with Ozzie in the backyard veranda, and staring far too long into the cats' eyes we headed home.

Sunday we headed out to Santos to meet Paty's mom, stepdad, and dog, Mel. We stayed until Monday. I ended up meeting most of Paty's family including her aunt, cousins, and grandparents. They all have apartments in this small town. It's a beautiful place-- kind of like Rio only not as dirty and with a beautiful garden extending for about 2 miles along the beach. It was way hotter here on the coast but the heat was well worth the sights! We went up to this neighboring island and took pictures from the viewpoint. We also played the first round of Scotland Yard-- a mystery game-- which I won! I was so surprised to have won because almost all of the clues involved knowing a lot of Portuguese.

On Monday we visited the "largest Aquarium in South America" according to Paty. Really, it was the smallest aquarium I have ever been to. It was cute though-- had lots of local fish that looked uber tasty. Mmm.

We left Santos with Paty's cousin and his girlfriend in tow. We chatted all the way back to Sao Paulo. Once we arrived we went to the grocery store and bought some really yummy frozen pizza. It had thinly sliced chicken on it. It was goooooooood. I wish I could remember the brand name so that I can buy it here in Salvador. They might not have it though. Sao Paulo is way cooler than Salvador when it comes to food. I was perfectly healthy the entire time I was there-- unlike in Salvador where my stomach is frequently upset by one thing or another. After arriving home from Santos we played round 2 of Scotland Yard-- I lost to Paty. Daniel almost won but he said mistress instead of bigamy.

The next day we went to Liberdade with Tania and Bruna in tow. It started to rain in the middle of our exploration so we ran to a cafe/bakery. Everyone had bread except for me-- I opted for an expensive drink-- Boba tea! Everyone thought it was so weird and all took much pleasure in sampling a tapioca ball from my drink. It made me miss Boston and Boston Tea Stop-- I always ask for extra boba there. Just a few more months until I am reunited with my beloved raspberry boba slush!

After Liberdade we went to USP to take a tour of the university. It is HUUUUUUUGE. It is similar to those universities you find in the middle of nowhere-- lots of open green space and a shuttle bus to get around. It was completely not what I expected given the size of Sao Paulo-- I thought it would be more urban. We stopped by the veterinary school and took pictures. Well, I got out and everyone else stayed in the car. hah. I should mention that this was on Tuesday-- Fat Tuesday in Brazil and I didn't see even the slightest trace of Carnaval. Amazing!

On Wednesday we went to the city center-- it was a huge dump! There were some really nice buildings but in general the place was pretty gross. Lots of people sleeping on the streets, drug addicts, pee-smelling corners, etc. We went down to this street that has all of these vendors selling pirated DVDs, Chinese imports, and necklaces. Most of the stuff was crap and it was super crowded-- not very much fun. After our sad little hike around the center we went to get something to eat. Of course, I insisted that we eat Japanese and I entered in an all you can eat sushi festival. It was pretty cheap-- less than 15 bucks-- and I got a good amount for what I paid. I had some spring rolls, miso, tuna sashimi, salmon sashimi, some rolls, etc. I was a stuffed kid afterwards.

The next day, Thursday, Paty had to go to work in the morning. I hung around her house talking to the fish and watching High Frequency. Then, her maid Maria made a delicious lunch which included some unknown vegetable-- I think it was okra. It was good. When Paty came home Daniel came over. They broke up, which sucked. Then Paty and I went to the mall to get some food and watch a movie. Of course, I had sushi again (some habits die hard, I suppose).

Friday Paty had work again and this time I spent most of my time on the internet and watching TV (also talking to the fish). Maria, Paty's maid, made me another great lunch. When Paty arrived home she told me that she had to go to school that night. So, I watched Seven Years in Tibet and did my laundry while she got ready for her class and went to school. When she got back Daniel called so we ended up going with him for Pizza... AWKWARD. He was still mad at her and was very distant. I was kind of the third wheel, i.e. entertainment and distraction. Afterwards we went home and went to sleep. I was so tired-- of what I am not sure. I think the whole break-up thing gave me one giant headache. Ugh.

The next day Daniel joined us again and they had magically made up. We went to get my haircut-- I took off 5 inches-- and then went back to Paty's dad's house. We played with Ozzie a bit and then headed out the Iguatemi mall. I added some credit to my cell phone, took out some dough, and convinced the two lovers to go with me to a sex shop. I had never been to one and wanted to see what it was like. The one we went to was pretty much empty. I had a sinking feeling that it wasn't ONLY a sex shop but also a place where people went to have sex with prostitutes that was hidden as a sex shop. Weird. I think Paty wanted to kill me the entire time we were there because I made her go in. After that we went back to Paty's dad's house and started on a Saw marathon. We watched the first three movies in one night! The first two we saw at Paty's dad's house and the last one we saw after getting back home. I can't wait to watch the 4th and 5th movies when I get back to Tejas!

Sunday, the day of my departure, we went to an artisan fair. It was so cute. I bought three necklaces-- or rather-- two necklaces and one pendant. We headed back to the house to pick up my luggage and off we were to the airport. The traffic was terrible and it was sooooo hot. I thought I was going to die of heatstroke in the back of the car-- even with the A/C on! We finally got to Guarulhos about 45 min before my flight. I quickly checked-in, said goodbye to my friends, ran to a cafe, bought some lunch, and boarded. The flight was uneventful except for the fact that the woman next to me kept hogging the arm rest.

When I got back to Salvador I was shocked to hear that my cab driver had stood me up. I guess I shouldn't have been that shocked but given that he was named after my favorite fish, Salmon, I expected more of him. I ended up making arrangements with another driver-- Wellington-- who took me to Bahia Flat without problems. I've been back now for a bit and I'm adjusting to the weather-- the way of life-- and the lack of my friends. *sniff* More to come soon!

Rum and Coke

2009-02-20T08:32:00.001-05:00

Last night I had three rum and cokes at Tomas' house. That will account for about 3/4 of the drinks I will have this year as I seldomly drink. I also played with his doggie Sofia and learned that I have the soul of a gay man from Tomas' husband Wesley. Haha. I had a good time with them. Especially Sofia... she is ADORABLE!

I got home around 12:30am and hit the sack! I was so sleepy that I actually slept until 10 am in my super uncomfortable bed.

Sad news... the creepy hostel worker guy is back. He's this 30-something, really hairy, bad English speaking, Brazilian dude. He's really inconsiderate and just weird. For example, he just opens the door to the girl's dorm without knocking. And, when I'm in the living room he just stares at me and tries to make awkward conversation in his bad English. I can barely understand him and have consistently asked him to just speak Portuguese. He claims that English is "no problem" for him. I guess perhaps I should tell him that it is a problem for me. :(

I am enjoying the nice weather in SP. I took a nap today in the hammock after lunch (which was delicious and excessive). When I woke up I had about 4 mosquito bites on me. Of course, when I told this to one of my roommates she asked if I had any repellent. I said no because I do not like the way it smells. Apparently, SP is a prime spot for dengue. Blargh. That's all I need. I think I'll be ok though. Dengue is big in the winter, not the summer.

Tonight I am going to have dinner with an American from Ohio and then tomorrow I will be heading to Paty's house in the burbs. Saturday I get my tattoo and I'm not sure what we are doing on Sunday-- maybe going to Liberdade? Who knows.

More to come!

I do not like sleeves anymore...

2009-02-18T07:58:00.002-05:00

Besides my latest annoyance with pieces of fabric covering my arms... I am happy to report that I really really like Sao Paulo. Yesterday I went to visit the DRCLAS branch here and it was so... nice. It made me miss Cambridge. The office is tiny-- it has about 4 people working there-- but it is really chic. It's on the 17th (read 18th floor for US) floor and you can see almost all of the city. I saw some people arriving and leaving by helicopter-- something that is very popular here amongst the elite. A lot of buildings have helicopter landing pads that are painted bright blue.

I also walked around the Av. Paulista a bit. It was so nice to be in a city again. Salvador is a city too, don't get me wrong, but it isn't as metropolitan as SP nor is it as clean as SP. Yesterday marked the first time in a month that I had walked around outside without sweating half of the water in my body and without smelling pee. It was nicely refreshing. Today I think I might meet up with one of the DRCLAS peeps to meet his dog, Sophia. She is a little cocker spaniel cutie. I'm not sure if I will be doing anything else-- I have yet to hear from my friend Paty.

Last night I ate at a really spiff pizza place with this Irish girl. My room is a crazy combination of nationalities-- there is me, Irish chick, a girl from a French territory called La Reunion-- it's in the Indian Ocean (she says my accent in French is very good!!!), a Norwegian girl, and an Hungarian. Insane, no? We could have our own little UN. Talking to Emilie (the French girl from La Reunion) makes me want to take up French again. I just have bad memories of being at Middlebury with my former best friend and then the following semester being in a 4th year French class feeling like everyone else had the vocabulary of an adult while I was still struggling to learn a kindergartners vocab. I know I can do it though. I just need to think about everything else I should be doing (i.e. vet school stuff).

In other news, I got in contact with an Army recruiter to learn more about the Veterinary Corps. It's funny, I had a snack/dinner/game of scrabble with one of my colleagues from the states. She was in the army a long time ago and she said that she couldn't see me in the Army. Now, she doesn't know me well enough to know that if you tell me that you can't see me doing something that it only encourages me to do it. I think it is the best thing she could have said because now I am practically dead set on joining. This is some obsession that I have with proving people wrong and pushing myself to my limits. Hopefully this time that will save me over $200,000 in vet school loans!

Ok, time to take a shower and get started for the day!

Sampa and updates!

2009-02-17T07:08:00.001-05:00

I guess it is high time for an update, huh? Well, right now I am writing from the reception area of the hostel that I am staying at in Sao Paulo. This wasn't my first choice but because my friend Bruna told me to cancel and then re-book I lost my reservation at the really really good hostel. I can say that I am enjoying the weather. It is perfect. It would be even more perfect if the city weren't so darn polluted! It is amazing how much smog there is. I guess it isn't surprising given Sao Paulo's enormous size.

Anyhow, let me back up a bit and tell some of what happened before I arrived here. Salvador was really starting to get on my nerves. The racism there is insane. I have seen so many cases of brown-on-brown racism that I just want to throw something at the offenders. For example, a couple of weeks back I was at the Elevador Lacerda with my Chilean friend Isidora. We were waiting in line for the elevator and this lone guy stepped in front of us. I did not think anything of it as I assumed he was just trying to see if he could get in to the elevator before us. I forgot to mention that the guy who stepped in front of us was dark-skinned. Anyway, after he stepped in front of us this guy behind us started giving him lots of lip about how rude it was to step in front of two white girls, how uneducated and barbaric "pretos," i.e. black-skinned people, were, and yada yada. I couldn't believe it. There was no reason to go off on this poor guy like that... especially with racial epithets that make no sense. The guy who was spewing this verbal garbage was black himself, albeit a slightly lighter shade. So, I stepped in and told him that I thought what he was doing was extremely rude and unkind, a mark of a bad person-- regardless of their skin color. That shut him up. It created quite a scene though because in Salvador for a "white" woman to confront a black man confronting another black man is taboo. I don't care though, I can't stand to just sit and watch crap. That's only been one case of racism that I've seen, I'm sad to say. On top of the racism another thing that really bothers me is the begging. Some people refuse to get jobs because I guess it is easier to go to the streets and beg. This means that everytime I have leftovers from my dinner that I need to take back to my apartment with me that I am accosted by at least three people begging me for my food. The thing is, these aren't street dwellers. They are just lazy people. It drives me nuts. I do occasionally give change to people who actually live on the streets but not much because I do not want them to use it to buy alcohol or drugs. It's just such a messed up place. Needless to say, I was needing a break from Salvador the city. (I have yet to mention the increasing number of loud street parties extending until 5 a.m., peeing in the street, or guiltless littering...)

