http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1362203/Football-fans-swim-stands-flooded-stadium-game-decided-sub.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
I told you it was a little damp here ;)
Showing posts with label flood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flood. Show all posts
Thursday, 03 March 2011
Tuesday, 01 March 2011
In latest news from the pond
The hazy look is rain
Actually, there's no news really. Even the persistent rain isn't news any more. I waded home from my lunch time student in my water wings. It's now practice for Jurgis to meet me at the door with towels. My little umbrella is finished. In the end, it wasn't worth keeping open. For a 4 buck cheapie, it's done quite well for itself. I'm going to miss the bright green. I have a black vulture ready to take over though.
Yesterday evening, I went out to my late student... got as far as the bus stop and waited.... and waited... and waited... I amused myself while waiting...
There's a manhole cover. The underground water forces them up into a fountain in the road
Let's just say it was wet!
It's usually dry under the huge rubber trees at my stop.
I was using my umbrella under the bus stop shelter.
I eventually waded back home. No go. I left a message with my student that there just are no buses. No wonder...
Photo taken from the news. This is the bus I was waiting for.
It was stuck far away from me.
These two photos were taken in our neighbourhood, though at the other end. We weren't as badly hit.
I'm intrigued. She's actually riding her bicycle through the water!
Feel free to browse more to get an idea of what it's been like here lately:
http://noticias.uol.com.br/album/110216chuva_album.jhtm?abrefoto=87
Some areas were very badly hit with cars completely submerged and a couple of landslides.
Not too long after I sent a message to my student, I got a text from him: "Don't come. It's flooded here." Uh... yes... I'd say!
My one student was saying that the rains of this year are the worst he has ever seen. I know that, for us, it's the worst we've had, though São Paulo is no stranger to rains and floods. It's a seasonal way of life here. This is constant though. We're well used to the 4pm sudden rain storm in summer, but this day in and day out rain and flood? Not nearly as much fun and very awkward, to say the least, for intrepid teachers like me to move heaven and earth to get to students - ok, not quite heaven and earth... make that 'wind and water'.
And speaking of students, I need to get back to preparing for young MF.
For those who're waiting, Tat won't be blogging in a hurry. I got a "My pc has a fatal error" message last night. She is less than impressed.
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Glug glug
Blog written 'on the run' - Monday, 21 February 2011
The bus this morning is impossibly full. Traffic is manic. Wonder if everyone's out in preparation for carnival.
Road rage ~ an overload of testosterone to little point ~ insanity prevails
What on earth gets into people? One guy cuts another off. Sure, not a clever move. The 'offended' party then feels the need, in relatively smooth-flowing traffic, to swing in front of the 'offender', screeching brakes, to give him a verbal lambasting. I thought they'd come to blows. After almost causing an accident himself and holding up the rest of the traffic, el 'offended' stomped off to his car and took off with tyres spinning. Eejit.
On death ~
Crazy Cousin B sent me photos of A's 'velorio' (the open coffin viewing). *shudder* The guy was no oil painting when alive either. What is it that people get out of seeing the bodies of loved ones who've 'moved on'? I have a somewhat irreverent attitude to dead bodies. The spirit of the person is no longer in that 'container', so the 'container' has no meaning to me at all. I prefer to remember the person as they were alive. I expressed my horror to Tat, who, like a good little daughter, promised me faithfully not to have a viewing of my corpse and no red roses. The guy was smothered in red roses. He was definitely not a red rose kind of guy.
The raucous parrots in the trees were having a ball with the guavas...
biting off bits and spitting them out.
While I was waiting to go into the students, I stood in front of a high wall, enjoying the noise of the parrots overhead. The locals hate them because they're noisy. I love it. They sound like squabbling families. I can almost hear wifey scolding hubby and the kids.
All was good until a woman flung her soggy carpet over the wall to dry.
Yuck!
Ok, so today you get a *blog* When I finished the third student at 1:30pm, it was unbearably hot. I got the bus to the metro station. At that point, the humidity was sitting at an oppressive 99.99999%
In the space of 10 minutes, the sky went from glaring sun to dark purple. As I got onto the metro, the rain came down in solid sheets. I changed lines at Sé. The trains were already sporadic at that point, though I didn't know why. While in the tunnel, there was a tremendous thunder clap outside and even the train shook. I'd gone one stop on the second line when the power went - take a crowded metro, turn off the lights and the fans (no aircon on this one) and you definitely have everyone's attention!
