Discombobulation of life

Settling into life in Brasilia has had its ups and downs. Just like with every move one makes, there is a period of adjustment. After a week, we are still adjusting but feeling a lot better about our new surroundings and the potential that exists here. Before our arrival, we were constantly told that this posting is "great for families" and "great for kids", so we worried a little about what there was for us: a family of big kids.
Well, it looks like we have found one thing to do... eat. and as much as i want to be happy about that, i feel a little worried as the food here is good. really good. and i have serious weight issues. and they seem to have all you can eat food places everywhere, and i have problems saying no to deliciously unhealthy food. last night for example, we went to a pizza/pasta places to have a little dinner. it was our first time there, so we were unsure as to how the process worked. We entered the establishment, took our seats and used out broken Portuguese to kind of figure out exactly what was happening. there was a salad bar, so while i waited for the pizzas to be brought out, i went and filled up my side plate with a few greens as i have not been very good about eating the salad stuff since our arrival. upon my return, a slice of ham pizza and a slice of some kind of sausage pizza has miraculously arrived on my plate. i sat down, my dear wife has already started to eat and i could tell by the glow in her cheeks that the pizza was good... and it was. and so we began. i cannot remember exactly how long we sat there, it must have been around an hour or so, but there seemed to be a never ending conveyor-belt of waiters approaching us with a never ending combination of toppings and varieties of pasta. the problem here was not the rapidity at which the new and exciting combinations came at us; the problem was saying no. they all looked so darn good. i had to remind myself that it was only our first time there and within the next 2 years, we would have the opportunity to revisit this wonder of pizza so that i may try the other wonderful varieties i did not get a chance to taste last night. Not only was the food thoroughly satisfying, but it was also cheap. LW and I both agreed that it was the first time that we had purchased something here and felt we had got value for our outlay.
Brazil is really expensive. We went out to one of the shopping malls and I could not quite understand how people live here. Yes, it is a developing country, but they are paying developed country prices. There are far too many people here who are unable to afford buying what is on offer. I can understand now why for so many items, payment in installations is the thing to do. Taxes here are extraordinarily high.
Today we finally get cable and internet connection at home. This means goodbye to fuzzy tv and hello to fast connection, premiership football and colour tv.
As for Brasilia itself, we are getting used to it. The lack of car has been a good thing for us. We have slowly explored and are gradually expanding our circle of knowledge. I still get a little confused with the roads but I am sure that will get better. The city has a sort of post modernist charm to it. It looks ok during the day but looks fantastic at night time. And despite the fact that this is not Rio or Sao Paolo or even one of the coastal cities, there will be ample here for us to sink our teeth into, and less worrying about being held at gunpoint.
I am off to go start off a rumour about a Brazilian player arriving at Arsenal. Everyone else is doing it, so why can’t i?

and for those curious souls amongst you, this is what the weather is like at the moment in Brasilia
http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/5day.shtml?world=7029

amazing book, and it looks like the film version is going to be very good too.
yes it is a comic book, but that does not make it any less valid. and if you can't be bothered to read the book then you could wait for the film. check out the trailer:

