to niteroi

so, yesterday we went to the naval history museum and the modern art museum across the bay in niteroi. cariocas joke that the only good thing about niteroi is the view. on the way to niteroi we stopped in at the naval museum for two reasons, one, i like naval museums, and the second: nathalie's great great grandfather has an exhibit there. admiral barroso, the victor of the battle of riachuelo. which was fought against the paraguyans during the war of the triple alliance. the battle was pretty imporant because it helped put an end to paraguayan expansionism. today, there is a corvette named after barroso. after we went to the naval museum we took the ferry to niteroi. which was pretty easy and inexpensive. the ferry terminal is a cool old baroque building with a dome. the ferry trip was cool because you got to see the sugarloaf and alot of other things like ilha fiscal and some oil rigs and just being on the water is nice in general. the carioca joke about niteroi could apply to the museum as well. the exhibits inside were at best, quite strange. vienna sausage lovers was one of my favourite oddities. followed by really wierd dolls. just the pants and the feet hanging out and nailed to the wall. the building itself mirrors the crazyness of the inside. it is hardcore 1980s architecture. and the view of the sugarloaf is amazing.

first few days in rio

so, i'm in rio. everything worked out... just in time. the navy gave me my country clearance 3 days before we left, my visa came the day before we left, i got out of norfolk (because we bought plane tickets out) and then we somehow made it onto the flight to sao paulo. thanks bad weather! we're staying at nathalie's aunt's house. which is about equidistant from copacabana beach and ipanema beach. which is nice because it means we can walk to either beach within a few minutes. which is important, since the beach is an integral part of carioca culture. wake up walk along the stone-paved sidewalks. similar to the ones in lisboa, only lisboa's pavings have more intricate patterns and ships and things. but they're all fun. and pretty. the weather has been difficult. its overcast in the morning, then the sun burns it off and its sunny for midday, and then in the afternoon reverts to overcastness, but it's kind of cool because it increases the aura of mysteriousness. the first night in rio we went to a concert in lapa for a band called something like bangafumenga, which was cool. they had a huuuge percussion section, it was mostly percussion, and they had a guitar, and a flute, and a saxaphone, and a trombone, and a trumpet, and a little electric mandolin looking thing. and they'd play songs and sing, and then everyone would sing along or dance. everyone would hold hands and go in circles around the stage which was in the center of the room. and then they would make pyramids and everybody would run under the other people's arms two at a time. the next day we went to breakfast with nathalie's aunt and cousins by the forte de copacabana, which has a nice view down the beach and of the sugarloaf. and then we went and ate at her nanny's house in another part of town. and then went back to forte de copacabana to look at some of the museums there. on the way, there was a samba school getting ready for carnival. so they were having a block party down the beach. today we slept in, well, i slept in nathalie kept trying to wake me up from 7am to 10am to go to ipanema and the beach. we were there from like 11 to 230... so, yeah, my legs got a bit sunburned because oops, i forgot to put suntan lotion on them. tommorow, we will probably go downtown and go to some of the museums i want to see, hopefully, the weather will be nice. maybe we will go up to the corcovado.

Adventures in Tidewater, VA: williamsburg and Jamestown

thanksgiving was very low key here, because i am saving leave for a trip this christmas... if everything works out like it is supposed to. nathalie flew up on friday, and we went to jamestown and colonial williamsburg. end of fall, pretty time in virginia. the drive up the york penninsula. the first place we went was jamestown settlement. it is right next to the original jamestown settlement, which is underwater, or partially submerged and fully not there. there is a big museum, and then there is a replica of a powhattan indian village, and then, the reconstruction of jamestown, and the three ships the settlers came over in: the susan constant, the godspeed, and the discovery. contrary to popular belief, the pilgrims were not the first anglo settlers to colonize the new world. the first permanent settlement was here, at jamestown in 1607. after jamestown got crowded and old the people moved inland a bit to williamsburg. which was built in the late 17th century, early early 18th century. it stayed the capital city of the commonwealth until the american revolution, when the capital moved inland again, to richmond. it's funny, the capital continued to just move up the james river. but yeah, colonial williamsburg was rennovated by the vanderbilts or carnegie family... to go into alot of the exihibits costs alot of money, but its free to just walk around... so we walked around and ate at one of the restaurants that had a pseudo-period food. it was good and yummy.

PCS

so, after swos and ocs, my new duty station is the exotic and mystical city of norfolk, va. the drive from lake jackson to norfolk in a uhaul was fun... no cruise control... and the wierd thing, everyone was driving under the speed limit. loaded up in lake jackson and proceeded to lafayette, la, it got dark along the way, then the next day i drove to tuscaloosa, al. and loaded up the rest of my stuff, which i had left at the colonel's place. and that saturday, we went to the bama-ole miss game, which was exciting... alabama put up 24 points in the first half, and then stalled and the defense saved them in the second quarter. then i drove to charlotte, nc. which is a pretty nice city. very clean and modern looking. i was surprised. not sure what i was expecting, but it wasnt that really. it was really nice. and then i got to norfolk, where i have yet to take many good pictures. i've been here two weeks, and just havent taken many. i need to get out and take some... i also need to finish getting the apartment set up... lots of things i should do. haha.

new york city?!

