Andy Barr's Blog

This morning I had the chance to go out a bit with Rodrigo. We went to the USP (Universidade de São Paulo) and I had a chance to see their Physics and Astronomy buildings. I will put up the pics of that soon.

We then went to a shopping to run some errands (like buying stamps) and then went to a supermarket. I had my first Pãos de Quieijo (balls of cheesy bread, hard to really explain) and then we went out to the Feira. Every day, there is a Feira, or open air market in some part of São Paulo. It is kind of like Pike Place but the difference is people actually buy their meats and produce there. It is totally not a tourist place!

We got some Caldo de Cana (sugar cane juice) which was a really nice green juice.

Oh, and duh, we ate the famous pastel! Mine was like ground meat filling. Pastel is like a big ravioli that is deep fried and gets really huge and puffed up. I will send a pic of mine. You can see one similar to mine here. Anyways, after that, we are back here. I am going to go on a good run now as it is very sunny and I am trying to avoid gaining so much weight. Then, I am advised by Rodrigo to sleep a few hours since we will be going out to a Pagode Club tonight. Pagode is a type of music that I can only compare to pop as in 80% of the listeners I would say are girls, so that may or may not influence our motivation for going to see Exalta (check them out on Youtube) at the Pagode club tonight.

Monday, I had the chance to go out in the morning with Rodrigo and Peterson, running a few errands in the city.

We then stopped at Black Dog, a hot dog chain ) where I was to learn what a really cachorro quente completo (complete hot dog) was. Oh man! Mine had, two hot dogs, corn, mashed potatoes, little french fries, peas, mayo, cheddar, curry ( I don’t exactly know what it was), parmesan cheese, mustard, ketchup, and I am sure a few things that I am forgetting. I got the second largest dog too. I declined the additional pepperoni and chile toppings.

I then got back to the house and was to make my daily walk. I meant to get to the Avenida Paulista but went the complete wrong way and made it to the Avendia 25 de Março. That is kind of like the Polvos Azules (place in Lima) or black market area of São Paulo. Of course I got some stuff, including some Spongebob dvds that have the audio in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

I got a bit lost on the way back so Ricardo picked me up. He picked up a pizza and I got to try some new toppings. He got a cheese/calabreeza+onion pizza and then another one that had quite the interesting split. One side was chicken, catupiry ( a type of cheese) and some other stuff. The other side was a bunch of cheeses (including queijo cremoso) and I think chicken too.

Sunday was a lot of fun as well, getting up early for church at 9:30 am. I heard Priscilla speak in sacrament and was able to understand probably 90% of what was said in church.

We then came back, had lunch (that I took a picture of and sent to B) of rice, beans, a different type of more moist farofa,mayonesa, and a type of meatloaf drenched in a very tasty sauce. Then, everyone went to sleep for like 3 or 4 ours. That night there was a fireside on the PEF so Rodrigo, Priscilla, and I went, and once again I was able to understand pretty much everything.

Ok, so Saturday morning. I woke up a little late (I was out till like 5:30 am) so I had a little breakfast, did some situps and pushups, wrote my last long letter.

Then João and his wonderful wife Alessandra came and picked me up to take me to Amarita’s (Alessandra’s mom) house for a big feijoada lunch. They also came with a funny little dog they had adopted from the streets named Tigre. I could not help but laugh at the sight of the dog since it was wearing a sweater and a whole set of shoes (as to not scratch the leather seats). With them I made my first venture outside of São Paulo, going to Santo André, another big city about 25 minutes from where I am staying. We stopped at a little store to pick up some fruits (including Caju (the fruit of the cashew), Pinha (not pineapple but a fruit that you can find in the portuguese language wikipedia), and some plum like things I forgot the name of. We got to Amarita’s building, located in a very nice neighborhood, full of cool looking buildings.

From the outside, I was expecting a modest sized apartment, but once I got inside I was amazed at the wonderful, huge place she had. It was very fun to finally meet the wonderful Amarita after exchanging emails for a few months. There was a humonguous cauldron of feijoada (like a foot wide and a foot and a half tall, no joke) on the stove, along with rice, a pot of very very spicy feijoada, and some couve (collard greens).

I had a chance to play her really cool piano for some time. Then the wonderful Marisa (best piano teacher in Brazil) and some of her students came over. We all played piano for some time, but I want to be clear, anyone who thinks I am at all talented at piano should know that I was completely dwarfed by the students of Marisa. I saw piano playing at its very finest. I heard songs by Bach, Schumann and many other composers, all played incredibly well. I got a bit of help from Marisa too! I like her a lot as a teacher. I was super rusty though from not having played for some time. The piano playing went on for about an hour.

