cat /proc/claus

Yesterday I finally had my first “normal” work day. While I’ll probably stay without a desk, one of the lab members offered to share his locker with me! Now I don’t need to keep lugging my books back and forth when I go to the university. The people whom I share the laboratory with are extremely friendly, and made me feel welcomed.

Today was “running around after documents” day - I had to try and get a “proof of residence”, without which I can’t do anything serious here. So first I went to the Gas company, and got the gas bill of the apartment changed to my name - this is a valid proof of residence, but the next gas bill only comes in December. Then we tried to get register changed in the Brazilian IRS - they gave us a number and made us wait 30 minutes, just to tell us that we needed to go to a bank to do that… WTF - I wonder if the receptionist who gave us the number was just making fun of me… While doing the above and a bit more, Ju took me to a ride by Ipanema and other famous Rio Beaches - the day was clear and it was really a wonderful sight.

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Something people always asked me in Japan, is what kind of food we ate in Brazil. Because of that, this time I made sure to take some pictures of the stuff I ate - even though doing that was seen as strange by people around me I’ll try to update this album every so often, so stay tuned!

Brazilian Food Album

Just go check the pictures, it is kinda late and I need to go to bed!

I have recently fell in gastronomical love with this fungus:

It is called Eringi in Japanese, or “King Oister Mushroom” in english — wikipedia tells me it is originally a mediterranean fungi, so I’m a bit surprised that the Japanese name is simpler. It is deadly simple to prepare - just slice it, fry it in a pan with a bit of oil, adding salt and black pepper, and it develops a rich taste not unlike that of white meat. Very little work, and I can get big chunks of it in the 24h 100 yen store near my apartment, which means that at least for a while it will successfully replace sweets (and maybe even ice cream?) as a midnight snack.