The doors would open ever few minutes to let air in and briefly turn the lights on. I assume that as run on backup generators. The driver announced that the doors were being kept closed because of the rain, which would pour almost horizontally, crossing the wide platform and drenching everyone in the doorway of the carriage. I eventually made my way to the door, deciding to take my chances with the rain instead of the stifling heat of the interior of the carriage.
To give you an idea, to the left of the platform was a double set of escalators and a flight of stairs. The rain was driving across those, across the platform and into the train.
I eventually found a semi-dry corner to hole up in for a while. Audio books are good company.
The view outside from my sheltered corner.
This was half an hour after the blue sky photos shown earlier!
Power was eventually restored and I gleefully snagged the next train. At my metro destination, I was in for another surprise... the area was waist deep under water! I got off the metro, headed to the exits and wondered why everyone was just standing around. This is the view that greeted me when I looked out...
The waterfall is run-off from the roof. You can just see the flood waters on the road.
To give you a better idea.
The car circled in red is up to its windows in muddy water.
Thankfully, the metro station is on higher ground. That water would need overnight to drain. I eventually made the decision to get back onto the metro and go another two stops to Tatuapé, where there is a shopping centre I could hang around in.
But the day wasn't finished with me yet...
The shopping centre was in darkness. I took the opportunity to use the bathrooms, as I had no idea when I'd get home. Public toilets during power failures are definitely an experience. One central bulb was on. The actual toilets were in the dark. With no place to hang my bag, I hung it over the doorknob and prayed it would hold. Fumbling in the dark, I did what I had to do and headed out. Um... technology fail... the taps and soap dispensers are sensor operated. You wave your hands in front of the sensors to get water or soap. Guess what needs electricity to function and wasn't considered important enough to be generator-driven =/ Here's where my Girl Guide training came in handy (also the reason my bag is double the weight of any sane person). I had some wet wipes in there. Whew!
With the shopping centre being in the dark and already overloaded with stranded passengers, no seating was available. The rain had eased off. I decided to stand in line for if and when the bus would come to take me home. We stood... and stood... and waited... and waited... The rain started again. At about 4:30pm, the bus rolled up. Was it really only 3 hours ago that I walked out of my student's apartment?? By the time the bus came, many of the people in front of me in the queue had given up and gone who-knows-where, so I got a decent seat. There were 3 queues for this bus. It was full, but many decided to wait for the second bus. On hindsight, that might have been a good idea.
Because of the flooding, the bus had to take a detour.... and got lost! We ended up on the Tieté, then Salim Fara Maluf... then back again, almost to the starting point! I packed up laughing when I saw the metro going overhead and the familiar blue-cabled span bridge. By now the day had taken on a distinctly surreal quality. The girl next to me swore (I learned a lot of new vocabulary). She was due at work. I think it was a new job and she'd left home early to make a good impression, to little avail. In the end I told her to just relax. There was nothing she could do and surely they'd know by now that the city was flooded.
The bus in question took a few detours, avoiding the worst flooding and made its meandering way home. I didn't take more photos, as my battery was fading and I didn't know if I'd end up stuck somewhere else before getting home. While on the bus, I cancelled my evening student... I was too late to make my way to him and I'd missed my afternoon student completely. I did get a call from a prospective new student while on my way. That was nice.
I got home at 6:40pm, over 5 hours since leaving my student. It was an entertaining, but tiring day. I think I'm still recovering. The weird thing was that, with all that water, I never got to use the umbrella I was lugging around. As natural disasters go, the flooding here wasn't bad. We're fairly used to it. Now to just fix my schedule. One thing I did discover was that there is no way I can realistically get from Santana to Mooca in an hour and I can't move MF to a later time slot or I won't get to the evening student in time.
The bus this morning is impossibly full. Traffic is manic. Wonder if everyone's out in preparation for carnival.
Road rage ~ an overload of testosterone to little point ~ insanity prevails
What on earth gets into people? One guy cuts another off. Sure, not a clever move. The 'offended' party then feels the need, in relatively smooth-flowing traffic, to swing in front of the 'offender', screeching brakes, to give him a verbal lambasting. I thought they'd come to blows. After almost causing an accident himself and holding up the rest of the traffic, el 'offended' stomped off to his car and took off with tyres spinning. Eejit.
