My early shift in the work force area began at 6 am. I was prepared to take a lunch break at 9 am to run over to the volleyball class across the street. Even though we were not busy at all, my suggestion at an early lunch for beach volleyball was not embraced.
At this job we distribute meal tickets and water. Volunteers who usually work 9 hours get one meal. Paid employees who work 11 hours get two meals. Because the games do not start until Sept 7, there are not a lot of workers yet, and not much to do. Both Monday and Tuesday I came in at 6 am but left around 2.
Monday night I explored the beach a bit and looked into renting a bike. Tuesday after work I went shopping in search of roller blades.
All volunteers receive a card to ride the public transportation for free. That includes the bus and a small subway line. Claudia told me to go the Centauro to buy the blades, but I ended up on the wrong bus and went to the wrong shopping center. I ended up at a huge mall called Barra Shopping. It’s on a street called Avenue of the Americas. When I tried to catch the bus going in the other direction, the street was too busy for me to cross, and the bus area wasn’t as populated as the one near the shopping. There were many cabs, so I took one to the correct store. By this time, I was exhausted. They only had one pair of roller blades on sale and fortunately they were my size so I bought them.
Next door to Centauro was a grocery store, so I went there to pick up some things. It is SO DIFFICULT to shop with everything in Portuguese. I couldn’t even find the black pepper, I couldn’t read the labels and I was pretty tired. Plus, I had to carry everything home. My dear friend Claudia, aka “hero”, met me at the grocery store and helped me replace a few items.
From the store she invited me over to her apartment. This was the place I almost stayed, so I was happy to go. I met her other son Daniel and her cross-eyed cat Zen. I was exhausted from the shopping struggles, so I caught a ride home with Uber and went to bed early.
Sand Castle near the Kite Beach on my way in search of bike rentals.
Claudi and her cross-eyed cat, “Zen”.
Zen would make a great friend with Keating!