language roller coaster

so far i would describe my experience in brasil and trying to learn portuguese as a roller coaster ride - filled with lots of thrills and spills and emotional ups and downs - the high of having my first meeting totally in portuguese (along with drawings and lots of body language ;) and chatting randomly with taxi drivers - through to the lows of blank stares (mine!) when colleagues speak to me at a million miles an hour or i try to make a sentence which draws similar blank stares from the brasilian listeners....

today was a classic example of this language roller coaster - the low would have to be that somehow, every time my manager hears me speaking, i am speaking in english! and she puts her hand to her ear and says "is that Portuguese or English?".... ;)

but the high would have to be going in the elevator to the cafetaria at work (which for the abn'ers in Amsterdam is like a proper restaurant here with waiters and tablecloths etc!) and chatting with my team mate in portuguese...we were pretty engrossed in the conversation so we didn't notice the CEO in the elevator with us...but when we left the elevator he congratulated me on learning portuguese :D

it felt love

"how
did the rose
ever open its heart

and give to this world
all its
beauty?

it felt the encouragement of light
against its
being

otherwise
we all remain

too

frightened"

HAFIZ

São Paulo Top 200...here i come

thanks to my friends, Denise and Karl, who have been living in São Paulo for a few years now, i have a list of 200 things to do in here, which was put together when the city was celebrating its 200th anniversary...

so no more wondering what i can do in this massive city....my colleague also told me about this cool website for SESC, which is a cultural organisation in Brasil, and you can find performances - music, theatre, dance etc - going on almost every night...

and after my visit today to the Federal Police my finger prints are all on record...so the authorities will know whether or not i end up doing everything on the list....stay posted for my updates on completing the "São Paulo Top 200"

kissing queues in sao paulo

today i spent the afternoon just wandering aimlessly along avenida paulista - the main avenue in sao paulo...normally every other day i make my way along this street until number 1374, which is where the office is...but today i was just wandering and observing....

the avenue was alive with the normal street sellers, selling everything from jewellery to music to yakisoba, but on sundays there are also more markets near the Trianon park and underneath the Modern Art museum there is an antique market...

two observations from today and also from the past 10 days in sao paulo...paulistas (people from sao paulo), young and old, love to queue and they love to make out in public

my brazilian friend, denise, told me that there is a job about paulistas that if they see one person standing still they will stand behind him and start a queue....and in just one week i have seen lines a plenty - whether it is for the elevator at work, or for food, or the metro, or i saw one today at the antique market that snaked around and around and around and i tried to follow it but couldn't work out what it was for! i guess it's not unexpected in a city of this size, but lines, mostly well ordered and well mannered, do seem to form everywhere....

another thing that you will see everywhere here is couples - young, old and middle aged - making out - at the metro station, on the metro, at the table next to you in the cafe or restaurant, standing in a line for something....brasilians love to beijar - KISS....as I'm walking around the city John Paul Young's hit, "Love is in the air", plays in my head constantly...

now as a single girl who recently moved to the city, these public displays of affection and this sound track is somewhat promising of what might be to come...however then i was searching the internet to find out more about the life in my new city and i found this unfortunate and demotivating posting by a very bitter expat...i think the final sentence says it all ;) let's hope i'm not making a similar post in two years time ;)

the case of the itchy undies

have you ever been itchy? maybe something - like a soap or detergent - irritates your skin and before you know it you are scratching like crazy and all your skin is going red? the itchiness just doesn't seem to stop and all you can think about is scratching the itch away...scratching the itch away...scratching the itch away...scratching the itch away...

imagine this sensation, not on your arm, not on your leg or your shoulder, or your face or even your neck....imagine this awful sensation as you are walking 30 minutes to work on the bottom of your torso - because somehow you are wearing ITCHY UNDIES!!!

you try discreetly to scratch or rub the offending area to ease the pain without arising suspicion or disgust...but alas you cannot get any relief, but just some strange looks and increasing itchiness!

