Inventing Gringolândia
Monday, 7. May 2007, 23:38:40
Blog for the week ending May 7, 2007
TUESDAY, May 1, 2007, “MAY DAY”
Although this week's photos might make it look like we're still on vacation, the truth is that we're starting to get serious about setting up Gringolândia. It's not quite as much work as setting up a real country, but it is a challenge.
Today was a national holiday... Labor Day, or the Day of the Worker. The holiday gave me a chance to get caught up on translations, a recommendation letter, and my BLOG.
Since it was a holiday, I had the day off from taking pictures. I didn’t take my camera with me when Bob and I went downtown for lunch. OK. So I really just forgot my camera. Lunch at Ferreirinha was pretty much the same as always... rosemary eggplant, tabouli, corn and beans, tomato vinaigrette, broccoli, kale, gilô, zucchini... a piece of fried banana...
From there we went to the ice cream place. The corn ice cream is a lot better than I had remembered it. We came home, making a stop at the fruit place a few blocks from home. I got a big huge watermelon, a papaya, and a couple of passion fruits.
I did manage to take a few pictures close to home.
WEDNESDAY, May 2, 2007
This morning we went to the paint store to look for blue swatches. Bob wants to paint the interior of Gringolândia light blue.
We walked downtown to meet with our team of accountants. Now that Gringolândia has an address, it can be registered with the city. We also got all kinds of tax info. We can either pay 30% taxes on our net income, or 11% on the gross income. Or something.
We had lunch at Chão Cerrado,
and went exploring furniture stores.
Maybe we’ll find furniture in Goiânia. Bob bought new sunglasses, but I didn’t ’cuz the clip-ons they have here are only sold with new glasses.
We took a shortcut through the GHD, Garish Hotel District...,
and ended up at Gringolândia. We talked to Rodrigo about our logo, we verified that we now had electricity for the space, and we watched Mônica make one phone call after another trying to get phone, internet, and cable for us.
Time for an açaí break. Then, on past the orange-green-and-purple hotels to the tattoo studio. Miracle of miracle, Bianca was there... not Lexy, not Heidi. So I took pictures of Bianca.
Then we walked on to FLA, where we had arranged to meet Edilson... the coordinator of the English programs for the college. He will arrange Portuguese tutoring for Bob, and he offered to take a look at my resume. We walked home in the dark... but Paris and Anápolis have one thing in common. They are both the city of lights. The environmental movement passed right on by unnoticed here, and no one seems to be in a big hurry to conserve electricity. The city is bathed in glorious beams of high-wattage streetlights. The city suffers from neglect in some ways, but the streetlight system seems to be in good repair. It’s fun to walk through the city at night. We got home in plenty of time to watch the soap opera.
THURSDAY, May 3, 2007
Our first official act of the day was to go to the offices of the NET cable company to get info about English-language programming. From there we walked to Gringolândia, where I took a photo of one of the key anchors for the retail-office complex.
We got our Gringolândia phone installed... and so we have a new number. No one will be around to answer the phone, but you can call us anyway and leave a message: 0 11 55 62 3943-8855. We also have an internet connection, as far as anyone knows.
We got other business taken care of, too. We got copies of our keys made, and I gave Mônica dozens of digital photos of Brian and Shirlee’s house, so she can sell it fast.
We had lunch at that cheap green place that’s on our way home.
We stopped at the supermarket, and I paid our phone bill at the lottery bank. It costs us one real (one half dollar) per minute to call the States, so I need to look into another phone plan.
We came home so I could get caught up on stuff. I prepared a lesson for this evening, but our students were returning from Brasília, so our class was postponed.
FRIDAY, May 4 2007
This morning Bob and I shopped for supplies for Gringolândia on our way there. We spent a bit of time there before heading downtown
for lunch at the usual place, Chão Cerrado.
Our friend Carlos was there too, so he joined us for lunch. From there we went to Lojas Americanas, and on to the sunglasses vendor where Bob had bought sunglasses two days ago. The sunglasses broke after only two days, and Bob couldn’t argue with the guy who sold them to him, so I did.
