Impressions

I know I'm in huge debt with this blog, but there's just so many things to be done that it's difficult to stop to write.
Anyway, some random impressions so far:

- Every food item here is GIGANTIC! It upsets me so much! I wanna have a little something in the middle of the afternoon...impossible. I went to Starbucks on wednesday (my first!). To begin with, the smallest coffe you can get is the tall one! (copinho americano? esquece!). Then, I wanted sth like the size of a pao de queijo or a little salgado, but all you can get is those monster sandwiches or big slices of cake and etc. The bagel, one of the most popular breads here, one quarter of it gets me full. Even industrialized stuff that are the exact brand here and in Brazil, are bigger here...a package of Doritos is bigger than the biggest ones we have there, and even the Activia yogurt cup (by Dannon) is bigger!! No wonder obesity is one of the main public health problems here.

- It seems that for every 5 stores, 1 is a Starbucks and 1 is a Duane Reade (big pharmacy chain that's like a Brazilian supermarket without the food part - but they do also have snakcs!). They're everywhere. (I gotta admit Duane Reade's been a lifesaver. Every personal stuff I needed so far I bought there)

- The language mix - the conversations you hear in the streets can be divided as following: 1/4 English, 1/4 English with heavy accent from some place else, 1/4 Spanish and 1/4 random languages from all over the world.

- Sooo many things much more sense to me now! Hand moisturizers, for example. They're not just a "frescura", your hands get really dry and rough without them. It's a new must have item in my purse. Ballet legwarmers, pockets...everyday I figure out something new. It's a whole new world revealing itself for me! hehehehe

- Men wear lip balms and they're not shy to reapply them while they're in the train or in the streets. I found that so cool! I was suprised when I saw the first but now I've seen many more doing that.

- I feel tired and sleepy the whole day, and only today I realized why! It's not jet lag, it's because it's so cold you spend more energy trying to keep your normal body temperature. Now hybernation makes more sense too! hehehe

- Walking in the streets still feels like it's a dream or an hallucination. It feels like at any moment all the scenery will come apart and I'll be back in the streets and places I know. Also when people talk to me (expect Al), I get a weird feeling that their voice doesn't really belong to their body, and that at any moment they can switch form English to Portuguese. It also looks like anyone could be Brazilian, for their appeareance. (Or should I say that Brazilians can look like they're from anywhere, maybe that's more accurate. hehehe)

- I thought I'd feel more "out of place" here but I don't. I thought I'd feel too different, too short, too dumb...but I don't at all! that's a good thing! :D

- It's already Friday but it feels like it's still Monday. Since I don't have a routine to "tell me" that my day ended, I don't feel the time passing at all.


I'll try to post more often and take more pics.