Sonntag, 27. Dezember 2009

Ein Post für Lucky und Björn

Nein, nein, natürlich ist dieser Post nicht nur für Lucky und Björn, ich bin ja froh über jeden meiner dreieinhalb regelmäßigen Leser. Aber Lucky ist mit Abstand die Hartnäckigste wenn es darum geht mich ans Schreiben zu erinnern und Björn hat gestern den süßesten Kommentar überhaupt gebracht... und ausserdem regnets und nachdem ich ja in Brasilien behauptet habe das brasilianische Fernsehprogramm wäre schlimmer als alles bisher dagewesene habe ich jetzt doch wieder meine Meinung geändert und behaupte das Deutsche Fernsehen wäre noch schlimmer.
Was also machen? Schreiben. Damit ich jetzt nicht wieder ganz von vorne anfangen muss hier mal ein Sommer Highlight vom Dezember.

Die Büro-Weihnachtsfeier
Auch in Brasilien wird Weihnachten gefeiert, ist ja klar. Auf den ersten Blick zu erkennen war dies für mich in der Adventszeit in Brasilien aber nicht. Sicher, ich hatte die kitschige Deko überdimensionaler Plastikweihnachtsmänner die den ganzen Tag E-Gitarre spielen oder Doughnuts essen in den Shoppingcenters bemerkt, auch die falschen Weihnachtsbäume die mit glitzerndem Obst bestückt sind habe ich gesehen. Aber schon allein die Tatsache dass es draußen 38°C hat und ich mit einem Eis, in Shorts und Flips-Flops daran vorbei laufe liess alles nur noch kitschiger und so falsch aussehen, dass man glauben könnte der Innenausstatter der Galeria Kaufhof hätte sich einen Scherz erlaubt um das Sommerloch zu füllen.
Als ich mich einmal dazu hinreissen liess, zu sagen für mich wäre das doch alles sehr unweihnachtlich, denn bei dieser Hitze würder der Weihnachtsmann in seinem Mantel ja sofort einen Herzinfarkt bekommen und die armen Schneemänner ausserhalb des Gefrierfachs nicht überleben, da bekam ich strafende Blicke zu spüren denn immerhin sei jawohl Weihnachten und das wäre ohne ohne "Papai Noel" jawohl nichts und die Schneemänner und Tannenbäume seien ja eh nicht echt. "Eben." war meine Antwort dazu. Das war dann aber auch wieder nicht richtig denn ich wurde belehrt dass man Weihnachten die Geburt Jesu' feiert und damit hätte jawohl der Baum garnix zu tun, wo das herkäme wüsste eh keiner, denn in Brasilien gibts ja nichtmal Tannen und bei Weihnachten muss es warm sein. Punkt. Aus. Keine Disskussion. Nao tem jeito.

Ich erwartete also ähnliche Deko für die Büroweihnachtsfeier, wurde aber enttäuscht. Es gab bunte Luftballons, einen elektrischen Rodeo-Stier im Luftkissen zum drauf reiten, ein Trampolin für die Kinder; und ja, tatsächlich, ich sollte zum vierten Mal der selben Sertanejo Band zuhören. Kellington e Anderson. Ich glaube es gibt keine andere Band die ich 4 mal in nur 6 Monaten gesehen habe, schon gar keine die ich nicht besonders leiden kann (ich empfehle hierzu den letzten Blogpost). Natürlich gab es auch Fleisch vom Grill und Bier. Was sonst?!
Vor dem Essen aber wurde gewichtelt. Wir hatten im Büro alle Namen gezogen und während man bei uns schonmal raten soll von wem es kommt, müssen in Brasilien alle raten wer gezogen wurde. Dazu erzählt der Schenkende eine kleine Geschichte oder stellt Fragen, bis es raus ist.
Mein Chef war irgendwann dran und fragte: "Wer ist denn hier blond?" Einige Hände schnellten in die Höhe, ich schaute mich um... Tatsache, waren einige blond, das würde noch etwas dauern. "Nein, wer ist denn richtig blond. Von Natur aus?" Nur zwei Hände blieben oben, aber beide hatten schon ein Geschenk in der Hand. Das kann ja nicht sein. "Wer ist echt blond und hat noch kein Geschenk?" Keiner meldet sich. "Wer ist blond und hat blaue Augen?" Keiner meldet sich. "Mensch Leute, wer im Büro hat denn blaue Augen!?!" ANNA! Achja, ich. Oh. Blond?! Ich nahm mein Geschenk entgegen und entschuldigte mich erstmal mit den Worten, dass mich in Deutschland sicher niemand als blond bezeichnen würde... Mein Chef schenkte mir Noten für traditionelle brasilianische Musik (Samba, das Mädchen von Ipanema, etc.). Ich fand das eine sehr schöne Idee.
Einige Zeit später mussten dann die Kinder auf dem Rodeo Stier platzmachen. Der Chef wollte aufsteigen. Danach alle Männer. Wer nicht wollte wurde dann doch vom Chef überzeugt (ich möchte nicht wissen wie). Sie hatten alle mehr oder weniger Spaß, und unser Chef kommentierte jede Bewegung und hätte mit seiner Euphorie in der Stimme jeden Fussballkommentator neidisch gemacht. Zum Glück tat sich keiner weh, obwohl das ein oder andere Manöver bei den zuschauenden Ehefrauen spitze Schreie und hektische Griffe an den Kopf hervorriefen.

Weil es draußen schüttete wie verrückt gab die Band Zugaben und der Whiskey (immer gern genommen, ob mit Kunden oder Kollegen, siehe dieses Foto der letzten Messe http://www.twitpic.com/qxtps) wurde ausgepackt. Um zwei Uhr morgens wurden dann aber auch die letzten Kinder quengelig und so wurden die Familien nach und nach mit riesen Sonnenschirmen durch den anhaltenden Regen zu Ihren Autos geleitet.

Ich war Fahrer einer Truppe und sollte uns alle wieder hoch auf den Hügel, auf dem die Stadt liegt, fahren. Die Straßen waren so überflutet dass man nicht sehen konnte wie hoch das Wasser stand. Überall waren schon Autos geparkt bzw. abgesofffen, die Mofafahrer drängelten sich auf den kleinen Verkehrsinseln.
Ich dachte, ich bin ganz schlau und fahr einem ähnlichen Auto langsam hinterher. Wenn er durchkommt, komm ich auch durch. Bei einem U-Turn allerdings lag ich etwa 5 Sekunden hinter ihm, und während der Fahrer des Wagens vor mir eiskalt durch das Wasser düste, bremste ich in der Kurve. Ein fataler Fehler, denn schon kam eine Welle und mein Auto stand bis zu den Lichtern im Wasser. Ich dachte jetzt ist es abgesoffen... Dann bin ich aber doch noch mit Warnblinker im Rückwärtsgang wieder rausgekommen; nach vorne wurde es nur immer tiefer.
Wir brauchten eine kleine Ewigkeit nach Hause, denn die meisten Straßen waren gespertt und auch vor meiner Haustür lief das Wasser in Strömen. Selbst die Temperaturen waren um 16°C auf kühle 22°C gefallen und somit war es fast weihnachtlich: Kühl, regnerisch, dunkel, und nass. Eigenltich so wie heute in Leverkusen.

Alles in allem ein echtes Abenteuer, so eine Weihnachtszeit in der Fremde. Aber Spaß hats gemacht! Und wie!

Mittwoch, 21. Oktober 2009

...und es klang, als wäre er seiner Katze auf den Schwanz getreten. Mehrmals. Im 4/4-Takt.

Diese Gedanken hatte ich gestern, als wir hier bei der großen Konferenz in Cuiabá zusammen zu Abend gegessen haben und dabei einer Live Band lauschen durften.
Der Klang jedoch ist beabsichtigt. Es nennt sich Sertanejo und ist die lokale und hier in der Gegend erfolgreichste Musikrichtung.

Wer sich darunter noch nichts vorstellen kann: Es ist lokale Volksmusik. Ein recht fröhlicher Beat eigentlich. Aber jammrigre Texte. Xavier Naidoo fällt mir dazu ein; und auch Florian Silbereisen. Ja, so in etwa. Es klingt wie Xavier Naidoo klingen würde, würde er zusammen mit Marianne und Michael (Akkordeon und Gitarre) bei Florian Silbereisens Volksmusikantenstadl-zdf-rentner-hitparade auftreten. "Diese Trennung wird keine leichte sein, diese Trennung wird steinig und schwer... drum' loss uns oardentli oan uffn grill lega un kräftig oan trinkn"...

Zwei Männer, zwei Gitarren. Einer kann spielen und macht die komplizierten Parts oder nimmt auch mal das Akkordeon zur Hand, der andere streicht nur hin und wieder mal über die Seiten und singt dafür. Sie grinsen. Grinsen in die Runde. Warten das endlich jemand tanzt, aber ich bin die einzige Frau unter 38 Männern und wenn es jemand gibt der in dieser Musik keinen tanzbaren Rhythmus findet, dann bin das ganz sicher ich.
Meine Kollegen grölen die Texte mit, sie kennen sie alle, freuen sich wenn sie auch mal ins Mikro jaulen dürfen.
"Du wirst schon noch lernen diese Musik zu mögen" sagen sie mir. Sicher bin ich mir da nicht. Eigentlich will ich auch gar nicht lernen diese Musik zu mögen.

