On Sunday I spent my first day out of São Paulo since I arrived. My friend Gabi kindly invited me for the day to play tennis at her country house in Itu. We took a quick pit stop in Starbucks and then headed onto the Marginal Tietê, the highway that goes through central São Paulo and out towards Campinas. After around an hour drive, we arrived at the paradise that was Itu. It was basically a Brazilian version of the OC neighbourhood, the houses were all immaculate and the streets were even named after fairytales, Gaby's house was on "Ugly Duckling street"! We had quick tour of the house then headed for the tennis courts. I was really happy to find that most of them were clay; much slower surface so you don't need to run as much, important in 30 degree heat!
Scorching
Gabi's dad coached us for hours, I really needed it, I was so rusty, but he helped me so much and by the end I felt like everything was returning to normal.
When we finished Gaby's dad bought us a drink called Itubaínathat is produced in Itu but has become famous throughout Brazil, it definitely gave us the energy boost we needed! We then drove to the restaurant for lunch,after so much exercise we were starving! I chose a well-deserved americano sandwich with chips, it was AMAZING, i'll definitely be ordering it again next time!
Itubaína
After lunch we went to visit Gabi's aunt. Her house was beautiful, literally like something out of a movie. Gabi told us that the footballer Ronaldo had just moved in to the house nextdoor! We sat on the patio and enjoyed the sunshine whilst eating strawberries with calda de leite condensado, yum!
Relaxing on the patio, exhausted...
Gabi's aunt's beautfiul dog, Bella
Paradise...
We then drove back to the tennis courts for an evening session where Gabi's dogs Jimmy and Chloe also joined us! Gabi's dad gave us more training, I was so grateful for the time he spent with us, he was such a great coach. Tennis is just one of the many sports he plays at the same time as being a very important state lawyer! His trophy collection was impressive!
The trophy collection
Jimmy the yorkie!
Sunset on the courts...
After playing through the sunset until it was pitch back, we went back to Gabby's for showers and drove home to São Paulo, of course making a compulsory stop at a service station for food, why are Brazil's SO much better than ours?!
We returned back to the traffic of São Paulo, which other city has traffic at 10pm on a Sunday evening?! I arrived home exhausted but very happy after what was definitely my favourite weekend so far.
Traffic on a sunday night??!
This week I have been seriously busy, I started a new teaching job in the evenings which I am really enjoying and yesterday we had a staff "away day" which was really fun and ended, as most things do in Brazil, with a BBQ and Caipirinhas! Lots to look forward to this weekend, drinks after work at the Consulate's English pub, a birthday party and possibly a day at the beach on Sunday... Atémais!!!
After a late night on Friday we arrived at the Municipal Market feeling a bit worse for wear, the smell of strong fish was certainly not welcome as we arrived!! From the most amazing variety of fruit to a huge selection of cachaçhas, the market had everything you could think of. On the top floor there were the restaurants and lanchonetes selling typical pasteis and sanduíches de mortadela. Think Borough Market in London or Mercado San Miguel in Madrid but about ten times the size!
After being handed countless samples of tropical fruit, we decided to go somewhere slightly less bustling for some lunch and a rest!
We found a small café about 5 minutes walk from the market,it was clear it was somewhere tourists did not often frequent! We were intensely stared at for 5 minutes but once they realised we spoke Portuguese we weren't quite so interesting!
I decided I needed a serious sugar boost so ordered açaí with granola and strawberries, yum! the café owner was super friendly and let me have a go at making caldo de cana-de-açúcar (pure sugar cane drink). He gave me a glass of it to try and, as is obvious from the name, it was SO sweet, I don't understand how people can drink it on its own!
Açaí with granola and strawberries!
This...Became...
