The first real time that I missed home was this past Friday on the 4th of July. I was seeing all the messages about going to Tahoe, San Diego, wherever and was really feeling like I was missing out. It is a very strange feeling to be in a place where one of the most important/fun days of the year not only isn't important but nobody even knows what it means. I guess the importance (for me at least) doesn't lie in the fact that it is an significant holiday for our country, which obviously it is, but rather it has always been a great time to be together with all of my friends somewhere warm and just having a blast (beach volleyball, surfing, the most intense games of flip cup this world has ever seen, etc., etc.). No matter where I am in the world, it will be impossible to replicate the friends I have back home. Not only do I think they are special people, we have all been through so much together and have had SOOOO many good times that it would take another lifetime to recreate those kind of friendships. The good news is that I will be heading to the U.S. in August and will have a few weeks to hang with everyone and catch up in person. And, of course, we will add to the long list of memories when all of my friends start visiting later this year. I have been working harding on greasing the wheels, making the right contacts, and seriously preparing the city of Floripa for what will surely be the greatest summer of all time...
The best news of the winter so far is that the weather has been FAR nicer than I had imagined. It has been in the low 70's for awhile now, and I'm still rocking shorts and short sleeve shirts every day. The nice winter days here are better than the nicest summer days in San Francisco. It really is unbelievable. There are certainly cold days here and there but overall I would say that I have been greatly surprised on the upside, and I have really been taking advantage of it. I surf or go for a long run every day. I was also in a tennis tournament this past weekend. I had two matches and won them both. I think I have around four more matches to go, but if you don't think that I plan on taking the trophy home, then you are crazy!
In an effort to increase my enjoyment of life down here, I added a ping pong table to the house. It's about as fun as it gets. I had some people over Saturday night and we ended up playing for almost four hours. I just want everyone to know that I am currently undefeated and am accepting any and all challengers....
I started taking private Portuguese classes last week. I will now have class three times a week for two hours each class. I realized that Portuguese is not a language you can learn on your own. It's going to be a lot of work but I am very committed to becoming fluent within the next few months. We'll see how it goes.
Lastly, along the lines of what I was told about having a sense of humor and a lot of patience while living in Brazil, I received my second electricity bill last week. My first month's bill was 115 reais and this one was 2,100 reais, which is about $1,300. I live by myself and hardly ever have any lights on. The electricity company came out, checked the meter and said that I probably had one light on that was using all the electricity, which was probably the laziest answer in history. It is no wonder why this country has had so many difficulties getting off the ground. These things happen all the time. Only in Brazil...
As always, here are some pictures from the past week or so...
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