Saturday 22 February 2014

Is **** OFF! Universal?

My final leisure day of this week finds me almost springing out of bed, feeling better and more acclimatised with each passing day. As I am alone and speak little Portuguese, Isabela (who is indisposed at the moment with real life) works hard to team me up with available friends who can speak English and are happy to show an off duty Punk Rocker around the city a bit. This time it is Christine who helps out as she is not working at the moment. She shows me around some of her favourite parts of the city and we spend a lovely afternoon talking about Sao Paulo, London and the Beatles. I have my first Japanese meal in Brazil and although I enjoyed it I suspect that my appetite and taste buds have not fully recovered yet.
Later Chris shows me the best way to remember the route from my apartment to the subway and we part with much muito obrigardo from my part.

Later I am picked up by Isabela and Bruno and we go off for a Lebanese meal which was really good, but I have been spoilt today with good food but I am not tasting it with the vibrancy I would expect.

We are then joined by Demente making his presence felt in the restaurant as only he could. We then take off for a Student celebration to welcome it's fresh wave of newcomers to the biggest and most prestigious University in Sao Paulo. We go there to see David who is currently drumming in the Brazilian Neurotics,  play in a band to entertain the students but arrive after he has finished, which was a shame.
We resign ourselves then to enjoying the moonlight evening, I'm drinking beer and listening to a drumming troupe get the students all hot and excited and the others in conversation. It's at relaxed times like these that you don't expect the unexpected and I didn't expect something unexpected.

Whilst I stood there, I suddenly became aware that someone was fondling my buttocks. My first thought was, there was no-one in our group who is familiar enough with me to do that, my second thought was, oh no, (fearing the worst) please, please, please make that the actions of a beautiful Brazilian woman and not.....
Yeah, worst outcome possible it was the actions of a pug ugly Brazilian man who in a state of high jinks decided he wanted to molest me. Now my good friends in Brazil have not told me any naughty words in Portuguese so when this man advanced, embraced me, put his head under my chin and kissed my neck I had to resort to some old fashion Anglo Saxon which I believe is understood universally (but not by the indigenous people of Brazil granted).
I pushed him will all my might, making him stagger about five feet away and shouted at him

**** Off!

I do, of-course understand, that the Brazilians are a much more touchy feely kind of people and I am very happy and comfortable about that. I have also been known to kiss a man when it was consensual and light hearted but I think that invasion of personal space is still valid.
More important, was that I had considerable valuables on my person and I was concerned that this could be an attempt to lift them.

Oh no, he's coming back...

He makes a grab to embrace me again and again my left arm propels him five feet away

**** Off!

Now I can't make the asterisks any bigger but you can catch my drift on increased volume.

At this point I decide in a flash, next one is the big one, if he returns a third time, then it is a block with the left arm and a swift punch with the right fist.

I wait...

he does not return, sem retorno

I go back to watching students acting like students, I am aware he is not far behind me but I am not concerned by him any longer.




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