Botafogo Baby

AAaaaahhhhhh!!! (Imagine it's angels singing that heavenly note when something magical appears out of nowhere ... 'aaaaaahhhhhh')

HALLELUJAH!  I. HAVE. ARRIVED!

I'm writing this blog from my new couch in my new apartment in my new neighbourhood - BOTAFOGO Y'ALL!

Life is like, spectacularly good.  I'm serious.  Is it even possible that my mood can change so drastically that I can now actually understand WHY people like this city?  Because I do. 

This morning I woke up at a completely reasonable hour, laced up my running shoes and went for the most beautiful run I've (ever?) been on.... It was really really lovely.  I'm running on Praia de Botafogo (Botafogo beach) and in one direction, I'm looking at the Pão de Açúcar and in the opposite direction I'm staring directly at the Cristo statue.  Surrounded by warm sun, calm water and moutains?  Are you kidding me??

We've been here since Thursday and life is feeling completely different already.  Gah, it's impossible to explain how peaceful I feel. 

That could also be a combo of acupuncture and psychologist working (which I found, by the way!)  But I'll save those for a future blog.  Just a little check in for today!

How to Find an Apartment in Rio and Not Kill Yourself

We're about to enter a new stage of life and it feels like the night before the first day at school.  Or, maybe the night before the next 3-4 years of University, because that's sort of what it is.  Little piece of advice, when you rent an apartment here in Rio, the typical contract is 30 months (2 1/2 years) so you better love the place you're living in, like you love a French hooker.  And who doesn't love a good French hooker.  

I sure do, now!  (love my apartment, that is)

Not that that means we'll be here fo shizzle (Mom!) but that has sort of been our plans in terms of length of stay in Rio for the next little while.

Now that it's (almost) 100% a done deal (we still need to sign the contract and get the keys), I'd like to highlight the joy that it is to rent an apartment in Rio.  Oh, wait, did I say joy?  I meant pure headache and bane of my existence.

First, when you are looking for that apartment of your dreams, be prepared to never find it.  Or at least for it to take a solid week (I'm talking 8 hours a day for 7 days straight) or more, of searching.  You will go through countless apartments that should be ashamed of themselves for showing up to The Ball dressed like that.  I mean, I wouldn't let people see me with literal streaks of dirt running down my body and broken arms and legs.  But they have no shame.

So you'll see the crap apartments, but you'll know immediately that they are crap and quickly move on to the next ones.

How do you find these apartments, you ask?

You'll need to buy the O Globo paper every Wednesday and Sunday (that's when the majority of apartments are listed, and even more-so on Sunday).  Don't even both with the online stuff.  Most of the same apartments, plus way more, are in the paper. 

Then, don't make the mistake of calling to arrange a time for a couple days into the future.  No no, you'll have to make sure you take an entire day off work and then call the apartments the day you want to see them in the hopes that they haven't already been rented.  It's that easy impossible, folks. 

Once your hard labour has paid off and you find the apartment of your dreams, you'll run into more problems!
Most places in Rio these days are asking for a fiador.  This is a co-signer and this person has to OWN property in RIO.  Forget about your uncle who owns a million dollar mansion in São Paulo (ok, still not us).  Fiadors can be Rio-owning co-signers ONLY.

Well, we don't have that, which makes life so much more interesting for us. 

Option Two: Seguro Fiança.  Here you can opt to pay R$2,500 (per year) to the bank so that they will act as your fiador.  This is not a deposit.  You do not get this money back.  You must pay it every year that you are living in the apartment.  Ridiculous option?? I agree.  FAIL!

Option Three: Capitalização.  It's like a deposit/savings account done through the bank.  They ask for a minimum 6 months rent/condo fee, which in our case is about R$2000.  The owner of the apartment can accept the minimum or ask for more.  The other apartment we were looking at was asking for TEN.  That's twenty-thousand reais.  R$20,000.  !!!???  The freaking 1 bedroom apartment costs R$2000 per month!  What makes you think I have R$20,000 just sitting around, waiting to be used?!?

