Girl from Ipanema

No, no, I did not go to Rio for the long weekend. Instead, I went "home" to Minas last Wednesday, and had every intention of staying until tonight (Wednesday), but was called in for an interview yesterday here in São Paulo, so I had to resort to leaving Monday night, rushing to get here, and ended up not even interviewing because the guy who was supposed to interview me ended up having an emergency closing meeting, yadda yadda, but I'm over it now.

What matters is, I got to celebrate my grandmother's birthday with her on Thursday, saw some family, and spent Friday-Sunday morning in Ipanema, Minas Gerais, on a sitio, which is like a small farm, with my aunt's husband's entire family for their family reunion. So here's a short summary of my weekend with the Dutra's. So since I was in the country, here's a great little song from my new favorite Brazilian Sertaneja duo (G, this one's for you!): Vitor e Léo - Amigo Apaixonado.

We get there, and they're already making coffee and serving breakfast, yelling and screaming, and blowing a blow horn for every car that gets there. The family is very funny, very lively, and super friendly. They start right away by nicknaming me Americana, and telling me I'm already one of them because of my big nose (apparently it's a sign that you're a Dutra if you have a big nose.... haha). They were worried that I'd be a prissy little gringa, and were pleasantly surprised when I asked if I could milk the cow and was walking around in a tank top and soccer shorts.

Since it was Good Friday, we spent the day mostly trying to keep ourselves entertained in the middle of nowhere without drinking booze or eating meat! It was a challenge many didn't keep, but I personally got through the day by horseback riding, taking a nap on the hammock, milking a cow, going into town for a walk and some ice cream, and then finally watching "Tio Tião's" school lessons (see below).

At exactly 11:55 PM, meat from the grill was starting to be served, and since I vowed to not drink until midnight, one of my cousins' cousin set a beer mug filled with a caipirinha right in front of me, made with home made cachaça and limes right from the farm... as you can probably already imagine, it was the most glorious (and heavy-handed-est) caipirinhas I've ever consumed.

Saturday morning, we woke up and the sweet smell of fresh coffee (also from the farm) was the perfect way to end lent for me, since I'd given up coffee! We spent the rest of the day roaming around the farm, resting on the porch, eating fruits picked straight from the trees, killing snakes (!), playing random games like charades, dancing to the music coming from the car stereo, and oh yeah, the grill was lit at 10 AM, and the beer served at 10:01 AM. At night, we went into town (me, one of my cousins, and her 3 HOT guy cousins, haha) and went to a bar that was poppin' - apparently people come from all over to go to a party in Ipanema the Saturday before Easter every year.

Needless to say, it was an amazing experience. I had tons of fun, and really got to enjoy the serenity and BEAUTY of the place while also laughing, eating, drinking, dancing, eating, drinking, exploring nature, eating, drinking, random flirting... and some more eating and drinking. haha

I have a couople of videos only my Brazilian loves will understand, but they're basically my aunt's brother in law giving us a very interesting lesson in ondontology and many other hilarious lessons he gave throughout the weekend. Hilarious because he apparently repeated the 1st grade multiple times, and is just now going back to school... also hilarious because he's just a funny person to begin with! There's also a video of my uncle dancing to Creu, a new song that plays here all day, everyday, and is just horrible - but it's also kind of a disturbing/hilarious video, so if you really need a laugh, let me know and i'll send them to you - i tried uploading one, but it's taking forever, so I figured i'd pass for all our sakes.

Sunday and Monday was spent with the familia back in Valadares, and more low key, but this weekend was much needed, and whenever any of you come visit, I'm taking you to the middle of nowhere, and I guarantee you'll have the time of your life - I mean, look at the pictures!!

Hope the Easter bunny treated everyone well this year, and I hope all is well!! Keep commenting and sending me e-mails, because I love being in on life back in the Estados Unidos for youss.

Com muito carinho.

Really?!

Jota Quest - O Sol - This just happens to be the song playing on my itunes while I write this [brings me back to Brazilian Day NYC '07... *sigh] - but it also kind of talks to me, haha - he's saying he doesn't hear pain anymore and that he's going to where there's sun!! Anyway, for today, I'm just going to list a few things I found interesting/wasn't expecting/expected but is interesting to note anyway in no particular order... you know, beside the money rants i've been having!

