It’s sunny! I had a busy day of sleeping in until 2ish and then watching 3 hours of tv til I was good and woke-up. I ate some toast for lunch, charged my pod and got some exercise on the stairs in the building. Oddly, not as fun as the stair machine at the gym that can distract me with it’s buttons and bright lights. I wonder if there is a casino gym somewhere? You could play slots and other electronic gambling games while you work out, that would be awesome. I bet they are in Nevada. I’m totally making a note of that. So yeah, then I got ready and went over to Mel’s house. I was 20 min late, oops. She started cooking before I got there. The apartment smelled so good when I walked in. She had ground beef on the stove(the ground beef here is like no fat at all maybe like 1-2%). Mel cut up carrots, tomatoes, onions and I cut up green pepper. She seasoned the meet with oregano or some Italian seasoning and salt, added a little tomato sauce not much though, it didn’t turn it red. Then let it simmer til the veggies were soft. Then we mixed up the panqueca batter in a blender. It was 2 cups milk, 2 cups flour, 2 eggs, and a teaspoon- a tablespoon of olive oil blended until mixed thoroughly. She got a nonstick fry pan and turned it on high, she put a little drizzle of olive oil in the pan. Mel poured just a little batter in the pan and turned the pan in circles to spread the batter evenly along the bottom. Each one took like a min to cook, they were thin and kinda crunchy in some spots. I filled each one with the meat and veggie mixture, rolled it up, and set in that pink dish you saw. When we were all done assembling Mel added some water to the meat mixture and spooned it all over the top of the panquecas. The moisture in the meat absorbed into the now super soft and fluffy panquecas and it was soooo good. We ate them with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. MMM, yummy! Mel had also made some juice ahead of time. It was mango and a little carrot, blended with some water, and chilled in the fridge. It was really good, too. Then, came the dessert. I have to admit I was very frightened of it. The creepy looking black seed that resemble frog eggs and they were seeds. I took a bite and holy crap! It was, da bomb! So delicious. It reminded me of the rice pudding from Maduban, but if you put anise seeds in it and a little more tart flavored hints. The dessert was maracuja(All these spellings are assumptions) mousse. Holy fuck. It was soooo good, but it’s so bad for you and we don’t have the fruit in America so I am going to have to miss it for the rest of my lift. Maybe I could buy it on the internet…Anyway. Its made from the maracuja fruit which is yellow and inside is seeds and brighter yellow goo and fruit. You take it all out and put it in a blender, reserving some for a garnish. You add sweeted cream and the cream here is hard core, you carry it too rough and it turns solid, and put in some gelatin and let it sit in the fridge. It was the yummiest thing I have eaten here. The whole dinner was so good. I want to eat it everyday! After dinner mel and I walked back to my dad’s house and were supposed to go to a party, but the people never called and that didn’t work out so I tried to knit my hat again and screwed it up again… I gotta figure out how to start it.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
11/13/08
I got my typical 11-12 hour of sleep. When I woke up it was pouring rain. Usually it’s just a drizzle or light rain, but today the gutters were full and rivers where flowing across sidewalks. We went to a new restaurant, a buffet, that was only R$4 a person and it was all veggies and rice. I took the opportunity to pay for lunch as I haven’t hardly paid for a thing yet. We shopped around this little mall afterwards and my dad bought me a little leather purse. We were in the place for like 2 hours and there wasn’t much to see, but my step mom or my dad get to talking to everyone we meet and things go slow. My dad met a man from New York and made friends. He married a brazilian woman too so they had a lot to talk about. Later on in the evening my friend Melina came over and we went out to dinner and then walked to her house. We hung out and chatted. Laughed and Laughed. We made plans to cook tomorrow and hang out again. I left there and went to find my dad. It isn’t hard he only goes 3 places and they are quite near each other. It was almost 11pm and it was coldish. I put my purse under my jacket so no one could see it, but all I had in there was my camera. I had my money and house key in my pockets. Good thing I prepared. I was walking on the sidewalk that runs along the beach and I saw all kinds of shit. People buying drugs, like witnessing hand offs and money exchanges and they aren’t buying weed, this is crack! OMG I’m