This! (Pure sugar cane)
Feeling rather smug with ourselves,(my açaí was 4 reais, around £1.20), and rejuvenated we headed for Rua 25 de Março. The street where everyone goes to find a bargain. It goes on forever, and you can literally find anything. Before I left, Luiza had oddly asked me to buy stick on moustaches, I thought they would be hard to find, but there were hundreds of fancy dress shops and I found them in the first one. There was also a part of the street dedicated to fakes, so if anyone wants a Louis Vuitton bag or a Prada purse or anything else let me know!!
It went on like this for hours!
After what felt like half an hour I realised it was already 5 o'clock and rushed home as I had promised Luiza I would help prepare for her party.
Beijinhos (little kisses!), a party food favourite!
I had a great time. Brigadeiros, coxinhas, good company and lots of caipirinhas, the ingredients for a perfect Brazilian party! Before I knew it it was 3 in the morning, 4 hours before I had to be up to leave for Itu. More to come about my day in Itu soon...
I can't really believe that it was a month today that I arrived in São Paulo, time has gone SO fast. I can honestly say that it has been the most amazing month. I was very prepared when I left that it was going to be tough and that it would take time to adapt. I am all too aware that very big cities can be lonely places and I thought I would feel a definite sense of culture shock. However, I haven't once had a moment when I've wanted to be at home and haven't really missed anything to be honest (well except Cadbury's maybe!). This has got to be down to the people I've met that have made it so easy to settle in; from my lovely Brazilian flatmates, the office that already feels like family, to the guy that hands me a free paper on my walk to work, I have been stunned with the kindness I have experienced. To be honest it still hasn't really sunk in that this counts as part of my degree, it still feels like I'm on holiday, especially when this is the view I wake up and go to sleep to every morning and night!
Thank you so much to everyone I have met so far for making my first month so much fun and bring on the next four!! Here are a few things about Brazil that have surprised me during my first month, nothing very deep I'm afraid! 1. Brazilians are very concerned with dental hygiene! It is totally normal to bring your toothbrush and toothpaste to work. After we come back from lunch we all go to the bathroom to brush our teeth together. I think it's a very sociable habit and something that the UK should adopt!
2. The bureaucracy is AWFUL. Even worst than I imagined. However, like everything else, you get used to it and after a while queuing for 15 minutes to pay in the supermarket or having to commit identity fraud in order to sign up for the gym just becomes normal!
3. Brazilians must be the most hospitable people in the world. Never have I been made to feel so welcome by complete strangers. I keep thinking why is she doing this? What's in it for her? But this is just me being a cynical Brit. and I am gradually getting used to people being so generous! 4. Most apartments don't have hot water(apart from the electric shower). This was a bit of a shock, I kind of assumed that there would be. We have it seriously easy in the UK, things like dishwashers pretty much don't exist here. Washing dishes with cold water takes a lot more effort and my clothes are definitely beginning to feel grubbier each week! I have got used to it now and know that I will appreciate washing my face with warm water to look forward to when I return home!
5. At my gym you get a personal trainer!!! Sorry really not interesting, but I have always wanted one for some reason!! And my gym is not expensive. Whether this means I will come home weighing less, especially on the Brazilian diet is another matter, but it's definitely encouraging me to go more! I have a very busy weekend ahead of me so better go and get ready! Out tonight, training for my new teaching job tomorrow morning, flatmates birthday party tomorrow night and then a day in the countryside playing tennis on Sunday!
I had a relatively quiet weekend and finally managed to catch up on a lot of lost sleep.
On Saturday after a bit of shopping at the new JK Iguatemi Mall we headed to a bar in Vila Madalena called Pé de Manga. It was a cool place with lots of tables positioned around a man-made river and despite it being a bit chilly, it had great atmosphere.
