Saudade

It's a week that I'm back in Switzerland now.

I still hadn't time to write my stories about how I met great people when I was visiting the Corcovado; the chance I had to see a great artist on work in Lapa; how I managed to transform a zoology lab in an actual zoo and ...oh, so many other things!

But, I will, I promise. It will just take a little bit of time. ;-)

However, right now, I really had the feeling to have to write. I'm missing Brazil so much.

It could be that the fact that it's raining in CH since a week non-stop, doesn't help my acclimatization here. But, it's also true that I had the best time ever in Brazil. I was so free. Full of work, yes, but free to be myself and not be judged! People there are as crazy as I am! I love it!

People love to dance, to laugh, to talk, to... live!

And I miss that so much.

People here seem to be so grey. They seem to have forgotten that life is not about work. Life is about us, about love, about fun, about.. friendships!

I have to admit, in this past week, I'm also focussed on my work. But I think that it's a matter of equilibrium. It's a bit like day and night. We need both to work. We need to have fun as much as we need our sleep. Fortunately I love my job, so I usually have a lot of fun there too. Anyway, there is nothing better than go out with friends, dance and laugh to regenerate!

And people here, they don't laugh enough. Actually, they barely smile! Seriously!

I was looking around in the tram today: it's like if people are scared to hell to meet the eyes of some strangers. People stare out of the window, right in front or even to the floor just to avoid the chance of meeting someone's else eyes. Crazy!

I hope the sun will come back soon here, to illuminate also the grayest faces!

Until then I'll miss my beloved Brasilia, my friends there and my life there.

It took my heart, slowly, with samba rhythm and sweet mango taste. It entered in my brain, in my vein. It's Brasil and its sun. Its people and its colors. Saudade is not only a word. It's the inevitable feeling you once saw the paradise on earth. 

Botanical Garden and a small cake in the Parque Lage

Last Saturday, Michelle and I went out with a friend of her, Aurelio, to visit the botanical garden. First we wanted to go to eat breakfast in the Parque Lage, a beautiful place near the botanical garden. We got there at 2pm, so that, of course, we couldn't have café da manhã anymore. So we ordered some small things like waffles and cakes. Actually, I was looking forward a chocolate cake. So I ordered what I thought would be a chocolate cake. What arrived was more similar to a small bottom plate than to a chocolate cake. I was starving, starring at this small thing in the hope that it somehow transforms itself in a huge cake. It didn't.

We then went to visit the botanical garden. Amazing. Everything seems bigger in Rio! Afterwards we walked along the beach and in the night we went to see a musical: Por uma Noite. The story is about a group of young singer/actors/dancers that want to organize a musical for only one night. I loved it! The best part, however, was the total participation of the audience! At the end all the people were standing, singing and dancing together with the actors!

me in the parque lage

Michelle :-)

Ipanema and the beach boys...

Rio and CS

After only a few days in the paradisaic Morro, I had to go back to Salvador to go to Rio. On one side I was sad to leave this island, on the other I was exited to know the marvelous city. After a six hour trip to reach my hotel near to the airport of Salvador, after two hours of delay in the airport because of the rain and after have been placed in a new direct flight to Rio, I finally reached the international airport.

I already had organized my staying in Nelson's house, another CSer. So I met him for lunch time and from the first moment I felt like at home. He's such a great guy! I really felt totally comfortable and secure in his house. 

In the first evening in Rio, I went out to have dinner with some friends of Nelson: Simone and Michelle. We went to eat in a Japanese restaurant: we opted for a all-you-can-eat. I filled my self with sushis, sashimis, ... It was great! The girls wanted to know more about the CS project and at the end I had the possibility to stay at Michelle's place for the rest of my holidays! She lives in Ipanema, near to the most beautiful beach of Rio. I really enjoyed my time with her! She's, like me, a lover of series. So, as you can imagine, we had a lot to talk about. :-) And also for the rest, we found out to have many things in common. She always cared about me, which I found totally cute!

