umas fotos

i believe this is a "bird of paradise"?

since he doesn't have a stick pile like at home, he inhales these woodchips

playing in their "yard"

spoiler alert: it was dead

fim de semana!

We had both been anxiously awaiting Friday. Friday was the day that we were having wifi installed in the apartment! The installer was to come any time between noon and six pm, so I waited for him. All day. He never showed up. Well, technically he did, we found out later. But he had shown up after six pm and the guards at our complex didn’t allow him access.

The worst part was that we found out that the next available appointment was next Thursday! Really disappointing. More so for me, because Brett gets the take the phone to work and has access to his email all day long. I, on the other hand, type these posts, drink coffee, and walk the dogs. Or read. I’ve read four five books since we arrived. I can actually accomplish a lot when deprived of access to the outside world! Who am I kidding; I have a “rough” life down here.

Anyway, we were excited to spend the weekend enjoying the city. It gets dark early here (around six) but the sun also rises earlier. On Friday night we went for a drive into the city center. We saw all of the ministry buildings (they look like dorms), the national flag, the president’s residence and place of business (two separate places), the cathedral, the national theatre, and drove across a neat bridge that spans the lake. Brett has found out a lot about the city from his coworkers, so he was able to pass that intel on to me. Apparently the butterfly-shaped lake was originally man made! That doesn’t really surprise me, but I would have never guessed that on my own.

On Saturday morning we drove into the city near Brett’s office building to go to a McDonald’s that we knew had wifi. We got breakfast there and used their internet connection for about an hour. I had the pao de queijo (cheese bread) and Brett had a tostado (a ham & cheese sandwich on toasted bread). Brett had orange juice and I had a small latte. It’s really comforting to see that a small sized coffee down here is actually a small size (280 ml).

There was some sort of birthday party happening for Brasilia this weekend. Across the street from McDonald’s in a large green space was a big stage and speakers were blaring out music at nine in the morning. We thought about going but decided to opt out after Brett’s coworkers told us that it was an easy way to lose your wallet and could be quite dangerous (you’re welcome, Moms!).

After McDonald’s, we wanted to stop by the WalMart that we’d seen on one of our drives. Our apartment complex has a tennis court, and we wanted to maybe pick up some cheap rackets so we could play together. No such luck. Plenty of soccer balls, but no tennis rackets. The only ones we could find were at the mall and they were $90. Pass.

We also tried another shopping area near our apartment that is within driving distance. No such luck there, but we did find a bookstore. We picked up a Portuguese-English dictionary and a book of traveler’s phrases. I also perused their imported section. They had one hardcover copy of The Marriage Plot by Jeffry Eugenides, which has been on my to-read list for a while now. After I paid I realized that it cost about US$40! Mental note: don’t buy imported books. We managed to get some cash from an ATM and could finally relax for the rest of the day.

That evening, we walked to a nearby restaurant, Churrascaria Pampas. We had no idea what to expect. It looked semi-fancy from the outside, but there never seemed to be anyone there. So, either it was expensive.. or terrible. We figured we would find out. It ended up being a Brazilian steakhouse (surprise surprise). We tried almost everything (well, Brett did). Along with the meat, they also brought around what seemed to be grilled bread and also fried cheese. We also got tater tots with our meal? It was interesting, to say the least. Our favorite Portuguese phrase so far is “Nao falo Portugese.”  It comes in handy, but hopefully after a few weeks or so we won’t have to use it nearly as often.

it doesn't matter if you put it to red or green, they still serve you

my plate

brett's plate

After our meal, we walked over to the mall and tried to check out the movies. The line was so long that it didn’t seem worth it. The next day, we ended up going back over to McDonald’s with my laptop so that we could post a few of these blog posts. After that, we had to take the rental car back to the airport and catch a taxi home. We then headed back over to the mall and grabbed lunch at an Asian-fusion type food court place. It was all right, but we had movie tickets and rushed over to see Oblivion (en ingles!). It turns out that when we used the automatic ticket machine, we had bought student tickets by accident. Luckily we both still carry our KU student IDs just for this purpose. We got in.

It was really nice to sit and watch something in English that wasn’t CNN for once. Also, we were able to learn what some swear words were in Portuguese by reading the subtitles. Good ol’ Tom Cruise. We are really looking forward to seeing ‘Homem de Ferro 3” next week!

estabelecendo-se em

That first day Brett didn’t have to go into work until later, giving us some time to settle in at the apartment. There is a Carrefour (a French international grocery chain) within walking distance, as well as a mall. On this first day we decided to drive, that way we wouldn’t have to limit our purchases to what we could carry.

