First, please allow me to make a lame excuse. A significant reason why I haven't updated this page in so long is because for a majority of these last two months I haven't had internet. This is because I moved out of my homestay with Maria and into an apartment; I moved the last week of April, and I wasn't able to get internet for almost a month. So I've been living in this apartment for over a month now. As you probably don't remember, my homestay with Maria was in an area of Rio called Laranjeiras, which is a nice area but isn't the most ideal location. Although I liked Maria a lot and had no problems with her at all, I had decided a while ago that I would try to move into an apartment in a better location if I could. Finally, in mid-April, a friend found an ad for this cheap apartment, and we moved on it. The apartment is in Leblon, which is the nicest, most affluent area of Rio and has the most expensive real estate in all of South America (not sure if this is completely true, but I did hear it). It's two blocks from the beach and about a twenty minute walk from the university; as you can see, it's a great location, much better than where I was in Laranjeiras. Before, when I wanted to go the beach or needed to go to school, it was always a lengthy trip, and with bad
We jumped on this apartment because it was by far the cheapest we had seen in Leblon, which is such an expensive area. Part of the reason it's so cheap is because it's pretty barren. There's not much here, and it's not very nice either. But I really didn't care if the apartment was nice or not. It is nice and big, though. I'm living with four roommates, two Americans and two Germans. I like them all, which is a bonus, but I was really only concerned with the awesome location, if you couldn't get it by now.
So the apartment is working out great, but as I started to say before, I was without internet for several weeks at the beginning. Out of the five of us living here, three of my roommates' computers have been able to connect to an open, unsecured wireless network from the beginning, although a bit inconsistent; for whatever reason, mine and one roommate's computer were incompatible with the network or just couldn't detect it, respectively. If I wanted to use internet, I had to use one of their computers. Therefore, I used them mainly when they weren't home, and otherwise I had very limited internet access. So that contributed to the substantial delay in blog posts.
However, you might be asking yourself, why didn't I take it upon myself to get internet. Well, I did, but it took a long time. I may or may not have mentioned this in previous posts, but even if I did they were so long ago that you don't remember: there are many aspects of Brazilian society that are a joke. They're extremely inefficient and bureaucratic in many processes, such as the process of getting internet. Because the open network we had been getting was at times weak and inconsistent, all of my roommates agreed we should go get our own network, but because I had no internet at all I had the most urgency. But Brazil didn't make it easy for us from the start. We couldn't just walk into an internet store with our passports and sign a contract for a couple of months, for example. Apparently Brazil changed its rule a while ago that you needed a CPF in order to get internet, which is like a Brazilian social security number. So, the first step was getting a CPF number; only one of us needed it. One roommate went to whatever government agency provides temporary CPFs for students or foreigners to apply, and, surprisingly, was told the CPF would be ready the next day. The reason I say surprisingly is because I, along with my roommates, had expected it would take much longer to process the CPF; it took three weeks for the university to make my student ID for crying out loud, where in the States it takes 5 minutes. But, unsurprisingly, when my roommate returned the next day, the agency told him that the system was down and that he would have to come back on Monday (it was Friday). At first it didn't seem that bad, but even at the time it was still a whole weekend without internet, and afterward it still took weeks to actually get the internet.
So, we finally got the CPF the next week, and over the next few days checked into internet stores for plans and prices. The best and easiest option was to get an internet modem stick that plugged in to a USB port in the computer. We found the best, cheapest plan and were told that we needed a CPF, passport, and proof of residence (we used our apartment contract). We brought the items into the store, sat down with an agent, and were all set to finalize a purchase, but wait. We gave the agent the CPF, but he asked for the card. What card, we asked. The CPF we had was a slip of paper with CPF number, essentially a receipt. The agent said he couldn't get us the internet without the actual card; he couldn't accept what we had. We had just gotten the CPF, but the agent said that the CPF card took an additional 20 days to process. There it is.
This irritated me a lot; this couldn't have been the first time that foreign students or others just in Brazil temporarily had needed to get internet, right? What had they done? Did they need to wait three weeks to a month? I asked one of my teachers here what to do, and he said to try another store, because other stores might not have the same requirements and might be easier, etc. I ended up trying many other stores, but all gave me different answers and were very inconsistent; one store said I needed an extra official document, most stores only sold plans with a year contract, which was ridiculous since I only needed internet for a little over two months, some were very expensive, etc. So, at this point, over two weeks had passed and I still had no internet. I wasn't sure where to go from there, and I began to doubt whether I would ever be able to get internet, probably at the earliest once that stupid CPF card was finally ready. I decided to ask my teacher to help me get it, although I hate asking for things like that, but luckily he agreed. We scheduled a few times to try to get it done, and, finally, after an additional week of cancellations due to unexpected meetings and things of that nature, I got one of those internet modems. Since that point, the internet has generally worked ok, but ever since I first used it in my computer, I've had various computer problems and I've been unable to watch videos. Even when I had an internet connection at Maria's, the internet was very slow there and I couldn't watch videos. I thought this would be an upgrade, but no dice. Videos work fine on the open network that my roommates get, of course. I'm going to stop before I light myself on fire.