finally you arrive at the office and nearly run to the bathroom to try and provide some decent relief...and you realise that the only way you can make it through the day is to "go commando" and leave the offending piece of clothing in your handbag!

physical and mental doors and keys

as to be expected, on my first day at work there wasn't a whole lot of work to do, but more settling in, getting to know the people and where everything is etc...and i had an opportunity to think about the impact that physical space has on your mindset/attitude/performance etc....

on the RH (HR [Human Resources] in Portuguese ;) floor there are hardly any doors...from what i saw only the head of hr has a door on her office - the rest of the managers have a semi-separate space to themselves, which they are all sharing with another manager....the divisions do not go all the way up to the ceiling and there is a very approachable and open feeling around the floor...in addition there are three clocks on the wall showing the time in amsterdam, sao paulo and chicago...which helps to give an international, inter-connected feeling...something that you would imagine to be in the international head-quarters right? :P

on floor -1 there is a doctor, cafe, hairdressing and beauty salon and stalls where different people sell their products, changing regularly...and there is also a bank branch on the bottom floor of this building...the whole design of the building gives a very human and open feeling...i wonder if it has anything to do with brasil's record employee engagement scores over the last few years...?

this whole concept of mental and physical doors was reinforced at a workshop that i visited for a short while this afternoon with my colleague, ellen...it was the final session of a workshop in a teenage apprenticeship program that the bank participates in...the kids are about to finish their two year program and the workshop was to help them think about their next steps and what they have learnt from the apprenticeship program...at the very end the facilitator asked the kids to close their eyes and then he talked to them about the different doors they have come through till now and the different ones that will be ahead of them in life...and then he gave them each a key....representing the skills, knowledge and choice they all have to open the doors and opportunities ahead of them

inspiration from my first day of my new job....

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."
Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom

agora eu sou são paulo - now i am são paulo

so just completed my first 24 hours in my new home city...and so far so good

big thanks to maria who helped to make sure i actually got to the airport and on the flight :)

a driver took me from the airport to my hotel/apartment where i will stay for the first month courtesy of the bank...marcio jappe stopped by to catch up and today after a nice sleep in and relaxing afternoon i went for a wander and managed to find the office which is a 30 minute walk from where i am staying

on the way i realised that avenida paulista will provide me with a lot of entertainment as i saw both elvis presley and baywatch-babe impersonators, not to mention many animated discussions along the way

when i got the office i thought i would just drop in to say hi to the people from expat centre and my new team....even though they weren't expecting me i got a really nice welcome and already starting to try and chat with them in portuguese - and i think they will be great teachers. coincidentally it was the friday in the month when the bank provides birthday cakes for all of those who had their birthday that month - slightly different to the dutch style where you have to bring your own cake and normally only more senior people end up getting gifts ;) it was such a nice atmosphere with everyone stopping work and singing loudly and proudly for the birthday boys and girls :)

i will start work on monday

i WAS amsterdam

so after 1.5 years in Amsterdam i have lots of great memories and many infamous moments...
* being refused a mobile phone contract because my bank statement was printed in portrait and not landscape format
* looking at more than 15 apartments before i found "the one" - along the way meeting very random people like "the mattress guy" and the "don't make too much noise during sex" guy
* being invited out to dinner by guy i used to date, more than 6 months after we stopped seeing each other, and him asking me to pay the bill because the last time we went out for dinner he supposedly paid for it
* receiving home visit by people from the city hall registry office who were FBI wanna-bes, flashing their IDs around, and telling me that if i didn't register with the city hall if my apartment was on fire the firemen would only look to save people that were on the registry list
* going for Hep A and Hep B vaccines and being warned by the doctor that just because i have had these vaccines, it doesn't mean i can just go and have crazy wild sex randomly
* being able to keep the same bicycle for the whole time - although once someone unlocked it (without key), moved it to another spot nearby and then relocked it!

inspired by Lucy Dodd's similar reflection about her time in Brazil, i wrote this poem about my experience in amsterdam - hope you enjoy!