Doch dann wippt plötzlich mein Fuss im Takt. Nur ganz kurz. Ich schaudere, grusel mich fast ein bisschen vor mir selbst... Haben sie doch recht? Kann man "lernen" eine Musikrichtung zu mögen? Ich grinse auch. Mit dem Sänger um die Wette. Nein, ich glaube bisher hab ich noch nicht viel gelernt. Aber für den Anblick meines Chefs der aus voller Überzeugung und mit Inbrunst die traurigen Texte ins Mikrofon singt das er dem eigentlichen Sänger entwedet hat, wie er sich bei den langen Tönen nach hinten beugt und mit seinen Händen der Tragik ausdruck verleiht... Wie alle Kollegen mit singen, das Bier in der Hand... Dafür kann man gut auch mal Katzenjammer-Kammermusik ertragen.

Was für ein schöner Abend denke ich, nehme einen Schluck Bier, suche den Takt des Akkordeons und wippe nochmal kurz mit dem Fuss.

Donnerstag, 8. Oktober 2009

Chile! - Part 3: Concha y Toro Vineyard

On Monday I met with Franziska and Alastair early in the morning. Carlos and Consuelo had to work, so they could not join us for our vineyard tour at the Concha y Torre Vineyard, just 45 minutes out of Santiago’s City Center.

I met them in their hotel for breakfast, we put our luggage in storage and stopped a cab on the street. We were lucky. The driver accepted to drive us to the vineyard and back for a reasonable price and would wait there for us. Also, he was the funniest taxi driver I have ever met. He made the whole tour into a sightseeing tour, but not showing us the best sights of Santiago, but things like his old elementary school. He was laughing the whole time and even took some wrong turns and laughed about it.
In the end, we made it to Concha y Toro 5 minutes after our reserved tour was supposed to start, but we could still join. We decided to chose the big tour which involved more wine and a little introduction to how one recognizes good wine.
The tour itself was cute, but nothing to what I had remembered from the wine tasting tour my parents once did in France (with me and my sister following them around the wine cellar, totally impressed by what we saw (which was totally as described in Asterx in Rome) but not understanding anything the guide says nor being able to taste). We saw the wine barrels and learned about the differences of American oak and French oak, why it is lying in the cellar and that the old cellars are naturally cooled and with the optimal humidity, while the new ones above ground need to be constantly monitored. The oldest cellar of Concha y Toro is called “Casa de Diablo” as the legend tells that bottles were stolen from the cellar by employees, to which Don Melchior (founder of the vineyard) reacted by telling the people that the devil lived down there and that every month he came and took a bottle of the finest wine. The story made up was so powerful that the Christian and superstitious people that lived and worked on the vineyard got scared of that particular cellar and called it “Casa de Diablo”. No more bottles were stolen.
After the tour we had a wine tasting, where we were able to test 4 different wines of one of the top brands of Concha y Toro. Concha y Toro, being one of the biggest vineyards in the world with more than 8000ha, has many brands for all kinds of segments, prices and tastes. We tasted a Merlot, a Carmenère (Concha y Toros specialty), a Shiraz (Syrah), and a Cabernet Sauvignon. I liked them all but the Merlot, however, Carmenere and Shiraz were my favourites with the cheese and crackers we had. The really really good Cabernet would have been great if it had come with a heavy meal…
We learned about the colors, the smelling, taste and the way it sticks to the glass and I found it so interesting that I would do a wine course just to get to know more about it, but unfortunately, Goiania is not really the right place for it.
Our funny cab driver brought us back to the city center where we had a good lunch at a Peruvian restaurant with a cabernet sauvignon which allowed us to try out what we just had learned. We walked back to our hotel to pick up our luggage and stopped a cab to drive us to the airport. On the way we stopped at a wine store where Alastair and Franziska bought some wine and then we had to go to the airport quickly.
As always, lines were really long, and when it was really really time to check in I was 2nd in the line and one of the ladies from the counters came and started picking out people from behind me in the queue that had a flight that left 5 minutes before mine. I tried to talk to her, because out of a sudden there were ten or more people in front of me and my check-in was closing. She didn’t hear and so I started bitching at her in Spanish and finally she heard me. Franziska and Alastair who just needed to drop off baggage as they were able to check in online were already at the counter and made me signs to hurry, as it was closing (the lady told them they were lucky arriving 2 minutes before closure). So I just pushed the lady aside and went over to the counter where Franziska and Alastair were standing and checked in there. Of course the LAN-Airline girl wasn’t happy, but really: what do I care in that moment…

We had to fly a big detour over the Andes due to bad weather conditions and only got out of the airport with our luggage around 1:30am. My flight to Goiania would leave at 8am, so it really did not make any sense to go into the city to sleep on Franziskas couch and go back at 5am. Instead I took one of the free hotel transfer cars and slept in a very rundown, hostel like hotel in Guarulhos. But that was okay. At least I had some light hours of sleep (not much though, there was a very loud group of young, drunk, male Brazilians). I arrived in Goiânia on time and drove directly to the office. I was a little late, but noone noticed and I had had a really great weekend!

Donnerstag, 1. Oktober 2009

Chile! - Part 2: The Seaside

The next morning we got up early to go to the beach. Originally I had planned to go skiing with Franziska and her boyfriend, but the weather forecast predicted heavy snow and I figured this would not be the best surrounding to stand on (snow)skis for the first time in my life.
Driving out of the city was really nice and, again, looked a lot like south Germany / Switzerland… Unfortunately the view was blocked many times by clouds and rain. The street wound nicely through the mountains and after a while I saw the sea! The first time I see the sea on the other side of the equator happened to be in Chile!
We stopped in a small town where they had a few huts making a little market with fresh fish, sea food (among them the freshest scallops ever!) and some hand made clothing. It was really cute, but the most amazing part were the Pelicans that sat all around, waiting for some fish to fall off the tables.

We had lunch in a cute little restaurant by the sea, where I had an amazing dish with crab meat in a claypot and of course: Pisco Sour. Pisco Sour really advanced to one of my favourite drinks on that weekend.
The clouds slowly cleared and after lunch was over, one could see the coast line, and the town with its colored fisher boats and pretty houses built into the cliffs, still partlz hid in low clouds, gave a magical view.
I was so “awwww-ed” by the view, that I forgot to look on the ground and a view seconds later was lying on the same. My feet had gotten caught in a fishers net… Fortunately I was able to safe my camera by holding my arms up high, which, on the other hand, is anything what I have learned from falling as a child and protecting ONE SELF. Ah well, the knee shall shut up, the camera was saved…

We moved on along the coastline in order to reach Vina del Mar and Valparaíso, which by now can be considered twin cities.
Just before reaching Vina del Mar we passed a big rock, just off the cliff, where at least 50 sea lions were gathered with many young ones playing in the water. So cute! I could have watched forever! A little later I think I even saw some penguins…

In Valparaíso we parked the car and took a nice walk around the city. To get to the upper part, we took the “elevator” which reminded me of a San Francisco Cable car, but with a steeper slope.
The view across the city, which is a UNESCO World Heritage by the way, was very nice. Mountains and sea, and in between cute little houses in all kinds of colors, most of which reminding me of candy. Rose, baby blue, yellow, white, indigo… the list could be endless, really.

Back in Santiago we were really hungry and thus rushed into Consuelo’s favourite Pizza Place, with the best Pizza in town. It was crowded with young people but we were lucky to find a little table close to the wine display.
I had not reached Franziska the whole day, and as we overheard that there had been a big Avalanche across the road of the ski resort Franziska and Alastair wanted to go to, I got a little worried. Fortunately they had decided last minute that they rather take another, bigger tour of the city instead of skiing in the snow because 2 days later there were still around 1300 tourists trapped upon the mountain.

Mittwoch, 30. September 2009

Chile! - Part 1: Santiago

Better late than never, I thought, and thus you can now read about my weekend trip to Chile.
As there are not international flights leaving Goiania Airport, I had to leave to Sao Paulo first and spend the night there. My flight left here on Friday night and arrived in Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport at 21h. Unfortunately I missed my bus into the city by mere two minutes, and had to wait for another 30 until the next would drive me to Congonhas, but if I have learned something in Brasil, waiting is definitely it…
Sandra picked me up in Congonhas and after a quick beer at her apartment we went to have a big and amazing Sushi Dinner. Of course, not without taking a picture and sending it to Kaoru in Tokyo!
We had a lot to talk about so we stayed up nearly all night and I just got half an hour of sleep until at 5am my taxi arrived to bring me back to Congonhas, to take the bus to Guarulhos, to finally board my plane to Santiago de Chile.

I slept the whole four hour flight and when we finally arrived I was all awake and happy to explore the city.
Once through the very tough customs with dogs and big machines to scan / x-ray all of my luggage to keep me from entering the country with plants, vegetables or any other living thing that might spread, I found Carlos, my friend and first term team mate from IE waiting for me.
We drove towards the city, which is built into a dent with the Andes in the back, and I swear it could have been Switzerland. The swiss impression of the country only changed when we passed the poorer parts of Santiago, but soon we were in the middle of a buzzing, very clean, and very modern city. I must admit: I loved the city from the very first moment on, even though it was cold (Goiania: 28°C, Santiago: 6°C) and rainy.

