Geeky Yet Waterproof

On Tuesday we got up early to pack our bags, and drove back to São Paulo. In the evening, we went to the mall to do some “last” Christmas shopping.

The next day after going to the bank and putting my Starbucks card in the ATM (don’t ask), we went to what Iza called “the worst place in São Paulo”. It’s a place with lots of shops and street vendors, but almost everything being sold is illegal. She said that if she tells me to run, just run… Because every once in a while they have police raids, where the police come and sweep through the streets, confiscating all the illegal goods! She said that just the last time they were there, this happened and everyone had to run away!
When we got there, one of the first things we saw were two stores where EVERYTHING inside is illegal. In fact, Iza said that the owner of one of them is currently in jail.
We walked down the street for a while, going into shops to do January 7th Christmas Shopping. We saw a lot of Carnaval stuff, some of which we both tried on (don’t ask).
After a while, it got terribly hot so we hastened to the Municipal, which is basically a huge building full of food. Here we ate Mortadela, which is a kind of meat but in a Brazilian style sandwich.
That night, I went out with Iza, Cintia, and Cassio and afterwards we went to a little restaurant and had the biggest freaking hot dogs I’ve ever seen. I think there were four dogs inside the bun, and it was all sealed closed with grilled cheese… but it was delicious!

Rua 25 de Março

Rua 25 de Março

Mortadela at Municipal

The Hot Dog

On Friday we made a second attempt to drive to the waterfall which we failed to reach the other day because of the bridge. Again we failed, again because of the bridge, which again had broken. So instead, we made reservations to go canoeing in the river for three hours that afternoon.
After we had lunch and poked around some shops (one of which had three crabs hanging outside on a string, with one still alive), we headed over to the river which was nearby. There were four canoes in the water, because some other people were doing the same as us, along with a (very high-strung) guide. There were two or three people to each boat, and in our boat were Zi, Iza, and me in the middle taking pictures instead of helping to paddle.
Within the first minute after we embarked, we crashed into some trees and didn’t know how to get out. It took us several minutes to get unstuck, and the guide had to yell instructions to us from another boat. But we didn’t feel foolish from this for long, after we watched Cintia and Cassio crash over and over again, then try to catch up to the rest of us by putting on extra speed, passing everybody and ending up in front, and then as soon as the next curve would come up… *thwack*.
I was surprised to see that all along the shore on both sides of the river were little red crabs. Most of them were just sitting in the mud, but some were several feet up in trees. No wonder everybody kept running into the banks… they wanted to see the crabs!
And whenever we stopped our paddling and listened, it was never quiet! There was a constant hum of tropical insects and animals, and in some places, the distant sound of live forró music being played.
Eventually we came into a big open area where there were lots of people swimming, and then to a sandy bank on the edge of the open sea. We landed here, and everybody got out to walk around on the sand for about half an hour. Iza and I went swimming, and I made some embarrassing attempts to walk on my hands in the surf before we all reentered our boats and paddled back up the river to where we had started.
After everyone had gotten out of their respective canoes, someone explained to me in labored English how banana trees work. They don’t produce seeds, so while the tree is producing bananas another stock grows up from the base, which eventually becomes the new tree. When the bananas are ripe, somebody comes and cuts off the whole bunch, then cuts down the old stock, which can no longer produce fruit. Now I understand why Iza’s uncle cut down the banana tree after harvesting the bananas…

I hope you’ll forgive me for re ridiculously long sabbatical, but I’m going to jump-start this blog right back up in the present tense. I’m currently on the 3rd of my eight hours layover at JFK in New York, waiting for my 10:30pm flight to Brazil to visit Iza for 3 weeks! It’s ironic that there’s no working wifi in the busiest airport in the world, so I’m blogging from my iPhone over the cell network.

Anyway, the roads back in Oregon were maliciously decorated with black ice last night, so we had to leave home at 2am to get to PDX in time for my 6:30am flight! I didn’t get to bed until midnight because I wasn’t done packing, so I’m running on about two hours of sleep right now.
I don’t know how often I’ll be able to blog while I’m down there, but I’ll be uploading photos as often as I can. Links thereto will be posted here, so check back whenever the urge strikes… Over and out!

Last Saturday, we showed up at morning practice, and the pool deck was so cold we could see our breath. It was ridiculous. We all did abs bundled up in jackets and sweatpants. We couldn’t even rest more than a minute in between sets, lest we freeze to death.

