Africa, the Oompaloompas and the next month

I just came back from Nairobi in Kenya and was not very impressed. The city is quite ugly and people say it is dangerous. I had a little walk around the city centre, near the hotel with a Brazilian friend and did not feel threatened but the issue is that there is nothing to see. I always wanted to go to Kenya and even swapped a flight to Mauritius for this one. Guess it is good to go there with time to go out and do a safari or visit the Masai Mara. Maybe next time, on holidays. However I stayed at the swimming pool, under an Equatorial sun and of course got severely sun burnt. Now half of my body, the parts where I was too lazy to put sun screen, look like shrimp and the rest is a mix of brown and white. Not a good sight. Will make sure not to take my clothes off in front of anyone until the whole body gets the same even color again (but with the lights off there is no problem).

As for the picture underneath, could nobody remember how an Oompaloompa looks like? Have you never been to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory? I took that picture on my last trip to Munich. As I found a gold invitation on my Wonka Milk Chocolate Super Extra bar and was able to tour the factory with some other children. Was really impressed and wanted to swim in the chocolate river!

My schedule for March is out. Not really impressive but am working hard now to change some of my flights. As it stands now this is what I will be doing:

Mar 02: Dubai – Kuwait – Dubai
Mar 03: off
Mar 04: rest
Mar 05: Dubai – Paris
Mar 06: Paris – Dubai
Mar 07: off
Mar 08: off
Mar 09: rest
Mar 10: Dubai – Doha – Dubai
Mar 11: Dubai – Kuwait – Dubai
Mar 12: off
Mar 13: Dubai – Muscat – Dubai
Mar 14: rest
Mar 15: Dubai – Singapore
Mar 16: Singapore – Melbourne – Singapore
Mar 17: Singapore – Dubai
Mar 18 to Mar 26: off
Mar 27: Dubai – Mauritius
Mar 28: Mauritius – Dubai
Mar 29: off
Mar 30: Dubai – Zurich
Mar 31: Zurich – Dubai

Today I will stay at home, vegetating in the sofa, watching DVDs (Closer is the film I am dying to watch today) and reading my 3 books: A Fantástica Volta ao Mundo by Zeca Camargo (alright), Memorias de mis tristes putas by García Marquez (quite nice) and Anatomy of Restlessness by Bruce Chatwing (amazing). So now I have to stop because I am veeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyy tired.

I wish a good weekend for all of those friends who have normal lives and can call Saturday and Sunday a weekend!

By the way, did not take any pictures in Nairobi. Lack of inspiration and fear of having my camera stolen!

Who is he? or better, What is this?

Conexas e desconexas

Qual a diferença entre saudades e nostalgia? É possível sentir saudades de coisas-acontecimentos-épocas que nao vivenciamos?

Jornal Nacional, pinga, Carnaval.
Tim Maia, arraial, Lojas Americanas.
Anhangabaú, pinhao, Biotônico Fontoura.
Macapá, brigadeiro, quindim, Diretas Já.
Eduardo e Mônica, cruzado, cruzeiro, Mantiqueira.
Favela, futebol, maragatos, Coelho, coalho.
Francisca Moura Imperial, manga-larga, Madeira-Mamoré.
Petrobrás, Austregésilo, Araquém, o show man.

Levava uma vida sossegada. Gostava de sombra e água fresca. Meu Deus quanto tempo eu passei sem saber!!! Tire suas maos de mim, eu nao pertenço a você! Nao é me dominando assim, que você vai me entender. Rasgue as minhas cartas e nao me procure mais, eu sei, será melhor, meu bem. Vem, vamos embora, que esperar nao é saber!

Dates and dates

23 Feb: Dubai - Nairobi - Dar es Salaam - Nairobi
24 Feb: all day in Nairobi, Kenya
25 Feb: Nairobi - Dubai (arriving in Dubai @ 7am)
26 Feb: day off
27 Feb: rest day for next flight
28 Feb: Dubai - Johanesburg
01 Mar: Johanesburg - Dubai (arriving very late)
02 Mar: rest from previous flight
03 Mar: still unknown

Franquifurti

Gente, fui para Frankfurt na Quinta. Voltei ontem. Nada de mais, apenas muito frio. Inventei de ir fazer jogging vestido de jogador de futebol brasileiro, escutando Ivete Sangalo no Discman e fiz sucesso. Acho que a fantasia colou. Poderia até ter dado autógrafo. Pena que as fans eram menininhas de 12 anos!

Amanha acaba a minha reserva com chave de bosta! Tenho o último standby da temporada, das 10am às 10pm. Nada de praia nem academia, vou ter é que ficar na piscina do prédio (ruim, né) ou quem sabe dentro de um aviao carregado de jeca tatú indo para Istanbul.

