Boxing Day 26th December

Starbucks.. on Rua Augusta 

Boxing Day is traditionally a day following Christmas when wealthy people in the United Kingdom would give a box containing a gift to their servants... nowadays it's the first day after Christmas day. A public holiday in England... but not here!!!

Oh just putting our feet up

So Joelho and I were on the hunt for an Internet cafe. We were looking up and down Av Ipiranga, near Republica. We found a sign and went up these murky looking stairs... when we got to the top it turned out to be a health nutrition shop. So we went further down along the street towards Se, along the way we walked pass a lot of 'naughty' shops. haha

my wonderful family and I

Then we stopped and asked someone, we managed to find a cafe. Much more cheaper than in RJ. The place asked for ID to use the Internet, but not if you needed to make a phone call. So I decided to ring home after a month of silence. My mother went ape shit when she heard me. But she managed to calm down within two minutes. She told me how my sister in-laws family were over in London. It sounded pretty cool to me. Then she told me how my younger brother had moved back home cos he was getting less hours at work etc. 
I'm worried about the crisis in London and told my mother this. I am thinking of opening my own law firm as soon as I return. Then soon the call ended. 

Salgados.. fattening mother fuckers

SO.. Joel was feeling peckish and we stopped by a place for him to get some salgados. He just loves to consume them! A friend told me you can put on shit loads of weight by consuming too many of them! So that's why I stopped. A friend told me also that cops are also called 'coxinhas', just don't tell it to their faces.
Joel was ever pondering whether he should take a 12-hour bus journey to Ipatinga or head south and start his journey at Florianópolis. He was thinking of where to spend new year's. 


To me, new year's never was a special event. So I don't realy give too shits . Someone told me that the parties they have you wear a choice of colours; white for peace, green for money, red for love and I can'r remember the rest. 


Anyhow, as my 'assholes in SP' blog explained. I'm sitll without a phone and therefore unable to contact friends etc. I had to reach a friend at Anhangabau metro and we went to meet him. I hadn't seen this person in over two weeks and I really missed this person. It was really nice to see this person again...
So I introduced them to Joel and the three of us went to Av Paulista. We saw the left over Christmas lights and the snow (cough soap machine... watch out for your eye!) You know stuff that really reminded you of Christmas. We laughed and joked a lot. I think the Mr D (the SP friend) was confused by both American and British accents being spoken at the same time. But I know that he prefers the British accent more... even though he keeps mentioning his old New Yorker teacher. rs 
So next destination was Starbucks... and as usual we confused and probably pissed off the cashier by ordering in English and Portuguese. It's not easy to think in two languages and speak in one of them! AHHHH!!!

the best beer from Brazil

Then onto the 24-hour bakery diner Bella Paulista. http://www.bellapaulista.com/ Expensive but nice!! I felt like having a beer. I drank and was red with my golden glow. I was probably talking a lot of shit. Then we were craving sweet things and went to McD's for our ritual McFlurry. Then home. A long day, but a good day. I was in the company of two of the coolest guys I'd met. One who I knew when I was in RJ, and now was in SP visiting me and the other guy, someone who I'd known for a few years before meeting in person, and after meeting in person someone who I can confirm is a great guy who I can rely on. 

Assholes in SP...

Ok, so I've encountered many assholes whilst being here in SP. If you recognise yourself being described below, then you have only yourself to blame for being a Jack Ass!

So I'll begin with the first. Well I heard that the reputation that Mineiro's have is that they are quiet, but nice but they can also turn around and screw you when you least expect it. Right, didn't believe a bloody word of it, til it happened to me.
A so-called friend I knew, I finally met down Praca Republica. He was in SP for a few days, buying stock for his business over in BH. So he asked me to come along for the ride and help him pick out some items. So we went to Bras and 25 de Marco. Whilst in the taxi on the way to 25 de Marco, I stupidly left my mobile phone in the back seat of the cab. So we went to a payphone and managed to ring the phone and get through to the cab driver. The driver offered to drop of the phone at my friend's hotel the next day. So that was all fine. Then next day, at around 11pm I arrive home. I log into Facebook chat and the Cheeseball Mineiro tells me that he has my phone and that I should go straight there to his hotel to collect the thing. Now, it was 11pm and I was tired. Aint no bloody way was I going to going there by myself. So I said no, and that I would go the next morning before he checked out of his hotel. He said 'no', come now to my hotel it's my last night in SP girl. Come to my hotel room. Now, I don't believe that I have the word 'stupid' tattooed on my forehead. So WTF! Anyhow, asshole says he doesn't want to talk to me anymore and logs out of FB chat. I leave a message saying that I will drop by the hotel next day to collect my phone and to leave it with reception.
Next day arrives, I go to the hotel and nothing has been left. I go home and check my FB to see that the bone head has gone to the airport and says that he will send me my phone via post. As I was already pissed off, I told him not to do that and give the phone to my friend whose visiting me for Christmas. Bone head agrees. So I say nothing. Then at Christmas eve, I meet my friend and ask whether he's got my phone. He tells me that the cheeseball Mineiro didn't contact him. THEN on Christmas bloody day I saw a message from Bone head Mineiro saying that he will give it back to me when he returns in SP in the middle of January.
IF EVER anyone needs a huge ass whipping or needs to be fucked up, this is the pleb!

