Brazil's first world cup game today vs. Croatia
Today is the first time Brazil plays in the world cup games. Let me clarify that: today is the first world cup game for Brazil that I have any awareness or care about, since I’ve never had any inkling to or idea how to follow sports. Until now, of course, because in Brazil *everybody*, and I mean *everybody*, is absolutely fanatic about it. Old ladies. Pimps. Kids, their parents, teachers, and even their pets. I’m wearing my one green and yellow shirt that says Brasil, not because I thought it would be cool but because one of my friends strongly suggested it, as if I might get beat up if I didn’t. So if you see a picture of me later on looking about as American and/or non-Brasilian as possible, but wearing my Brasil shirt, keep in mind that I was only doing it for my own safety. And because some hot Brasilian girl I know said it would be cool.
From what I’ve heard (I haven’t been there yet), there’s a huge public television set up in Pelhourinho where everybody is going to watch the game. That’s a short walk from where I work, but today it is freaking pouring rain out, like it has been for the past week or so. Which from what people say is out of the ordinary. One guy told me that once it started raining at the beginning of June it wouldn’t stop for at least a month, and based on what we’ve seen so far that’s looking like a pretty accurate prediction. But according to everyone else this level of unrelenting rain is very much out of the ordinary. It doesn’t really bother me a whole lot except for the whole part about getting wet. It can be pretty heavy at times, too, so it only takes like 5 seconds between the door and the car to get pretty thoroughly drenched. On the bright side at least you’re not really cold once you get wet, at least by New York standards.
There’s a ton of things that have happened since I’ve been back (between 1-2 weeks, can’t remember exactly) that I should write about but don’t know if I have the time here to do it.
The second or third day I was here I was in the city of Feira de Santana (for the second time), about an hour outside Salvador. Feira is about as third-world-looking a city as you could get. Wandering around the marketplace makes me feel like I’m in an Indiana Jones movie.
There’s something I’m allergic to in the apartment I’m in right now, which is where I was living when I left. I developed this skin rash which isn’t real serious but which itches like hell, like bad poison ivy. I’ve been spending way too much time just trying to figure out what the *hell* it could be that’s making me itch, and of course there’s an infinite list of things it could be. I went with a friend from work yesterday to a health clinic, just to see if I could get some relief and maybe an idea of what the problem might be, but as expected the doc didn’t have any more idea than I about what might be going on, but he did proscribe a bunch of things. So now I have about 3 different types of girly lotions, all of which could, as far as I know, be toothpaste, to put on my rash.
I went to what I believe may have been Salvador’s first Heavy Metal music “festival” at the Rock ‘n’ Rio café at the Aeroclube with my friend Viny. My standards of expectation were pretty low but it was pretty bad, since there were some death metal bands which just plain sucked. Or maybe I’m just getting old. The scene was a little piece of home, though, in a time-warp sort of way. Imagine a crowd of Brazilians in eyeliner wearing Iron Maiden shirts (myself included – the shirt, not the eyeliner) and you’d have some idea of what the scene was like. It’s probably better that you have someone like me to report on such a surreal scene than to come out here and see it. Iron Maiden in Iceland was much, much cooler.
From what I’ve heard (I haven’t been there yet), there’s a huge public television set up in Pelhourinho where everybody is going to watch the game. That’s a short walk from where I work, but today it is freaking pouring rain out, like it has been for the past week or so. Which from what people say is out of the ordinary. One guy told me that once it started raining at the beginning of June it wouldn’t stop for at least a month, and based on what we’ve seen so far that’s looking like a pretty accurate prediction. But according to everyone else this level of unrelenting rain is very much out of the ordinary. It doesn’t really bother me a whole lot except for the whole part about getting wet. It can be pretty heavy at times, too, so it only takes like 5 seconds between the door and the car to get pretty thoroughly drenched. On the bright side at least you’re not really cold once you get wet, at least by New York standards.
There’s a ton of things that have happened since I’ve been back (between 1-2 weeks, can’t remember exactly) that I should write about but don’t know if I have the time here to do it.
The second or third day I was here I was in the city of Feira de Santana (for the second time), about an hour outside Salvador. Feira is about as third-world-looking a city as you could get. Wandering around the marketplace makes me feel like I’m in an Indiana Jones movie.
There’s something I’m allergic to in the apartment I’m in right now, which is where I was living when I left. I developed this skin rash which isn’t real serious but which itches like hell, like bad poison ivy. I’ve been spending way too much time just trying to figure out what the *hell* it could be that’s making me itch, and of course there’s an infinite list of things it could be. I went with a friend from work yesterday to a health clinic, just to see if I could get some relief and maybe an idea of what the problem might be, but as expected the doc didn’t have any more idea than I about what might be going on, but he did proscribe a bunch of things. So now I have about 3 different types of girly lotions, all of which could, as far as I know, be toothpaste, to put on my rash.
I went to what I believe may have been Salvador’s first Heavy Metal music “festival” at the Rock ‘n’ Rio café at the Aeroclube with my friend Viny. My standards of expectation were pretty low but it was pretty bad, since there were some death metal bands which just plain sucked. Or maybe I’m just getting old. The scene was a little piece of home, though, in a time-warp sort of way. Imagine a crowd of Brazilians in eyeliner wearing Iron Maiden shirts (myself included – the shirt, not the eyeliner) and you’d have some idea of what the scene was like. It’s probably better that you have someone like me to report on such a surreal scene than to come out here and see it. Iron Maiden in Iceland was much, much cooler.
posted by n10471 at 11:34 AM
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