Carrefour is basically WalMart. We walked in and they have a small drug store at the front, but then immediately to the right is a display of car tires that are on sale. There is a definite food section and a household section. They sell cell phones, flat screen TVs, and other household items. We grabbed a cart and started to familiarize ourselves with the layout. We first stuck to the food section, seeing as that was the most essential need.

At first I was pretty disappointed with the quality of the produce, but we discovered on later trips that it seems like we were there the day or so before they received a new shipment. We hardly got any produce aside from some bags of salad mix (which were iffy at best), some apples, and a bulb of garlic. However, it seems like most, if not all, of their produce is organic.

We noticed that both their milk and their eggs are left unrefrigerated. Different. Plus, most all of the milk comes in boxes or liter bottles. We had no idea what to pick so we just picked the prettiest looking bottle of milk. That’s pretty much how all of our shopping went. We got some pasta, some pasta sauce (they all come in bags!), and some chicken breasts. We bought two different brands of pasta sauce so we can start to figure out what we like best.

We snagged some frozen pizzas and frozen hamburgers that are called “hot pockets”. All you have to do is microwave them. Brett says they’re just okay. Of course we also got some ice cream. I was excited to see that they had a ‘coco e abacaxi’ (coconut & pineapple) combination! After picking up some juice and some Guarana (supposedly the famous Brazilian soda), we headed over to grab some dog food. Desmond could care less what is in his bowl as long as it’s food, but Penny stares at me every morning with the saddest eyes like, “this isn’t my food.. :(“ I tell her to toughen up because I’m not eating my regular food either.

Finally, we had to pay for everything. The moment of truth. If you’ve never stood in a check out line with a cart full of groceries, not knowing if your credit card will be declined or not, you haven’t lived. Just kidding, it’s one of the most stressful things ever. Brett’s work Amex was declined, but our international Visas (thank goodness we had applied for them when we went to China- they are great) were accepted (this time)! When you travel, don’t forget to call your credit card companies and let them know where you’re going and the duration of your stay. Doing this will save you a couple of phone calls later.

Meanwhile, Penny and Desmond are settling into their new roles as ‘apartment dogs’. Compared to all of the other dogs in our complex, they are VERY quiet! I’m currently being serenaded with yaps from the Yorkie in the building across from us. Penny likes to lie on the balcony and rest her head on the ledge and look out over everything.

Both dogs seem to very much enjoy the tile floors throughout our apartment. The temperatures are pretty much always in the 70s-80s, so I’m glad that they can keep cool. Our apartment is on the fourth floor of building L overlooking the pool area. There are several buildings in the gated complex, ranging from A to I think.. N? Claudio told us that they are about 50% occupied. The complex is also still under construction, so it’s very busy and noisy all day long. They had filled the pool, but found a leak and drained it. Now it’s nearly full again. I hope they add chemicals to their pool water down here because it looks pretty nasty.

Also, the apartments don’t really seem to be designed like apartments in the United States (but I wouldn’t really know for sure). For one thing, we have our own private elevator that we share with five or six other units that opens onto a very small lobby space. Each building has about four of these. No big communal dorm-type lobby. Each access point to the elevators has a door that can be closed (and subsequently locked, we haven’t found out how to bypass this unless you go through the parking garage). The entire complex is designed like a resort- pool and activities in the central part, buildings to the exterior.

looking to the right

straight ahead (the yorkie lives on the one with the hammock)

and the left

a little hometown pride on our balcony

The complex itself is just about a half mile in diameter and fenced on all sides. It has nicely paved pathways and green spaces. Each building has a “theme”- I think ours is “fiesta” or something similar. Basically there are a couple of event space rooms at the bottom of our building. Another building has several sports areas (two futebol courts, basketball, tennis, sand volleyball), and another has playgrounds for kids. We’re still trying to figure them all out.

We have yet to ride the subway, but it’s just a stroll away. I’m itching to go to the city center, hopefully we will get to do that this weekend or next. There is supposedly a free art museum (Brett is thrilled to hear that, I’m sure) and a lot of interesting architecture to look at.  Hopefully we will be able to update you about the city sometime soon!