I know many people will read the title for this post and be surprised, confused or both. I am not pulling your leg someone actually made good on their promise to come to Rio and see me. Fabulous! When I woke up this morning, I thought to myself, "Something fabulous and miraculous will happen today." Well, it most certainly did. Let me just set the scene...
Yesterday evening, I was scheduled to take a cab to Ipanema, where my visitor was staying, so that we could meet one of his friend´s at a mall that I have not ever been to called Botofogo Shopping Plaza (or something like that). I was ready to go (a black mini skirt, gray striped tank and coordinating sneakers/jacket (it gets cold in those mall restaurants)) and had planned to walk down the hill to catch a taxi on the main street. Well, it started raining elephants and tigers so I switched to jeans, and Nubia called a cab to arrive at the building.
The driver knew my Portuguese game was slightly subpar so he whizzed me through the streets quickly to my Ipanema destination. Once I get there, I notice my friend is standing on the corner. Pare! I firmly exclaim. The taxi stops, my friend hops in, rambles off our new destination in Portuguese and we are whisked away to Botofogo.
For 15 seconds there is whirlwind of greetings, laughing, English and Portuguese. (To say the least, our driver is very amused.) My first visitor from America, and main character for this post, is my Portuguese Meetup Group Leader, Erich. Please give him a round of applause! He is in town for his annual, month long tour through the lovely country of Brasil.
Our travel conversation ran the gamut. From Brazilians making $10 to $30 dollars per day, to our 1st visits to Corvocado Mountain within one week of each other, to that Haitian lady dying on that American airlines plane to me having to put an end to people initially thinking that they could feed me KFC for every meal. The dialogue between us was like a CNN ticker tape, but I guess that is what happens when want to do a lot of talking and you know that you only have a short amount of time.
After about 15 minutes, we get to the mall, and it is unlike the other two that I have been to because it is short in length. However, it has almost 6 or 7 levels! Anywho, Erich introduces me to Ione. Ione is absolutely nice and we proceed to Botequim, which is a restaurant that specializes in beers (cervejas) and botequims (little plates, more or less it has an extensive tapas menu).
Ione will be moving to Savannah, Georgia in April. She speaks English pretty well, and so until her departure, I will be communicating with her so that everyone can improve our respective language proficiencies. I have attached a picture of my nova (new) amiga (friend) Ione. She is going to start a fabulous new life in Savannah. Everyone put a blessing out there for her!
We had a great time at dinner discussing, in English and Portuguese, all of the differences between cost of living in Brazil vs. America, the driving rules in America, the ease of obtaining a license (it is hard for people to afford cars here) and my training here in Brasil. Did I mention the food was good too? The feijoa (black beans) and rice were absolutely delicious!
P.S. Image to be uploaded soon!
Yesterday evening, I was scheduled to take a cab to Ipanema, where my visitor was staying, so that we could meet one of his friend´s at a mall that I have not ever been to called Botofogo Shopping Plaza (or something like that). I was ready to go (a black mini skirt, gray striped tank and coordinating sneakers/jacket (it gets cold in those mall restaurants)) and had planned to walk down the hill to catch a taxi on the main street. Well, it started raining elephants and tigers so I switched to jeans, and Nubia called a cab to arrive at the building.
The driver knew my Portuguese game was slightly subpar so he whizzed me through the streets quickly to my Ipanema destination. Once I get there, I notice my friend is standing on the corner. Pare! I firmly exclaim. The taxi stops, my friend hops in, rambles off our new destination in Portuguese and we are whisked away to Botofogo.
For 15 seconds there is whirlwind of greetings, laughing, English and Portuguese. (To say the least, our driver is very amused.) My first visitor from America, and main character for this post, is my Portuguese Meetup Group Leader, Erich. Please give him a round of applause! He is in town for his annual, month long tour through the lovely country of Brasil.
Our travel conversation ran the gamut. From Brazilians making $10 to $30 dollars per day, to our 1st visits to Corvocado Mountain within one week of each other, to that Haitian lady dying on that American airlines plane to me having to put an end to people initially thinking that they could feed me KFC for every meal. The dialogue between us was like a CNN ticker tape, but I guess that is what happens when want to do a lot of talking and you know that you only have a short amount of time.
After about 15 minutes, we get to the mall, and it is unlike the other two that I have been to because it is short in length. However, it has almost 6 or 7 levels! Anywho, Erich introduces me to Ione. Ione is absolutely nice and we proceed to Botequim, which is a restaurant that specializes in beers (cervejas) and botequims (little plates, more or less it has an extensive tapas menu).
Ione will be moving to Savannah, Georgia in April. She speaks English pretty well, and so until her departure, I will be communicating with her so that everyone can improve our respective language proficiencies. I have attached a picture of my nova (new) amiga (friend) Ione. She is going to start a fabulous new life in Savannah. Everyone put a blessing out there for her!
We had a great time at dinner discussing, in English and Portuguese, all of the differences between cost of living in Brazil vs. America, the driving rules in America, the ease of obtaining a license (it is hard for people to afford cars here) and my training here in Brasil. Did I mention the food was good too? The feijoa (black beans) and rice were absolutely delicious!
P.S. Image to be uploaded soon!
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