Virada Cultural

Time is going so so quickly here, this weekend I will already be half way through working at ACER. I absolutely love the work I am doing, so interesting and I am learning so much. This week I have been mainly working on presentations to give to companies that we hope to get funding from and also another fundraising proposal.

The volunteer house has been busier than usual as we are hosting three football coaches, who are running a course on using football for social impact. I took part in their training session on Monday which was good fun, In the evening there has been lots of cake baking - I made brownies from the office which disappeared in record time!

As usual I rushed into São Paulo after work on Friday and this time met Fellipe and his friend Pepe. We then drove back to his home on the outskirts of the city and had a delicious supper, before heading to 2 of my favourite clubs. As is to be expected when Fellipe is involved, we had a great night! The next morning I got up early and Fellipe's mother gave me a lift to the centre on the way to her Hungarian class! I was determined to do pack as much culture and general São Paulo appreciation into my day, even if I was feeling a little worse for wear.

I started by a much needed Starbucks before heading into Jardins for a bit of window shopping. I spent the day revisiting all my favourite places and just managed to make myself feel very nostalgic. From brilliant art exhibitions, to vintage shopping on Rua Augusta, to açai at my favourite ice cream shop, I was reminded of just how much São Paulo has offer.

However the main event to report back is the Virada Cultural that took place all over São Paulo last weekend. The Virada Cultural is 24 hrs of nonstop live music, hosted annually by the city government. Choosing which shows to go to was hard enough as there were 1500 in total - We spent Saturday night at the Monobloco show and then on Sunday went to Emicida and the closing show given by Caetano Veloso. They were all brilliant and the fact the shows were free meant there was such a mixed audience which was so great to see and is certainly not normally the case at paid concerts in São Paulo. I headed back to Eldorado exhausted but happy that I had another productive weekend!

After another busy working week, I am finishing off some last minute tasks, and then will pack a bag and head into SP once again. Tonight I am taking part in a friend's Masterchef competition so need to decide what to cook!

Seeing the benefits

As I said before I have found it more difficult than I thought it would be settling in here. My lifestyle in Brazil was some kind of dream and I definitely had to come down to earth with a bump. 

However little by little I am seeing more and more positives to living here in Madrid. These are just a few of them...

1. Transport. Public transport that actually works. I have quite a long commute to work each morning. In Brazil this would have been exceedingly unpleasant, the buses were useless and the metro was often so packed that you had to elbow people to get off. The buses here are on time, never full and even have wifi. I can read my book or check the news quite happily with a coffee in hand and before I know it I have arrived at work. 

2. The food. Supermarket food especially is so much cheaper than it was in SP and generally much better quality. I am enjoying being adventurous with my cooking again, something I definitely missed in Brazil. 

3. The shopping. One thing I missed a lot in Brazil was high street shopping. Mainly due to security, shopping takes place within the confines of the shopping centre. I am not a fan of shopping centres, they rarely have any personality and always have the same shops. I love visiting the small shops in my neighbourhood in Madrid and then stopping for a coffee before strolling back home.

4. Visitors. Lastly and most importantly, people can come and visit me!! In Brazil people obviously couldn't just come for a weekend. Here in Madrid I have already had visitors, including my sister last weekend. Door to door from her house at Bristol Uni it was just 5 hours. It really is so nice to be able to show people my life here. In just over 2 weeks, my mum and youngest sister are coming too, It's fun being able to plan where we're going to eat and what I am going to show them...

Olivia arrives in Madrid!!

After dinner fro-yo followed by a walk in the park, not the best idea on my part, I didn't realise it shut at 10pm and we got locked in with a few other dog walkers and had to be rescued!

One of the best things about being here is that my two best friends from school and uni are here too!!!

Olivia and Rozzy; brunch time at the amazing Carmencita's

Obviously I am still missing Brazil tonnes and that's going to take a long time to fade, but I can't complain, life really is pretty good here!