Carlos’ wife Consuelo was waiting for us at home and as soon as I had gotten rid of my luggage and unpacked my warm coat and scarf, we went to take a stroll through downtown. I just liked the city more and more. One can easily see that Chile is the most westernized country of South America and the clean little parks and spots to sit, the open cafés and the well maintained houses seem to have everything that Brasil is working on, yet still lacks.
We had a coffe in the main square and took a look at a little exhibition about Rapa Nui (Easter Islands) which lie far off the Chilean Coast, closer to Tahiti in fact than to the country they “belong” to.

As it was time for lunch, we went to a nice restaurant at the border of a big park and had amazing seafood for starters, together with fresh bread and a spicy type of tomato relish which Consuelo and I loved. Then I had something “typical Chilean”, a type of meat with a lot of sauce and spicy mashed potatoes. Technically, this could have also come from the “Schwabenländle” in south Germany, where they love mashed potatoes and everything as to swim in a nice meat sauce. I loved it. (yes yes, I keep repeating my love for Chile, but what shall I do, I am supposed to tell the truth here…)
On the way out Franziska reached me. Her and Alastair had taken a later plane and had now arrived in Santiago as well. We decided we would meet later at night for drinks, as I was invited to watch soccer and have some snacks together with Carlos’ family at his parents house.
Before we could think about more to eat though, we first had to walk off all the things we had just indulged ourselves with.
We took a route into the park and up the mountain until we reached a platform from where one could watch all over Santiago. The city was hid in a mix of clouds and smog, yet it was great to see how it was huddled against the mountains in the back.
A little higher up one had an even better view and could climb up to the statue that you can see on the pictures. It watched over Santiago, a little like the Jesus Statue watches over Rio de Janeiro. However it is a little smaller.

I was tired as hell when we reached Carlos’ and Consuelo’s home again, and so I took a little two hour nap before we left to watch the soccer game. Apparently my four hours of sleep on the plane weren’t as relaxing and deep as it had seemed…

We watched the soccer game at Carols’ family’s house and his mom had prepared all kinds of little tapas for us to eat. It was very yummy and even though I have no clue about soccer, I enjoyed it very much.
After the game, we went together with Carlos’ sister and her boyfriend to a nice area with bars where Franziska and Alastair were already waiting for us. We had a couple of beers and a nice chat.

Sonntag, 13. September 2009

Rainy Days in Chile

Text will follow later, here you find pictures of Santiago, Zapellar, Vina del Mar, Val Paraiso, the Beach and Concha y Tore Vineyard :)


Mittwoch, 2. September 2009

Kafka was brazilian...

... or if not, whomever invented rules and laws on how administrativ things work in Brasil had just read Kafka and loved him.
Me, on the other hand, I do not like Kafka. I never thought he was interesting and when I had to read his books and stories in school I was just reassured, that Kafka really isn't my thing. But you always meet twice in life, and Kafka came back at me. Not in a book this time, but with an adjective that was purely invented for him and the way his stories work. Kafkaesque.

Wikipedia says:

"Kafkaesque" is an eponym used to describe concepts, situations, and ideas which are reminiscent of the literary work of Prague writer Franz Kafka, particularly his novels The Trial and The Castle, and the novella The Metamorphosis.

The term, which is quite fluid in definition, has also been described as "marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity. [...]

Situations that are incomprehensibly complex, bizarre, or illogical.


If you have read my blog entry "What Pachaa is for Madrid..." then you have already gotten an idea of how bureaucratic things in Brasil are sometimes, even if it is just to get into a club. It led me to writing a series called "Kafka was brazilian..." of which you can read part one right here, right now.

Buying a TV.

Even though I am not a a big fan of TV, I sure am a big fan of movies and I do not like to watch them on the tiny screen of my tiny laptop. Thus, I needed a TV.
Well, I thought, that cannot be so hard. Its a TV. You go to the stores, look at the offers, pick one, take it home, plug it in. Done. Well, thats right, I THOUGHT.

Well, first of all, things tend to be sold out. I could pull out some comparisons to the former GDR now, but I won't ;) Afterall, I have just heard those stories from other people.
But it is true about Brazil. Stores do not like to keep a lot of anything in storage that is expensive, and while I can understand that, it bothered me while shopping for a TV.
Everytime I found one I liked it was sold out and the prices tend to jump up and down every day. But this cannot really be called kafkaesque, so here comes the real deal.

I finally had found a TV I want even though there was none left in storage (if there ever was one) but I could have the one standing in store. Quickly, I pulled out my debit/credit combi-card in order to pay my new TV and take it home.
First though, I needed to register in the store. Name, Adress, Phonenumber... ooops, system fail. Again, Name, Adress, Phonenumber... ooops, does not work, there is a, street number required for the adress and not just the buildings name. Mh, too bad, cause the city hasnt given out numbers yet (it is a new building in a new quarter). Okay, it will be 00.
I am registered. I get asked to please move over to the nice lady behind a bulletproof glas. The cashier.
When I try to pay though, it turns out that neither debit, nor credit, nor a combination work. My limit is too low. Limit?, I think, What limit? They never told me about any limit?! Its just a TV?!
The salesperson offered me I could go to the ATM and take out all money I can and see if it is enough. So I gave it a try, but my limit was 500R not enough for the TV... And keeping it and going again tomorrow for more and driving all across the city with so much money? No thank you.
I decided I would just go to the bank and pick up checks to pay the next day, and i was promised that they would keep the TV. Tomorrow at 10am, they said, we open and you can come and pay.

The next morning, it was 10:30, I was back at the store. Unfortunately, it was still closed. Due to rearrangement of the store, it would only open at 2pm it said on a big screen. Well, "re-arranging" the store?! The guy yesterday could have known that... oh well.

I came back at 16h and, oh, new sign: The store stays closed today. Thank you very much.

Well, there is still sunday. I went back to the store, and as it was closed the day before, they had kept there promise and noone has bought the TV. Actually, the price had even dropped. I pulled out my checkbook and was actually kinda happy to, for the first time in my life, pay with a check.
But oh. Registration. Registration? I just registered the last time?!
Well, for check payment one needs to register "completely". This includes, first of all, the CPF number. It is tax number and "Schufa" (for all you Germans) in one. Luckily I have a CPF number. Next would be my RG number. Unfortunately, I do not have an RG as foreigners do not get registered with an RG but with RNE (Registro Nacional para Estrangeiros - National Registry for Foreigners or something like it). The stores system luckily took RNEs and although I do not have my RNE card yet ( it takes half a year to be made) I was able to proof with many discussions, the protocol of the RNE application and the system print of the RNE Filing (with all its stamps and stickers) that I was really registered and thus allowed to buy things. But although I registered in the stores system with my RNE as a foreigner, when it asked for my birthdate, parents information and birthplace it unfortunately asked for a state and only had brazilian states in the dropdown menu. Berlin with its wonderful postalcode of 14057 was not found in any state, and there was no way to find the postal code to some, maybe existing, Berlin somewhere in Brasil. We left it all empty to see what else is coming up.
I was supposed to give them two telephone numbers in Goiânia as a reference for me being able to pay. Or, just in case I won't pay. Now, I did absolutely not feel comfortable with giving away two of the three phonenumbers I new so far in Goiânia.
Not being registered, would leave the option of writing a check to the store and to come back two days later to see if the check had worked out and if the TV was paid. If so, I could take it home then. But really, I felt even more uncomfortable with that option, thus check book was now officially ruled out.

As I nearly had expected something like this, I had brought my German credit card. The German system works with signatures, while the brazilian always works with 4-digit pins. My card ran through smoothly and though it hurt a bit knowing that the money would be taken off from a bankaccount in Germany that receives no more salary but gets deducted for a student loan every month (more about this in the next Kafka Story) at least the receipt popped out and I I finally owned my TV.
Wait, was that real? Can it really be paid without a pin? Another discussion and explanation later it was decided. Yes. It was real, and I could take the TV home.

They packed up the TV and loaded into the back of my car. It now stands here and is great. But these registry and system things can really drive you nuts. Wait until you hear more about them...

Freitag, 28. August 2009

TGIF

TGIF - Thank God Its Friday

It is Friday. Finally. Actually, the week passed super fast, but Friday is always good. Cause it's Friday. As simple as that. ;)

I have no plans for tonight although I wanted to go to a concert of a colleague originally. But then, in the end, noone ended up going and going alone? Nah, not really. Thats the downside to living in a big city one does not yet know very well. But it will come with time, I guess.

On the other hand, I was not going to go out for too late anyways, because my long awaited couch will finally arrive tomorrow and as they cannot really give me a time frame that helps ("We will arrive between 8h and 18h... plus / minus 30 minutes") so will have to be awake and ready at 8h because my appartment still has no interphone so the doorman can call me and I won't wake up from a simple knock on the door (at least not as far as I know me... ;)

Another great thing today was that my boss approved my holidays, thus I can travel somewhere down south with Alessa (who landed in Sao Paulo today and will be travelling around for 4 weeks) and then in October I will go to Buenos Aires to visit Ale and to see the city I always always always wanted to live in. Maybe one day I still will. And its all thanks to Anna who moved there when we were still in Kindergarten. Her stories when visiting Germany in the summer apparently were enough to make me wanna go. Oh well and it helped of course that Ale told me about it, Marisa did, Carlos (Schmitz, that would be) said he loved it and my former boss moved back there twice and would go again as soon as he had an offer... Buenos Aires must be amazing.

