7.21.2000

Boa tarde...

Well, settled into the new place now. Not bad, but it sure is noisy at night. I'm over (ten floors over) the street, and it looks like I may just have moved into the rainbow section of town. Go fig. There's a gay bar just down the street which I'm told is the source of most of the late night noise. I wandered around the 'hood yesterday after settling in, and though it doesn't seem as if it's as nice an area of town as the last hotel, there's a good italian restaurant, a pharmacy, a salon and a grocery store nearby. Plus, breakfast's ready for me in the morning and I have company to eat it with. It'll be better for me. Make me socialize and all that.

I'm not sure what to plan for this week-end. I wish I had a %#$#ing laptop. In fact, I wish I had a computer at all. The IT dept here is slow as death and it's irking. My wrist and elbow are sore as I'm not used to so much longhand. Sad, isn't it?

I had planned to go to the market this weekend, but I'm not sure now. After walking around yesterday I found my knee getting sore. Maybe if it's nice I'll just make a put of coffee, sit out on my balcony and watch the city go by.

Ohhh... mail from Lainey and Sheryl and Brand. Life is good. Gots to go read.
posted by The Mo of Space and Death 12:59 (her time) @

Bom dia!

Better day today, had my first actual Repair meeting, and it went over well. I met a couple of guys here that make me feel a little more centred. They are both Brazilian and both speak english, and both real sweeties. We geeked out on Wireless talk for a while and then talked about life in general and the differences between Brazil and Canada, Rio and São Paulo... They've warned me about going to Santos (hear that, Mom?) saying that the beaches there aren't clean.

Anyways, so little for now 'cause I have to go switch hotels after lunch.

Até logo...
posted by The Mo of Space and Death 13:19 (her time) @

Blah!

Man, oh man, I need to learn this language quickly. It´s so hard even managing to get something to eat. Well, I arrived safely to this massive hunk of city Monday morning, and I haven´t got a laptop yet. I found a little internet access place in the mall by my work... The trip down was pretty good, comfy plane, hot towels, reclining seats, champagne and menu... choices! On an airplane! My God. I´ve been set up in this little flat that´s quite beautiful, but they want to move me to a new place tomorrow, the hotel where the majority of the Expats stay. It´s bigger, with a fully equipped kitchen and the balcony I was dreaming of before I got here.

Not that the view´s exactly what I thought it would be. Sao Paulo´s huge and sprawling, much bigger of a land mass than I´d expected. Grafitti that would put New York and L.A. to shame. The stark divide between the rich and the poor here is heart clenching, and as much as five star hotels are the bomb, it´s got me feeling moe than a little guilty.

The city´s scary, street crime´s pretty intense, but work takes good care of us. There´s a little Benz bus that takes us where we need to go, and so far, I haven´t really had a problem with anything. Course I´ve only been here two days, and I´ve not been doing much but trying to make my knee better and kick my jetlag and get used to the 11 hour work days.

Maybe this sunday I´ll go to the Japanese fair in town. The market´s supposed to be fabulous. Once I have a computer, you´ll be hearing from me a little more readily. But for now, I gotta run back to work. It took me a lot longer to order than I thought it would, and I made a bit of a fool of myself doing it. Good news is, that work´s giving me Portuguese lessons! Whoo!

Bom Dia por agora!
posted by The Mo of Space and Death 13:23 (her time) @

Hey there...

Writing to you from the Maple Leaf lounge - still in Canada that is, T minus 47 minutes... My god, how the other half live. A fully equipped serve yourself bar, resplite with 15 year old scotch, wine and Keiths and some other beer on tap. I'm on major anti-inflammatories as I knocked my knee seriously out of wack at the wedding last night, fun fun. I'd been waiting for disaster to strike. Now I move at a slow hobble. Needless to say, I should be staying away from the booze, so I had a *very little* bit of Bailey's just to say I helped myself, and now the diet coke is tasting mighty fine. ;)

There's also full business facilities to use as you want, teleconferencing, plug ports, computers with high speed WAN access (like I'm on now) CD Players, cheese, crackers and other snacks. It took all of about 45 seconds to check in. Wow, wow. I never knew quite how much a pleb I was. ;)

Anyway, gonna go pace a while, though still, as much as I'm 45 minutes or so away, none of it feels quite real. I keep expecting someone to jump out and tell me it's all a big joke. :P
posted by The Mo of Space and Death 22:27 (her time) @

Mo is in:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Weather in:

São Paulo
Campinas
Rio de Janiero
Macaé
Manaus
Guarujá

Mail me, Dammit!
Expatria Archives

What I'm reading:
Nothing. Too busy.

Never finished:

Recently finished:

Desperately seeking:

Listening to:
Gary Brown: Dain St Live

See:

Campinas
São Paulo