For all the saints
The title of this week’s blog is inspired by my new neighborhood, Sagrada Familia, or “Sacred Family.” Most of the street names here are names of various saints, including my street. It’s a little bit lower class than where I was before, and you won’t find any bookstores, movie theaters or chic cafes here (you can find those things in the upscale parts of downtown, for example). There are some small bars and restaurants and small businesses and a nice grocery store just a few blocks away. I’m going to try out the internet cafe tonight to try to post this update. I still need to find a laundromat because I didn’t buy a washing machine. Although it’s a bit further from transportation than before, I am very happy with the location. Now I can choose between taking buses or the metro system. The apartment and the neighborhood in general have beautiful views because there are more houses than high-rise apartment buildings.
This week I’ve spent two whole days waiting for deliveries. I wasn’t sure from the paperwork if the appliances might not show up on Tuesday, so in the morning I walked to the mattress store, bought a mattress, and went on to wait at the apartment. In theory, everything (mattress, refrigerator and stove) was originally scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, but after multiple phone calls, only the mattress showed up, and only at 6:15 pm. While I was waiting, my old roommate’s maid, Cleuzinha, and I cleaned the apartment, which was pretty dirty after being empty for a while and having paint and plaster work done. I bought one of the terra cotta water filters that are very popular here, and I thought it was funny that Cleuzinha told me it leaks because it’s new—she was totally unfamiliar with the concept that if something is brand new, it should be functioning perfectly—for good reason, because that is often not the case here.
Wednesday night, my old roommate, Márcia, helped me translate my addendum to the real estate agency’s inspection of the apartment (I think their inspector came before the painters did). On Thursday, I spent most of the day at the federal university helping a masters student edit and format his article in English for submission to a journal, then went to the real estate office to drop off the inspection addendum just on the last admissible day.
I rescheduled the appliance delivery for Friday (I asked for morning, and the manager promised morning, but they showed up at 3 pm). Thankfully, the afternoon delivery left me enough time to go to the party store to buy a helium balloon, go home, shower and change clothes, and head back out to the monthly meeting of English-speaking foreigners that we’re trying to start. Last month, I was the only one to show up (and perhaps people didn’t see my little table-top sign), so this month I wanted to bring a balloon to make it easier to find each other. Thankfully, the participation increased by 100% even though the Canadian friend I’d already met was still out of town. A guy showed up who’s from Texas and is living here with his Brazilian wife and children. We had a good chat, and I shared my plans to try to better publicize the gathering. When I got home Friday night, I packed one load of things (mostly lighter stuff) into my suitcases plus a couple I borrowed from Márcia. Saturday morning, we loaded up her car to bring the first load of stuff to my new apartment, and I emptied the suitcases haphazardly to bring them back and pack up the remaining things. Thankfully I’d already scheduled with Eliezer, a friend from church, to come help me with the second load after lunch because my roommate was unexpectedly hosting guests from out of town that arrived Saturday at lunchtime. I was remarking to Eliezer about all of the different things that the renter has to pay here that renters in the U.S. don’t have to pay (condominium fee, taxes, maintenance, etc.), and he astutely pointed out that all of those additional costs are probably included in the rent in the U.S., even if you don’t explicitly see them. I unpacked and waited for the handyman to show up at 4:00 to connect my electronically heated showerhead; he called to reschedule for Sunday morning due to car problems.
Actually, I had to do quite a bit of waiting for the handyman—he was more than one hour late, and when he showed up, he didn’t have any of the supplies he needed to connect my stove or shower, so then I gave him the money for that and he disappeared for more than 1 ½ hours. Part of me was envisioning him stopping off at the bar with his friends to enjoy a couple of beers, but the realist in me thought he was probably just going from store to store trying to find a place open on Sunday morning that sold hardware stuff. Thankfully, the realist was right! I thought the natural gas was channeled through the building but found out it wasn’t, in which case I’d need my own little gas tank. My neighbor invited me in to use her phone and gave me the number of the gas place, asking if I was married to the handyman and announcing a few different times that she had two sons. To my surprise, the gas places are open on Sundays and they delivered; it’s very scary for me to watch the motorcycle delivery guys with three or more little gas cylinders strapped to their motorcyles... The gas place didn’t have the security valve I needed, so I told the handyman I’d buy it and scheduled for him to come back. Despite the waiting and confusion, it was worth it because he connected the shower heater, connected the stove to the wall outlet (that I learned doesn’t provide gas), and repaired the dripping kitchen sink, all for a labor of 25 reais, or about 12 dollars. Because doing handyman stuff is only his moonlighting job, he only can do stuff on weekends or nights, so he’s scheduled to come back tonight to connect the stove to my new gas tank with the new security valve that I finally found in the 4th store I went to on Sunday afternoon.
Although I love my independence and having my own space, I also miss the company of Márcia and Cleuzinha as well as the high-speed internet connection. It’s definitely less comfortable in my empty new apartment. I bought a plastic stool to be able to reach things, but it also turns out to be the only place to sit in the apartment besides on my mattress (I don’t yet have a bed frame). Before when I’d moved from place to place, I always had some hand-me-down appliances and furniture from my family and friends; this time, I did borrow some things from my roommate (e.g. towels and sheets) but I declined to take her 2nd TV because I will not have cable here and wouldn’t particularly spend a lot of time watching the Brazilian soap operas or the news. I might break down and get an Internet connection in my apartment, though.
I’m getting ready to head to Nova Almeida to help with the incoming work team of students from Virginia. Originally, rumor had it that we were leaving Wednesday night, but that appears to have changed and I have not yet received official word.