We went to the furniture place we had been earlier in the week, and I ordered a table for Gringolândia that should seat 8 people. When I get tired of teaching at the bar, I’ll have an option. We may order chairs from there later. Walking down Avenida São Francisco we ran into Heidi and her co-worker Alexandre.
Bob and I joined them, and had fresh-squeezed orange juice. Heidi said Lexy was at Sirlene’s, so I walked over there... to find Lexy taking a nap.
....I was expecting a spectacle, but Lexy wasn’t performing. So I walked on,
until I came to a place where there were performers. Two parrots were up in a palm tree eating fruit.
In the evening Bob and I went to visit Glória and Guilherme for a tutoring session.
Glória gave us even more free cologne samples.
SATURDAY, May 5, 2007
This morning Brian came by at 8:00 to pick up Bob and me for a trip to Goiânia. Brian had a nine-to-noon English class to teach there, so he dropped us off at the Flamboyant mall on his way to work.
We got there before 9:00, and the mall didn’t open until 10:00, so we walked to Carrefour to have a look around. The store is bigger and better than the one in Anápolis. Later, at the mall, we looked at furniture at Tok Stok, hoping to find tall stools for the bar at Gringolândia.
We decided it would be easier to lower the bar than to find tall stools. We visited Wal-Mart next door, where we met Brian at 12:30. Driving around Goiânia isn't so easy.
We went in search of lunch, and ended up at a fancy barbecue joint named “Lancaster”. They charge 31 reais per person, even for vegetarians, so we left. We found another barbecue joint, “Las Pampas”, that charged half as much, so we had lunch there. It was “rodizio” style, which meant that men in white jackets circle around offering you slices of meat from sword-like skewers. Bob and I found food at the salad bar,
and also enjoyed the skewered barbecued PINEAPPLE.
It was delicious. It had cinnamon on it. They also had managed to skewer dozens of tiny little garlic toasts, which were edible. I was the designated driver, so I got to drive out of town and the 50 kilometers back to Anápolis. If I hadn’t been driving, I could have taken photos of the huge purple ipê trees which stand out in the otherwise green forests. Brian had me stop at a place in Anápolis which he THOUGHT was a nursery, but it was just the elaborate yard of a landscape architect.
Does that T-Rex have a toucan in its mouth?
When we got home,
I was tired, but Bob walked across town to Carrefour, and he returned bearing vegetarian pizza.
SUNDAY, May 6, 2007
....It was another beautiful day for walking. Bob and I ended up at Ferreirinha, where we end up every Sunday for lunch.
My lunch:
Bob's Lunch:
We went for a walk... first to try to locate the place that sells room dividers, and then on a quest to get to the horizon.
We didn’t make it to the horizon, but we did find a good ice cream place run by a man who lived in the US for four years.
We traveled on... admiring the scenery along the way.
We found out-of-control poinsettias choking a stop sign...
New condos going up... with Mediterranean names like "Fenícia" and "Palazzo di Verona".
We also saw an ancient palm tree, and a perfectly framed poinsettia plant.
We went as far as the Children’s park when we decided it was time to turn back.
We walked down Avenida Kennedy...
Then we walked down Avenida Brasil...
We had a quiet afternoon at home, and we watched “The Prestige” for the second time. It actually made sense the second time.
MONDAY, May 7, 2007
On our way to lunch today we stopped to talk to the construction guy about our view deck. He said... Sure the building will support the weight. Look at the big huge water box on top of the building.
We went downtown...
and we stopped to see our team of accountants ... and Junior's brothers and their potato chip cart...
before heading to Chão Cerrado for lunch. I had the usual.
Tabouli with beans, manioc flour with fried bananas, kale, cabbage, tomatoes, bitter green eggplant-like gilô, and a plate of fruit (not pictured).
We headed for the room-divider place,
since we need to create separate areas in Gringolândia’s big room. We stopped at Fujioka to buy a phone with voice mail, and on to the post office, and Gringolândia. We took care of some business there in the afternoon, and headed home by way of our favorite places... including the bread store... the fruta do conde store, and the watermelon store.
Which makes me wonder if the week had less to do with furnishing Gringolândia, and more to do with our continual search for fruit.
