Arrivals

ola! Ben-vindo ao Rio.
Hello, welcome to Rio.

Boy am I tired, I am more tired than a very tired thing and then some. Which is saying something! Though munching an apple is giving me a brief awake moment and I think I may be getting a second wind of awakeness. And am having difficulty adding photos to this blog, so photoless it is for now.

It is barely 8pm here and my roomie is about to land according to the internet. Just under 8 hours direct. My flight was a little more exotic, as I left Gatwick at 4.15 Friday afternoon, flew to Casablanca, then had a couple of hours wait before heading to Rio via a hour or so in Sao Paolo.
Met Alexander on the plane, the Secretary General (also Chef de Mission) of Sierra Leone paralympic committee. They have a table tennis athlete taking part and sounds like funding etc has been fun for them, only receiving their travel grants on Thursday.  He is also a radio broadcaster so is doing pieces to send back home too. Brilliant English speaker, I have smatterings of a few languages, sadly not enough to converse fully, I always feel bad about it.

We arrived in Rio about 20 hours after I left Gatwick, and had completely forgotten to prebook a taxi collection, so after finding the free wifi at the airport and catching up on a few things, I headed to the accredited taxi rank and booked a taxi there and didn't have long to wait. Had the foresight to print the address of where I was going, even though I had forgotten to pack both my travel guides and my hints and tips sheet.
Got to the resort, had a minor hitch, no idea which apartment we were in and no way to contact the host as all was done via whatsapp which needs wifi. I waited and waited, but no sign. Then frustrated and getting tired and upset, I realised I could use my mobile data roaming (at a very extortionate rate) but it would do the trick. And 2 hours after I arrived, I eventually found where I was going and headed up to meet the host. Again very good English, when compared to my virtually nonexistent Portuguese.

Settled in to the flat, I checked my emails to see there was one re the opening ceremony, so I needed to print the ticket. A Lan room on site meant I should be able to go along and do it, and brilliantly there was no charge, though we did have issues trying to print, so one of the ladies there using a machine and also wanting to print something, stepped in as interpreter, and when the printer in the room failed to deliver, even with the standard turn it off and back on again routine, the paper was sent across to the printer in the Spa, and we all headed across to collect. The lady, Marly, gave me her phone and apartment number and said if I needed to contact for anything please to do so. So friendly!
Time to stock up on a few items, though I did bring some with me, so a supermarket trip just along the road from the resort, was next on the list. Only needed a few items yet still managed to forget milk. Camomile tea it is then. ;-)

Tomorrow we head to collect uniforms then in the afternoon/evening the opening ceremony rehearsal. First shift is Monday.
But for now....sleep.