5 Things I have noticed about food in Brasil

1 Most of the Pizza that I have eaten here comes without tomato sauce...just dough, cheese and toppings.

2 Rice and beans in Brasil is different because the beans have sausage or pork loin added.

3 In brasil they love to cook with pressure cookers. Most Americans are afraid of pressure cookers because they think they will explode.

4 Juices such as apple and grape juice are different here. In Brasil the juice is thicker and cloudy. The taste for both are good though.

5 After being here I have eaten chicken hearts and cow legs...two things I never tried in the U.S.

Thanksgiving

Novembre. This week has been hot. Monday we went back to Mesquita again. It was a birthday party for a friend of Toni's' family. He said it was a 70s party. I went online and showed him what the 70s meant in the us. We put on our best disco clothes. Paisley shirts with chains underneath. Tight pants that are loose at the bottom. Amy winehouse ( not his real name ) picked us up in his truck. We each grabbed a beer for the drive, except for Amy ( se voce beber nao dirigir ). Toni was of course wrong about the theme...it was the 50s. Thank god we didn't dress like hippies. It was a little surreal being at a Brazilian sock-hop. The food was good, and there was a lot of beer. We ended up staying till a little after 1am. As we headed towards Rio we were short on gas. Unfortunately this is not the united states so most of the gas stations were closed. We finally reached one and they were out of gas. As we were leaving some police pulled us over. The one policemen was polite but still....I am not use to being pulled over for doing nothing more then trying to get gas. Amy had left his drivers license expire so after 20 minutes and a passed 20 reais bill we were on our way. When we got home I was a little grumpy. Toni and me had a little argument and then to make matters were my camera was missing. I spent an hour looking for it ...and then finaly went to bed late into the morning. Tuesday Toni did not have work. I was still upset about the camera and he was upset with me. We went to the pool for awhile. Later he talked to Amy and she found my camera in her truck. Toni got over being angry with me and we made up. The next day Toni worked and Amy brought me my camera. After work we went to Rita Riberas' house. She was the samba singer we saw a couple weeks ago. She lives with her sister. She also has some daughters and a friend of her daughter that is visiting from France. Toni was sort of working too. He plucked all of there eyebrows. I drank beer and watched. Later Jean Willis came over too. After he wanted us to go to Galeria but Toni was tired. We ended up going home. I had another beer and a half and watched Desperate Housewives. The next day was Thanksgiving. Toni was suppose to work at 10 but we ended up waking up around noon. His work was in Barra de Tajuca which is like 45 minutes away. I made breakfast. Marcelo came over and they left. I tried to call my family but had no luck. I ended up going to the pool to spend my Thanksgiving holiday. Maybe I will try and have turkey for dinner but it is doubtful.

5 things I have noticed about Brasil.

5 things that are different here in Brasil then the United States.

1 They love to pay in instalments. In all the electronic and furniture stores you can pay in installments or one time ( em vista ) Even for small items like a blender or fan both options are given.

2 It is very rude to slam car doors. Especially when taking a Taxi. They prefer you close it firmly but softly.

3 Men greet women with two kisses. One on the left cheek then on the right. Men give each other a firm handshake and if they are close a one handed hug.

4 They love to dance and sing. At any moment a group of people can start singing or dancing to any popular song.

5 They love futebol ( Soccer ) and when the favorite team makes a goal you can here the cheers all through the city.

Mesquita 2

This weekend we went to Mesquita again. It was Jennifer's birthday. Toni is Jennifer's padrinho or godfather. Marcelo is her other godfather. Jennifer's mother use to be a lesbian but now she lives with Jennifer's father. I guess they don't have a lot of money because Toni and Marcelo were hosting her party. Jennifer is probably around 8 so the theme of the party was Barbie. We also bought her a beach barbie. Marcelo bought her ballet Barbie. Toni decided to drive. He was also going to be working during the day. Almohado, Toni's friend in Copacabana, was coming with us. He and his Aunt, who lives in Mesquita, were going to a wedding. Toni was doing her make up. We loaded everything in the car including the two dogs. We all drove there. We dropped everything off at Marcelos. We then went to Almohados Aunts house. It was in the afternoon and very hot. She served us cold beers and a baked cracker biscuit with cheese. Toni worked on her hair and makeup and I watched season 5 Project Runway. We finished around 5pm and I was a little tipsy. We went and picked up the cake and returned to Marcelos.