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TUESDAY, May 1, 2007, “MAY DAY”
Although this week's photos might make it look like we're still on vacation, the truth is that we're starting to get serious about setting up Gringolândia. It's not quite as much work as setting up a real country, but it is a challenge.
Today was a national holiday... Labor Day, or the Day of the Worker. The holiday gave me a chance to get caught up on translations, a recommendation letter, and my BLOG.
Since it was a holiday, I had the day off from taking pictures. I didn’t take my camera with me when Bob and I went downtown for lunch. OK. So I really just forgot my camera. Lunch at Ferreirinha was pretty much the same as always... rosemary eggplant, tabouli, corn and beans, tomato vinaigrette, broccoli, kale, gilô, zucchini... a piece of fried banana...
From there we went to the ice cream place. The corn ice cream is a lot better than I had remembered it. We came home, making a stop at the fruit place a few blocks from home. I got a big huge watermelon, a papaya, and a couple of passion fruits.
I did manage to take a few pictures close to home.
WEDNESDAY, May 2, 2007
This morning we went to the paint store to look for blue swatches. Bob wants to paint the interior of Gringolândia light blue.
We walked downtown to meet with our team of accountants. Now that Gringolândia has an address, it can be registered with the city. We also got all kinds of tax info. We can either pay 30% taxes on our net income, or 11% on the gross income. Or something.
We had lunch at Chão Cerrado,
and went exploring furniture stores.
Maybe we’ll find furniture in Goiânia. Bob bought new sunglasses, but I didn’t ’cuz the clip-ons they have here are only sold with new glasses.
We took a shortcut through the GHD, Garish Hotel District...,
and ended up at Gringolândia. We talked to Rodrigo about our logo, we verified that we now had electricity for the space, and we watched Mônica make one phone call after another trying to get phone, internet, and cable for us.
Time for an açaí break. Then, on past the orange-green-and-purple hotels to the tattoo studio. Miracle of miracle, Bianca was there... not Lexy, not Heidi. So I took pictures of Bianca.
Then we walked on to FLA, where we had arranged to meet Edilson... the coordinator of the English programs for the college. He will arrange Portuguese tutoring for Bob, and he offered to take a look at my resume. We walked home in the dark... but Paris and Anápolis have one thing in common. They are both the city of lights. The environmental movement passed right on by unnoticed here, and no one seems to be in a big hurry to conserve electricity. The city is bathed in glorious beams of high-wattage streetlights. The city suffers from neglect in some ways, but the streetlight system seems to be in good repair. It’s fun to walk through the city at night. We got home in plenty of time to watch the soap opera.
THURSDAY, May 3, 2007
Our first official act of the day was to go to the offices of the NET cable company to get info about English-language programming. From there we walked to Gringolândia, where I took a photo of one of the key anchors for the retail-office complex.
We got our Gringolândia phone installed... and so we have a new number. No one will be around to answer the phone, but you can call us anyway and leave a message: 0 11 55 62 3943-8855. We also have an internet connection, as far as anyone knows.
We got other business taken care of, too. We got copies of our keys made, and I gave Mônica dozens of digital photos of Brian and Shirlee’s house, so she can sell it fast.
We had lunch at that cheap green place that’s on our way home.
We stopped at the supermarket, and I paid our phone bill at the lottery bank. It costs us one real (one half dollar) per minute to call the States, so I need to look into another phone plan.
We came home so I could get caught up on stuff. I prepared a lesson for this evening, but our students were returning from Brasília, so our class was postponed.
FRIDAY, May 4 2007
This morning Bob and I shopped for supplies for Gringolândia on our way there. We spent a bit of time there before heading downtown
for lunch at the usual place, Chão Cerrado.
Our friend Carlos was there too, so he joined us for lunch. From there we went to Lojas Americanas, and on to the sunglasses vendor where Bob had bought sunglasses two days ago. The sunglasses broke after only two days, and Bob couldn’t argue with the guy who sold them to him, so I did.
We went to the furniture place we had been earlier in the week, and I ordered a table for Gringolândia that should seat 8 people. When I get tired of teaching at the bar, I’ll have an option. We may order chairs from there later. Walking down Avenida São Francisco we ran into Heidi and her co-worker Alexandre.