by myself at night surrounded by crack heads and their dirty bitches, shit. Well I just walk and think of all the ways I could use the umbrella in my hand as a weapon. Don’t stare! I walk by a guy peeing in one of the surfers tents, right by the sidewalk. The ocean is like 100 feet away, really? Saw a couple crazies talking to themselves, I didn’t blend. Got throught all that ok, wondering where the hell the cops where, I see like at least 5 ever time I go out. I found out later that the drug dealers payoff the police and they get to chill on the far side of the beach. Well, I found my dad. He was singing at the Karioke place. The guy who owns the bar came up and asked him to sing with twist and so he did, can’t refuse your public. Then we went to the Capirinia place. There was an interesting mix there. The employees 2 guys and a girl, the street rat kind who walks around selling henna tattoos was there with a little cup getting the left overs of everyone elses drinks, some guy who owns a pizza place that I find flyers for all over town, some wasted kid who was pissed someone drew and eye on him, me sonia and my dad, and a drunk guy from chile who was on his third capirinia. My dad talked to the Chilean guy and found out he spoke Spanish and stuck him on me. “Practice your Spanish”, shit. That’s when I started blending. Sure, conversations starts off normal…then “you are beautiful, how old are you, don’t go to argentina, come to chile, it’s better. People in Argentina don’t know how to speak Spanish. You come and stay in my house. Ah, I want to marry you!” shit, dad…dad! So got a marriage proposal from the freak at the place. Then the talk became tattoos because the street rat kid was harassing us so we had a tattoo sharing contest and apparently the only thing that beats eyes tattooed on the back of your head is a full back piece. Shortly after that we left and headed home.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
11/12/08 yarn day!
11/11/08
It rained,again. We made plans to go shopping at the big mall I hadn’t been to yet then see a movie and eat dinner. Well once everyone was finally ready we had to go to walmart first. I think my dad was grumpy from waiting for us to get ready. He was talking trash to all the other cars on the road and he wasn’t driving. I’m in the back seat just trying to be quiet and look at all the buildings. There is a car pulled half out into our lane and my dad says, in a thicker English accent than usual, “What the fuck you doin man?” Just picture a 67 year old man, you’ve hardly heard swear, saying with an accent all chopped up and improper like. It was hard not to laugh out loud. Walmart bought a supermarket chain called “Big” and didn’t change the name. I saw equate brand stuff though, so it must be true. We made it to the mall. We saw quantum of solace. Which is so action packed. I think maybe there was 10 min of dialogue in the whole movie, maybe 5 min. It was pretty cool. Not as good as that Angelina jolie assassin movie, but good action as far as a bond movie goes. We ate dinner before the movie in the mall food court. The little food places are like restraunts they had you menus and cook the food fresh. We had chicken, but it was thigh meat that was grilled in oil on a flat top with the skin on…I was different. I gagged a couple times. We had rice with black beans, French fries, and a cold salad of steamed broccoli, carrots and lettuce. My dad bought a couple of cheese burgers that were topped with some diced onion and bbq sauce. They were the places special cause they don’t have bbq sauce here. The burgers weren’t as good as burger king, it reminded me of a rodeo burger, but like half the flavor and the patty of meat was light colored like it was turkey…The black beans were hella good and so were the fries. MMM French fries. After the movie we had to rush home to feed the baby birds. Later that night my dad made grilled cheese sandwiches and I offered to make my own(many of you may know I like my grilled cheeses well done but not burned) he said no and feeling like I probably should tell my dad how to make a sandwich I left him to it. It put it on a plate and handed it to me. I opened it up the cheese slices were mostly still intact and not even warm. He grins and says “that’s what you call partially melted.” He always makes jokes like that. My dad is hilarious, but it’s my kind of humor. It weird realizing you are exactly like your parents.
So far this trip has taught me not to be afraid of international travel. A whole bunch of other shit along those same lines, culture and junk like that. The best thing, so far, is learning about my family. I didn’t spend much time with my dad, ever. Sounds totally cheesey, but my dad loves me. It’s surprisingly comforting. Partially melted. That is hilarious.
