I meet my complimentary counterpart
Trip Start
Oct 19, 2007
1
59
126
Trip End
Ongoing
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Belo Horizonte,
Brazil
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Catch a bus to the rodoviaria and I have seat 15 but this dude is sitting in it so I just sit wherever. A couple walk up to me and obviously I am sitting in one of their seats. I tell them sorry but someone is in my seat and I will have to go to talk him about it. They are really nice and ask if I need help talking to him, and Iīm like no, I can handle it (my Portuguese is good enough for this simple task). I find out which seat he is in and I tell him I will just take his seat. Nao problema. Heīs an idiot though because he is obviously Brazilian and he thought his seat was 15 but that was the platform number (platform number meaning where the bus was located, Rio probably has 100 platforms in the bus station), and everything is in Portuguese so he of all people should be able to decipher it correctly. But, no big deal, itīs all the same to me as each seat is more or less identical to the next. This chain of events turns out to actually be fortuitous as my new seat is next to a younger girl (which is cool for many reasons, she is small and doesnīt take up as much space, sitting next to another big guy on the bus blows (in Brazil not usually a problem but in Rio there are bigger guys), she is younger and therefore probably much cooler to talk to then some old hag and the best of all I find out she is a PARTICLE PHYSICIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!). I am sitting there for about 5 minutes thinking of what to say to her so I ask her if she wants a cookie in Portuguese (why I have cookies is beyond me, easy to take on a bus I suppose).
Atmospheric Attributes
We talk in Portuguese for like 5 minutes and then I find out she speaks fluent English. Ass, why didnīt you just say so. And like I said already, she tells me she is an actual living and breathing particle physicist. I have read so many books on Quantum Mechanics (Particle Physics), Relativity, String Theory and Cosmology in my life and I have never been able to actually talk to someone and ask questions about all the ideas and concepts I have read about. I donīt know how many books I have read, at least a dozen. I am soooooo psyched. You have no idea how many hours I have spent reading, studying and trying to wrap my brain around all the bizarre scenarios that take place in the quantum world. I canīt believe my good luck. I have a thousand questions I want to ask her. So I start bombarding her with questions and we actually have a real discussion concerning quantum mechanics and other issues regarding particle physics. At first it started out as more of a question and answer routine but it ended up being a actual conversation regarding various issues related to the quantum world. She was very impressed with my general knowledge of the subject. Well, I should be well versed in the subject as I have spent many an L ride contemplating this shit. Her doctorate is geared towards trying to prove if a certain symmetry exists in the strong nuclear force but she needs the new particle collider to be built at CERN before her ideas can be tested. I can only imagine how many physicists and other scientists are waiting for this mammoth of a collider to be completed.
Modules of Euclidean Space
The wait list for this thing has to be longer than the wait list for Packer season tickets. Anyways, once this thing gets built (itīs a bit behind schedule right now) a whole new vista of ideas and truths will come to fruition. She is on vacation though and sheīs taking an entire week off from her demanding schedule and I donīt want to be overly rude. Iīm sure she would like to take her mind off of physics and talk about normal stuff for awhile. So we only talk for like 2 hours concerning particle physics (sheīs lucky, it could have been the entire bus ride) and talk about whatever for the next 4. Sheīs actually super cool considering sheīs a flippin particle physicist. Sheīs not your typical scientist, and she tells me Iīm not your typical accountant (funny, I think I have actually heard that before somewhere). Example of how cool she is, talking about going to Cleiberīs house and how his mom, if I know anything about Brazilians, is going to be super nice and cook me food and stuff like that. She goes "I donīt know if he has a sister, but if he does, you can just fuck his sister, eat his momīs food, have her do your laundry, drink all their beer and then just bolt, itīll be the best trip ever". Awesome, this is a particle physicist saying this mind you. I would love to see this girl again, but I know I wonīt.
Cleiber picks me up at the bus station. Nice. I donīt have to figure out innercity bus travel. The bad thing is though he has to go back to work and stay there till 11:00 and I have to go with him.
The Capillary Arrangement
Itīs completely dead though and nobody is there but he has to be there in case someone calls in. He works for a telephone company at their helpline center. We fuck around a lot and at one point we play basketball by shooting wads of paper into a trashcan. Heīs awful at waste paper basket basketball. When he gets a call, I simply update this blog for free which is nice. Later he takes me to his girlfriendīs house so I can meet her. Her name is Julianna and once we get there she makes sit down in the kitchen so she can feed us. Nice. Cleiber and I knock out all kinds of shit and then jet after like 15 minutes. Hah, nothing like eating and running, this turns out to be a recurring theme in Belo Horizonte. Go to his house and meet his mom. She is so sweet and nice but she talks so much and quite quickly and I understand maybe 20% of what she says. She just keeps talking and asking questions as if I grew up in Brazil and was fluent in Portuguese. And of course she makes eat some dinner. Iīm going to get fat here. Cleiber is a buddhist (which I didnīt know about) and he has to go meditate so I just chill and chat with his mom. Itīs a little nerve wrecking though because I think she thinks I know Portuguese. Cleiber gives me his room to stay in and he sleeps on the extra bed in him momīs room. Cleiber and his mom are like the nicest peeps in the world. We donīt go out or anything tonight and of course his mom tries to feed me again before I go to bed, I think she was successful in her attempt. Fin
Comments
good and fun blog but...
Sean or Shawn,
I've reading your blog for like 2 months, all the adventure. Thats because I am going to the US for a period of time (not illegally, of course) and want to know better what kind of people you are. Your blog is fun, and you got better and better in writing it. Also I can see that you may have changed your points of view from L.A. and particularly Brazil etc... Can you see that the great great great majority of people here in Brazil treated you so well, and were so welcoming, never threatening you...and still the heading of your blog says: 'Brazil, Argentina, Chile - what's up, please don't kill me and I won't impregnate any of your women. Deal, Deal.' The last part is funny, but the prejudicial part sucks. We don't know what we did for you north-americans and the rest, to think that we are violent or assassins. Well maybe you saw that f movie 'Turistas' made by an stupid american director, etc...
Settle down man
This is in response to thethetraplegic's comment. Settle down. It's a joke playing on the normally overly rediculous stereotypes countries have of another. Undoubtedly Shawn knew that he wasn't going to die. If you have truely read his blog, you would realize how sarcastic and quirky he is and likely didn't write that comment seriously. It's just like a brasilian saying they intend to come to the united states because they want to buy a gun a walmart and go to disney. For every rediculous stereotype there is of brasil, there is one for the US. Concentrate your stereotype killing lecture for people that actually take the shit seriously.
Merker causing problems across nations
Merk, your humor must get lost in translation. Those paintings are sweet but if you never make money from painting, maybe you should just continue insulting countries, women, your family, friends and yourself over the internet. You obviously have a knack for it if you are causing problems for people you don't even know dude.
and he got friends
@ dwg83: I know he is sarcastic. He is actually cool. I was just kind of pulling his legs with this sort of 'true, not-true commentary'.
@tmescall: no real offense taken here. That was just an intrusion from an unknown (hell, the blog is public) messing with his humor.