Bob and I joined them, and had fresh-squeezed orange juice. Heidi said Lexy was at Sirlene’s, so I walked over there... to find Lexy taking a nap.
....I was expecting a spectacle, but Lexy wasn’t performing. So I walked on,
until I came to a place where there were performers. Two parrots were up in a palm tree eating fruit.
In the evening Bob and I went to visit Glória and Guilherme for a tutoring session.
Glória gave us even more free cologne samples.
SATURDAY, May 5, 2007
This morning Brian came by at 8:00 to pick up Bob and me for a trip to Goiânia. Brian had a nine-to-noon English class to teach there, so he dropped us off at the Flamboyant mall on his way to work.
We got there before 9:00, and the mall didn’t open until 10:00, so we walked to Carrefour to have a look around. The store is bigger and better than the one in Anápolis. Later, at the mall, we looked at furniture at Tok Stok, hoping to find tall stools for the bar at Gringolândia.
We decided it would be easier to lower the bar than to find tall stools. We visited Wal-Mart next door, where we met Brian at 12:30. Driving around Goiânia isn't so easy.
We went in search of lunch, and ended up at a fancy barbecue joint named “Lancaster”. They charge 31 reais per person, even for vegetarians, so we left. We found another barbecue joint, “Las Pampas”, that charged half as much, so we had lunch there. It was “rodizio” style, which meant that men in white jackets circle around offering you slices of meat from sword-like skewers. Bob and I found food at the salad bar,
and also enjoyed the skewered barbecued PINEAPPLE.
It was delicious. It had cinnamon on it. They also had managed to skewer dozens of tiny little garlic toasts, which were edible. I was the designated driver, so I got to drive out of town and the 50 kilometers back to Anápolis. If I hadn’t been driving, I could have taken photos of the huge purple ipê trees which stand out in the otherwise green forests. Brian had me stop at a place in Anápolis which he THOUGHT was a nursery, but it was just the elaborate yard of a landscape architect.
Does that T-Rex have a toucan in its mouth?
When we got home,
I was tired, but Bob walked across town to Carrefour, and he returned bearing vegetarian pizza.
SUNDAY, May 6, 2007
....It was another beautiful day for walking. Bob and I ended up at Ferreirinha, where we end up every Sunday for lunch.
My lunch:
Bob's Lunch:
We went for a walk... first to try to locate the place that sells room dividers, and then on a quest to get to the horizon.
We didn’t make it to the horizon, but we did find a good ice cream place run by a man who lived in the US for four years.
We traveled on... admiring the scenery along the way.
We found out-of-control poinsettias choking a stop sign...
New condos going up... with Mediterranean names like "Fenícia" and "Palazzo di Verona".
We also saw an ancient palm tree, and a perfectly framed poinsettia plant.
We went as far as the Children’s park when we decided it was time to turn back.
We walked down Avenida Kennedy...
Then we walked down Avenida Brasil...
We had a quiet afternoon at home, and we watched “The Prestige” for the second time. It actually made sense the second time.
MONDAY, May 7, 2007
On our way to lunch today we stopped to talk to the construction guy about our view deck. He said... Sure the building will support the weight. Look at the big huge water box on top of the building.
We went downtown...
and we stopped to see our team of accountants ... and Junior's brothers and their potato chip cart...
before heading to Chão Cerrado for lunch. I had the usual.
Tabouli with beans, manioc flour with fried bananas, kale, cabbage, tomatoes, bitter green eggplant-like gilô, and a plate of fruit (not pictured).
We headed for the room-divider place,
since we need to create separate areas in Gringolândia’s big room. We stopped at Fujioka to buy a phone with voice mail, and on to the post office, and Gringolândia. We took care of some business there in the afternoon, and headed home by way of our favorite places... including the bread store... the fruta do conde store, and the watermelon store.
Which makes me wonder if the week had less to do with furnishing Gringolândia, and more to do with our continual search for fruit.
[/size=6]
WIDGETIZE
brmadeira # 8. May 2007, 10:54
Anonymous # 9. May 2007, 16:36
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