After the apartment move and that internet ordeal, the next biggest event was Alissa and Todd's visit, which just ended last night. They flew down to Rio and visited for about two weeks. It was really nice to see them. I had a great time with them, and hopefully they had a nice time too. We hung out in Rio for most of the first week; I tried to show them around a little bit and have them experience the good things about Rio. We went to the big flea market downtown, hit the beaches a few times, saw a soccer game at Maracana stadium, took an organized favela (slum) tour, ate some nice meals, and did quite a bit of walking along the beach and other city streets. They also went up the Sugarloaf mountain and did some things that I don't quite remember on the two days that I had to go to school (ask them about it). The weather was inconsistent throughout the trip; some days were sunny and very nice, others were cloudy, cool, or raining. We spent the first five days in Rio before traveling to Buzios, a beach vacation area a few hours away. We had a nice time there, walking around and going to several of the beaches. Buzios is very touristy, and is very pleasant to walk around. They have some very nice restaurants and shops; the main nightlife district is very popular. We ate at a Thai restaurant one night that I think is one of my top 5 restaurants of all time; I was very impressed. I thought at first maybe I had rushed to that decision, but now that it's a week later, I still think about it longingly. Maybe I still need to put some more thought into it, but it's definitely up there. The entire menu looked excellent; it was just a bit pricey, and passing up on dessert was a depressing decision. I'm going to remember it for a long time.
After Buzios, we spent the daylight hours in a nearby town called Cabo Frio, which is also a popular vacation spot known for its beaches. We were on a very pretty beach for a few hours, but the day wasn't too nice; cloudy and a bit chilly. We headed back to Rio for the night, and early the next morning left again for a short trip to Ilha Grande, or Big Island, which is a very pretty island that I had heard great things about. Unfortunately, the bus there took twice as long as it was supposed to, and the ferry to the island only runs three times per day, so we missed the day on the island and didn't get there until it was dark. The weather on the island was fine during the day, but bad at night. Each night it was rainy, cold, and windy, and the place that we stayed at was inconveniently located so that getting there in hard rain was actually treacherous. Let's just say that we got very wet and may have lost some shoes. The island is such that there are no cars, and most beaches are accessible by boat only; it's a very big island, with a plethora of beaches to choose from. We weren't there for very long, and so didn't have the opportunity to see very many beaches, but we were irritated the final day when we bought boat trips to a certain part of the island but two separate people directed us to the wrong boat; it took us to the same beach that we had been to the day before, which we shouldn't be complaining about because it was a very pretty beach, but we would have liked to see another part of the island since we had limited time there. We left the island the final evening just before the rain started, as the wind picked up and the clouds became very ominous. But it was a relaxing trip full of beaches, and the island also had some nice restaurants and shops; it definitely would have been nice to see more, though.
We were back in Rio for the last two days, taking advantage of the nice weather one day to hit the beach yet again and seeing the botanical gardens, and we also had a nice Shabbat dinner with the wonderful family of a Chabad rabbi here in Rio. We spent the final day walking around Copacabana although it was cloudy and too chilly for the beach, and Alissa and Todd had to leave in the evening for their overnight flight. All in all, it was a successful trip; I think they were a bit sick of Brazil by the end, though. I still love it here, but I do miss America.
Alissa has most of the pictures from our trip; maybe we can get them posted on here some time shortly.
Much else has happened here over the past two months, but it's been so long that I can't remember all of it on the spot. Since the beach has been so much more convenient from the apartment, I've been there frequently. I've also seen a few museums: the National History Museum and Fine Arts Museum. I really liked the National History Museum, and the Fine Arts Museum was nice too, but several wings were closed for renovation and so I wasn't able to see all of the highlights. I also spent a day on an island about an hour's boat ride from Rio in the bay, which also has no cars, and so I rented a bike and rode around it. It was very pretty; there are really nice views of the bay and surrounding mountains. It was probably the first time I've ridden a bike in about four years. The other main event I can remember is a weekend trip at the end of April to
The last main development recently is that it looks like I'll be heading to Uruguay for about one month after the semester ends here in July to work a little bit. Since before I came to Rio, I had been talking to some companies and trying to get a job or internship here in Brazil once school ended, but the process has been very slow and complicated, so a while back I started talking with this Uruguayan firm, and it has been much easier. This firm in Uruguay is a small investment bank; I think it will be a nice experience. It's not quite a done deal yet, but it looks like it will happen. I would have preferred to stay in Brazil for a little longer, but this opportunity seems quite exciting as well. I'll likely be there for 4 or 5 weeks, and return home to the States in mid-August.
Also, the World Cup starts this Friday, which I have been looking forward to the entire time that I've been here. It should be incredible. I've heard that when Brazil has a game the entire city stops; businesses close, buses stop running, school is canceled, etc. Brazil's first game isn't until Tuesday the 15th, but the decorations are out in full force. Brazil's colors are all over the place. I still need to get a jersey to watch the games. It should be great, unless Brazil loses, in which case I'll probably fear for my life.
That's the major news for now. I have many photos that I'd still like to get up; I still haven't even posted the photos from my trip with Rachel. I'm not sure the internet connection will cooperate, but hopefully they'll be up soon. I'll try to be more frequent in posting over these next few months as the trip is winding down, but by now your expectations are so low that there's no way that's exciting. In any case, I apologize for the long hiatus, but I hope to be back now. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the onset of summer. Doesn't it feel nice?
