So I just got in from Chile today.
There's a lot to tell, but I'm kind of feeling that maybe I should take a shower. It's hotter in Rio than it was in Santiago...and being in airports all day makes me feel gross. Plus, we ate a lot of junk food over the weekend. Starbucks. Dunkin'Donuts. Taco Bell. It's unfortunate that Brazil doesn't seem to have the same access to evil, trans-fatty multinational chain food as the rest of the world does. We might end up living longer, and will certainly have better cholesterol levels, but I miss donuts. Sometimes they show up in my dreams. It's sad, I know. There are so many better things that I could be dreaming about...
Why was I in Santiago? Women's retreat. Women of the Harvest. It was great...but I'm going to post about that later...I'm off to take an ice-cold shower and pretend that it's not almost summer here.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Sushi makes everything better
The third time is the charm! After two unsuccessful attempts to find my mysteriously wonderful sushi place downtown, after feeling as though Harry Potter-ish buildings were moving behind my back to hide the worn red sign, we stumbled upon the cobblestones and found ourselves face to face with a glorious array of raw fish and molded rice.
With lime and tuna. Shrimp. Something fried and wonderful with cream cheese and spicy goodness. Mango, cucumber, "crab" and a thin topping, like a marbled bit of icing, of beautiful pink salmon.
A tray of salmon sashimi, perfect and shining. White fishy things draped or tied with strips of seaweed...all clamoring to be put on my big white plate and ravenously devoured.
Sushi by the kilo, my friends, by the kilo. R$3.60 for 100 grams.
Happiness and refreshment for under US $8? Joyful chopsticking??? Overwhelming.
And after such a lunch, one is given new strength to crawl under dirty bridges and nearly burn one's arm off when the girders are supporting someone's makeshift wooden stove, while well-to-do Brazilians nearly cause a pileup in their daily commute staring at our ragtag bunch of worshipers...but that's another story...
With lime and tuna. Shrimp. Something fried and wonderful with cream cheese and spicy goodness. Mango, cucumber, "crab" and a thin topping, like a marbled bit of icing, of beautiful pink salmon.
A tray of salmon sashimi, perfect and shining. White fishy things draped or tied with strips of seaweed...all clamoring to be put on my big white plate and ravenously devoured.
Sushi by the kilo, my friends, by the kilo. R$3.60 for 100 grams.
Happiness and refreshment for under US $8? Joyful chopsticking??? Overwhelming.
And after such a lunch, one is given new strength to crawl under dirty bridges and nearly burn one's arm off when the girders are supporting someone's makeshift wooden stove, while well-to-do Brazilians nearly cause a pileup in their daily commute staring at our ragtag bunch of worshipers...but that's another story...
In which Jenna shows her control-freak, perfectionist tendencies...
Test day. Finances and accounting, in Portuguese.
Jenna gets so excited about filling out the fixed costs and variable costs that she calculates the taxes incorrectly...subsequently screwing up all the future calculations on problem 1 and the comparison in problem 2.
There are three problems on the test. Depending on how much weight is given to partial credit, I might not have gotten SUCH a bad score. Passing the class is a given. What hurts is that I DIDN'T DO BETTER THAN MY PEERS in their native language in a graduate level class.
I think this points to overactive pride and personal goals that are maybe set just a little too high? Not to mention perhaps needing to remember that I am human and not a genius????
Jenna gets so excited about filling out the fixed costs and variable costs that she calculates the taxes incorrectly...subsequently screwing up all the future calculations on problem 1 and the comparison in problem 2.
There are three problems on the test. Depending on how much weight is given to partial credit, I might not have gotten SUCH a bad score. Passing the class is a given. What hurts is that I DIDN'T DO BETTER THAN MY PEERS in their native language in a graduate level class.
I think this points to overactive pride and personal goals that are maybe set just a little too high? Not to mention perhaps needing to remember that I am human and not a genius????
Sunday, October 21, 2007
IHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
It's worse!
I'm COVERED in little watery bumps! This is a curse, castigo, absolutely disgusting and to top it all off, itches like I'm being attacked by a small horde of veeeeery tiny mites.
I also washed my red Guatemalan blanket today, which bled hot pink liquid all over my sink and outside floor and is probably going to dye the grouting in the wash basin a permanent rosy color. My fingers and fingernails look like they've been immersed in Pepto-Bismol. Yuck.
I don't want to leave the house until I stop looking like I've been kidnapped by aliens and put through a battery of genetic tests.
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?????????
Also? It is hot here. God help me, I'm not sure I'm ready for summer just yet!
I'm COVERED in little watery bumps! This is a curse, castigo, absolutely disgusting and to top it all off, itches like I'm being attacked by a small horde of veeeeery tiny mites.
I also washed my red Guatemalan blanket today, which bled hot pink liquid all over my sink and outside floor and is probably going to dye the grouting in the wash basin a permanent rosy color. My fingers and fingernails look like they've been immersed in Pepto-Bismol. Yuck.
