Today was Angleika’s birthday. Angelika had decided to spend the day in Vila Madalena with her roommate visiting the Beco de Batman and the Museu de Choque Cultural which are both non-traditional art museums. Meanwhile in Portuguese class we continued our work with pronouns and Brazilian short stories. In our afternoon culture class we had a guest speaker, another professor from Emory, a literature specialist who researches crime fiction in Latin America (mainly Brazil and Argentina). In preparation for her visit we read a short crime fiction story about the police finding and dealing with four decapitated bodies in an apartment building, it is called Cabecas de Seguna-Feira. After the police fail to solve the crime the story switches perspectives to that of the killer who is the elevator operator who sees these residents every day and becomes fed up with being ignored (or his dislikes particular bodily things about these people who he sees as disrespectful intruders into his space, aka the elevator). Our class discussion was very interesting and the story really got a lot of the students thinking about physical space, class, the importance of names (as the killer is never named) and power.
At the end of our class Alison, Daniel and I went to a local Italian owned bakery to get a cake for Angelika’s birthday dinner that was going to take place that evening at a Rodizio de Pizza (endless pizza place) in Jardims. The Elite Bakery had many delicious looking cakes but we settled on one that was chocolate and strawberry with chocolate mousse layers! The hardest part of getting the cake was transporting it, as we had to take it on the bus all the way home to Paulista. We were quite the spectacle on the bus since we broke all of the normal Brazilian rules. 1. We ran after the bus (carrying the cake) to make it stop so we could get on, 2. Alison was out of money on her Bilhete and had to look around in her purse for change holding up the line, 3. We spoke loudly and in English as we discussed our excitement for the evening activities (while holding a cake and signing the box). We were ready to get off once the bus arrived at our stop! However, Alison had to make a pit stop in the Metro station to refill her Bilhete so that she would have money to get to dinner.
Once we got back to the apartment and the cake was safely stowed in the refrigerator, we were able to take a 45 min break before we needed to get ready for dinner. Alison and I had a fun time getting dressed up since after dinner at the pizza place we were going to the chic Skye Bar which is located in Ibirapuera on top of the Hotel Unique. Running on Brazilian time we met up with a group coming from Perdizes (Molly, Justin, Olivia) and then walked the eight blocks to the restaurant where we were meeting Angelika and Isaiah. It was a bit of a long walk, but the pizza was worth it. The restaurant had a great selection of pizzas (rodizio style, where you just order whatever you want) for only 27,00Reais/15.00dollars! Our table ordered our drinks and then went to town on the pizza list! We got my favorite Portuguesa; as well as Veggie, Four Cheese, Supreme, Viennese, Margarita, and Broccoli; they were all so good! Post-Pizza we broke out the cake and sang happy birthday to Angelika. After we were finally stuffed we decided to cab over the few blocks to the Hotel Unique.
The hotel is gorgeous and ultra-modern. The building itself is in the shape of a giant U or a boat. Our taxis pulled right up to the front door where the doormen held the door for us to get our and directed us towards a waiting elevator. We all walked in as chic-ly as we could and the operator sent us up to the top floor. I think the Skye Bar is probably the chic-est place that I have ever gone out too. It is part restaurant and part lounge-bar with and open terrace and a reflecting pool. Since we were just there for birthday drinks we walked through the restaurant and spent most of our time on the terrace enjoying the view. And what a view it was! Unlike the Edificio Copan, the Skye Bra is lower and out of the center of São Paulo, so you are looking back onto the downtown and Paulista skyline at night. The lights were so beautiful and we even saw about seven stars (one of which was a shooting one!) which is pretty miraculous for São Paulo. We acted like tourists for the first 20 min we were there taking every photo combination possible (thanks to Molly’s amazing camera, which could actually capture the nightscape and people) before settling into a lounge bench as more of our friends arrived. Since there was no cover to get in, all of the drinks were very pricey, but it was a very chill scene and it was a one drink kind of place. I splurged and got a specialty caipirinha which had ginger, basil and pineapple in it (and for some reason, an asparagus garnish). The drink was delicious and perfect for sipping on a roof-top bar! Everything about the location was perfect, the music, the atmosphere, the view and the friends. It was definitely a night to remember!
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