Morro de São Paolo

Ah, Morro de São Paolo. What an enchanting place! I have to admit, it is a very touristic place. Anyway, it has such a beautiful landscape, that you completely forget about everyone around you! I was staying in a small lovely posada, called Albatros. Now, you have to imagine the place with four main beaches, one after the other. On the first and the second, there are all the posadas and restaurants. I was staying on the third, which is already much quieter. But, if you walk a bit (like 20 min), you reach the beautiful forth beach: a dream of turquoise water, fine gold sand and palms and trees that provide shadow. I was staying there only 2 days, and I spent most of the time under one of the trees in this magnificent beach. I also explored a bit the village and the proximity of the lighthouse. I made party, I walked under the rain, I eat like a queen and I slept a lot. I also had a photo-shoot with Rui, the CSer I met in Salvador. He was so nice to visit me in Morro for a few hours. We made tons of pictures together, it was fun! I really enjoyed these days.

I also met some really nice people, like the daughter of the proprietary, Indira. She wants to learn Italian (someone has some suggestions to do an exchange?), she's a girl full of positive energy and I was lucky to meet her again in Rio. I also met two German guys, David and Chris. I went out to dance with them, and I had one of my best nights of my holidays, dancing on the beach with them! It was great. Chris remembered me somehow my swiss friend Chris (Blomy): both look like living in a parallel universe! :-) And finally there was Errico, a guy that has a Restaurant in Morro. We talked a little bit and I was impressed about all the places in which he already had a restaurant. He really enjoys his work! I think, I would never be able to work always with tourists. I don't have the patience for this.

Igor, a spanish guy I met per chance again in the evening

Praia 4

Rui

Rui and I

No idea who this is, but the picture is good!

David and Chris

Praia do Forte and a strict CSer

The last time I wrote you, I had no idea what I was going to do that day. Well, finally I went to Praia do Forte with A. We went to see ruins of something they call here "castle" (no, it has NOTHING to do with the castles we know in Europe). It was nice, but I didn't get my shoes blow off. Afterwards we went to eat another Moqueca, this time with shrimps. It was really good. The guy of the restaurant told us that we could go to a place where you hang yourself on a cord and slide over the river from a vertiginous height to finally let you fall in the water. I was totally exited to do that! But we first wanted to go to the beach to swim a little bit. Thus, we arrived to this place, Praia do Forte. It was the most touristic place I have seen so far. I just wanted to leave again and go to slide down the cord. However, I saw how A. liked to swim, so I waited a bit to insist to go.. ;-) 

While I was in the water, doing nothing, I saw how a guy near to me was putting himself into a pose for a photo. I swam to him just in time to be in the picture too. It was really funny. As an exchange, I had to take a picture of the two guys (the one of the photo and the photographer). I have no idea what their names are or anything. I just have a picture of them. :-)

However I was still looking forward the "slide-down-the-cord" thing, so I asked A. to go. He insisted that I had first to visit the turtles of the Tamar project. Tamar is a project for the maintenance of turtles in the region. So far, so good. But I new how the thing would look like: small basins with giant turtles. I was right. And when I got out, it was already too late for my jump in the water from the cord. I was really a bit pissed. It was time to go to another place. Also because the guy always kept on making compliments, ignoring the fact that I was really and absolutely not interested in him.

So, the next day, I was ready to go to Morro de São Paolo.

leaving Salvador

Hairy dreams

Ok, this has nothing to do with my travel, but I have to tell you this story. 

