Oi!

Oi!
Originally uploaded by Blue Dragonfly Girl

The language immersion has been a good one so far. I tend to throw in a liberal dose of Spanish words and am lucky that A. will usually gracefully let me know that perhaps I could say, "enquanto" instead of the Spanish equivalent "mientras" (the English equivalent is "while")...

I managed to communicate with pharmacists about the un-fun allergies I've been experiencing. There was a lot of gesturing on my part and they were amused with me, but kind. I could understand their questions but didn't always have the vocabulary to respond. When asked if I had throat pain, I couldn't for the life of me recall the word for "tender" (it seems that "sensível" or "dolorido" would have been appropriate) and acting that word out Charades-style seemed beyond my capacity. Though, goshdarnit, I tried. Still, they gave me some pills and I am trustingly taking them. Hoping, hoping, for some relief.

The most interesting communication experience however, has been trying to obtain a cell phone.

I first went to the Vivo store armed with my boyfriend's old cell phone. He'd used it successfully abroad, but the SIM card they tried out didn't work. It's too bad because the phone looks a bit beat up and I doubt anyone would possibly want to steal it from me if I were to use it on the street. The guy helping me was super nice. But, I was amused to realize during our conversation that he was speaking verrrry slowly and just a notch louder than usual. "Wow!" I thought, actually a little touched, "He's totally using a foreigner-voice on me to make sure that I understand."

I went back to the store the following day ready to shell out $100 Brazilian reais to buy a phone and then pay more for some phone minutes...I thought this would be easy. I wasn't going for some fancy phone plan. It was a different guy helping me and he was equally nice...I had only brought my license (and translated international license) because I don't like to carry my passport all the time. I figured it would just be useful to have this for ID when I used my credit card.

The guy consulted with his supervisor, showing him what I had. Nope, they weren't good enough. "Well, I can go home and get my passport. What time are y'all open until?"

"Until 7," the guy said, "But I'm only here until 6...but the thing is what you really need is a CPF? Didn't they give you that?"

"Huh?" I said, "I don't know what you mean. I can show you a passport, with a visa. Is that good enough?"

Apparently not.

I had him write down what it was I needed: Registro de Estrangeiro - Certidão de Pessoa Fisica (CPF)...

"How about if I come next time with a Brazilian person?" I asked, "Will that help?"

He looked visibly relieved. "That would be even better," he said, "You know a Brazilian?"

Later A. told me that a CPF is practically the equivalent of an American Green Card. Clearly something I don't have. Apparently they're tightening cell phone requirements in an attempt to make it harder for incarcerated folks to get access to cell phones in prison, and as a result, harder for regular folks to get access too.

And so, this afternoon will be cell phone attempt #3. I'll arrive at the store with a passport AND a Brazilian and knock on wood that this will work. My guess is that having a cell phone will make communication that much easier, even if no one will be able to see my theatrical hand gestures over the phone.