BRRRRRAAAAAZZZILLLLLLLL!!! Like Terry Gillian's film its just as manic and makes about as much sense. Living in SaoPaulo "New York of Latin America" is nothing like anything ive ever experienced. While its the countries industrial and financial centre its straddled with slums. Where im living the badly lighted, badly paved streets accompanied with the scent of a thousand miles of opened sewers, I honestly don't know if im having the best or worst time. Everyday Mon-Fri I wake up, go to work, come home, go out somewhere come back in watch T.V or listen to music, all sounds very simple and straight forward. The thing is around ere though, is you dont really know whats gonna happen in between to interupt your daily routine. Four weeks ago i broke my debit card, my only source of funds. I had about 30reals to last me after one weekend in Campos Do Jordao (the place it broke), where i was visiting Luiza (the girl i met at the oasis concert), its a very odd place for somewhere like Brazil partly because its like a Swedish snow village, very clean, winterish weather and alpine chalets. Had a really good weekend up there anyway so I regret nothing!! I got back a day later than i should, after 5 hours travelling on buses and metros I walked into the house of lindalvas where im staying and walked upstairs to my room, i was about to climb up the ladder and a figure appeared out of a room underneath the ladder wearing a mining torch on his forehead, with my eyes squinting i said "whos that?" a voice replied " my name is Samwell" sounded like a robotic Ringo Star! I introduced myself and turns out he was from Finland. It was good to come back and have a another bloke here to converse and play cards with over a few beer's, it was funny too coz ive never met anyone from finland and i think it was his first time away from home for a substancial amount of time. I said in a previous journal entry, for volunteers arriving here for the first time its a bit daunting due to all the stories of crime and violence you get told of, like a bowl of jelly, you shake at the slightest thing but after a week or so you dont give a sh*t, but your aware. At night there a lot of sounds that you here, mostly cars with bad exhausts and BANGS now were told there just fireworks or cars back firing and you dont here of any shootings so thats probably true. Now....we told Samwell this but "jesus" he shat it, on one of his first nights here when he heard them, "Did you here that! Did you here that!! "Here what?" "I heard gun shots!!" and we were like "Narr... they wern't!" This rigmoral went on every five f#$kin mins and to top it off we had the loudest thunder storm id ever heard l8r that night, sleep deprevation all round!!!!! A week later I had pretty much ran out of funds it was a friday night and the volunteer's were going out to say farewell to Tiaka who was going back to Japan. Lindalva kindly lent me 50reals, I think it was mainly thanks to her son Antonio whom I forgot that i promised was going to go to a bar near the airport with him and his friends, i had to let him down and Tiaka found out about this and wasn't too happy either mainly coz i was tryin to convince her i could go there and join them l8r, i made a decision and said i would go to the leaving party and i tell ya all i heard from that girl in this Japonese accent was "F**KING PAUWL!!!" , "YOU NO WANA COME TO MA PARTY!!" AND "F**KING PAUWL!!" It was a really good night everyone had a good time and got really drunk, some more than others including a certain someone who ended up vomiting out of our 3rd story window onto Lindalvas husbands pick up truck down below!!