Yesterday night I have dreamed that a lot of hairs started to grow on my breast and my belly, like a dude! In Rio I started to have a bad skin, probably because of the bad mixture of sun cream and sweat. So I started to use a specific soap to make it better. In my dream this soap was transformed in the worse soap ever: the more I used it, the more I had hairs growing everywhere. Horrible! So I woke up, sure to be full of hairs, ready to go to the bathroom to shave my self. I was sooooo relieved when I realized that it was just a bad dream! :-)

Salvador de Bahia

Finally I'm in HOLIDAY! I love this feeling of being free, to wake up whenever I want, to go where I want, to do what I want!
So, I'm now in Salvador since two days. I'm staying in the place of a CSer called Alberto. His apartment is great, and he was so lovely to leave me his own bedroom! However to get to his apartment was a bit tricky: in the airport I asked how to get to the estacion de transborte... No one could help me. So I asked a guy who told me that I had to take the next bus. I also asked the driver, who just liquified me with a "sim sim, transborte". Of course, it was the wrong bus.
Fortunately there was a nice girl sitting next to me who told me that I could go out with her and then take a bus called S. Joaquim to the main bus station in the city. After all my friends from Brasilia kept on telling me how dangerous Salvador and Rio are, that I have to be VERY cautious, that I should not walk around with my bag, etc.. I got totally afraid about my bags and I was suspicious about everyone, even this nice girl. I was looking at her with very intense eyes when she wanted to help me to get my bags out of the bus... Poor thing!
After a while in this other bus stop (I guess not even God knows where...) I got a bit more relaxed: no one seemed to pay really attention to this gringa sitting on the bank, sweating like a pig and holding her bags. However, after 30 min of waiting I was really starting to worry that this bus will never come, and that I will have to pass my vacation in the middle of nonwhere! But the nice girl showed up again to see for me (soooo cute!), saying that the bus sometimes "demorra um poco". Finally this bus arrived, I reached the main station, got into my third bus and reached my destination after 2h and 30 min (instead of 45 min...).

There was a friend of Alberto welcoming me, Rui. He's from Portugal and we had a long nice chat.
Yesterday I had the chance to visit the old city, Pelourinho. Beautiful, but compared to other placed I've visited in Mexico, like Campeche, I have to say that it's not as great as there. However, the people are great. Of course, they try to get money from you in all possible ways, as it's a very touristic region. But with a nice smile and a "Nao, obrigada" they usually leave you in peace. Much better than the people in Tanzania that keep on followig you everywhere! :-)

I made some nice pictures and per chance I found a place where people where building up a stage. I asked if they where going to make music and they told me that after 5pm they will have something like a concert. I met Alberto to drink somehing and to see the sunset and I then pushed him towards this place. It was great! They have a whole project going on (www.eletrocooperativa.org) and I met some really nice people there (now I have new friends on Orkut.. (Orkut is something like Facebook that they use here in Brasil))! As I speak english, a few wanted to practice their english with me.. It was really nice. They also invited me to their school, but as I'll probably go to an island tomorrow or sunday, I'll not be able to ass by.

After the concert Alberto went home to get a second helmet for me and while I was waiting I had to defend my self from every guy that was walking by. I think that every white woman with a small ego, should stay alone in a street of Palourinho at night: I kept on hearing "you're sooo beautiful", "I want to see you again", "I didn't know that angels can fly so low"... After a while I was a bit tired of this, so I just asked a family sitting on a bar, if I could join them. It was a family from Madrid, very nice and funny. The father asked me if I like Brasilia, and he told me that he had a very bad time there, because of the dry weather (apperently in winter the humidity goes down to 10%!).
When I was almost forgetting the fact that I had to wait for Alberto, he finally re-appeared. We went to eat some "siri" and to dance. We also had fun by telling to a drunk girlt hat I was from Salvador and he was visiting me, coming from Spain. She was sooo drunk that she didn't get the fact that my portoguese is too bad for a native.. Afterwards we made a round with his bike through the city. It was great! The combination of beach, skylines, favelas. The dust, the heat, the colours, the smell... I think that was the time when I felt in love with Salvador. And today this love just grew more and more.

For today I was totally looking forward to go to the beach, as the heat is almost killing me. But, of course, it started to rain. So I thought that i could go and watch for a suitcase. To make it short: I had a whole tour though the city, I took the same bus twice, I made new Orkut-friends and after hours of travelling in circle I finally found my suitcase. :-) It was really funny! The guys that sell the tickets are very nice. I wouldn't change my day, even if I could!