Oh and guess what? No, that is not all! I will go to Santiago de Chile next week. A night in Sao Paulo on Friday and then Saturday morning to Monday Night in Santiago. City Tour with Carlos (Mendoza, this time) and his wife Consuelo, skiing in El Colorado and a Wine Tasting Tour at Concha y Tore :)

Yepp yepp yepp, amazing plans... And I am soooo excited. So who cares about a friday night at home when you have those trips coming up?! Thats right, I don't.

Last but not least I tried to buy a Blackberry Phone, cause there is an amazing promotion going on these days that would basically offer me "unlimited data" (VOIP here I come, skype on the go all day long and thus being able to communicate with my family and friends throughout the week cause they wont be sleeping when I come home from the office) and "unlimited" phone and messages (well, it would be 1000 minutes and 1000 messages per month, which for someone like me, hating the phone like nothing else, is basically unlimited). And as if that was not enough there is a 300 Reais Rebate too (which is totally necessary cause electronics just seem to be insanely expensive in Brazil when you grew up in Europe).
Unfortunately, Blackberrys are sold out every-f*in-where in this city and thus I was not able to get one. But I will keep trying and send all you busy business friends of mine my BB Pin soon, so we can message for free and be cool, and to all those normal people outthere: This means I can have Skype turned on all day and thus be reacheable through my German Skype-in Number :) :)
Yes, it sounds really good :) But: I need to get the opportunity to buy one first. Of all things, I did not think this would be an obstacle...

So, thats enough news for today.

Except maybe: I finally saw the movie "Das Weisse Rauschen". Now, to be honest, I am not a big fan of those Dogma 95 style movies because the movement really makes me motion sick, but here it was just really really helping the story and Daniel Brühl was really really good. If you havent seen it yet, you should.

Beijos and good night!

Mittwoch, 26. August 2009

Some Random Brasil Facts and Stories

In the video rental store here, the dvds are not sorted by genre and then alphabet, but (and I am totally serious, I was just there today) by genre and then by COLOR!

I spent 3 times as much money for groceries on Monday than I spent the same day to fill my car's tank.

(Some) cellphone providers charge you for roaming when you change states within Brazil.

If you want to buy something big, or rent a dvd, you need to register in the store. In order to do so, you need to give two phone numbers of friends or colleagues for reference. (So, if you thought of stealing a 15 Reais DVD, they will hunt you down, may it cost whatever...)

Nobody has dishwashers. And as most people clean their dishes with cold water, the soap here is so aggressive it cleans everything. Burnt in, dried out, who cares!?

As it hardly ever rains in this city, streets turn into raging rivers when it finally does.

You think you can skip cleaning dust this week? I don't think so. The earth here is red as I would only expect it in Africa... and you can see red on EVERYTHING.

Bills have barcodes, so you can pay them easily on the ATM Machine. Yet there is no such thing is automatic debit (only for water and gas) or "Bankeinzug".

Brasil has no Ikea.

Things in Brasil sell out easily, as stores do not stock much. If you see something you like, buy it.

Your CPF number shows people if you are paying your bills, if you have a valid identity, and (through noticing if you know it by heart or not) how long you have lived in Brasil (in that order, by the way ;))

You need your CPF Number for purchases of all kinds, to use your credit card, to open bank accounts, to rent appartments, to register a car, to register your signature, to get Internet Access, and the list goes on and on. You even need it to be allowed to enter clubs and bars sometimes.

You need to register your signature. In Brasil it is not necessarily enough to sign things (twice or three times). Your signature also needs to get a little sticker, another signature of a state worker, and a couple of stamps before its valid and proven that it really is your own signature.

If Brazilians call anything "Alemao" (=German) you can translate it as "Bavarian". Dirndl and Lederhosen are typical German cloths, Sauerkraut and Eisbein are typical German food (and sausages), the Oktoberfest is what every German attends once a year and Franziskaner is a typical German Beer. And beer is drunken warm in Germany, cause it is so cold over there... Mmmh, lots of work left for me.

Brazilians love fireworks. There is a big rocket sent off after every GOOOOOOOOOOL here at the stadium.

The lines that show you lanes on the street are there, but they are useless and thus ignored. And you better ignore them too, if you dont want to cause an accident. Who honks first, goes first and there is ALWAYS space to change (imaginary) lanes 5 to 7 times on 100 meters in rush hour.

... thats it for now, but I am sure there will be more to come...

Sonntag, 23. August 2009

Pictures of my Appartment

Here are some pictures of my appartment. It is still missing a lot of decoration, but I think that will come with time... Also bookshelves are missing, thus, some of my books are still in boxes.
Nevertheless, it was finally time for a nice housewarming dinner with my friends to thank them for all the help they gave me to start here in Goiânia!

Montag, 17. August 2009

Fire in the Attic

No, I dont mean the band. I mean actual fire.
On Friday night I sat in my appartment and watched The Butterfly Effect, when the TV made a loud cracking sound and turned off. Damn it, I thought, I will miss the last minutes of the movie now...
My phone and my internet also work over the cable network, so it was all turned off. What now?

I heard a loud knocking on the door... Whoomp Whoomp Whoomp it went. Mh, I thought, maybe someone wants to know if my cable tv stopped too.

"Helloooo?"
"Oi, its the porteiro! Come out please!"
"Uhm, hold on a second" *key search, turn keys, open door*
"We gotta go. There is a fire. Upstairs."
"A what?..." *grab wallet and cellphone, grab shoes*
"Fire. Come quick.*

We ran down the stairs. 15 floors. He had run them up before. He was sweating. Nervous. The building had just been opened and he was new. New to this job. New to this responsibility.
My knees were a little shaky. I had done this before. Ran down the fire stairs, once from 11th floor once from the 26th. It always turned out to be a false alarm and as there was no smoke, I thought this must be a false alarm too. Yet the porteiro seemed very nervous.

The only thing I could be thinking was: This is not possible. This cannot be true. My stuff made it all the way from Germany to Brazil, by train, by ship and by truck. It will not burn down now. And why am I carrying my sneakers in my hands. My socks will be ruined when I get downstairs. Why I was thinking that? No idea. Kinda ridiculous. My socks? I mean, who are you kidding... I run around on socks all the time and for years my mom keeps telling me that I keep ruining my socks and i never before cared. The brain works in weird ways sometimes...

When we arrived outside there were already people standing there. From the outside I could see that the building had a light alarm, that was blinking heavily in the night, but I did not hear a sound.
From the other few people that live in the house so far, I learned that the little three year old girl saw the fire. When going to bed she looked out of her window and saw the fire reflection in the new building next to ours. "Oh look mommy, how pretty. It has fire in the window." Mommy of course didnt think it was so pretty, grabbed her little one and ran downstairs informing the porteiro and the local fire brigade.

When the fire brigade arrived, the fire still didn't seem to be big, there was not much to see from the outside.
The fire was on the top floor, where the appartments arent ready yet and noone lives there so far (well, there are only 5 of 22 appartments used so far). Apparently a construction worker had left one of those tools on, that make a flame to melt things together. He had left it on small, so it took a couple of hours before the material caught fire. As far as I understood, we all reacted right. When the chief of the fire brigade came back downstairs to tell us the fire was out and why it happened, and all the details that everyone wanted to know so badly... I didn't really understand it all though, people were all talking at the same time, talking fast, talking portugese (of course), but at least the guy was very handsome... so I just looked, and had someone explain it to me later...

A little later we wore allowed to go back upstairs. It was a little weird. The fact that i did not hear any alarm got me a little worried. What if it happens again and the porteiro cannot run up 15 stories again... but then again, what are the chances of it happening again in the same night, when the fire men just took care of it?! And the alarm will be repaired or re-adjusted too.

Sonntag, 16. August 2009

...it's been a while...

I did not remember how much work moving was. Then again, I think I have never really moved like this before. Moving from Berlin my parents did all the work, moving to Canada just involved 2 suitcases cause the rest stayed in my room at my parents, then I moved out from my parents house but I did it in little bits and pieces, and Madrid, like Canada, involved more work putting things in boxes for storage than it involved unpacking...

Either way, I am nearly done now. There are still two and a half boxes with stuff left... the boxes with the stuff that you collected without really noticing, and for which now you cannot find a space :D haha
And there is soooo many books. I knew I had a lot of books, but somehow miracly, they all had a nice space in my old place. Now here, I have two big bookstands and still I have a huge box just with books left. I need to find a carpenter to build me bookshelves that I can put into the cupboards that are built into the walls here. They are made for clothes and thus just have one compartment to hang stuff.... Hey Joey, didn't you want to go down south when its winter in Montréal? I mean, you cant really build a house here, but I could need a good carpenter ;) Free beers included!!

