So in our neighbourhood we now have 3 little "fast food" places in a row - Koni, Keb & Yoggi. I've written about Koni & Yoggi before (Koni is little sushi cones available with a ton of different fillings/toppings. Yoggi is a frozen yogurt place. Also a bit of a favorite for me right now...)
I love that there are some healthier fast food options around - something we could learn from back home.
Fast forward to KEB - I was hoping it would be like falafel places back home, but unfortunately it's not, really. Lacks that spice/kick... we weren't super impressed with the food... Mr. DRL's comments are funny - he says that he feels there is too much emphasis on the gimicks and not on the food. See the little plate/scooper foldable thing below. We were all quite puzzled with it and spent several minutes figuring it out.
So... I wasn't going to post about any of these, er... events individually, but now that they have all happened within about a week, I think it's a sign...
STORY 1: It's no secret that a lot of public urination goes on in Rio. During Carnaval it takes place even more. You know, it's normal - the drinking, the outdoors-ness. No, sorry I don't understand it. Oh you really really just "had to go"? Yes, I am familiar with the concept being that I am now more than 30 weeks pregnant... trust me if I can hold it, so can you. Yes, I realize that there are a lack of public washrooms, but frankly, no one wants to see or smell you do it... Can you tell I saw a few too many people partaking in this over Carnavale? According to this little piece in OGlobo, the city of Rio is using 120 thousand litres of disinfectant to combat this... situation.
STORY 2: Continuing on the topic... then, at Carnaval, I was handed a little envelope as I entered the premises. After we got settled in, I checked it out. See the photos below:
Understand the directions? It's a device for women to direct their urine (so they can pee standing up). How nice for the Sambodromo to provide us with this technology!
Back home, thanks to a girlfriend's stagette (bachelorette party) ... I am familiar with such devices. The brand of choice is called the "Freshette" and at my friend's last celebration of singledom, which had an out in the bush theme since we were in rural BC, a freshette was purchased for her as a gift/dare.
After reviewing the Freshette website I see there are many benefits to using such devices... check it out here.
STORY 3: This surely falls in the TMI (Too Much Information!) category and also in the completely mortifying and pretty disgusting categories... but like I said - I didn't intend to post about any of these incidents individually but now that they've all come together it does make for an interesting blog post... and also a head's up to anyone who's pregnant in Brazil. And posts like this also make me happy that this blog is fairly anonymous ;) Okay, so consider yourself warned.
Being pregnant, I frequently go for blood and urine testing. I noticed that the directions for the urine testing are much more "thorough" (meaning diagrams and everything) when it comes to the pre-urine cleansing or wipe-down that is to take place, as opposed to back home where they sometimes just give you a wet nap type thing or something to use beforehand. Ok, so no big deal. However, last time I went for testing, when it came time for the urine test, the nurse had me lay down on the table, get into the stirrups (so that she could ensure the "pre-urine cleansing" was done properly - yikes!) and then after that MADE me pee in a cup she was holding WHILE I was still in the stirrups at the lab. I was SURE that it was a language barrier issue at first until she showed me some MORE detailed instructions with drawings and everything. Yes, I had some major stage fright.
It should be noted that I have talked to a few people about this and NO ONE back home has ever heard of anything like this, and people here who have been pregnant in Brazil have not necessarily gone through this either, depending on which lab they used. So I'm not saying this is a procedure that is followed in every Brazilian lab, I'm just stating the facts of what happened to me!
I've been meaning to post about this for awhile!
Muscle Beach has set up in Rio for 3 months - the "summer" - is free of charge, offers lots of classes! To use the facilities you do have to register and it is open to tourists as well, but what I don't know is whether or not it is still open to registration. Anyway there are a lot of outdoor "gyms" in Rio along the beach but this one is certainly the most state of the art I've seen, apparently there is also one in Barra.
To read more about Amil's Muscle Beach on Ipanema or Barra beaches, click here.
Here is the class schedule for the one in Ipanema:
I wrote this as a draft on September 26th, the day after I found out I was "for sure" pregnant and had my first prenatal visit... now that the cat's out of the bag, here are some genuine first impressions, not to mention advice for anyone finding themselves "knocked up" in Brazil...
First thoughts on finding out one is pregnant or "gravida" in Brazil
1) I am not sure if I was really "just a little bit pregnant" (I know, there is no such thing) but I did multiple at home pregnancy tests which were inconclusive. Just FYI. The first was negative, a week later the second and third were neither positive nor negative (was supposed to have 2 stripes on one side for prego or two stripes on the other side for not prego. What did I get? One stripe on each side... TWICE. Two separate tests.) Then finally I bought a "Clear Blue" and it was positive. Go for the North American pregnancy tests, in my experience they were accurate and the other local brand was not!
