Day 42 - whole lotta nothin

This week at work was more unpleasantness than I was prepared for. This is when it's tough for my support system to be 4500 miles away. Thank god for FaceTime. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

I have a lot of work to do this weekend so there won't be much adventure to report... But next weekend there be a whirlwind trip to Rio so there should be some fun stuff/pics coming after that!

I got my first brazil pedicure this week in Aruja. It was really cheap - less than $14 USD - but it was really just the cosmetic stuff, not so much the relaxing stuff that I'm used to at home. I'm not sure I had the typical experience, I'm going to go somewhere different next time!

Jackie got her hair cut while I got the pedicure (she had never been to that salon before either) and afterward we tried a Japanese restaurant that was new to both of us. The inside was really neat, you can see a little of what the walls looked like in the pic below. Typically I would get the rodizio because I like to try a lil bit of a lot of different foods, but on their menu it said they charge extra for any food you don't eat, so I didn't go for it! Neither of us had seen that before, maybe that place has a big problem with people ordering a lot that they don't eat? Anyway, just got a sushi combination. It wasn't the best I've had but it was good. The servers bugged the crap out of us, guess they didn't have enough to do. Glad we tried a new place, but won't be going back there. 

So here there is a 10% service charge added to the bill at a lot of restaurants, so a lot of people don't tip any extra or only a little bit extra. I hadn't been tipping any extra at the joint across the street that I've been hitting probably once per week, so last weekend I decided I would leave enough to make up the times I hadn't and I left R$20, or about $8 USD. The service there is always good, but when I went there last night it was a whole different experience! I knew I was going there last night with only $5 USD to leave, so I asked at work if it was okay to leave US dollars, and my coworkers were stunned. They said it was way too much money to leave. But it's a lot cheaper than at home so I still left it last night. Hopefully the servers were happy and I'll keep getting stellar service!

I would like to point that one of the boats was Jackie's!!

Sorry, but every time I stare in awe of this view, you guys are subjected to it again! The hills don't look nearly as pretty here as when you're looking at them unfortunately. 

Day 35

Low key day, so here's some random pics (hey, Glynda said it's ALL interesting!)

Parking garage of doom

That's me on the left in one of the best spots - can pull in with pleny of room at an angle, and the exit is right there

If you're really unlucky and can't find a spot (or for me, a spot that I can get into), have to go down to the 2nd level (lights are on motion detectors)

You have to back up into that nook on the left to go straight out & up the ramp

And this is where I do a lot of my shopping & hit the ATM

Right across the street is the Ibis/Mercure where I stayed during my visits

This makes me a little scared to go to the beach

Those are some seriously pricey Monsters Inc knick knacks (imported of course)

You come in and leave from the lower level - the carts have magnets so they don't roll on the escalator-ramp thingy

Pretty much everything excluding day-to-day stuff is available on payment plans... sometimes you have to really look to get the all-at-once price, which makes stuff seem really cheap at first glance

And finally, I can't help but share this. I was reading over my Portuguese class notes and ran across a food item that I couldn't remember what it was, so I looked it up on Google Translate. This would be why you shouldn't rely on the ol' Google too too much... :D

Ta daaaa!

Hooray, the chair has arrived and it's fabulous! I'm sitting in it right now :) the very nice errand-runner at Sage delivered it today. While he was here he checked out my toilet, which I noticed a over the weekend had started having a tiny leak from the bottom. I thought it just needed to be sealed, but turns out there is something more complicated (of course); a plumber will have to come tomorrow to fix it, and will have to turn off the water for the whole building... Glad I won't be here! Unfortunately in the meantime I have to dump water in the toilet when I need to flush :/

Had my required appointment at the federal police yesterday; I need to get my little ID card, which looks similar to a driver's license at home. Of course, it would be crazy to get the little card on the same day - I have to wait up to 90 days for it, and go back to get it.  Until then I've got a little piece of paper with my pic stapled to it to prove I'm legal. Oh, and I still have to get a driver's license.  It's very complicated. 

I started Portuguese lessons yesterday. I have class at the plant every day for an hour per day for a few weeks, then less frequently. My brain hurts every day when it's over. I really do think English is easier because we don't have to modify adjectives so much, and our verbs don't change as much. I'm hoping it will make it easier to pick up Spanish when I get home (after I finish the masters degree of course, one thing at a time), because Portuguese isn't exactly in high demand there!

Went out for sushi with Jackie at lunch (again). I've been having sushi two times per week minimum, no signs of slowing!

This was a boring post huh? Sorry bout all that! I'll do better this weekend.