On the other end of things I was needing a break from fieldwork. I had my digital tape recorder stolen from the church. I left it recording while I went to use the bathroom and when I got back it was gone. For a second, confused by the monotony of attending church everyday, I thought that I hadn't brought it with me. When I got back to my apartment I realized that I was wrong-- someone did steal it. This resulted in me feeling really upset. Not to mention that I am really tired of people praying for me to get married and have babies. I don't want either right now! I think I'm just irked by people who continuously refuse to respect my religious liberty even though I am actively respecting theirs. It gets tiring after a while. *sigh*

I had also been sick a lot lately. I don't know what I was eating or drinking that was causing me so much intestinal grief but boy did it suck. Thanfkully on the day I left for Sampa (nickname for Sao Paulo) I did not have that problem. I happily munched on pao de queijo and fresh orange juice with no ill side effects.

So, back to me being in Sao Paulo. I arrived here after an uneventful (but late) flight. My friend Paty and her boyfriend Daniel were there to greet me. Paty is so dramatic. She kept saying how much she missed me. To back track-- I met Paty and Bruna at the hostel in Salvador. We hit it off and they invited me to escape Carnaval in Sao Paulo. So, here I am! After they picked me up we went to this mall were we found a comida a quilo place and ate dinner. I ate sooooooo much. So much. It was gross. But, I hadn't eaten all day so I guess it was ok. I ate a few pieces of sushi, some fingerling potatoes, rice, beans, a chicken breast, a bolinho de queijo, a piece of banana a milanesa, and washed it all down with some Sprite. Then, while wandering around the downstairs part of the mall we found-- A PET STORE. There were two very cute, very expensive little pups. One was a female Maltese (1,200 USD) and the other was a toy Yorkshire terrier (also 1,200 USD). After eyeing the thousandaire dogs we passed by a churro place... and thus began a new obsession of mine. Churros in the states are these fried, stick-looking pieces of dough covered with cinammon and sugar. In Brazil, however, they take it to the next level and fill the churros with a wide variety of diabetic-coma inducing sweets (e.g. nutella, doce de leite, coconut cream, etc.). Not only do the FILL the churro they then place some of the yummy, sticky gooey stuff on top! Oh, and it is also still fried and covered with sugar and cinammon. It was DELICIOUS. I had a major sugar crash after eating that though. When I got to the hostel I was knocked out. That explains why I woke up at 6 a.m. It is now 7:22 a.m. and I am typing my latest life developments away in Notepad because the woman who knows how to connect me to the internet is not here yet. Which brings be back to the hostel. It is clean-- however, it is jam-packed. There are eight girls, 4 bunk beds, in my room. It is way too small for that amount of people so the result is that I have to climb over 3 suitcases/bags in order to get to my bed. The good thing is that the beds are so close together that when I climb up to my top bunk (yes, I ended up with ANOTHER top bed--- ugh) I do not have to worry about falling back. If I did, I would still be on the ladder because the bed behind me would support me. Which brings me to the bed-- I think my dogs in Texas have thicker mattresses then I do on my bed here. My hip hurts from sleeping on my side. It feels as if I had been sleeping on a wooden board (because I kind of was) for the whole night. Not very kosher. So to recap-- the bed sucks, the room is too small, there is no private bathroom-- we have to drag all of our stuff into the hallway bathrooms, there is a shower time limit!!!!! (10 min, but still), and the hostel is on a hill. I also did not like the staff guy who greeted me yesterday. He was super cocky and insisted on speaking to me in English which was highly annoying because I could barely understand him in English. Also, they charge you for everything here-- for not being an HI member, to get access to the wireless code, to rent a towel, etc. It sucks.

Ok, that is the end of my rant. I am going to eat some breakfast and then take a shower. Hopefully by then the magically internet woman will have appeared so that I can post this somewhat pesimisstic blog post to blogger. Woo hoo!

Chocolately pictures

2009-02-01T19:23:00.003-05:00

An update on the tan. It's getting a little darker everyday...

For all the people who say I have straight hair. Ha!

My chocolate shampoo

It smells yummy!

Chocolate hair, acai, and hare krishna

2009-02-01T19:05:00.002-05:00

Today I made use of my chocolate shampoo and conditioner. It kind of looks like poop coming out of the container but it smells intriguingly nice. The smell stays in my hair alllllllll day so I think I'm used to it by now (it's 9pm). I can't wait to try other Brazilian products!! (Clearly, I'm a nerd.)

I also had my first complete acai today. I can't spell acai correctly because I don't have the character on my American computer. It's the c with the little tail. Anyway, I had it with some banana blended in. It was sooo good. It woke me up! I think it was the guarana powder! After drinking/eating my acai with my friend Isidora I went to Subway to grab a sandwich for dinner. When I came out I saw this throng of people walking on av. Oceanica (the street that runs along the beach). I kind of panicked because I do not like crowds. I thought that maybe some people had just decided to start Carnaval early or something. I cautiously walked towards the crowd (I had to in order to get home) and a little girl dressed in a sari ran past me. I thought for a second that she was dressed up as Jasmine from Aladdin. Ha. As I approached I saw that it was a parade with LOTS of people in Saris. I quickly shuffled back to my apartment complex so that I could climb up onto the balcony and get a better look. That is when I realized that they were singing "Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Hare..." It was a Hindu festival celebration-- in Salvador... in Brazil. What was even more interesting was that Brazilians who were not Hindus just jumped in and danced along side those who were. It was a really beautiful thing. I doubt that anyone would do that in the States. Such is the Brazilians love of partying that if there is a good beat they get jiggy with it without worrying about religious affiliation or ethnic mishy mash. (That is a generalized statement, I know.) I cried a little because I thought it was such a nice thing to see-- people having fun together... people in saris, shaved heads, monk draping, and havaianas. A beautiful thing.

Just fyi, I have made a conscious decision not to really discuss my fieldwork here because I think it sort of violates the privacy of those that I am working with. I can't really take pictures of people either... they are sharing their lives with me and the least I can do is keep it under wraps until I am better able to digest what they say and mask their identities. :)

From the field...

2009-01-31T19:09:00.005-05:00

Today was an interesting day. I went with my Chilean friend to the Feira de São Joaquim which is this crazy local market packed with people selling all types of fruit, meat, handicrafts, etc. My friend was looking for souvenirs but they did not have any so we went to the Mercado Modelo and she bought some things for her friends back in Santiago. From there we went to Pelourinho to eat some lunch. I had two orange juices and shared a cheese pizza with my friend. From there we took the bus back to Barra where I went to my apartment and she decided to go to the beach for a bit. We met up again at 5pm to go to this giant mall called Iguatemi. I wanted to see a movie but when we got there we realized it was going to be really expensive so we settled on walking around a bit. I had some Chinese food and she ate an ice cream cone. I bought a bottle of water that had a little hole and it squirted me in the face. That was funny. Luckily they gave me a new one. Then I stopped by Lojas Americanas to buy some shampoo, conditioner, and lotion. I got CHOCOLATE shampoo. It smells just like it sounds... should make for an interesting bathroom experience.

Anyway, the real interesting part of my day happened on the way back from the mall. The bus driver was drinking a 16 oz. can of beer... and I guess it affected him because he crashed into another bus. It was interesting... my first time in a car accident. I was not hurt nor was anyone else on the bus. The drivers then started arguing and our driver asked for a witness to say that it was not his fault-- but it was. Someone, clearly annoyed that we had stopped for so long, agreed. After about 15 min. the bus started moving again and we were headed home!

I just spent about an hour on the phone with my step-mom and sister filling out a FAFSA for them remotely with some guy singing music by the Tribalistas in the background. I have determined that I kind of like being here. It is growing on me.

Oh, on an unrelated note I told my dad that I was thinking of getting a small, nickel to quarter-sized tattoo on my hip and he hung up the phone on me. Well, he thought he hung up the phone on me but I could actually still here everything he was saying. It was not very nice. I do not understand why he cannot be more tolerant of those that think differently from him. Inspite of his infidelity, inattention to his children, and general lack of support (financial or otherwise) I still respect him and I do not hang up on him when he says something I disagree with. That is just childish. It makes me sad that he cannot act like the adult he is. *sigh*

Now it is time for me to take a bath (I am covered in sweat, dirt, and old sunscreen... yuck!)...

Oops! Forgot these pictures....

2009-01-27T12:58:00.003-05:00

Another picture of Lily for good measure. Isn't she adorable? I can't believe that some idiot abandoned her in Italy. I'm happy that her parents found her. She's SUCH a sweetheart.
This was me a few days ago. Note face for dramatic effect.

Yeah. SPF 50 did nothing.

Look at that lovely shade of red! Now I'm more orange. Menina Laranja.

More Fotos!

2009-01-26T12:29:00.005-05:00

Lily, my friend at the restaurant downstairs
View from my seat on the boat on the way back to Salvador
My suburn
We drank lots of stuff
The beach had lots of rocks but calm waves
A little sailor dude
The Argentinian dude, Isidora, and Bruan-- all fazendo xixi no mar
Bad picture.
Little kids playing in the sand
Bruna and her coke zero
Folgada. She is making fun of me!
On the boat...
The car section.
More cars...

Ivete Sangalo boat! This will only make sense to you if you know something about Brazilian music!

Paw Print Tattoo

2009-01-26T08:43:00.003-05:00

I want something similar to this, only in purple. I'm going to get it on my hip-- well between my butt cheek and my hip on the side of my body. I don't want it to be visible at all-- just a hidden symbol of my love of purple and doggies. (Click on the image to see full sized version.)

Updates!

2009-01-26T08:16:00.003-05:00

I've been a busy little bee the past few days. I can't even remember where I left off so I'll just touch upon some of the more memorable moments of the past few days.

Yesterday I was really sunburned (I actually still am today) so I stayed inside to avoid the sun. I had to go out to get some groceries but other than that I just read. I finished _Tell Me Where it Hurts_. It was SO good. It really solidified my decision to become a vet. I think it was really helpful because it touched upon a lot of the things that I was worried about-- euthanasia, people who think that vets are out to milk them from all of their money, etc. (oooh, it's raining! I can hear it on the roof-- good thing I am inside!) I had leftovers from the night before and then called it an early night. It's hard for me to sleep when my body is in pain!

The day before that (i.e. Saturday) I went to Itaparica with my Paulista and Chilena de Paraguay friends. It was interesting. I enjoyed the boat ride-- much better than the near fatal one that I got on in Nicaragua. Once we arrived we realized that there were two sides to the island-- the Club Med side-- and the poor peeps side. We headed over to a local beach. Everything was so freaking expensive. I mean, 20 bucks for a plate of food. That might be reasonable in the States but here it is ridiculous. A small plate of French fries was nearly 5 bucks! Anyway, needless to say I did not eat--- I munched on some cookies, had a pineapple juice, some soda, and some acerola flavored tic-tacs. We were sitting on the beach in these chairs the entire time-- underneath umbrellas. It was a super cloudy day and yet I still got sunburned with avengence. I started to read _Tell Me Where it Hurts_ while everyone else was chatting. I like to read at the beach-- probably the only thing I do like to do since I hate sand and I'm afraid of invisible creatures lurking in the water. After a while we packed up our stuff, hopped on a combi, and made our way back to the ferry boat dock. On our way to buy tickets Paty and I spotted a really skinny street dog. It was so sad-- he was only skin and bones. Paty started crying (and so did I) so we decided to buy him a hot dog and give him some water. I hand fed him the food and he happily ate. He was such a cute dog (inspite of the conjunctivitis plaguing his eyes and the sores on his face). He was a good boy. I felt bad that I had to leave him behind-- if I were already a vet I could have rescued him-- brought him back to health and found him a family. When we left he was curled up on the sidewalk taking a nap. He seemed a bit happier. Afterwards we caught the boat back and I ate with Lily-- my doggie friend who hangs out at the restaurant downstairs. I shared my chicken parmesan with her (which I've determined is super weird here in Brazil-- it's covered with mashed potatoes and has a layer of ham??) I then met up with my friends again and we had some juice. That was the end of the night-- my last night with the Paulistas (sniff).

