Aug 13, 2008

First/last post + Survey

A pesquisa está chegando ao final e parece mesmo que teremos um novo blog, deixando o California Dreaming intacto, do jeitinho que está. Estranho pensar que este será provavelmente o penúltimo post que escreverei - o último terá um link para o novo blog, né? Mas vamos ao que interessa.

Chegamos aqui em NYC hoje, depois de exatos 32 minutos de sono, van ao aeroporto às 4h30 da manhã e 6 horinhas de vôo. As horas antecedentes foram muito bem aproveitadas com direito ao último almoço no Jin Sho, vinho branco em copo plástico, últimas colheradas do tiramissu e também com nossos vizinhos, vendo o time de ginástica olímpica perder para as menininhas de duvidosos 16 anos de idade, mas muito bem acompanhado de creme brulee do Trader Joes.

A chegada em NYC foi como sempre bagunçada, com 5 malas e 8kg de excesso de peso devidamente não "vistos" pela super gente boa moça do balcão que estudou português durante 3 anos. Fomos super bem recebidos pelo Ilan, amigo-de-amigo-que-vai-e-vem e nos acolheu na sua casa pelos primeiros dias da nossa busca pelo novo teto.

Andamos até o Central Park - ooooooh! - tirei fotos, mas elas vem depois, no devido lar, no devido blog novo, num futuro não muito próximo. Então fica aqui, o quase último post para vocês. Provavelmente agora só voltarei a escrever diretamente da nova casa, o que pode sim demorar alguns dias. Aguentem as pontas que a gente manda notícias assim que tiver!

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It seems, according to the survey results, that a new blog will be created and California Dreaming will remain as it is. It's sad to think that this might be the almost last post I'm writing (cannot say the last one, as this will for sure have the link to our new NYC blog). But you are interested in what's going on here on the East Cost, right?

We arrived in NY this afternoon, I only slept for exactly 32 minutes before taking the Super Shuttle to the airport. Our last hours in California were amazing, I had a great lunch at Jin Sho, some white wine in plastic glasses, tiramisu and also a funny night with our neighbors, watching the olympics games and a sad lost to the little and probably under 16 Chinese girls in gymnastics, but with such a great creme brulee from Trader Joes.

As usual, arriving in NYC is crazy, specially carrying 5 suitcases, 17 pounds above the limit that fortunately we didn't have to pay for, as a super nice lady that took 3 years of Portuguese classes didn't "see" the overweighted numbers. We are staying at Ilan's place, a friend of friend that warmly hosts us while looking for an apartment.

We walked to Central Park, I already took some pictures that will be posted in the future. And sadly I have to say that this might be second last post, I'll probably write again from our new apartment, so it will take a few days. See you soon!

Aug 11, 2008

2 days left & updates

Eu estava devendo a história da nossa primeira experiência em uma limousine. Sim! Parece metido, parece chique, mas na verdade foi a maior farra. No sábado, em 19 pessoas, contratamos duas limousines para ir daqui de Palo Alto até Napa Valley, a região mais famosa dos vinhos da California.


Com direito a limo branca de luzinhas coloridas no seu interior, fomos rumo aos wine tastings. Foram no total três vinícolas e um super picnic num break para almoço. Eu e a Moira levamos sanduichinhos de patê de atum, algumas pessoas trouxeram pães, salames, queijos, águas, cookies e foi o máximo.


Eu adorei a super experiência americana estereotipada, principalmente pela companhia de todos, pensando que foi o último grande evento desse grupo.


E continuando a atualização de informações, desde que começamos o processo de encaixotamento das nossas coisas, as pessoas começaram a nos alimentar. No domingo, nossos vizinhos compraram o frango da feira - sim, aqui também tem televisão de cachorro! - e almoçamos com eles, pois nossos pratos já estavam encaixotados. Ontem a tarde, o Byron passou aqui em casa e deixou umas ameixas deliciosas para nós do pé que os pais dele têm, super prático para horas de fome em empacotamento às 3am, sem contar que quando a Nadine veio me falar tchau, ela trouxe um super bolo das aulas dela para o jantar. E hoje a Moira passou aqui e deixou 2 tiramissus para nós: um original para mim e um de morango (sem café) para o Felipe.

Eles não são uns fofos?

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So, here are the last updates. I really wanted to write about our limousine experience. I know is sounds fancy, snobbish, but it was actually really fun. We were 19 people traveling to Napa Valley, the most famous wine country in California.

