Negotiations...the convo I have been dreading...

This morning's convo with my mom via Skype...

Mom: So you are going to be staying with us for 3 months....whoah...how are we gonna manage?

Me: Well, we will have to work it out....but a couple of things. I don't need my coffeemaker, but I do need the microwave.

Mom: I will have to re-arrange the kitchen for it, but I guess it'll be okay.

Me: And also, I must use the shower head. I know you all are afraid of mildew and prefer us to only take baths, but there is no way I can do my hair without the shower. The shower and the microwave, I need compromise on those.

Mom: Well, just shower with the window open and we'll see....your dad doesn't like folks taking showers cause the paint starts peeling, but I guess it will work out.

Me: Fine. So how's grandma?

Mom: She's okay, but she refuses to get a new stove and her oven doesn't work. So I have to fry up all her chicken and fish instead of baking it.

Me: Why don't you just bake it at home and then take it to her house? Its healthier.

Mom: And cook meat in my house!! Oh no!!

Me: Umm, mom...what do you think F. and I are going to do?

Mom: I thought you were going to stop eating meat again.

Me: Well, I plan on it, but F. isn't a vegetarian, and I am not feeding him frozen chicken dinners for three months.

Mom: Well, I hate handling raw meat, but I will have to cook the meat cause you don't know how to handle it without contaminating my kitchen.

Me: Mom, I am a 35 year old woman with a teenage son (not true...I'm 33 and he is 11, but this was my "I'm a grown azz woman" rant) and this is what I have been doing for 15 years now, cooking my own food. I cook healthy meals for my family. I intend to continue cooking for my family.

Mom: Well, we will have to see.

Me: What do you expect us to do?

Mom: *silence

Me: *silence

Mom: Well I guess I will have to go up behind you and re sanitize my kitchen after you are done contaminating it.

Me: Well, if that's what you need to do...

Mom: hmph...

Me: *bratty only child smile

That went well, I think......

Some randomness (1)

F. and I have been here for about 3 weeks now (seems like longer than that) and we have not ventured out too much due to my sick episodes and me needing to get some work done. We are heading out to Rio for a week and I hope to do some exploring while there (even though this is a business trip too...I need to travel for pleasure...). I thought I'd share a little bit of our day to day in Salvador....we spend a good amount of time on the beach....

We also spend a lot of time in restaurants....one of my favorite meals is moqueca de camarao with vatapa (shrimp stew with a manioc paste dish)...

I am enjoying getting re-acquainted with my favorite snack food....

Amendoims Japones (Japanese style peanuts...do they eat these in Japan?)

We even made it out to Pelourinho on Saturday and the Cidade Baixa (Lower City) today. We were too busy trying to not step in urine to take pics in Cidade Baixa (they need some porto potties in this area for real), but here we are standing in the area that Olodum performs in twice a week....a nearby cafe serves iced cappuccinos and F. just had to have one....


We ran into the owner of Sankofa African Bar (I met him last year) and he told us that they now serve African cuisine for lunch and dinner...there is also a culinary school that serves Bahian food in the neighborhood, so we will definitely be back...

F. and I are both taking language classes as well. His pronunciation is spot-on, according to the teacher, and I am challenging myself by trying to read "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" and "City of God" in the original Portuguese....Freire's "Pedagogia do Oprimido" is easier than Lins' "Cidade de Deus"....I honestly only half understand the latter, but it feels cool to be reading a novel in a language besides English, lol!!! Its storming now, and my son claims he is starving, so I gotta make some moves....I will try to do something adventurous while in Rio...stay tuned!!!

Finally

I have been wanting to blog for about a week now, but my Internet access has been sketchy, at best. F. and I made it to Salvador last Tuesday morning, and spent the first two days just getting acclimated. We arrived during one of the most rainy periods in a while, and if you have ever tried to battle rain coming off of an ocean, you know who is winning that battle. Needless to say my straight hairdo was one of the casualties of the rainstorm.

One of my umbrellas was another. It is so funny that you can see umbrella carcasses left abandoned on the streets. I, being the conscientious steward of the earth that I am (or at least try to be) traded mine in at a local store for a new one.

F. and I braved the rains for a number of days, then became impatient when we had to wait Wed., Thursday, Friday, and Saturday for the folks to come to install Internet (evidently in Brazil, saying you will arrive at 11, then 1, then 5 really means that you will not come at all…and you thought CPT was bad…)Then on Saturday night I started feeling a little, unwell….by Sunday morning I was full fledged sick…either Traveler's Stomach or some type of food poisoning, I'm not sure which. I thought I would self medicate with some ginger root tea and watermelon,

but that did not work out to well. I will spare you the details, but it was not pretty. I think the culprit was some horrific pizza that I bought at the Bompreco (a chain owned by Walmart). From now on, I am going to be even more selective about what I buy and where I buy it from. I will bite the bullet and shop at Pereni, a more upscale store (think Whole Food's, Papa Joe's, or Trader Joe's). I also might start eating fish and seafood when I go out cause I am tired of eating cheese pastries (the only non-meat dish I can find besides beans and rice). F. was such a dear the whole time, helping me out the best he could, not complaining when all I could do was make some beans and rice for dinner. He even was a surrogate mom, insisting that I eat something even though I did not feel like it. I forced myself to eat five spoonfuls of food for his benefit…didn't stay down long though….TMI…I know.

Monday and today were just perfect. There is nothing like being on your sickbed that makes you appreciate being well. I was able to keep food down which allowed me to regain my strength. The sun was shining brilliantly and folks were flocking to the beach. F. and I took a stroll along the beach and then ate lunch at a restaurant.

While we were there, Felipe, the rental agent, called me to say that the Internet folk were at my building waiting for me. I told him I would come back and he responded "okay, in an hour?". I thought that was odd since I had told him I was maybe 15 minutes away. But I decided to take my time and we returned home about 30 minutes later and….no Internet guys. So I don't know if it is the Brazilian way (jethino) to say one thing that is….an exaggeration (I won't say lie) of the truth. A Brazilian guy I met recently said as much, but would like to think that when people are handling business they handle business. Perhaps I as

k for too much. But after being home for 15 minutes or so Felipe calls to say that the guys are downstairs and they shortly come up to begin installation. They got things together and even offered to hook up satellite tv. We will see if that happens....

We did see a little taste of home....

"Detroit Environmental Health"

Evidently, the name of the local pest control company is "Detroit". Hmph.

Hopefully, we can make it to the beach tomorrow. We have spent a little time there...


I have an aversion to sand...not a good thing, since my son loves the beach and we are 4-8 minutes away from the beach, depending on the elevator.

View of one of Barra's beachs from our apartment. Beleza!