When I arrived to the shop I was looking for, the guy told me that the suitcase costs 180 BRL. I told him that i cannot afford for more than 60. After some time he told me that I could have it for 80, and I said that then I had to think about it. He finally sold it to me for 70 BRL. It seems to be a very good price, as so far everyone told me that he usually payed 150-200 BRL for such a suitcase. They all asked me from where I've got it. I just hope that it will not fall apart after the first flight! ;-)
Now I'll have to look where I want to go in the next days and on Wednesday I'll go to Rio. I can't wait!

Hare Krsna!

Bom dia!

So, here I am again.

I’ll tell you now my experience with the Krisna-Fanatic and how Priscilla just wanted to have some days for Yoga.

Priscilla is a girl from Sao Paolo. She was doing holiday in Recife before, and came to Alto Paraiso to relax a bit and make some yoga after a week of party. 

So, on Sunday of the last week, we (Lu, Grabriella, Gleide and I) went to this place in Alto Paraiso for our field work. Beautiful place and a great position to place a "Spiritual Center"! The houses are made of wood; they look like small houses, with two floors. Small but charming. There is also a small temple, with an altar were the statues of the god are placed (I remember just the names of two: Lord Catanya and Lord Nityananda). In one of the houses they also have two kitchens, one to cook for the god and one for our food... We ate on the floor, on small tables, sitting on pillows. But, apparently, this was already luxury (maybe I should use another word, otherwise Krsna will get mad... But I'll explain later on..) as Priscilla told us that they used to eat on banana leaves on the floor before we arrived.

What I didn't expect was defenitively the change of temperature. It was "much" colder there! Fortunately I packed as if I would go to Holidays for a week, so that I had enough stuff to stratify. :-)

However, let's come back to the interesting part...

As we arrived, we met this woman, A. She's a devote of Krsna and she's there to introduce people into Krsna consciousness and practice with other devotes their rituals. She told me that one of the main goals of a devote is to convert other people into Krsna's consciousness... The similarity to the begin of the Crusades is not far...

Anyway, when we arrived, she seemed to be a, very, very, very (multiplicate this very other 10 times, at least) religious woman, but very nice and in peace with herself. She offered us to participate to the rituals and to have an insight to their traditions. We were glad to accept: it's always nice to know something new!

So, that evening we had our first ritual. She explained us that before we could eat anything, we had to offer it to Krsna. This means that they put a plate in front of the god’s statues and they make a whole ritual to wake them up, to give them some air (because of the heat), some water (also because of the heat) and some flowers. Very interesting so far! In fact they have to offer everything to the god, before they want to eat or drink it. This means that also for a simple glass of water, they have to do this ritual! 

She also explained us that Krsna has divided itself in 5 forces, and that Krsna has many different names. The main activity of the rituals is to chant prayers, to read some chapters from the Bhagavad Gita and to discuss about their meaning. Then they have to chant at least 108 times “Hare Krisna, Hare Krisna; Krisna Krisna; Hare Hare; Hare Rama; Hare Rama, Rama Rama; Hare Hare” counting beans. They usually have their first ritual at 6.00 in the morning. Who knows me, knows that I have jumped this part.. J

The main message I’ve got from the rituals is that life on earth is like a punition for those who turned their faces away from Krisna. So, we are here in this material world, to gain our spiritual life back. In fact, the most a spirit gets detached from Krisna, the worse body he will get on this world. For e.g. to be a dog is very bad. However, the worst thing remains to be an atheist person who does not believe in any God. She also said that our preferences in this life may affect our reincarnation of the next life. So she made the example of people who love sex: in their next life they may become pigeons, as these have sex continuously. For Krsna’s devotes, the material world and the senses make us blind for real spiritual life. For this reason, luxury (which also includes sex, which should be done only to have Kids), egoism and angry are the three doors which lead us to the evil.

