June 16th
Today Miguel, Allison, Justin and I
decided to make plans to meet up with the rest of our group that is living in Perdizes.
We ate a typical Brazilian breakfast of bread, cold cuts, cake and fruit with
our host mom Alessandra. Afterwards we sent out a Facebook message telling
everyone that we would meet at the corner of the university to go get lunch and
cell phones. My roommates and I decided that we would test walking to the
university (since traffic is so legendarily bad here). It was supposed to be a
simple walk with only two turns, and that would have been true if the actual
roads all looked like they did on the map. The walk to Perdizes was not that
bad, we passed two really cool large cemeteries, a flower market and many
stores and offices, however, once we got into the neighborhood the hills began.
It was straight up and down the rest of the way into the university and we got
turned around a few times… In all it took about an hour and a half to walk to
the university. Needless to say we decided to try the bus on Monday.
We arrived at the university and
met up with about half of our program. We walked around the university but we
couldn’t go in because it is closed on Sunday. It turns out that most of Sao
Paulo is closed on Sunday, particularly in the Perdizes area because it is so residential.
We couldn’t find anywhere close that was open, except for a Brazilian Arab fast
food chain called Habibs. They actually have a surprisingly wide variety of
food and it was very nice for a fast food place. We were seated by a host and
given menus and they waited on us. Another way they differed from an American
fast food restaurant is that they served beer, several people at the table took
advantage of that and ordered the special; two beers and a plate of fries for
5.50! I got a sort of Arab-ish mini pizzas (cheese and chicken) fries and fresh
mango juice. It was all really good, and they even had vegetarian options for
Angelika! The hard part of lunch came at the end of the meal when we had to do
some fun math to get everyone’s large cash bills to fit the one check. Typically
here most restaurants only do one check per-table which makes it fun for
everyone to scrounge up exact change…
After lunch we all to a bus back to
our neighborhood to look for an open shopping center to get cell phones. The
bus ride back to our stop, with no traffic, was only about 10 min. After we got
off, four of us girls decided to check out the weekly antique and flea market
under the modern art museum (the museum is elevated), while the other half of
the group walked on to the puppy bar. The market had lots of really interesting
items, silver, clothing, collectables, figurines, jewelry and more! I know that
mom and GG would love this place. The four of us, Jenike, Angelika, Molly and I
also walked to the back of the museum where there is an open patio (where the
free pass movement held its protest the other day…) and had a great view on to
the lower level apartment buildings, mine included. Afterwards, we walked a few
blocks to meet the others at Puppy Bar only to find that it was closed and that
they had been waiting for us! Luckily it hadn’t been too long and we were able
to walk on to the bars collectively called the “Praia Paulista” or Paulista
Beach. We went to a different one than yesterday and all were able to share
some drinks and get to know each other. Everyone seemed really cool and I’m
looking forward to spending more time with them!
After drinks we parted ways, my
roommates and I walking home while the others took a bus back to Perdizes. Once
we got home we had a snack with Alessandra and talked about our days. We also
got to hear some of her ideas on Brazil and how the country has changed
politically and socially which was fascinating! She also talked about some
challenges that remain like the issue of race, poverty and corruption. Tonight
we are all going to bed early since we have to be at school at 8:30 for our
language placements and we are not sure how traffic will be!
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