Asshole number two, I knew him for almost a year and a half now. I knew him from a meet-up site that was English-Portuguese exchange, back in London. We were supposed to meet, but never managed to get the opportunity to. Until two weeks ago... he called our first meet as a 'date', and I thought WTF! He wanted to go to the cinema and I said 'no'. Cos I can't go to the cinema without my glasses. (Can't see far, blind as a bat) Then he told me that in Brazil, when a guy asks you to go to the cinema with him, usually he chooses a crappy film whilst the two 'make out'. I thought, no Sir-ee! I didn't even like this guy anyway, he smiled too much like a clown. Plus, he kept on commenting on how much taller I was in person. I mean I'm 165cm, that's not tall, moron! Problem is, when he was in London I asked him to help get me some bars of English chocolate. Well, he bought them and now I am pondering whether the chocolate is worth meeting this moron again. I mean, I never want to see this guy again, but if I want the chocolate I'm gonna have to get in contact with him again... (nah, not worth it) rs

Dickhead number three, is an ex-bf. Didn't see since last year December when he was in London. Then when I got to SP, we made contact again just talking. Anyhow, met with him two weeks ago. Went to Villa Madelena to drink some chopps. Then we were walking to the bus stop to start to go home. As we sat on the bus talking, he put his hand on the back of my shoulder trying to give me a massage. I asked him 'wtf he was doing', he said that I felt tense, and I answered cos he was bloody trying to massage me. That he should take his hand of, or else I was gonna punch him. Then he said 'go ahead'. Now, I'm not exactly a small and skinny person. He is a skinny/slim guy. So I turned around on him and told him that 'I'm not exactly a lightweight, so if I punch you, you're gonna go flying to the other end of the bus cos you're so slim'. Then he stopped. The bastard... can't be dealing with idiots like that right now in my life. AFF

I've also had problems here with guys. Now, I don't have many female friends. I get along better with guys, as we share more common interests and I can hold better conversations with them. I have best friends back home in London who are female, but they are just about the only females who I can tolerate who are not family. But my personality is not someone who is snobby or cold. When I meet someone, I like to be friendly, polite and have a good time. I don't give out of the impression that I would like anything more than friendship.
so it really pisses me off or shocks me when some of the people I met here in SP have tried 'something' with me. So I am then left to say 'no'. Then it's the 'why not?', then I have to repeat 'no'. Well for fuck sake, just take 'no' as an answer, what don't you understand about this word and what's your bloody problem!

English Chocolate mmm...

my best friends and I

Then somehow, the guys become moody jerks and act like assholes. Bloody hell, are women really from Venus and men really from Mars?...

Christmas in Sao Paulo

SO...


New Years eve is the start of crimbo here. I met my American friend at the Rodoviaria that day. Then we dropped our things of at home and met a friend to spend xmas with them and their family in some other part of Sao Paulo. (Can't bloody remember the name) 
Man, I DO NOT want to see another or hear the word 'panetone' for a LONG time. I swear this cake is from Italy, yet everywhere you go it's in front of your eyes in all shops. Jee... but Chocotones are acceptable! (wahey!)
So at 6pm we (my American friend and the SP friend) were eating this cake with coke. Chatting away about cultural differences. 
Many nieces and nephews turned up at this family gathering. One was aged 4 years and had the balls to say to his female cousin 'eu quero namorar com vc'. I mean 'damn', kids got balls to do that! The aunts were shouting 'she's your cousin!'. Well I heard that it don't stop mormons being cousins or not...

Joelho, my friend from US

Then at 11:30pm we were summoned to the table. Ok what we ate... Chester chicken, sausage, white rice, rice with raisins, potato mayonaise salad, roast potatoes and farofa. I don't like farofa. It's just dry dust. It doesn't make sense putting it on your food. It's like trying to put sand in your food. Just wrong! Then ... pudding. Pudding in syrup, pudding in coconut with syrup and prunes, chocolate pavlone and ice cream. I didn't eat the pudding, looked gooey. Just the ice cream. Then we collapsed, stayed over night and next day had morning coffee. This was where we went to the bakery on Christmas morning to buy my birthday cake. 


