Gettin Around

So I've been down here for over a week and I am starting to get a bit of a grasp on life here.  It is so different than in the states, however the Brazilians make it an easy transition.  For the most part if  I try and speak a little Portuguese, "caveman Portuguese" as Jeremy says, the locals are very cool and find it humorous.  I’m getting to know the guys in the house pretty good now too.  They are from all over the world; the states, Australia, England, Korea, and Canada.  It's cool because they are all here train, there are no egos in the house and they all speak English.  With our powers combined we get along pretty well in the community.  Most of the guys that are here are here for at least two full months, some up to six months.  There's one guy here that hangs out with us who is phillipino I think, but grew up in Australia so in turn has an Australian accent.  It's so weird to me to see an asian guy with an Australian accent...it makes me laugh.  He's super cool and even though he isn't staying in the house he is always around.  Jeremy is a brown belt from South Carolina and for those of you that follow blogs on sherdog he posts under Gerbil Jiujitsu and has an ongoing blog that has been stickied in the grappling forum.  He has been very helpful and plays a completely different game than Jamel so it's nice to see some variation.  

So I went to a mall called Barra Shopping, which is the largest mall in South America.  It’s serious business…I don’t think you could walk through it in one day, at least you couldn’t go into every store in one day.  Things down here which are imported are very expensive…

Yep, that’s a pair of pumas for R$699, 90 or a cool 5 payments of R$139,98.  They actually make monthly payments on shoes down here, those things would cost maybe US$80-$90 back home.  If you do the conversion for the Brazilian price you would be paying about US$392.  It’s crazy.  I was told that when Brazilians visit the states they come back with bags of shoes for their friends.

Being at Barra Shopping made me with I was a kid again…

That’s the kid play place, it’s like wires and stuff to climb and walk across.  Kind of like Zip Lining, but for kids and in the mall.  That would never fly in the US.  Its been fun so far and its nice getting out and about.  

Anyway, just a little daily life for you all from down here.