Pé de manga (not my photo)
Also not my photo
Pé de manga drink
The menu was rock star themed! I chose a Ringo Starr which was basically a glorified steak sandwich and to drink had the house Pé de Manga; frozen mango with vodka. It is somewhere I will be definitely going back to, especially as it's at the end of my road! On Sunday, after the best night sleep I'd had for a while I headed to the gym. It's a bit of a trek from home but I decided to join as it's the one everyone at work uses so normally we all go together during the week. However on the way I managed to stumble across the Vila Madalena street fair and never made it! It was basically a huge street market with hundreds of stalls selling handmade stuff and food! Kind of annoyed I only brought my credit card as there were so many things I wanted to try!
The kind of thing you bump into on the way to the gym in Vila Madalena! Gente estranha!
In the afternoon I went to Steph's house (my sister's friend from uni)where we ate feijoada, it was seriously yummy and was so nice of her inviting me especially as it was her mum's birthday party! I headed home stuffed and allowed myself to watch a romcom in English, by Sunday evening my brain is always exhausted from speaking Portuguese! Today I had my first work trip with a client. When I heard it was to the international airport I wasn't too fussed but it was actually pretty awesome. We got to go in the control tower which was an amazing experience and met some super important people, oh and we got to travel in the diplomatic range rover! It was a pretty fun day, I'm looking forward to the next one!
Tonight my flatmate Luiza arrived back from visiting her family in Rio. She must like me! I came back to a new mattress, curtains, lamp and beside table. Opening the boxes felt like Christmas! My feet no longer go over the end of the mattress! Life is good... Até!!
It has been a seriously busy couple of weeks, up until tonight I hadn't had an evening of doing nothing so it makes a welcome change... Last weekend was another busy one. On Saturday I went with a couple of friends from work to explore the Jardins area. I guess the nearest equivalent in London would probably be Knightsbridge. The bairro is home to the most expensive street in Latin America, Rua Oscar Freire. We wandered up and down admiring the beautiful shops, any possibility of buying anything obviously non-existent on an intern's salary!
We then went to a nearby salon and two of my friends got manicures, it was a seriously smart place and even though I passed on the manicure I enjoyed the cappuccino I was given on entering!
Afterwards we headed down Oscar Freire again to find somewhere to eat. We chose Frutaria, a restaurant specialising in the most amazing fruit juices, stating the obvious! Shame I chose a panini with fries!! I'm getting spoilt, the fruit juices are just so amazing and cheap here that they didn't seem that tempting especially as they were triple the price of my local lanchonete. That being said my panini was delicious and made a welcome change from the daily rice and feijão. We then treated ourselves to an ice cream from the most amazing sorveteria, somewhere I will definitely be heading back to!
The fruit ready to be juiced...
Cioccolato Guanaja and Maracujá
Later in the evening I cycled back home from my friend's house on my flatmate's folding bike, let's hope my mum's not reading this!!! It was a pretty terrifying experience, especially as one of the lights was broken, probably very stupid in hindsight but I made it! São Paulo is definitely not a cyclist friendly city! After arriving home at around 9, exhausted, I was asked by my flatmate if I wanted to go to a friend's for a few drinks, it was the last thing I felt like doing but I vowed to myself when I arrived to say yes to everything (within reason) so I enthusiastically accepted and we headed out again. We got back home at around 5 AM after a "few drinks"! I don't know how I physically managed to keep my eyes open! Sunday was Dia dos Pais (Father's Day. In our family at least, it doesn't rank very highly in importance, however in Brazil it is a big deal. We headed to my flatmate's cousin's house where the entire family had already gathered, probably around 30 people in total. After a bit sun bathing on the roof terrace, we all sat down for lunch and began to eat....and eat...and eat a bit more. We didn't stop eating until about 3 hours later! We ate everything from moqueca(sea bass stew) to prawn curry to slow cooked lamb all accompanied by copious amounts of farofa, rice and manioc chips!!
Moqueca Farofa
Manioc; This.... becomes this
Then there were the puddings, around 8 of them in total I reckon! Pudins are not to everyone's taste but luckily I love them as I think I will be seeing a lot more of them. They are normally crème caramel-like in texture and flavoured with lots of different things.
