Saturday

Saturday in Rio de Janeiro.

This is what it entailed:

I woke up late, because I'd been out late the night before with everyone, at this posh place, called 00 (Zero Zero). It was fun, although highly expensive. I think the most memorable part of the night was when Steph and I stopped in at Big Nectar on the way home (roughly the equivalent of a Tim Hortons, but Brazilian) and we got told by a stranger that we probably shouldn't eat too much if we want to remain pretty. I told him we could eat whatever we wanted, thank you very much. He didn't say anything after that.

So this afternoon I hung around by the pool and swam for a bit. Then, I was slightly adventurous and caught my very own taxi for the first time in my life as I had plans to meet up with some Canadians. Yes, hard to believe but true. I've only ever caught taxis with other people. Luckily, the cab driver knew where I was headed, and no awkward baby talk questioning in Portuguese was necessary.

I met Haley and her boyfriend, some fellow university students from Vancouver who are doing thesis research here. Long story short, Haley will be coming with me to my project on Monday for research, and we wanted to meet up and hang out before she came to the favelas. We had a delicious late lunch in a neat, retro restaurant.

Afterwards, I met up with the rest of the volunteers for dinner at an all you can eat pizza restaurant. The best part, by far, is the desert pizza at the end. Oh wow it is good. Strawberries, chocolate, ice cream, candy, everything yummy you would like to put on a crepe (that's essentially what the dessert pizza was like). I definitely got my money's worth!

Now on to random thoughts/comments:

- I officially have decided that I do not enjoy watching soccer. I think the men are kind of weenie. They dive, they whine, they exaggerate and it's boring/frustrating. Plus, the pace of the game seems slow and I can't stand how the players are tiny on the screen. Not nearly as interesting as hockey in my opinion. Sorry Dad!

- Rio is a city of dogs. True fact. It seems like everyone here owns at least one dog as a pet, if not two. Sadly though, it doesn't seem like pet owners in Brazil are diligent about grooming and walking. I don't think I've ever seen the two dogs at my house or the other volunteers' houses get a proper walk.

Anyways, I'm going to head to bed early, because I plan on going to church tomorrow morning.

Thanks for reading!

Photos above: us at the pizza place and me walking up the 187 stairs we have to do everyday. I did them 3 times today.