Nostalgia

This past weekend I drove up to my parent's house in the heart of the Adirondacks. The plan was for me to do some downhill skiing with my Dad. It was, of course, the coldest weekend we've seen in close to a month. Just perfect conditions. Ha.

Anyway, after a delightful Saturday of doing absolutely nothing, a cold, though not as cold Saturday, Sunday induced me to wimp out on going to Whiteface to downhill ski. Instead we went cross-country skiing. This is where the nostalgia comes in.

We decided our skis could use some glide wax, so Dad and I went down to the basement, which he had heated up just for the occasion. As I stood there with a decades-old iron dripping melted wax over the tips and tails of my classic skis, all I could think about was that it seemed like so short a time had passed since I did this regularly. It brought back warm, fuzzy memories of high school ski races (which I certainly didn't appreciate at the time). Just like that the skis were waxed, scraped, brushed and buffed; as if it had been a few years- not a decade- since I'd done this routinely. All this was followed by a fantastic ski, the kind that makes you wish you could go on forever. My weekend ended with a drive back to Ithaca on a winding road down through Inlet and Old Forge, which brought back even older ski memories of my Bill Koch skiing days.

God, I love skiing. Sometimes I forget how much. It was nice to have a reminder.

Still Sleepy

I'm back! Given the absolute disasters that could have happened (I flew into and out of Chicago on United amidst a system-wide computer glitch: imagine long lines and mass chaos), it was relatively painless and my bags(absolutely amazing) and I arrived only 2 hrs later than expected. Then I ate a really good burger at the Ale House and watched the 4th of July fireworks (which oddly are never on the 4th). Then tumbled into a deep and dreamless sleep. The sleep of the exhausted traveler.

There is only one thing... I think my brain may still be somewhere stuck in O'hare ( I am still randomly speaking the few portuguese words I know and am having problems with simple tasks). Then again perhaps it is just tiredness. Either way, hope it finds its way home soon.

It's good to be home, but right now the whole trip seems somewhat surreal- hard to believe it actually happened. Also it is a little weird to see all this stuff that is mine, I got used to having a lot less. Makes me itch to clean stuff out. I bet that feeling lasts about one week.

Thats if for now, but be sure to check back to follow my continuing adventures...

Curítiba!

After a 10 hr bus ride (at night, thankfully) I arrived in Curítiba. It is a beautiful city! I was well taken care of by Vanessa's (my roommate) family and had a great time. One of my favorite sites: Jardim Botânico (botanical garden).

Curítiba has a special bus line that hits all the tourist sites, which is very conveinent, so one day we took a tour around the city. One surprising feature of the city: it has probably the best organized bus system I have ever seen. It is a bus system that is run essentially like a subway, with these tubes located all over the city and separate bus lanes.

Also it has a great system set up for recycling (and quite possibly the cutest stickers associated with recycling)...

Other highlights: food and craft markets(yum)! Festa Junina/Baby shower (a funny tradition: everyone brings diapers to the baby shower...)! Pinhão nuts (seriously, the biggest pine nuts ever)!

Thanks again to Vanessa's wonderful family for a great time!

Made it!

Well I made it. Yay me! So here is what I've done since I last posted:

Friday: My first day in Brazil... um, I mean Washington DC.

I knew the chances of my 4 connecting flights going smoothly were quite small, and I was right. Due to weather/mechanical problems my flight out of NYC was cancelled and all the other flights delayed. As a result, I got to DC 5 minutes after my connection to São Paulo left. The only flight of the day. So…. I got to spend 24 hrs in DC.

United was nice enough to put me up in the Landsdowne Resort; pretty posh place! I got to know a great lady from Denver who stuck in DC too (thanks for the company Jennifer!). And my cousin picked me up at noon and we spend a great afternoon at the zoo and had a couple beers (thanks Brian!). It was a fun little vacation! Caught my connection to Brazil Friday night, and lucky me, due to some problem with my initial seat assignment I got bumped to business class. It made the flight so much more comfortable, I’m going to miss that on the way home.

Saturday: Really my first day in Brazil.

I arrived early in São Paulo, but unfortunately my checked bag didn’t. It decided to take a later flight from Washington, but I should be getting it today. Then after a few more delays I caught my flight to Ribeirão Preto. My new roommates Vanessa and Juliana, and my new lab-mate Marcela all came to the airport to pick me up. They are all very nice and are very patient with my non-existent Portuguese, but I am trying to force myself to try to speak a little. They all speak English very well, so it is easy to slip into the habit of just speaking English.

Sunday: Seeing important things around Ribeirão

A fun day filled with at walk around the University of São Paulo (USP), a concert and a Chopp (draft beer) at a famous bar here in Ribeirão called Penguim. Chopp is very good; it is very light and very cold, as well as very tasty and refreshing!

Today: My First day at USP

I was a little nervous about my first day, but everyone is being so nice, so I have relaxed quite a bit. I try to ask how to say things in Portuguese whenever I can and am attempting to write things down so I can practice at home. Rose and Zeki, my hosts, welcomed me and have been showing me around. I'm planning on starting experiments very soon. I guess that is all for now. It feels like I've done a lot in just a few days, but I'm looking forward to all that is yet to come.

I'd love to hear from any of you either here or via email!

Tchau! (good bye)

Waiting....

Well I did it. I left my apartment, and it is actually mostly clean. Amazing. For the most part, I feel fairly calm. Also amazing. I felt the weirdest about dropping off my car at Sarah's this morning (thanks again for the garage!). Somehow, that more than anything, cemented in my mind the reality of this trip.

Now I'm just waiting in the tiny Ithaca airport for the first connection on my marathon flight ( I have 4 flights...), and it is already a little delayed. I did make several interesting discoveries:

1) South American travel doesn't count for free checked baggage- US air now has $15 of my money.

2) I have so many connections they had to hand issue my baggage claim ticket ( the computer couldn't handle it)

3) I love having free internet in the airport.