Feb 26, 2004
brazilian passion
ola all - how is everyone going....
well things are rockin along nicely over here.
been immersing myself in brazilian culture starting with the footy match that i told you that i was going to ------ M A D, M A D, BRAZILIANS
i have never seen such passion about sport before. ppl were blessing themselves and praying as they entered the ground (crossing their chest/down on one knee), and this set the scene for what we were confronted with once in the ground.....
200, 000 screaming/chanting/crying/yelling/laughing/singing brazilians filled the ground and mix this with the colour of the supporters and you can try and get an understanding of what was going on. the ground was split in two - with one end in black/red for flamengo and the other end in green/white/orange for fluminense. the game was brilliant - a cracking 3-2 victory for flamengo (sorry dan!) and this was an added bonus as i think riots would have begun in our end (flamengo end) if they had of gone down. truely one of the most amazing events that i have ever witnessed.
next dose of brazilia was our trip to the sumbadromo for the carnaval. basically the way that canaval works is there are about 10ish sumba schools and each of these compete to win the canval. so the pics that you see on tv etc are the sumba parades that take place in the sambadromo. each school gets about 1 hour to shake their thangs down a stretch of road about 1km long. road is lines with seats for as far as the eye can see and rammed with more MAD brazilians.
the floats themselves are something else. they are about 50 foot long and about 30 foot high and are in the most amazing colours. highlights would have to be the float that actually had go carts driving around it - oh and the one that had basically naked women dancing in these big glass tubes. each of the schools have their supportes in the cround also - so the place erupts when a new school starts - nuts.
another brazilian passion that we have been endulging in is street parties. the streets along copacobana/ipanema have been lined with these massive street parties for the past week. so much fun. massive speakers (live notting hill canival) pumping out samba while all the brazilians move and grove into the wee hours of the nite.
went and saw christ the redemer today (the big jesus statue at the top of the mountain). unfortunately the weather didnt really coopperate and there were loads of clouds and a little rain. still - and amazing view from the top and wicked to actually be standing at the bottom of one of the most recognisable statues in the world.
few more days in rio, then heading to illea granda (sorry spelling...) to soak up more sun....
and then after that - who knows.
thanks for all the replies. sorry for lack of reply on my behalf.
dad - HAPPY BIRTHDAY! tried to call your work. think i gave the guy a bit of a shock when i told him that i was calling from rio. will speak to you tonite your time.
dan - obrigado for the info. really appreciate all your tips. thinking that i will head to paratai after illea granda. will hit you back if i need more details. send through some details for bunoes aires. will DEFINATELY be hitting there for a few days (about 5?). head too many good things about it....
lauren - will try and call you later - sorry for waking you - bit of an error in time calculations x
thats about all for now
as always
miC
Feb 17, 2004
picture this....
ola all,
well picture telstra stadium
times it in capacity by 2
add a massive helping of brazilian passion
then drop the two best teams on the pitch to battle out the final of the brazilian football leauge......
and this is what i am about to go and see. it is going to be mad. 200,000 out of control brazilians. drums. flags. flares. singing. dancing.....
will keep you posted....
rio is like no other. brazilian life is very easy to get into.
light breakfast. beach/sun/swiming in the day.
beers in the afternoon
dinner for about 3 quid
more beers and street parties in the nite
went to a street party last nite and it was nothing short of amazing. about 500+ brazilians drinking/dacing/singing/drumming down the main street of copacabana (the equivilent to george street in sydney) all the while the traffic is just building up behind - and not a horn been pressed in anger anywhere. the ppl on the buses were even partying with the ppl in the street.
rio itself is breath taking. city is snug in the middle of massive mountains with plunging cliffs and one side and the ocean on the other.
finally got in for a surf yesterday - life is so much easier when there is surf involved....
better jet - footy calls....
mum/wernejs - i am alive and lurving it here. will speak to you soon. dont worry mum.....
dan - muito obrigado for the information. flamengo to win!
boys - thanks for the insightful comments on the banter
pip/bb - how is the palace. how is your new ;roomy; pip :) sorry about the sms the other day mate. you gotta get back here with me!
btw; can someone tell lauren to empty her email acount - obrigado
adeus
mic
Feb 13, 2004
| tchau london || ola rio |
ola all,
well last day of work today - and off to rio on sunday nite. cannot wait. is going to be the adventure of a life time.
is going to be hard to leave 'the palace'. been such a good flat with so many memories. lauren/jimmy/bb - you guys have been a great 'family' for me. some very funny times at the palace.....
- post pub palace parties
- darts on the balcony
- freak me baby - you girls are so hot
- vodka - pip what is the count up to
- ward/nat post club antics
- zack and his bottle of jd
- james brown - I FEEL GOOD
- sat morning fry ups - and the god damn smoke alarm - so soothing
- our sister flat down the road - park view rawks!
- pre and post telly days - how did we manage - thanks matt!
- all the peeps that we had stay over - hope it wasnt too cold for you all
and last but not least
- 'when are YOU going home'
had a cracking w.end last one gone. thanks to everyone for coming to dogstar - was a wicked nite - albiet a little sidewards.
saw a few amazing bands on sat nite. keep an eye/ear out for them [franz ferdinand/the von bondies/the rapture] - wicked. nick - what was that banner behind funeral for a friend all about - still haveing nightmares about it... ;)
next email will be from rio - heard that it is a sunny 35 down there at the moment. zack and mus - we have to organise a way of meeting up??? any ideas?
will be seeing all of you, in aus, in about 5 weeks.
tchau
miC
Feb 4, 2004
its all rock and roll
aloha all,
well in final prep mode for the south america assult - 11 days till lift off.
things have been quite mad over here - with preps for south america/rocksta birthday parties to attent/rock concerts to attend it has been all go.
let me take you back...
well as you would expect it has been proper cold over here - but all was worth while with a pretty decent snow fall the other day. was pretty amazing - getting the train home from work and it belting down snow outside. now i know what all the travel brouchers refer to when they mention london as being a 'winter wonderland' - oh thats right - they dont....
so with the artic snap out of the way we headed to brixton academy on fri nite to see the white stripes. was wicked. so much energy for two ppl. headed over to bug bar in brixton after that to begin the celebrations for lauren's birth-week. everyone partied on quite hard there.
sat nite was going to be a low key event - in preparation for the 'proper' celebrations for laurens 'proper' birthday on sun...... things went kinda pear shapped however... with lauren/nadine/myself heading into pacha. we opened the account with a cheeky bottle of moet for lauren on 12 o'clock - as you can see a standard was set.
spent most of sun recovering - before heading to a beautiful thai resturant on the water at chealse for dinner for lauren's birthday (can you see the pattern developing)
thats about it for now - think that my next email will be from RIO!
will be seeing you all soon - in about 6 weeks and will be seeing the rest of you even sooner (remeber fri - dogstar/brixton).
as always
miC
ps: thanks for the bdo/aus day pics lads. too funny. had some pretty outragous aus day celebrations ourselves - just no nudity or dislocated shoulders.
