Cruise Control

Today’s PWOD: a galera = the crew. Clique, crew, group, circle, whatever you want to call your group of friends who you kick it with is called a galera in Portuguese.

Hey folks, sorry for the delay in between posts. Not much to report on this end. It’s been pretty “tranquilo” here in Brazil since the last entry. I’ve basically been in cruise control with classes for the past two weeks since getting back from Belo Horizonte. I did get a job on the side teaching English at a private school. By “teaching” I really mean just having conversation classes. And by “conversation classes” I mean just sitting down for an hour and talking to students. So I’m getting paid to talk and network with young professionals. Not a bad deal! Other than that, nothing really new to report. But my oh my has there been some news on the homefront. Investment banks collapsing, financial markets in haywire, the presidential race is heating up, and my Mets are giving me a heart-attack every time I check the box score! I leave the country and all hell breaks loose. I finally had enough and bought the package on MLB.com to watch Mets game live on the internet. My boys need me! So I’ve been catching the past few games and am all revved up for the last weekend of the season. Late last week I was mildly entertained by watching John and Cindy McCain on The View on Youtube. There was a headline on CNN.com about Cindy McCain speaking at some dinner and telling constituents about her appearance on The View. In an insulted, somewhat disgusted way she told the audience that hosts on The View “picked their bones clean.” So I had to see it for myself. Man, I tell ya Rosie O’Donnell and Starr Jones really gave it to them. Iran, Al-Qaeda, and North Korea? A walk in the park! Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg? The new axis of evil!! It’s an election year here too in Brazil. Most major cities are electing mayors including this small town of 18 million people called Sao Paulo.

I’ve been fighting a cold over the past few days from what I believe has been twists and turns in the weather. There’s been some freakish swings in the weather since I arrived. It alternates between 2 weeks warm and 2 weeks cold. Right now we’re in the 2 weeks of cold phase. Of course by cold I mean mid 50s. But actually, the cold here gets amplified, especially at night, because none of the houses have heat and the cement that all the buildings are made of insulates the cold in the apartment. So most of the time it’s actually colder inside the houses than outside. But as folks from the US have been saying that it’s starting to get chilly in the Northeast, that can only mean summer is right around the corner here.

This week has been “hell week” if you want to call it that. The first half of the semester ended yesterday so all of our modules had exams or final projects this week. Tomorrow I am taking off for the Pantanal – as previously described, the wetlands in western Brasil slightly larger than France. Our plan is to fly into Cuiaba and hook up with a local travel group that takes you deep into the swamp for about 4 days of activities – piranha fishing, horseback riding, hikes thru the forest including night treks and animal catching. Similar activities as the Amazon excursion I went on last year but a different landscape. That was rainforest, this is wetlands. We’re in the Pantanal for about 4 days and then going to a national park southwest of Brasilia that is famous for its hotsprings, waterfalls, and underground caves. So it should be a Planet Earth type week. I’ll try to throw up a post while I’m away next week if I can get in front of a computer. I would appreciate all thoughts and prayers for the Mets as they fight for the playoffs. Take care and Godspeed.