From left to right... mil folhas, pudim de chocolate, pão de mel, pudim de maracujá!
There was also Pão de Mel, Mil Folhas and lots of different types of home made cookies. And I was expected to try most of it. By the end of the meal I practically couldn't move I had eaten so much!!!! Luckily I only had to make it downstairs where we began a game of Rummikub, it always surprises me which games are popular abroad! We ended up playing for around 3 hours, a new member of the family rotating in each time, it was exhausting!! We then said our goodbyes, were given more food in doggy bags and headed home. It was a father's day I will definitely never forget, our celebrations in the UK seem pretty rubbish in comparison! So now I'm in the middle of a normal working week... I managed to make my first big error a few minutes ago...I arranged a teleconference with a UK company but told them the Brazilian time so they were waiting 4 hours to speak to us! Not in my boss' good books at the moment... Better go and clear up the mess!
I thought the first weekend in the apartment might have been a bit lonely but it was the total opposite, people came over on Friday night and all day Saturday, the girls I'm living with are serious partiers (is that a word?!), they put me to shame, especially considering I'm 10 years younger!
By Sunday I was ready for a bit of a rest so after a good lie in I was happy to hear that one of my flatmates was planning to go to a Bolivian cultural celebration (well that's all I understood at first, my brain is telling me that I have listened to enough Portuguese now and I am struggling to understand a lot!) and asked if I would like to join. Of course I said yes... We arrived in the car park to see it full of very drunk Bolivians in traditional costume staggering around, a funny sight!! We arrived at the Latin American Memorial, a cultural exhibition centre where all kinds of events celebrating Latin America take place.
The costumes were amazing
There we met up with Paula's Bolivian friend Chris, it was great to be able to go with a Bolivian as he explained what the event was all about; celebrating Bolivia's independence day from Spain. I stood out completely as obviously I don't look Bolivian but also as I was about a foot taller than everyone else, including the men!
Traditional cholas wearing their bowler hats
You may be wondering why there was a Bolivian celebration in São Paulo, I thought the same thing, Paula explained that the Bolivians are the largest recent immigrant group to move to the city, figures estimate that there are over 500,000, most of them doing the worst paid jobs, largely in the textile industry.
Absolutely everyone took part
It was an amazing experience, like nothing I had ever been to before, I felt super lucky to be there as there were no tourists and we only got to go because of Paula's Bolivian friend. It felt such a privilege to be able to experience what was obviously a very important day for the Bolivian population and the atmosphere was amazing.
The cutest baby I have ever seen!
When I got home in the evening I achieved the impossible and managed to make brownies without a tin, scales, caster sugar (their sugar is like icing sugar), and difficult gas oven! They only came out a little bit dry, but they'll be better next time! I brought them to the office this morning where they were demolished in seconds! It's so nice having lots of unfussy people to bake for!!
So it's 11AM on a Sunday morning and there is no sign of anyone getting up so it's seems the perfect time to write another quick post! Following on from where I left off, I started my new job on Monday morning. I was super happy to find out my office is close enough to walk. This is a big deal in São Paulo, the traffic is widely considered the worst in the world with jams reaching 150km regularly during the rush hour and the public transport also leaves much to be desired; the protests that started in June were originally triggered by the government putting the price of a bus ticket up (which they have now reversed.) My walk to work is great, it's in a safe area, I walk past the traffic jams feeling very smug and most importantly I have discovered both a bakery and a fro-yo bar on the way! The office is situated in an amazing building called the Brazilian British centre. It houses the Foreign Office, the BBC, the British Council, the British Cultural centre, a British library and most importantly it has a pub! I can't say too much about my work but I am working at the British consulate as an intern in UK Trade and Investment. I am focussed on outward investment, so British companies that want to invest in Brazil. So far I have not done much more than receive security briefings and IT training. It seems very interesting though and I will also get to go on client visits which should be cool. The office has such a family atmosphere. There is always cake, I have volunteered to make one for Monday, which could be interesting considering I don't have a tin, think I will try brownies in a casserole dish! All the interns go out for lunch together each day, there are a couple of English ones, all from Oxbridge, but most of them are Brazilian students at USP or PUC studying International Relations, it is common for Brazilian students to work at the same time as studying, which makes our lives as students in the UK seem very easy. It's great for me as we always speak in Portuguese and I've already been to invited university parties! My boss is so sweet, she must love her job as she drives 2.5 hours morning and night to and from work. There are 4 generations living in her house, her grandmother, mother, her and her daughter! She has already invited me to come and stay for a weekend! One of the best things about working in the Foreign Office so far, is that you're in a truly international environment, everyone has such interesting stories to tell and you get to hear news really early through network "Diptels", great if you're a news geek like me! I think I am going to enjoy it a lot and feel incredibly lucky to be working with such talented people.
