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Archive for the ‘Brazil’ Category
Winter
Monday, June 23rd, 2008Pie Chart
Friday, May 23rd, 2008I just saw this and it made me smile.
In other news, I went by the gym today, to congratulate my instructor, Flávio Ferreira. (He has been winning everything lately, and just won the his black belt category at the Brasileiros.)
Turns out the cold I have is actually a virus, and a lot of people have it. Vale Tudo, one of the guys at the gym, was also sitting out and not training. He told me that even his finger joints are sore. This jives with my symptoms, as it seems like all my joints ache, knees, back, even my feet. I know it isn’t dengue, even though it has been going around, because I’ve already had that. However, this is a crappy nagging illness.
The Sun Also Rises.
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008This is the world’s longest lasting cold. I am really sick of being sick. Every morning I feel like crap. So I’ve been reading.
I just finished reading, “The Sun Also Rises” by Ernest Hemingway (#45)… I forgot how nice it was to read an easy book. Hemingway is always a treat. This was a good exploration of the “Lost Generation” as well as a study of the mating habits of drunken expatriates. I read it a bunch of years ago, but it was good to re-read it.
Back to Brazil.
Monday, March 10th, 2008I will be back home in Porto Alegre on Friday. At least, that’s the plan.
Our summer vacation.
Friday, February 8th, 2008I’ve give myself with this incredibly daunting task of trying to sum up a three-week summer vacation in a couple of paragraphs. And this was a trip in Brazil, which is a huge country with a lot of stuff to do. And each part is very different.
We started in Manaus, in the state of Amazonas. This part I felt like I had a bit of a point of reference. It is sort of like the Everglades, but without the Army Corps of Engineers. Oh and it is huge.
It was a river system that used to run to the Pacific until the Andes rose up, making it the world’s biggest ditch. It now slowly flowing to the Atlantic. The river only drops 180 feet over the 1,262 miles from Iquitos to Manaus. So it is pretty flat territory.
We spent about a week in the forest near Manaus which was great. We saw a bunch of sloths, monkeys an otter, and slept in the jungle. Fished for piranhas, and saw pink dolphins. This was near where the Rio Negro and Amazon meet in a swirly black and white pattern that you see recreated as metaphor all over Brazil.
Then we went to the dunes at Sao Luis, and the beach and Olinda for Carnaval. Oh and I got to surf some little tiny waves in Porto de Galinhas in Pernambuco.
Well, let’s say it was a great trip and an experience of a lifetime and we have lots of photos if you ever want a slide show.
I kept some notes while we were traveling, if there is anything legible maybe I’ll copy it.
Away for a bit…. at Carnaval!
Saturday, January 26th, 2008We are travelling in Northeast of Brazil right now and are getting ready to go Carnaval tomorrow in Olinda.
So if I don’t respond quickly to any emails, I might be dancing my wonky Samba in street, instead of sweating and cursing in an un-airconditioned Internet cafe.
(And the only training I am doing is running around on the beach.)
Random BJJ Theory.
Wednesday, January 9th, 2008There are really severe ups and downs in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Some days you can do almost anything you try, other days, you can’t do anything.
I have a theory about this. One that has kept me going in the times when you want to pack it in and go home.
So here it is:
Whenever you feel like you are having a great day, your opponent is having a crappy day, and vice versa.
For me, lately, it has been pretty close to 50/50. Good day, crap day. Of course that could be a self-fulfilling prophesy, but to demand good days just doesn’t work.
At the very least, this lets you go easier on people who are having a bad day when you in top form. And this, along with the fact that I live incredibly close to the gym, keeps me going when I’m in a funk.
I am certainly no zen master (for example: I really wanted to throw my malfunctioning alarm clock out the 10th story window today) so I’m not going to start selling self-help books. But I think we’ve all felt the roller-coaster of emotions of training, and it is far too easy to quit.
Back from Rio.
Saturday, January 5th, 2008We returned from Rio today.
It was a lot of fun, and no crime to report. The only thing that was remotely dodgy was the fireworks on Copacabana. There was a small explosion on one of the barges offshore from which they launch the fireworks and then the fireworks started to shoot into the crowd.
It was chaos. It felt like a war zone, large colorful explosions, lots of smoke, screams, and stampeding. Susi, completely unperturbed by the whistles and booms was packing her bags. She obviously couldn’t hear me as I tried to yell over the screams, “Just leave it!”
We met up with a number of different friends from London and spent a lot of time on the beach. I also went with Roger to train at Gracie Barra, which was great, but a bit humbling. There were more black belts than any other belt and they were all really friendly and helpful, as they smashed you. (Roger’s Mom wrote a book about Carlos Gracie, to be released in March, which I am looking forward to reading. In Portuguese, gulp…)
Rio is a great city. I think by far it is the most beautiful in the world. The natural landscape is breathtaking and the people are really nice. I’m sure that we will go back to visit again soon.
I’ll put up some pictures soon.
Off to Rio…
Sunday, December 30th, 2007We are packing to go away for a few days for New Year’s. There are all sorts of weird customs that I think we might have to partake in, and I am excited to finally go to Rio de Janeiro. I’ve been wanting to go for so long.
Of course, we have been warned numerous times about the crime etc., and we will be careful. So Happy New Year to everyone. Next post, 2008! (Yikes.)
Pizza.
Monday, December 10th, 2007This is the best pizza ever.
It is three flavours:picahnha, artichoke and ham and, finally, chocolate.