The day before that they wanted to go to the beach but I didn't want to go and neither did Paty. So, she came over to my place and we had lunch together, picked up my laundry, and then went to the Shopping Barra (mall) near my place. We had ice cream there and savored the air conditioned environment. After a few walks around the mall we came back to my place and we started talking. She ended up reading part of a Patricia Cornwell book that I had on my couch so that we could work on her T's and D's... and then the other two beach bums showed up. They all went back to the hostel to shower and get ready for our night on the town. I took a nap. When they returned we went to Pelourinho to watch a show. Unfortunately, I was really tired... and totally not interested in standing around 2 hours on the side of a hill in order to wait for a show to start. Paty and I decided to return early (the show ending up not being good according to Bruna and Isidora so I did not miss anything). We saw the crazy dude dancing in the central plaza again. I swear, something has to be wrong with this guy for him to go to Pelourinho every single night and dance/strip like a lunatic. It was kind of fun to watch him though. After a few minutes I almost wanted to jump in and dance with him to see what he would do. Needless to say, I didn't. Sanity kept me in check. We headed home and that was that!

I think that is all the updating I needed to do... those were the most memorable things, I think. :)

Now that my Paulista friends are gone I am a bit sad. However, I will be going to SP for Carnaval so that will be fun.

I'm also getting a tattoo!!!! I'll post a picture of what I want in a little while. Until soon!

Fotos!

2009-01-22T13:27:00.005-05:00

Bruna on the beach

The beach and Bruna's hand

Paty drinking agua de coco

Bruna coming back from the water

Beach to my left

Beach to my right and Isidora's head

The patio at my apartment complex

Bruna, me, and Isidora

C'est moi

After 2 hours at the beach

Sitting in front of the pool

The pool at my apartment complex

Yesterday was insane...

2009-01-22T08:51:00.003-05:00

So... yesterday I went to the beach for the first time since I arrived with some of my new Brazilian buds. First of all, let me say that I do not love the beach. It is okay. I hate sand... especially hot, dry sand that flies everywhere. I have to be in the right mood to go to the beach. Yesterday I was not really in that type of mood but my new friends really wanted me to go, so I went. It was alright. We ended up leaving after 2 hours because it was so freaking hot and we were all hungry. We ate at a kilo place for lunch that is right under my apartment. That is one of the many conveniences of living about 20 ft. from the beach.

Anyhow, after lunch we sat around the pool at my place and had frozen fruit bars. I ate a lime one. It was delicious. Then after that some Israelis from the hostel joined our group. The girls went back to the beach but I was not in the mood at all for round 2... so I stayed in my apartment and took a nap. It turns out I was pretty sunburned on my shoulders... I also drank about 1L of water between my naps. (Sorry, I hate to take a break to let you know that the woman sitting next to me at the internet place in my apartment complex is fondling her breasts inbewteen hunt-and-peck typing. It is really annoying and distracting.) Anyway, later on my friends appeared again and we went to the historic city center (called Pelourinho, literally whipping post). I had some cheese balls and açerola juice. Yum. Then, we proceeded to watch this light and sound show called Terreiro Yesú. It was interesting-- sad mostly-- about slavery, Portuguese history, Brazilian colonization, etc. Anyhow, there was some music as a part of this show. At one point I noticed that there was this man skipping around. I thought it was weird but kind of ignored him to look at the stars and the show. Towards the end of the show he LOST HIS MIND. He started doing a combo of Irish jig, Russian kicking dance, breakdance, the Robot dance, Macarena, etc. It was spastic and crazy. Then he took off his backpack and started swinging it around. It has to be one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen in my life. Just when I thought it could not get any better he TOOK OFF HIS PANTS. He swung them around his foot like an odd striptease and then started to hump the ground. His underwear fell off in the back so everyone could see his butt. As if that were not crazy enough he then started running around the square with no pants on. I wish I had my camera so that I could take a picture of him. It was incredible.

Anyway, after both shows (crazy man and the light show that we originally went to see) we took a cab home. The taxi driver was really nice. He handed us cards at the end of our trip and I had to laugh-- the guy´s name was Salmon. Yup. My favorite fish. He offers a reasonable rate for airport transfers-- R$40. That is half the price I ended up paying upon arriving here in Salvador. I should have haggled more but at the time I was too exhausted to really care.

Right now I need to figure out laundry stuff... and then I think I am going to take a nap. I had beef yesterday (bife de cavalo) and my stomach has been bothering me ever since. I do not know why I keep doing this to myself. I really did not have any other choice though because the kilo place only had beef as a protein option. Oh well...

Pics!

2009-01-20T13:33:00.004-05:00

The small gazebo like thing in the middle of the courtyard where I frequently hung out in a hammock.

The strange straw matted roof in my room at the hostel.

Again, the strange roof.

I was just fascinated by this... I have never seen it before. Here you can also see our wonderful air conditioning (i.e. the fan).

View from the window of the room where I was staying at the hostel.

The flowery tree that was forever leaving a trail of flowers on the floor near the hammocks.

View from the kitchen window of my apartment.

The plants on my patio.

Kitchen table-- complete with 10 reais and a guaraná.

Mr. Caipira eggs. Really really orange yolks but quite tasty indeed.

The TV that does not have a working remote. More exercise for me, I guess.

A large loaf of Italian bread I bought for breakfast. I have eaten it with nutella, margarine, and eggs. (not all at the same time)

My two beds-- they keep getting closer and closer.

The bicama-- basically what I use to lounge around in during the day.

In which I discover I have a maid, eat hillbilly eggs with two heads of garlic, and make two Brazilian friends

2009-01-20T13:25:00.004-05:00

So, what have I been up to for the past few days? Well, I moved into my apartment... and it is absolutely great! I have room to sleep 4 people, a TV, an A/C, a pool, a DOG at my disposal (she is the restaurant owner's pet-- named Lily-- very sweet), a kitchen, and the best part? my research site is literally about a stone's throw from my apartment. In fact, I can see it from my balcony!

Needless to say the housing is great. I am sleeping so well now that it is actually cool enough to lay down on top of something. I have yet to start the research thanks to the distraction of two Brazilian girls that I met at the hostel where I stayed the first few days. They are so awesome! They've invited me to stay at their home in Sao Paulo over Carnaval. I managed to find a ticket to SP for less than 300 (what I was going to pay for housing for the week of Carnaval here) so it looks like it's going to happen. Once they leave on the 25th I know that I will miss them. I spend so much time learning new vocabulary and laughing with them. They are tons of fun.

The maid thing is kind of weird. She is a sweet woman though. She talks to me as she cleans what little mess I have in my apartment. She does my dishes!!!!! Which makes her my idol, I think. I hate hate hate doing dishes because the soap dries out my already dry hands. I end up with peeling cuticles, painful hang nails, etc. So anyone who does the dishes for me is awesome. I'm a very neat individual though-- so it's not like there is much for her to do anyway. I think she likes that. :) So we are both happy.

Today I made an interesting lunch. I bought these eggs called Mr. Caipira-- which literally means Mr. Hick/Hillbilly. When I cracked them open I was shocked to see such orange yolks! They were quite tasty-- especially with my addition of two heads of garlic-- yum!

What else have I done of late? Oh, a lot of TV watching. It's part of my research, you see. The IURD owns the 5th largest television branch here in Brazil-- TV Record. I can't understand why they show what they do. In fact, if a Pentecostal church showed what they did in the States I don't think that anyone would take them seriously. Among some of the programming has been-- CSI, a random show about women who kill people and then are interviewed right after the fact???, a hidden camera at a party that shows a bunch of people carrying guns, another hidden camera show that catches prostitutes... seriously, I don't understand any of it.

Anyhow, I'm going to upload some of the pictures that I have taken since being here. There aren't that many as I do not like walking around with a camera in my pocket... but they'll give you an idea of where I've been living at the very least. Toodles!

I fell out of a chair.

2009-01-17T10:47:00.002-05:00

Things have been going ok of late. I have a hard time falling asleep at night (still) because of the heat. It is something fierce! Besides that, I met some great Brazilian girls. We stayed up chatting until nearly 1 a.m. last night. Two of them were from Sao Paulo and the third was from Belo Horizonte. We were talking about folk myths, religion, music, etc. It was all fun until my chair suddenly decided to collapse underneath me and I fell to the floor. It was so weird. The chair was plastic. At least mine didn't break. Some guy's chair had broken a few days prior. I fixed the problem by layering the chairs and sitting in two. Otherwise I would have just sat on the floor. Luckily, I wasn't injured. Just shocked. Not even embarassed really-- because I knew it might happen and so did everyone else.

Yesterday I had dinner at this Mexican restaurant. The only thing that was good was the guacamole. I think this is about the time when I start missing food from the U.S. ... earlier I also really wanted to watch the Matrix. *sigh* I guess it's a bit of homesickness.

Tomorrow I move into my apartment which means two things-- 1. a good night's sleep!!!! and 2. fieldwork begins!

I have some major heat rash on my arms because I sleep with them under my pillow. I hope it goes away as soon as I move...

Until soon...

Hammocks, fresh juice, and annoying people

2009-01-15T10:45:00.004-05:00

Yesterday I spent almost all day in the hammock. I have trouble sleeping at night because the room gets so hot and stuffy. As a result during the day I'm pretty exhausted. I must have taken about 5 naps total. The best one was around 8pm. The starts were out and I was looking at Orion's belt, rocking in the hammock, falling in and out of sleep. It was beautiful.

Besides hammocking, napping, and re-reading Harry Potter 6, I interacted with some of the hostel folk. This was both unintentional and intentional. It seems to me that I'm probably not going to be able to get much done in terms of fieldwork while I'm here in the hostel. I'm never alone and it makes it hard to concentrate. Even while writing this blog post I've been interrupted. Weird. Everyone thinks I'm a big nerd because I don't want to go out and party. Today is the washing of the Igreja do Senhor do Bonfim. A lot of people from the hostel went. The thing is... I just have very little interest being around a huge bunch of people in the middle of the day. I'm not much of a partier... ok, correction, I don't like to party at all. I don't like alcohol, cigarette smoke, or random people touching me. All of these things together just make it highly unlikely that I'd enjoy myself at the parties that are being held in honor of the annual church washing. *sigh* So anyway, the point is that everyone thinks I'm a huge nerd. Which, I am. :)

There was this one really annoying Brazilian girl in the hostel. Once she found out what I was here to do in Brazil she started to lecture me about how the Igreja Universal wasn't a religion and how it was just a scam. Then she started to tell me how much she hated Americans because they all supported George Bush and his killing of people in Israel, Iraq, etc. On top of that she went on to lecture me about how Brazilians don't have any racial prejudice but Americans are very racially prejudiced. I thought about telling her my thoughts on these things but it seemed fruitless since she was kind of militant about her points of view. Whatever. What really annoyed me was last night at 2 am when she decided that she was going to leave the hostel and pack up her things. My bunk bed was above hers. I had my bags underneath the bunk. For some reason she felt the need to take all of my stuff out from underneath the bed, shake the bed, slam the doors to the various things, and talk loudly with the hostel worker in the room. Omg, I totally wanted to throw something at her. The good thing is that after she left the room I moved down to the bottom bunk. I freakin' hate top bunks. I hate the little rungs on the ladders that hurt my feet, I hate that the ladders aren't attached to the bed and sometimes sway when you are getting up and down, and I hate not being able to get down easily in the dark if I have to go to the bathroom. So, I guess something good did come out of her middle of the night departure.