Then we had the feijoada. That meal was pretty monumental. For those reading who don’t know, Feijoada is a big stew of beans (feijão is bean in Portuguese), smoked meat, bacon, and sausage. The taste was simply incredible. Very rich, complex, and smokey. It was eaten mixed with rice, and farofa. Farofa is like a crunchy powder made from mandioc (also known as cassava or yuca) flower that is fried in butter with a little bacon too. That gets mixed together to give things a bit of taste.

Then after the huge meal, it was dessert time. We had quindim and suspiro. The quindim is a dessert made with egg-yolk and dried coconut that looks, somewhat eerily like a giant egg yolk. Like I literally expected the dessert to pop and yolk to spill on me as I bit into it. I was told by Alessandra that the Portuguese had so many desserts with egg yolks because egg whites used to be used to starch shirts, leaving lots of yolks left over. The suspiro are just our merangues which are eaten smashed into a powder with whipped cream (called chantilly here). Then after, there was a lot more piano playing, and two of Marisa’s students opened one of the books I bought and started going through the songs, with one of them playing the part for each hand. The end result was quite the professional performance.

After hearing some great piano playing for a few hours, it was finally time to say goodbye and I returned home to São Paulo, and went out for a little drive with Rodrigo and Peterson where we just talked for a few hours.

Then, today, I woke up, read and studied about it imagniary numbers today, and went out to frisbee with Rodrigo and Peterson.

We went to the Parque Ibirapuera (which is really a nice looking park and played. There Rodrigo explained that frisbee is kind of a gay game in Brazil. So I showed him the game that I play with my friends which is like a tackle version of fliers up and we all ended up pretty sore (dolorido) and filled with bruises (hematoma). We dropped off Peterson and then got back for a good lunch of arroz, carne milanesa (chicken fried steak) and the same carrot and cabbage salad.

I also drank some fresh suco de goiaba (guava) and had a lot of strawberries. I also got to have some corn pudding (canjica), the recipe of which I will be sending soon. It is pretty much like rice pudding but with corn (milho) and coconut milk and shredded coconut. It is also made with condensed milk just like rice pudding.

Now I just spent like an hour typing this up and dealing with stupid photobucket. I am going to sleep now (it is like 4) so I can be ready to go out and “chavecar” and have fun tonight with Ricardo.

[Note from Jeff - Andy's timeline doesn't quite make sense, but it is clear that he's having a lot of fun!]

Then the next day, in the morning I went out with Clarise to do some errands. She had to buy little toys (brincadeiros) for her students for the upcoming festa Junina (June-fest kind of thing, where the kids dress up in country clothes and people eat certain foods associated with it. It is a winter thing because now it is winter). We went to a bunch of bulk stores where we sawq lots of cool things. She bought me a bunch of cool things to decorate our house with so i have a big box that I will be taking back! We then met with Rodrigo, had lunch, and I went out to explore again. I had more luck, but still, no Centro Cultural. I went running that night and ran like 5+ miles. It was good. There was a game involving the Brazilian soccer team so every once in a while you would heard screams and shouts from all the little bars and cornershops around that were all filled with people watching. I stopped and watched a little, had a little suco de caju (cashew juice, made from the fruit part of the plant, not super tasty) and then continued running. then I got home, went out a little with Ricardo just to walk and drive around and then slept.

The next day (yesterday) I woke up and had kind of a slower start (if you can’t imagine I was kind of tired!) but had a good breakfast in the other apartment of mortadella when I got a call from Clarice that there was breakfast ready in the other apartment. So I was very full in the morning.

I then went out to look for my music and spent a few hours getting lost and asking around, learning how to use the bus. I eventually made it to the Rua Domingo de Morais, a really cool shopping district. I found the store Irmãoes Vitale where I stayed and played piano for like 2 hours and bought a bunch of music.

I went around, look at some cool clothes, ate a Bauru, suco de acerola (without leite, big mistake!), and got a coixinha (fried cone shaped thing with chicken) to go. The lady in the store was very nice, and I stayed and talked with her for some time. She gave me a bunch of candy along with portuguese tips and I hope to visit again.

I found a bookstore and the perfect portuguese recipe book that I am going to go back and buy (it is in English too, I will get something in Portuguese). I couldn’t find the bus to go back home so I ended up walking it. Making like 5 circles along the way and getting back after around an hour and a half.