They also believe in how food can influence our mode. There are three modes: the mode of good, the mode of passion and the mode of ignorance. For e.g., juicy and fatty foods are “good” foods; spicy and salty foods are foods of the mode of passion and stale and putrid ones are foods of the mode of ignorance. They also belive that in the morning people are mainly in the mode of good, while over the day they accumulate influences from the material world, so that in the evening the mode of ignorance is predominant. In fact, she said that to be sleepy and to sleep is part of the mode of ignorance. I just told her that I think that to sleep is great and very important…

She also told us that people that get into spiritual life, they gain like pluses. A first stop on the way back to Krsna is the moon. They believe that higher spirits live there, in a beautiful place with beautiful gardens, etc etc. When I heard that, I really thought “So, you’re wasting your time singing Hare Krsna from 6 am until the night only to get to the moon… Go to the NASA, it’s easier!”

Anyway, so far everything was very interesting. You can agree or not to what they believe.

It started to be a bit weird when A. started to try to convert me and Luciola to Krsna consciousness… She kept on saying that we would be great devotes, and so on. At a certain point I told her, that I actually don’t believe n God. She looked at me, and I swear, if a look could kill, I would be death now!

Things became weirder when she talked about the fact that she wants to open her own Center to make a lot of money. What was the thing about luxury and the evil again?! J There were so many contradictions: a lesbian woman that affirms that sex should only be practiced to create new life is not very reliable.. There were so many funny moments in these days. But at the end I really felt pity for this woman, that seems to hold herself on this believe with all her force to not fall.

I also felt pity for Priscilla: when she arrived to that place, she had no idea that it was a “Krsna-Center”. In fact she just wanted to practice some yoga, sleep and relax. A. told her hat yoga is not good and forced her to wake up every morning at something like 5am (the devotes have to take a bath before doing anything), to serve the God and to do almost everything for her (and of course, for Krsna). She also told us that once they went with a group of people to a cascade. Priscilla thought “yeah, a bit of air, finally”. The trip became kind of interesting when A. started to dance and sing “Hare Krsna” in the middle of the cascade, animating the other visitants to join her… She wanted to die! J I hope she will write a book about her week with Krsna! 


Anyway I really appreciated this time. I still think that religion is here for people that need to believe in something to be strong in times when life is not going as it should. As long as they don’t try to force other people to believe in the same thing, everything is fine. They have some good points, and some other which I find completely absurd. However I’m still in love with this material world, and I would not want to give away one of my senses to gain some spiritual life! I still think that our “spiritual life” is strictly connected to our senses. How would we be able to think without any inputs from this amazing world?! I cannot imagine something more beautiful than to enjoy all the emotions we get from our environment.

Pots, Field and Krsna

Oi mi queridos!!!!

Me desculpem, há muito tempo que eu não posso escrever!
So, I'm now here since already three weeks, and I'm still in love with this country! It's sooo beautiful here!
Right now I'm overfilled with work, so I had no time to write you. And, I also don't have internet anymore in my house... I thought it would be too beautiful to be true... Well, it isn't! ;-)
If you're asking yourselves how my work is going: it is going great! It's now two weeks ago that we planted more or less 1000 plants in 320 pots. With a lot of love and good energy, we have now a balance of only 3 plants to be replaced! Luciola told me that this is very unusual, as usually Cerrado plants are very difficult to keep in a greenhouse, so that high mortality rates were expected. We're both happy that everything is going so well, so far!
We also started our field experiment, which consist in taking plants (with their roots) from different sites in the Cerrado vegetation. At the end we will compare soil and plant proprieties between sites were endangered plant species occur and were invasive (alien) species occur. It's a hard work, but the nature here, which is  Savanna, is wonderful! The only problem is that we have to analyze the samples right after the collection, which means that we have very long days of work.
However the last days were an exception: we were in Alto Paraiso, an area a bit outside from Brasilia.
There we had to stay in a Hotel in the middle of  Nonwhere. Actually, it is not really a Hotel, it's more a place were people can retire to practice spiritual rituals. In fact it is a "Hare Krsna" pousada... Normally no Guru is there, but, luckely, or maybe not, when we got there (Me, Luciola, and two students: Gabriella and Gleide) there was an american woman welcoming us, wearing a sari and having a golden symbol on her front.
Well, this was the begin of a few very weird days...
Unfortunately, I have to go back to my samples now, but as soon as I can, I'll tell you about my "Hare Krsna Days".
;-)