Sorry for the delay. I came to the computer place yesterday evening to try to post this before the handyman was scheduled to show up, but their internet was out (probably due to the rain). Now I think we're leaving on Thursday night or maybe Friday night for Nova Almeida. I was walking quite a bit this morning to run errands, and I was thinking about how much I'm looking forward to walking around in FLAT Nova Almeida. :)
This week I’ve spent two whole days waiting for deliveries. I wasn’t sure from the paperwork if the appliances might not show up on Tuesday, so in the morning I walked to the mattress store, bought a mattress, and went on to wait at the apartment. In theory, everything (mattress, refrigerator and stove) was originally scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, but after multiple phone calls, only the mattress showed up, and only at 6:15 pm. While I was waiting, my old roommate’s maid, Cleuzinha, and I cleaned the apartment, which was pretty dirty after being empty for a while and having paint and plaster work done. I bought one of the terra cotta water filters that are very popular here, and I thought it was funny that Cleuzinha told me it leaks because it’s new—she was totally unfamiliar with the concept that if something is brand new, it should be functioning perfectly—for good reason, because that is often not the case here.
Wednesday night, my old roommate, Márcia, helped me translate my addendum to the real estate agency’s inspection of the apartment (I think their inspector came before the painters did). On Thursday, I spent most of the day at the federal university helping a masters student edit and format his article in English for submission to a journal, then went to the real estate office to drop off the inspection addendum just on the last admissible day.
I rescheduled the appliance delivery for Friday (I asked for morning, and the manager promised morning, but they showed up at 3 pm). Thankfully, the afternoon delivery left me enough time to go to the party store to buy a helium balloon, go home, shower and change clothes, and head back out to the monthly meeting of English-speaking foreigners that we’re trying to start. Last month, I was the only one to show up (and perhaps people didn’t see my little table-top sign), so this month I wanted to bring a balloon to make it easier to find each other. Thankfully, the participation increased by 100% even though the Canadian friend I’d already met was still out of town. A guy showed up who’s from Texas and is living here with his Brazilian wife and children. We had a good chat, and I shared my plans to try to better publicize the gathering. When I got home Friday night, I packed one load of things (mostly lighter stuff) into my suitcases plus a couple I borrowed from Márcia. Saturday morning, we loaded up her car to bring the first load of stuff to my new apartment, and I emptied the suitcases haphazardly to bring them back and pack up the remaining things. Thankfully I’d already scheduled with Eliezer, a friend from church, to come help me with the second load after lunch because my roommate was unexpectedly hosting guests from out of town that arrived Saturday at lunchtime. I was remarking to Eliezer about all of the different things that the renter has to pay here that renters in the U.S. don’t have to pay (condominium fee, taxes, maintenance, etc.), and he astutely pointed out that all of those additional costs are probably included in the rent in the U.S., even if you don’t explicitly see them. I unpacked and waited for the handyman to show up at 4:00 to connect my electronically heated showerhead; he called to reschedule for Sunday morning due to car problems.
Actually, I had to do quite a bit of waiting for the handyman—he was more than one hour late, and when he showed up, he didn’t have any of the supplies he needed to connect my stove or shower, so then I gave him the money for that and he disappeared for more than 1 ½ hours. Part of me was envisioning him stopping off at the bar with his friends to enjoy a couple of beers, but the realist in me thought he was probably just going from store to store trying to find a place open on Sunday morning that sold hardware stuff. Thankfully, the realist was right! I thought the natural gas was channeled through the building but found out it wasn’t, in which case I’d need my own little gas tank. My neighbor invited me in to use her phone and gave me the number of the gas place, asking if I was married to the handyman and announcing a few different times that she had two sons. To my surprise, the gas places are open on Sundays and they delivered; it’s very scary for me to watch the motorcycle delivery guys with three or more little gas cylinders strapped to their motorcyles... The gas place didn’t have the security valve I needed, so I told the handyman I’d buy it and scheduled for him to come back. Despite the waiting and confusion, it was worth it because he connected the shower heater, connected the stove to the wall outlet (that I learned doesn’t provide gas), and repaired the dripping kitchen sink, all for a labor of 25 reais, or about 12 dollars. Because doing handyman stuff is only his moonlighting job, he only can do stuff on weekends or nights, so he’s scheduled to come back tonight to connect the stove to my new gas tank with the new security valve that I finally found in the 4th store I went to on Sunday afternoon.
Although I love my independence and having my own space, I also miss the company of Márcia and Cleuzinha as well as the high-speed internet connection. It’s definitely less comfortable in my empty new apartment. I bought a plastic stool to be able to reach things, but it also turns out to be the only place to sit in the apartment besides on my mattress (I don’t yet have a bed frame). Before when I’d moved from place to place, I always had some hand-me-down appliances and furniture from my family and friends; this time, I did borrow some things from my roommate (e.g. towels and sheets) but I declined to take her 2nd TV because I will not have cable here and wouldn’t particularly spend a lot of time watching the Brazilian soap operas or the news. I might break down and get an Internet connection in my apartment, though.
I’m getting ready to head to Nova Almeida to help with the incoming work team of students from Virginia. Originally, rumor had it that we were leaving Wednesday night, but that appears to have changed and I have not yet received official word.
Sorry for the delay. I came to the computer place yesterday evening to try to post this before the handyman was scheduled to show up, but their internet was out (probably due to the rain). Now I think we're leaving on Thursday night or maybe Friday night for Nova Almeida. I was walking quite a bit this morning to run errands, and I was thinking about how much I'm looking forward to walking around in FLAT Nova Almeida. :)
posted by Christine Piggee at
11:25 AM
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