So I have been in São Paulo for a week, although it feels a lot longer, and I can safely say that I am going to have an awesome five months. Last weekend I stayed at Maria Eugenia's house, who made my first weekend in Brazil so memorable. I experienced my first Brazilian birthday party which was honestly one of the best I've ever been to, even though I knew no one. There was just an amazing atmosphere of everyone having a great time. Maria's boyfriend's band played lots Brazilian and English pop songs but all in Samba style, think Daft Punk's Get Lucky in Samba style, pretty cool! Brazilians are all such amazing dancers (OK maybe generalising a bit), they have such natural rhythm, I had prepared myself for this though, and although I blatantly stood out as the English girl it really didn't matter too much, especially after some help of a few caipirinhas!
Maria Eugenia and Eugenia!(apologies for the shocking photography)
SO much food!
Disney princess theme, who cares that the girls were turning 25!
The birthday cake surrounded by empty Brigadeiro wrappers
After a lie-in and somepão de queijo (cheese bread, a Brazilian staple) we set off for a walk in Ibirapuera park. It is the biggest urban park in Latin America and on a Sunday it seemed like the whole of São Paulo was there. We stopped a long the way to watch a new trend in Brazi;tight rope acrobatics! People come to the park construct their tightrope between the trees, put on some good music and show off to everyone, it looked seriously difficult!
Ibirapuera with São Paulo in the background (obviously not my photography!)
Tightrope acrobatics!
Great place for a rest...
The huge playground, a child's dream...
It was an amazing place to spend a lazy day people watching, I will definitely be going back soon...
After a farewell lunch it was time to say goodbye to Maria's family and move into my new apartment!
I am living with Paula, a Paulista(from SP)and Luiza a Carioca(From Rio)in the Vila Madalena neighbourhood of São Paulo. My room is the size of a shoe box, there is no hot water apart from the electric shower, my plug gives off sparks and I don't have anywhere to hang my clothes but I don't care! The apartment has the most amazing view, I am in the best area, I can walk to work and the girls I am living with are lovely.
A lot more "view pictures" to come to make you all jealous!
It's like this the whole way round, I wish my camera was more sophisticated!
My shoe-box room!
I am also definitely getting the true Brazilian experience, I have been offered Cachaça most nights, have spoken more Portuguese in a week than I have during the last 2 years of my degree and there are always people over! All in all, I am having a great time. Last night around 10 people came over for a Friday night celebration and didn't leave until 3:30! After a supper of Yaki Soba followed by chocolate brownie in mugs and more Brigadeiro we had an impromptu 3 hour sing-along, one of the Paula's friends was incredible on the guitar and could literally play anything! Not something I would usually necessarily enjoy but I am embracing it, São Paulo is having strange effects on me!!
Anyway, I better go now as we are taking a trip to the furniture shop as I am being bought a new mattress which I am very much looking forward to!
More to follow about the new job and observations of São Paulo in general...