On death ~
Crazy Cousin B sent me photos of A's 'velorio' (the open coffin viewing). *shudder* The guy was no oil painting when alive either. What is it that people get out of seeing the bodies of loved ones who've 'moved on'? I have a somewhat irreverent attitude to dead bodies. The spirit of the person is no longer in that 'container', so the 'container' has no meaning to me at all. I prefer to remember the person as they were alive. I expressed my horror to Tat, who, like a good little daughter, promised me faithfully not to have a viewing of my corpse and no red roses. The guy was smothered in red roses. He was definitely not a red rose kind of guy.
The raucous parrots in the trees were having a ball with the guavas...
biting off bits and spitting them out.
While I was waiting to go into the students, I stood in front of a high wall, enjoying the noise of the parrots overhead. The locals hate them because they're noisy. I love it. They sound like squabbling families. I can almost hear wifey scolding hubby and the kids.
All was good until a woman flung her soggy carpet over the wall to dry.
Yuck!
In the space of 10 minutes, the sky went from glaring sun to dark purple. As I got onto the metro, the rain came down in solid sheets. I changed lines at Sé. The trains were already sporadic at that point, though I didn't know why. While in the tunnel, there was a tremendous thunder clap outside and even the train shook. I'd gone one stop on the second line when the power went - take a crowded metro, turn off the lights and the fans (no aircon on this one) and you definitely have everyone's attention!
The doors would open ever few minutes to let air in and briefly turn the lights on. I assume that as run on backup generators. The driver announced that the doors were being kept closed because of the rain, which would pour almost horizontally, crossing the wide platform and drenching everyone in the doorway of the carriage. I eventually made my way to the door, deciding to take my chances with the rain instead of the stifling heat of the interior of the carriage.
To give you an idea, to the left of the platform was a double set of escalators and a flight of stairs. The rain was driving across those, across the platform and into the train.
I eventually found a semi-dry corner to hole up in for a while. Audio books are good company.
The view outside from my sheltered corner.
This was half an hour after the blue sky photos shown earlier!
Power was eventually restored and I gleefully snagged the next train. At my metro destination, I was in for another surprise... the area was waist deep under water! I got off the metro, headed to the exits and wondered why everyone was just standing around. This is the view that greeted me when I looked out...
The waterfall is run-off from the roof. You can just see the flood waters on the road.
To give you a better idea.
The car circled in red is up to its windows in muddy water.
Thankfully, the metro station is on higher ground. That water would need overnight to drain. I eventually made the decision to get back onto the metro and go another two stops to Tatuapé, where there is a shopping centre I could hang around in.
But the day wasn't finished with me yet...
The shopping centre was in darkness. I took the opportunity to use the bathrooms, as I had no idea when I'd get home. Public toilets during power failures are definitely an experience. One central bulb was on. The actual toilets were in the dark. With no place to hang my bag, I hung it over the doorknob and prayed it would hold. Fumbling in the dark, I did what I had to do and headed out. Um... technology fail... the taps and soap dispensers are sensor operated. You wave your hands in front of the sensors to get water or soap. Guess what needs electricity to function and wasn't considered important enough to be generator-driven =/ Here's where my Girl Guide training came in handy (also the reason my bag is double the weight of any sane person). I had some wet wipes in there. Whew!
With the shopping centre being in the dark and already overloaded with stranded passengers, no seating was available. The rain had eased off. I decided to stand in line for if and when the bus would come to take me home. We stood... and stood... and waited... and waited... The rain started again. At about 4:30pm, the bus rolled up. Was it really only 3 hours ago that I walked out of my student's apartment?? By the time the bus came, many of the people in front of me in the queue had given up and gone who-knows-where, so I got a decent seat. There were 3 queues for this bus. It was full, but many decided to wait for the second bus. On hindsight, that might have been a good idea.
Because of the flooding, the bus had to take a detour.... and got lost! We ended up on the Tieté, then Salim Fara Maluf... then back again, almost to the starting point! I packed up laughing when I saw the metro going overhead and the familiar blue-cabled span bridge. By now the day had taken on a distinctly surreal quality. The girl next to me swore (I learned a lot of new vocabulary). She was due at work. I think it was a new job and she'd left home early to make a good impression, to little avail. In the end I told her to just relax. There was nothing she could do and surely they'd know by now that the city was flooded.