Foooood!

As I already said, the food here is great. I have always nice fruits in my kitchen, most of which I collected my self. For example there is a fruit called Jaca. A huge green fruit with spikes. I heard that it is very nice, so I wanted to try it. The problem is that I had no idea how to recognize a mature fruit and how to get it, as the trees can be very high. Typical for me, I just asked the first person I met on the street to help me. It was a woman that told me that she's not experienced enough, so she addressed me to a guy that has a shop/bar in the neighborhood. As I'm a foreigner, all the people sitting in the bar get involved in my fruit mission. I finally came back with two huge Jacas and some Jeni papo (a small round fruit, of the size of a Guava, very sour and apparently good for the throat), with no idea how to eat them. I just asked if I have to cook them, to avoid self-poisoning, and the guy told me "não". So I came home and opened these fruits and tried to eat abit from all parts. I then chose the tastiest ones and kept on eating them. Fortunately Leidy, a flat mate, came back from school and reassured me that I was eating the right parts! :-) 

During the field work. Luciola and I, were eating mangoes which are growing along the streets. They are small and sweet, the best mangoes I've ever eaten! 

The Mensa in our school has a very basic menu (rice, beans, salad and meat) but is really nice. But the best food so far, I found it in buffets were it is possible to eat for lunch or dinner! After the soil collection, the other day, I was so hungry that I insisted to go to eat some meat, which here is delicious. We went to such a buffet and I filled my plate with chicken, beef, pork and fish... I eat like a pig for something like 9 CHF. 

The main problem is that they not only have nice fruits and meat here, but also fried things and sweets... I have to call all my discipline to not eat too much! We'll see if I'll manage... ;-)

The Jaca and the Jeni papo

The table of my kitchen with a papaya, some banana and  the collected mangoes.

1/2 ton of soil

Last Tuesday we had to collect soil for our pots. As we have many pots (320), we had to collect a lot of soil... Really a lot! We were lucky to find a place were soil was easily accessible, but still: we collected around 300 L of soil. We also had to buy 200 kg of sand and finally mixed everything. As you can imagine, in the evening we were all kind of death! Now we filled up all our pots and we are now in train to plant all our plants. It's really a lot of work, very physical, but really nice! I love to have these practical parts in my work: you can keep your mind fresh. And it's a nice feeling to have a tired body in the evening: I feel that I did something that day! 

Rossella O'Hara and Rhett Butler ;-)

Sieving the soil

Flying eggs

One day, after lab work, I was walking back home when I suddenly heard some music in the corridor of the school. I went to look and I saw a lot of girls giving away water bottles. I thought it may be a manifestation for water, or something like that. I asked a girl what was going on, and she explained me that it was a party for the begin of school. At least this was what I understood (ovvero, Roma per toma)... I was surprised about this whole enthusiasm that Brazilian students show for the begin of school! They were running and dancing, throwing eggs, color, flour and some other not identified liquids around... Then I've got pressed a piece of paper in my hand. It was the party for the Bachelor-degree! I really like this tradition! In Switzerland we don't use to run half naked around school, screaming! We just receive a piece of paper to our home via post...  