Falando em jeca tatú, lembro que vi a CataJeca em Caiobá neste Janeiro. A CataJeca era o meu escape para a cidade grande nas férias de verao caiobanas. Quando eu já estava tendo ataque auto-suicida na praia mansa, lá pelo 2º mês de férias, pegava a CataJeca na praia brava e ia para Matinhos ver as lojas, comprar revistas e Chocomilk. Era como passar a tarde num mundo maior de as ruas de Caiobá!!! Mas depois teve a fase de chingar a CataJeca de, oras, CataJeca e levar corridao do cobrador!

Nada de novidades em Dubai.

telhados tailandeses

alívio

Escatológicas tailandesas

Bangkok foi muito bom. É um vôo meio duro pois sai de Dubai no meio da madrugada e estava cheio (acho que nao existe vôo da Emirates que nao seja cheio). Depois temos que fazer um shuttle (ponte-aérea) para Hong Kong, que dura o dia todo apesar de serem apenas 3 horas de vôo entre Hong Kong e Bangkok. Chegamos na Tailândia mortos de cansaço mas com o Domingo inteirinho para aproveitar a cidade.

No dia que cheguei fui jantar com a May e a Bee, duas amigas tailandesas que conheço há anos, das épocas da Suíça. Elas me levaram a um restaurante vietnamita em Siam Centre (leia-se shoppers paradise). Estava tendo a Bangkok Shopping Marathon, com descontos em todas as lojas e todas abertas até a meia noite. Acabei sucumbindo e comprando umas roupas cool e um porta vinhos. Mas voltemos ao restaurante vietnamita pois houve consequências...

Muito gostosa a comida mas elas pediram caldo de cana de açúcar para tomar e eu tomei uns 3 copos. Nao me lembrava das propriedades laxativas do caldo de cana até estar em meio vôo Bangkok – Hong Kong e sentir meu estômago revirar no mesmo momento que eu abria um suco de tomate para fazer um Bloody Mary. Começei a suar frio pois via aquele mar de passageiros e sabia que tao cedo nao chegaria ao banheiro. Mas com muito controle e meditaçao tudo voltou ao normal. Entao poucos minutos antes do aviao pousar em Chep Lap Kok eu resolvi ir fazer xixi. Agora nao esconda pois sei que já passou com você, sem mais nem menos vai fazer xixi e acaba saindo cocô junto! Que estrago! Só que tive que segurar a onda pois estava de uniforme, o aviao estava pousando e eu nao podia ficar ali dentro. Voltei para a cabine morrendo de medo de estar cheirando mal ou com a calça suja. Que carao!!! Entao chegamos no aeroporto e fomos para a sala VIP onde ficamos fazendo hora esperando o vôo de volta (mais ou menos 5 horas). Eu andava pelos tapetes rolantes suando frio, estava perdendo o controle, tipo cavalo voltando para a baia, que sabe que está chegando a hora e perde a razao! Ao entrar na sala VIP voei literalmente até os lavabos e me aliviei. Fiquei uma meia hora de cócoras (claro, usar banheiro público sem encostar a bunda!!!) e depois de estar tudo regulamentado e eu pronto para voltar à sociedade, abro a porta da casinha e vejo o capitao esperando para entrar!!! Que vergonha! Imagine o teu chefe entrando no banheiro que você usou há dois segundos e sabendo que todo aquele odor é teu!!!! VERGONHA!!! Fiquei o resto da viagem no fundo do ônibus!

Bangkok é para mim um dos destinos mais alucinantes do planeta. É uma destas cidades must see, como Paris, NY, Roma, Rio de Janeiro. Há de tudo. Pena que estava sem companhia para cair na noite. E também trabalhando no meio da madrugada nao dá vontade de sair de folia! A tripulaçao até que saiu encher a cara mas beber cerveja vendo show de strip tease de puta nao é a minha praia entao preferi dormir e aproveitar a luz do dia para visitar o Palácio Real, Templo do Amanhecer, Templo do Buda de Esmeralda e ir comer sushi, que depois do desarranjo do caldo de cana foi arriscado mas valeu a pena. Rodízio de Sushi!!!

E para variar outra vez em Dubai. Hoje choveu o dia todo. Aproveitei para ir para a academia cedo, lavar a roupa, louça, arrumar o quarto, colocar pendências em dia, etc. Nada de muito excitante para quem mora no Oriente Médio mas isso mostra o quao normal é Dubai. Falando em Oriente Médio, a Qatar Airways, do Catar está indo para o Brasil recrutar pessoal no dia 5 de Março. Para mais info veja o site deles.