1. No bathtubs - just showers. Only rich people have bathtubs. Not much body wash either. Bar soap is where it's at.
2. Not everyone has cable, let alone DIGITAL cable.
3. There's a decade full of cars that have left São Paulo. Either the cars here are 1993 and previous, or 2003-present.
4. And all the cars are coupes.
5. Wherever you go, someone will talk to you... but not in the sketchy way. Brazilians <3 small talk - at the bus stop, the local bar/café, in traffic, you name it.
6. São Paulo gets cold (and by cold, I mean like... when it rains in October in CT) in March sometimes.
7. I'm white?! - I was surprised when I got my i.d. and it read that I'm white... try pulling that off in the states
8. People my age listen to British rock, American pop, Euro techno, and Brazilian country.
9. If you ask someone my body type, they won't say thin, they'll say average.
10. There are about 347 malls in São Paulo (well, not really, but there are a lot)
11. There are turnstiles on busses - and they're made for skinny people!
12. "Condo's" are gated communities
13. Drink only filtered water
14. Watching dubbed American movies is like watching dubbed Asian movies - only I actually know what the actors' real voices are like.
15. Feira = fresh fruits like mango, papaya, guava, etc. and veggies once a week outdoors at your local patch of grass in the city.
16. Of the family names in my family (since most brazilians have 5 names), 3 are the most common in Brazil. Therefore, nobody here has a hard time spelling OLIVEIRA.
17. It makes much more sense to travel 1000 km via bus than airplane [what i'll be doing tonight, *sigh].
18. Three words: Big Brother Brasil.
19. While stopped in traffic, you will find: cars with tinted windows (so as to not get robbed?), people walking up and down the lanes selling water, candy, windshield wipers, and passing out brochures for apt's and cars for sale.
20. Post-grad & master's are 2 different things - and if you're not specializing in any post-graduate course soon after you graduate, you're screwed (meaning i better get on that asap!).

There's my top 20 - for those of you who have been here, hopefully you'll have a good laugh!!! I'm going "home" to Valadares for the holiday (Good Friday's an official holiday in Brazil), and will be back in São Paulo in about a week. Happy Easter to all who celebrate and keep sending me updates on life up north!!!

beijoss.

Traffic.

First off - the bestest part: Seu Jorge - São Gonça - this is probably most definitely one of my favorite songs of all time, and there's a line in this live version i never understood which goes, "... morando em São Paulo você sabe como é; hoje a Marginal engarrafou, e eu fiquei apé"- which means "you know how it goes living in São Paulo, the Marginal was stuck, and so I walked home," - but now I get it - Marginal is one of the major roads here... and it never moves b/c there are always so many cars on it!! Aha!

So since I left off - most have been asking about my interview process, so here goes:

I've had two interviews, both of which I'm still waiting on, and I have another interview this Friday. Which is apparently really good - this one guy who was also interviewing at my interview on Thursday said that he had been having one interview a week for a while... and he seemed super intelligent and confident, so I don't feel so bad about myself. As for the interview process, I have 3 really good things going for me here: 1. English. 2. A Foreign Degree. and 3. I've worked and volunteered at NGO's. At least that's what's come up as looking impressive so far. But in the meantime, I think I'm going to teach some English classes and take my cousin's teacher up on his offer so I don't stay at home waiting for HR reps to call me all day and night.

Now for a note on São Paulo. Apparently since I've been here, everyday the city's been hitting record traffic stats - i.e., how long the lines of standstill traffic have been during rush hour ["horario do rush" as they like to call it here]. And coming home from my interview Friday afternoon at around 5 PM, I finally experienced this on my 2 hour or so bus ride on two different buses... and being interviewed on the bus by a Globo reporter [no, I didn't get on TV], but needless to say, it was interesting to stand on a bus for two hours, and chasing after busses in heels - a ride that otherwise would take about 15 minutes - and roads here aren't smooth ridin' like in the US, and thinking to myself the whole time that I'm going to have to live near where I work... but then I thought about the people who weren't fortunate enough to have this sort of option... and I'm still contemplating. People keep telling me to get a car as soon as I get my license here [which is a whole other story we'll have to discuss once the time approaches] because it's become so easy to buy a new car with minimum credit, etc., but wouldn't that add to the traffic problems? Almost everyone interviewed stuck in traffic is riding along in their cars. But on the other hand, it really is fascinating how a city as big and developed as São Paulo doesn't have the infrastructure for decent commuting - apparently the trains are treacherous and the metro doesn't reach out to all parts of the city. That's my rant on the traffic here - but if you get a chance, it's really interesting and kind of a Catch-22 of Urban Planning and Economic Growth.

