Mountain to Move
So everybody's gone,
I don't know what I did or said but everyone has left or is leaving.
Within 24 hours, Maddy, Leandro (one of my housemates) and Hanisah all left for England. Mark left for a week but will follow back home for a longer period not 7 days from now and another of my housemates will leave at the same time.
But don't cry for me, avid readers. I've actually got shit to do and money to save. This is probably a good thing in actuality (that's a great word isn't it).
But before Hani went, either side of her trip to Salvador, we got to do a few more touristy and fun things including a couple of beach days. On the Saturday, which I began to mention, was a day in which we explored around Santa Teresa, rode the tram over the famous Lapa arches and walked up and down the Lapa steps.
9 photos from this gallery weren’t in the backup.
3 photos from this gallery weren’t in the backup.
Now the Lapa arches are less impressive knowing what goes on underneath, homeless gatherings by day and drunken debauchery by night. But the steps are quite a spectacle both day and night. By day its full of tourists taking pictures and admiring the many tiles, of which are changed all the while. It is an ongoing art project by Selaron who accepts tiles sent to him, and adds many at different points in the year. I'm thinking of getting Bubbenhall up there, to rival the many American states, particularly Florida. But by night it becomes a hangout for people to drink and smoke whilst casually conversing. I've had many a good conversation sat on the Lapa steps and the Friday night just gone did not disappoint either. I'll always see it as I did then, or the week before, not as the tourist trap it could be seen as in the day. It's a good atmosphere for sure, made even better no doubt by the cheap Caipirinha sellers at the bottom.
This would be Hani's last night, so we went to samba at Carioca de Gema. Similar band as before but this time the place appeared to be a bit more crowded. We still attempted to get a lil' dance in and enjoyed the music but left considerably early for what we would've done years before.
The uber appeared to be a cloud that drifted us home. I don't know what we'd done in the day but my legs were feeling it and Hanisah was tired from her late flight. We spoke of our age and how great it feels to go home early now compared to previous years. As we made it home, I ran straight to my comfy clothes as we joined Jose, who is always up, to watch a stupid joke show while Hanisah ate cereal and I munched on crisps and drank pop. Ah Adulthood
I just don't care as much as I used to. I'd rather sit and have a bottle of wine and chat than go out into a party atmosphere. To a point I think I've always preferred it, but maybe it's just growing up.
( So raging, just scrolled through all my tweets to go quote myself from circa 2012 on this topic and it was a retweet. Also terribly embarrassed by hundreds of my other previous tweets. )
Anywho we rose fairly fresh for Hani's last day and decided to have a nice lunch to leave. It became an absolute battle and really showcased our differences in preference. Each place she seemed to like specialised in pretentious fish dishes, in which, based on price, have been boiled in bottled water and comes with immortality. I almost considered paying £10 for some salad as it was her last day but I just couldn't do it. Particularly as this cluttered French looking restaurant had a great view of a modern looking pizza bar with plenty of space. I really couldn't. So we compromised on the first restaurant we went to and had some Picanha, a specialty here or simply put very rare steak marinated in I'm guessing a tub of salt and it was actually a good compromise as we were both very happy/full as we napped on the beach.
It was a shame as she claimed that the fancy French (two words of which I hold negative connotations) place was her perfect restaurant and equally the pizza bar, two of the greatest things we as humans have created, looked like mine. At one point we joked about ordering from separate sides and waving to each other. I wasn't joking.
She claimed my place had no soul. I said we'd create the soul.
I claimed her place was up itself, she said it was just good quality.
She claimed I have a bland palette, she might have a point.
In fact since I've been here, I've become very disinterested in food, even more so, seeing it mainly as fuel to live. I wouldn't say Brazil has the best cuisine. Ok, the barbecue is pretty good and the picanha might be one of the greatest things, but its all just meat, rice and beans at the end of the day and a lot of the time, over seasoned with salt. With it being brought into the collective consciousness that over consumption of meat has negative effects on the environment and now, with it being more important than ever, it leaves me in a sticky situation which gives me a lot of cognitive dissonance. Being in Brazil, where it literally cuts down the rainforest is an even bigger problem and with their guy about to open it to farming and business again, it really could fuck things up. So now we're really in a pickle.
I've grown bored of my own cooking, due to not being able to afford good ingredients and choosing instead to go round the corner to a guy who cooks chicken, beans and rice with a slight variation each day for a very low price. Its economical and I can't tell you how happy I get when I only have to wash up a plate. I'm tempted to buy 2 of his meals a day and just have cereal in the morning. I feel like one day I'll get into cooking like my dad, but for now this guy'll do and the one contribution I feel I'm making to the world is not eating beef.
Except for Saturday.
And Sunday.
But that's not my fault guys, one of our football crew was leaving so we had a little tournament and some barbecue to finish. the guy even paying for a free bar! What could I do. He brought a bottle of gin, for player of the tournament and to tell the truth I felt a little robbed. Although bottling (lol, not intended this time) it in the final, I thought I had a big influence on the games and banged in a few decent goals.
Despite the big head and Kanye like self-buildupness, there was no award interruption from me and I joined in the festivities to the maximum.
It was great fun, one of the first really social things I've experienced with the group, talking to many people I'd had little interaction with before, speaking portuguese with Argentinians, nostalgia with Brits and mentalities with a German lad, Chris. I hope we do this on the regular.
We discussed the idea of work ethic between the German's, the English and the Brazilians and in my favourite idea of the spectrum it fell, unsurprisingly, a lil' something like this.
Brazil Me England Germany
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Although it should be noted I've been working off the clock (is that a phrase) recently. Not for money, but on my coding. I've been learning javascript which is essentially when you can start doing fun shit.
html is like building the building
css is painting it and adding the furniture
and javascript is blowing up the windows, hiding living things in walls and cupboards and making the sofa float around the room following you.
It feels like I've got a new toy and I'm figuring out all the settings, just like I used to with other peoples phones. And there is a lot.
It actually doesn't feel like work at all. I'm spending about 5 hours a day on it, always wanting to know more. This was a path I had wanted to follow in sixth form but gave way to other's advice and dropped it for yes, film studies, that important subject, just to get me to uni, to then get a psychology degree... But I've opened it back up and am excited to follow down it.
Back home some of the clearest I was, was mid puzzle. Nothing was around me, I was focused on the logic, it took up all of my thought. And now this is like one big ongoing puzzle. As I walk down the street, my brain turns to how to get that box to give me all that data. Right now I'm stuck, but I'm enjoying that that stays in my thought.
The only thing that distracts me and tbf it does quite often, is the possibility of the future. Quite often, mid project, I have to bring myself back because I'm away thinking of the future, the things I'll be able to do, the places I could go if remote and the money I could make. I do have to bring myself back down and remind myself I'll have to actually learn it before I can do it, I guess I'm more of a dreamer than a doer but I feel enlivened by it. It actually gives me energy.
Anyway, the last few weeks felt like a nice lil' holiday but I'm getting back into my actual life now, watching basketball bi-nightly, alongside the soap and looking forward to Soccer Saturdays, it appears this month will be a lot like this. And the next one, but I have absolutely no qualms with that. I've got a lot of time and it's time to get back on the coding and the Portuguese.