The bus in question took a few detours, avoiding the worst flooding and made its meandering way home. I didn't take more photos, as my battery was fading and I didn't know if I'd end up stuck somewhere else before getting home. While on the bus, I cancelled my evening student... I was too late to make my way to him and I'd missed my afternoon student completely. I did get a call from a prospective new student while on my way. That was nice.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I got home at 6:40pm, over 5 hours since leaving my student. It was an entertaining, but tiring day. I think I'm still recovering. The weird thing was that, with all that water, I never got to use the umbrella I was lugging around. As natural disasters go, the flooding here wasn't bad. We're fairly used to it. Now to just fix my schedule. One thing I did discover was that there is no way I can realistically get from Santana to Mooca in an hour and I can't move MF to a later time slot or I won't get to the evening student in time.
Wednesday, 16 February 2011
Heavy, heavy skies
hot-soup air
under a purple-cloud blanket
the maelstrom of rain
expectantly
moments away
Actually, no longer moments away. We had temperatures of 34ºC this afternoon. The air was hot and breathlessly heavy. Since arriving home, the storms have broken. Jurgis suggested we use the ironing board to surf down our little passageway here, the water was moving so fast. The poor people in other parts of the city had hail and in other parts of the greater São Paulo, there have been major destructive floods - again.
I wanted to post a quick blog. I've been absent, I know. Monday was a very long work day, starting with a breakfast run class and ending at 8:30pm. Tuesday, I spent the day flat on my back. It seems I'd go one step forward and two back. Nasty. Today, I went out to one student. It wasn't so bad, but the wriggly toddler insisted on lap time, and it was rather painful accommodating her. I'm so proud of the kid though. Her father made a point of telling me she can't tell the time in Portuguese and she's aced it in English. She did well today. I came home with a pre-storm headache. It broke as I walked up our road. I got home just in time! Our power has died a few times since I got home, so there's no guarantee we'll be 'live' this evening. We'll see how that goes. Supper is smelling good : )
Wednesday, 02 February 2011
Monday, Monday...
Whew! It's been a week and a half so far!
I figured Monday would be like any other day. I was sooo wrong! I'll take any Friday 13th over this past Monday.
The day didn't start badly, if I ignored the stalled metros. I got to my first set of students. They're meant to do their classes in 1 hour turns. It's a mother and son. She decided to opt out of class, leaving me with her more advanced son and one hour's worth of materials to stretch over two hours. Ok. I can do this. It didn't go badly.
I took the bus to my next student. It was one of those times when I have too much time between students, but not enough time to go home. I hung around in a coffee shop for an hour, but left when it got awkward. I moved down the road and sat on a step under the broiling sun - literally broiling. Wait... make that 'pressure cooking'. The tattered awning helped a little though... until the rain started. The heavens opened and in the time it took me to dash 200 yards, the water was over my shoes. I got to the student looking like a drowned rat (a rather overgrown drowned rat).
They were renovating and my usual class area was out of bounds and would I mind giving class in the child's bedroom? My heart sank. I'd forgotten my flash drive at home and her bedroom had a very poor wifi connection, so I had to wing it. She wanted her class under a tent created by her duvet. I swear the child is insane... didn't she know how hot it was? That was after she shut the door and the windows and turned the lights off.
I left her in the rain and headed off home. I was grateful for my long(ish) legs compared to the locals. I could jump the flooded sidewalks to relatively shallow water while they had to wade through. I felt like Mary Poppins sailing over the water with my umbrella that was threatening to disintegrate in the wind. We stood under the leaky bus shelter, each trying to crane past the others' umbrellas to see if the bus was coming. Needless to say, the buses were slow in coming. I had less than an hour to get home and get out to the next student. I waded home. The water at my last bus stop was almost at my knees. Yuck!
The storm grew worse. There was a major clap of thunder and lightning. It was right over us. Then the power went out. Our internet died at the same time, as I discovered when I got home.
At home, I dashed some food down my throat. The next student was a 2 hour long session and I'd be home really late. I had no time to change, but dried out while I ate. Heat has its advantages. I didn't want to dress up anyway, as the next student wasn't in a great end of town and I'd probably have to swim to him anyway.
