Wurst

Sorry to all those readers who do not speak any German, but really, this post would not make anysense in any other language but German... =)

Einer meiner Kollegen, von denen ich gestern einiges Bereich Strategy und Forecasting gelernt habe, hat ein Jahr als Austauschschüler in Deutschland verbracht.
Als er ankam, konnte er genau zwei Wörter sagen. Kartoffel und Wurst. Und was das bedeuten sollte wusste er auch nicht. Es hatte ihm halt irgendwann mal irgendwer beigebracht als die essentiellen Wörter schlechthin.
Kaum in Deutschland angekommen hat ihm seine Gastfamilie zur Begrüßung einen Sekt angeboten. Alle hoben die Gläser und sagten laut "Prost". Rafael dachte er hätte das Wort wiedererkannt, schaute fröhlich in die Runde und sagte laut zum erhobenen Glas "Wurst!".

Es sei ihm so peinlich gewesen, erzählte er mir gestern nachdem wir in der Kantine waren. Ich fands aber total lustig und sagte das sei auch nicht peinlich, die Wörter seien sich ja auch sehr ähnlich. Da musste er auch lachen und sagte dass sei sehr nett, aber nun könnte er ja Deutsch und wüsste genau dass die Wörter sich so ähnlich ja nun auch nicht seien. Wär aber egal, jetzt wüsste er es ja und hätte zudem immer noch eine lustige Geschichte parat.

Fuits and Tennis Shoes

Now, as this might sound like a weird combination, these are the two things I really want to tell you about right now.

It is saturday today and I woke up at 8 already, even though I stayed up until 2am brazilian time yesterday watching a movie. I had the most amazing breakfast ever, and breakfast is probably the thing I like most about being here so far (well, I must admit though that I haven't seen that much yet)! Fruits, Fruits, and Tropical Fruits! And they taste soooo much better than the ones that we get in Germany after riping for weeks in a warehouse.

As it was still early and I had nothing better to do, I walked the four blocks to the shopping center Ibirapuera. On my way I realized that what Ulf told me on Thursday night was absolutely true. The people walking on the street keep looking at each other carefully. They look into your face as if they wanted to say "I saw you, I know what you look like..." The hotel I live in is in a barrio called Moema, which is pretty safe and many people are walking around on the street, but still one can see that people are always aware of what is happening all around them. It not like the dreamy wandering around like I prefer to do it in Cologne ;)

The shopping center is pretty big and with many different shops for all kinds of styles and things. However, what one can find most are tennis shoes. And I dont mean sneakers, but the typical white, shiny tennis shoes. Paulistas seem to love them, cause I saw at least 10 shops for tennis shoes on the three floors of the shopping center and they were all called things like "the world of tennis", "tennis no.1", "all tennis", ... I would have expected to find more soccer shoes to be honest ;)

Afterwards I went to the supermarket to get some water and fruits and now I am back in the hotel. Its 12.15 and I am wondering what to do with this beautiful day... It is at least 25°C outside, no sign of the coming "winter", so I willl go through my Lonelyplanet now and see what cool stuff can be done. Lets see what I find...

Madita grüsst Pims :)

I just watched Madita, a movie my sister gave me the last night in Germany.
We used to watch it when we were little and Madita and Pims remind me of ourselves when we were small...
Its like travelling 15 years back within seconds =)

Numb3rs

I can forecast here and now, that I will use a loooooot more numbers in my new job than I thought I would.
But thats okay, I guess I will get used to it :D

So, that was one thing I learned today. On my first real day in Brazil. Meaning, awake and communicating ;)
I spent all day with the three strategy guys and they explained me how the forecasting works in Brasil and one jokes in Brazil and pretty well also: How a work day works in Brasil. And I like it.
It was a long day though, I just got home, spending two hours in the every(fri)day traffic jams of Sao Paulo to get back to the hotel.

Its a friday night, but I think I am going to stay in and watch a movie. I just went to the "Tante Emma Laden" across the street and got some water and guaraná and the "lanchonette" next to it had a little bbq put up where I ate a yummy little piece of meat on a wooden stick ( I think in English thats a Kebab, but then a Kebab is something totally different in German, where what I ate is a Spiesschen; so whatever, I ate meat on a stick... :D)

Now all of that was a little chaotic, but I think you know me well enough to know that this is how my brain works ;)

Arrived

The moment I left my family at the security check, I really thought I did a terrible mistake leaving. 5 minutes later, the feeling was gone, but that was a shock second, really.

The flight to Madrid was, well, like always. And when I got off the plane I thought: Wow, nearly two years ago I arrived packed like this to live here for a while... mh, wouldnt be a nice idea to just stay here... maybe the next job... ;)

My flight to Sao Paulo was everything but always or calm. The news of the Air France flight really haven't helped me in being calm and unfortunately the weather did not want to help me either.
It was very turbulent and I did not sleep for more than half an hour in one session because I was woken up by heavy shakes every once in a while. Once over Brazil the turbulences were finally over and I got to sleep for another hour before landing.

