The last weekend

Well, now that my presentation is finished I can focus on much more important things- namely talking about my last weekend here in Brazil. It was a big weekend, and I’ve lots to talk about, so here it goes.

The weekend started on friday night by going to the photo exhibition that Vanessa had pictures in. Then we celebrated Juliana’s successful completion of her qualification exam with some tasty sushi and tempura made by some friends. I of course ate more than I should have (big surprise). Then we watched a movie.

On saturday we did something I’ve been looking forward to for weeks: we went to a municipal market where there were stalls of foods and other goodies. This is how I ended up with and entire suitcase filled with food. I am not kidding. I have 2 Kg of peanuts. 2 kg! Am I crazy? Yes. But these peanuts are really, really good. If you are nice to me I might give you some. I also managed to acquire cachaça (the national liquor), doce de leite (two kinds), banana candies and hot peppers. I’m actually a little worried that all this food is going to put my bags over the weight limit, even though I left plenty of room for expansion when I came.

After the municipal market it was on to a birthday celebration with some very tasty feijoada, pork and black bean stew (a national specialty). Then we went to the Feira do Livros to browse the books. Finally, we got milkshakes (pinapple!) and managed catch a bus, dodging the big thunderstorm that hit around 5pm.

Saturday evening, I (sigh) had to work on my presentation for Monday, but managed to enjoy more sushi (made by Vanessa and Juliana this time) and the company of some good friends. Tired yet (believe me, I was)?

The reason I worked on my presentation Saturday is that I had big plans for Sunday. I was watching the Confederation Cup final with some Brazilian friends at bar. Not just any bar, it's called Agua Doce - a Cachaçareia. Its a big place and they had a projection screen to watch the match. In case you live under a rock, the match was the USA vs. Brazil, following the USA’s dramatic win over Spain in the Semis. In case that rock you live under is on a different planet, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: football (the game we know as soccer) is kinda a big deal here in Brazil (I think it may come before God and country). I’d say there were at least a hundred people in the bar- of which I was (I think) the only one cheering for the US. So I cheered very quietly, with tiny arm gestures- I have no death wish. By the end of the first half, my friends were threatening to disown me, as the US was up by 2 goals. Alas, that didn’t last through the rest of the game, and I was very sad to see the US lose. I won’t torture myself or you with anymore details except to say that our goalie was bloody amazing! The result of all of this football watching in Brazil is that I think I may have caught a bit of the football fever... be careful or I might spread it to you.

I now interrupt my weekend recap to say a few words about the way Brazilian women dress. Now, I am by no means an expert of fashion, and even if I were my expertise would be wasted in my current line of work (poor graduate student). But I’ve got to say, they have drape-y (that’s a technical term), sexy shirts down to an art form. I saw a plethora of bias cut soft knit fabrics in many colors and patterns gracefully adorning the upper halves of Brasileiras throughout the bar. I can’t say that I’m surprise by this, but it did have me feeling a bit frumpy in my pink Ann Taylor polo shirt. Now back to the update (its nearly done, for those of of you still actually reading).

After the disappointing loss (and more food), Vanessa and some photographer friends picked me up and we went to the final free concert at the Feira do Livros. This is where I really wish I had had my camera. We were at the very front of the crowd and I could have gotten some really cool pictures. The music was really good, however my eardrums may never recover. I don't think I've ever stood that close to gigantic speakers. After the concert we piled back in the car, picked up some pizza and headed home to eat a late dinner.Thats it! Pretty much the whole weekend- and now I need another weekend to recover, but I wouldn't have miss a bit of it. This may well be my last post from Brazil. I leave tomorrow and am not sure if I'll have internet access then.

So for now, Tchau, Ate mais!

Rock n' Roll and Biscioto

Good Monday morning! I had a great weekend, and you? It went something like this: sleeping, beer, food, sleeping, food, snooker, ice cream, sleeping, beer, classic rock, more beer, snooker, more beer, more music, food, sleeping, food, successful skype downloading (finally), food, and finally more sleeping. The perceptive of you may have noticed a small imbalance in the quantity of each events listed above....

Now for a few more details.

By the end of last week I was pretty tired, and so were my roomates, so even though we had planned on going out friday night, we ended up just doing a lot of sleeping interspersed with a beer or two and some pizza frigideira.

Saturday started out another relaxing day involving a nice place to eat where I had feijoada (a classic brazilian dish of black beans and pork), more food, and really, really good fresh fruit juices. Next it was on to counting votes at USP. Vanessa had to count votes for student elections, so I tagged along and practiced my portuguese listening- I swear everyone here must think I'm a mute (which I'm sure is amusing to those of you who know me). Then I proved, in case there was any doubt, how god-awful I am playing pool in a fun game of snooker. This was followed by some really good ice cream- the place was amazing- an ice cream buffet where you get whatever kind of ice creams you want with all the imaginable toppings. Oh man was it good! Then it was time for a little nap... you see we had to rest up for a night of rock n' roll. We met up with my friend Marcela and some of her friends at a bar in downtown Ribeirão Preto called Vila Dionísio where they serve up cervejas & rock n' roll. I, being more scatterbrained than usual, forgot my passport for identification. Luckily I was able to cob together appropriate identification to prove my advancing age. It was a great bar and a great time, I recommend it if you are ever here. They had two live acts which mostly played classic american rock- think a lot of Beatles and other classics- they were great! I talked to some people, and had consumed enough alcohol that I was less embarrassed about trying out my Portuguese. We were out until nearly 4am- ending with a late night stop for Kibe and some other tasty middle eastern fare whose name escapes me at the moment (it might have something to do with the advanced hour or the few cervejas I consumed). Then sleep.... a lot of sleep.

Sunday was a very relaxed day of which the highlight was good lasagna and, finally, a successful download of Skype on my computer. For some reason, it has been very difficult for me to get it. I decided that maybe I should try to download it from the Brazilian version of the site instead of US, in case the downloading server was different. I don't know if that was the reason, but it worked. The amusing part is I now get emails from Skype in Portuguese, so I guess I'll get some reading practice in.

And now for the section I will christen Food from Norahland... today, Biscioto:

Friday afternoon concluded with a fun and entertaining discussion of biscioto. Now I though biscioto meant cookie in Portuguese, but after a lot of discussion and some helpful diagrams from my fellow labmates- and taste testing, of course- I learned about this delicious snack. These biscioto are rather like cheesy poofs minus the cheese, and these in particular are made of polvilho, a flour made from mandioca (which I believe is yucca). They taste amazing and totally addictive- finally I had to have Marcela take them away from me so I would stop eating them!