One-week vacation in Brazil - part 1

These are photos of an old car collection show on the streets and free rock concerts plus cold beers to everyone... I am not into cars but I do care for cold beer and good music. It was a great hot hippie afternoon!

~~oh my god shoes~~

I painted this mirror myself

The new shoes

Have never posted pictures taken in my bathroom, I guess

I decided to go band T-shirt shopping yesterday*. I bought two Ramones T-shirts, one for Roberto and the other for Lucas (oh! Maybe I have never mentioned Lucas but he works with us. He's my co-worker, associate, beer buddy, teacher helper, right-hand multi-task workmate, and a while-Laila-is-away-in-Europe catminder and more)... Actually I'd bought those Ts before Christmas because they were my X-mas gifts to them. I started this post at that time*. I also got myself a Ramones jacket.

That reminds me of Berlin Ramones museum which we visited while we were backpacking in Europe. It is about time to post here some photos of my trip but I have got to gather them, organize them and only after that I'll upload them all on FLICKR or PHOTOBUCKET. If you click here, you'll see few photos only.

I am not a good photographer so most of the photos I took suck real bad. Besides that, while being abroad, I preferred socializing and getting to know more about the cultures of the places we went to rather than standing, observing places and photographing them. That does not appeal to me.

The most curious thing about Europe IMAO was its confusing traffic (especially in London and Dublin where people drive on the left-hand side of the road). I was really surprised by the confusing traffic and such narrow streets in all cities. I have never seen so many bikes and trams in the same place before in my life. That sort of confusion made me realize that Brazilian traffic is way calmer. Although, Brazilian streets are 10 thousand times noisier with horn hunking, old and new buses and huge trucks polluting the air everywhere.

I was thrilled by the weather, except for London and Dublin which were the wettest sights. But honestly, I've never felt so comfortable in winter since there there is heater in all places and that does not happen in Brazil. The winter time down here get as cold temperatures as we got in Berlin or Amsterdam and in here it is completely dreadful as we don't find heaters anywhere. Are we stronger people just for that? I guess NOOOT!

Taxis are a huge rip-off in Amsterdam and they are really wicked in London. "Wicked!"I like this word. It reminds me of Harry Potter books.

I was expecting more difficulties at the language since I am not keen on British accent but I nailed any conversation. At least that is what I think. I took lessons at "English in Dublin" and my teacher Stephen was grand. I tried to speak like Dubliners do but it was not easy, except when I was swallowing my 5th pint... then all the accents would show up. The school is for the teaching of English as a foreign language and teachers' training.

When I lived in the US, I had the opportunity to take my studies at "Tomlinson Adult Learning Center." I don't want to compare the schools and I won't. The only thing I can say is that I learned from them both a great deal.

Now I want to travel to hot countries: Barbados, Mexico, Cuba, or South Africa. Those places will be cheaper for me. As a matter of fact, I would rather stay in a Spanish speaking country to take up Spanish at any international school. My Spanish is awful and that is quite sad as most of our neighbor countries speak this language.

My B-day was yesterday and I celebrated it by buying shoes, going to three different beauty parlors to have my hair died black, cut, and blown dried, besides my legs and bikini area waxed, and nails manicured. Later last night, Roberto took me to one of the best Italian places in town and I ate like a lion. I googled the restaurant name but they don't seem to have a website. It would not be their style because they work in a more old-fashioned way. The restaurant is older than I am and since yesterday I have been 33 years old.

Happy belated b-day to me.

I'm back

Sooooo, I've finally stomped my feet on European soil. The countries of choice were outstanding. We visited The Netherlands, Germany, back to The Netherlands, Ireland, England, and back to Ireland again. We went twice to the countries which got more popular among the backpackers. I wonder why. We were seven travelers.

My number one place was Berlin. I am definitely going back there.

What I learned from this trip is that Europe is not all that as many people preach about; and it also made me realize that the USA is far much better than Europe for tourism and tourists. The USA is cheaper and it offers way better hospitality services. European cities are just as dirty as a few Brazilian ones. English folks are not snob at all. Au contraire, they are hilarious. Italian tourists are a bunch of posers and a lot inconvinient. Dubliners are the nicest people ever. And Amsterdam is the trash can of the Muslim world (so sorry!).

European historical buildings are fascinating and the weather is not that bad in winter. We get the same kinds of temperature when it is winter down here. I couldn't even see snowing (quite sad!). I do want to travel abroad again. Maybe in 2010, I'll be able to afford another trip. We've been considering South Africa or Barbados, or maybe both (LOL).

PS: Be aware... not everything I mentioned about EUROPE was based on deep visit or throrough knowledge.

Hiya

I'm back home!!!
there will be lotsa stories here soon... very SOON