A Day In The Life…
18 July 2005 (Monday) – Natal, Brazil
Gisele is trained as an architect, but she now works as an interior designer. After her lunch break today, Gisele took me to one of her clients’ houses (sneakily) to check out the works done by the carpenters and installers.
So, with absolutely no business at all, I found myself pretending to be Gisele’s lovely assistant and entering a huge house in the suburbs of Natal and sniffing around at the finishings, much to the bewilderment of the caretaker.
The house was immense, with a swimming pool, ample hammock areas in the verandah, a barbecue pit and a shed outside. Here would live a very rich Brazilian and his family.
Gisele was measuring the furniture and studying the light fixtures and stuff. Of course, many things were not done to measurements, so she had to get the carpenters to fix them again.
I was impressed with the design of the toilet and thoroughly approved the vast space in the kitchen area. I had a silly smile on my face. I mean, I thought it was really interesting for me to see Gisele in her professional self, taking a peek into a typical day in her life.
If not for Hospitality Club, I would never get the chance to meet these people from various walks of life, in different professions, having all sorts of interesting personalities and friends. I was indeed learning so much about the country, the state, the city, cultures and about the people here as I have always had the good fortune to meet amazing hosts who are not only generous and warm, but are also eager to share a bit of their cities and their lives with me.
Later in the night, I met up with another guy from Hospitality Club, Gustavo, whom I had written to but who was not able to host me. However, he was quite eager to meet me, so he contacted me to give him a call.
He is a journalist and when we met, he immediately presented the magazine that he writes for to me proudly. He writes about the cultural aspects of Rio Grande do Norte state and as I flipped through the magazine, I was very amazed by the quality of the craftworks in the interior of the state. Gosh, I had been travelling along the coast and my hosts had always said that I should visit the interior in ‘my next trip’. Indeed, there are so much to see, but naturally, I am not able to visit every place. He gave me the magazine at the end of the evening to share his beautiful state with me. That was very, very nice of him. I have no photos but these are various tokens of memory as well.
Tags: 03) The Land of the Spirits, Natal
swesn