I headed out. I took the wrong bus. I ended up having to walk a mile and some change. I was late - only by 10 minutes, but that just about killed me. I'm never late, especially for the first class with a new student. Then I arrived at the address. It was a major international corporation!! I was dressed in khakis and a t-shirt!! UGH! The student, who just happened to be the sales director of this company *cringe*, learned how to say sorry, profusely, many times over, within the first 5 minutes of the class. Once I'd regained my composure, the class went well. I even scored a ride home for which I was really grateful - in a luxury 4x4 with aircon. 'Home' was on his way.
Tuesday consisted of cancelled classes. My classes were online : ( Skype doesn't work without internet. Did you know that?
What's the height of boredom? Taking photos of the truly fascinating interior of your water bottle!
Today was back to normal. We got our internet back tonight - a brand, spanking new modem - after a day of yet more knee-deep rain. Ah fun! : )
I figured Monday would be like any other day. I was sooo wrong! I'll take any Friday 13th over this past Monday.
The day didn't start badly, if I ignored the stalled metros. I got to my first set of students. They're meant to do their classes in 1 hour turns. It's a mother and son. She decided to opt out of class, leaving me with her more advanced son and one hour's worth of materials to stretch over two hours. Ok. I can do this. It didn't go badly.
I took the bus to my next student. It was one of those times when I have too much time between students, but not enough time to go home. I hung around in a coffee shop for an hour, but left when it got awkward. I moved down the road and sat on a step under the broiling sun - literally broiling. Wait... make that 'pressure cooking'. The tattered awning helped a little though... until the rain started. The heavens opened and in the time it took me to dash 200 yards, the water was over my shoes. I got to the student looking like a drowned rat (a rather overgrown drowned rat).
They were renovating and my usual class area was out of bounds and would I mind giving class in the child's bedroom? My heart sank. I'd forgotten my flash drive at home and her bedroom had a very poor wifi connection, so I had to wing it. She wanted her class under a tent created by her duvet. I swear the child is insane... didn't she know how hot it was? That was after she shut the door and the windows and turned the lights off.
I left her in the rain and headed off home. I was grateful for my long(ish) legs compared to the locals. I could jump the flooded sidewalks to relatively shallow water while they had to wade through. I felt like Mary Poppins sailing over the water with my umbrella that was threatening to disintegrate in the wind. We stood under the leaky bus shelter, each trying to crane past the others' umbrellas to see if the bus was coming. Needless to say, the buses were slow in coming. I had less than an hour to get home and get out to the next student. I waded home. The water at my last bus stop was almost at my knees. Yuck!
The storm grew worse. There was a major clap of thunder and lightning. It was right over us. Then the power went out. Our internet died at the same time, as I discovered when I got home.
At home, I dashed some food down my throat. The next student was a 2 hour long session and I'd be home really late. I had no time to change, but dried out while I ate. Heat has its advantages. I didn't want to dress up anyway, as the next student wasn't in a great end of town and I'd probably have to swim to him anyway.
I headed out. I took the wrong bus. I ended up having to walk a mile and some change. I was late - only by 10 minutes, but that just about killed me. I'm never late, especially for the first class with a new student. Then I arrived at the address. It was a major international corporation!! I was dressed in khakis and a t-shirt!! UGH! The student, who just happened to be the sales director of this company *cringe*, learned how to say sorry, profusely, many times over, within the first 5 minutes of the class. Once I'd regained my composure, the class went well. I even scored a ride home for which I was really grateful - in a luxury 4x4 with aircon. 'Home' was on his way.
Tuesday consisted of cancelled classes. My classes were online : ( Skype doesn't work without internet. Did you know that?
What's the height of boredom? Taking photos of the truly fascinating interior of your water bottle!
Today was back to normal. We got our internet back tonight - a brand, spanking new modem - after a day of yet more knee-deep rain. Ah fun! : )
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Tuesdayisms
I'm itching from head to toe. Enough with the mosquitoes already. I look like I have measles : (
One of my newer students (started just before Christmas) gave me a belated Christmas gift - a hand embroidered face towel. It's beautiful. I only teach her and her son because of her cat though ; ) He's a huge, friendly, absolutely gorgeous ginger! I keep threatening to take him home with me. I think the towel was a trade-off.
