Geeky Yet Waterproof

You’ve probably noticed that as it is now the year 2009, last night was New Year’s Eve. And in this country, people like New Year’s Eve.
I’ve never spent New Year in a hot place before, so this was a new experience. For at least a week, people have been setting off scarily loud fireworks every few minutes 24/7. No matter where they are in this city, you can hear them. When we first got here, I thought there was a rebellion going on and people kept exploding grenades.
Another thing I forgot to mention earlier (which doesn’t have anything to do with the New Year) is that about every 4th car that goes down the street here has a custom ear-blasting speaker system and drives along with the back hatch open and about 3 people hanging off. It’s so loud it can thump your chest from up here on the 2nd floor with the window facing away from the street.

Anyway, back to December 31st. Avó, Zi, and Clovis were making food all day, and by the evening we had more than a table completely full of delicious food… ham, fruit, rice, fruit, salad, fruit, fruit, beans, fruit, pudding, champagne, and fruit. And there was even some fruit.

When all was ready, we had to carry it all up to Iza’s uncle’s apartment on floor 5, where we’d be having dinner after midnight. Once all the food had been delivered (after three trips by six people), we stayed there for a while watching the sea of people from above before going down to the beach. It was insane — the crosswalk directly below looked like Times Square, and there was a group of people dancing in the middle of the street. They were following a car that blasting music and driving about 3mph (it couldn’t go any faster because of all the people). It was just like a parade — an improvised one!
And when we went down to the beach just before midnight, there were at least two million people all dressed in white. There is a tradition here that you have to dress in white on New Year’s Eve for good luck.
When the hour struck, two million people busted open bottles of champagne and exploded off fireworks all at once. (Actually it all happened over the course of about two minutes, because nobody’s clocks were the same.) Cassio aimed his glass champagne cannon right at me, and I took the full blow of it. My white t-shirt was suddenly tie-die!
After we had each drank at least a full bottle (though for the “children” it was non-alcoholic), we all ran over to the ocean for another local custom: everyone had to step in the water and jump seven waves, making a wish with each one. After the seventh, you must run backwards until you’re far from the water, without letting the eight wave touch you. (What happens if the eight wave touches you? Do you die in a fiery ball of flames? I wasn’t sure, so I didn’t risk it…)
After this was completed, we went back to Tio Claudio’s apartment to feast. There is another tradition that you must first eat a plate of seven different grains (rice, lentils, etc.), and only after that can you eat whatever you want. Zi explained this to me in Portuguese, but when she mentioned “sete grãos” (seven grains), I thought she said “sete graus”, (seven degrees) which I took to mean seven courses. You can eat whatever you want after you finish seven courses! Fortunately Iza explained it all to me in English before I erred.
It wasn’t until around 1:45am that we headed back to Iza’s apartment, all of us weighing about 10 pounds heavier.

Obviously, the next day we didn’t get up until around noon, and then we relaxed and digested for most of the day. In the afternoon, Iza, Cintia, Pamela (Iza’s cousin), and I drove 2.5 hours to Guarujá, so we could turn in our tickets for the Ivete Sangalo concert that would take place there on Saturday! (Ivete is sort of like Madonna here in Brazil, at least in terms of popularity). We also had to pick up some bright green shirts which we’d need to get in to the concert — they’re sort of like big, really green tickets. Our task took 10 minutes, and then we drove 2.5 hours back home, excited for the concert.

Today we got up early, packed our clothes and embarked on a two-hour drive to the beach apartment, where we’ll be staying for the next 10 days. The apartment is away from São Paulo, and it’s right on a beach called Praia Grande — Long Beach.
The beach here is really nice. It’s several miles long and… it’s warm! I know, beaches are usually supposed to be like that, but… it’s warm!! You can swim! In case you didn’t know, in Oregon, beaches weren’t made for swimming. In fact, they weren’t made for taking off your coat. But this is a real beach… a swimming beach.
Soon after we got there, Iza and I went for a bike ride on the beach to see what’s there. We went all the way to the military base at the end, where we decided it would be a good idea to turn around.
Later Cassio and I went upstairs to the game room, where we played fusbol against some other tenants (whom we beat soundly), and then we played ping-pong, or pingue-pongue (at which I beat him 10-6 twice!).
When it got dark, all of us had pizza with Clovis’s family in their apartment, several floors up. We hung around for a while and ate and talked, then Iza, Cintia, Cassio, and I walked down the street to a little restaurant and had açaí. Açaí is a Brazilian dessert kind of like pudding made from fruit, and it usually has pieces of another fruit on top (like banana).
Afterwards we went home and everyone went to bed early (12:30am…) so we could try to get up early for the next day.

Although it was at the time still Winter here in Oregon, I spent the last weekend at the beach in Waldport with Iza, her family, and Mark’s cop friend with his two (younger) boys.
The ocean water being about -200°, we didn’t go wading past about two inches, but we roasted marshmallows on a camp fire and made (many) s’mores.

On the way back, I got a few rather frightening photos when we stopped at a friend’s house for a barbecue…