Then we had a late lunch at another house. Man, the weekend we were truly stuffed. Felt like turkey's ourselves, just needed to jump into the oven. But this Christmas, it felt like something was missing. No cold weather, no Christmas carols, no snow, no Christmas decorations, it just seemed to have lost it's festivity. But most of all, there was no family. Family are the world to me and this year has made me realise that even more. 


So Joel and I keep joking that 'did u know it was Christmas yesterday?'... 

The bday cake... wullah!

or 'did you know that it was your birthday yesterday?' rsrs

Carioca guys...

HUBBA HUBBA!!!


Well as you can imagine by the expression, that the guys are HOT!!
Sometimes a lil too hot to handle (if you get my drift) rsrs
But I get it. I get the idea of why they have this image, of why they have to look a certain way and maintain that look and lifestyle. 


When I originally decided to go to Brazil, it was a toss up between RJ and SP. Despite having more friends in SP, and lifestyle being more similar to London (from what I've heard) I opted for RJ. I heard that Carioca's were more open and friendly and that was why I went there. To me the beach wasn't important, being a city girl et al... But it would give me more of an opportunity to make more friends and meet new people. 


I knew of two really good Carioca friends before arriving. One worked off-shore on a rig as a welder and the other as a pharmacist, but he was currently working on his Phd. Both are just like the stereotypical description of a Carioca, easy-going, humourous, friendly and they took pride in their appearance. Throughout my stay in RJ, I saw less of them as their work took up most of their time. This was not what I found a 'typical Carioca' character trait. EVERY single Carioca I knew and met in Rio works bloody hard. It's difficult managing to get hold of them... so any Brazilian that says Carioca's are lazy can go piss off. I can vouch for them, since I was there working for them. 

with two Carioca's. Wearing the Brazilian bikini..

But everywhere you go in Rio, especially in Zona Sul. You have beauty salons and hairdressers galore! Even depilation places. Now you've heard the expression 'When in Rome, do as the Roman's do' well I thought when in Rio get a Brazilian bikini and get the whole she-bang done! ...
So guys wear sungas and girls wear strings on the beach. They have these apparatus at the beach whereas people can do chin ups and stuff. I once saw a man doing a chin up and he had a hard on. (Dirty perve)

But damn, let me tell you a city full of ridiculously good-looking people every you go. You understand why. Guys with six-packs and tanned bods. Guys are more flirty in RJ. I went to a club down Copacabana on Av Nossa Senhora. I was in the club with a few friends and I had to go to the toilet to throw up (as I'd downed one too many alcoholic drinks) and I swear as I was running to the ladies, arms were shooting out of different directions trying to grab me. I thought I was being mobbed. Bloody ridiculous. Guys just pull you in for a kiss and a grope. Like, no thanks luv! Most of the guys in the club were younger than I, and all of them asked me how old I was. I'm not stupid, so I asked their ages first. It was pretty hilarious, most of them to me were kids. Nobody was getting anything that night!

Thumbs up for the Carioca's

Really cool Carioca's

So, the Carioca guys I've encountered are tall, have dark wavy hair, good physique, work-out and are good-looking in features. In terms of personality; friendly, open-minded, laid-back and lively at the same time (and boy do they love to party)

June 3rd 2011...

Ok so I can't remember the details in between arriving and leaving. So gonna try and summarise the first few months...
Right, well arrived at GIG and a good friend of mine collected me from the airport. We went straight to Ipanema where I was to stay with a host for the rest of my journey. (Well that was the original plan) She is the grandma of a friend of mine. She's a pretty cool lady, but can be a little fuss pot at times.
Anyhow I stayed there for one month, but I was still in holiday mode. Doing absolutely fuck all and spending money like hot cakes. But I didn't like the area, too many bloody gringoes walking around and it made me feel uncomfortable. I can't stand places where all these wealthy people are hanging around.

Praia de Ipanema, RJ

Well the following month my friend came to Rio and I ended up staying with him for a few weeks. Then I stayed at Botafogo for two weeks. Moving around a lot but I liked Botafogo the most. Had more of a community feel and they have really good bars there. I managed to find two private clients to teach English to and they were a real laugh. Both Vasco fans also, so that helped when talking about football. (one passion of mine)

Then in August I moved to Copacabana and rented a room. The landlady owned the apartment and had two rotating maids. One worked a week then the other would come in. Anyhow I stayed there until December. It was ok at the beginning. You know had my own shower room, they washed my clothes and cleaned my room etc. But then it started to get annoying. They wanted to know where I was going etc...