The bell-man

On Sunday of the last week I had the possibility to go to swim with a few neighbors. There were a Brazilian girl, an Italian man and a Venezuelan guy. They all seemed very nice... We had a nice afternoon in a overfilled pool ("più che una piscina era una pisciata" cit.) and at the evening we went back home. Later on in the evening, my bell ringed. It was almost 23:00! I went looking who wanted something at that hour! It was the italian guy. I told him that it was very late, but it was impossible to get rid of him! After a while I just pushed him out of my apartment. The next evening I went to Luciola's apartment to talk about school stuff, to eat something nice (she's a great cooker!) and to have some fun. When I got back Petro Nudo (yes, this is the name of a flat mate I had last week) told me that a man was looking for me. I asked him if the guy was short, bad looking and quite old. He said yes: it was again the italian guy. The next evening he looked for me 2 times and the day after he bothered my flat mates 3 times! This was really too much! He used to ring after 22.00, an hour were most people would like to go to sleep! Well, I decided to get rid of the bell-mam forever. I ringed at his door and had a talk with him. Who knows me, knows what this means. I'm sure, he will never again try to ring my bell. Now I'm a bell-man-free girl and happy!

Pots

Now a bit to my work. I'm now here in Brasilia to study the interaction of invasive and common plant species in the Cerrado region. To do this, I have an experiment in the greenhouse for which I need 320 pots. Unfortunately, we were not able to find the needed size of pots, so that we finally bought plastic boxes. As these are transparent we had to wrap aluminium foil around them, to protect the roots from light (algae formation; ...). However, the funny thing is that now the greenhouse is looking more and more futuristic! :-) 

Luciola and I and the 320 pots

Grammatic lessons from Carlos (machismo grammátical)

Carlos was a flat mate of Luciola, he just left today. He was very funny, and one evening we started to talk. He then started giving me lessons about important differences in the Portuguese grammatic:

For men; For women

Puto = Gay; Puta = Puta (Bitch)

Toro = Homem que tem muitas mulheres (Man that has a lot of women); Vaca = Puta

Galinha = Homem  que tem muitas mulheres; Galinha = Puta

Aventuriero = Homem  corajoso e que tem muitas mulheres (Brave man that has a lot of women) ; Aventuriera = Puta

....

The meaning of tchao

So far I didn't had huge problems with the language. As I speak a bit of Spanish, I normally understand what the people are talking about and they understand me (or they keep on smiling very nicely, saying yes to everything I say). However I had my first "figura di merda" as we call it in Italian when I went alone to the supermarket. When I crossed people, people used to say "Oi" (Hello) and I answered with a friendly "Ciao!". But they were all starring at me in a weird way, and I couldn't understand why! When I went back home, I told to Luciola what happened, and she started to laugh (once more), telling me that here "Tchao" is used to say "Goodbye!". Of course the people looked at me in an odd way: they used to say "Hello" and I always answered with a "Goodbye"...

Jesus

After this first day full of emotions (the idea of living with a psycho is not so easy to digest), I wanted to buy a diary  for myself to keep all memories. I went to the small shop in the school and a lot of kitschy booklets were starring at me, full of puppets, hearths, flowers,... I just wanted a "normal" diary, not one that projects me back to my sweet teeny years. I finally chose a black-white one that has some smilies painted on it. When I was paying, Luciola started to laugh, asking me if I understand what's written on the cover. I hadn't seen that there was written something: "Jesus é o amigo de todas as horas!" (Jesus is your friend at all hours). I started to laugh and I said "That's great, as I'm very religious"... ;-) Now Jesus is with me at every time, as also when we went to eat something for lunch in another city near Brasilia, some days later, there was written "Jesus" in giant letters just in front of me. :-)

Sergio and the knife

The first night in the new apartment I met Juliana, a biologist that was living there since a week. While we were talking, a guy came in the apartment, without saying a word. A bit weird, I thought. The next day, I met him in the corridor and I stopped him, saying him hello and asking him for his name. The only answer was a whispered "Sergio" and he left.. mhmmm, strange guy.. But I thought that at least he would have been quiet! :-) When I met Luciola (the PhD-student I'm working with), later in the day, she asked me about my flat-mates. When I told her about Sergio, she became pallid and told me "Stef, you have to move from that apartment". I was totally confused and asked her for a reason. She than explained me that the last year there was a Sergio in the house, that corresponds exactly to my description of this guy. This guy apparently threatened the whole flat with a knife because he didn't want to share the unique freezer that is present in the kitchen. He also cut off 3 fingers to a guy that is responsible for the house.