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/watchmen/hd/

After a scare on Friday with regards to hiring a car for the entire duration of our car-less-ness, we decided that it would be financially sensible to hire a car for just the weekend in order for Laurie to drive around and to see if we could get our head around this initially complicated but apparently logical city. One of Laurie’s colleagues was kind enough to drive ahead of us to show us the way home, and after that we were on our own. We decided to take a walk around our quadrant, yes it sounds like a prison and some say that it may look like one, but it isn’t, and that did not last too long as we found a dead end very soon and were not feeling confident about where we could and could not walk. Even though there were pavements, something about the area meant we were probably a tad over cautious. That added to our “just arrived in a weird place” mentality. After our brief walk, we, well I thought that we should jump into the car and take a drive… bad idea. We only succeeded in going around in circles, which is a very easy thing to do here since there are numerous roundabouts and a scarcity of left turns. Left turns generally involve going right and then either under or over another road and then turning right again. Yes it does sound really rather complicated and it is a sort of elaborate system but it kind of works, and though it is not what one would call intuitive, I can imagine that once one gets used to the whole system then it becomes second nature. As someone said to me when I arrived, “it is easy to get lost, but it is also easy to get un-lost.”
We were picked up on Saturday, late morning and went to the supermarket. Unfortunately, as we had been taken there, I was unable to really feel the experience since we were getting immediately important alimentation only. Nothing really to shout about there though, but I do have to say that Brazil is not a cheap country. Beef is good and decently priced, and so it should be with all the cows they have, so are fruits but everything else seems like London prices, and that is not a good thing since I am not longer earning pounds, hey, I am not longer earning, so I really feel the pain. After shopping we went out for lunch, where we had beef, it was our first proper meal since we had arrived so I am not sure if the beef was really that good or if even McDonalds would have taste like haute cuisine after such a wait. The beef was good though, in fact, thinking about it right now makes me salivate. I am looking forward to the beef experience. Following our little meal, our “social sponsor” took us around the city. It is a sprawling not-quite-metropolis. It stretches out for miles, long straight badly paved roads take you through various examples of modern architecture of varying levels of success. We saw the infamous cathedral, which was initially a disappointment but apparently there is more to it than what we saw. We saw how the city really is divided into sectors, finance, political buildings, family residences, and embassies and so on. Which meant that we also saw how the other half live. A little bit jealous, since the houses seem to be really lovely. At least over there in Lago Sul, it seems like the builders had a little more flexibility and creativity. Plus they have pools there. Now, I am not a great swimmer, but if there is a pool, and I am bored, I generally use it. I generally do not like showing my gut in public. Right now it is far too cold to swim anyway, since the days start and end cool and the pools generally seem to be unheated. Now, an hour or so in Brasilia, without access to water, can seem like a very long time. I had already noted how, despite the midday heat, and the greenhouse affect inside the car we travelled in, I was not sweating, but I was, and I do the problem, or good thing depending on who you are, is that the sweat evaporates almost immediately. I had also noted how my poor legs were looking ashy long before they usually do. This is all due to the dryness of the air I mentioned before, and this dryness means that you lose water without even realising. Well I do realised but generally too late, when my poor brain has shrivelled up and has set off the not quite early enough warning system leading me to guzzle a couple of litres of water which in turn leads to that lovely bloated feeling.
We tried to find the new mall which has just opened, and also contains the Brazilian version of Wal-Mart, which is actually nice, and definitely not cheap, though cheaper than the earlier supermarket. We found it, but as it was a Saturday, we decided not to brave the crowds. Fortunately we were able to go in on Sunday, where we bumped into Laurie’s boss and her family.
The cheese is weird here.
Her social sponsor introduced us to a couple, a Brazilian and an American, who met in Japan. We went out for Sushi with them on Saturday night and they were kind enough to come to Extra with us. (Extra ~ Wal-Mart) the Sushi experience was pretty decent, but better than that was the chance to relax and trade stories about our respective Japan experiences.
The bread here seems to be really good, there are two bakeries just round the corner from me, and they sell all these lovely savoury goodies, which are going to help make me even fatter than I am right now. Luckily the word on the street is that the health care here is fantastic and the doctors are awesome. So maybe I shall just get my stomach staple at some point. Apparently, people actually fly down from the States to come and have their dental work done. Time for my check up I think, it has been a very long time since my last one. Maybe I shall get my teeth whitened too?