I also had to realize that I have a lot of clothes and shoes. Frankly, I do not beat my mom in shoes and clothes, by far. Yet, for someone who mainly wears sneakers it is a lot... And guess what? After sorting all my shoes into sandals, winterboots (which I so didnt need to carry across the ocean), gym shoes, sneakers, highheels... I still wondered why I can find my red, my black, and my multicolored chucks, yet the brown ones and the green ones are missing. I am wondering if I sorted them out in Madrid, where I sorted out a lot of stuff that would get me over the 20kgs luggage for the plane... damn it, should have thrown out other stuff ;)
Also, so many clothes that I forgot that I had, because they went into storage two years ago, when I left to Madrid. Mainly work clothes, but also my favourite band shirts that are so damn worn out but that I just cannot throw out cause they are tied to the best concerts ever (like the Less Than Jake Shirt from my first rock concert ever, when they played with Bad Religion in Montréal) or just great moments and friends, like the "The Frikadells" t-Shirt which was made for me when I left to Madrid, from all my friends that were on my balcony on a random drunk bbq-burger night when we decided to start a band called "The Frikadells". We even prepared our "The Turtle is the Mailman" Tour and had already a bunch of songtitles... yet, we never reached the moment of actually hitting a single note together...

Moving is a lot of work. But as you can also see from this post, it brings back amazing memories. I found my two favourite stuffed animals in a box, for example. One of them a bear that my aunt had made for my birth, without which I have not slept a single night between my first days on earth and leaving for Canada. Other people have a small pillow, I used this bear as a small pillow (and frankly, by now he looks like a pillow, all flat...)

In another box I found the guitar that Anne and Joey made for me when i left Canada so that I would remember them. Next to it the Bongos that Andrea gave me at Grad Day for the same reason and a McDonalds Name tag from Allard, which was his first name tag of his first job that he was so damn proud of.

I found my high-school exams from my challenge classes physics and english, and my economics notes from my German University and from Madrid.

I found tons of pictures from being a child, from being a teenagers, from holidays in Estartit, from BBQs at my first own place, from work, from school, from university, from Berlin, Canada and Madrid. Maybe unpacking took me so long, caues I looked at them all ;)

But now I am sitting here, I nearly finished everything... I put up the pictures and paintings I brought. Kurt Cobain, who has been travelling with me since Canada, is back on the wall and looks down on my beautiful living room ;) (though this poster definitely needs a frame, it is starting to rip on all edges)

It is a nice sunday, a couple of clouds. Not too hot. And I feel really comfortable. Here. Finally. At my new place.

Donnerstag, 30. Juli 2009

Ah well, the brazilian way...

What has happened if suddenly you realize, that noone you are doing business with, is trusting noone around you nor you nor anyone is his own team? Well, easy: You tried to rent an appartment in Brazil.

I had to put down a deposit today, in order to get my keys. I went to the bank and asked them to show me how to do it, as I had never done it in Brazil and the vocabulary was just so strange... The guy was really nice and said he could do it "right here at the counter"... until he realized I am missing a piece of information (called CPNJ) which, next to bank number, account number, and name, makes sure that its the legitimate receiver.
I went back to office, called a few people, got the number. Back to the bank.
Oh, the guy said, this number is invalid.... he went to the back to check and found out there was apparently a zero missing. Next thing I hear: Oh, now, this number gives an error.
Mmmmkay... ?!
I went back to the office, called a few people, and apparently the numbers were correct. So this time, I tried to do it via online banking. The number apparently was correct, so was the 6 number code to enter, the token to enter, the token to reach the transfer page, the other 6 number password to confirm the transfer and the token to confirm the transfer but: Oooops, this is above your limit. Sorry.
Limit?! What limit?! It was so low, I would never be able to pay my rent in one piece... well, not even in two pieces... -> Back to the bank. Back to the counter.
There is one other possibility the lady said: You could use a check. Mmmmkaaay... I don't have checks yet. So I applied for checks. Got checks. But the real estate agency doesnt like checks.
Well, finally, some other person managed to enter my deposit and transfer it. Ouf. Finally. Lets get the keys.

Well, the contract was not yet signed by the owner. The receipt of my deposit was not enough for them to sign off that I had payed. And oh, the key was not there, cause there was a problem with the stove.

But as I needed the key, cause tomorrow my container arrives and I need to move in, I went to the building to pick up the keys and to tell them I was moving in tomorrow.
In the building we met the stove technicians, who had brought (again) the wrong thing and thus werent able to install it. And by the way, there is no electricity yet. And the laundry machine isn't plugged into the water tap yet. Oh, and yes, we cleaned it but left paint buckets and only used a sweep, no water or anything that really cleans. And no, we never talked about ACs being installed and a stove does never have an oven.

Oh well, I thought. Just how I had imagined it. Welcome to Brazil.
At least it looks pretty (in daylight).

Schlüssel - Keys

Finally, I can pick up my appartment keys today.
All I need to do is go to the bank and make a deposit for the real estate agent fee and then its mine. And I cannot wait to see it, cause last time I was there, the kitchen wasn't ready.

I will take some pictures of the empty appartment today and upload them later tonight, and then tomorrow, my container comes and I can finally move :)

Sonntag, 26. Juli 2009

Of Homesickness and Cultural Shocks

Now, it has been over a week since I was down, and the strange sad feeling is completely gone, so I will write about it.

It was last friday, my sisters birthday and other than that a normal day at work. I spent the lunch break at the hotel, so I can call my sister over skype cause I knew she would be preparing her party at my parents house.
We talked for a while and I wished her a happy birthday and a great party, and then I went back to work.

When I arrived back at work I was told that I had a meeting at 14h (it was around 13.55h) which was important cause it was about what I was working on.
Now, first I thought "how nice they plan this without letting me know" and then I thought about the project I was working on which was generally really easy (calculating a marketshare per product per each salesman) but turned out to be really annoying as the two databases that give the information work completely different and make it really hard to combine product and market into one (different languages for example, or different spelling).
In the meeting we wanted to go over the steps needed to calculate it all into one format, as I had had a couple of questions in the morning, however, all I ever heard was "it is all easy" because I was simply not able to explain the problem I had in portugese and they could not understand me in english. I felt like I was running against a wall and their repetition of "don't worry its so easy" and "you know, it's new for us too, the databases are very new" made me go crazy.
The meeting ended and i wasn't any smarter than before, so I decided to just do it as far as I thought it was reasonable and not changing the results too much (due to too much calculation needed to make the databases comparable).

Later however, my colleague came again over to my place to explain me again what they needed. I had understood what they needed from the beginning so I told him I understood, just had one question. We started all over again but reached the same problem: language. I was so frustrated you cannot believe it.
I got angry at myself for not being able to make myself understood, angry at whomever decided to have two databases with basically the same data but with different names and spelling, and angry at the world around me, cause they did not seem to care that this way they would get results but they would be unable to tell anything worth the analysis and insane excel programming needed to get there. And probably they would even be far off reality cause they would be taken out of context, mixed and brought back together. I tried to stay calm, but after the 100th time of "don't worry, it's all easy, you just need to divide the forecasted sales through the forecasted market" I just couldnt stand it anymore. Out of a sudden and without myself having any control over my brain, I had this rush of thoughts...

"What am I doing here? Why am i 27 hours of travelling from home? What was I thinking, I cannot even explain anything in this language?! Why am I not home helping to prepare my little sisters big birthday bash? Why didn't I chose any place in this world that is more like home? Canada, Spain, Germany, anything... but I chose Brasil?! Those people are crazy and dont even speak a little bit of english! I don't even have a home here yet... 6 weeks in hotels for that?! I wanna go home. Now."

I knew I had to finish until Monday and it was Friday, 17:45h so I decided to run. Well, as far as I could: Across the street into my hotel room. I saved the excel file and all the background data on a usb flash stick and left. I thought I could finish it in the hotel on my computer, afterall, excel 2007 is way easier for stuff like that anyways.
When I came home to the hotel, I was really really sad. Heavyness and an unexplainable sad feeling was nagging on me and I really did not know how to cope with it. I had never experienced a Cultural Shock and with homesickness I had never really had a Problem. In Canada I was homesick only twice that I really remember: One on the 2nd day, which had passed after 20 minutes of crying and then going outside to play with my little host sisters; and once more on September 11th (my first day of High School) when people talked about a third world war, which had passed after calling my parents and a mean joke of my little sister (Grandma: "Maybe we should get her home..." Sis: "Grandma... with the plane?!").
But this here in Brasil, this was different. It felt like I had made a huge mistake by coming here, and I really cried. If my red ballerinas weren't in the container, I would have slipped them on and clacked the heels to see if I could get home like in the Wizard of Oz... I tried on skype and on the phone, but of course, on a Friday night at 23h in Germany nobody was reachable. And my sisters party I didnt want to call, cause I would have cried and ruined the mood...
So I had a beer, watched a movie and went to bed early. It helped too.

On sunday I plugged in the flash drive to start working. But the file was corrupted. I sent it to Amber to see if she could open it, but she couldn't either... I could have thrown the damn thing out of the window, but that's not really me, so I just turned of the TV and went shopping instead. For the first time driving with my car around.
I chose a shopping center that is not too complicated to reach and though my car (an old Volkswagen Passat (or Parati in Brasil)) is old and dirty and I needed to get used to it first: It drives well and probably noone will have the idea of stealing it...
As I had heard a couple of horrendous stories of driving in Goiânia ("worse than Sao Paulo") I was prepared for hell. Turned out though, compared to Madrid it is a joke ;) Well, it is about the same as in Madrid but with less traffic which makes it a lot easier. I reached the Shopping Center without problems and thought it was funny that in Madrid my biggest ever shock was driving in the city and not really knowing where to go, and now here that was no problem (thanks to Madrid) but the language was (which, in Spain, had never be a problem of this extreme).

