A day in Itu

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 Itubaína that 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...

Até mais!!!

New job

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. 

Sunset from my bedroom window...