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DisasterMan
books and wrote letters on the bed, etc. She fi nally got the rest
of the furniture delivered. It was all antique--dining table
with chairs, big sofa and chairs for the living room. Everything
was hand carved as if by slaves and the wood was jacaranda
which was used by the slaves to make church pews.
The Operations Research Offi ce was only three blocks
away easy walking distance. Ellen would walk with me each
morning after our breakfast and then go to a little grocery
store to buy a plastic bag of milk milk didn't come in bottles.
Ellen and I faced living for 12-months in a strange city with the
handicap of not being fl uent in Portuguese. Fortunately there
were lots of British people working in Brazil. There actually
was a British Club which we joined. They gave a theatrical
performance once a month which was hilarious. There were
several people who had acted in London theaters or on the
BBC years ago, and even one graduate of the Royal School of
Dramatic Art, Bloomsbury, London. They were so talented
that without any rehearsals they would put on a play, each
just holding a copy of the dialog and stage directions. For
costumes, they were masters of improvisation. The "soldiers"
wore a helmet (a colander). The Club had a library where one
could take out books (in English). We met some interesting
English and Scottish people. An American who had lived in
Rio for some years owned a 40-foot sloop and invited me to
go sailing with him a number of Saturdays when he needed a
crew. When he got a tear in a sail, Ellen agreed to mend it for
him. The sail was canvas and so heavy Ellen couldn't lift it. He
had her go to the Yacht Club and mend the sail there. She had
a sailmakers palm, for pushing the needle through the thick
fabric, and special heavy needles to do the job properly.
Ellen and I went every Sunday to the Friends Meeting
of Rio. There were a few British and American Quakers in
Brazil. Brazil has more Catholics than any country in the
world, but most of the Priests were Irish, Belgian, or from
somewhere. There were a number of missionaries from
American evangelical faiths. Ellen would prepare a lunch
which we would eat in the Botanical Gardens on our walk