Option Four (and the options that the angels made available for us): STRAIGHT UP DEPOSIT!  This is probably the least common method, which really limits your options, but also your decisions!  Our apartment is still asking for a bazillion dollars (3 months deposit and 3 months of rent up front) but since we did have a little bit saved up, we can do it. 

My advice would be to have about 6 months worth of rent saved up so that you can offer this as a deposit option to people who are being jerks and insisting on a fiador.  

As for you, if you don't have one of these options available to you, you might be renting a room in a party house or in an older lady's house.  I'm serious.  Does anyone else have experience renting outside of these options?  If so, I believe you found a miracle.

As for us, we got our place and we get the keys on Monday...!!! Wahoo!

Lots of space!

Isn't it great to live on your own?  (The answer to that rhetorical question is YES).  I wake up every morning thankful for this space that is MINE - maybe I'm sounding like a spoilt North American here, but space, space and more space is what I crave and is something that I felt was lacking very much in my first year in Brazil. 

The next blog is my 100th post (yay!) and so for my 100th post I will celebrate by sharing pictures of our new, fabulous space and hence the official mark that "We Live In Brazil".  Up until this point I felt like we really weren't living ... in all senses of the word.  We had little to no responsibility and in my opinion, this is when one can really say they are 'living'.  When one is taking care of oneself.   

I just finished baking some banana muffins (so easy - recipe here - sorry Mal, they're not glutton free) and appreciating the very simple fact of waking up when I feel like it (12 pm today and with no shame!) and walking into my kitchen without having to make conversation.  I thought I would be lonely with the sudden lack of people around me but I am pleased to announce that I'm not!  Actually, things couldn't be better and I find myself calling my MIL on the phone just to say hi... a very nice relationship that I'm happy and excited to cultivate.

So, in case you were sitting around wondering "I wonder how LINDSEY is doing lately", this blog is to update that my feelings lately have been all good in the hood (albeit with moments of frustration, but let's be real... that's because I live in Brazil!) 

On a final note related to banana muffins - I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before but repetitions sake - There is no baking soda in Brazil so if you feel like you can't bake traditional cookies/muffins due to lack of baking soda, fear not.  Just triple what the recipe calls for in baking soda with baking powder for the same effect.  You might get a bit more baking powder taste but it's ok, still works!

So there's my helpful tip of the day.  Have a lovely Saturday all!

New Apartment Comes Complete with All Amenities Plus Ghost

So, my apartment is haunted.  I'm absolutely certain of this fact.  Alright.. let me just back up a little....

So we moved into our own apartment all by ourselves!!  Yay!!  We've been living like adults again for almost two weeks and it's spectacular.  Tonight as I walked home, I looked forward to picking up some groceries on the way, tidying up the kitchen, cooking and then ironing.  Yes.  I am now Dona de         MINHA Casa.  And while we're on the subject, I prefer not to call myself "HouseWife"... rather I prefer to call myself "AwesomeWife".  AwesomeWife does it all and also manages to fit in a glass of red wine and orange Fanta (delicious, swear to god).

So, on nights that Ro is partying it up working and I'm left to tend the house all by mah-self, I feel the ghost's presence.  Let me just back up again for a sec...

We rented this apartment by a stroke of luck.  Seeing as it's almost impossible to rent an apartment in Rio unless you have a fiador (co-signer) or you're a millionaire and can afford like 4 months of rent up front.  Also, rent is also very high and your average salary definitely doesn't match up.  So Ro has a friend whose father passed away (unfortunately) but offered to let us rent the apartment without all of the normal necessary requirements(fortunately!).

It's not in the best location ever - it's still just as far and maybe even more difficult to get to places by bus.  But it's ours.  And it's haunted.

How do I know this?  Well, I don't.  I only think.  But I swear swear swear that sometimes, only when I'm in my bedroom, I feel someone enter the room.  I feel it so strongly that I look up thinking that Ro has come home to surprise me!  The other thing is that my cat goes into crazy stare and meowing spells.  Just now she was sitting in the office (which was the father's room) just meowing and staring at a spot on the ceiling above the window.  Ok, so sometimes she's looking at a bug but when I went in just now, there was no bug to be found.  She stayed in the office for, like, 15 minutes.  Shivers.  

