Viagem a São Paulo
Bom dia tudo mundo!
I am blogging to you from the third biggest city in the world: São Paulo!
Including it surrounding areas, this place has an estimated population of 17 million!! Nobody knows the real number...
The reason I am here, is that Uziel was called to meet with the senior pastor, Ouriel de Jesus (not really related) from the United States (Boston Ministry), who is in Santos/São Paulo this week. We drove in one day from Vila Velha, to Santos. This is where the meeting was originally at. Left at 5am on Tuesday morning, arrived about 7 at night. The church service had already started, so we quickly showered in an apartement in the church building and then joined in. Very big church, and interesting to see how it operates. Back to the trip, it´s approximately 1000kms, but because the road along the coast is very winding and hilly, it takes longer than usual. It´s really a unique landscape, with these big green hills and coves that meet the ocean. We passed through Rio, but it was a murky day, and I couldn´t see a whole lot. Santos is south of São Paulo, it´s on the coast. The two are barely separate, as São Paulo has no boundaries, it´s so big. We stayed in Santos for one night, in a rather chic hotel, paid for by the church =D. The next day, it was mutually decided that we go to São Paulo, where we are now staying in another pastor´s house. Let me just show some pictures from the drive and more:
We had plans to go down to Curítiba, but right now it doesn´t look like it. We were planning to head back home today, but we decided not too, plus the car played up today, right after we filled the tank. Uziel suspects it could be bad gasoline, as they tend to mix in things, especially in a big city like São Paulo, where control is minimal. Hopefully we can get it fixed by tomorrow. It´s hard to get a proper feel of São Paulo, the sheer size means you can´t just take a quick tour, because traffic here is hell. They even have legislation that means cars with number plates ending on 0 or 9 are not allowed to drive on Friday between 17:00 and 20:00 o´clock. Different numbers for different days, so as to reduce traffic. Damn I would hate to have Friday as my day, as does Pastor Brunelli (our host).
Before all of this, I´ll just let everyone know that, I have started school. I have had about 4 full days. I failed to wake up on one day... I´m going to Escola Santa Adame (ESA), the same school Jess and Jarryd are at. Turned out that none of the other schools nearby had any place, so in consultation with BEX, it was decided I go there. Bought my uniform, and quarta-feira (Wednesday) of last week was my first day. In similar fashion to my Adelaide departure, all alarms failed, and Uziel knocked on my door at 6:51am, ten minutes before the first class starts. I´m getting good at first impressions... No problems in the end, the Bio teacher was away, so a free lesson, more or less, useful to do all the introductions. School isn´t too bad, although I have to change my routine from going to bed at 2:00am and waking up at 10:00, to going to bed earlier, so I can wake up at 6:00, the crack of dawn. Everyone is really curious and friendly, and the three of us (Aussies) are quite famous already. After introducing myself, my English teacher couldn´t pick I was foreign and it wasn´t until another student told her at the end of class that she realised. I took that as a compliment... Classes are pretty easy, as far as physics and maths go. Other subjects like History of Sociology, which are lecture based are harder to follow. Instead of sleeping or distracting others, I just translate new words trying to teach myself portuguese. I´m pretty eager to learn the language, plus my French is proving to be very very useful.
Next week is the official week of carnaval. National holiday for one week! Most people take the week prior, or following, or both off work as well. Samba parades have started already around the country, and TV is filled with ads from the various samba schools that are competing. I haven´t made any definite plans, but there are a couple of options.
Anyway, this should suffice for another update, in the meantime we have to wait for this little car to get fixed. It just got towed to the house, hopefully we can get it fixed tomorrow, it´s just close to carnaval, so everyone is knocking off... This also means the roads are ridiculously busy, especially out of São Paulo.
Thanks to those who signed the guestbook! Time for the rest to sign :P
Tchau!
I am blogging to you from the third biggest city in the world: São Paulo!
Including it surrounding areas, this place has an estimated population of 17 million!! Nobody knows the real number...