Day 28 - mercados/chair progress

Had to leave work a little early yesterday to get pictures made for my ID that I'm going to the federal police to get Monday. At home, we would run in the CVS & get it taken care of. Here, no CVS; the drug stores really only sell drugs, so I had to go to an actual photography place to get it done. Jackie and I went to the town where she lives, Mogi, to get the pics and to check out the furniture stores there. Lo and behold, I found several chairs I liked! They were all on the expensive side except one, so I bought that one of course. Couldn't fit it in the civic so they're delivering to Jackie's house today, and she's going to borrow a Fiat truck-ish thing to bring here. Yay! 

While we were in Mogi we went to their mercado... which I loved. Jackie said she was sure SJC has one too, so I googled it and sure enough there is one! I went there this morning (it's in Centro, so it gets super crazy crowded by afternoon) all by myself like a big girl and had so much fun just walking around and looking at stuff. There are a bunch of different fruit & veggie vendors, butchers, little restaurants, and booths selling all kinds of other stuff. I bought some little bitty bananas and what I thought were small grapes - they actually taste more like plums and have seeds. Bummer about the seeds but they are still tasty. I'll be munching down on those once they cool off in the fridge. 

I also bought the kids some mini brazil soccer balls - so cute :) I even managed to explain to the girl selling them that I didn't want them inflated because I am taking them to the US. 

I bought some pao (bread) at a little place where they spoke a tiny bit of English - it was fun, they were all excited to talk to me. And it was very tasty for lunch.

No pics of the mercado... I wanted to take some but when I'm by myself in a crowded spot like that don't want to make it too too obvious to everyone that I'm not a local. If I go with someone else I'll be sure to get pics. 

The mercado is right next to the "field," so I did cross the street to take some pics of that as promised!

Oh... by the way... Friday morning I may or may not have bumped a column in the parking garage of doom. Fortunately I was going really slow so only chipped the paint a tiny bit (on the Civic - the column is just fine). We're working on the smaller car business... apparently it's a status symbol here to have a larger car, so the leasing company doesn't have smaller ones handy. I mostly just want to be able to park without breaking into a sweat, status be damned!

Sao Jose's campos ;)

Hey Beck... see the space ship water tower kind of in the middle? So my building is in that direction :)

And slightly less attractive: the view when I point the camera straight down the hill in the same place

My fruit purchases

And my lunch (including the roll I bought at the mercado)

Day 22 - Sunday; a/c saga part B

Went shopping this morning as soon as the stores open. My goals: adapter for a/c unit plug and Sam's Club inspection. There is a Lowe's-esque store, Telhanorte, conveniently located right next to Sam's. I was a little proud of myself because I didn't need the GPS to get there (unfortunately not the case for going back home...). I found my little plug adaptor and also bought some black tape and a door mat there. 

Next up, Sam's. It's smaller than the one at home and obviously has very different stuff. But it has that Sam's Club feel that I find oddly comforting. People ask a lot about how the prices are here - restaurant prices and local food prices are great, a little cheaper than at home, and the quality is awesome. Brazilian "stuff" isn't horribly expensive, but the quality is questionable. There is a lot of US stuff (most of it really) that you just can't get. What you can get, you can expect to pay twice as much for at least. I saw more US brands here than I have anywhere else. Pics from Sam's Club trip:

Look what they have Mom! They're affordable too... they must have a plant here. I got a couple of boxes :)

The exchange rate of the Real to USD is .43. So, this Tide costs $42.77. Yeah, I'm sticking with my Brazilian detergent.

$6.65 for a can of Pam

$4.16 for a can of refried beans. 

$9.46 for a tiny tub of Haagen-Daas

Aaaand back to the a/c unit. I connect my plug adapter, plug it into the closest outlet... which doesn't work. *sigh* I did manage to stretch the hose and cord enough to plug into another outlet, but I'm gonna have to get an extension cord. BUT... it's working! And I sealed up around the window "plug" with my black tape. It's ghetto, but it feels great, so I don't care! It's cooling the whole apartment (I say "whole" like it's big, haha) no problem. Hooray!

Day 20 - shopping in Sao Jose dos Campos; a/c unit saga part A

I'm in need of a portable a/c unit and an armchair, so Jackie and her hubby came up to go shopping with me. The a/c unit I need because it's getting above 90 here already (remember, it's winter), and the chair I need because the couch hurts my butt... sleeper sofas just aren't good to sit on... somebody better come visit me and make this thing worthwhile!!

