A Day in Porto Alegre
January 9, 2005

11:30 My body simply will not get out of bed. But this isn't a physical response — I got 9 hours of sleep last night. The choking culture shock weighs me down like a fat man with a hangover: It's tough to take deep breaths.

12:15 After a quick shower and glance at the clock (and no, it did not escape me that I woke up a full 4 hours after a normal person — I'm on sabbatical, kids), I toss on some loose-fitting clothes and head to the end of the block. Turning the corner, I pass a Pirelli maintenance shop and glance over my shoulder for any approaching buses. There's a red bus coming, but they're slightly more expensive, at R$ 2.10 per ride. (That works out to about 80 cents.) The real problem with these red buses is that I actually have to TELL the bus driver where to stop, which is outside of my current lexicon. So, I wait a few minutes and and flag down a normal, cheaper (R$ 1.55) white bus with an “Ar Condicionado” placard. As it's 93 degrees outside today, this is clearly a bonus.

12:45 After the 15-minute bus ride and another 15-minute walk through the local mall and surrounding neighborhood (keeping my wallet zipped in my pocket even though it's a nice neighborhood – thieves are lookin' for American blood), I arrive at the gate to my aunt's apartment building. It's like many apartment buildings in Porto Alegre, beige in color, with about 4 levels and a simple door-on-the-outside elevator. The gate is magically opened by the gate operator, to whom I give my customary “boa tarde” and a thumbs-up before heading up to the third-floor apartment. My tia Nati answers the rap on the door with a steamy kitchen reeking of black beans, rice, and some sort of chicken dish. It smells great. Turning through to the living room, I see that my cousins Alessandra and Virginia are already there, lounging on the sofa in front of the TV, watching an old Friends episode blaring away in English on "The Warner Channel." This little bit of the States is enough to release the culture shock choke hold for 30 minutes, but it makes me queasy to think that a TV show has calmed me down.

1:00 Lunch is served. All of the aforementioned plus some simple salad and Coca Light or guarana to drink. Most sit at the table, but a few of us break off to watch The O.C.

2:00 With lunch resting nicely in my belly, and the cousins off to work again — after their customary 2-hour lunch, my aunt and I settle in for a long summer's nap on the sofas with fold-out armrests that double as pillow rests. Dawson's Creek is on. And yes, again, it's in English. I manage to survive about 40 minutes of their all-too-adult banter and doze off.

3:30 The best part of the day: I move into my cousin Tiago's room to use the internet. Their ADSL connection pumps out a good 300 Kbps, easily affording me the opportunity to catch up on all things Minnesota and say what up to Kevan and Sabrina back home. When I have access to the internet, all is right with the world.

6:00 Tiago's home, and I realize now that I've been on the internet for three hours. Yikes. I finish what I have to do and pack up my stuff. The sun is setting, and it's hot in this small room.

6:15 Retracing my steps from earlier in the day, I head back through the shopping mall (malls here are just called “shoppings”), and wait with all the work-wearied folk at the bus stop. A bus comes in less than 2 minutes.

9:00 Safely back at home, lying on the sofa with a book in hand, the hunger bug hits again. A quick trip to the refrigerator yields little — I scrounge together a sandwich with some runny mustard and salami. Toss a couple leaves of iceberg lettuce in a bowl with some olive oil and vinegar and I'm set. Dinner is served.

10:00 Satiated (not really, but enough) and exhausted from my day doing nothing, I retire to my air-conditioned quarto, this time with my laptop. I turn the iPod — hooked up to my rad speaks — on to some Prince. The bedspread itches the hair on the back of my neck, but I manage to find a decent position and settle in, updating my expenses for the last few days in my budget.

2:00 AM Done messing around with spreadsheets and stuff, I doze off. The “Snooze 2Nite” mix is on the iPod, tapering off with a Tim Keller sermon on “Love and the Practical Graces.” I doze, trying to let Tim convince me to be more productive with my many blessings tomorrow.

All in all, a pretty normal day: hot and dry. The sun is blazing here in January, and though we have room air conditioners, it's not too economical to have them running all the time. Passing back-and-forth through sun-baked rooms and mildewy air-conditioned ones does nothing to help my weary culture-shocked body, but I'm hopeful the weight will be lifted in a month or two. We'll see.