But afterwards we all headed to Raymond’s house for breakfast! And what started out as breakfast gradually turned into a music festival. I guess it all started when I picked up a guitar, Raymond picked up a violin, Sammi picked up a harmonica, and Allison picked up a clarinet, and everyone started playing at the same time. Yes, it sounded like a terrible orchestra warming up… But we didn’t care! (When you think you have talent, nothing can change your mind!)

That night we all went to Tori’s house for dinner. And guess what? We invited Kaitlin Sandeno (Olympic Gold, Silver, and Bronze medalist) who happened to be in town for a swim clinic at Willamette.
It was fun, because she fit right in with our group. After a very early Thanksgiving dinner, we all played a completely insane game called Six (which resulted in, among other damages, a fork getting bent in half). But the entertainment didn’t stop there: I brought two guitars and Raymond brought his guitar and violin, and we performed a spontaneous duet in front of the group. It was amazing how musical we had all become since that morning…!
We also got to hear firsthand stories about all the US Olympic swimmers. Brooke was asking about a certain famous swimmer whom we shall call “Joe”:

“What is he like??”
“Well, he’s not exactly stupid, but…”

We all had a great time looking at/putting on her medals, hearing all her stories, and just getting to know an Olympic swimmer. At around 10:30pm, we all started heading home, full of turkey, guitar music, and Olympians’ phone numbers (in some cases).

In all seriousness, sometimes we seem to forget all seriousness. What started out as a simple line drill turned into… ARRGH!!

Concerning video blog posts

A few weeks ago I got to see some of my high school friends again, because Sarah was having a party at the neighborhood pool. Morning practice that day had cured me almost completely of the urge to swim, but the heat of the day and the blue water prevailed over my will.
After a while we were all starting to freeze, so we got out and sat around a fire eating hamburgers and roasting s’mores. I tried to break my previous record of two hamburgers and seven s’mores in a row, but I only made it to six s’mores this time, because — thank goodness — after some time they took away the s’more materials.

When it was dark, we were all sitting around trying to think of scary stories to tell each other, but didn’t progress much farther than, “Somebody should say something scary!” — that is, until Troyce suddenly exclaimed, “Did Eamon bring the Mercedes?!” And before I knew it, Troyce, Joe, and somebody I didn’t know were marching out to go “sit” in my car.

As we were all sitting in the dark car blasting Franz Ferdinand through the speakers, somebody had the idea that “we should go to 7-Eleven and get a slurpy to pour on Sarah!” So we drove half a mile to the 7-Eleven to complete this mission. When we got back, we responded to Sarah’s “can I have a sip?” with, “of course!” *pssssshshhhhhh*.
It was a great success.

But soon afterwards, I discovered my cell phone had gone missing from my pocket. We looked for it all over the car, but unfortunately it was on vibrate mode, so calling it didn’t do any good. I figured it would turn up eventually, so I borrowed someone’s phone to let my parents and Iza know I didn’t have my own with me.
Later, some of my friends started calling (on the other phone) to say they’d been getting constant foul messages from my phone. At first I thought someone from the party must have taken it as a joke, but after further investigation nobody seemed to have it. It then dawned on me that it might have fallen out of my pocket at the 7-Eleven and somebody took it.

I won’t take the time to explain the steps we took in trying to figure out if somebody at the 7-Eleven did indeed take it, but unfortunately that was the case and I’m currently (partially) phoneless. So until an iPhone finds its way magically into my hands, should you need to contact me, call my old number but with a 6 instead of a 3 at the end. (The number of my sister’s phone, which I stole BORROWED for an extended period of time).

I can’t believe we’re actually in Rome. The civilization we’ve been studying for the past seven years, and now we’re at the center of it.

We went out to explore Rome early in the morning, and came back at about 8pm. We took the Hop-On busses intermittently with walking, and we saw a lot of amazing things today. We passed by the Castel Sant’Angelo at least three times, at which a battle scene took place in my dad’s book, The Fall of Rome.

The first places where we stopped were two very old churches. What was incredible was that at one of them, we saw the pillar at which Jesus was flogged.