The reason I am here, is that Uziel was called to meet with the senior pastor, Ouriel de Jesus (not really related) from the United States (Boston Ministry), who is in Santos/São Paulo this week. We drove in one day from Vila Velha, to Santos. This is where the meeting was originally at. Left at 5am on Tuesday morning, arrived about 7 at night. The church service had already started, so we quickly showered in an apartement in the church building and then joined in. Very big church, and interesting to see how it operates. Back to the trip, it´s approximately 1000kms, but because the road along the coast is very winding and hilly, it takes longer than usual. It´s really a unique landscape, with these big green hills and coves that meet the ocean. We passed through Rio, but it was a murky day, and I couldn´t see a whole lot. Santos is south of São Paulo, it´s on the coast. The two are barely separate, as São Paulo has no boundaries, it´s so big. We stayed in Santos for one night, in a rather chic hotel, paid for by the church =D. The next day, it was mutually decided that we go to São Paulo, where we are now staying in another pastor´s house. Let me just show some pictures from the drive and more:
Here is the route we took; Santos bottom left, Vila Velha is North-East off the map. Ignore the last part of the green line...
En route, we´re over-taking here, so don´t get confused, note the bicyclist!
Having recently crossed into Rio state; a nice impression of the landscape.
A glimpse of a Rio favela; shonky huts crammed against a hill would be my one-sentence summary.
A murky day in Rio, taken from the bridge. The Cristo Redentor statue is on top of that peak.
Santos! View from hotel. Nice city, much cleaner.
About 11 in the morning on Santos´ main praia. The big light pole lights up the sand at night, just like Vila Velha.
Main road to the beach, mosaic pavement, palm trees; this is so Brasil
Hotel, nothing too exciting, but it was a very luxurious one.
A big park in São Paulo. Like my new haircut? Just 8 reais.
At a Churrascaria restaurant. Clockwise from left: Uziel, Daiane, Pr. Walter Brunelli and his wife, Pr. Ouriel de Jesus and his wife and son, and me in my Guaraná shirt.
The service at Walter´s church in São Paulo. Ouriel is preaching.
Oh yea, guess who was at the service? Pélé´s daughter! I´m famous!
We had plans to go down to Curítiba, but right now it doesn´t look like it. We were planning to head back home today, but we decided not too, plus the car played up today, right after we filled the tank. Uziel suspects it could be bad gasoline, as they tend to mix in things, especially in a big city like São Paulo, where control is minimal. Hopefully we can get it fixed by tomorrow. It´s hard to get a proper feel of São Paulo, the sheer size means you can´t just take a quick tour, because traffic here is hell. They even have legislation that means cars with number plates ending on 0 or 9 are not allowed to drive on Friday between 17:00 and 20:00 o´clock. Different numbers for different days, so as to reduce traffic. Damn I would hate to have Friday as my day, as does Pastor Brunelli (our host).
Before all of this, I´ll just let everyone know that, I have started school. I have had about 4 full days. I failed to wake up on one day... I´m going to Escola Santa Adame (ESA), the same school Jess and Jarryd are at. Turned out that none of the other schools nearby had any place, so in consultation with BEX, it was decided I go there. Bought my uniform, and quarta-feira (Wednesday) of last week was my first day. In similar fashion to my Adelaide departure, all alarms failed, and Uziel knocked on my door at 6:51am, ten minutes before the first class starts. I´m getting good at first impressions... No problems in the end, the Bio teacher was away, so a free lesson, more or less, useful to do all the introductions. School isn´t too bad, although I have to change my routine from going to bed at 2:00am and waking up at 10:00, to going to bed earlier, so I can wake up at 6:00, the crack of dawn. Everyone is really curious and friendly, and the three of us (Aussies) are quite famous already. After introducing myself, my English teacher couldn´t pick I was foreign and it wasn´t until another student told her at the end of class that she realised. I took that as a compliment... Classes are pretty easy, as far as physics and maths go. Other subjects like History of Sociology, which are lecture based are harder to follow. Instead of sleeping or distracting others, I just translate new words trying to teach myself portuguese. I´m pretty eager to learn the language, plus my French is proving to be very very useful.
Next week is the official week of carnaval. National holiday for one week! Most people take the week prior, or following, or both off work as well. Samba parades have started already around the country, and TV is filled with ads from the various samba schools that are competing. I haven´t made any definite plans, but there are a couple of options.
Anyway, this should suffice for another update, in the meantime we have to wait for this little car to get fixed. It just got towed to the house, hopefully we can get it fixed tomorrow, it´s just close to carnaval, so everyone is knocking off... This also means the roads are ridiculously busy, especially out of São Paulo.
Thanks to those who signed the guestbook! Time for the rest to sign :P
Tchau!