We then started decorating which consisted in hanging Barbie cutouts and blowing and hanging pink balloons. About 15 people showed up. Toni ended up being the DJ with my Ipod. Children's parties are pretty much the same as any party. The adults drink lots of beer and talk. There was a churrasco with lots of meat. Everyone stayed up past midnight. Unfortunately Jennifer's family got the blow up bed so me and Toni slept on the floor. We had a blanket but the floors are all tile and pretty hard.

In the morning we woke up and had coffee. Then shortly after we stared drinking beer again. They have a shower in the back patio so if it got to hot you could put on a bathing suet and take a quick shower. It was all pretty ghetto but effective. Luckily Toni decided we would go back after lunch. We ate fried fish and rice. We then drove back. Since it was so hot we decided to go to the beach. Toni's friends Rita Ribera and Jean Willis were already there. We went home and then took a taxi there. The water felt great. The waves were big but not as bad as they can get. I went in the water four times. I did get a little burned but it was my own fault for not sitting under a umbrella. It was late enough in the day I didn't think it would be bad. In the evening we went home because Toni has to work early Monday. He made chicken with pasta. I got an email from my sister and realized thanksgiving was in a week. Toni wants to get our Christmas tree next week. I can't believe the holidays are almost here.

A month in Brasil.

Well the 11th was a full month that I have been in Brasil. The 15th was my return trip that of course I traded in for a credit. I have accomplished a lot in some ways but have not accomplished much in others. I am here. Me and Toni do seem to be getting along great. Even though everything of course is not perfect it is going very smoothly. We are still very close. I spend more time with him then with anyone.

In other respects we still have a lot to do for me to stay in this country and get a visa. I also still have a long time to go before I can work. Of course I am worried about when my New York apartment will sell. I have to be careful with money here which isn't easy when you are in a relationship.

Sunday we got back and it was hot. I wanted to use the pool but couldn't. Toni promised me to go to the beach Monday. It was a little overcast but i made him take me anyway. He went to visit Helena for an hour while I went to the beach. He then met me there. The ocean was surprisingly nice. The waves were small and the water was warm. Afterwords I paid a dollar to take a warm shower and change. We went to a restaurant that had a buffet for $13 reais. Afterwords we went to the cinema to see 2012. It wasn't a great movie but It was so nice to see any movie. It was in English with subtitles. Toni got a little emotional because the movie shows a lot of death and destruction. It also shows the Cristo statue crumbling. The cariocas love there Cristo statue. Sitting here for those two hours I felt like I could be in the USA. I like that they have assigned seats but It is a little annoying when 20 minutes into the movie someone is sitting in some old ladies seat and the usher has to come and fix it.

After the movie we went home. We haven't drunk it a few days which is new for us. We still ended up staying up till 2am playing video games. In the morning we had to wake up early when Tonis' client called. We rushed around making breakfast and cleaning the house. The client was only here for an hour though. Toni has another client in the evening so we cleaned and watched TV during the day. I wanted to swim but the pool was still closed. Outside was sunny but a little windy. I am staying home tonight but I think I will want to drink.

Mesquita

Saturday Me and Toni woke up late. Toni was working with one of his regular clients, Claudia. Marcelo showed up with her while Toni was out walking the dogs. I was still in my robe. They brought breakfast which was nice. Marcelo had brought bread, ham and a large chicken empanada. I made coffee and serve pineapple juice. While They worked I went to the pool but I wasn't able to use it. They were having a kids party at the chussacaria ( BBQ pit ) and I did not feel like hearing all those children scream. I came back to the apartment. Cleaned up. Played Playstation 3. After Toni was done working he cleaned the house too.

Afterwords we went to go visit Helena. Her doctor in Sao Paulo had recently diagnosed her with cancer. When we got there she was asleep so Toni helped her granddaughter, who is also named Helena, get ready for a party. This took about an Hour. Afterwords we went upstairs and spend about 15 minutes with Helena. She looked tired but other then that she was doing well.