There were 2 big white limos, 3 wineries and a delicious picnic. Moira and I made some tuna sandwiches and there were breads, cheeses, prosciutto and cookies. So good.

It was nice to have this so typical American experience with this group as the last event together. We'll miss them a lot.

More updates, since we started our packing our friends started to feed us. Our neighbors Ethan and Rachel bought some chicken from the Farmer's Market and invited us for lunch on Sunday. Yesterday (ops, still Sunday) Byron brought us some delicious plums from his parents' house, the perfect snack for our packing until 3am, and Nadine gave us a beautiful cake from her pastries class. Today Moira brought two tiramissus she made herself: an original and a strawberry (no coffee) for Felipe.

Don't we have the sweetest friends?

Gone, boxes gone

Aug 9, 2008

Alegria de uma lágrima

The Happiness of Tears
(English version follows)


Hoje foi mais um dia de despedidas. Pela manhã fui ao centro dos alunos internacionais, o lugar onde passei tantas e tantas horas nesse um ano. Foram as aulas de português, japonês, italiano, os encontros com pessoas, conversas, troca de idéias muito interessantes. Algumas amigas minhas estavam por lá para um último abraço, uma última conversa, a última atualização sobre os assuntos que aconteceram nos dias que passaram.


Logo depois, fui ao almoço de despedida da minha aula de japonês, eu fiz bolinhos de bacalhau para eles experimentarem. A minha professora fez um arroz típico japonês, a aluna koreana trouxe sushis que ela mesma fez, o Byron trouxe sushis do Nijiya Market e a Monica as bebidas. Foi super divertido, começamos a comer os bolinhos na cozinha, recém saídos do fogão, conversando e rindo.

O almoço foi o máximo, comemos super bem e durou até 3pm, com direito a goiabada, moti e doce de arroz coreano de sobremesa. Claro que eu comi de tudo, repeti, tudo estava divino.


E pela primeira vez, eu chorei. Foi muito, muito difícil pensar que nunca mais estarei próxima assim dessas pessoas. Mesmo no mesmo país, estaremos longe. Eu não as verei todas as semanas, nós não nos encontraremos andando de bicicletas pelo campus, pelos supermercados, pelo correio ou pelo café. E isso bateu uma tristeza grande em mim, e eu não contive as lágrimas - e nem as pessoas que estavam comigo.

Mas depois cheguei em casa sorrindo, pois eu tenho um motivo para chorar de saudade. Se esse ano em Stanford não tivesse sido tão especial, o sentimento de hoje nunca teria passado por mim. E acho que isso que sinto agora indo embora é a melhor coisa que eu poderia sentir, pois sei que esse tempo nunca mais voltará, mas para sempre ficará a lembrança dos dias tão especiais que tivemos.

E o dia não acabou. Entre empacotar as caixas e fazer sanduichinhos com a Moira para o picnic de amanhã, a noite acabou em uma cervejaria em Burlingame (30 min de trem) com nossos vizinhos queridos.

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The Happiness of tears

This morning I went to the I-Center, where I spent so many days and hours since we arrived here. It is in this place that I was able to teach Portuguese and learn Japanese, Italian and meet different people, cultures, exchange experiences and thoughts. Some of my close friends were there too for a last talk, hug, probably the last lively weekly update about our lives we had.

Just after noon, there was a farewell lunch with my Japanese class. I made some cod fried dumplings so they could taste a typical Portuguese snack. Mamiko, our teacher, cooked a tasty Japanese rice (chirashi), our Korean classmate brought some homemade sushis, Byron brought some amazing Nijiya sushis and Monica provided us with some drinks. It was such a delicious meal, they all tasted the
bolinhos de bacalhau in the kitchen, just out of the stove, talking and laughing.

Lunch itself was super nice and lasted until 3pm, having as dessert some guava jam, moti and a Korean candy made of rice. I had to say that I ate (and ate) and repeated almost everything, it was really good.

And by time dishes were done, I cried. It was really hard to think that I will never be so close to these friends. Even knowing we'll all be in the same country for a while, we still will be apart. I won't see them every week, we won't bump into each others biking around campus, in the grocery shop, in the post office or grabbing a coffee. That burst a sad feeling and I wasn't able not to cry - making some of them cry too.

But by the time I got home I was happy, as I realized I have such a good reason to cry for. If this year here at Stanford wasn't so special, this feeling that revealed to me this afternoon would never actually exist. This couldn't be a better feeling to have 5 days before our departure, as I know these days will never come back, but I will always keep great memories of them.

