New Understanding
Well, I have to write about my weekend... but some rather important things have been happening.
I went all weekend without knowing, but apparently there has been some gang and police violence over the past few days here in Sao Paulo. Over 90 people are dead, mostly policemen and yesterday the buses were shut down. Some buses were torched and a lot of stores were closed. I have not witnessed or been affected by any of this, but it certainly makes you stop and think. Everyone has been telling me this is very unusual for Brazil, and I believe them. Yet it's happening here in Sao Paulo. I will be careful. Some things with CONADE are a little up in the air, but hopefully everything will work out alright.
Ok, here's what I've been up to, amidst all this.
Saturday May 13:
Saturday was fairly quiet. I slept in a little and then went for a walk around the neighbourhood. We took a drive around the city because we had to pick up Tatiana's car. The picture of the neighbourhood in the previous post was from my walk on Saturday (ok, so I cheated with the pictures). In the evening, I went with Iza's parents to a birthday party. Wow! It was at a MANSION of a house, absolutely amazing, with a pool and everything. They had pizza being freshly made all night for dinner. I wanted to try them all but I couldnt because I got too full. I must have eaten 10-12 pieces!! But OMG it was soooo good!! I also talked to a few people at the party and learned some new words. But the best part was the banana pizza... oh yaaaaaaa.....
Sunday May 14:
Sunday was Mother's Day, so I e-mailed my Mom and then we went to Iza's gradmothers house. Guess what I did there? Eat more! Ahhh, they had a huge lunch and I wanted to try everything! It was sooo good! And they had a million desserts too! I think I gained a hundred pounds this weekend!! Then we went to their aunts house for dinner, and ate more! haha.
Monday May 15:
Today Rita came. I got to sleep in a little, then I took the metro [subway] to Tiete to catch a bus to the airport. I coun't find the bus (I didn't know yet that some were not running beause of the violence) so I took a taxi to the airport. There, I met up with Igor (from @ USP) and we talked for a while as we waited for Rita to arrive. We found her and headed out to the car (finding it was tricky ;) ) Then we headed back into Sao Paulo (the airport is outside the city). Igor dropped us off at Tiete and then we took the subway to Jardim Sao Paulo, near Iza's house. Then... we walked :P Rita hates me for this, haha. We carried the luggage up the hill for 20 min to the house. But we made it. There, Tatiana called and told us about the trouble with this buses. At this point, we were told it was a strike. So we decided to stay in the area around the house for the day. We went for a walk and bought some snacks at the bakery. Woo, I ordered food! ...well kinda... it's a start. Then we went home and had naps and then had dinner. Then we found out more about what had happened that day and over the weekend. I'm still trying to figure it out. Watching the news in portuguese doesnt help much.
Not as much detail today because I'm at the office and I don't want to hog the computer. However, I felt this was important. But I am safe and being careful. And hopefully the coneference will go as planned.
I went all weekend without knowing, but apparently there has been some gang and police violence over the past few days here in Sao Paulo. Over 90 people are dead, mostly policemen and yesterday the buses were shut down. Some buses were torched and a lot of stores were closed. I have not witnessed or been affected by any of this, but it certainly makes you stop and think. Everyone has been telling me this is very unusual for Brazil, and I believe them. Yet it's happening here in Sao Paulo. I will be careful. Some things with CONADE are a little up in the air, but hopefully everything will work out alright.
Ok, here's what I've been up to, amidst all this.
Saturday May 13:
Saturday was fairly quiet. I slept in a little and then went for a walk around the neighbourhood. We took a drive around the city because we had to pick up Tatiana's car. The picture of the neighbourhood in the previous post was from my walk on Saturday (ok, so I cheated with the pictures). In the evening, I went with Iza's parents to a birthday party. Wow! It was at a MANSION of a house, absolutely amazing, with a pool and everything. They had pizza being freshly made all night for dinner. I wanted to try them all but I couldnt because I got too full. I must have eaten 10-12 pieces!! But OMG it was soooo good!! I also talked to a few people at the party and learned some new words. But the best part was the banana pizza... oh yaaaaaaa.....