We went downtown, which I had only driven through before. It was really fun - lots of people, lots of shops, lots of food. We went in several furniture stores, both new and used, where I discovered the chair that I thought would be so easy to find, not so much. You know how when you're shopping for living room furniture at home they'll have a matching sofa, loveseat, and armchair? Here, no armchairs, just the sofa and loveseat. Is that not weird? So the options I really saw were recliners, which isn't ideal. We're going to look at some other places next Saturday - if I still can't find anything, I'll have to settle for the recliner.

The a/c unit has already been a saga since before I even got here, but finally found one that would work at Sam's Club (yes, my membership works here!). More on installation of said unit below. I was all excited looking around Sam's Club because it felt a lot like the one at home. We only got the a/c unit there but I went back shopping on Sunday to look around more... see Day 21 :)

So, Rafael brought the a/c unit upstairs for me and I was left to the installation. I had in my head, never having had a portable a/c unit before, that I would just be able to plug it in and move it around where ever I wanted. Not so much - has to be vented to the outside. It came with these three plastic thingies that fill up the open portion of the window with a hole for the hose to go through. I was holding them up to the window, trying to figure out how the heck I was going to do this, when I dropped one of them. Out the window. It was one of those "did that really just happen?" moments. So, I climbed on an ottoman so I could see out the window, and it's on one of the party decks by the pool below. Ok, so I can just go get it. 

I ride down the elevator in my "I heart NY" jammies, try to go out to the deck, and it's locked. Of course it's locked!! I go down to the front desk, and started explaining to the lady working (too bad it wasn't "J," right?) what happened. Please keep in mind she speaks no English. I don't even know how I did it, but she understood me and took me up to get my piece of plastic. 

This time, I CLOSED the shade on the window so the stupid panel couldn't fall out, marked where I needed to screw the pieces together, and went to work. Do I have a screwdriver? Absolutely not. So, I used a knife. It was sharper than your average butter knife, turns out, so I sliced my fingers a couple of times (left hand, who cares). But, I got the screws in far enough to hold the stupid thing together. I put it in the window, run the hose through it, attach the other end of the hose to the a/c unit, and I'm ready to go! Except the plug doesn't fit in the outlet. *sigh*

I guess even though all the plugs in my apartment are 220V, they're not standard Brazilian outlets for whatever reason, so a 3-prong Brazilian appliance won't plug in. To be continued on day 21...

Here's the shopping lunch at a pay-by-kilo place. These are very popular here. It basically a buffet that you weigh your plate at the end and pay based on the weight, kind of like they have at Whole Foods. 

Those little red things are peppers, and I LOVE them - they're just a little spicy and so tasty! Note the mini-pastel at the bottom... 

Jackie and hubby Rafael at lunch

Look, Jen, scrapbooking crap in Brazil!

Making do...

Days 15 through 19 - misc work week stuff

Of course mostly working, eating, and sleeping during the week... the only part of those things that might be of interest to you, dear reader, would probably be the eating. So below is some food stuffs from the week.

The bummer for this week was I was supposed to fly home for a week on Friday... I decided on Thursday to postpone the trip until 10/17. I'm just starting to get a little momentum here, I feel like I would be losing traction if I left just now. So I know it was the right thing to do, but still no fun knowing I would have been home right now. Plus I'm going to miss my Julia's birthday party :(

I got this as a prize for answering some safety questions correctly. It tastes like Brasil's answer to the Twinkie, except chocolate in the middle. Tasty!

Went to lunch Weds with Jackie. We ate at a little padaria lunch spot. It was tasty... had some random fried pastries with various meats/cheeses inside them, and then some kind of cream pie.

Afore-mentioned random fried thingies

Friday night I got home from work about 8 (don't even get me started... it was a cluster) and just walked around my neighborhood to get something for dinner. I ended up getting a burger at a little corner joint that serves "snacks," beer, and convenience store type candies, drinks, etc. I took the burger home, but while I waited a 60-something Brazilian man that was clearly not on his first beer (yep, "that guy" is a world-wide phenomenon) kept trying to talk to me. I understood some stuff he said and responded, but most of it I had no clue and told him I didn't understand - after which he would repeat it again louder! It was hilarious. The girl cooking kept rolling her eyes at me... lord knows what he was saying. At least I wasn't bored while I waited. 

I had no idea what was going to be on the burger that I ordered since I didn't bother trying to translate the ingredients listed. It ended up being queso, lettuce, tomato, and those little fried potato thingies that come in a can. It was good, there wasn't much meat but the bread was tasty enough to make up for it. Please note the red packet - there's a third way to spell catsup/ketchup!