I don't want to leave the house until I stop looking like I've been kidnapped by aliens and put through a battery of genetic tests.
WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?????????
Also? It is hot here. God help me, I'm not sure I'm ready for summer just yet!
This is disgusting
So last week, when I went to the beach with Ben and one of the Servant Team girls, it was kind of windy and cold. And maybe I forgot to put on a lot of sunscreen. And maybe I got really, really sunburnt.
Today it was hot, really hot, and I was so very nasty and sweaty when I got home. It was such a relief to put on shorts...until I looked down and saw that my legs resembled nothing less than bubble wrap.
Bubble wrap.
The skin that refused to peel was pocketed with tiny bubbles of sweat. I feel like a leprous freak. Serves me right. From now, I'll be religious about both the application AND checking the expiration dates on my sunblock!
In other news, Ben in is the States and I have three Servant Team girls living with me in my one-bedroom apartment. And the thermometer is rising...
Today it was hot, really hot, and I was so very nasty and sweaty when I got home. It was such a relief to put on shorts...until I looked down and saw that my legs resembled nothing less than bubble wrap.
Bubble wrap.
The skin that refused to peel was pocketed with tiny bubbles of sweat. I feel like a leprous freak. Serves me right. From now, I'll be religious about both the application AND checking the expiration dates on my sunblock!
In other news, Ben in is the States and I have three Servant Team girls living with me in my one-bedroom apartment. And the thermometer is rising...
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Class Notes: A visual
Statistics.
Need I say more?
Never imagined that this would be something you'd fine in one of my notebooks...
Thursday, October 04, 2007
On being, well, tired.
There's an attempt at a butter curry on the stove and it's 8:00 pm. I should get to eat dinner by nine, if I'm lucky.
On Saturday, my friends and I took the Servant Team out for a tour of the city and we went out to eat at a nice restaurant. I came home feeling fine. But that evening? Different story. And ever since my food poisoning/flu-like symptoms of Sunday's madrugada, I've been feeling off. Tired. Walking is a chore. I have slept more in this week than I'd like to admit publicly. And I still don't feel any better. On Monday, I nearly fainted while riding the subway. It was, in retrospect, a rather stupid decision to head downtown after being so ill, but I had a really, really good reason for going, and I don't regret it in the least! However, I think I may be ever so slightly claustrophobic...and won't be entering the subway cars during rush hour again if I can help it. I desperately wanted to get off at Central Station, but there were so many people pushing INTO the car that no one could get OUT of the car, even if they could have maneuvered their body through the sardine-can tightness. Ih...I feel sick just thinking about it!
Anyhow, I'm still a bit out of it. I'm hoping this weekend's getaway, to a beach resort-y town about an hour and a half out of the city, will help me regain my energy. At the very least, we'll be at the beach. Now, it's still spring here, so there's about an equal chance for breaking out the sweaters and jeans as there is for a bikini...but being on the water makes it all worthwhile!
Not having a lot of energy makes me a rather poor teacher at Projeto Vidinha. I fell asleep on the couch after tutoring...I awoke to several kiddie hugs and kisses...which put a smile on my face.
Ah...my curry is done! I'm going to give my body some good, nourishing food...and my brain is going to veg out on the internet tonight! Boa noite, all!
On Saturday, my friends and I took the Servant Team out for a tour of the city and we went out to eat at a nice restaurant. I came home feeling fine. But that evening? Different story. And ever since my food poisoning/flu-like symptoms of Sunday's madrugada, I've been feeling off. Tired. Walking is a chore. I have slept more in this week than I'd like to admit publicly. And I still don't feel any better. On Monday, I nearly fainted while riding the subway. It was, in retrospect, a rather stupid decision to head downtown after being so ill, but I had a really, really good reason for going, and I don't regret it in the least! However, I think I may be ever so slightly claustrophobic...and won't be entering the subway cars during rush hour again if I can help it. I desperately wanted to get off at Central Station, but there were so many people pushing INTO the car that no one could get OUT of the car, even if they could have maneuvered their body through the sardine-can tightness. Ih...I feel sick just thinking about it!
Anyhow, I'm still a bit out of it. I'm hoping this weekend's getaway, to a beach resort-y town about an hour and a half out of the city, will help me regain my energy. At the very least, we'll be at the beach. Now, it's still spring here, so there's about an equal chance for breaking out the sweaters and jeans as there is for a bikini...but being on the water makes it all worthwhile!
Not having a lot of energy makes me a rather poor teacher at Projeto Vidinha. I fell asleep on the couch after tutoring...I awoke to several kiddie hugs and kisses...which put a smile on my face.
Ah...my curry is done! I'm going to give my body some good, nourishing food...and my brain is going to veg out on the internet tonight! Boa noite, all!
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