Sunday May 14:
Sunday was Mother's Day, so I e-mailed my Mom and then we went to Iza's gradmothers house. Guess what I did there? Eat more! Ahhh, they had a huge lunch and I wanted to try everything! It was sooo good! And they had a million desserts too! I think I gained a hundred pounds this weekend!! Then we went to their aunts house for dinner, and ate more! haha.
Monday May 15:
Today Rita came. I got to sleep in a little, then I took the metro [subway] to Tiete to catch a bus to the airport. I coun't find the bus (I didn't know yet that some were not running beause of the violence) so I took a taxi to the airport. There, I met up with Igor (from @ USP) and we talked for a while as we waited for Rita to arrive. We found her and headed out to the car (finding it was tricky ;) ) Then we headed back into Sao Paulo (the airport is outside the city). Igor dropped us off at Tiete and then we took the subway to Jardim Sao Paulo, near Iza's house. Then... we walked :P Rita hates me for this, haha. We carried the luggage up the hill for 20 min to the house. But we made it. There, Tatiana called and told us about the trouble with this buses. At this point, we were told it was a strike. So we decided to stay in the area around the house for the day. We went for a walk and bought some snacks at the bakery. Woo, I ordered food! ...well kinda... it's a start. Then we went home and had naps and then had dinner. Then we found out more about what had happened that day and over the weekend. I'm still trying to figure it out. Watching the news in portuguese doesnt help much.
Not as much detail today because I'm at the office and I don't want to hog the computer. However, I felt this was important. But I am safe and being careful. And hopefully the coneference will go as planned.
posted by Jess at
10:44 a.m.
10 Comments:
So glad to hear that you and Rita are safe and being careful. Have a great time at the conference. Miss ya
By
Anonymous, at 12:26 p.m.
Hey Jess!! Just read you looong update and now I will update mine.. it's going to sound pretty much like yours even though I'm in another city ;) Hope to see you Friday! Bjs, PT
By
Anonymous, at 3:12 p.m.
Yikes, Jess! It's good to know you're safe. Be careful!
By
Anonymous, at 12:38 a.m.
I keep thinking USP means Unique Selling Point :)
Awesome stories. And don't worry about being a hindrance and asking them to speak English - that's so typically Canadian :)
By
Matt, at 7:59 a.m.
I want to go i want to go try all those food....mmmm foood....I love your story I'm so going to share with OGX people~~~~
By
Min. AutumnSky, at 3:03 p.m.
Hey Jess,
Let me introduce myself - this is Rita's sister Jennifer. I'll have to resort to reading your blog since Rita barely updates hers. =P
I'm glad to hear that you guys are safe in SP. I think my parents were a little bit thrown off by the news of the gangster attack.
I found the "walking up the hill" part pretty funny. Good workout isn't it?!
Take care...and tell Rita to blog too!
By
Anonymous, at 6:23 p.m.
Hey Jess,
Let me introduce myself - this is Rita's sister Jennifer. I'll have to resort to reading your blog since Rita barely updates hers. =P
I'm glad to hear that you guys are safe in SP. I think my parents were a little bit thrown off by the news of the gangster attack.
I found the "walking up the hill" part pretty funny. Good workout isn't it?!
Take care...and tell Rita to blog too!
By
Anonymous, at 6:23 p.m.
Sounds like you're having a great time! Please continue to be careful. I will write you a letter soon... I've just been very busy. I'm off to return the 3 shopping carts that somehow wound up in our basement. And no, I don't know how they got there. Take care,
-CA
By
Anonymous, at 3:16 a.m.
Cause y'know used cars will be really useful to you in Brazil. ;-)
-C
By
Anonymous, at 4:06 p.m.
hey jessie jess jess
tudo bem?
you know im very thankful to you for helping me out in settling down in brazil for those first two days! come to think of it we were seriously like the token foreigner- we were in the midst of a drama and didnt even know about it because of the language barrier- to this day i still think we are quite lucky that we happened to be in the right place during that time!
um grande beijos....bom dia!
r.
By
Rita, at 9:24 p.m.
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