interesting start in a new adventure

Due to several complaints from now on this blog is going to be led in English in order that everyone of my friends can understand it.
Unfortunately I did not have the most pleasant start into what is meant to be my great next adventure in Brazil. It all started on the journey already. My austrian friends will know what I mean when I say that I had the "pleasure" to go from Viena to Munich by the ÖBB (the austrian train company) For those who have not travelled with ÖBB yet I tell you that it is not uncommon that you stop in the middle of nowhere for more than an hour and after 20 minutes an impolite voice announces through the loudspeaker that "due to technical problems we will have a stop of approx. 50 minutes". And you think that Brazil is an underdevelopped country and has infrastructural problems hahahha
Well it was quite boring to wait but at least I had planed to arrive at munich quite early in order to have enough time to see a little bit of the city and to find my way without hurry to the airport. So there was no major problem to catch my flight but the ÖBB stole me one hour of my munich sightseeing which I was upset about. Which improved my mood was that I got to know Brazilians on the train and at the munich station who were doing a mochilao (rucksack tour) across Europe. This told me that I was on the right way and it was the perfect accomodation for my journey to Brazil.
After 3 hours of walking around in 35°C hot Munich I decided to find my way to the airport. I was quite early for my flight but nevertheless I had to queue up for an hour and a half at the Lufthansa check-in where again I got to know Brazilians. I was already wondering if it was me who was attracting them or if they really can be found in every corner of the world. Just to mention on my last journeys I discovered that New York and London must be full of Brazilians and out of my experience I know that Vienna is a Brazilian colony with more than 1200 of them.
But that was absolutely okay with me because I definitely love this people and it is always nice to hangout and chat with them.
The greater was my disappoinment when I realized that on the plan I was sitting next to a Japanese guy who could not speak anything but Japanese and a Norwegian guy who prefered to read and sleep than talk to me and by the way was coughing all the time and had a rather greenish colour on his face. When the little boy in front of my started crying I knew that I would not only be a rather uncommunicative but also a quite exhausting and bothersome 12hours flight. To make the journey even more unpleasant the pilot seamed to manage to fly through every turbulance on the way and turned on the air condition to absolutely freezing. You can imagine that sleeping was quite impossible for me and I already felt a rather unpleasant iching in my throat which by that time worried me less than all the people around me coughing and sneezing. one hour before landing the stewardesses handed out the immigration papers and additionally a paper of the brazilian health ministry asking question about your experiences and encounters with the H1N1 Swine flu virus. What I have not mentioned yet was that the food that was served on board was absolutely disgusting. Those of you who know me better know that usually I eat everything and even loads of it. But I could not get this Lufthansa meal down my throat. So you can imagine my state arriving at the Sao Paulo Guarulhos airport: hungry, on the feet for more than 30 hours and in some kind of panic of getting sick. This feeling got even worse when I realised that everyone working at the airport was wearing masks and gloves. That was the point where I started to ask myself if I should really get worried.
But when I had collected my baggage and found the exit where I met Marcelo my best friend who was giving me a lift to his house at the beach I felt kind of better and was glad to have finally arrived in Brazil to start my new adventure.
So we had a 2 hours drive ahead of us to Marcelos house at the beach which we used to catch up with all the news. When I was served my first traditional Brazilian meal and drank my first fruit juice I was really feeling at home again.
But in the late evening the strange feeling in my throat developed into a ache and there was an additional head ache coming up. When I said that I would rather go to bed than to go and have some drinks my friends already suspected something. And they should be right in the middle of the night I woke up sweating all over and with really terrible acheing throat and head. Next day I did not even have to tell them that I did not feel very well they obviously could tell on first sight. When everyone around me paniced in fear of the swine flu and started telling stories of people in the city who supposedly also had contracted the virus even I started to think about it and to worry. So I stayed in bed sweating and taking medicines I bought in one of the very reliable looking pharmacies of the town. And you know when you feel bad you start to exaggerate and have thoughts you would normaly not have. On the second day my fieber did not go down and some people already started to avoid me. So i decided to see a doctor. This was not quite easy because in a small Brazilian city like Caraguatatuba (yes that is the name and not a typing error) it is rather uncommon that a stranger comes by and wants to be attended by the healthcare system. After I had explained them how it works when a foreigner is attended by the SUS (Brazilian public health system) I could see a doctor.
He examined me and then gave me the relieving news that it was not the swine flu!!
After that of course everyone started to joke about it and said that they knew it right from the start and so on...I was just relieved, took the prescribed medicine and let them talk.
At least now my adventure really could begin! And after my first night of party Marcelo and I went to Sao Paulo to look for a place to stay there for me. I can already say so much: www.couchsurfing.com was of great help!!!;)