Speaking of Economic Growth and Catch-22's... USD - WTF?! I've heard prices are going up like crazy just in the past few weeks in the states with the decline of the dollar... those of you who go grocery shopping probably know this more than others. This means the Real has also become stronger - in fact, a report was published today saying Brazil's GDP grew 5.4% just last year, up from 3.8%. And investment grew 13.4%, which is wonderrfuull. But here's the deal - the USD has to get a little better so that Brazil can keep FDI, keep exporting and stop importing so much, and I can trade my dollars in for Reals, k? Thanks. How this is going to happen, I don't know - but in the meantime, inflation for all of us! And I didn't realize this until I got here and all of this started getting out of control. I always thought that if the USD were lower, then the rest of the developing world would be better off... but I guess that isn't the case. Shows how much I have to learn. *sigh.

I know this week was a little serious, but hopefully somewhat enlightening. And I supposed I'm in a bit of a serious mood. [but not sad/bad serious - necessary seriousness]. Love youuusss.

São Paulo Lovin'

here's a song i can't stop listening to... my cousin Heitor asked me today if they played Brazilian songs on the radio in the US, and I had to tell him that regrettably, no... not even the ones with English in them... Vanessa da Mata & Ben Harper, Boa Sorte (Good Luck)

So a lot and a little have happened this past week - I guess I've had more observations and cotidiano experiences than anything. First of all, I left Belo Horizonte and took an 8 hour bus ride to São Paulo on Thursday, where I'm currently residing and exploring. I'm staying with my aunt Elza for now - and her two sons - Heron (20) and Heitor (16) who are sweethearts, and her husband, Pedro... who is a Yoga instructor whose guru baptized him "Rubi Ananda," and he's nuts but funny, so it works. I took an awkward yoga class last Friday with him and, well... I don't know, I've never really liked Yoga, but people seem to love him! haha

Saturday I went to Heron's English class with him [side note: for those who don't know, they don't teach foreign languages in most public schools here - so if someone wants to learn another language, they have to go pay for it] and his teacher is a Brazilian man who lived in London for many years, and absolutely hates the US and thinks American accents are obnoxious. But he's grreaaatt - the whole class was basically all the students asking me questions in English with their cute British accents and the questions ranged from "Where did you live in the US?"to "Have you ever made out with a Brazilian boy?" to "What do Americans think about Castro?" - needless to say, I was quite frank... "'I lived in CT, about an hour from NYC,' 'Yes, I've made out with Brazilian guys,' and 'Well, most Americans don't really know much about Castro, or Lula, or Chavez, or the rest of the world...'" All responses were taken differently, and at the end of the class, the instructor, Rogério, offered for me to go teach at his school whenever I'd like - So I'm considering it depending on the job I get. On Saturday, I also had famous Paulista pizza - the best pizza in Brasil is supposed to be here in São Paulo, and I'm convinced!!!

Sunday, I went to mass in the morning - I dragged my aunt with me, and it was wonderful. Most of the mass is sung [but not dreadful singing, uplifting singing!], and the church is BEAUTIFUL. After mass, I went to Jen's house to spend the day! It was her last day in Brazil, and we took it easy - hung out by the pool, went outdoor dining for lunch, and hit major traffic on the way back to her house because there was a huge soccer game at Morumbi, the stadium near her - it was a rival game - Corinthians v. Palmeiras - trust me, it's huge.

Monday was probably the most interesting day. I had to make official my residency in Brazil, so I went to get my: RG [which is like an ID], Carteira de Trabalho [which is a document you need to work - employers have to sign it to make sure you're not working under the table, etc.], CPF card [kinda like SS card], Voter's Registration card [because voting's compulsory and I can't get a job or open a bank account if mine's not up to date]... and I think that's it. So how do I do this?? São Paulo offers these posts called Poupa Tempo which are like enormous DMV's where you can get all of the above done, plus more - but the wait for some things are just as long as the wait at the DMV... but considering the size of the city... it was worth the hour long bus ride!!

Other than that, I've just been working hard on the job search - I have an interview tomorrow and a pending confirmation for one Friday, so I'm excited!! Wish me luck, and keep me posted on your lives too! :-)

ps - if anyone in/from Model OAS or the Dialogue is reading this - there's been a lot of coverage about the whole Colombia/Ecuador [Correa was here today, and I ithink Uribe will be here tomorrow] issues here PLUS Cuba, and it soooo makes me want to have done MOAS this year and be working with the Dialogue right now!! lol - please be a dork with me and agree!

pps - sorry for the lack of pictures, i didn't take any this week!