I was Amsterdam

I’ll miss the old leaning buildings, but I won’t miss the crazy narrow stairs or the toilet shelves
- endless fascination and slow getaways

I’ll miss cycling through the city on sunny days, but I won’t miss the summer tourist season
- sustainable freedom and bicycle magnets

I’ll miss Saturday food shopping at the Noordmarkt, but I won’t miss cheese sandwiches for lunch
- local organic interaction and gluten nightmare

I’ll miss the sun and moon kissed canals, but I won’t miss the rain
- aqua serenity and dampness

I'll miss free ATM withdrawals and internet banking, but I won't miss the customer dis-service
- financial efficiency and eternal frustration

I’ll miss Amsterdam alive on Queen’s Day, but I won’t miss the organ grinder on Saturday mornings
- colourful connections and aural abuse

I’ll miss the cafes and restaurants, but I won’t miss the waiters specially trained to avoid eye contact
- gezellig global kitchens and impatient hungry waiting

I’ll miss the Dutch practicality and ingenuity, but I won’t miss the lack of empathy
- put it on your bike, legalise it and complain

I’ll miss constant exhibitions and festivals, but I won’t miss advanced diary planning
- intellectual interest and entertainment but little spontaneity

I’ll miss the diversity in Amsterdam, but I won’t miss the divisions
- gay parade in burkas and limits of tolerance

I’ll miss my friends
- laughing, discussing, sharing, eating, singing, cooking, Ikea-ing, belly dancing, painting, sailing, biking, exploring, picnicking, forro dancing, watching, mud-walking, being – together

but I won’t miss missing them.

I was Amsterdam.

quick catch up

Well last night I finally landed in São Paulo – in the blistering winter conditions of 30 degrees celcius! More about my first day here a bit later, but firstly just wanted to give an Amsterdam wrap-up of some kind. Since my last update there has been lots of stuff happening but not enough free internet to share it :) So a quick shapshot includes (in no particular order):

* Went to Portugal for Pita and Anya’s special day and massive emotional AI and coincidental but fabulous Mel Cardamone reunion – was my first chance to practise Portuguese with real live samples – most of the time they could understand me but I had a lot of trouble understanding them! Unfortunately my camera cord is in a box somewhere between Amsterdam and São Paulo, so you can see these links for wedding photos from Szymon, Albert and Dimitris.

* Received a Dutch “certificate of good behaviour” as part of the procedures for getting my Brazilian work permit. Below is the official recognition that I am not a risk to society:
The Dutch Minister of Justice has conducted an investigation into the behaviour of the person mentioned in this certificate and declares that, in view of the risk for society in relation to the purpose for which the certificate is requested and considering the interest of the person, no objections against this person have resulted from this investigation. The Minister hereby issues the Certificate of good conduct, pursuant to article 28 of the Dutch Judicial Records Act.

* random weekend trip to Germany during the world cup with Mazzy and Laura, courtesy of Bob and his car - see here for more details of this VERY VERY random weekend, which saw me drive for the first time in Europe - someone else's car to another country

* I was expecting to leave for Brazil straight from Portugal but since there was a delay in my work permit processing, I was on a forced vacation in Amsterdam – catching up on my share of dr phil and oprah – everything from dating disasters (mums that accompany their 25+ daughters on all their dates!) to shocking statistics, such as 85% of women today wear the wrong bra!!! Big thanks to Nerida and Brydie who let me stay at their new apartment while I was waiting for the Brazilian bureaucracy to grind on. To thank the girls for their hospitality I bought them this very functional but revealing ironing board cover which you can see here. The best thing about this Mark B ironing board cover is that when you iron over his towel, it disappears ;) Hours of ironing pleasure ahead for these girls.

* I also managed to have three different “going away” functions – lovely picnic in the Vondelpark combined with Brenda (who is also still in Amsterdam I might add!), drinks at pub near work which was complete with live Latin band and finally drinks at Nerida and Brydie’s house on my actual last night in Amsterdam.