Before and even after our arrival here in Brasilia, the general consensus was that it was/is a very nice city to live in for families but not so much for singletons and those younger couples who might be interested in having fun. My very little experience here seems to have confirmed those thoughts, though we have only spent two nights here.
The surprising thing after our short flight from Sao Paolo to here, was that the weather was really rather cool. Pleasantly so. We discovered that the weather stays like this for a large part of the year, however it does turn slightly nasty during the raining season when the humidity kicks in but for the most part it does not get too cold, neither should the temperature rise to unbearable hot, which should make my life a lot easier.
As a planned city, the layout is very different from anything I have ever experienced, and Laurie and I have found the roads highly confusing. We took out our hired car for a little spin last night and only ended up going round in circles. Considering how difficult and strenuous the driving test is out here, drivers seem to not really care about signs, or rules, or following distances, or signals – I think it may be a backlash to the ridiculous nature of the driving test, which unfortunately I shall have to take and involves, a written section, a practical section, a medical and psychological evaluation. It seems though that the bus drivers are exempt from all of this tests and that being crazy is actually a plus for their occupation. We cannot live here in the place without a car, and I cannot be without a licence. At the same time, I do wonder how many Brazilians actually have them.
I spent the entirety of my fist day in Brazil walking to and fro at the US embassy. It is a fairly large structure, very easy to spot as it is the only embassy that has a road block and military personal standing outside checking for bombs. I laughed when I saw this, and my dear wife promptly told me to keep my mouth shut. But we both smiled. The embassy itself is a cross between an office and a hotel resort, containing offices, a restaurant, two tennis courts, a futsal pitch, a night club area for happy hours, a medical centre, a gym, swimming pool, a classroom for Portuguese lessons, a duty free store and that was just the stuff that I saw on the first day. There is also a little pond with terrapins or turtles, not sure what the difference is but it has one of them. Obviously the people are really friendly, very helpful, though we have been told by someone who has been in the service for 35 years that this is a very unusual place. Generally people seem to have better things to do.
We live in an apartment which is considerably larger than the one is DC, but not huge. I do however, finally have a Hugh Heffner style closet and for that I am extremely grateful. We have three bedrooms, so if anyone wants to come and visit, they are very welcome to do so, preferably after I get my licence, which might take a while. Three bathrooms, so no more sharing, and unfortunately no more excuse for being late for any functions. There is a funny smell though and we can manage to figure out what it is. Right now the furniture is a little old fashioned, budgetary constraints have meant that we will be bring our furniture over, though I do not quite understand how it is cheaper for us to ship our stuff over, than it is for them to just get us stuff over here. Again, something about bureaucracy I am not able to understand properly. So once we get our own furniture in, I shall do the photos and post them if only to show off my extremely large closet which may even be able to contain all of my shoes. I never thought that would be possibly in this lifetime.
For the first two weeks, I shall be without the internet, or cable TV, and the TV signal here is really bad, will probably not have a cell phone either, and the home phone number is still not working properly if at all. So the plan is to write all my blogs on word and then post them up when and where I can.
Well, the quiet city life will be a challenge. I am hoping that finding work here will not be too difficult. There are a lot of agencies here in Brasilia at the embassy; my lack of a US passport might be the only problem. But that will be for another day.
I should probably set myself some goals while I am down here.
1. Speak fluent Portuguese
2. Lose some weight
3. Play lots of football
4. Travel as much as we can
5. Enjoy my life with my wife
That will do for the moment.

Internet connections should be free at airports. Obviously it is a great place to make money, but I am sure that there is some profitable way to provide internet free. Or at least, when there is a sign saying “wi-fi zone” it should also say “are you prepared to be taken up the backside for the privilege?”
I guess that was the one saving grace at Japanese airports, well Osaka anyway, though I seem to recollect there being some kind of connection in Hong Kong too. My memory from those halcyon days of youth may be a little fuzzy.
So am finally in Brazil, Sao Paolo to be exact, landed this morning and cruised through customs, did not really get to see much of the landscape but what I did see evoked the word “sprawling”. It kind of reminded me of Japan in a way, sprawling with no apparent structure. If I am correct, there is a sizeable Japanese presence here in Sao Paolo. We will be able to experience that at a later date.
We have been nomadic for almost 24 hours now, and the tiredness is kicking in. my head is pounding, I am feeling dehydrated, and my stomach, as always after a flight, has been invaded by an army of super excited butterflies. I did my best not to sleep on the flight, not because I felt like staying up all night, but due to the fact that I was without my CPAP and my snoring tends to bring out the irate side of people. And it is also hugely embarrassing. Accompanying me and my wife at the domestic terminal is the usual cast of characters. Boisterous and ubiquitous American businessman shouting on his mobile, bored couples, who have just had to spend far too much time together in a very confined environment (thank goodness for the upgrade to business class as well as the relative youthfulness of my marriage), parents cuddling their inappropriately dressed not quite teenage daughters and people travelling alone, who promised themselves that they would make the most of the journey, try to meet people, chat, get to know someone if only for an hour, only to find themselves sitting along at the gate, wishing the time to go by faster so that they can get home.
One thing about being here though which I am pretty happy about:: everyone will probably think that I am Brazilian until I open my mouth. Though I am thinking that for a country where half the population, probably more, is black, there do not seem to be very many black people here at the airport. Ahh well.
I noticed that we flew over part of the Amazon last night, unfortunately due to the night flight; we could not see anything, though it would have been amazing just to get a view of a vastness of the place. Even just flying over Sao Paolo this morning, one could get a little gist of the largesse of land here. .
Another 4 hours or so till we board for the final leg of our journey, right now I really want my bed.