Then I ate some good pizza (pictures of which I have loaded). At that point, Priscilla, Clarice and I (Rodrigo was out doing ward secretary work and Ricardo working) went out to see the temple. It was really beautiful. I took some good pictures. We went to the church store there and I picked up a triple combo, gospel essentials, and teachings of joseph smith in portuguese as well as a hymnbook (hinario). we then went to the capela (chapel) and I played piano and Priscilla sang for like an hour and a half at least. It was really really fun. I recorded it on the flip of course.

We then got home. And just as I was about to go to bed, I get a call from Rodrigo telling him to go downstairs and meet him at once to go out. Clarice insisted that I go, and I didn’t want to miss a chance of Sao Paulo’s night life so I went downstairs and jumped in his car with him and Peterson. We met up with some dudes, talked a little, didn’t end up goign into any restaurant. Drove around talking. We walked a bit. Said hi to people. It was cool (or as they say, “legal!”).

The next day was a little more relaxed and I tried to do a bit more exploring on my own.

During the morning I went out with Rodrigo to the train station and the galeria de Rock (pronounced “Hockey”!) where they have all the rocker stores. It was a lot of fun. I got to see some really nice buildings and learn a lot of history.

There was a piano in the train station, as part of a public art thing. So I jumped up to play it and played my most technical song and within like 30 seconds there was a huge circle of people around! Lots of pressure but it was cool. Rodrigo filmed it with the flip.

Then I met a piano player who today is going to give me a lesson in Brazilian music. We took a train to a station where I met Dimas, the father, and we drove back to the house. We had our lunch and then it was my exploring time again. Once again, I didn’t make it to the Centro Cultural but explored the area around the Avenida Paulista for some time.

Well, Tuesday (or Wednesday) I started weight training at 6 am with Ricardo and Rodrigo at the Academia Oficina (has website) run by the famous fighter Gibi (who was there teaching).

Then we went out to go food shopping, where we bought the bread and mortadella. I had a few sandwiches then, consisting of Mortadella, Presunto (ham), Queijo Cremoso (like cream cheese but buttery), Manteiga (butter), and queijo de minas (cheese from Minas Gerais). So yeah, don’t worry. I won’t lose weight. I actually run the risk of becoming an FA so I have to be careful. The lunch was good, I sent pictures. It had fries, nuggets, mayonesa (name of a salad), feijão (beans), and rice. The salad was cabage (chopped fine), a shredded carrot, and lime juice, very healthy!

Then I hung out with Priscilla and Carlise, going around the city and learning about the history of things (Carlise is an expert!). It was great. Little did I know, I had a test coming up.

I went out after (my decision), to try to make it to the Centro Cultural, but ended up not making it, getting to the Avenida Paulista and hanging out there. I got pretty lost, but it was cool since I got to ask random people for directions and they were all very helpful. I tried suco de Acerola (com leite) which is juice made from a very nutritious jungle berry mixed with milk, and then, when I needed directions again, I had suco de maracujá, another jungle fruit.

Well, if that didn’t seem like enough of an adventure, I got home around 8, (keep in mind it gets dark around 6 there), and ate a big omelette with Ricardo. The thing is Brazilians have a big lunch and the family I am with doesn’t really eat dinner, except for Ricardo who also is a big eater like me.

Well, we kind of relaxed for a little and then around 10 pm Ricardo asked me if I wanted to go out with him and some friends. So I went with him and he gave me a little tour of the city and eventually took me to a pizza place. I only had one piece which was a pizza with tuna! I know strange sounding. It was like an Ahi with white sauce. And also, another thing, the pizza is incredibly tasty but different. Very thin and nice crust. Important to remember, Brazilians eat pizza with fork and knife, which is actually harder than it sounds (you know, cutting dough with a butter knife). but it was a good time. we spent like 3-4 hours laughing and talking and I didn’t get home until around 2.

I woke up nice and lazily around 9 am. Had a good breakfast of some sweet breads, cheese, and milk, everything very heavily dairy based.

I had a chance to go out and get my phone, not such an easy process. It took like 30 minutes to get it all set up.

Then we picked up the mom, Carlisa and dropped of Priscilla and went to the Shopping (the name for malls) called Bourbon. It was pretty cool. The whole pricing of everything was completely different. Like shoes, especially nikes, were like 200 dollars! But there were places to get nice clothes for not much. I didn’t buy anything.

We went to the food court which was cool. I wish I took pictures. There were Japanese, Italian and even an Arabic joint (called Habib’s). We went to Giraffas (Giraffes) where I had a simple plate of pork and rice and beans.

