SP Apt & Some Thoughts on Brazil

There have been a couple of requests for pics of my apartment. As you can see, there is a lot of space and the sofa pulls out into a bed...so come visit!

A few more observations about living in Brazil before I jump on a plane for SF.

I am finally starting to like my name in Portuguese. At first, I really hated it...thought it sounds like a combination of someone hawking a loogie and a soundtrack to an adult film. Here is my attempt to describe what my name sounds like phonetically Kkkhhrrreeee (loogie sounding part) sshhtooowwe (bow chica wow owe part). It is growing on me though and the Brazilians keep telling me it is cool and asking me if my parents were hippies, so I am down with it now.

Also, other thing I noticed in Brazil is that germophobia doesn't exist here. At lunch, everyone eats off each other's plates and shares drinks and desserts. My family is like this, but it has been a little strange adjusting to it in a professional setting. The tricky part is figuring out ways to avoid the germ sharing with certain people. For example, I am not ok with sharing germs with my boss, but the other day at lunch he sat down and drank out of my coke can and then said "you don't mind if we share right?"...um - yes! My attempt at a non-offensive response was to say - you can have it...I shouldn't drink it anyway because I am getting fat. This was funny to him because he calls me fatty at lunch almost everyday.

Last thing and then apt pics, the weird part about learning a new language is that I turn into a liar. I am limited to the vocabulary that I know, so I tend to just make things up when I can't say things that I am actually thinking or things that I did. Example:

Friend: What did you do on Saturday?
Me: I woke up (true), I did some cleaning at my apt (not true...I have a helper come to my apt during the week, so there is really nothing to clean - I just sat around for a while), Then, I went to the store (true), I bought groceries (not really, I bought toilet paper and then couldn't find the other stuff I needed and left)...you get the point.

In Portuguese I make up tons of stuff, but I even still do it in Spanish. On the flight to Lima, I had to check all of my luggage, so I ended up grabbing a few things out of my bag and carrying it onto the airplane. We had to get on a bus to drive us to the plane and this really nice guy offered me his seat. He was asking while I had so many things and I told him "they stole my bag in the checkout line"...I meant they made me check it, but he thought I meant someone robbed me. He said I hope you don't have anything valuable in the bag. And instead of explaining what I meant originally, I just said...fortunately, I don't have anything too valuable and the person probably needed the bag more than me. Then in the back of my head I was thinking - WTF - I am such a liar...I could totally just explain what really happened! I guess I am just lazy sometimes.

Alright - that is all I got for now. See most of you soon!