Our plans for the night were to go to Mesquita and see Beija Flur. For those who don't know, the carnival parade is made up of samba escolas. Even thought they are called escolas ( schools ) they are actually community centers from towns and areas around Rio de Janerio. These schools get ready for carnival all year. First a concept is chosen. Then floats, costumes and music is made. In November the songs hit the radio. In November also you can start buying the costumes if you want to march in the parade. That night a few of the drummers and dancers were performing in Mesquita. Beija flor ( Humming bird ) is actually located the next town over in Necropolis. We went to a large community center which was filled with locals. It basically felt like a third world homecoming dance to me. They were playing kind of bad 70's music when we got there. A band then performed. We were there with Marco, Marcelo, Penha ( marcelos' sister that had the Halloween Party. Turigo, marcelos nephew, was also there with his girlfriend. We started drinking beer. We hadn't had time for much dinner so I was pretty tired. Beija-flur did not come on stage till about 2am. I had a little talk with Toni about money. I am concerned that I still don't have a closing date on my apartment in New York. If it doesn't sell in a month or two I might have to come back to New York to take care of it. We spent the rest of the night dancing samba. There was only a small group of drummer but even with that the music thundered around us. You can just imagine what a 100 drummers sounds like at carnival. When the night was over we thought about going home, but it is an hour and a half trip. We ended up sleeping in Marcelos bedroom floor on a blow up mattress. It was fine, I was exhausted. In the morning I had a terrible headache. I tried to eat and almost vomited. Marcelo gave me some strange medicine though and I felt better. Marco had made ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. I ended up eating two. Toni told me we were taking a bus back so we walked to the main square. I felt very strange being in the middle of Masquita in the morning. I grew up in a small town, but it was nothing like this. There are mountains all around. Young men drive buy on Motorcycles. Wild dogs roam around looking for food. A skinny boy was playing in the park. It was hot and the sun shone down on everything. Most of the men who walked in the street where shirtless. Finally the bus came. It didn't go directly to Rio Comprido but close enough that we could take an a taxi home.
When I got home I was looking forward to a dip in the pool. Of course the condo women said that Rio is conserving water so the showers were turned off. Everyone has to take a shower before you get into the pool. Because of this the pool was closed. It seems like using our pool is not easy. Toni promised me we would go the beach tomorrow. Upstairs Toni made pasta for lunch/ dinner. The rest of the night we watched TV.

tres meninas do brasil

Yesterday we got up early and went to the airport. My return ticket to New York is for Sunday. We talked to a Tam representative on the phone yesterday who said we could get a credit. We went to the regional airport which is smaller and closer to us because it is located in Flamengo. We found the right counter. Then we waited ...and waited...and waited. There was only five people in front of us...but only a couple representatives that took around 20 minutes per client. We finaly got there. I wasn't expecting much. As I figured there was a $120 fee and taxes were not subject to returns. The total credit for future air travel was $150 us or $256 reais. The bad part is that it could only be used at the TAM counter. I have looked online and the TAM prices are considerable higher if you don't go thru a travel website.

When we were done we rushed to Copacabana. Toni was late to work with Aparcida. I walked around Copa. When I met Toni and we went to some payment center to take care of his bills. We then had a beer on the beach. I had brought my swimsuit so I stayed and swan while Toni left for an hour to go to his English school. Toni took all my things since it is not safe to leave them on the beach. I was having a good time until some American swam up and started talking to me. He was nice at first. He was Portuguese but grew up in Florida and lived 13 years in Boston. Then he told me his family had lost all their money in the realty market. He came down here and lived in Sao Paulo for a year and a half. He then came to Rio and lost his documents in a youth hostel. Now he was homeless and living on the beach and wanted me to buy him a burger. Unfortunately for him I did not have any money. I made an excuse and left. It was around time so I waited for Toni who was half an hour late. Luckily I was on the beach and had nothing so nobody bothered me. When Toni did show up we went to the Supermarket. We took a Taxi home which took forever for the traffic.

Toni had been invited to a concert by his friend Rita Ribeiro. She had done a samba CD with two other singers, Jussara Silveira and Teresa Cristina. It was a large hall with little round tables with four chairs each. We sat with two women. We had not had time to have dinner so we ordered a chicken platter and 10 beers. The concert was two hours. We stared drinking. Toni is a fan so he sang all the words along with the music. The concert was very nice. Of course I was a little tipsytowards the end. After the concert we went backstage and bought a CD that all three singers signed. Of course they all had trouble spelling my name. Afterwords we met Jean and his friends. We went to a bar nearby but it was too crowded so me and Toni ended up just going home. After so much beers I was ready to go to sleep.