Sarah Lewis Blogs

No tuna on the tube please….

Louie — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:42:57 +0000

To the woman travelling on the Northern line tonight from London Bridge to Kings Cross at about 7pm eating a tuna sandwich:

I would like to point out that no only was the smell offensive to everyone else stuck in that tube carriage, but eating with your mouth open is very unbecoming.

I implore you to refrain in the future.

Ta.

Rome if you want to….

Louie — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:03:53 +0000

I still can’t really believe that this girl from Taranaki just spent a long weekend in Rome with her friends

It was awesome!

We managed to see a lot - but there is a lot more to go back for! There are so many statues and ruins, everything is gigantic, the Sistine Chapel is overwhelming, and the food and wine is amazing.

Oh, and I made friends with a couple of Romans.

Word Associations

Louie — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:51:51 +0000

The other night John and I were describing to each other countries that we have visited. We thought it would be fun to succinctly describe them based on our experiences and compare. I found it easy to use one word descriptions, perhaps because words paint such vivid pictures for me. John needed a minimum of 5 words. Below are some of the descriptions I came up with based on my experiences in these places and the associations I have with these words. I would be interested to hear what others think.

New Zealand: Home
Australia: Sunshine
Samoa: Humble
Brazil: Contrast
Japan: Efficient
America: Consume
Argentina: Culture (this one was difficult for me, this was the best I could come up with, close second was “indescribable”)

More about corn…

Louie — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:53:45 +0000

When I was waiting in line to get Carnival tickets the girl I was with bought a CORN ice-cream! I tried it - wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it was a bit weird. The next day at the supermarket I saw “corn juice” - GROSS.

Brazilians are crazy about corn!

Visiting Jesus in Rio

Louie — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 19:31:31 +0000

We just spent a long weekend in Rio de Janeiro - happy Waitangi day to all you kiwi’s . I can understand why so many tourists go there. So far it has been the easiest city to stay in as an English speaker. Subway announcements, menus, even some signs are in English. I guess they are probably pushing it a bit more since they are bidding for the 2016 Olympics. It actually threw me and John a bit, we would be listening for familiar Portuguese words when waiters asked us questions, only to realise after a certain amount of processing time that they were speaking perfect English hehe.

We had heard a lot of horror stories about how unsafe Rio can be, but we were pleasantly surprised. Of course John and I are cautious, but we didn’t run into any problems and didn’t feel our safety was an issue at any time.

While we were there we went to see Cristo Redentor (the statue of Christ), went to the Hippie Fair at Ipanema, ate Brazilian style KFC, and spent at lot of time at Copacabana – singing the obligatory “Copa, Copacabana…..”

I loved our short time in Rio and am already planning a trip back, next time hopefully for longer

Memorial do Imigrante

Louie — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:28:16 +0000

This weekend, John and I went for a trip to the Brazilian Immigrants Museum (Memorial do Imigrante). Just like art galleries, museums are not normally my thing (although I am starting to turn around after visiting some cool places in America), so my expectation was very low. But once again I was pleasantly surprised. We walked in the gates of an amazing old building with beautifully kept grounds and it was like being transported back in time. People were walking around in early 1900’s traditional outfits, the grounds had lovely old outdoor furniture and lovely plants (including a mango tree spilling its delicious fruit onto the grass).

Turns out you could pay a small fee and dress up to take photos. You could catch an old tram fuelled by wood. There were restored old shacks, hospital rooms, churches, and restrooms. There was an area filled with old passports, record books and old photos. Brazil has an amazing immigration history. Although everything was in Portuguese, we understood most of what was going on. There were even computers where you could find out all about your history and immigration records of your ancestors (NZ should do this!)

The whole experience was very unique, and I really enjoyed my little trip back into Brazil’s history.

An adventure at Sao Paulo Museum of Art

Louie — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:15:22 +0000

John and I went to MASP (Sao Paulo Museum of Art) the other day. Anyone who knows me knows that standing in a building looking at paintings really isn’t my thing, especially without a very nice glass or two of red wine to help ease the pain. But I have to say that there was something kind of cool about seeing original paintings by people like Van Gogh and Picasso. Reading the notes about the art and the artists somehow made it even more interesting. Maybe this means I am finally growing up, or maybe not

Finding an apartment in Buenos Aires

Louie — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:03:31 +0000

Anyone who has talked to me over the last week will know that I have been struggling to find an apartment for our visit to Buenos Aires. Don’t get me wrong, there are tonnes of apartments there, but there are very few helpful websites. The few websites that are even slightly usable seem to be supported by people who are rude, unhelpful or just do not return my emails!

But there is a happy ending here (well two really) – First I found this site. It is not the easiest site to search, but I found an apartment I liked and on Friday night I flicked off (one of many) emails. Nancy got straight back to me and spent all weekend working with me to find something that met my (very high, perhaps too high) standards and was within my relatively low budget. She was calling owners and negotiating on my behalf and came up with a fantastic deal. I would highly recommend using this organisation if you are looking for accommodation in BA.

(Happy ending number 2) In the end my friends parents got in touch so we are staying at their place which fits all my criteria and is well within my budget

Sitting on the beach in Brazil

Louie — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:35:21 +0000

A couple of weeks ago we were sitting on the beach in Morro de Sao Paulo, one of the most beautiful beaches I have been to.

In Brazil sitting on the beach is nothing like in NZ. If you need grilled cheese, there is someone selling it. Caiprioska? Someone will be selling that too. Açaí, pastel, sarong, sunglasses, jewellery, water - anything you need, someone will be there happy to sell it to you. The only time you need to get up is to swim or go to the bathroom - this was fantastic!

Peas and Corn

Louie — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 23:24:54 +0000

In Brasil they have peas and corn in everything, even burgers and hot dogs! We were on the metro yesterday and a little kid threw up - there were peas and corn in that too.