I have two new students. Both seem very nice. One is close to home and the other a Skype student. Now if my old students would just come back. They all seem to be on extended vacations.
I feel as though I've been talking about religion all week. Weird that.
The road at my bus stop... The tar is washed away in many parts,
leaving the original cobble stones showing through.
I love the cobble stones, but they're treacherous in wet weather.
Yesterday, the roads were very wet with random ponds. The heat had evaporated the worst, plunging us into our daily sauna. You could see the mud-water flood mark had reached above the car tyres at the metro station. Shop owners were sweeping mud out of the shops. My student told me of friends whose homes were flooded out. We're so lucky where we are.
Today was a public holiday - São Paulo's birthday. I didn't achieve too much. Prepared for little miss for tomorrow, went through a couple of cases of stuff, read some blogs and generally pretended to be really busy.
The cat is lying sprawled on the dog's blankie. Dog is sulking at my feet, though, in fairness, he's using the cat's soft-foam box as a pillow. Good trade. She never uses it anyway.
One of my newer students (started just before Christmas) gave me a belated Christmas gift - a hand embroidered face towel. It's beautiful. I only teach her and her son because of her cat though ; ) He's a huge, friendly, absolutely gorgeous ginger! I keep threatening to take him home with me. I think the towel was a trade-off.
I have two new students. Both seem very nice. One is close to home and the other a Skype student. Now if my old students would just come back. They all seem to be on extended vacations.
I feel as though I've been talking about religion all week. Weird that.
The road at my bus stop... The tar is washed away in many parts,
leaving the original cobble stones showing through.
I love the cobble stones, but they're treacherous in wet weather.
Yesterday, the roads were very wet with random ponds. The heat had evaporated the worst, plunging us into our daily sauna. You could see the mud-water flood mark had reached above the car tyres at the metro station. Shop owners were sweeping mud out of the shops. My student told me of friends whose homes were flooded out. We're so lucky where we are.
Today was a public holiday - São Paulo's birthday. I didn't achieve too much. Prepared for little miss for tomorrow, went through a couple of cases of stuff, read some blogs and generally pretended to be really busy.
The cat is lying sprawled on the dog's blankie. Dog is sulking at my feet, though, in fairness, he's using the cat's soft-foam box as a pillow. Good trade. She never uses it anyway.
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
And the daily quandaries start again
Really bad cell phone photo, but there was a security guy lurking
and they get twitchy when they see photos being taken.
I'm sitting here, doing nothing. I don't want to start on the mountain of work I have here at home and getting ready only to be told not to bother irks me.
It's like this... The student hasn't actually started for the new year. She's my student who notoriously cancels at the last minute, often as I'm walking in at her offices. I've been trying to contact her all morning. She's left home, hasn't arrived at work and her cell phone is on voicemail and, if I'm to go, I have to leave now.
Ok, the fact that I'm still here typing tells you what my decision was. There's been no word from my student. I love that I'm #1 priority in her life *laughing*
Yesterday, I got to my student's apartment and was about to go in when I got the text. She was sick and her son (the other student) was taking her to hospital. This student takes me 2 hours to get to her. So, I tootled off home and did some shopping on the way - bare pantry syndrome. The supermarket was empty. What is it about vacant parking lots that make them so creepy? The photo I took was in the well-lit part. I did well and got a week's groceries for very little output. There were flies around the potatoes though *shudder* This is inside a shopping centre, inside the supermarket. This does not bode well for my potato mania. No wonder they serve rice with everything.
There were massive roadblocks around the corner here. Apparently, our nearby favela has started selling drugs. Yay. The break-ins and assaults have escalated lately. The people directly across the road from us were assaulted twice in as many months. They've now moved.
14 people have died in our latest flood. São Paulo is again under water. No surprises there. I'm not even bothering with photos and videos this time. You've seen it all before. I feel for the Aussies though. They're not used to flooding and their waters look rough.
I chuckled at this video Jurgis sent me this morning. I have always avoided parallel parking at all costs. This makes it so easy! It seems my choice of mode of transport was the problem ;)
...