Anyhow, yesterday I got this lasagna thing from the grocery store. It looked more appetizing on the box than it really was. It had chicken, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, cheese, and maybe something else? I ate about 1/3 of it and threw the rest away. Yuck. Later on in the day I learned something that will prove fruitful once I'm in my own place-- how to make Lime juice. They cut up a whole lime into pieces, throw it in the blender (with the rind on), add some sugar, some ice, a bit of water, and then drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr-- out comes a frothy, icey bit of heaven. They strain the juice to get the chunks of the rind out and then serve it to you in a tall glass. Yum. That was the best part of yesterday-- food wise. Today I think I might go back and get another one. At just over $1 it was well worth it.

Ok, now I think I'm going to take a walk and see where I end up... ate mais!

Observations from my trip...

2009-01-14T11:31:00.002-05:00

The flight from JFK to Sao Paulo was painfully long. However, I got lucky! The plane had those built in little TVs on the back of the seats. I was SO SO SO excited because the first movie I saw that they had was _Beverly Hills Chihuahua_. I've been wanting to see BHC for the longest time. I was kind of bummed when I realized that they only had dubbed versions in Spanish or Portuguese. I kept flipping between the two before finally settling on Spanish because it just felt right (Chihuahuas speaking Spanish just makes more sense than Chihuahuas falando portugues). It was SO FREAKING adorable. OMG. I totally want to get this on DVD when it comes out. I say this particularly because I fell asleep for the last 45 min or so of the movie. I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I have to find out how Chloe gets back to Beverly Hills. I hope she falls for Papi and not Delgado.

ANYWAY, then I watched _City of Ember_ which was pretty good. I was so surprised that they had so many movies that I liked. I watched _Wall-E_ after that. I'd already seen it but it was nice to watch it again. After that was _Eagle Eye_ which was just freaky.
After all of my movie watching I switched to the TV feature on the system and watched "Just for Gags" which is this Canadian show that puts people in absurd situations to see how they react. It was so hilarious. I was laughing while the people around me were sleeping. I felt kind of bad. I also fiddled with my DS for a bit. Man my eyes were in pain! So dry, tired, and just painful. I barely slept on the plane.

So I finally arrive in Sao Paulo only to realize that I had a major problem-- my dinner did not sit well with me at all. They originally were offering beef, chicken, or pasta. When they got to me they were out of chicken. That was my first choice. I asked what kind of pasta it was and my situation became a slight nightmare-- manicotti stuffed with ricotta. So, here I am-- 35000 ft in the air, hovering over the Amazon with two digestively disasterous meals. Beef does not sit well with me anymore because I have not eaten it in a long time. Cheese, especially ricotta, is terrible for my lactose intolerant system. So, I went with the cheesey pasta and hoped for the best. Well, I got the worse. I had SUCH a desire to go to the bathroom when I got to Sao Paulo. It was terrible. I was sweating and starting to mildly freak out because I had to go through immigration and customs before I could relieve myself. Of course, I get to customs and they want to scan my bags. I wanted to cry. I did it quickly, checked in my bags, and then RAN to the nearest bathroom. It was terrible. I feel like everytime I go through Sao Paulo I have some sort of digestive nightmare. Anyway, I used the bathroom again after going to the second floor and finally I was OK.

I went through "security" (if you want to call it that) for my domestic flight. The airport was a zoo. I swear-- there were so many people and not enough seats. I ended up sitting on the floor (which was painful for my poor sore bum) while pinching myself every 5 min or so to ensure that I would stay awake. I finally went down to the place where my plane left. It turns out that instead of a jetway I had to board a bus that took me to the airplane. That was interesting.

Apparently Brazilians have a fascination with taking pictures in front of airplanes. There was this little girl who was dangerously close to the engine and nobody told her to get away. Kind of concerning.

Anyhow, I boarded the plane only to find a really really fat old man in my seat. I kindly explained to him that he was in my seat and he told me that I was mistaken. I showed him my ticket and it turns out that he had been assigned the same seat. I explained the situation to the flight attendant who told me that because the airplane was not full that I could sit anywhere. I sat myself in the seat across the aisle from the grumpy old dude. A few minutes later a gaggle of annoying Argentinian women (older women) approached me and told me that I was in their seat... and apparently so was the girl sitting in the window seat of my aisle (it turns out that seat had been assigned to two people as well...). I explained to them that we could sit wherever we wanted bc the plane wasn't full. I guess they didn't believe me because they called the flight attendant (poor woman) and tried to communicate the problem in Portanol. Finally, they sat down in the aisle in front of me. What a disaster that was! They were SOOOOO obnoxious. They kept laughing the whole way to Salvador, taking pictures with the flash on, and generally making a ruckus. I was really happy to get off the plane.

Once I was in Salvador I was hit by a wave of humid heat. Yum. I walked over to the taxis and haggled a price for a ride to Barra. It was the fastest trip ever! Because it was almost 1 am the streets were deserted. The driver drove like he was on a race track-- fast and inbetween the lanes. I was enjoying it... oddly enough.

I got to the hotel around 1:15 am at which point I was greeted by a guy who's name I cannot remember. He seems to like me though because he keeps introducing to me to other hostel guests as "Illiana the Anthropologist who speaks many languages..." He kept trying to get me to swing in the hammock but I explained to him that I was exhausted. Finally, two of my roommates (who he had told me were Americans) arrived. It turns out that they are Canadian sisters trekking across S. America. There is also a Spaniard staying in my room who is a kind of a nudist. Well actually, now that I think about it they are all a little free. Which is fine by me... just kind of amusing because I can't help but laugh when someone is rubbing lotion on their bare ass right in front of you because they sunburned it at the beach. Ow. Apparently we have another roommate-- but she didn't come home last night! =o Sketchy!

As for the room-- it has a strange ceiling-- covered in straw mats. I'll have to take a picture of it because it is just so bizarre. Of course, I ended up with the top bunk so I got to stare at it for the first 2 hrs or so of the night until I finally fell asleep. There was no A/C in the room (even though it was advertised as having it) and boy was it steamy. Our room is on the second floor so all of the heat gets stuck in the room. There are two huge fans which just seem to move water vapor around a bit. It makes me really look forward to moving into my ACed apartment!!

Right now I'm chillaxing... letting myself adapt to the weather and the change of pace. I wish the internet were back up (I'm drafting this post in word) so that I can call my grandparents and father.

P.s. I miss my doggies. There is this statue of an aardvark in the lobby-- everytime I pass by it I think it is a dog!

P.p.s. I still can't find tweezers!!!

And the adventure is back on...

2009-01-13T03:15:00.003-05:00

I've had a rough start! I could not sleep this past night. At all. I tossed and turned in Howard Johnson's springy bed (too many nights of memory foam heaven have spoiled me). I missed my dogs bodies being around me... and their slightly rumbling snoring. *sigh*

So, I got up super early, played with my nintendo DS, tried to mentally prepare myself for the environmental shock that my body is about to go through (from 15 F to about 90F), thought about what life will be like in Salvador, thought about repacking my bag, fiddled around, and finally got into the shower after I decided there was no way I was going to sleep for a measly 30 min. Now, I'm showered and ready to go.

One annoying thing that I keep thinking about is how I forgot to pack my tweezers. This may not seem like a big deal. At first I simply told myself that I'd buy a new pair at the airport or in Brazil. Then, I started to reflect on how the pair of tweezers that I've own have been with me for over 10+ years and traveled with me EVERYWHERE. Without them I feel alone... and tweezerless. I enjoy plucking my eyebrows when I'm bored... so they were sorely missed last night.

Ok, I think it's time to start repacking my bag... and enjoying my last few minutes on US soil for a while...

Update on the return to Brasil...

2008-12-15T10:10:00.001-05:00

I finally heard back from FLAS and I've been approved to return to Brazil. I'm actually really happy and excited this time. Being in Tejas has been rough for a number of reasons so I'm looking forward to finishing my project in new environment.

I should be arriving on Jan 13 or 14 in Brazil. Woo hoo!

An update-- 1 month later...

2008-12-04T07:54:00.002-05:00

So I've been in San Antonio for quite some time now. Thanksgiving has come and gone. I've been spending a lot of time doing fieldwork-- to the point that I'm exhausted at night and have strange nightmares about my "subjects." This is probably due to the fact that I've been working at a retailer with two of the church members in addition to everything else. Luckily, I told them that my schedule was too crazy for me to continue this any longer so my last day is soon-- Dec. 10!! After that it'll just be a few more weeks before I can go back to Brazil. I'm actually looking forward to it now. First of all, being in Tejas is a pain in the butt because it's so hard to get access to a car. I have to wake up at 6:30, take my mom to work, come back home, get ready, go out for the day, then pick her up, then pick up Omar, and finally I'm home at almost 9pm. Salvador's bus system and cheap taxi's definitely make transport a LOT easier. I'm also just ready to pick up where I left off. I was really getting into it before I got sick... and now that I know my sickness is unlikely to return I feel more confident about going back.

For those interested-- by the time I got to see the Infectious Disesase specialist it was too late to have a sample taken for analysis. However, I did show her a picture and she said it looks like it was probably something caused by an insect. She couldn't be sure because as I already said-- 1 month later there wasn't anything to sample. So, that's that. I am just happy that it wasn't anything permanent like Shingles or the like.

The one thing I am sad about is leaving my dogs. I've gotten so used to sleeping with them at night... bumping into them as I shift around in bed. I like their warm bodies near my feet-- a part of my body that is always cold. I like to hear Muigi's snoring and I love it when he cuddles up next to my side. It makes me feel loved. Dudley is going to be the hardest to leave because his entire time at our house I've been here-- he doesn't know any different. Hopefully he won't get too upset. He's such a little lover boy... he falls asleep in my arms like a baby. *sigh*

Another announcement is that I'm seriously considering joining the army so that my veterinary school expenses are paid for. It also would guarantee that I have a "job" for four years after vet school. Of course, I just need to get into serious shape in the next two years. I'm just afraid I won't make their weight cut offs. I don't think I've ever been lighter than 170 lbs... even when I was an athlete. Luckily they do body fat measurements if your weight is too high. As long as you fall into the "safe zone" in body fat that you are ok. :)

Time to go!

Wow, it's been a while...

2008-11-05T21:52:00.003-05:00

I haven't updated because I've felt pretty crappy for most of the time that I've been in Texas. It takes FOREVER to get specialist appointments and not knowing what's wrong with me or what happened to me in Brazil is super frustrating.

There is one thing that I should write about-- Barack Obama is President-elect.

Part of me really can't believe it. I keep waiting for them to say 'sike.' It changes my opinion of my country. I've honestly not been happy to be American... ever. Yesterday that changed... tears welled up in my eyes as I saw the soon-t0-be first family walking out on that platform in Grant Park. I think about all that will come in the near future and my heart swells with pride and excitement.