so today was the big move. my darling wife and I had been slowly gathering our stuff together in anticipation of the big day. piles of clothing laid next to piles of household items which all then had to be split into two for HHE - slow shipping, and UAB, fast (still takes at least 6 weeks even though it is going on a plane) shipping. I really was naive to think that in our dinky one bedroom apartment, well dinky by US standards, which fortunately or unfortunately I am becoming far too accustomed to, we really did not have that much stuff. however i should have realized that my 13 pairs of shoes, not counting trainers (sneakers) and outrageous boots, were giving me an indication of the extent of my wardrobe, which although essentially multi layered, i feel that could still have more depth, i am really lacking in the suit department and intend to get some made in Brazil where I have heard the tailors are rather good. there were the numerous shirts which i love, but have failed to wear since i have been here in DC since the weather has been so god darn hot, and i have really not been to that many occasions that need me to at least appear smooth and slightly debonair. ahh well, i am hoping that Brazil will pose more fashion challenges for me. and just want to say that shopping at Saks - Off 5th avenue has been a pleasure. really, some of the bargains were incredible. Nordstrom Rack, not so good, and TJ Maxx is great if you have time to look for the bargains. maybe it was a good thing i was not working here.

anyway, the movers arrived late morning, and left at about 6:30. which seems to me like 5 minutes ago. they took everything that we had not already packed. my remaining 11 pairs of shoes, yeah i do regret it already, i have to live with only two pairs of shoes for six weeks, the bed, a really big bed, the sofa, the tv, the half eaten pack of oreos, which i am sure will be great for the mice, a half used jar of nutella, the vacuum cleaner, the two trash cans we have, and yes and i do say trash can now, though i still say rubbish, the shower curtain, which we dont need since we will have one of those stand up shower jobs with glass doors. Amazing really, in films, you never see the silhouette of someone with a pot belly when there is a shower scene. always someone sleek and slender. ahh well, something to change. i also thought that it would be really great to launch a magazine which just said no to airbrushing. we just do not know what is real any more. and as much as i love my fantasies, i really admire authenticity. i honestly do believe that it is our flaws that make us beautiful. so yeah, everything has gone. and now we are staying at the Hilton Garden Inn - my thanks go out to the US government for making my last couple of days in DC a very relaxing one. the thing with all the packing though was that we did not that much. they, the packers, who were lovely people, we had pizza with them, joked around, one of them was from congo, so we kinda bonded but not very much. they did all the packing, but by the end of the day i was knackered. really shattered. maybe the tiredness creep into me through osmosis. watching them work though i felt the utmost respect for them and what they do. spending the whole day in someone's house, packing up their shit is not really my ideal job. especially when they are moving to exotic places like Brazil. so i just wanted to holla at Cliff, Andre and Joann who did a stellar job, whilst i took time out to watch a re-run of the Villa-Arsenal game.

so here we are. about to head of to Brazil, my second cross hemisphere move in 4 months and am still excited. i have managed to get my sony camera working so in a couple of days i shall be posting some pictures of our first days in the capital of the world's most colourful nation. over the next couple of days my hardest decision to make will be whether we go to the cinema once or twice, my darling wife and i will also be heading off to get a pedicure - yes pedicure i said it. and you know what, i absolutely love them. mainly for the aesthetic value, but also cos it feels nice. if you have never had one, do so.