Oh now, lets talk about roaches. Hmm, where should I start? The ones in the street or the one that flew into my face? Let’s allow for some build up. So in Argentina I saw a roach walking in the gutter. In brazil I saw a roach running down the side walk and I saw one running out from under our garbage bin. Now, these aren’t like American roaches and they aren’t like those really nasty African ones from fear factor either. They are just like American ones, same color and shape, but they are big. Like bigger, beefier, and taller with their creepy legs all scuttling about. Nasty. So, I haven’t researched this, but some can fly. I don’t know if it’s the same bug or what, but it looks exactly the same and either I packed it here from argentina or the nasty thing came in my window or through the hole in the wall from the air conditioner. I’ll set the scene now. It’s my first or second night in brazil. I get into bed. I put on my headphones and my little eye mask thing and lay down to drift off to sleep. Some time later, I’m still away and I’m looking through the little hole that is the space between my nose and cheek. There is a lot of light coming into the room from the window. The jesus light is shining and the curtain on my window is practically transparent. From my left side I see a flash of brown and feel something hit my head. I immediately jump up and thrash around hitting off whatever it is. I rip off the mask look through the blankets and on the floor. I didn’t find anything so I assume I am just imaging the whole thing. I figure it was partially a fleeting dream and I send myself back to sleep. Get up the next day and don’t think about it at all. Hang out in my room sleep that night. The next day after that I get up and need something out of my backpack. I reach in just like I did the day before pull out one thing, nope that’s not it…Reach in again and look down and see a flash of brown with antennas wiggling. FUCK! I throw the bag on the floor and sit on the bed standing guard over it. My dad is in one shower and Sonia is in the other. I am alone. It was like 15-20 min til my dad came out. I called my dad into my room and told him there was a nasty bug in my bag and would he please get it. He starts asking me all kinds of questions and then I remember seeing my dad freaking out about bugs when I was a kid. He was scared too. And I mean it’s not like I’m at home and this is a regular spider. I can’t do this foreign monster in, I need rescueing. My dad looks in the bag and tries to give up. “It’s in there dad, I promise. It’s close to the top. It’s brown”. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” There is a scream, not from me. It came from my dad and I went running. I holler, “ did you get it?”, from the living room. Of course he didn’t get it the next 3-4 minutes was my dad and I taking turns screaming like children running from this GIANT freak bug with its gross antennas and you could hear it running on the tile floor, it was huge like 2 ½-3 inches long with it gross long legs. Then real help arrived. My tiny, probably not even 5 foot stepmom, comes in asking what all the yelling is about. We point out the bug and she got some tissue. I was amazed there was no way I would even image just grabbing it! She would have, but it ran under the bed and she got a can of bug spray and the roach was not long for this world after that. My dad was the clean up crew once it was dead. He used lots of toilet paper to cover it, then used a broom to sweap it into a dust pan and walk it to the garbage can. He squawked and screamed the whole time. He was better than me. I stood in the corner hoping he wasn’t gonna tease me by chasing me with it. He didn’t. Now that’s love, right there. Now my only bug worries are the mosquito-well the local bug that leaves bites the same as a mosquito but its something else. Apparently they are coming into the room at night, biting the shit out of me and then taking off. Smarter than American mosquitoes. No screens on the windows here and no AC. So itchy bites for me. It’s still raining, but it like it better than the sun. Ever since I burned on that cloudy day with sunscreen on, I’ve been scared. I bought a straw hat with a big brim and when it’s sunny I wear long sleeves and sun screen on my face. My dad has skin cancer. When I got here had all these sores on his face, arms and legs. Some doctor friend of his burned off the cancer spots with acid. I remember seeing my dad bathing in the sun at least a million different times. Last summer I took to it myself. I won’t be doing that anymore. Evil sun. I have way too many past sunburns. Bad, bad sunburns.
