Sao Paulo!

So I got into Sao Paulo after staying between Albany and New York for about 10 days (thanks Chris and Schwabbie). It was so good to be in Albany again, so many things I had missed. I wish I could have stayed like a month and just chilled with everyone but I did see a lot of people including a very pregnant Steffa - I can´t wait to meet the baby! LeavingJFK I had thought I´d better take a good look around at all the effeciency and soak it up because I would be leaving it - I couldn´t have been more wrong. The airport in SP (at least the one I was at, GRU) was supernice and easy to navigate. An hour later I was at Vivian and Priscilla´s place where they insisted I sleep in a bedroom so they wouldn´t wake me in the morning. They gave me the keys and let me sleep in and hang out in the morning before I went off exploring. They live in a really kind of hip neighborhood of Sao Paulo, safe but fun. The streets are busy day and night - with 17 million people someone is bound to be out I suppose.

So my days have passed between mornings to my self with a cup of instant coffee or tea, some yogurt and some reading or emailing. Vivian has a huge library of music on her computer, stuff I know and stuff I don´t but all good. (stuff I love like belle and sebastian and louis attaque - I need to tell Leah that). Thursday night both roomates went home for graduation parties. I decided to stay at a hostel in the neighborhood, O de casa. It was really cool and small scale and everyone very friendly. We all went out to the bday party of one of the boyfriends of a girl who works there. It was at some bar that was a lot farther of a walk than we thought but we had fun, stopping for a drink along the way. I walked over there with an English girl named Clare who I really should have gotten contact information for, a girl from Sweden named Sonya and an Irish guy named Steve. They played Marvin Gaye and other assorted soul music all night and it was great. The drinks were 80% alcohol, thankfully I only had one and stuck to beer, I still slept until 12.30 the next day.

Sophie, who was in my dorm when I woke up, and I headed down to the Parque Independencia for this free show (it was Sao Paulo´s birthday, 454 years - apparently there was some 454 meter cake but we never found it, damn -). The show was cool it was picking up though as we left around 7. Kind of like a festival but they didn´t sell anything within the gates which we were both miffed by. We enjoyed it though. That night Vivian got home around 10.30 and called. I said I would be by in an hour but she fell asleep and no amount of calling or ringing the bell would wake her (sound familiar to anyone from the week before?) So I went back the hostel (all very close) where we stayed up until 6 playing ´celebrity head´ as Sally calls it but I think that sounds like oral sex, and told her so. (the game where you have the name of a famous person on your head and you ask yes or no questions when its your turn until you get it) - 8 hours of fun provided, apparently. Sonya and I crashed on the couches for a few hours as they were out of beds. I got breakfast and spoke to Vivian midmorning - she was worried. She and I went to a barbeque and the house of a friend she works with - it was fun we ate and ate and drank ´chopp´- draft beer from about 12 until 8 or 9. I couldn´t fully appreciate it though I did have a bite of steak - it´s was good, I´m sure, but too meaty for my liking though I did manage to swallow it and say thanks but no thanks. There was so much meat, sausage, steak, chicken but also bbq cheese which rocks. And lots of other things. And beer, did I mention? Everyone was super friendly and really patient with the fact that I speak very little Portuguese ´´nao falo bem portuguese´ is a huge part of my repertoire... but I am going to take a class tomorrow and one on Wednesday I think.

After the bbq we went to the hostel because I had the key to a locker in my bag. We drank some beer for a few hours and talked then Vivian decided to head home but she insisted I stay out if I wanted. Despite the no sleep I was wired (i think i had pushed through being tired and running on adrenaline) I stayed out with the hostel crowd and we went to a club called Vegas at like 1.30 - very odd for me but apparently common here they give you a card when you come in and you charge your drinks to it - potentially very dangerous. It was pretty expensive (for my idea of what clubbing in SA should cost- apparently SP is the most expensive place in Brazil to go out) cover was like $20us. But whatev, we had a great time dancing on two floors and lots of laughing. When we fell into a cab it was daylight and then I slept until 4.30pm - I thought my clock was wrong but Vivian confirmed for me! She and I rented a movie last night and just chilled, I read a lot.

This morning I woke around 8.30 and had breakfast with Priscilla who had just arrived from Minais Gerais where she was at the world´s largest graduation party thrown by all the universities (her cousin had graduated). She said she was out til 8am and slept all day Sunday (I am not the only one I guess).

Well, I´m off to see if I can find Sophie and I think tonight I will meet Vivian´s English teacher and after we will all go to dinner at a Mariachi place - funny Mexican restaurants in Brazil - I´m excited. Tomorrow I believe I will go to Simone´s for dinner - her mom is making gnochi - made me think of Julie.

I head to Rio on Thursday I believe. I will try to write more often and less extensively and to put up photos.

Please comment or email and let me know what you are up to

peace,
bobbi-jo

getting ready to go + phone number

packing is threatening to drive me insane. (and by packing i mean putting everything i own in cardboard boxes and taping it minus about 30L worth of stuff which i will take - very much traveling light for me). please don't call 509 430 9370. not only do i not have it, my mom does. thanks.
this blog, bobbijo.dobush@gmail.com or my skype bobbi-jo.dobush are the best ways to get ahold of me. i might get lonesome on the road so feel free to write whenever.
i'll be in new york thru jan 22 if anyone is in the area send me an email.

here goes...

but here goes what? who knows. i, for one, am going. january 11th i'm headed back to albany and then the 22nd i'm flying from jfk to sao paulo. i suppose i will have to start typing in word and pasting it in here so when i want to discuss foreign places i can use (and, probably more often misuse) accent marks.

so, of course, i am not canceling my email accounts and i will get a phone number once i arrive in brazil. i mean also hook up skype again but we'll see (internet based phone - free to talk if both people have it and otherwise super cheap). i should probably set one up... point being i'm kind of hoping to use this as my main means of internet communication, all in one place. this way i can toss up pictures and whatnot and everyone can peep them at once.