Ah, e ontem no Carrefour estava eu comprando peixe fresco quando escuto um casal falando português. Puxei papo. Eles moram aqui. O marido é ex piloto da Transbrasil e chegou na Emirates faz 3 meses!!!

Amanha sigo de folga e ainda tenho 4 dias de reserva antes de minha vida voltar ao normal. Troquei o vôo para a Ilha Maurício por outro a Nairobi no Quênia e estou tentando trocar o vôo do dia 28 para Johanesburgo por outro para Nice! Et c’est tout aujourd’hui!

Thailand

Have just been pulled out of reserve to go to Thailand! Bangkok for two days with a shuttle to Hong Kong!!! Will be back to Dubai on Monday 14th and have 15th and 16th off!

München, das alte Rathaus!

Blue Klein

Germany

Brazilian presence at the MoMA (Vik Muniz)

the views from the MoMA windows are almost as impressive as the art itself!

almost lost my ear taking this picture due to frost bite! Central Park at 9 am. Temperature: -14ºC when the wind is not blowing!

Sheikzayedhattan!!!

This is my brother, Raul, at the beach in Dubai! Water here is really blue!!!

Hair loss, New York and much more!

Today’s post is in English in honour of my dear friends who cannot read Portuguese and have already complained several times that this blog is getting toooooo ‘for the family’!

Quite a lot has happened in the past days but at the same time it feels that everything is still the same. My first flight of my reserve was to New York on January 27th and you cannot imagine how cold it was there!!! First of all the flight was a nightmare, as usual on the New York route. It is like running a marathon from Dubai to New York along the aisles of the economy cabin. Once we landed, at 14:00 it was -11ºC! Getting out of the Terminal, on the way to the bus, a wind blew me away and I could feel every square centimeter of my body shrink and shiver. Needless to say that -11ºC with the wind chill factor turns into something around -20ºC… The day was beautiful though, not a single cloud in the sky. However walking around Manhattan was a painful experience. My ears almost dropped out of my head, frozen like dead meat. I managed to go visit the new MoMA and all I can say is: AMAZING!!! (worth waiting outside to buy the ticket).

Back to Dubai and time to have a haircut! Awful experience to see the top of my head on the mirror and find out my hair is disappearing! I have also started noticing that the skin around my eyes is also feeling ‘old’. Could it be a psychosomatic result of turning 30? How come all was fine until my last birthday? What am I going to do without hair?

February started and I am still on reserve. Actually I have reserve until the 20th so there is no way I can make any plans until than! But good surprises happen! My brother showed up here for a full 24 hours in Dubai. We rented a car and went on visiting the new areas of the city and had a great time chatting and eating well. He is now in Paris, almost on his way back to Brazil.

On Thursday, 3rd of February I had airport standby. Airport standby means: report to the briefing centre at 06:30 ready to operate any flight. This means going to Australia for a week, to Moscow for a day or New York. It could also be a flight to Bombay and back or even a short Doha. Imagine packing for such a duty? I had swimsuits for Bondi Beach, boots to walk in the snow and even a sarong, in case the beach story could become true. So at 06:30 I sat on a sofa at the briefing centre and waited for a call from the dispatching officers. New York flight closed. Paris closed. Frankfurt closed. Vienna closed. And I began to think that it would be a good idea to actually go home at 09:30 (when the duty ends), with no flights but the whole day for myself. But than at 07:50 they called me and said I needed to go to Munich. That the whole crew was already on the plane and that I needed to rush because the departure time was in 15 minutes!!! So I rushed and was the last person to board the aircraft. Even the passengers were already all in!!! And off I went to Germany!

Cold and snow again! But at least Munich is worth it. A great city with a lot to do! This time I visited the Pinakothek der Moderne, which is the German version of the NY MoMA! Again: AMAZING!!! And even though the whole city was white and it kept on snowing, it was not half as cold as it had been in NY the previous week!

So now back to Dubai again for another standby duty tomorrow! Reserve until the 20th and afterwards a flight to Mauritius (which I hope to swop for a Nairobi in Kenya) and another to Johannesburg in South Africa!

One other amazing thing that happened on the flight back from Munich was that a passenger recognized me from this blog. Can you believe it? He said he found the blog before he moved to Dubai and read it for a while. Before boarding the plane in Germany he saw me walking at the airport and recognized me from the pictures on the web!!! So I am getting famous around the world!!! :-)

Guess this is all for today. Guess you are now tired of reading as well. Will post this and also a few pictures before packing my suitcase AGAIN!!! By the way Enjoy Carnival, specially for those in Brazil, where the real CARNAVAL is!!!