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Here I am in Atlanta Georgia, in the land of plenty, eating a Burrito (yay!) overhearing a man talk about how he had to bribe his way out of Moscow, amongst other experiences.

The flight was long (10 hours) but a friendly Aussie was sitting next to me. Strange understanding people around me. Except the girls working in the Mexican Grill, I had trouble understanding their accent! Adorable kind of drawl though.

And the hair do she had! My God! I'm going to try and get a picture.

From the air - all the suburban houses are the same - white walls, dark roofs, flying in, and the contrast in infrastructure against Brazils is stunning.

I flew right over a lot of paradise though on the way, and the Amazon as well.

The power plant coming into Atlanta was right out of the simpsons, complete with the lake sitting right snug beside it.

There was this massive church, surrounded by equally massive parking lots. Only served to increase my morbid fascination with this part of the United States.

Immigration was tough, the guy was really suspicious (just doing his job I know) and I kind of had to tell a fib and say that I wasn't working in Brazil.

Anyway it scares me to think of how much paper is used to wipe American hands here in washrooms, with reels of it pouring out of sensor-matic automatic rollers, not to mention the automatic taps and toilets!

The contrast with Rio is stunning.

There are two other people with Apple laptops right here in this food court.

There are lots of military guys around.

I flirted with the baggage usher lady, when I asked whether I should put some pants on [cause it's cold] she said I could do what I like but she thinks I should stay just like that. LOL I was wearing my shorts (short ones) and my orange adidas jacket. It's was chilly in the airplane boom thingo.

Using first wireless connection since leaving Australia.

The feelings of contrast I'm having right now with the 'developed world' vs the 'developing' is, again, quite stunning.

The teen girl across from me is chatting chit chat to her friend somewhere across the country, asking her friend how to spell Georgia ("Is it with a J?") cause she needs to text this 'dude' where she is. And she doesn't wanna go back to school, Bro. And she's gotta spend 10 whole hours in Salt Lake City.

Last night I went to Lapa with my Volley mates. Carlo(ta) decided he wants an iPod after all, and I also ended up drinking more than I intended, and dancing samba outside the club in the street (so we don't pay for entry) and then going home for 2 hours sleep before heaving myself out of bed, finishing packing (still part drunk) and then getting down the street for a toasted ham and cheese sandwich and orange juice before settling into a taxi to take me to Ilha Governador. The lady in the shop "Hobby" gave me a sad little wave as I settled into the taxi with my bags, I returned it, but couldn't tell her 'I'll be back!!!'. That will have to be a surprise.

I did feel sad leaving Rio, even only for this short time, and seeing all of it [Rio] from my nice window seat all at once made me remember all the things I'd done down there, and all the things I haven't too.

I was feeling a bit blue too because my trainer who I respect very much took a turn on me last night, really sudden, with no explanation. I've got a feeling it's not entirely my fault, but it still is very odd an in my opinion uncalled for. I forgive him already but I will still ask for an explanation for the coldness towards me.
Anyway I won't think about it. The other time this happened everything was normal the next time I saw him. Other friends said he's just 'maluco' and I shouldn't worry.

Now there's a 'bofe' model on his way back from Mexico City, who has a call time at 5.30 tomorrow. He's dressed fashionably in jacket and beret, got the same phone as me, and is eating something healthy looking from "Natures Table Bistro". He's also making smaller small talk than the girl before (if that's possible) to a man friend somewhere back home.

Now the man across from me is talking College football with his wife who is doing her very best to seem interested. Snaps for her! That's love. Maybe it's the Luis Vuitton she's toting? She's kind of a Sandra Bullock. They're talking about the how the pilots and flight attendants are all screwing - meanwhile wives and kids are back at home. "Nasty".

The black guys behind me are talking about shooting squirrels in their Georgian accents. They work for Delta.

They're ringing a bell in TGI Fridays.

Uploading NYE photos to flickr. Some of them (you know the ones - yes the ones with my head in the drink bucket) are quite embarrassing! I'm consciously not editing them though. It happened, it's reality. I'll deal with it. Don't mention it though!

Looking back on my photos from the last couple of months, I'm kind of unhappy that the barber chopped off all my curls! Looking forward to having them back.

Whenever I meet a Canadian or North American, they always think that I'm English, because my accent isn't like other Australian people I've met. This happens a lot. Is it true?

I'd better stick to a budget here [in the US], because I don't want to run out of money at the end of the month again in Rio. And money can get gobbled up quite fast here!