Thursday, 16 December 2010
I'm dreaming of a wet Christmas
Our river here broke its banks between yesterday and the night before. Things are a little soggy. I'm thoroughly enjoying the cooler weather though. I even baked some cookies! Shortbread over-browned - blegh - but the spice biscuits came out beautifully. It was less than fun making them though, as my co-baker isn't here. Most are being bagged to gift, though I'm quite sure HRM will do damage to them all if I left him to it.
I had some Santa success yesterday!! Last week, I did a lesson around Santa with MF, but she was unimpressed. She knew her parents delivered her gifts to her grandparents' home where they always opened them. I got her to write her letter to Santa anyway, which she did with much sulking and very begrudgingly. The only way to keep her going was to Google her 'wishes'. Now that got her excited.
I found an awesome site online where you can print and 'send' a reply to the kid from Santa. The trouble is, the letter mentions Santa going on to a 'friend' and names the friend. Now I'm useless with names and couldn't remember her friends, so I asked Tat, who happily obliged (she taught MF before I got her - that girl has a prodigious memory!). We just had to hope that the kids were still friends. I took my chances.
When I arrived at MF's home, she had a picture she had drawn of 3 girls with names next to them. I looked and said, with bated breath, "Are these your friends?" No, was the answer. They were just characters from a TV series. Whew! "Who are your friends then?" Counting off on her fingers, she started, "Gabrielle, João.... and others," she said with a shrug. "Others?" I wanted to know. Yes... others. She obviously has too many to mention. A grin spread over her face though. "Look what I got!" and she stuck her letter from Santa under my nose (I had left it with the security guard with instructions to put it in among their mail). Then she told me all about her letter and what was inside. She's convinced Santa must be real and all-seeing, as he knew her friend! I hoaxed a kid, so sue me - to quote Marty. Apparently dad said it must be Corrianne who sent the letter, but the whole friend thing threw her, as she knew I didn't know her friend. I'm happy : )
I made myself a Christmas present... a notebook for the new year. Some of you may recognise the photos on the front and back cover. The paper was scrap I had lying around.
Jurgis' Christmas present will doubtless be the baking of another batch of biscuits. He doesn't use notebooks. What else does one make for a guy anyway?
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
A few weeks
Strange - I wanted to write the date today as 2011. That's a first. Usually, I struggle to adapt to writing the new year when it arrives.
Two buses went straight past this morning - too full. Squish room only in the third. I decided to take my chances and wait among the crowds for the new metro to open - it doesn't run at useful times - though it would be cutting it fine. The new station is surrounded by its own patch of grass, which makes for a nice start to the day. Burying my uncomfortable feet (I really don't like these sandals) in thick early-morning-cool grass is pure bliss.
Today's "Nossa Bairro" (Our Neighbourhood) newspaper's front page is news about Facebook's plan for email and such. The neighbourhood must be out of regular news. Later, glancing at the Metro News over someone's shoulder showed me an article about Wikileaks... apparently the USA is trying to take over Brazil. Whodathunkit? That should help with Brazil's neurosis over the USA.
Most students are cancelling the rest of December. That should make January 'interesting'. I have inherited at least one new, confirmed student and two others in the pipeline, which will help enormously. Fingers crossed that they confirm.
Our week was marked by overcast, muggy days and afternoons complete with thunderstorms and associated power failures. Night before last, we had a frantic hauling out of towels and sweeping vast quantities of water out the door. Brazilian housing = major leak incidents. In fairness, the rain has been heavy...
This is the river about 200m from our gate. Photo from our local news site.
This is the usual level... though the rains had already started when this photo was taken...
To get an idea of depth, take a look at the trucks and cars along the road on the left.
Thursday... end of my working week - well, kind of. There's still Saturday, but tomorrow is off and its probably a good thing. I have a zillion things to do. Today has, so far, been one of those weird can't-get-going starts. Then I got onto the bus, which felt strange... standing room?! Then I nearly fell out of my chair - oh wait... I was standing. The first clusters of seats are for the aged and infirm. A pretty girl stood and offered her seat to me! *hauls out mirror* Ok, there's grey, a few lines, but over 60??
It always amuses me when we're standing with our faces mashed up against the metro doors during peak hour and the standard recording comes on, "If you're not getting off at the next stop, keep clear of the doorways." I really, really like the new air-conditioned metros, especially in our current super-muggy weather.
