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 :)

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!

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...

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 ;)

Warley's Birthday BBQ

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 ;)

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: