obrigado!
that~s thank you in portugese. it seems that the first word i inevitably learn in a new country is the one for `thank you´. in turkey it was tesukkerler. in hong kong it was m´goi sai. in egypt it was shukrun (which also meant ´no thanks´ - proved pretty useful!)
anyway. we~re in brazil on our honeymoon and after only five days here, i highly recommend both brazil and honeymoons ;) we~ll be here for the whole month, which is actually not that much time, considering how vast brazil is and how little of it we~ve covered so far.
we flew into sao paulo and noticed right away that brazilians seem to encompass many ethnicities. some look european. others, african. others, very latin. others, almost arab. taher and i fit right in; anyone would. people assume we~re brazilian first, and so we~re picking up more portugese than we would if we were being molly-coddled with tentative english. indeed, we ask where something is or how much this costs and are bombarded with verbal paragraphs of which we understand perhaps five words. it~s great fun :)
in sao paulo my favorite experience was the tile guy. taher and i were strolling on the sidewalk, aimlessly (the best way to see a city is, of course, to wander aimlessly through it), and taher noticed a guy sitting on the ground, painting tiles with his fingers. at first glance he looked, as taher put it, like a wannabe-hippie from berkeley, in his torn jeans and green knit hat- upon closer inspection it became clear that he was a genuine artist and that the paintings he was making on these small white tiles were actually gorgeous mini-landscapes. Hegis (for that is his name) was using his fingers and little bits of rolled tissue, and with broad strokes creating waterfalls and mountains and oceans and sunsets. it was amazing. they were worth far more than the 5 reals ($1.60) he was asking. we commissioned one from him and were so enthralled with the result that we walked back to our hostel to stow it safely somewhere where it could dry in peace.
we stayed in sao paulo for two days before moving on to rio de janeiro- we~ve been in rio now for almost four days and aren~t planning on leaving quite yet. it~s gorgeous here. we live in a hotel that opens onto a main road, in an area called catete (pronounced ca-chettay). it~s bustling and wonderful in the usual city ways- vendors on the street selling everything and anything. it~s eye candy. we~ve already found a familiar groove for ourselves- a rhythm of sorts. i am consuming large amounts of mint tea and even larger amounts of fresh strawberry smoothies. taher eats filet mignon on an almost daily basis. we~re catching on to the popularity of flashing a thumbs-up as a catch-all means of communication.
of course, we~ve done more than stroll around on the sidewalks. we~ve also caught a cable car to the highest cliffs and then strolled around up there. and taken a ride up to the Christ the Redeemer statue and strolled around it. (it~s famous- you~ve seen it in movies, a huge statue of christ with his arms spread wide.) and yesterday we hit the beach at copacabana and after lying on the sand and remarking to each other several times about the blueness of the water, we strolled from there to ipanema (more beaches). ãll this walking hopefully means we come back fit and tanned!
today the plan is to go hanggliding. this is something i~ve always wanted to do, next to skydiving. it~s very gentle, basically just a nice little float through the air and a beach landing. i~ll be sure to tell you about it next time i blog...
after rio we plan on going to salvador and from there, the amazon rainforest. stay tuned! maybe my next blog will be written entirely in portugese :)
that~s thank you in portugese. it seems that the first word i inevitably learn in a new country is the one for `thank you´. in turkey it was tesukkerler. in hong kong it was m´goi sai. in egypt it was shukrun (which also meant ´no thanks´ - proved pretty useful!)
anyway. we~re in brazil on our honeymoon and after only five days here, i highly recommend both brazil and honeymoons ;) we~ll be here for the whole month, which is actually not that much time, considering how vast brazil is and how little of it we~ve covered so far.
we flew into sao paulo and noticed right away that brazilians seem to encompass many ethnicities. some look european. others, african. others, very latin. others, almost arab. taher and i fit right in; anyone would. people assume we~re brazilian first, and so we~re picking up more portugese than we would if we were being molly-coddled with tentative english. indeed, we ask where something is or how much this costs and are bombarded with verbal paragraphs of which we understand perhaps five words. it~s great fun :)
in sao paulo my favorite experience was the tile guy. taher and i were strolling on the sidewalk, aimlessly (the best way to see a city is, of course, to wander aimlessly through it), and taher noticed a guy sitting on the ground, painting tiles with his fingers. at first glance he looked, as taher put it, like a wannabe-hippie from berkeley, in his torn jeans and green knit hat- upon closer inspection it became clear that he was a genuine artist and that the paintings he was making on these small white tiles were actually gorgeous mini-landscapes. Hegis (for that is his name) was using his fingers and little bits of rolled tissue, and with broad strokes creating waterfalls and mountains and oceans and sunsets. it was amazing. they were worth far more than the 5 reals ($1.60) he was asking. we commissioned one from him and were so enthralled with the result that we walked back to our hostel to stow it safely somewhere where it could dry in peace.
we stayed in sao paulo for two days before moving on to rio de janeiro- we~ve been in rio now for almost four days and aren~t planning on leaving quite yet. it~s gorgeous here. we live in a hotel that opens onto a main road, in an area called catete (pronounced ca-chettay). it~s bustling and wonderful in the usual city ways- vendors on the street selling everything and anything. it~s eye candy. we~ve already found a familiar groove for ourselves- a rhythm of sorts. i am consuming large amounts of mint tea and even larger amounts of fresh strawberry smoothies. taher eats filet mignon on an almost daily basis. we~re catching on to the popularity of flashing a thumbs-up as a catch-all means of communication.
of course, we~ve done more than stroll around on the sidewalks. we~ve also caught a cable car to the highest cliffs and then strolled around up there. and taken a ride up to the Christ the Redeemer statue and strolled around it. (it~s famous- you~ve seen it in movies, a huge statue of christ with his arms spread wide.) and yesterday we hit the beach at copacabana and after lying on the sand and remarking to each other several times about the blueness of the water, we strolled from there to ipanema (more beaches). ãll this walking hopefully means we come back fit and tanned!
today the plan is to go hanggliding. this is something i~ve always wanted to do, next to skydiving. it~s very gentle, basically just a nice little float through the air and a beach landing. i~ll be sure to tell you about it next time i blog...
after rio we plan on going to salvador and from there, the amazon rainforest. stay tuned! maybe my next blog will be written entirely in portugese :)
...Natural is the static
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