She also hypothesized that this was probably the reason, why I had the chance to go to this nice room (there is only one room per apartment with bathroom AND windows..): no one wanted to live with a psycho! I started to be a bit worried, and thought that this kind of stuff seem always to happen to me! I told her that I really like the new room, and that I would just try to avoid him and close my door when I'm in my room.

After a few calls done by Luciola, where everyone get scared to hell knowing that Sergio came back, (obviously abusively as the police gave him an interdiction to get back to the campus) we found out that the guy in my apartment is another Sergio! I was so released!!! :-)

New room

So, last time I wrote you that I was in a small crappy room without windows. Well, already the next day I was so lucky to get a new room in another apartment. I love this room, it's big, it has an own bathroom and it has WINDOWS! :-) In the apartment there were already two people, but after a few days I had the apartment all for me. It was great! Just hang out a bit, doing my work in peace.. Great! But the quietness didn't hold a long time: the apartment is again half filled with other 4 people. As they are Brazilians, they  have the "talking-gene" fully expressed, and no volume regulation... ;-) However, they seem to be all very nice! 

The living room

The kitchen

My new room with windows

The giant closet: a dream for every woman. 

The only problem is that I have not enough cloths to fill it up! ;-)

The view from the balcony

Brasilia - Primeira Semana

It's now a bit more than a week than I'm here, but I feel like if months have already passed!

The people here are great, the nature too and... the food! Delicious! Everything seems brighter, more colorful and even if I'm really tired, I feel totally alive!

Many things happened in this first week, so I'll subdivide the huuuuge post in small stories. :-)

I hope you'll enjoy! 

Brazil - primeiro dia

Oi my dears!

I'm now arrived to Brazil. The trip was good and kind of interesting. Imagine you see a very very drunk guy in the gate, before leaving and you hardly hope that he will not sit next to you. Now guess, what happens. Yes, he surely sits next to you!

Fortunately  he was kind (to me, not to the stewardess), but he stunk sooooo much of alcool, that I finally changed of place!

Then I  met a completely crazy brazilian woman and I finally reached Rio de Janeiro  after 14 hrs of travel. This city looks great! I had just to pass through it by car, to reach the other airport in the center for my flight to Brasilia. But the view  from the taxi was extraordinary!!

Then I had to check in for my flight to Brasilia, which had to leave at 9.35. It was 6.30 when I reached the airport. I tried to ask for a seat next to the window and Lucia, the woman of the desk said  there were  no seats anymore.. Great! Then she started to run. After 5 min she got back, telling me, that she's trying to get me a seat. I asked her, if she was looking for the right flight, at 9.35... She started to run again... After other 5 min she came back and told me that  she was trying to get me a place on the next flight at 7.30. I told her that I wasn't in a rush. Well, it seems that she was kind of in hurry, as she suddenly started to run AGAIN. After a while she got back AGAIN, telling me that I had to run with her now, as we were trying to catch the next flight.

It was very nice of her, to give her best to get me in the  next  flight, which I finally got. But I think she did it much more for her self than  for me: she was looking like a female James Bond, running holding  her boobs  with her hands, ready to save the planet! It was a great start in Brazil! ;-)

The weather is great! 30 degrees and sunny.

My apartment is nice, there are other 5 people living there. As I'm the last one arrived, I've got the crapiest room: a small room without windows. But, it's all for me.. So, hamna shida! And: I have a private bathroom!

That's really it, I have to check my legs now, as I feel how something is trying to eat me up!