My past experiences with Lufthansa were not positive. They were the flight I took when I first moved to Israel in September 2003. The plane was old and I had a middle seat. Wasn't very pleasant. Well, this flight has changed all that. I had a feeling that the flight would be fine. And while the first flight was lacking in entertainment, the next flight made up for it all. A brand new 747-8 received last February the plane still had that brand new smell. It was nice, clean and a pleasure to board. But forget all of that, I want to talk about feeling human again. As I mentioned earlier, flying more than 5 hours allows me the honor to sit in a "Premium Economy" seat. And let me tell you, having some room to breath, really changes life from hell to completely enjoyable. The seat itself was bigger. The armrest was double, the legs came up from the bottom, and the seat reclined back further. A special surprise was the kosher meal. I expected standard plane food but apparently getting premium seating gets premium kosher. The taste was the same, but it was all real dishes, with extra rolls and larger servings. The entertainment hardware was top notch with easy to use screens and good quality programming. (Ahh Ant Man, I've been wanted to watch you!). I managed to sleep 6 hours, which was pretty good and I got in 2 movies. Then we landed.
Brazilians remind me a lot of spanish people. The airport and the driving and the people. There's a shared culture reminds me of my days in Miami and Queens. The roads are havoc. If the cars are moving at all, they seem to be always merging into each other. Its pretty scary. I prefer not to watch it.
The city is fascinating. There's sections that are run down and covered in graffiti. Then there are beautiful malls and shopping complexes. My friend described it similar to Tel Aviv, where some areas are poorer than others. I understand that, but it also seems more scattered here. The geology of the city adds very much to it's culture and feel. It seems to be completely surrounded by small jagged mountains that are covered in trees. Often many of them are covered in clouds, while the ones next to them are not. Its very science fictiony, and I would love to get a chance to hike around some of them. It bizarre to be driving through these mountains and hills, and then go to large shopping malls. By the way, these malls, one of which is directly next to my hotel, is just like an American mall. Large, overpriced, tons of clothing stores and miscellaneous cell phone and toy stores scattered throughout.
On another note, few people here speak English, which is interesting because most signs are translated into English. Gets complicated when people ask you a question and you just look at them like you fell from the moon. English? Then they look at you like you just fell from the moon. Time to learn some Portuguese.
I spent most of today in my hotel room trying to run tests. I have here about 7 iphones, 1 laptop and an android phone. Everything was going fine until the network shutdown. So currently Em on shutdown mode, with nothing to do. That's ok, because im jet lagged exhausted so maybe I'll go for a swim or just enjoy some quiet.
Today was an experience. I look forward to see what tomorrow brings.
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