11/10/08
We had a full day of walking and random crap. Late that evening my dad suggested that we go to Karioke. Uh, so kicking and screaming we all got ready. We left the house at like 11pm and walked down to the place. We were walking and talking. I was asking my dad about how he came to America. We got there, to our surprise it was full of people. My dad and step mom really wanted me to sing. I told my dad from the 1st day I was here I wouldn’t ever sing and if I did it would only be after I was shitfaced. So the beer started flowing. We waited and waited for my dad’s first turn and he got up on the mini stage and sang some Portuguese song, that apparently everyone in Brazil knows, because everyone in the bar was singing along with him. Then my step mom sang the first English song we had heard and she got a huge round of applause. I’m drinking my beer looking through the lists of songs trying to talk myself into getting up in front of all these people and singing. There was some drunk lady hustling tables for free drinks and she made our way to our table. I told her sorry but I don’t speak Portuguese and that’s the same tactic that my step mom and dad took. It totally felt like work. She gave up on us and moved to another table where she was practically giving lap dances. Anyway, it was at this time my dad got back up and sang the twist. I wish I had my camera. He was up there singing away, twisting, and shaking his ass. Oh my god it was so funny. Everyone in the place was laughing, cheering, and clapping along. It was quite a sight. We got thoroughly bored as it became clear tonight was not the night of my debut. We took off and my dad drug us down to his favorite little watering hole, the caparinia place. There are only 2 tables outside of this place and 1 of them was full of a bunch of people from Argentina. My dad is a total attention whore. He came up on this scene and stole the show. Talking to the people telling them all about how he was from England, then went to Canada, then went to US, then here, and this is my daughter from the states, she’s been to Argentina….on and on. So we were a party of people speaking Spanish, English, and Portuguese and one of the guys working at the place was playing music trying his best to get this little teenage girl to dance with him. My dad bought the people a drink and everyone took a million pictures and had a lot of fun. It was 1 when we headed home and everyone kissed and hugged goodbye. Walking back home my dad reflected on the evening happily. He commented on how nice it was to meet new people and all we had to do was say hello and talk to them. He said he was glad he sang the twist because it made everyone so happy. He seemed quite satisfied with the evening and himself, not in an outwardly boastful way, but more like a personal gratification. It’s really nice to see my dad differently. It was at this point my step mom crossed a street and all the alcohol she drank hit her. “I’m drunk, you never see this” I turned around to look at her hanging off my dad swaying back and forth as she walked. It was hilarious! My new favorite game is fucking with my step mom and dad through the other person. Well, mostly it’s fucking with my dad through my stepmom, but my dad is an ass sometimes especially to her. So we were walking and I see a bunch of lumber on the street and suggest that hey maybe we need this. My drunk step mom thinks that’s a great idea and she has to have it. So there is my dad and step mom arguing in the street over trash. It was hilarious (if you hadn’t noticed I was drunk too, well a bit at least) I’m cackling and snorting all the way home. The battle over the lumber ended with my step mom deciding on a random piece she could carry herself that had a hole in it her had fit into. It started to rain. She held that piece of wood over her head the rest of the way home. Typing this now it was way funnier when it happened and I really must have been drunk cause it’s not near as funny now. Eh.
Monday, November 10, 2008
11/04/08/-11/10/08
Well fuck. I wrote this big long hooray for Obama and renewed faith in America and pride and screwed something up and it got deleted. You guys are probably Obama’d out anyway.So whatever, I had like 3 other days of blogs too that are now disappeared. Now I’m kinda pissed and burnt about it so the blog shall suffer. My dad and Sonia where gone for 4 or 5 days, but they are back now. The morning after Obama was elected Sonia’s mom passed away. She and my dad left that afternoon to drive all the way through the night for the funeral that was happening the next morning. I stayed here to take care of the birds. They sold a couple before they left and they took 3 with them so I was left with 3 adults, 5 babies and 4 eggs. Yesterday 1 of the babies fell out of the nesting box along with 2 of the eggs. The parents are really protective and all the birds hate me anyway, so it was a real pain in the ass getting everything organized. I opened up the nesting box to find that they had trampled 1 of the eggs and it was rotting and full of maggots. There were little flies in all the mess uh it was so gross. I didn’t notice it before because the box is really high and you have to get on a ladder to see in it and I would just open it and look at the babies and take out the poo and close up shop. I had to relocate all the birds and clean up there rotted sibling that was now a meal for MAGGOTS. EwwEwwEww. I wanted my dad and step mom to come home right then. So nasty. Another egg was no good it broke open and nothing was inside. There are 2 eggs that are intact, but I don’t think they are any good. We’ll see. Shortly after I got everything cleaned up my dad and step mom came home. Thank goodness. I washed my hands a million times, showered, and still felt gross. I hope the babies don’t get sick, but I don’t think they will. I’m not a big fan of birds, I mostly hate them. I told my dad don’t be surprised if they start saying, “shut the fuck up”, cause they heard it a lot-especially while I was on hazmat duty.