When we were done looking around and being amazed with that, we briefly stopped by the former controlling center of civilization: the Roman Forum. Of course it’s all in ruins now, but there’s still a lot left. This was the first time I’d seen ancient Roman ruins that are actually in Rome, and it was stunning to see them in person. The ruins are not just in Rome — they were the heart of the known world!

But we didn’t stay long, because one of the most famous monuments ever was staring us right in the face: the Colosseum. We’ve all seen it a million times in movies and video games, but there’s nothing like seeing it in person. It feels unreal walking down a cobblestone street and seeing the great ruins right in front of you. There were even Roman soldiers wandering around, although a few of them were smoking cigarettes…
When, for four extra euros, we had instantly conquered the endless line to get in, we decided to take a guided tour of the inside. The wooden floor is no longer there, but what was underneath it remains: a series of stone corridors in which the gladiators and animals would wait their turn to kill or be killed. People now aren’t allowed in these former subterranean corridors, but you can go on any other of the four levels, including the top.
In ancient times, the wealthy citizens would sit near the bottom of the amphitheater, while the poorer ones would sit near the top. We saw the exact spot where the Caesars used to sit and watch — at the very bottom. I can understand why they call the top the “Nosebleed Section”, but I think they should call the very bottom just the “Blood Section”, because it’s so close to the action you could get splattered!

We spent two hours exploring the Colosseum, although it felt like 45 minutes. We could have stayed a lot longer, but when you’re in Rome for three days, you want to be able to see everything. So (after waiting half an hour for a non-existent bus), we walked half a mile to the Circus Maximus — the ancient hippodrome where public games would take place, and most importantly, the chariot races. It’s a massive venue that could accommodate 250,000+ spectators. Behind it you can see the imperial palace, and down inside you can see… joggers. You may remember a few days ago I said that Barcelona is “a mix of the old and the new”, but it’s nothing as extreme as Rome.

After marveling over this, we waited another 45 minutes for the tour bus (it turned out one had broken down, leaving only two operating in all of Rome), which we stayed on for a while until it started to get dark. Some of it was the same route we had taken before, but there’s just so much out there that we saw something new each time we passed by — including the actual place where Julius Caesar was murdered.

When dusk (and hunger) fell upon us, we sat outside a little restaurant and had pizza (I think I ate six pieces) and later gelato. Those dang Romans not only know how to rule the world, but they also know how to eat!
Tomorrow is our last day in Rome before we leave. I’m not sure exactly what we’ll be doing, but we’ll definitely tour the Castel Sant’Angelo and the Forum. Here comes another wave of 400+ photos…

On Saturday night we had a high school swim team party at Sirenia’s house. I had never been there before, but I was surprised to discover that it was 1.2 miles from where I live!

The main game was a relay, which consisted of several generic party events (such as carrying a LifeSaver on a straw in your mouth), but with the inclusion of a Challenge from Hell™: Debra concocted a Drink of Doom from ice cream, tarter sauce, cottage cheese, nacho cheese?, Tabasco, pretzels, ketchup, and more (the drink was pink and chunky, suspiciously similar to vomit).
Once did I taste the infernal Drink, yet thrice did I almost taste my lunch again. I’ve eaten some very questionable things in my life, but this was the closest thing to death that has ever entered my mouth.

After the relays there were plates of whipped cream set out, with a piece of bubble gum buried in each. We had to dig in with our face and find the bubble gum, then be the first to blow a bubble.
It wasn’t pretty.

After everyone had gotten cleaned up and things were starting to slow down, five of us went on a “walk”, which ended up being a 1.2 mile excursion to my house. The only problem was we forgot to tell people that we’d be gone for a while, so apparently they sent a rescue party up the road looking for us… Needless to say, they weren’t too thrilled when we came back an hour later in a van, refreshed and wondering what was all the commotion.

On Tuesday we had our last high school meet before Districts, and it was against West. This was an interesting meet, partly because I swam the 200 IM and… 100 breaststroke. My 200 IM time wasn’t phenomenal, but I broke the school record by about 0.1 (with a 2:11.56).
My 100 breaststroke was also frighteningly close, because I won by 4 hundredths of a second — I got a 1:10.57, while 2nd place got 1:10.61.

We all decided that if our team would win the meet, we’d go out to Red Robin afterwards. As it turned out, West won. But we’re all winners at heart, so we went to Red Robin anyway!

And we saw the most awesome bird…