In fieldwork related news-- I've decided to return to Brazil in mid-January-- basically as soon as the airfare prices drop down to a reasonable level.

So... that's that... for now!

A sad and incomplete update

2008-10-18T03:17:00.004-04:00

So, I'm back in the States. After considering all of my options changing my Christmas ticket (which was free-- no change fee) and coming home to get medical care seemed to be the best option. My list of problems seems to only have gotten longer-- the steroids (and everything else) really affected my mood. I'm just so down. I can't feel happy about anything... not even my new dog, Dudley.

I have an appointment for Tuesday with a general practitioner. Hopefully she'll figure out what's causing the rash and exhaustion. I may also have to be shuffled to a psychiatrist being that I stopped the steroids a week ago and still haven't felt the cloud lift...

Anyway, I'm disappointed in myself. I'm tired. I'm just not happy. I was doing so well those first days-- getting things done, wandering around, talking to people... but I just couldn't even get out of bed once the rash got bad. It sucks.

I guess I'll udpate after the appointment on Tuesday because there isn't much else to say now...

Moodiness? Steak Parmesan? Salsa?

2008-10-08T22:30:00.002-04:00

Today was a good day. I seem to have rallied a bit-- and I was much happier in my little 12X12 abode.

Here's a summary of what I did:

Last night I noticed that the exchange rate was MAD LOW. When I got here it was 1USD=1.88 BRL. Last night it dipped to 1USD=2.31BRL. One of the good things about not being able to do anything is that I'm able to track mundane things like currency value. It's like my new hobby. Anyway, so a few hours after breakfast (I watched some Edir Macedo stuff online in the morn) I went to the bank. Of course, they were on strike and the ATM wouldn't give me any money. That sucked because I was feeling kind of dizzy and just not so great and I had to walk to the mall (in the opposite direction). I took out my discounted cash and then decided to treat myself to an ice cream. YUM! I had Lime Mousse ice cream. Delicious. It made my cheeks pucker with happiness. I walked around the mall a bit while eating my treat. And I was just in a good mood. I finally remembered to buy Q-tips. My ears had been itching because I spend so much time with headphones on. Unfortunately I couldn't scratch them very well-- so I got some Q-Tips. I needed them anyway-- I'm a stickler about clean ears.

After getting my Q-Tips (which I have no idea how to say in Portuguese-- the package doesn't help either-- if I were to try I'd probably say Cu-tchipees. That would be bad since Cu means ass... like crude ass. Anyway...) I walked back to the hostel. I grabbed some cokes (they are better here than in the states because they don't use high fructose corn syrup-- they use sugar instead) and some cookies. I guess the hunger part of the steroids finally kicked in. I came back and watched House while munching on my goodies. I then went downstairs to talk to this Slovenian girl and one of the hostel workers (Catiane-- she's so sweet. I love her). Slovenian chick (whose name I won't even try to write down) was telling me about Dracula in her country in a slightly weird form of English. She told me that she liked to eat raw meat. Of course, being the little un-phaseable anthropologist that I am I said-- cool. I told Catiane (in Portuguese) what we were talking about and she was like-- no way! Haha. I then told her that the girl liked to drink blood-- and she was like-- now you are just pulling my leg. Yeah, I was.

Anyhow, I went upstairs after lunch (which was some narsty Brazilian frozen pizza that I bought-- was not in the mood for it) and hung out a bit. I wrote more postcards and read my crazy book about this guy who takes a hallucinogenic drug in order to write a book. It's weird, but hey, it keeps me entertained these days so I can't complain so much.

After doing other random things (including talking to about 75% of my family) I decided to go to dinner around 7pm. I finally got to go to the Italian restaurant that's about 500 ft from the hostel. I gave them this little hostel card and they gave me a free appetizer-- bruschetta-- DELICIOUS. The tomatoes were fabulous. I LOVE TOMATOES... especially with some good olive oil and garlic. Yum! That was followed by fresh squeezed pineapple juice, steak? parmesan (I think it was supposed to be chicken but someone missed the message-- whatever-- even though it's been a year since I have eaten steak I ate it anyway-- I need all the nutrition I can get) that was missing its cheese. But the sauce was delicious. That chef knows how to work his tomatoes. I had a side of roasted broccoli with garlic. That was delicious... the broccoli was a little too soft for my liking but it was so tasty that I did not complain. I treated myself to dessert too-- chocolate mousse. Which reminds me-- the chocolate here in Brazil is so ... different. I don't know if its the way they sweeten it or the fact that it is slightly bitter. It has this ubiqutious taste that I could easily identify in a line-up of chocolates. It was good-- strong, bitter, and yummy. I sort of rolled home from the restaurant and came upstairs.

I called my Aunt Sandra in Japan which cheered me up tons because she is so crazy. We talked about my time in Japan and what we would do over the holidays when she comes to Tejas. I am going to try to find some small interesting gifts for Christmas to bring back for everyone. I also would like to find a quadro suitable for my new room. I brought a paint sample that way I could match it with confidence. I'm a nerd about this interior design thing. Anyway, while chatting with her we were going over my travel blog together-- simultaneous blog surfing. I ended up watching one of my old dancing videos and it made me want to listen to salsa. So right now I'm hooked up to Pandora listening to my heavy salsa station happily listening and shaking to the music.

I'm so surprised about my mood change. I remember reading that steroids make you moody. Well, if they make me this cheerful, optimistic, and happy then I guess I can't really complain much, huh? The only thing I don't like is the dizziness and exhaustion. It's weird-- my body is physically exhausted but my mind is alert. Right now I wish I could go dancing but I know that the minute I get up to do a little jig that I'm going to want to sit down again.

Anyhow, it's late-- I should go to bed. Tomorrow I'm going to the post office to mail the post cards I've filled out and buy some more. I want to send some to Japan and to some other people in the States that I have yet to write to. Postcards are always so weird-- I never know what to say so I usually talk about food, something stupid I did, or how much I miss my dogs. Heh. It's hard to fit anything of substance in such a small place. I guess it's the thought that counts though, right?

Ok, I'm off to bed after the requisite call home...

Btw-- rash update-- about 1/3 through treatment-- some pain still, still itchy, and still majorly red. :(

CAUTION: Kind of gross.

2008-10-07T19:55:00.002-04:00

Introducing: My rash

This is where it all started-- my stomach. It spreads from end to end of my front-side. It doesn't really go below my belly button, though.
Then, it spread to my arms.
And today, after the dermatologist visit, the beginnings of it could be seen on my leg.

My first Brazilian doctor's visit...

2008-10-07T19:20:00.003-04:00

Today I went to see a dermatologist that I was directed to by International SOS and indirectly by my very good and faithful friend, Carla.

Anyhow, so I rushed over to Rio Vermelho (a neighborhood here in Salvador which is about 15-20 min by car). When I got there I entered this sort of dark and cool brick building. There was an elevator man/woman in each elevator. I hopped into one and got off on the fourth floor. I went over to room 403 (as I was directed to by ISOS). When I walked in I was kind of shocked-- it was really really nice. There was a huge flat screen TV on the wall playing some morning broadcast show here in Brazil. It was kind of funny because the guy was at Universal Studios in Orlando-- I've been there. Anyhow, I talked to the receptionist and gave her my details. She looked at me the entire time with a slight smile-- a sign that I took that she was impressed by my Portuguese. I had no trouble answering her questions or expressing myself. Actually, I did take a while to remember my cell phone number... but that's because I haven't used it much. After she took my info and my R$150 I sat down to watch the TV. Behind the receptionists desk was a clue as towards why the office was so successful-- a menu of services. Most of them were related to beauty-- removal of various unwanted pieces of skin, botox, collagen, etc. All of these fancy shmancy services were printed in a silver font.

After about--- I don't know 20-30 min-- I was told to go down the hall and open the first door on the left. Weird. So I did. I was greeted by a young woman-- maybe as old as 35? Who greeted me by planting a kiss on each cheek. That caught me off guard... but as I'm usually pretty cool with going with the flow, it was ok. I kind of laughed inside thinking about how not cool that would be US with all the hypersexuality that exists under the cover of professionalism. ANYWAY, so I sat down on the white chair in front of the white desk in the white room with white floors. I felt as if I had been suddenly dunked into a bottle of rubbing alcohol-- sterile. I talked to the woman in Portuguese explaining the problem and then thought it was just better to lift my shirt and show her the problem. She directed me to the examination table behind her desk. With the aide of a magnifying glass she took a look at the rash on my arms, stomach, and elbow. I told her that I had used an anti-histamine cream with no results. She nodded and motioned for me to hop off.

Back in the white seat which hissed as the air came out of the cushion I sat as she typed who knows what into the computer. She asked me a few more questions-- did I sleep alone? Yes. Did I have any allergies? No. This went on for a while. Then she took out a huge prescription pad and started writing prescriptions for three different medicines. One was steroids-- oral-- 40 mg to be taken twice a day. Another was steroids-- topical cream to be applied once a day. And the last was a gel-- of who knows what which I'm supposed to put on before I go to bed. I asked her what she thought I had and she replied that it was a type of eczema. Great. She said that my skin was in such bad condition that I would not be able to tolerate any extra tests to determine the cause of the rash. That comes later. Joy.

The cost of the visit+medicine+taxi back and forth? 150 US dollars. Ouch.

I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to afford to eat, have housing, and pay for all of this medical stuff. That concerns me. I have a colleague here who has offered to help. I stupidly didn't bring a credit card. I packed in such a hurry before I left that I took my old debit card to Bank of America (which has no money on it at all because I switched to ING in May) instead of my Chase card. They are the same color. Damnit. So I have no way of paying for tons of medical expenses.

How do I feel now? Well, I took the first dose of steroids this morning... I figured I'd start slow and do the twice a day thing tomorrow... good plan. I feel like shit. Dizzy has hell and generally weak, tired, and just... not good. My rash still sore, itchy, and super red. I've decided that if it doesn't get better after 5 days that something is seriously wrong. This puppy hasn't responded to antibiotics, antihistamine, and has just kept growing. In fact, when I left for the dermatologists office it wasn't on my legs. When I came back it had spread there as well. If it doesn't respond to steroids I don't know what I'll do... it scares me and I don't like to be scared (in fact, few things scare me in life.)

Fieldwork has come to a complete halt. I don't have the energy or the discipline to keep myself from scratching when my rash starts to itch from the heat. So, I stay inside. Ironically, I stay in bed all day and I'm still exhausted. I emailed my department today to let them know what was going on. It sort of made a bigger wave than I expected. Oops. I meant to just let them know that something might happen if I don't get better... I am thankful for their quick response and support. It makes things easier here.

Tonight I had a bad dinner. I think it made me lose my appetite which is good... considering that steroids are known to increase appetite. I ordered Chicken Parmegian... I thought I should spoil myself a bit with this $11 dish given how sucky everything has been going. Imagine my shock when it came to the table and I could not see the chicken. I should have known better than ordering Italian in Salvador. DUH! So this was the deal-- there was a LOT of mashed potatoes-- a LOT. It was in a circle. In the middle of it was the chicken-- breaded and friend. On top of the chicken was a thin slice of ham and a bit of cheese. On top of that... a puddle of tomato sauce. So, when it came to the table I saw a ring of mashed potatoes with a circle of sauce in the middle. Quite surprising. Oh, I forgot to mention that apparently the mashed potatoes was not enough starch-- there was a side of white rice too. Anyway, so I hesitantly tasted it. It was actually pretty damn good! Everything was golden until I cut about 1/4 of the way into the chicken and realized that it was completely raw on one side-- nice going, Illiana! I probably ate raw chicken while on steroids-- which supress my immune system and gives me digestive issues. Not good. I sent it back with the waiter and it came back more brown. I avoided the center of the chicken which was still a little pink and instead feasted on mashed potatoes. Ok, so I guess it wasn't that bad of a dinner... but it definitely wasn't worth 11 dollars (which is pretty expensive here) and it wasn't what I wanted. Tomorrow I think I will try the pizza place next door. I'm lucky to have so many restaurants within a stone's throw of the hospital-- otherwise I would probably starve. When I feel better I might actually attempt cooking...