Does anyone happen to know where i can get good prints of art from the painter Robert Delaunay? Finally found an artist that we both like and it would be great to have one of his pieces up at home. I prefer Kandinsky, but Delaunay has some resonance with me.

can anyone make a sentence for me with the word "Temperance"? i know what it means just finding it hard to make a phrase that does not make me look like i am trying to hard.

two days till we fly, three till we touch Brazilian soil. the thing i am looking forward to most is the music. and the food. and the smell and well everything. i really want to go there and soak up everything, feel and live each moment. i want to be able to take the time to enjoy my experiences out there to really understand what it is to live in such a place. and i really want to look good in my wedding suit.

every so often i have an insatiable desire to listen to a particular song. the songs themselves change but that desire is there as strong as always. not matter what i listen to whether it be similar songs by the same artist, or songs that i know are my favourite, the only way to sate my hunger is for that one particular song... until of course i forget what it was in the first place, or until i really want to hear another song. Just before i started to write this i felt a need to hear Bebel Gilberto, August day song, and so i put on Pandora and lo and behold there it was. It is a lovely relaxing, lazy sunday morning, sitting on a balcony, nursing a hangover song. it gives that feeling of just being chilled out in the sun, at ease with no pressing engagements, no usual chaos. just that loose muscle feel, where you know that a gaze, or a raise of the eyebrow is enough as far as conversation is concerned and you can enjoy the music and the warmth. i like those moments, those awesome moments of tranquillity when everything is just fine. and fine is ok. in fact fine is great. i like fine.

no, my stay in DC has not turn me into a hippy, i am just looking forward to Brazil as i think that during my time there i will be able to have a lot of "fine" moments. right now though it does not feel like it. i have felt pretty useless over the last week or so as my wife has been dealing with all the logistics of our impending move into the centre of Brazil. We have bought a wide assortment of accessories - humidifiers, dehumidifiers, fans, soup, brownie mix, pasta shells, nutella, dish rack, dvd rack and the list goes on. The first two items were bought after we discovered that for a major part of the year Brasilia is really rather humid, and though the rains are generally in short sharp bursts, the after effects can be rather long lasting. on the other side though, we also learnt that at it peak, the air in Brasilia is drier than that of the Sahara, which also signified a trip to the pharmacy and the purchasing of a quantity of lotion that even Ron Jeremy would be gawp at. i am starting to understand the sort of logistic nightmare that my parents go through every time they return to Sierra Leone. At least Brazil is developed, and what we forget to buy here, can probably be purchased over there, or via internet. The post to Freetown is more error prone than the Bush government.

8 weeks of Portuguese training has gone by really rather quickly. I have to admit that i have picked up the language like a pro, and expected nothing less of myself. i had a test last wednesday and managed to be at the same level as the spanish speakers i started with. my skipping of the basics in the whole language learning process means however, that though i am able to converse with politicians about the long term effects of global warming, i am less able to ask where the nearest stations is, or is this seat taken. hopefully my eager study of the language will be a precursor to some kind of career whilst I am there. As excited as I am, this is one aspect of the move that does worry me, and with Brasilia not being a capital of industry like Sao Paulo is, I do worry about the lack of opportunity out there in terms of work. I really do have no idea what to expect.

my mother was kind enough to let me have her camera when i came over to the states. after staring at it for 8 weeks, i finally decided that getting some batteries might be a good idea. so i did. the camera is not digital. it is one of those old fashioned antiquated items which still use film, and worst of all, you actually have to pay before you see the final results. the camera itself is pretty smack-daddy, if only because all i have ever used in my life is a point-and-shoot thing. but i am looking forward to taking it to Brazil and having a go at being slightly pretentious and artistic. the amount of architectural wonders there should really help me to at least be able to take some decent pictures by the time i leave. we shall see. maybe one day i shall get my own outdoor exhibit outside the metro near La Sorbonne.