We then toured the city a bit and went through all the cool parts like the avenida paulista and the rua liberdade (o Barrio Japones-the Japanese neighborhood). Little did I know but that was my prep for the day.

When I got home we relaxed a bit, then it was my turn to go out by myself to find the centro cultural. I kind of delayed and got a little lost, though that was all my fault since I entered tons of little shops and talked to a lot of people. I finally made it to the MASP on the Avenida Paulista and had a chance to stroll through the adjacent park. I sat there and read for a little.

Then it started to get dark (around 5 pm!) so I popped into a drug store and bought my very needed deodorant (which came as a cream). In the ten minutes I was in there, it went from being slightly dark to very dark so I decided to make my way back. I got very used to the way of crossing streets there. It is different. Like when you cross, it looks like people are driving right towards you and are not going to stop, but they do.

Anyways, I did get a little lost in the dark but I talked to a bunch of people (including a pair of missionaries I had seen in church) and managed to get back in around 45 minutes (as opposed to the expected 20). Carlisa (the mom) was very relieved that I made it back and Ricardo and I had a little dinner (people here in general don’t eat a big dinner if they have one at all).

Me and Ricardo then went on a little drive where I took some pics and got a few videos. I had gotten lost and made my way to the rua Augusta during the day and didn’t know that it was a haven for prostitutes at night. So Ricardo drove me by and I got some quick videos of them (as soon as they saw the camera they started shouting and using some serious bad words, luckily Ricardo is an awesome getaway driver )

We also went to the Bairro Bohemio and saw some seriously sweet car dealers, including ones that sold ferraris and porsches. Then we got back pretty late and got right to bed for early morning weight training.

So, after some long delays and stuff at the airport at the Albany end of my itinerary, I finally got to JFK with a few hours to spare and had some time to explore. Not too much though, when I returned to my gate 35 minutes before the flight I found the area completely empty and the women told me I was ”like the last one on the flight” (not true, lots of people came after). I get in am happy that I get two seats just for me. We sat on the runway for a while and then had to go back like 2 times for passengers and luggage. Unfortunately, one of those passengers was a pretty sweaty guy who looked like he had ran a marathon to catch the flight and literally was dripping in sweat. So, it ended up being like 40 minutes extra. By the time we got to taxiing, this one guy burst out of his seat, red-faced, and booked it to the back of the plane. Of course a flight attendent stepped in his way, and all he could say, in barely-intelligible English was, “Bathroom!”. Well, she told him he couldn’t since the plane was like about to take off, but he kept repeating himself like three times, at which point he just kind of motioned for her to move, sidestepped her (causing her to shout a loud obscenity that was heard by the whole plane), and in like three leaps made it and thirty seconds later left looking very relieved. The rest of the flight was uneventful and I made good dents in two books and had time for a little Portuguese review.

Landing in Sao Paulo was pretty incredible. Once we got through the clouds, it was just city and city and city, on a scale that made L.A. look like Bellevue. Fortunately I made it through customs and everything without hassle. After a humbling little adventure buying a calling card and asking a few random people to help me figure out how to make a local call, I met up with Rodrigo. The cool thing about guys is they tend to look exactly like the pictures they put online of themselves so finding him was easy. He was there, dressed in his church suit, since as ward clerk, he is a pretty busy guy. So we left the airport, him driving and his brother, Ricardo, in the front seat. I got some good flip footage of the city and even some favelas. It was overall a nice drive and I could not help but continually be impressed with the sheer size of the city (especially after my stay in upstate New York). We hustled to the house, dropped off Ricardo, and went straight to church, where I changed in their bathroom. The church was really cool. From the facade, it didn’t really look like a particularly nice building (not to mention the graffitti featuring a topless girl right across the street) but once you entered, it was a really beautiful building that was pretty huge. So I went to sacrament and elder’s quorom and did really well at understanding and being understood. We then got back to the house where I met the mother who had cooked a great lunch featuring panqueque, mayonesa, arroz, and feijao with Guarana on the side. Then I took a much needed shower, kind of chilled with Rodrigo, and then we went to a meeting were we heard the temple president speak. I had a chance to meet a lot of people and got to play the really cool church electric organ (the organ has all the hymns preprogrammed so you can ornament them really easily and add like extra descant parts). I sat with a cool family while Rodrigo and Priscilla sang in the choir. Then I chitchatted, took a short tour of the neighborhood, called my Dad for Father’s day, and now am back home. But, I got to get to sleep since weight lifting with Rodrigo starts at 6 am sharp tomorrow. I will keep updating and maybe get pics.

-Andy