Wednesday was my 25th birthday. It was strange celebrating a December birthday in the summer time and I'm sure I'll feel the same way about Christmas on Sunday. Most of the day was spent hard at work preparing manuscripts for submission and meeting about changes and details. I'm really enjoying the projects that I've been invited to work on so far and am looking forward to the next months in terms of research. When I got home from work, Deia had bought be some delicious candies from one of the docerias in town and I treated myself to one of the best chocolate covered strawberries I've ever eaten. Later that evening we went to Cruz de Malta for dinner and were joined by Rafa and Cauane, Carolina, Milena, and Maria Laura, Ana and Pedro. I ate a delicious steak with provolone cheese accompanied with of course a sweet caipirinha. Ana bought me a caipirinha kit (now I just have to figure out how to make them), Rafa, a great lotion, and Pedro thought an alarm clock would be a good choice for a gift (not sure why as I'm always early for work).
And as to stick with tradition, I asked Deia to take some pictures of me for mom to remember the 25th. This is only the second year in my entire life that I haven't been with her to have pictures made on my birthday. I also greatly missed having Laura do my hair...
Friday, after attending a seminar about accelerometry (which was very well delivered, thanks Felipe!), I met Deia's dad who had flown in to help us drive back to Floripa. My Portuguese on Friday was pretty good and we talked about his trip, what we like to eat, and how he has quit smoking. Deia also found out that she aced her PhD qualification exam so we went out to Nella Pietra for pizza to celebrate. The pizza was made fresh, and afterwards, we even ordered a dessert pizza with strawberries and chocolate.
Saturday, I went with Samanta to Rio Branco. Now saying that I've been to Uruguay because I've seen Rio Branco is like saying that I've been to Mexico but have only seen Nuevo Laredo. Rio Branco is small with a main street that is made-up of duty-free shops. The Brazilians love it because no taxes is unheard of in Brazil it seems. There were quite a lot of people plummaging through the aisles, making last minute Christmas purchases. We ate panchos for lunch which are just hot dogs and then came back to Pelotas.
Sunday, Deia, Paulo (her dad), and I got up early and hit the road by 8am to arrive in Florianopolis sometime around 5pm. The drive was long, and sitting in the backseat, I slept most of the way to avoid motion-sickness. Last night, we went to a Mexican food restaurant here called Guacamole because I've been dying for some tortillas. The food was pretty good and the margaritas were better so I can't complain! After dinner, Deia and I drove around and saw some of the island by night. I can already tell I will really like this place and am looking forward to experiencing more of it this week.
(As a side note, I forgot to bring the plug for the camera to download pictures so this week's and next week's blog post will be sans photos until I get back to Pelotas. Sorry for that!!)
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