On Monday I got to the office early and had only a tiny lunch break, but I managed to finish the damn excel file and people were happy.
That was it. My first homesickness in years and my first real cultural shock. Ladies and Gentleman, welcome to Brazil!

Samstag, 25. Juli 2009

saturday afternoon life

I am soooooo close. I am so close that I can barely wait for it anymore.
Latest news are, that probably on monday I can sign my contract and hopefully get my keys on thursday. I will have to confirm that, so that I can make sure that my stuff arrives on friday. MOVING ON THE WEEKEND! WHOOOO HOOOOOO! :)

That is why I wanted to go and check out some furniture today, but unfortunately they were all closed. It is this street, actually around the corner from where I will soon, very soon, live where there are many small furniture stores. Many of them look more like garage sales, but I heard that if you look hard you might find really nice pieces as they make them all themselves and often copy or get inspiration from the selling designs. Now, this doesnt really say that much as the most selling designs here arent really what I like, but it is worth a try... I thought... until I found out they were all closed.

So I went to the big shopping center instead to have something to eat. I got a loooooot of sushi and wandered around among the bookstores and in the one furniture store (Tok e Stok, like Ikea just way smaller and way more expensive ;) and checked my options there.

When I came back to the car it was actually very nice outside, not too hot anymore yet not dark. So I decided to pass by my soon-to-be home and check out the parc right in front of it.
Its was a great idea, cause the park was full of people. Kids playing, people lying on blankets, some joggers and many many dog-walkers. I felt very comfortable there and ended up just watching for half an hour or more, drinking some water.
I need to go there more often, and I will, soon... Looks like a nice spot to meet some people outside of work too...

Dienstag, 21. Juli 2009

Long Time No See

Yes yes yes, I haven't written anything in a while. Well, I was busy watching movies, going out and sitting in the sun reading (as you probably have expected me to do). Also, I worked, and I must admit that last week for the first time I really encountered the barriers of language which was a little frustrating and forced me into a little homesickness.
But sun always helps and so it passed quickly and I am back on track in the brazilian adventure.

The good news are, that my appartment was 99,9% approved (I won't give it a 100 until I have the contract in front of me) and I can probably move on the 30th or 31st of August.
My furniture and cloths and most importantly my bed and my music have safely arrived in Sao Paulo and passed customs, so I will get them all the moment I move in :)

Today I took a little roadtrip for work and went together with two colleagues, Franziska and Emerson, to Rio Verde to visit some clients. It is very interesting so far and I am impressed how much I actually understand, yet a little frustrated with not being able to answer as quickly as I wish ... ah well, it will come with time and I still have plenty of it left.

This was a little chaotic now, and short, but nonetheless its something and I will write more and especially in more detail about the last week and its crazyness in a couple of days. Stay tuned ;)

Dienstag, 7. Juli 2009

What Pachaa is for Madrid...

On Friday, I was told that we were going to go out to a club. And not just any club...

... a club, where you have to go early enough not to wait hours in line,
... a club, where everyone goes,
... a club where you will party all night,
... a club, where people buy bottles of Vodka/Whiskey/Tequila/Champagen and not glasses,
... a club, where only the coolest people know the bouncers,
... a club, that to me sounded like Pachaa.

But many things were different in Bufalo's. It was harder to get in. And I don't mean the bouncers, although not even Carlos could have gotten past the bouncers, like he often did in Pachaa...
What I mean is the security measures:

You are checked by a bouncer, if you fit in.
Your passport/ID is being checked by another bouncer, to see if you are old enough and if you have legal identification on you.
You and your stuff are searched for weapons or drugs or both by yet another security person.
You the entrance hall where you have to stand in line to register your ID or Tax Registry Number (so they can sue you if you cannot pay in the end or demolish something or start a fight).
You get a little chipcard to buy all drinks on and you can finally go party.

When we entered the actual club through a door, I expected this huge dancefloor, light show and some cool places to sit. To my surprise though, it was Sertanejo Music playing (Country Music from the region of Goiânia) and the whole club, including bars and some tables, was no bigger than the main dancefloor of Pachaa and instead of dancers and light show there was Rodeo being shown on a big screen. Now, don't get me wrong. The people were all dancing and the girls were way more dressed up than in Pachaa, but it was a little weird compared to what I thought I would see, and honestly, the cowboys walking around didn't make it any more normal. Plus, I felt like a grandma in there. Now, many people of you might laugh, especially the ones I know from Madrid. And I think, the people were not even that much younger then me (I guessed the average at 22 maybe 23, with me being 24)... but they looked younger... maybe it is the crowd I usually hang out with that is older... hahaha...

As I am not very fond of Sertanejo Music (yet?!), I went to first of all get a beer. The guy who handed me the beer, took a napkin and wrapped it nicely around the bottles neck and fixated it with a litte twist. It looked like what you would put on a nice 15-year old Rioja and not on a brown, 0.33l beer bottle and it was already soaked from the condensation when he handed it over. I looked at it with a "what's that?!" look and took the napkin off. For Sthela that was funny enough laugh really loud and the guy behind the counter would remember me for the rest of the night, handing me beers without the napkin... :D

By the way, did I tell you that many brazilians think that we Germans would drink our beer warm? I do not know where they got this from, but it is one of the most common things I have heard so far, when people found out I was German...

At around 1am at night, the music changed to house music and it was a little easier for me to move along to it than to the Sertanejo Music (Puppet, I miss you hear, the men hear cannot lead very well, which for a beginner to this type of dance is both embarassing and kinda boring!). So I danced all night and wanted to catch a cab in the morning.
On my way out someone out of a sudden grabbed my hand and tried to kiss me. Now for drunk Brazilian men that might be typical, not so for German girls. I could hardly see or hear him, so while he was telling me something about, my pretty eyes and that I was so beautiful and blablabla let's make out, I played my foreigner card. I kept a little distance and said something in portugese like "Sorry, no speak portugese... beautiful? Yes, party is beautiful... what? ... bye!" and went away.
Leaving the place is a little easier than going out. One goes back to the counter, pays whatever is saved on the chipcard, goes to the bouncer who checks that the chipcard is really empty ad then one can leave.

I was just about to enter the cab when this drunk cowboy was there again. Now that he was standing and walking in the light, I could really see that I did good to keep him on distance. He was so drunk he could hardly stand and sweating as if he had just ran a marathon. As he tried to tell me that we should share cab, and beautiful blabla, I pretended to be really stupid and said "Sim Taxi... (Yes, a cab.) Beautiful hm? I like it better than walking. What? Sorry, no portugese... nao fala. Boa noite! Good night." and closed the door.
I had a nice chat in portugese with my taxi driver on the way home. My portugese is actually getting a lot better, but no need to tell the drunk guy ;)

Freitag, 3. Juli 2009

Wednesday I was taught how to dance...

... Sertanejo Music.
There is not much to blog about that night. 3 colleagues of mine and me, in a bar, drinking fresh cold yummy beer and listening to a live band and dancing to it.
They taught me the steps which was easy (some songs require one step, others two, but generally thats it ;) and now its a matter of practice...
Though I must say: Noone can leadn and is easier to dance with than Luis! Puppet, I miss you :)

Tonight (Friday) I will give it some more practice... :D

Here some pictures:

Dienstag, 30. Juni 2009

Kindergeburtstag: When a kid's birthday turns out to be a massive event!

Last sunday, my boss invited a lot of people from the office to come to his son's eight's birthday party. It was supposed to be a soccer party so everyone should come dressed up in the jersery of his/her favourite team (that's the story why I bought a Germany jersery, remember?).

When we arrived at the place, it turned out to be a big party room with foosball/kicker, trampolin, carussel, basketball and many many other games for kids and a part with tables for the older people to be seated with food and drinks and a hell of a lot decoration. They even had people to entertain the kids with soccer games (penalty shots), medals to be won and many more things.

But not only the kids were entertained... actually, the kids did not care much about the whole entertainment... they rather played on the super playground with all these games and possibilites than listening to a lady explaining... Thus, we were entertained. Danceing games for couples, penalty shots (the men even had to sing the hymns of their favourite teams, we women just had to name them), and musical quizzes.

It was a lot of fun, I can tell you and seriously everyone was acting as if we were eight ourselves. Look at the picture and the video of the dancing competition to judge yourself... Our boss and his wife won it by the way, though Warley and Wagner also turned out to be great dancers (some might say Helio being the boss of most dancing judges had a slight advantage) :D

[ooops, youtube just always stops before the video is uploaded... maybe I can do that when I have my own internet and am not in the hotel anymore]

Samstag, 27. Juni 2009

Just Dance...

I went out to a very cool Pub/Club yesterday night. While from the outside it looked very posh, inside it was a mixture of an irish pub and a rock club, decorated with posters of bands from the beatles over kiss to nirvana. It had some space to sit, a nice dancefloor and a stage which was already filled with instruments for the band that would play tonight.