THEN, I was sitting here all scared and all of the power went out!!  I was suddenly sitting in pitch black thinking 'for sure the ghost is to blame' but then I heard Familia Favelinha next door start yelling and laughing and screaming so I knew it wasn't just me.  Thank you to my Little Favela Family for always making noise and making me feel like I'm not alone.

So anyway guys, I gots a ghost and I don't know what to do!  I tried to just accept living together with my new ghosty friend but even making silly jokes doesn't take the icey cold fear in my heart go away.  And P.S. We already did a spirit cleanse before we moved in so I hope it's just that it's taking a little while for Ghost Dad to pass.

Here are the options I've come up with for coping with my fear.

1. Continue watching Home & Health Channel all night as I have been doing because What Not to Wear and 10 Years Younger DOES make me feel safe and happy.
2. Stay up until Ro comes home at 3 am.

Actually that's all I got.  I'm really spooked over here!!

Dear Air Conditiong: Please Come Back. I Miss You.

It's hot.  Like, really hot.  My friends in the snowy north continuously remind/ask me if I would prefer -20 degrees and truthfully, I can't answer that question.  But I know for sure I wouldn't prefer 40+...... and this is what we're dealing with here.

And now we've moved into a new apartment (yay!).  So many great things about living on your own.  But I've quickly discovered one bad thing.  No air conditioning.  C'mon, let's face it!  We're straight broke and other things like food have taken priority over AC for now.... My only respite is the fact that I'm here alone in the apartment and yep.  That means it's No Clothes-Ville for this suffering Canadian...

We have reached the point where any slight whisper of material touching my skin is enough to make me drop to the floor in a series of dramatic (and only slightly exaggerated) fits complete with loud complaining and pathetic whining, which is then followed by outright angry shouting:

"THAT'S IT! I'm going to buy TWO air conditionings tomorrow and I'm putting them on the credit card"
"Oh really? And how will you take them home with you on the bus?"
"I'll hire a driver and put HIM on the credit card!"
"You don't even have a credit card."
"AHHH I HATE YOU! IT'S SO FREAKING HOT!!!!"

True story. (And only slightly exaggerated...)

I can't even pretend to be a real Brazilian.  My husband pointed out that he grew up without AC so for him, "it's not so bad."  Well, Sir.  You may sleep in the "not-so-bad" living room and enjoy your heat.  I'll be in the bedroom with the air conditioning turned to "icicle". 

So in case you were wondering, yes.  It is allllll hanging out right now and while all of this naked freedom is liberating, it's really getting old fast.  I would like some air conditioning please.  It's like Tasha pointed out.  I'm in a new home which really should be christened (I'm pretty sure it's a rule in the bible) and it's too hot for anything more than a toe-rub.
Actually, it's more common to hear "Don't touch me.  Stop touching me... your leg hair is touching me!" than to hear any invitations of hanky panky.  Did I just refer to sex as hanky panky?  Ok, this heat is making me delirious. 

Time for my second shower of the morning! 

You know it's hot in Brazil when:

1. You get up after a 30 minute air conditioned bus ride with a huge, sweaty wet spot on the back of your dress.  It definitely looks like your peed yourself.

2. The nasty, dirty AC dripping onto you from the offices above in Centro is suddenly cool and refreshing. 

3. You stop caring about looking classy and sexy in front of your husband and instead opt for the 'let it all hang out' look.  It really doesn't even matter at this point.  It's not like you're getting any anyway because.........

4. Hot and sweaty sex actually sounds like your idea of hell. 

5. You can barely walk outside and when you do, you can't even make it to your destination in one go.  You need to sit down and take rests.

6. A slight, almost non-existent, breeze is the most AMAZING thing you have EVER FELT IN YOUR LIFE.

7. All of the Brazilians around you are complaining "Nossa! Que calor!" which makes you feel better about not being the only one who can't handle the heat.  Literally and figuratively.

8. Showering twice a day used to seem completely neurotic and obsessive to you.  Now you take two showers before noon.

9. You sweat.  All. The. Time. In fact, you are never ever not sweating.  You are sweating right now!

10. You actually think that -30 degree Canadian winter would be better than this heat.  So really, you've gone crazy.

Stay cool out there peeps!!