My plants are loving the rain. So am I. It's a whole lot cooler with the rain, even if keeping dry is somewhat challenging.
My most recent students are far from me, quite literally on the opposite end of the city. Going to them takes me through Bras. This area is well known to all Paulistanos as being the best place to buy clothes.... literally street after street of clothing shops, both wholesale and retail. Some shops are vast warehouses and others are small. The area also has streets that specialise in outfitting clothing shops. I find the mannequin shops fascinating. This one, I caught in passing. It tickled me that the sales girl was sitting so companionably with her mannequin 'friend'.
Christmas décor is out now, but very sporadic. I was on Av. Paulista, standing waiting to cross to Conjuncto Nacional. They pride themselves on their recycled Christmas décor. Aside from the snowflakes (don't know what those are made of), the rest of the decorations are all recycled cold drink bottles, in this case, more than likely Guaraná bottles.
I snuck a peek down a passage and saw a lady decorating her 'tree'. The tree was more a bush of naked branches, but the effect was pretty. It doesn't show well in this photo though. Ah for a decent zoom...
Then again, if you don't have a garden to decorate, what's the next best thing?
Two buses went straight past this morning - too full. Squish room only in the third. I decided to take my chances and wait among the crowds for the new metro to open - it doesn't run at useful times - though it would be cutting it fine. The new station is surrounded by its own patch of grass, which makes for a nice start to the day. Burying my uncomfortable feet (I really don't like these sandals) in thick early-morning-cool grass is pure bliss.
Today's "Nossa Bairro" (Our Neighbourhood) newspaper's front page is news about Facebook's plan for email and such. The neighbourhood must be out of regular news. Later, glancing at the Metro News over someone's shoulder showed me an article about Wikileaks... apparently the USA is trying to take over Brazil. Whodathunkit? That should help with Brazil's neurosis over the USA.
Most students are cancelling the rest of December. That should make January 'interesting'. I have inherited at least one new, confirmed student and two others in the pipeline, which will help enormously. Fingers crossed that they confirm.
Our week was marked by overcast, muggy days and afternoons complete with thunderstorms and associated power failures. Night before last, we had a frantic hauling out of towels and sweeping vast quantities of water out the door. Brazilian housing = major leak incidents. In fairness, the rain has been heavy...
This is the river about 200m from our gate. Photo from our local news site.
This is the usual level... though the rains had already started when this photo was taken...
To get an idea of depth, take a look at the trucks and cars along the road on the left.
Thursday... end of my working week - well, kind of. There's still Saturday, but tomorrow is off and its probably a good thing. I have a zillion things to do. Today has, so far, been one of those weird can't-get-going starts. Then I got onto the bus, which felt strange... standing room?! Then I nearly fell out of my chair - oh wait... I was standing. The first clusters of seats are for the aged and infirm. A pretty girl stood and offered her seat to me! *hauls out mirror* Ok, there's grey, a few lines, but over 60??
It always amuses me when we're standing with our faces mashed up against the metro doors during peak hour and the standard recording comes on, "If you're not getting off at the next stop, keep clear of the doorways." I really, really like the new air-conditioned metros, especially in our current super-muggy weather.
My plants are loving the rain. So am I. It's a whole lot cooler with the rain, even if keeping dry is somewhat challenging.
My most recent students are far from me, quite literally on the opposite end of the city. Going to them takes me through Bras. This area is well known to all Paulistanos as being the best place to buy clothes.... literally street after street of clothing shops, both wholesale and retail. Some shops are vast warehouses and others are small. The area also has streets that specialise in outfitting clothing shops. I find the mannequin shops fascinating. This one, I caught in passing. It tickled me that the sales girl was sitting so companionably with her mannequin 'friend'.
Christmas décor is out now, but very sporadic. I was on Av. Paulista, standing waiting to cross to Conjuncto Nacional. They pride themselves on their recycled Christmas décor. Aside from the snowflakes (don't know what those are made of), the rest of the decorations are all recycled cold drink bottles, in this case, more than likely Guaraná bottles.
I snuck a peek down a passage and saw a lady decorating her 'tree'. The tree was more a bush of naked branches, but the effect was pretty. It doesn't show well in this photo though. Ah for a decent zoom...
Then again, if you don't have a garden to decorate, what's the next best thing?
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