Observations of the people around here.
They call Peruvians, Indians. Babies are so cute, I don’t know why but they all look like baby jesus. Little baby girls get their ears pierced and they put gold bracelets on them. There is an abundance of gorgeous curly hair here. At least 75% of people have curly locks. I haven’t seen one natural blonde over the age of maybe 10. Everyone takes their time to do everything. We stop to talk to 100 people on the way to anywhere. If we go grocery shopping random strangers strike up a conversation like you are old friends. Everyone says I look very American and I don’t know if it’s cause I’m white or fat. The women here are gorgeous. So beautiful. They all wear horrible, tall, strappy sandals. They look so uncomfortable, but they rock em like they are going out of style. The men are mostly old and fat. The young ones are in-shape-ish with gross faces, hairy, and short. If you are a semi good looking single American man, oh geez, get on down here. Everyone else save your money and go somewhere else. People have been very nice and seem happy to meet me, but not a lot of people speak English. I can’t wait to leave. I’m only here to hang out with my dad and step mom. They are so nice and fun. My dad has an easier time to be cool cause he drinks all day. Sonia is just sweet and kind. My impression of brazil is that it’s a beautiful place. Great plant life, pretty beach and I really could care less about the rest cause I want to be in Argentina. So maybe I’ll come back again and fall in love, but it’s not happening this time. When I leave I will be sad to leave my family, but I will be happy to be away from this place. It’s over 80 today with humidity in the 80 percents. I miss our desert. It’s way better.Monday, November 3, 2008
11/03/08-1525
I got a pedicure for less than $5! The full foot scraping, cuticle maiming, nail paiting sha-bang. They did things that I am sure are illegal inthe united states. It was all preformed by a kid, too,well maybe a teenager. She was on the computer playing video games when we walked in. I was a bit nervous. She didnt speak english, i don~t speak portugues, and my stepmom left me there alone. She made me bleed twice(i´m both delicate and sensitive) but damn it my toes feel great! Best pedicure EVER! She did something with this tool that had this dull sliver of metal sticking off the end that i think i will miss forever. This "instrument" came out of this big pile of shit that looked like it had never been cleaned. I´m glad i got my tetnas shot. Now that i´m here I feel like i should have gotten more shots and better travel insurance. People dont seem to appreciate an american level of cleanliness. I know we go too far sometimes, but frankly i miss having hand sanitizer all over. The little food stand that my dad loves...numerous violations I can see from just sitting and starring at shit cause everyone else is talking and I have no idea what they are saying. My dad and sonia are no better. They play with their birds and then go make somethingto eat without washing their hands. Gross. And people here go to church to pray to feel better, I wanna hit em and say wash your fucking hands once in a while! And they leave food out all the time. No one washes their hands in the public bathrooms. The Atlantic Shopping(thats the name of the malls((shopping=mall apparently)))has the best public bathroom. The walls of the stall are granite with marble floors, they are always clean and have toilet paper.The door of the stall goes almost to the floor and next to the toilet is a big trash bin with no lid and it is full of shit covered toilet paper. Ah brazil.
Sorry for switching tenses all the time and run on sentences. Have a good day. VOTE!