ok, so, i actually went to new york city... for the third time... i still have seen practically nothing. but, i've had fun with the people i've gone with. this time, i went basically to go to the opera, which was awesome. don giovanni is my favourite opera, and it was the first performance of the new york opera season... still stationed in newport, so i figured i'd take the train on down to new york and watch it. american trains are abysmal compared to even the most minor of european countries... american trains suck. i did use priceline.com for the hotel room, which worked pretty well. no problems, and we got a room right off time square which was cool. i'd avoid the roxy delicatessen though, it was big portions... but big prices. i saw it on the tv new york channel... which means i knew it was ubertouristy, but i wasnt prepared to pay that for a sandwhich... the same with the duck tour.... maybe its cause it was raining, but it a was fairly disappointing 20 dollar tour... supposed to last 90 minutes... lasted closer to 40. hopefully, thats just a nyc issue... and not an issue with all the duck tours around the world... i dont think it is... the one in dublin looked like it was pretty active.

OCS: newport's premier summer camp

summering in newport... its an east coast dream... unless you're at ocs, then its a nightmare. until you graduate,then it's amusing... or when you're in your final weeks and you're a candidate officer (candi-0). the progression of ocs is, indoctrination candidate, officer candidate, candidate officer. the first day is fun. you show up and candi-os yell at you. they get you processed in, and try to get you ready for when you meet your drill instructor. that first wednesday you meet your DI, and then the real fun begins... the first week is mostly about learning the fundamentals of military life. including a fun filled and action packed guided tour around the building... inside and out. and then, suddenly, you're no longer an indoctrination candidate. you've bearcrawled your way into officer candidate status. weeks two, three, and four are geared towards preparing for RLP, the room, locker, and personel inspection. once you've gotten through that, you have a 95% completon rate with your class. as long as you dont get hurt or do something stupid, you'll graduate on time. RLP is fun because the drill instructors come and make you do exercise while going through all your things and making sure everything is exactly so. shirts folded to a certain level, shoes shined, and no dirt inside the inside of the soles. you have to have an 80 to pass, and you get a chance thursday, and if you fail that, then you do it again saturday... our class lost 5 of 45 to RLP. once RLP is finished, its like a weight has been taken off your shoulders. after RLP academics begin. each week a new course, naval warfare, engineering, maneuvering boards, and navigation. each week you have another fun filled thing to do the same day as the test. engineering we had 6th week personel inspection, and mo-boards we had rifle drill, and navigation we had 8th week PI... and then, after 8th week PI, we were almost done. but it all seemed so far away. 6th week PI is in our wash khakis, and the Chiefs come and inspect your uniform and ask you questions about things we needed to know like the chain of command, general orders of a sentry, and the code of conduct. it was fun. after 6th week PI, the next major event was rifle drill. we'd practiced a long time with our M-1 rifles for the manual of arms, and after that, we got liberty. which was nice. the first time we got off-base liberty we got to go into town and eat ice cream. which was awesome. the weeks went on, we were in a routine by then, wake up at 430, get ready for pt, go and run 3.5 miles or so, eat breakfast, go to class, eat lunch, go to class, eat dinner, clean the building, read/write letters, shower, go to sleep. repeat. when the 8th week came, we had 8th week PI, we graded ourselves now. this was one of our final evolutions. out-pfa, victory run, and candi-o phase. candi-o phase we ran the regiment, we made sure people got to class, took care of problems, and got the privileges that went with it, living in the slightly nicer barracks... nicer because there were fewer people AND a big computer lab... and then, we were ensigns. and we all packed up, and went our seperate ways. the subs and suppos went home, the aviators to pensacola, and the cec's to their duty stations. the swos, went across the base. collected our two weeks leave chits and went wherever and then came back for 3 weeks of swos intro, and then to our ships.

newport

so, newport is awesome and newport sucks. this duality is caused because to me newport is this. and this. it's rather hard to reconcile the two... the first four days before i reported to ocs were pretty interesting, i watched a college summer league baseball game which was fun, and wandered around on my own a bit. i pretty much fit in dress-wise, boat shoes and khaki shorts and a polo shirt... and then other people, quite a few where red shorts/trousers. its a very nautical place... which makes sense or it having a navy base. it used to be the retreat of the wealthy new yorkers, which is why the new york yacht club has a yacht club here... theyve also got the america's cup museum here, because it was held here pretty much until the australians won it in 1980ish. newport, has some fun history too. it was a major importation point for slaves into new england during the colonial days... yep, back when new englanders still owned slaves. and it was a haven for pirates too. and then, during the revolution, the french army landed here and drove of the british. general rochambeau came with 6,000 frenchmen. from newport they went to yorktown... and we won our independence. oliver hazard perry was born near newport, and grew up here. his brother matthew perry is the man who opened up japan to american commerce. during the war of 1812, oliver constructed and commanded the us fleet at the battle of lake erie. he flew a flag that said, "dont give up the ship" what captain james lawrence said as he lay dying on his ship during a battle with the british. after the battle of lake erie, oliver wrote, we have met the enemy, and they are ours. his victory secured the old northwest, ohio, michigan, and illinois would be american and not british. newport, has alot of pretty colonial architecture, but its also famous for its mansions built by the men who made newport famous. the vanderbilts and all the other money barons built palaces here that made the old european royals look like turkish peasants... obscenely wealthy men competing to show off their decadence in summer homes they would only use for a month or two a year. i havent gone to any of them.