Right now I'm sitting in my A/Ced room waiting for the second presidential debate to start. Oh, I guess, in homage, I will place a few pictures of my horrendously annoying rash on the blog. Might as well, no? Most important thing that's happened thus far... *sigh*

Yucky...

2008-10-07T07:33:00.003-04:00

Today is my mom's 53rd birthday. What am I doing to celebrate? Having my first experience with a Brazilian doctor-- that's what I'm doing.

Here's the deal-- I have no idea what this rash on my body is. It keeps spreading... every morning I find that it's crossed some imaginary boundary that I had marked on my body the night before. Today-- it's on the crease of my elbow joint. It wasn't there yesterday! If it were heat rash it would have gotten better-- NOT worse. I've been sitting in an air conditioned room for about 3.5 days now-- praying all the time that this horrendous, itchy rash would disappear with the cold air. In fact, I've frozen myself. Last night I had to wear socks because I was so cold and I HATE wearing socks while I sleep. Most of the time I have chills-- but I keep the a/c on in hopes that that is what is making me break out in this rash.

As far as the guy who wouldn't return my money-- I think I'm going to try to sue him for it back. I never signed a written agreement and we never talked about what would happen if the apartment didn't work out. He can't just make up the rules now and say "Oh, I'm going to keep the money." He sucks. It's sad too because there is no way in hell that an unvacated house (i.e. no utility bills) would cost 500 in that neighborhood. He's just sitting on the money because he feels he deserves it... well... uh... what about me? I left his place covered in a rash that has only expanded bit by bit and have yet to find a suitable apartment to replace his. Again, he sucks. I'll deal with that later... after I've taken care of this wretched, wretched rash.

As you can imagine my fieldwork is not coming along very well... my main concern has been to get rid of this rash... we'll see what happens today!

A few (emphasis on few) pictures.

2008-10-04T20:54:00.003-04:00

This is all of the freebies that TAM gave me: a little bag, a fold out comb, a toothbrush, toothpaste, earplugs, and a pair of socks! Beat that stingy American airline companies!
The Florida keys and maybe? Cuba in the distance.
That is the Amazon rainforest. The river is in the background and let me tell you: It is the WIDEST river in the world!
A better view of the Amazon river.
You can see one shore of the river in the distance... and the other side is behind the airplane-- WIDE!
Entering Manaus.
Hello extremely humid airport!
This is a picture from the (rash) house I briefly rented. This lizard was my only roommate. I named him Spike. We had lots of conversations.

An update of sorts...

2008-10-04T20:34:00.004-04:00

I'm back at the guesthouse where I stayed last year. The owner has graciously given me a decent rate (about 25 dollars a night for an air conditioned, private room with private bathroom) and allowed me to stay even though he's doing construction on the outside of his building. His generosity is a God-send. Seriously.

I have the room reserved until the end of October. I'm hoping to find an apartment for November and the first two weeks of December. If that works out well then I will try to arrange for the apartment for the second half of my stint in Brazil.

To be honest I'm so miserable right now that I'm not sure I would even really want to come back for the second half. I mean, obviously I will... but still. I have yet to be able to start research. After my second night in the house the rash spread even more. Now I'm taking some time out to let it heal as it becomes obscenely itchy when I'm outside for too long. The heat irritates it. Tomorrow I plan on laying on my bed ALL day... waiting for it to heal (or something like that). I got some antihistamine cream and that seems to be helping quite a bit... which means that it probably was an allergic reaction to something.

Tonight was an interesting night in the guesthouse. There is this guy from Mumbai who is Hindi, these set of Bahianas that have English "boyfriends" (or rather temporary hook-ups)-- one of them is Buddhist and the other is a practitioner of Candomble de Angola, a Slovenian chick who wanders around the place with very little on, a random 30-something year old guy from Washington D.C., and this guy from Curacao-- the Caribbean island you've never heard of that is next door to Aruba. Weird. Weird, weird, weird crowd. But weird in a good way-- the Indian guy is vegetarian-- so I spent some time talking to him about vegetarianism, Capitalism, private vs. public education, etc. The Slovenian gal taught me how to say my name in Hungarian-- something that sounds like Ill-long-ah. The Curacao guy is so fun loving... I think he's my favorite. He smiles at everything-- I love his energy. The guy from Washington D.C. is going to some sort of gathering in a favela tonight. I will be very impressed if he comes back with all of his money, watch, and shoes. The two Bahianas keep trying to get me to go to parties-- I think they want me to hook up with a Bahiano. I keep telling them that I'm really NOT the partying type. I don't drink much and I hate dancing to samba or American music-- the two most prevalent things heard at dance parties here. I think they think I'm joking... oh well. They are sweet though... well, most people here are once they realize that I'm American and can actually carry on a really decent and profound conversation with them.

Which brings me to my taxi driver. People-- I have my very OWN taxi driver. His name is Reinaldo and he is from Sao Felix-- a city further south in the state of Bahia. He's so much fun to talk to. He tells me about all the people he's taken around the city-- a really interesting guy. He lives with his mom so that she doesn't get depressed about living alone. I like him and am happy to have his number in my cell phone for taxi services. I tip him well-- so we are both happy. :)

I was finally able to find a working skype headset today... so I'm connected to the rest of the world-- Hoorah! What is very sad is that because I am in Brazil I can't watch any of my fav. American shows online during my down time. That is very very very sad. Basically, you have to be in the US in order to watch them. *sigh* I guess I will have to catch up over Christmas and then again in May. Oh well.

I'm about to post some pictures and the first post from the first day. Whoopie!

Bad, bad, bad day

2008-10-03T10:51:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I went back to the Federal Police station. Only this time the bus broke down and I had to wait over 30 min in the hot sun waiting for a new one to come by. That sucked. Luckily the stint at the Fed. Police took less time than I thought it would. They fingerprinted me. That was kind of cool.

The worst part of yesterday was realizing that the house I had reserved was not going to work out. I texted and called my mom--telling her to call me back on skype. I needed to talk it over with someone to figure out what I was going to do. I don´t know why I wasn´t surprised-- she didn´t call until I called her again and explained that it was urgent. I am guessing my brother did not want to help her with skype because she was having problems. Just great. I never got to talk to anyone and right now I really do not want to. I figure if they didn´t take me seriously the first time than I probably should not be taking their opinions seriously to begin with because they do not really care. Too busy with their own lives, I guess.

ANYWAY- the reasons why the house is not a good fit--

1. I broke out in a rash after sleeping in the bedroom.
2. The internet does not work.
3. It is a 40 min bus ride away from my fieldsite.
4. It is a big place for just me. I don´t really feel comfortable staying in such a big place by myself.
5. The neighborhood is extremely noisy at night and I am a light sleeper.

The people are great... don´t get me wrong. The house itself is beautiful. I think it just would have been better to have it for vacationing-- not field work.

*sigh*

Hello... Mr. Barata!

2008-10-01T16:22:00.003-04:00

Ok. Right now I hate Brazil. Well, maybe not really. I hate hate hate red tape...

Let me explain.

Today was a day to get things done (and eat nice food). I did both.

I started off by procuring an adapter for my computer. Check.
Then I went to the mall to get a cheap cell phone. Check.
Then I had lunch at Chico's. I was amused to see that the shrimp stew that I fell in love with had been nominated for a culinary competition. Apparently I have good taste. Check.

The last and final task was the BIGGEST pain in the ass EVER.

I had to go register myself with the Federal Police. NO CHECK.

After an hour long bus ride I arrive at the airport. You see-- the Federal Police used to have a branch that was more central. For some reason, however, they decided to move themselves to the airport. So, I took the air conditioned bus and fell asleep on it. I woke up in time to get off (the airport is the last stop anyway). I go to the Federal Police office where I am informed that I need about 10 million more things and that I have to pay US$100 more on top of my nearly $300 visa in order to register. Did I mention that I could do none of this at the airport... (sorry- the question mark button is not working...)

So, I take the bus again (1 hour back to Barra) and begin my massive attempt at fixing this so that I don't have to go out there later on in the month. I find a place to Xerox the pages of my passport. Then I found an Internet place to print out some forms (which I have no idea what they are). After that I ran around looking for a place to get passport pictures. Finally, I found a place but they told me that I was wearing a sleeveless shirt and that they might not accept the pictures. THANK GOD for my wide body shape. That is probably the only time that I will ever say that in my life but it saved me... for you cannot see my shoulders in the passport pictures. The last thing I needed to do was take the forms to a "caixa" so that I could pay the fee and get the receipt. When I looked at the form I realized that I had to take it to a bank... any bank... and then I realized that at 4pm the banks had closed. At 4:15pm I left my mission for another day.

Now I'm exhausted, hot, sweaty, and possibly sunburned from waiting for the bus outside for 30 min. At least I am at a good place for tomorrow... I plan on going back first thing tomorrow morning and taking care of this bureaucratic crap once and for all!

On a more anthropological note-- I had a "going native" moment today while eating my delicious shrimp stew. I was sitting at my table enjoying the shrimpy goodness when I saw a small roach running around on the far side of the table. Normally, if I had been in the USA I think I would have freaked out. I would have asked the waiter to kill the roach or make some move to free myself from the roach's presence. Today-- I did nothing. I looked at the roach and continued eating. When I thought about this later I was perplexed. Why did I do that... is it because in another country I act differently? Have I gone native? What is going on? (I found the question mark-- obviously.) I think I do act differently... and perhaps that is part of the blending in thing. I do find that in some ways-- such as my love of talking to random people really openly-- takes some Brazilians aback when they know I'm foreign-- such as the taxi driver who picked me up at the airport or the woman I met right outside of the hostel tonight (she had two poodles).

Who knows... maybe this time in Salvador won't be so bad after all... at least I've resigned myself to living here for a bit. *sigh*

I'm here....

2008-10-01T08:52:00.000-04:00

but the wireless isn't working on my laptop and that's where I have documented the first day's worth of events. So, look for an update later further down this page!

Au revoir...

Installment Number One: Day One

2008-09-30T20:49:00.000-04:00

Right now I'm sitting on TAM airlines flight 7780 from Miami to Manaus. I'm still slightly apathetic about my time in Brazil. I've had moments of inspiration-- perhaps writing them down will give me a clue as toward what I'm really excited about:

1. The first time I heard someone speaking Portuguese I felt a rush of happiness.
2. At the check-in counter the woman spoke to me in Portuguese, not English. That was cool.
3. I've been asked three times already if I am Brazilian.
4. The airline played Mickey Mouse in Portuguese and I actually enjoyed watching it. (Note: I am not that much of a fan of cartoons.)
5. I had a cafezinho on the airplane.
6. I can't wait until we get over the Amazon so that I can take pictures.
7. I am looking forward to having my favorite shrimp stew tonight.
8. While reading the airline magazine I couldn't help but admire all of the tasty men featured in ads.

Ok, so reflecting on these things that make me glad that I'm on a ridiculously long journey right now clue me into one thing: I like adventure, Brazilian food, foreign language (in particular, Portuguese), Brazilian men, and being mistaken for a Brazilian. In short-- I like Brazil. Now if I could only channel this interest into my dissertation project. Blech.

