Snapshots Pt. III

-The days lately have been clearer and cooler. The skies are a perfect blue. It's a relief from the rain and heat of our first few weeks, except really, things are much, much worse. São Paulo is in the middle of its worst drought in maybe decades.

A recent CNN report shows neighborhoods on the outer rim of the city that are already rationing off water to citizens. This now a month before thousands more descend on the city and its resources for the World Cup.

To make matters even worse, the majority of Brazil's electricity is hydroelectric. That means without some rain, it could be lights out/toilets off at our wedding.

-Dani and I were headed home in a cab the other night. We came to a stop at a red light. Beside us on the sidewalk were a handful of scantily-clad prostitutes looking to make a buck (prostitution is legal here).

"Look at these girls," I said to Dani.

She turned and looked. "I don't think those are girls," she replied.

And she was right. One put his hand inside the cab window and gave my arm a rub just as the light turned to green.

-Basically no one speaks English here. Despite this, everyone loves English-language music. It plays on the radio and in clubs as much or more than Brazilian music. Even weirder is that everyone here seems to know the words. They sing along passionately and do a decent job of enunciating.

The opposite couldn't be truer in the US. When have you ever seen, say, a Chinese band that was super popular with all the white kids and everyone knew the words? Not since Rammstein's "Du Hast," I contend.

I've been studying Portuguese for over a year and I can't sing along to Brazilian music unless I know the lyrics beforehand. I don't get how Brazilians do it.

What I can do is effortlessly rap along with American hip-hop music in a way that I'm sure leaves the cool kids here a little jealous. But that's just how a player has to do it in these streets.

-We went to mass today at the church where our wedding will be held. It was our first time inside the building. The place is big and reverent but still has a casual feel to it. The house was packed this morning with probably 250 people.

The service was in Portuguese, so I had no real idea what was going on. There were two priests who kind of bounced back and forth off each other. One would talk for about ten minutes and then the place would sing a song. They also baptized two impressively-calm infants in the nome do Pai do Filho e do Espírito Santo. It was a sweet thing to watch. The whole thing ran about 90 minutes.

Afterwards, we did some reconnaissance in prep for our ceremony. We met both priests and several other helpers who were happy to show us around. When we stepped outside to call a cab (the church is on the outskirts of town), one of them offered to drive us to the Metro station 15 minutes away. When we got there, he got out and hugged us both goodbye.

-My mom and another family friend are coming to town in a week. We'll spend some time together, take in some sights and do some important wedding preparations. It feels really good whenever another American comes to town, especially family.

One of the things I'm most excited about is food. We've got reservations next week at a spot called D.O.M. It was just named the seventh best restaurant in the world.

-A lot more Brazilian flags are waving lately as the World Cup next month comes into focus. I have no interest in soccer, but I love a good extravaganza and the Copa do Mundo (in Brazil!) looks to be just that. 

Brazil's first game on June 12 has already been declared a federal holiday. The government knows the country is going to shut down whether they like it or not, so why not just roll with it? I'll probably wander over to some local watering hole and watch everybody else watch it.

Man, woman and child here loves the World Cup. It's unparalleled in the US. Some folks watch the Super Bowl for the commercials or the halftime show. People here love the game for the game. It's like a Super Bowl that lasts a month.

While it would be nice to see the US Team advance from its ominous "Group of Death," I'm more interested in seeing Brazil prevail. These people genuinely want it and I'm sure the celebration would be ridiculous. 

The World Cup will be the first of two major upcoming tests for the country. The other obviously being the Olympics in Rio two years from now. The big difference, though, is that while many countries like America love the Olympics, here in Brazil I get the vibe that they think it's just nice. The World Cup is the real show. Ask any Brazilian which they would rather win, you'll hear World Cup 10 out of 10 times.

-The city's annual LGBT Pride Parade was this weekend. It was two Metro stations from our house, so we stopped by on the way home to take a look. When we got off the train, we could already hear the pounding techno music coming from the street above.

The most noticeable thing is that "parade" here doesn't mean line up on the sidewalk and watch the show roll by. Everyone here is in the street. There are some floats that push through the crowd, but they're not the main attraction. It's more of a block party than a parade.

The LGBT Pride Parade is a people-watching spectacular. Everyone is joyous. Lots of costumes and folks wearing next to nothing. Muscles on full display. The day could alternatively be called "Gym Membership Awareness Day." 

There were also a decent number of guys with breast implants who decided to take to the streets topless. I have to say that one caught me off guard.