And the day hadn't finished yet. We packed some (more!) boxes, Moira and I made some tuna sandwiches for tomorrow's picnic in Napa, and we had dinner at a Brewery in Burlingame with our neighbors.

Aug 6, 2008

7 days - Movie & A Journey Around Markets

I'm trying to spend as much time as possible with my friends here before leaving, and it was the main topic of my day. In the morning I met Monica, my Italian teacher and Portuguese student to watch a Brazilian movie. At the beginning we thought it was a movie based on a book I read many many years ago called [Capitães da Areia, by Jorge Amado], but then I realized that it had nothing to do with the book.

I felt really ashamed as it is a movie with
Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro - two actresses I really like - in Lençóis Maranhenses, a beautiful place in the northeast of Brazil. It's called [A casa de Areia], and although the movie was brilliant, my favorite part was the Making Of of it. How everyone struggled to do their best in a region that is so cruel to people and animals, but at the same time so extraordinarily amazing, where sand and water fight for every piece of land.

After that we had lunch together and met Mamiko and Byron (my American friend that reads my blog!) for our weekly (and my last) Japanese class. We'll have a lunch on Friday, to which I'm bringing
bolinhos de bacalhau, so Mamiko and I went to the Portuguese Market in Mountain View to buy some bacalhau. We had a great time together, she bought Guaraná, Pão de queijo mix, água de coco and some Piraquê snacks. After that, we went to the Japanese Nijiya Market, where I bought onigiri (rice balls filled with salmon and with a sea weed around it) for my dinner and some yookan (candy made of sweet beans).


And our day hasn't finished yet! We're now going to our neighbors to have some Pão de queijo Forno de Minas and a Passionfruit Mousse made with Maguary juice. Yay!

Aug 4, 2008

Até breve a San Francisco

Our last coldest summer day.
Our last time wearing winter clothes in August.
Our last (and first) Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate.
Our last Clam Chowder.
Our last time in Coit Tower.
Our last goodbye to Union Square.
Our last frustrating foggy sky.
Our last day in San Francisco.


Aug 3, 2008

9 days left

You all know I'll miss California a lot, and we've started to say goodbye to things and people we'll miss most. From today until August 13th this will be for sure the main topic of this blog. People, food, places, stories, movies, everything that will be in our memories from our life in California.

Yesterday we went to Berkeley and I really don't dare saying "for the last time", just for the last time in August. We had an amazing dinner at La Mediteranee, but I have to say that the high moment of our night was tasting all those amazing ice creams from Ici. Gi [wrote] a post about it, so I won't do it again, but it was just marvelous.



This morning we went to the Farmer's Market, and I [wrote] about it months ago, when we were there for the first time and also to where we brought our parents and siblings. We both woke up this morning with the same idea: let's say goodbye to our two favorite crepes: Citron and Banana. This time it was even better, as now we had our neighbors to join us.


And speaking about neighbors. I know I've said this before, but I have to repeat it, probably because in Brazil we don't have this whole concept of neighbors being your best friends, going to coffee shops and spending hours and hours there together - oh yes, like Friends sitcom - or even watering their plants while they are on a trip and getting as a "payment" some super organic cherry tomatoes and corn from their garden.


10 minutes before writing this post they were here (home), watching a movie with us in the middle of cardboard moving boxes, having popcorn with red wine and talking about the social differences between our countries. I just can't get this out of my mind: will my NYC neighbors be this nice?

Aug 1, 2008

Nice table

With all the moving and the necessity of buying new furniture in NY, I've been checking some websites and blogs related to interior design, how to save space and money and have a flat that will be cozy and comfy for us and our friends.

I have to say that I found really interesting ideas, kitchen layouts (not that I can really change that in a rented apartment in NYC), fluffy sofas and comfortable chairs. And obviously, I found things that amazed me by the creative mind behind them. Like this table.


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Com toda a história da nossa mudança e também a busca por novas mobílias, eu tenho lido vários sites e blogs relacionados à decoração, como economizar espaço e dinheiro e ter um apartamento que tenha a nossa cara e seja agradável aos nossos amigos e visitas.

Nesse tempo descobri idéias muito legais, cozinhas lindas (não que eu realmente consiga fazer algo tão extraordinário numa cozinha de apartamento alugado em Nova York), sofás fofinhos e cadeiras confortáveis. E claro que no meio desse mundo design todo eu fui surpreendida pela criatividade de algumas pessoas e seus objetos. Como essa mesa.


Paint Or Die But Love Me by [John Nouanesing].