Should Have Gone Out Yesterday

It started raining before we got up this morning and has been raining since. I can't even walk to the corner convenient store without getting wet so I am stuck here in the hotel today. Should have gone out yesterday.......

When David got back last night, we walked over to that same little restaurant we went to on Saturday (Sábado) where the waiter/owner spoke no English at all. When we stepped in the door, he said " have chicken feeesh". He had practiced and was waiting for us to come back. Made me glad we did. For our meal last night we ordered chicken Parmesan meal for two (refeição por dois). He shook his head and said "por um" (for one). We didn't understand. Did that mean he only had one meal? No, por dois too much. He brought us a meal for one and we couldn't finish it! Besides the very large chicken breast, the meal came with two kinds of potatoes, rice, beans, and a salad. Our waiter brought us the potatoes served as an appetizer (diced with cheese and french fries). He then served us the salad, left the salad bowl on the table in case we wanted more. He then came back with the rest of the meal and insisted on cutting the chicken into manageable portions, served the beans (navy type beans in a soupy mixture but he scooped out only the beans) and the rice (arrôs). We once again did the "American" thing and left him a tip. Still doesn't seem right not to reward such wonderful service. And the price tag for that meal we couldn't finish? R$26.40 or about US$14.70.

I am going to be extremely lazy today. I did wash some things again today but with the rain, I don't think they will dry well. I have the door open to my balcony and am watching it rain. I step out every so often to see if the cars are using their wipers; they are. So I will just play on the computer and research some more. By the way, I keep the door to balcony open most of the time when it isn't too hot and just listen to the sounds of the city. For some reason, there are no bugs.

David is trying to arrange an outing for us this weekend. He had the secretary/administrative executive/travel arranger at the parent company call me today to ask what we would be interested in seeing. I told her we were open to suggestions. She is going to try to find us something to do. I do know there is a museum within walking distance of our hotel and if nothing else, we can go there. She did tell me she had heard that I walk by myself while David and Rena are at the seminar. She asked if that were true and I said yes. Apparently visitors don't do that much. I have had no problems, though. The people here are extremely friendly and eager to help.

Speaking of no problems, I forgot to mention how customs went. As I said before, we had no problems. It wasn't until later when I got to thinking about it, we weren't finger printed. I know that it has been the policy of the Brazilian government to finger print all U.S. citizens upon entry into Brazil. This is a retaliatory action because the United States finger prints Brazilians. When I mentioned to Fernando on Sunday that we weren't finger printed, he was surprised. Maybe the tensions between Brazil and the United States are finally starting to lessen.