My first week.

As I write this, there are people out and about, from the streets of Botafogo to Leblon to Lapa. It's been an exhausting, but thrilling five days, but I'm glad to know that after I write this, I can pass out on a bed (a real one! it finally arrived!).

Today led me all across Rio-- after a quick lunch in Leblon, at the new shopping center (I ate at a per-kilo restaurant, which was both yummy and relatively inexpensive), I headed to Gavea, to see if I could enroll in a PUC-Rio course, Portuguese for Foreigners. While the trek was a total fail, I was able to befriend a lovely university student, who I'm hoping I'll be able to meet up with soon. She's going to Sao Paulo for the weekend for some sort of huge music festival--renting a house with friends, the whole deal. She's a complete Ipanema girl.

People keep asking me about the language issue; I have to say upfront, that I don't know as much Portuguese as I could have learned before coming here. Having said that, I can survive, but it's hard going from being a very articulate person who has a very precise way of saying things, to trying to scrape by with basic phrases and hand gestures. I'm sure it will get easier, but until then I'm trying not to let the language get to me.

This evening I had drinks with a Fulbrighter in Lapa. I think I *love* Lapa. It's like Barcelona, but better. The streets are *filled* with people; everyone is out and about, having so much fun, relaxing with some choppe. It's a different side to Rio that I had yet to see, and it seems a little magical. I cannot wait to explore it more. There are these brilliant arches, beautiful old buildings, and bars with tables that spill onto the sidewalks, people sprawling everywhere and into Centro-- which is magnificent at night. Wish I could have captured it on film.

I also forgot to mention that my first day at Fiocruz was yesterday. Fiocruz (The Oswaldo Cruz Institute, equivalent to the NIH of the US), is amazing. To get there, you have to take a 45 minute-ish bus ride to the far north of Rio. The area isn't quite South Zone, but Fiocruz is literally like an oasis: it's a sprawling campus, with lots of trees, birds, a castle (seriously), museums, and beautiful paths. My advisors-- Cristina Guimaraes and Denise Nacif Pimenta-- couldn't be nicer, and the women I work with are so sweet. They'll be a huge help to my Portuguese, I'm sure. And one more thing about Fiocruz-- the food is so cheap, and so good. I guess there's one place I can make sure I get my fill of vegetables.

Tomorrow I'm going to the Sao Cristavo fair to go antiquing. Let's see if I make out with anything.