I should also mention that I was REALLY happy when I saw a Beagle in the airport. He was going through security-- with his owner, of course. The dog was SO FREAKIN' cute. It made me seriously think about getting one or at least finding someone's dog to take care of while I'm down here. I'd happily exchange the ability to travel around for a doggie companion.
When I first got on the airplane I met this guy-- I forgot his name already but I have his card-- who owns a boat expedition company in Manaus. I told him how I was considering going down the coast of Brazil-- from Salvador to Rio-- over the course of a week or so. I'd do this mainly because I think I'd really need the break. Salvador is beautiful but I'd like to take advantage of the sites of neighboring cities too. If I get a dog, however, this type of travel would be out of the question. Decisions, decisions...

:::TIME WARP:::

I'm now sitting on the same bed that I slept in last year when I was in Salvador. I'm both sad and happy. The cat, Negao, that I used to play with is dead. Someone poisoned him and he fell from the roof of the house. I'm happy because the family has acquired a Beagle. I still feel very bad for Negao though.

Other than animal woes I must say that my trip here was rather LONG. I'm also really missing my dogs. It is super humid here and I can't seem to get the internet to work on my computer so I can't even call home. I think I'm just going to throw in the towel and go to bed. There are three unknown people in my dorm room with me. As far as I can tell they are from a French speaking country. I think they are all guys too... the size and color of their shoes tells me this. Hopefully they won't be drunk and obnoxious when they finally get here. Ahhh, the price to pay for convenience.

More to come tomorrow-- including the tale of the Spiritist taxi driver who had really soft hands and told me that I was a good person-- with a good light-- good spirits-- and that good things would happen to me. He also offered some interesting commentary on the Igreja Universal. I'm glad he enjoyed himself in our conversation. I think I scared the hell out of him when I approached him in the airport (he had a sign that had my name as Liana Quimbaya) and I went right up to him to tell him that my name was wrong-- in Portuguese. Caught him TOTALLY off guard. Heh. The first question he asked me was a confused "What nationality are you?" I like.

And thus, the saga begins...

2008-09-29T14:49:00.004-04:00

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Miami. I leave for Brazil tomorrow. To be honest, I'm still not completely thrilled about this whole fieldwork thing. I think I am seriously lacking in the passion department. This was not the project I wanted to do. Due to an inability to gain full immunity to Hep B (I'm one of the small fraction of people who never converts-- or so the doctor said) my project on women's prisons was thrown out. Then, the project I wanted to do on Japanese religion in Brazil was discouraged because of my lack of Japanese language skills. That was disappointing because the people I would have been studied are first and foremost Brazilians-- a marginal amount of them are even able to speak Japanese. So, I turned to my current project-- one that I had started as an undergraduate. Third time is a charm though, right? Hopefully that applies to ethnographic projects.

So... I'm keeping this blog as a sort of unofficial fieldnotes. Names will be changed to protect the identities of those that I come in touch with (for those of you who are non-anthropologists-- that's not a joke-- it's seriously something I'm required to do). The ultimate goal is for this to be my diary. Now, as I am a relatively open person (more open than most, I think) I am happy to share my embarassing moments right alongside the moments which make me feel intelligent. Hopefully, it will make for entertaining reading...

Anyhow, now, for a secret. This is my hidden ambition-- I want to find someone in the IURD who is a veterinarian. My advisor encouraged me numerous times to find a church member who would allow me to intern/volunteer at their place of work. If I could find this person it would be a Godsend (no pun intended-- and can someone tell me if that's two words or one?). It would also mean that I would be killing two birds (I'd rather say maiming-- I had this long philosophical stream of thought on the airplane resulting from watching an episode of EXILED on MTV where this rich kid gets sent to Morocco and then he can't kill a pigeon for dinner. Neither could I. I couldn't end a life with my bare hands...) with one stone. Vet experience requirement-- check! Fieldwork-- check! Given my history of multi-tasking glory-- I think I'll be able to manage this veterinary anthropologist combo. After all-- no schoolwork and a penchant for documenting my life on my regular blog means that fieldwork MIGHT (hopefully, please) be a breeze compared to the regular school year.

COMING UP NEXT: Illiana returns to Salvador for Caldo de Camarao!

R.I.P. Foster

2008-07-25T11:55:00.001-04:00

My Japanese dog-buddy Foster passed away today. He lived with his owner, Moto, for 13 long years. He'll be missed.

The tentative plan...

2008-07-25T11:43:00.002-04:00

I've decided I'm not returning home for Christmas. This was a hard decision to make.

I think that in the end perhaps if for once I'm not there that maybe my family will value me a bit more. Maybe not, it's worth a shot though.

Anyhow, instead I've decided to backpack across South America. On December 17th-ish I'm going to fly into Iguassu to see the falls. From there I'll head to Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile, up through the Atacama desert, Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia, La Paz, then to see the Nazca lines in Peru, back to Lima to check out the city in the summer, Arequipa in the North of Peru, from there I'll head to Ecuador-- perhaps I'll make it to the Galapagos to play with giant turtles, Quito, then up into Colombia-- visiting Cali and finally heading back to Brazil from Cali.

Now, that is my ideal trip. I still need to work out some details (i.e. when I'm taking flights vs. when I take buses)... but I think I should be able to do all of that for less than the 1800 that it would cost me to get home. I'm looking forward to great pictures, frustrating conversations with noisy Americans, new food, and digestive issues from said new food. I love all of it.

We'll see how it goes!

No updates...

2008-07-17T08:14:00.003-04:00

HOWEVER... I should be departing to Brasil in September. Look for fun stuff then. :0)

And more pics from Japan...

2008-04-27T08:32:00.020-04:00

My welcome party
I joined in on the fun.
I was immediately fascinated by these vending machines.
Welcome dinner--- raw fish! YUM!
And a stew...
Sandra stirring the stew
My serving... they made it with chicken only since I don't eat pork or beef.
This went rather quickly-- bonito.

Breakfast!
Shirasu-- tiny white fish that I thought were actually bean sprouts.
Some porridge-like stuff that Janelle really likes
The backyard of Moto's house in Chiba
Complete breakfast spread... with miso!

This is a HUGE faux paux... you aren't supposed to put your chposticks into your rice like this because it is associated with a funerary ritual. Oops!
Eating Japanese-style tamago (egg).
Foster and Janelle
The crazy toilets!
Cherry blossoms

More...
And a close-up
Janelle and I in front of the cherry blossoms
On the train!
Walking up to the Imperial Gardens

Moto taking pictures
Tourists love the trees
They were kind of cool...
A view of the trees from afar
A bridge. It's important-- just can't remember the name anymore.

Janelle and I sitting on a rather uncomfortable pole
Now you can actually see us!
These police officers were something else! They chased around these Chinese tourists who were riding bikes in a forbidden biking area. Weird.
A temple in this far away neighborhood where we went to watch this play in Japanese.
Trying to get a better view of the flowers.

Cheese-boy (Jonathan) and his mom, Sandra
Janelle in front of her house in Tokyo
The BMW in the "garage"
The street
Janelle's umbrella

Pig
And another
One more!
Buffet lunch
A bunch of random (meatless) stuff

At the mall... I got everyone ice cream
I have no idea what she was doing
It was good
Japanese cars are uber cute
A giant movie theatre...

Mcedees
Buying cucumbers
Salmon sashimi is SO CHEAP
Man, I miss this food. :(
This looks so yummy...

Oodles of Rolls
This was sketchy-- fish taco?!
Janelle playing the wii in her face mask (used for days when the air quality is bad).
Janelle's princess bed
Candies for girls' day

The lunch that Sandra's friend Yoko made just for me!
This was my favorite-- marinated thin sliced raw salmon. Yum.
She gave me a fan!
And a mouse!
Me, Janelle, Yoko, and her cute dog Siguri.

Such a beautiful dog-- she was rescued from a shelter in NY!
Hiding under the table
So cute.
Janelle and Yoko (she wore the kimono just for me too)
Cherry blossoms

A canopy of them
Cheese kids
The train
Train stop with more cherry blossoms!
ROTATING SUSHI BAR-- my dream come true!

At the table...
Janelle and me
Janelle eating a chopped tuna battleship maki
Sandra has a big mouth
Everything that was in front of me (not for long!)

Stack of plates.
Dessert
Wow. We are pigs.
Automated breakfast ordering system at this truck stop place...
Breakfast! Soba noodles with shrimp tempura.

Chowing down!
This cat just jumped on this guy's table... he didn't seem to mind.
Sniffing things out!
Me with cherry blossom flavored froyo.
Yuzu juice... really refreshing!

Kabuki theatre
Streets of Tokyo
Sararriman. Salarymen.
Janelle was clonked out
A taxi-- notice where the side view mirrors are!

Another video from Japan...

2008-04-27T08:22:00.002-04:00

Damn, I'm slow at putting all this stuff up, aren't I?

2008-03-31T09:39:00.001-04:00

More Japan Pics

2008-03-31T08:46:00.013-04:00

Entrance to Kamakura
My ticket in
The place where you wash your hands and mouth before approaching the Buddha
People cleaning off
There he is!
Janelle and I
Something written in Kanji
Sandra, Janelle, and I
Buddha
Lotus flower statue

The Buddha's sandals
People praying
Offerings
The hands
The Buddha's head

Incense burning
Sandra, Janelle, and Flat Stanley
There they are close up!
Janelle and I eating ice cream. I had Sweet Potato!
The way up to another temple...

A knotty tree
Entrance to the temple
I love these lanterns
Some statues near the entrance
Cherry blossoms!

A little raft on the pond
Goldfish!
Feet a la Hollywood
People walking under the cherry blossoms
More CB

Close up shots
I take awesome pics, no?
They are so dainty!
A giant stone
A sign indicating the species of tree

Me and the stone
Flowers
A statue
Sunlit reeds
I think people make flower offerings here

Pouring water over the statue
So shiny with water
More blossoms
Another close up
These were growing out of the trees

View from the top of the temple
branches
I love these two shots
Isn't it awesome?

The temple
Statue with CB
How do people remember all of these characters?
More fishies
Red flowers!

Sunset in Tokyo
I have no idea what that is in the background. Godzilla?
Janelle
A globe
Strange animal statues

Some Pictures from Japan

2008-03-30T23:32:00.008-04:00

Japanese bread shop. Their cheeseballs were EXCELLENT!
Janelle and I on the train
These kiddos were clonked out on the train
In Harajuku
This is how the girls dress. Yikes!
Doggie Shop!
Too bad Muigi isn't a girl...
The Minnie Mouse outfit is a bit much, no?
I had to go in.
A large temple/tourist trap in a place that I think was called Akasuka.

The ubiqutious Japanese face mask.
From above, at approx. 6 ft. Doesn't take much here.
Cherry blossoms and shopping stalls
At Nippo-Mickie D's.
I had a McFlurry. With Oreos. All American!

Janelle shows me a Japanese french fry at McDonald's
The trains get pretty packed!
View of our seating
Janelle and Moto
The menu.

Me at the restaurant
Moto's yakitofu.
Mmmm egg custard!
My kids' meal at the Japanese restaurant near Moto's house.
I made lasagna by illegally importing cheese. Whoops!

This is for Omar!

2008-03-30T23:15:00.001-04:00

Back!

2008-03-30T05:37:00.001-04:00

I'm back in the USA! The flight was long and I am exhausted. I am up really early but that's ok. I'm going to take some Nyquil (one caplet) to help me get a little more sleep.

Anyhow, I will be updating pictures soon!

