Day–I forgot–1st day in new apt
Well, I forgot which day we’re on because I didn’t update over the weekend, but things are going very well. We ended up with this incredible apartment, the likes of which we are never likely to inhabit again, at just shy of $700/mo, depending on the exchange rate (about what I’d budgeted, hoping that I was perhaps highballing it–can that be used as a verb that way, Nina?). It’s in Leblon, one of the swankier parts of Rio, a bit out of the way from the center of town, but still pretty accessible on public transportation (the buses here are dangerously efficient–dangerous to any poor water-delivery guy who might be trundling his trike across the road against the light!). It’s two blocks from an extraordinarily beautiful beach, which we can see from our window (12th story). It’s got a washing machine, and a fold-out couch (visitors!), and our landlady, Maria Klauser (you wouldn’t think her of German descent by looking at her, but she did take care to put every one of the 50 banknotes I gave her for the deposit & first month’s rent all in the same orientation after I’d counted them out) is used to renting to grad students and will take care of hooking us up to the internet & cable. As a result, our Skype connection (617-379-0378) should be up later this week and you can talk to us on-line for free, or at that telephone number for the cost of a call to Cambridge, MA.
Anyways, so we’re very happy. This neighborhood is kind of like the Santa Monica (Rockport? I can’t think of a great East Coast equivalent) of Rio, as opposed to Copacabana, which is more like Venice Beach (not nearly as yucky as Hampton Beach–perhaps more like Point Pleasant, or actually beneath Point Pleasant, when I think of it). This afternoon we’re going to try and get our cell-phones going, which should be fun. We’ll have to pay like $40 to have Marcy’s old Cingular phone unblocked (when they sell them in the US, they program them so they won’t work elsewhere–huzzah for American openness & globalization), but I’ll be able to use Marcy’s _very_ old cell phone from Russia w/o paying for the removal of insipid protectionist programming. Then we’ll go to the supermarket, and perhaps take in a bit of the beach this afternoon when the sun is not so bright (Marcy is nearly fascistically vigilant about her sunscreen, so I think she can handle it–I’m the opposite, trusting to my stakhanovite melanin, and may suffer for it). Tomorrow I’ll hopefully go into IUPERJ at last and begin getting down to work, which means getting someone to try and help me get electoral data from the Tribunal Superior Eleitoral (it may be in their library) and planning my interview questions for carioquense politicians).
Well, I hope you’re all well. We’re really happy to be settled, at last, and soon will be able to communicate over high-speed internet from our apto, hopefully. In the meantime, our address is:
Av. Ataulfo de Baiva 50, apto 1206
Rio de Janeiro, RJ 22440-030
Brasil
Tchau!