The band came on stage. They had a keyboarder who would have easily fit in a skate punk band with his outfit and piercings, next to him a guy with rhasta hair who could have been Bob Marley's missing cousin on the bass, in the middle the singer with long uncombed hair, a plaid shirt and a voice you could have put on a The Darkness record, the guitar player a big bear with no hair but big tattoes who would have not looked wrong on stage with Flogging Molly or The Dropkick Murphy's and last but not least a nice looking young guy on the drumset who, if he lived next to you, probably would walk your dog and mow your lawn on weekends.
Now, this is a crazy combination... What do you think a band like this opens up with (except for an amazing bass solo from the rhasta guy)?
Yes, that's right, they opened up with "Take On Me" from A-ha! :D Oh, did I mention it was an `80s Party? ;)

I had a real fun night there and it was interesting to see how brazilian girls dress up for a night out... The craziest dress I saw was what looked like a big golden "potato bag" but it fit with the girl that was constantly repeating her own little dance routine somewhere between "The Robot" and "Ententanz" (also known as the Hooters Chicken Song or something). But in general, the skirts are shorter, the high heels are higher (not below 10cm) and the lips are redder ;)
But apparently there is 5 girls on every man in Goiânia, so the competition is big... maybe that's it :D
But even though there were tons of willing ladies out on the dancefloor this one old and ugly guy in a glitter shirt kept hitting on my friend Sthela. Brazilians don't like to accept a "no, thanks" so he was coming back all the time to talk to us and trying to get Sthela to dance with him. His opening line (he tried it more than once with the same line) was always said to me: "Oh, you could you please introduce me to your pretty firend?" After the fourth time I still did not know his name but was so annoyed that I said "Okay, Sthela this is the weird guy in a women shirt; weird guy in a women shirt this is Sthela" Fortunately he did not speak any english, so Sthela and I had a good laugh and he was happy cause he figured I had said something nice about him :D

Now its a nice sunny saturday morning and Sthela, Nathalia and me are going to look for nice furniture... hopefully we find a nice and, most important of all, comfortable bed for me and a nice sofa and puff (yes, dear Germans, a puff... its a Sitzsack and said "poufie"... it has nothing to do with whorehouses) for Sthela.

Donnerstag, 25. Juni 2009

Sao Joao - Gym Party on the Roof Top!

As everyday I went to the hotel's gym yesterday night and did my usual work out. When I arrived though, the girl at the entrance was wearing ponytails left and right behind her ear and had her cheeks colored bright red and with painted freckles... Upstairs in the gym, the room was decorated and outside on the terrace seats and tables were prepared. However, noone was there yet.

So I started my workout and did not wonder anymore about it. When I finished an hour later and wanted to leave, one of the trainers told me to come back up later for the party. I am "just" a hotelguest, who is thus allowed to use part of the gym for free without really being a memeber, but Daniela said "You are a hotelguest, right? Well, you are here all the time, so you should come up anyways to get to know some more of the 'students'"
I thought that was very nice, especially since they new that, living in a hotel for nearly two weeks and not knowing the traditional brazilian food eaten on Sao Joao's day, they knew I couldnt really add anything to the potluck dinner.
So of course I went upstairs later and met some really nice people. I was introduced to everyone as "This is Anna, she comes from Germany and will live in Goiania" and everyone was really interested in what I do here, and how I got here, and, and, and... :)

My hour on the treadmill was quickly cancelled out by all the food I just had to try (Anna, do you know this? No? Oh, you have to try it, its really good! ... Oh, look, something new, its traditional, you should try it! ... No, but seriously, I made those and all my friends say I make the best! You really need to take some! ...)
But I must admit, it was all very tasty. Food here is heavy, but very tasty.

Later on, two guys that work out in this gym brought a guitar and sang live Sertaneja Music, which is the traditional music here... country music, that is. Most of the party guests were dressed up for this day, with plaid dresses, strawheats or plaid shirts and cowboy hats, and knew how to sing a long.
I did not really get into the music, it is not bad, but really, a little whiney... (For the Germans among you readers: The singing is a bit like Xavier Naidoo in portugese, although the music is a little happier)

Most of the evening I spent talking to Cynthia (who introduced me to many people and showed me around), Junio (the personal trainer of the gym who also prefers rock music over sertaneja and who would tell everyone that I seriously jumped into the non-heated pool at night) and Diego, Pedro and another guy whose name I unfortunately forgot (who are the youngest members of the gym with 20 to 23 years). They were very interested in what I do and how I like it here, and of course they wanted to talk about soccer ("Bodouskee", "Swinestygar", and "Balakke" meaning Podolski, Schweinsteiger and Ballack). Fortunately I learned a lot about soccer through my friends, the worldcup and the eurocup so I was actually able to talk to them about some things.

All in all I had a lot of fun, but one last random story stays to be told:
While we were all partying outside on the roof's terrace there was one guy still exercising inside and he was the reason why Diego and Pedro did not get to work out, they were just too irritated... It was a skinny, longhaired, tall guy in a white muscle shirt and colorful '90s shorts. Shorts, meaning short. Really short.
Do you know the episode of FRIENDS where Phoebe has this super active and sporty boyfriend? No? Well, let me tell you: Phoebe's boyfriend in that episode and the guy yesterday have two things in common: The very short shorts, and the fact that they are not wearing any underwear... Like the friends, we could have needed a Gunther too yesterday night, to tell the guy that he is showing way too much skin.

Mittwoch, 24. Juni 2009

Pictures of Hotelroom View

Here you can find some pictures of the city center... some "Plattenbau" high buildings and, compared to other LA Cities, quite some trees!
And of course, a picture of my first ever soccer jersey :)


And for the really curious ones a little video with pictures of the city! I did not make it myself, I just happened to found in on youtube :)

Montag, 22. Juni 2009

Winter Weekend

It is winter, here in Goiania. At least that is what the lady in the elevator told me today, dressed up in a long sleeve blouse and a jacket. I look up at the infoscreen and it shows me 21°C and it is not even noon yet...
However, this clearly explains why I was the only person at and in the pool the whole saturday. The otherones must have stayed inside, wrapped up in a big pullover drinking hot chocolate.

But seriously, this winter season here is weird. I was shopping in the big shoppingcenter on sunday, and C&A is selling big boots and warm wollen pullovers. What I needed was new short jeans as my airshipment arrived but is still held in storage until I am able to move into my new home (I am with appartment nr. 4 now and it is still not 100% sure if it works out).

In the end I found great new short jeans, and an adapter for my PC which thus finally works again, and a couple of new CDs which are just amazingly cheap here. My new favourite to listen to while working is the Soundtrack of "Into The Wild" (a movie which you all should watch, by the way, if you haven't done so already).

Last but not least, I bought my first ever soccer jersey! It is a Germany jersey and it says my name and the nr. 5 (-> birthday) on the back! I need it for a party I am invited to next sunday.
Amazingly, what a World Cup and a Euro Cup (both of which I enjoyed and really followed) could not do, Brazil does in less than 2 weeks! :)

Here a little proof on how much "winter" it is:

Freitag, 19. Juni 2009

Fingers Crossed

So apparently all of you crossed your fingers very well!
After a couple of really disappointing appartments, we by chance found a really nice one. Brand new and ready in 10 (brazilian) days... The owner of the place accepted the offer that I put down regarding what has to be done in the appartment and what rent I can pay.
But do not stop crossing your fingers yet, cause the paperwork still has to work out and I do not believe a thing, until I can sign it...

At work I learned a lot about numbers today. I love numbers, don't get me wrong, but this was really really a lot. And a lot of background to understand the numbers...
I was rewarded though with a great lunch. Ornellas, who explained me all those numbers, took me to his home for lunch as his wife had invited me to come over.
This was not just very sweet, it was also very yummy!
Especially the meet, which was cooked with the bones, onion and garlic, some vinegar, spices and wine in a big pressure cooker and it was super soft.
Unfortunately I could not eat as much as maybe brazilians do, because the weather is very warm and the food is very heavy... ...and I did not want to fall asleep in front of my PC three in the afternoon ;) I hope they did not think I did not like it, because I just ate one plate...

It is the weekend now, and I am happy to be able to enjoy the sun for two days, cause it gets dark here relatively early (pretty much exactly when I leave work ;). I brought some sunscreen 50, which I will definitely need and cannot wait to use.
The hotel pool and gym is on the top floor so it also has a very cool view which I so far only saw at night... I will take some pictures and post them, as soon as I have a working pc in the hotel...

Donnerstag, 18. Juni 2009

Paperwork

Hallo Ben! Schön dass Du auch da bist! ;)

I had thought I would never get to that point, but: all necessary paperwork is done. Now, thats not completely true as my drivers liscence and a home are kinda necessary too, but I can receive a salary now, I am fully legally here, fully employed and on payroll.

I will look at three more apartments this afternoon, and as me crossing my fingers seems to not have been enough effort for my house hunt so far, I ask you all to cross your fingers too!
I still do not have an adapter for my PC, so I will let you know tomorrow if your efforts in fingers crossing and Daumendrücken have helped.

Mittwoch, 17. Juni 2009

First Days in Goiania

On sunday night I left Sao Paulo to go to Goiania. I flew from Congonhas Airport, which is the crazy airport I wrote about some days ago. It is really crazy. The way to the runway looks like your in a car or bus, driving down Calle Serrano / Hohenzollernring / Grande Cote...

The first night was awful because I litterally got the worst room in the hotel. It was so loud, you cannot imagine.
However, I was supposed to start monday morning with house hunting, so that was something to look forward too while trying to fall asleep everytime a big truck passed by and woke me.