2) If you think you might be expecting, go for a blood test right away, it will cost R$20 at Sergio Franco clinic - which has many locations - and they say you will have the results within 8 hours. My first thought should have been: "this was too good to be true..." no, the results were not ready until the next morning (after I had called two additional times and frantically tried to check them online in the bathroom while we were out for dinner, on my blackberry)... but once I did get them the next morning, they were accurate and at only $R20 it is a steal of a deal. Most at-home pregnancy tests here are in the $R30 range, and not necessarily reliable (see point 1!). Which gets expensive in comparison, when you have to buy 4 of them like I did... And then you know sooner. I felt certain I was pregnant 3 weeks before I found out for sure but thanks to the faulty tests, did not get confirmation until I was 9 weeks along.
3) After all this runaround, I really needed to hear it from someone in a white coat, in English, that I was pregnant in order to believe it. As soon as he did, he gave me supreme sh*t for getting too much sun the day before and told me I would have to be very careful in the sun while pregnant and went on and on about what kind of cream to use to prevent stretch marks and to help my skin heal itself afterwards. As much as I thought: wow this is his main concern? I also think: wow I might be lucky to be having my kid here! Sounds like some good stretch mark cream! Note that despite he mentioned the cream no less than 5 times when I was there and even provided samples, he did not once tell me anything about diet, drinking (ok maybe because it's obvious! But still...), exercise or any restricted activities. Or my health other than my skin health...
Thanks to the mayo clinic web site I now am all up to date on that stuff anyway... but good to know where his priorities lie.
I am having some issues with my sciatic nerve so my doctor recommended some rest, anti-inflammatory lotion and a hot water bottle. Off to the drugstore I go, prescription in hand. When I asked about a hot water bottle, or my translation of it (agua quente garaffa), the pharmacist took me to the water cooler and pointed out the variety of bottled water for sale. I gave him the confused gringo face and said told him I needed to be able to heat it up, a hot water bottle. To the back he went, and came out with a GLASS bottle of water (I guess that would be somehow easier to heat?). I then showed him my lotion he'd just helped me find, then motioned putting it on my back and said again agua quente... "Ahhh!" he said... "Bolsa de agua quente!"
Which basically translates to: Hot water purse. Done and done.
Of course!
Being originally from the west coast of British Columbia, Canada, I grew up eating a lot of Salmon. So I have been delighted to find many salmon dishes available here in Rio. However, after finding out that most of the salmon here is farmed, I am a bit more selective about my salmon consumption in Brazil...
Not only is farmed salmon more likely to contain toxic substances such as PCBs and pesticides, but back home there was recently a story in the news about fish farms in BC causing problems with the wild salmon population, specifically infecting them with parasites and sea lice.
For those who still want a taste of salmon in Rio and can't find any wild stuff: it is widely recommended that one not consume farmed salmon more than once a month. So go ahead and try it out, just not that often!
Most of our experiences in life are all about timing. Our experience in finding a new doctor the other day was no exception.
We do have the names of a few doctors, recommendations from friends and my husband's office. However, none of them had any openings anytime soon, and Mr. DRL had been quite sick for almost a week, so I decided it was time to go to see a doctor, appointment or not.
My one idea of where to start this process was the "CoTrauma" office on Autalfa de Paiva, I figured if they didn't have a walk-in clinic of sorts, they would be able to at least point us in the right direction. Which they did, to a huge building about a block away with the names of about 100 doctors on the directory, but we couldn't discern which one might be a) a general practitioner and b) available. In strolls a fellow who speaks English, asks us if he can help, and says yes I know just the person! Oh! There he is now, cutting through the lobby. The man went up to the doctor and explained our situation, and within 15 minutes my husband was being treated by a Harvard educated doctor who spoke perfect English. We are more than willing to do most things in Portuguese (or at least try) but when it comes to health matters, it is really nice if there are no misunderstandings. Understanding 80% of a conversation is just not enough when it is about your health!
It was a good thing we went to see this doctor because Mr. DRL had such severe bronchitis by this point that the Dr. was concerned it might develop into pneumonia! Now, almost a week later, he is as good as new. Plus now he has a favorite new doctor with a convenient location who is seemingly easy to get an appointment with!
So as much as I write about the occasions in Brazil when things don't work out, I thought that I should dedicate some space to showing how it often does work out. No, it's not as interesting or as funny or entertaining but it is also nice to know there are people who are willing to drop everything to help us in a moment's notice and in some ways living here can be more convenient than back home (we particularly are enjoying the medical system here...)
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