Still alive!

2008-03-27T23:20:00.000-04:00

I leave tomorrow for the states and unfortunately I have not uploaded a single picture! The problem is that I have been out late everyday. We went to Kamakura, Harajuku, and a bunch of other places. Once I get back I promise to upload everything!

Today I am making lasagna... in a very funny little japanese oven. We will see how it goes.

More later...

Toe socks, cheap sashimi, and do I really look THAT Japanese?

2008-03-24T06:36:00.002-04:00

Today I went with my exstepaunt Sandra to the mall. Wow. It was full of American and British stores. And it was QUITE pricey. I paid 13 dollars for three ice cream cones from the Japanese version of Baskin Robbins. I guess what is cheap in the states doesnt always translate here. Hmmm. Anyway, it was interesting because I got to see all the crazy fashion statements that kids here make. In addition, people here have been walking around with face masks because of the spring pollen. I kind of feel like I am in some Stephen King novel about SARS... but I guess I have grown used to it over the past two days. Whereas I used to stare unmerifully now I just sort of glance curiously.

We just got back from the grocery store... which was really sad. They had SO MUCH CHEAP SUSHI. I am talking about sushi plates that would normally ring up to be about 20 to 25 dollars in the use were 5 bucks here!!! Man, I would eat sushi everyday if that were the case.

In general, I like this place alot. People are very welcoming in that they continue to assume that I am Japanese. I have learned to bow and say harigato all the time. People are so formal, it is kind of wild. I am considering coming here for a summer to teach English. And, I think I may begin learning Japanese this summer. I was not sure if I wanted to invest that much time in the language until I was sure that I actually liked the place where it was spoken... and I do. A lot. It is a funny little corner of the world, indeed.

Oh, I must mention that my aunts house is so tiny that I have tripped and stubbed my toe three times already. There are these weird threshhold things between the rooms that are raised. I keep forgetting they are there. And the stairs are really steep. And slick. Yeah, this will take a while to master.

Anyhow, tomorrow I am going to her English class to learn some more katakana and talk to her students in English. Then, I am going to a friend of my aunts house for lunch. She is making me salmon, yum! After that, it is back to the countryside of Oami for roadtrips and sightseeing... and BREAD. The Japanese have awesome bread. I like their cheeseballs. Ahh, carbs are my worst enemy.

Anyway, time to go. Tata! Pictures and video to come soon!

Japanese toilets, my dream come true!

2008-03-23T09:32:00.002-04:00

I am not a fan of public bathrooms. I am even less of a fan of foreign public bathrooms. Well, Japan has changed that in less than 24 hours. The toilets here are the BOMB and the public bathrooms are extremely private. Best of all, THEY DO NOT STINK. Back to the toilets... they have features like a seat warmer, options to set the toilet to the bidet or shower modes. Not too sure what the shower mode does but it sounds exciting... sort of.

Anyway, enough talk about toilets and bathrooms. Japan is awesome. I am loving all the fresh fish, the long walks... and most of all... the fact that everyone thinks I am Japanese. It is so bizarre because people have come up to be running their mouths in Japanese and bowing at me. I have no idea what I am supposed to do. So I just stand there looking like an idiot and hope for the best...

Regarding food... I have had rice at every meal. It is kind of crazy. The fish is amazing and Korean restraunts suck because they do not have non pork or beef dishes. BOO. Well, better for me, I guess. I have been forced to take the vegetarian entrees... which only speeds up my goal of being a veggie soon.

The dogs here are super spoiled and super cute. I keep forgetting that I do not know how to ask the owners questions about their dogs... so I have become a strange dog fondler person. Oh well.

Ok, time for bed. I am exhausted!

Cuz I'm leaving, on a jet plane...

2008-03-21T07:41:00.001-04:00

So in a few hours I'll be boarding a ridiculously sized aircraft and hovering to Japan. I have no particular feelings about this trip right now other than I wish I could sleep in a more comfortable place. :( I'm exhausted.

I hope this gets better as time goes on... only a month of school left. I CAN DO IT. :)

No more Dominican Republic...

2008-03-12T10:22:00.002-04:00

My friend's grandmother from Korea is coming in that same weekend so she had to cancel on me. There goes my package! :( I didn't lose any money because she was really insistent on paying for all the cancellation fees/penalties. But still... *sigh*

The good news is that a friend of mine from college, Barreno, who lives in LA saw the post on my regular blog (www.illianacleta.blogspot.com) and suggested that we go to Las Vegas together over my birthday. I think that would be lots of fun. I counter-suggested San Diego because we had tentatively planned to go there but then I had to bail out because of my grandfather's surgery. Anyway, I think either locale would be lots of fun. The pros to San Diego include that there are beaches and the San Diego Zoo, which I've been dying to go to.

Anyway, so expect updates from a place other than La Romana, Republica Dominicana.

Also, I leave for Japan in just over a week. WTF? That's freaking ridiculous. It still boggles my mind that I'm doing this. It's a little bizarre. Going to Asia was something I really wanted to do ... and it seems a little off that I made my dream come true so easily. Perhaps that's why I'm mildly unsatisfied with life... it seems that there are no challenges... or rather, the challenges aren't sufficient enough to make me feel that I've accomplished something. More to ponder later, I suppose.

Ok, time to shower, return a book to the library, pick up other books, and head out to my office hours. JOY!

THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC!

2008-03-02T22:24:00.003-05:00

Yet another trip ahead for moi. For my birthday I'm going to the DR for 5 days and 4 nights! WOO HOO.

New adventures!

2008-02-17T22:10:00.002-05:00

This spring break I'll be heading out East to Japan. I'm VERY excited about this trip. I plan on re-vitalizing this long unused blog with pics, stories, and the like from my 9 days in the land of the cherry blossoms.

:)

So, I lied.

2007-10-19T01:07:00.002-04:00

All updates from now on will be on http://www.illianacleta.blogspot.com/. I thought I was going to update my mini trips throughout the school year here but if I were to do that I'd have to write everything out twice... which just seems silly. I think I'll save this for longer trips... i.e. ones that are at least a week long. So this blog probably won't be updated again until late January. But! there is footage and pics from my latest trips on my normal blog. Sorry for the discrepancy!

The summer is officially over...

2007-09-19T08:06:00.002-04:00

but please keep track of me on http://www.illianacleta.blogspot.com/. The next update of this blog will be in October when I return from Krishauna's wedding and my weekend trip to NYC. Keep your eyes peeled... all crazy encounters and new adventures will be thoroughly documented!

Muigi

2007-09-12T10:02:00.000-04:00

Dieguito

2007-09-12T09:56:00.000-04:00

Some Pics from my trip to Texas

2007-09-12T09:43:00.000-04:00

Muigi in the jacket I bought him in Peru

Another angle
Diego runs in to see what all the flashing is about
Dieguito in his favorite place... my bed!
Muigi looking at me... probably wanting a treat.
My favorite picture EVER of Diego... sleeping on my bed!
We were all watching Nip/Tuck season 4 together.
I think they missed out on some episodes.
Close up of Dieguito.

Moo-moo.
Diego about to take a nap on my bed.
The family.
A well behaved Muigi and I
They love each other...

Looking at my mom...
Another sort of good shot.
That stuffed animal is Diego's arch-nemesis. He is always trying to tear it apart.
A sad looking Diego and I... he doesn't like the camera that much, I guess.
A more regal looking Dieguito.

I'm a genius!

2007-09-09T07:43:00.001-04:00

I have no batteries in my camera here and I left my other one (i.e. Omar's ancient camera) in Boston. That means I have been able to take zero pictures! My grandmother is very happy about this since I am forever harrassing her with the camera. I'm really disappointed, however, because I like to take cute pictures of my dogs!

Anyway, besides the lack of power on my camera's part... Texas is good. It is hot... I went to see my aunt yesterday.... and everything is as it always is. I got some Southern Blackberry Cobbler ice cream the other day which was quite tasty. Can't get that kind of stuff in Boston... there is no Blue Bell. I also had some yummy Mexican food the day I got here. I always indulge in the foods of this state when I am here... because I come so infrequently and for such little time that if I don't eat everything I miss during a 4 day trip, it is highly probable that I won't eat it at all for another 4-5 months.

Anyhow, I'm looking to go to Aruba instead of Europe in January. I've decided that I enjoy Latin American much more than Europe. Plus, Jetblue flies there direct and I have a free ticket. :) We'll see...

Chinatown blooper I

2007-09-04T12:29:00.000-04:00

Chinatown blooper II

2007-09-04T12:27:00.000-04:00

I suck at hopscotch.

2007-09-04T12:25:00.000-04:00

Llamitas

2007-09-04T12:24:00.000-04:00

OCD cat at the Lima Zoo

2007-09-04T12:21:00.000-04:00

Pigglet Boars

2007-09-04T12:13:00.002-04:00

An arrested bee

2007-09-04T12:13:00.001-04:00

Bear that looks like my brother, Omar

2007-09-04T12:08:00.000-04:00

At McDonald's in Lima

2007-09-04T12:04:00.001-04:00

Taxi ride in Lima

2007-09-04T12:01:00.001-04:00

Back in Boston!

2007-09-04T11:19:00.000-04:00

After a crazy long flight I am finally back in Boston. I think I am missing a few postings about the last few days... including some funny stories about furry fruit and strange drunken English men. But, I have to move in so these things will have to wait. In the meantime though I do plan on uploading all of the videos from those last few days.

Until soon!

Pics from my last days in Lima!

2007-09-03T06:27:00.001-04:00

Barbara the Italian and Florrie the Brit
An Italian and Italian ice cream
Dulce de Leche and me
Gates to the Chinatown in Lima
Chinatown
More of Chinatown

Me and a bench in Chinatown
And with the bag of stuff that I bought in Chinatown
At the movie theatre they had the Simpsons set up... so I joined the family.
This was at the zoo... apparently if you have "especial skills" you get in free.
Florrie at the entrance to the Mountain exhibit at the zoo.

Sheep
I think these are a mix of llamas, alpacas, and vicunas.
A mule and some alpacas
A glorified vicuna statue.
Little vicunas..

The zoo also had a model mine with some crazy fake elevator...
Me in a tire.
Camelids...
A friendly deer!!! She/he licked my hand
A mono.

Turtle islands
Black hairy pigglets
Goldfish!
Inca Kola and me.

More Omar graffitti.
This chimp waved at me and carried around a blanket. I'm intrigued. I think it would be cool to work with monkeys.
I so wanted to take this baby goat with me.
Penguinos.
So cute! Even though it looks like he is giving me the evil eye.

McDonalds in Peru has special sauces... these were pretty spicy but good.
I made Florrie into an American. Poor girl.
One of these guinea pigs has a shell. This is in the "animal district" here you can find any sort of animal shoved into a cage with 1000 others of his kind (and maybe even a few that aren't of his kind). The end result is a cute yet sad conglomeration of animalia.
The hamster version of NYC.
This was at the airport in NYC. What the HELL is that guy wearing? Look at his shoes! Urban wear has surpassed my intelligence... I can't understand it!

JFK is a weird place at night...

2007-09-03T06:24:00.000-04:00

I am at the airport, JFK, waiting for a one hour flight to Boston. It is really stupid considering I could have gotten on a bus a long time ago and been in bed in my new apartment by now. Nope. No such luck. So instead I will sleepily upload pictures.

Plane ride into Cusco

2007-08-31T12:26:00.001-04:00

Arrival music in Cusco... and random people´s butts

2007-08-31T12:15:00.000-04:00

Illiana drinks coca tea for the first time!

2007-08-31T12:12:00.000-04:00