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Well the check in guy in Rio must have totally been pintosa because he left me a nice surprise tucked in my boarding pass wallet for me to find in Atlanta.

See, I boarded first and turned left at the entrance and sat in first class from Atlanta to San Francisco. And all I did was show a bit of leg! Short shorts investment paying off +++

... Cheeky bugger - now I know why he tucked it right inside the sleeve without showing me! And when I read it in Atlanta I just assumed I was reading it wrong... not believing my eyes!

Mind you this is budget airline first class, and it's really business class, but it's certainly much more comfortable.

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Ok and a --- for Delta for leaving my bag in Atlanta! The cold here [in SF] when I walked outside was brutal. And of course I was still in my short shorts, as I only had even more garish pajama pants to change into! I ended up chasing down a bus (lucky I was in my running gear now) headed for downtown, and I read my Brazilian grammar book on the way, even though I was only a few hours short of delirium, and I listened and contributed to helping the other passengers get to where they needed to go <3 <3 <3

Off the bus, a homeless guy asked me for change, then asked me if my 'legs were cold, man!'. I told him the airline left my bag in Georgia but didn't elaborate because a) my legs were freezing and I wanted to get to the hostel and b) even now I 'aint got problems compared with this guy. At least I gave him a laugh.

A hot shower! A little skyping and then I was in bed.

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Awake from a short but refreshing sleep of 4 hours. Spoke in Japanese to the guy in my room, but Portuguese came out once! What's going on!!!!
Need to practice Japanese more.

Labels: first impressions, travel

I couldnt remember where I was for NYE last year, so I checked my flickr and blog to jolt my memory. I remember now, I played Wii at atariboys place, and then went to the house party at Gearons. Remember getting drunk and mixing really bad cocktails, and seeing some distant fireworks, dancing to JT, and then going home around 4.

This year here I am in Copacabana. It looks as though its going to be quite *maluco* or crazy tonight. My friends, who could probably play volleyball in their sleep, are going to follow through on their tradition of putting on skirts and heels and play in those, for the enjoyment of the millions of passerbys.

The weather is fine, and Ill make sure I get some photos to post.

Ill try to sum up my life for the past few months.
In Octover I moved out of that noisy and expensive apartment and moved into a small granny flat on the ground floor of an apartment where I could stay for free until the 20th of December. I met the owner on the beach!

Moved out of there into another part of town, Gloria, which is closer to the centre of town, and Im renting the place from one of the volley ball players from the beach. Hes in Recife for 2.5 months. Hes old, so the place smells of ammonia, theres no hot water, but surprisingly I dont miss it. Things were going well until the internet stopped working, and the unpaid notice arrived. And what with this being this time of year, it doesnt look as though I will have much internet access at home until... unfortunately I cant say! This is troubling.

Ive been continuing my workouts with Paulo as my personal trainer, and Im settling into the Carioca lifestyle, eating lots of rice and beans, chicken, red meat, as well as guzzling lots of Skol, Antartica and Itaipava, and regrettably my fair share of Coca Cola. Even chocolate has been on the menu here and there. Basically Im not thinking about what Im eating much.

Went to Unidos de Tijuca on Sat night, it was full to the brim of samba dancing pintosas! It was fun and I think Ive got the basic movements down. Need to practice though. I had a personal moment dancing samba with a caprihinia in hand wearing board shorts with hundreds sweating around you while the fireworks went off overhead (and even a few bits dropping into the crowd).The bus trip home was quite a ride and while waiting for it to arrive (buses run all night here) we took this hilarious photo of me lying down across everyones laps with me doing the peace sign at one end and my sneakers sticking out at the other. I had a good giggle before I got on the bus.

THE WEEK is the hot spot as far as clubs go, and 00 (Zero Zero) is pretty swanky too, but theyre both pretty much full of Rios rich elite... and the places themselves, well lets just say that they resemble in atmosphere and music and patronage what you would see in Melbourne or Sydney. Nice, but same same. And they are prohibitivly expensive for most of the poplulation, most of my friends included. I went once to THE WEEK, but doubt I will go again to a place thats like what we have back home (except that the DJs are CDDJs! ugh!) when I can visit things that we dont have, like the Samba schools and the Lapa area street party.

If youre craving more (yeah right) check my flickr photos, they are updated much more regularly than this blog.

Feliz novo ano para vocês.

P.S I can feel my Portugese getting better!

Labels: copacabana, NYE, revelion