Playing with Coconut on my Birthday

(longer, richer post coming soon)

A Lagoa e a feira hippie

Well, yesterday the internet went out (it's a bit fickle and quite devious), so I didn't have a chance to post these pictures that we took at the lake. It's like Lake Merritt, but with a lot more street vendors and crazy two person bike-carriages for rent, which I completely forgot to get a picture of.

Dominic talked about imagining what it would have been like to come upon this sight before any development. Basically you would climb a hill, and then see a huge lake with beautiful mountains on either side, then a strip of forest, then the ocean. You'd really need a panoramic view to visualize it, so you'll just have to make it down here sometime. Here's his daughter Alice.

And, of course, what good would an urban lake be without paddleboat swans?

Today I made it to the Hippie Fair (literally, "a Feira Hippie"), which I've been excited about since I got here. Sadly it was no better than any other street fair in any major city, and there weren't any real hippies in sight. Well, much worse than some, I guess. I think the really fun fair happens in Copacabana, so I'll have to find that one next weekend. I was successful in purchasing a great rug though! It, combined with some of Dominic's boxes covered with Indian silks, has moved me a great deal further in my room transformation.

Learning Portugeuse is incredibly difficult, but I think Pimsleur has paid off, because I've been much complemented on my accent (even if Alice corrects everything I say). 

Today I also found out about an organization called Circus School Pequeno Tigre (Little Tiger), where I could potentially volunteer by teaching theater with kids. I'm planning to get in touch tomorrow, and I'm really excited about the possibility of doing some theater with kids.

Boa noite,

M

I got an acceptance letter!!!

Really, all of Brazil is overshadowed by receiving an acceptance letter to Starr King tonight. I'm a little amazed because I wasn't expecting to find out quite this soon. I'm completely thrilled, and wishing I could celebrate with everyone in the bay area, but I'm sure I'll find a way to celebrate here. :)

Anyway, that really is the most exciting news, and I'm off to bed now. Dom has a big day of fun planned for tomorrow it sounds like, which will be great, but I think we're waking up fairly early.

Saw Ipanema, didn't find the girl

I took my first (and second) bus ride today. I'm feeling more and more comfortable here each day. Today I even managed to get around, order food, and buy a beach cloth without helplessly telling everyone I saw "eu não falo muito portuguêse." With Martina's help the beach cloth has transformed my room, which we had begun referring to as gitmo due to the loose cut wires and stark white up, down, and all around.

Anyway, while I was Ipanema, and Martina had a meeting with some video producers here for the project she's working on, I took a walk down the postcard beach. I made sure to get a tree in the picture that I took from on top of a big hill at the end, so it would be clear it wasn't a postcard. I guess the cloudy day helps too...

I drank fresh coconut water, and lay on the beach for an hour or so when the sun came out. We ate at a quilogramara, a buffet restaurant where you pay by the weight, and although the food wasn't great, it was cute little place. Martina asked me at one point if I had thought at all about staying here (for a long time), and it was sweet to realize that the main reason that I know that I don't want to because of the incredible amount of community I have in the bay area. I feel so close to so many people, and I can't imagine giving any of you up to live in another part of the world.

I also realized that I've been a bit stressed about what I'm doing here exactly, and meaning and purpose and all, especially because I don't speak portuguese and Martina and Dom are so focussed on what they're doing. I'm looking forward to making some Brazilian friends, and I'm going to call the Theater of the Oppressed center tomorrow and see if anyone speaks english. I know I will find meaningful stuff to do, so I think I just need to relax a little, mostly, while pursuing the things I want to do at the same time. As Dom wisely wrote to me, things tend to work out quite late in the day here, or not at all, it's part of the charm of the place.

We finished the day by visiting praia vermelho (the red beach), and it wasn't red at all...I guess it's a different light you need to see it by. From the beach you can see Pão de Açúcar (sugarloaf mountain) from the "other" side. 

Well, I'm going to study a bit more portuguese before we have our nightly ritual of watching last night's daily show and then go to bed.

Boa noite!

Marcus

The Housemates

In a minute I'm going to write a bit about today, but first here's the addendum to yesterday's post...

The lovely porch...

...And the view from the porch (if you squint you can see Christ...he's much bigger in person)

I networked our computers so that we can all use the internet from Dom's "dongle," which is a device that gets good broadband speeds from the 3G cellular network. Now, of course, we don't do anything else. Here's Martina,

and Dominic,

and me :)

Arrived!

Well, here I am in Rio de Janeiro. Eu estou aqui nu Rio :)

I'm living in Urca, which is like Montclair, but you would never find our apartment in Montclair. We've got no hot water, no stove, and no fridge, so it's sort of like camping in the city. I'm living with my two British friends, Dominic and Martina, and it's a bit like getting two foreign experiences in one.

I've been eating a lot of mangoes, which taste like candy, and spending most of my time just sort of settling in before I really begin exploring. It's hard to gage the safety level really, because Dominic has got Martina quite scared, but everything I've read seems to indicate that most of the city is a bit but not tremendously more dangerous than other big cities. 

I've snapped a few shots of the apartment to give a sense of where I'm living. I'm having a bit of trouble uploading as much as I want, so here are just the boring ones for now. I'll put some more up later.

So much green everywhere (even in the entrance to run down apartments...)

...the entryway...

My bed (the rest of the room is just as stark, so far...)

The "kitchen"

Ok, more to come soon, as I explore Rio and figure out this blogging thing ;)

Besos,

 M