In Sao Paulo they had the massive amount of 3 people ready to check the passports of two jumbojets who just arrived from Madrid and Rome... I stood there, half asleep for over two hours and was already scared that the driver leaves without me.
But of course, everything turned out well.

I checked into a nice little hotel, this time its a little closer to night life too, and had some rest before I had some appointments for work.

Tonight I will go to dinner with some people and I think its gonna be fun =)
On Saturday I hopefully meet Thais, Camilo, maybe Julio and some others for a little IE reunion, which would also be amazing.

So thats it for the day, I need a tiny bit of sleep before going out... Tomorrow at 8, I gotta be ready for a training day in office...

Abfahrt

Es ist alles gepackt, der letzte Businessplan bewertet, die letzte Versicherung gekündigt und seit heute bin ich offiziell kein Bürger Deutschlands mehr.

Oh, that was German.
Well, all is packed and all is organized and I am officially not living in Germany anymore. I left. I have it written here, with a blue stamp of the city of Leverkusen.

In half an hour I am leaving to the airport to check in and to leave. And finally there comes the point that Jenny thought would never come: I am scared. Not badly, but anxiously. I would lie if I said the Air France Crash wouldnt make me feel a little weird about flying over the atlantic, and yes, at one moment or the other I thought "What the hell am I doing here?"

But most of you know me well enough to figure that this mood doesnt last. There is no way back anyway, so why worry? Rather smile and laugh and wonder what awaits me. Happily.

Goodbye and see you when I landed ;)

24h

It is time to actually stick to my resolution and to write into my blog. In 24 hours my flight leaves for Madrid, where I will change planes to fly to Sao Paulo.

All this waiting and now it is finally time. Weird, somehow. And so much that happened and that had to be done in the last week.
I spent the last long weekend in Holland at the beach, got a little tan and enjoyed. Then of course, all the other things like packing needed to be done quickly as lying lazy on the beach does not really pack anything... I was in Rome for work from Monday to Wednesday night, so this didnt really help me in packing either, but I loved it. Finally, on Thursday, when I had a day off I really sorted things out as the rest of my stuff was supposed to be picked up on Friday morning. On Friday morning however, I was told that the people would run late and only arrive at tweleve, so all the rush for nothing ;) Once everything was packed I had to bring my car back to the rental station and drive by the bank to coordinate that I am leaving the country... however, they didnt really believe it and wanted proof (which I couldnt give, cause of course the offices were closed and I could only go on Tuesday). Also on Friday, Rémy's little daughter Julia was born. She is the cutest little girl on earth and I am very very happy for Ruth and Rémy!!! =)
On saturday I picked up my friend Jenny and we drove in a pretty convertible and nice loud music to the 30th birthday party of Schröder. On the way I dropped off a little joke birthday gift at another friends house. I am not sure what he is thinking about it (but he will never ever read this, so whatever) but I had my fun handing it to his dad who had no clue whatsoever who I am or where I came from on a random Saturday afternoon... Plus, if I say "or else I will send it to you by mail" I need to stick to it ;)
Either way, I spent a very very nice weekend in Herford and around and the party was amaaaaaazzing.

The only sad part was, that Vanni really started to cry cause I am leaving. It made me feel miserable. But then again, I am so happy that things are finally starting. We listened to some sad songs like Westernhagen's "Freiheit" and "Freunde" from Die Toten Hosen and in the end, the smile was back on her face. ouf.... I mean, I am far away, but not thaaaaat far... :)

Sunday we spent on the couch and on the terrace. Thats it ;)

On Monday I drove home, again with the opened car and loud music and to be honest: I felt like the cooooolest person on earth with my hair blowing in the wind... hahaha. Seriously. I loved it. And I heard a new song in the radio, which just fit so perfectly... It is called "Wir werden uns wiedersehen" (We will see again) from Selig.
Monday night I spent with baking cakes (though there werent as many eggs in the fridge as I was told, so I had to postpone the cheesecake to Tuesday morning) and had friends over to finish of the beers that were left over from my party in April. This time Jenny nearly started crying but then we said goodbye and see you soon, and I am back soon, etc. quickly and saved her from a messed up make-up ;) It is so weird to see friends worry so much and be so sad. Makes me sad. Yet, and thats even weirder but true, it also makes me feel happy because it shows me that those people are better friends then I could ever wish for...

Today was the last day in the office. And as weird it was to come back after 1.5 years, as weird it is to leave again. We had a ton of cake and coffee and nice speeches and well, I will be back ;) Hehehe.

Thats it so far. I will go now and "dine in the castle" with my parents, my sister and her boyfriend... it is a nice little restaurant here in town with a nice terrace and I think it is going to be a great last night.

By this time tomorrow, I will be somewhere over Paris ;)

Here the Toten Hosen Song called "Freunde" ("Friends")