House hunting started off really terrible. The first place didnt get the keys, the second place didnt feel right, the ones we found by chance didnt feel good either. In the end, we passed another company and just went in to ask if they had something, and they did.
I looked at two possible new homes which both were really nice, though the first one just felt "right"...
Now, guess what? It AGAIN did not work out. I really really could bang my head against a wall right now. Again I had two days to be happy about it and feel good, and again I learn later that unfortunately its not possible. This time, because the landlord apparently changed his mind and wants to sell it now instead of renting it. And, as if that wasnt enough, the other pretty place (which I thought would be a good alternative just in case) will not work out either, cause its around 360 Reais above my budget(about 125 Euros) and he will not move a little bit at all. And well, I am not willing to pay above budget for the back-up choice, therefore the house wasnt perfect enough... so, househunting can start all over again.

But there are good news as well.
The people here in the office are really nice and all very helpful. So far, I am not of much use to them, because I still dont have access to all the systems (but at least I have a pc and a phone and a seat)!
Yesterday I spent nearly all day doing paperwork for my workbook (which I think is a bit like the Lohnsteuerkarte in Germany) and for my bank account.

Hopefully tonight, I get to buy an adaptor for my PC at home. The batteries are empty and there is no place in the hotel room where the plug fits... I went to one shopping mall yesterday, but unfortunately they didnt have one...

Lets wait and see.

Montag, 15. Juni 2009

The Crazy Roadtrip

As we couldnt spend the whole nice weekend in Sao Paulo while nobody is in the city, we decided to follow the traffic jam and head to Campos do Jordao.
Luckily, Sandra got a car and a navigational system, so we thought it would not be a big deal to drive where everyone else is going too.

What we did not know is, that our GPS had no freakin idea about reading maps and finding way that are "usuable". Thats how we were lead from the highway through a little city and against a oneway street. Now, we wondered, but did not think that just because of one oneway street the GPS would be totally wrong. Afterall, there were NO SIGNS for a one way street and if it wasnt for a coconut dealer that waved at us like a berzerk, probably nobody would have noticed us. Not even ourselves.
So we turned the car around and followed "Uschi's" (thats what we called our GPS as it is the stereotype name for a dumb german girl) advice. We headed towards the road "SP 50" of which we thought it was a highway. Well, let me get straight to the point: It is not a highway. Barely even a real street. But we were supposed to drive on it for "more than 40 kilometers".
I can tell you, it was an adventure. It was a tiny street full of holes and red earth, partly the street fell down the cliff, the curves were extreme and when Sandra and I did not stay silent because we were concentrating so hard on the street, all we would ever say was "oh my god", "do they always go this way? there must be another way?!" or "they should use that as Formula 1/Rallye/DTM racing track". Sandra was driving, I was the co-pilot... "careful, sharp right".
But: We were really really happy about the view we had from there. We went very high up and due to the way the street went we really had the view of a lifetime.

Here is a little video (dont listen, we talk weird):
[oooops, this follows tomorrow. not enough battery]

In the end, the trip took us 3.5 hours instead of two and when we finally arrived in Campos do Jordao. You must imagine it like this: We came from the left, down a hill and lined into a huge traffic jam with cars from Sao Paulo. So there was another way! And it was apparently very full (while our way was empty...) Probably we would have stood an hour in the traffic jam if we had found the right way right away, so whatever.
The town is really cute. Its a bit like the St.Moritz / Aspen of Brazil where people just go to show of their expensive cars and clothing. Against all stories it was not cold at all, though it is higher than 1000m. Noone cared though, they all were wearing fur, and hats, and gloves, and boots. Only Sandra and me were in T-Shirts :)

On the way back we decided to lock "Uschi" away in the glove compartment and to just follow the Sao Paulo signs, in order to find the other way. Following signs really wasnt easy as mostly there weren't any, but we made it.
It was faster and a lot more comfortable to go this way with police lined up everywhere and many people on a three lane road. But: It was kind of boring compared to the start.

What a crazy adventure this was. And one thing is for sure: Der Weg ist das Ziel!

And now some pictures:

Freitag, 12. Juni 2009

Sandra's Housewarming

Sandras Air Shipment arrived faster than thought in her appartment (and she packed a whole lot more than me... I should have packed more... ;). As it is also partly furnished she has a bed, a kitchen and table and chairs, but best of all: She has a Churrasco on her terrace!
As she had packed pots and pans and plates in her air fright, we decided it would be a great idea to spend the evening at her appartment to have a little housewarming party. Unfortunately everyone we know here is away for the weekend or had to work today, so we decided to cook some spaghetti and open a red wine and relax.
As we were shopping we looked at the meat and I asked her if she by any chance had a churrasco, more jokingly, but she said yes, so we decided to put a big piece of meat onto it, just like I was taught by Gerwin (my former boss who had spent years in Argentina practicing how to grill meat).

Her appartment is really great. It is over two stories and very open with a big terrace. On the terrace there is even a jacuzzi which unfortunately is not cleaned yet. From the terrace on can see a faked Eiffel Tower all across the city and tons of big houses of course.

As it is still very rainy we decided to not go to the beach this weekend, but rather go out in Sao Paulo tonight and then make a day trip to the mountains on Saturday. More about this later.

Donnerstag, 11. Juni 2009

Hortitec 2009

As I was pretty much done with all organizational things in the office, I did not go to Bayer on Wednesday but joined Franziska (whom I know from Bayer CropScience in Germany and who is here since 2007) to go to Hortitec, an agricultural fare, in Holambra.

We left at 6:15h in the morning to avoid the heavy Sao Paulo traffic and got to Holambra around 08:30h. Holambra is supposed to be a little Holland Colony with windmills, hollad style houses and, get this: they have "drempels" and the funny signs for them too but they forgot the one and only famous holland holiday sentence "let op drempels!" :D Okay, I know you wont understand this if you are neither called Elli nor Toni or Lucky but whatever ;)

The fare was a little outside the town so we started to take a look at the fare. Bayer had a very nice stand there and one could look at many many nice flowers and vegetables from seed breeders and at big agricultural machinery too.
It was actually very interesting and I learned a lot, especially about the cotton and tomato markets.

After the fare we checked out the little town, but really, the whole Holland thing is a bit of a marketing joke. They basically built normal flat bungalows and placed a holland look alike front before them. It looks like they forgot the movie set there when filming was over :D
Still, it was really fun! And of course, they have wonderful flower shops.

On the way back it started to rain very very heavily and we stood a little in the traffic jam, but it was still okay. At least comparing it to Sandras first driving experience that same day: It took her over 2 hours to go from Bayer to the hotel, in the rain and when everyone leaves for the long holiday weekend...

Here you can find some pictures:

Dienstag, 9. Juni 2009

Lazy Sunday in the Park

My sunday was really easy going.
I woke up not too early and the sun was shining so I decided to go for a nice walk around the area after breakfast. I found a sunday vegetable and fruit market in the roads not far from hear and strolled a little through the stands, of course not forgetting to take care of my wallet... It seemed really calm though and the market was really nice.

When I came back to the hotel my room was just being arranged, so I grabbed my Lonely Planet and sat down in the café next to the hotel entrance to wait for Sandra.
Sandra is also from Bayer CropScience and Germany and arrived in Sao Paulo only two days before me, so we are having the same troubles and issues with bureaucracy and the same experience of being completely new in the city.

We decided to go to the Parque Ibirapuera, which is not far from the hotel and can be compared to the Central Park in New York. It is the biggest park in Sao Paulo City and about 120.000 people (apparently) visit it every sunday. We were two of those today :)
The park is really nice and full with families on one end, and full of kissing and flirting teenagers looking like Emilie the Strange an other Emo Figures on the other end. In between one can find a couple of Oskar Niemeyer buildings and museums. We looked at the Ibirapuera Auditorium (which is also known as the "tongue") and we went to the Sao Paulo Museum of Modern Art of which the temporary exhibition is always free on Sundays. Most of the time though, we spent chatting and sitting in the sun.

Later on we decided to go have a nice drink and go to a Sushi Rodzio (aka "All You Can Eat"). So we drank a Sake with fresh Lytchee (or however you spell that) and had what felt like a ton of great Sushi and Sashimi.
And as I learned from Kaoru how to behave like a good Japanese, we took pictures of the Sushi ;) No seriously, I only took those pictures for Kaoru answering to her picture series of the Bento del Dia in Tokyo.

Here are the pictures from the park and the Sushi:

Feijoada and Caipirinhas

On Saturday I went to have a typical brazilian lunch: feijoada. It is a stew made of black beans and with meat. All kinds of meat, but in the restaurant you could chose whether you want tongue or ear or just sausage in it :D
With it I had Caipirinha, but not like we know it at home. I had it with Maracuja and it was soooooo yummy! And then I had one with red berries which was also soooooo yummy. Basically one can have Caipirinha with whatever fruit one likes and I love it =)

Later on we went to Matthias place, a friend of Susi. From his balcony I had a crazy view over all the high buildings of Sao Paulo, it looked insane! Especially when a plane flew by to land in Sao Paulo Congonhas, which is in the middle of the city (and the lights to lead the planes' way are built on top of the buildings!).

Here you can find a video of it:

Samstag, 6. Juni 2009

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...

Freitag, 5. Juni 2009

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 ;)

Donnerstag, 4. Juni 2009

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...