I am going to be copying the compositions I have written in order to get the exercises from BRASAS Books done. There will not necessarily be a chronological ordem, but some of the stories are related to others which will be featured in other books.
Hope you enjoy it!
LESSON 07: Needy.
Last Saturday night, Leo took his girlfriend, Bertha, to McDonald’s. She knows how much he hates going to fast foods, but he took her there anyway. After they arrived at the restaurant, Leo got angry because they had to wait. There was an enormous line at the entrance of it.
After a long wait, Bertha ordered a Big Mac with fried potatoes and some Coke (a huge 700 mL glass!). Leo preferred to have just the day’s burger, because he wasn’t really feeling like eating anything there. He hates junk food. He was going to be at the club by the end of the day, and so was Bertha. By the time they first went there, Bertha loved the place: not too crowded, not too noisy, she really enjoyed it.
After the big meal, Bertha decided not to go to the party at night. She felt sick after eating too much food. She also said “No!” to Leo when he asked her to go to the club alone, but he ignored her and prepared himself to go to the party already. He called his friend Bill who gave him a ride.
When Leo and Bill arrived at the party, it was pretty crowded inside the place — they almost didn’t enter the show. After being there, they ordered shots of vodka and mixed them with beer. They tried to get drunk the exact moment they got there. They danced and flirted with some girls. Leo found his other friend Luke near him as drunk as himself. Luke asked about Bertha, and Leo just said she was too needy for him. They laughed at her, but Luke considered it such a bad thing coming from a couple. “Why the heck are they together, then?”.
They noticed the party wasn’t so dope as they thought it would be and then decided to go home. By the time Leo got home, he heard Bertha at the other side of the door trying to keep him outside. He had to sleep in the yard until she woke up in the morning after. She laughed at the situation and told him how needy he seemed sleeping at the door.
– Tria. August 10th, 2018.
LESSON 14: Petropolis.
Leo, Bertha and her friend, Nath, were going to spend the October 12th holiday at Leo’s uncle and aunt’s house. The Rocha’s have a mansion in Petropolis, and there’s a huge waterfall passing through their house. The couple and their friend decided it would be a good idea to visit them and play around the house.
Although Leo generally prefers to go to the seashore, he wanted so bad to go to the mountains since his friend, Luke, told him he had been there, too. Bertha was arguing with him about going to the mountains or not, when she decided to go. Leo wasn’t feeling happy yet because Bertha called Nath to go with them as a condition of being at his relatives’ house. Nath and Leo were dating at the beginning of his relationship with Bertha. She doesn’t know anything about it, and Leo was afraid of being exposed by Nath.
When they picked up the things for the road trip, the clouds were getting darker and darker. They got into the car right when the rain started and then they traveled from Rio to Petropolis in about an hour and a half. When they came into Leo’s relatives’ house, it was raining a lot outside. The lights shut off while Leo’s uncle and aunt were preparing lunch.
During a delicious lunch, the rain stopped, and after that they decided to visit the waterfall. They were playing some volleyball matches while the Sun was appearing in the sky.
After that, they visited the farm. A thunderstorm like they had never seen before started by the time they got into the place. They were stuck in there while it was raining again outside. They spent almost the rest of the day admirating the animals at the farm when it was about time for dinner. They had some whiskey before the meal, and the girls almost threw up the drink over Leo’s aunt’s carpet, who made an awful expression to the girls.
After a tasty dinner, they went to bed. They were going to sleep when a cockroach flew across the bedroom to Bertha’s head. She screamed like never before and everybody got scared because of her scream.
They got up early the morning after, said goodbye to Leo’s relatives — his aunt with her worst face -, and then drove back home. They were trying to choose the worst part of their vacation, but they weren’t able to: there were lots of bad things to remember.
– Tria. October 1st, 2018.
LESSON 15: Taquara.
I live in Taquara, West Zone of Rio de Janeiro. This place was built in the 80’s. There’s an interesting story about a German airplane that fell down over the hills years and years ago when there were farms and virgin rainforests. I mean, people dying by an airplane accident is not interesting, but anyways. Neighbors and I have got a story to tell.
It’s an average district. Even though there isn’t a mall near here (the nearest is in Tanque), there are lots of junk food restaurants like McDonald’s and Spoleto and clothes stores. There’s also a BRT track passing through the district which I don’t have an opinion about (I think the BRT construction is both a good and a bad thing for the people who live here). There are lots of language courses on Apiacás Street which in my opinion make the district seems to be richer than it really is. I mean, a few of Taquara people have never been to an English course here, so who are these places for?
As I said, there is a bunch of places where people can go for eating, also for drinking beer (Barril 8000 is literally the cheapest place to have a beer) or watching World Cup games at Nobreza. There’s also a club called Portuguese Club where people can practice judo, karate, volleyball and soccer paying a little money for the membership.
Most of my friends live near me, except for Drew. He lives in Madureira. It’s not difficult to go to his house. I can go either along Cafundá Road or Tindiba Road, walk from Nobreza bakery to BRT Taquara station, and then get on a bus and just get off at Manaceia station.
Another cool thing about Taquara is that almost everything is near home. I just had to go across Jordão Street and then go up to São Calisto Street to get to school when I studied there. I work in Tanque and I take half an hour to get there either by bus or on foot. I mean, it’s pretty near home.
But not everything is good about living here. As equal as other districts in Rio, Taquara is getting more and more dangerous. We don’t know what can happen outside. Most of the time there are shootings over the hills. Not only dangerous, prices are getting higher and higher as if we were living in Ipanema. Tomatoes prices are irrational. I should have to say this.
In my opinion, the best place to live here is on Rodrigues Caldas Road. Mansions there are literally huge, beautiful and secure. I’d give a kidney to buy a house there (and maybe even if I sold both, I still wouldn’t be able to buy a house there).
– Tria. September 25th, 2018.