Sao Salvador, Largo do Merchado

Lagoa with Dan & Alex

Kinda pissed me off. Had an argument with the maid and the land lady a month before I was to leave. It was like a wrestling match you know handicap game two against one. I mean WTF. I have parents who ask me shit like this on a daily basis, aint no way I'm coming to RJ to be questioned by the gruesome twosome. So I just let them have their rant and just did my own thing which was work, go home and type up lesson plans and reports then go to meet-ups. I sound kinda boring... I know but I don't give two shits. 

Working backwards...commencing with last week in Rio

So, I realised that my blog is supposed to centre around my so-called 'adventures in Brazil', yet all I've done is mention what's been going on in Sao Paulo...

So the backwards log blogging begins...
I left Rio on the 3rd of Dec (on a sunny Saturday morning). The week leading up to it, was pretty eventful. I had a 'despedida' the day before. It was at the place Big Ben Pub, entrance was R$20 and the interior of the place left a lot to be desired. They closed early at 1:00am, so not much went on there. So we headed to another part of Botafogo to have some munchies and drink. A few people turned up, but that's fine with me. Smaller groups are much better than bigger crowds. But it was nice, I really enjoyed it.

Day before on the Thursday, I had to move out of where I had been renting. Moved in with an Italian friend of a friend. Really nice girl. During the day time I went to Flamengo to a Chinese supermarket to purchase some Chinese ingredients. Even managed to buy chopsticks. But the cooker at the place wasn't working and I had promised a friend that I would cook for them. So that plan went down the toilet and in the end, we went to Av Atlantica, to a Chinese restaurant there. Was really nice the food, but a tad expensive.

On the Monday I went to the last meet-up down Leme, Posto 1. The 'Aprender Ingles, learn Portuguese' group. The owner of the group and I went to have a few beers down at a place called Bipi Bipi. Really nice place. Then we went to a diner next to Cervantes in Leme. Really nice! Garlic bread and baby chicken! It was a nice send off and I got home at 2am! There's also a Pao de Açúcar supermarket that is 24-hours, went in there to buy some ice cream and chocolate sauce. The staff in there were probably thinking WTF is this bloody gringa doing shopping a this hour on a Monday....

Well that's all I can bloody remember. That's all that my selective fish memory would allow me to transpire now. Now that I look back at it, it was a pretty interesting experience. Can't believe 6 months has passed by so quickly. ..

two and a half weeks in Sao Paulo

Ok still getting annoyed that by default all pages of sites are in Portuguese. 
Like writing this blog, all the features are in Portuguese and my Portuguese skills are not exactly fluent. 


Well I moved into this apartment on the 3rd of this month. Took a bus from Rio de Janeiro which was a 6 hour ass-killer of a journey. Somehow, I had managed to get dengue along the way.... nice I know. 
So I was pretty much out of it for my first week in Sao Paulo. What a welcome gift, hein?
Oh yeah, didn't know that I was moving into an unfurnished apartment either. It has two tv's, two chairs, and a  couple of mattresses. The kitchen is just a sink and it's bloody small. I've been making a list of things that I'll need to turn this empty place into something somewhat acceptable for human living. 


On the job front, I've just been lazing about. I contacted a few companies and to be honest I wont be starting til earliest January. So why the rush. Most likely to be doing the same shit as I did in Rio, only different company. Working for business clients is annoying. They are never satisfied and bloody ungreatful. I'm looking at another area of teaching here in Sao Paulo, children. It would definitely be more rewarding and fulfilling the outcome. 


People.. Paulistas/Paulistanos. . . I've found that the ones I've encountered are rude and assholes. A true contrast to Cariocas. But not all Paulistas are like this. I'd managed to meet the online friends who I'd known for many years from the Internet here. I can only truly say that 6 of them are really cool people. The other tossers ... I hope to never come across by chance... :S 


Places I've been.so far... well being based in Centro. I've visited nearby places. Thank God I live nearby a 24-hour diner and supermarket. There are really nice Boteco's nearby me in the square's and a library. I have all the amendities nearby. I've managed to find out where the Orientals are hiding. Liberdade for food and 25 de Marco for dodgey Chinese. I gotta wear my sunglasses all the time, otherwise I keep getting stared at. I've been told that I don't look Chinese, but Korean or Japanese. It's cos of my weird coloured hair and white skin. 
I also went to visit Crazy Town last week, Brás. Bloody hell, literally every female is either carrying a suitcase, trolley or shit loads of shopping bags. I went on a weekday and it was crowded. Imagine going there on a weekend. Gonna be a bitch! 

Aha! Last weekend a friend of mine took me the beach. We went to his home town of Santo Andre then to Itanhaém. Both places I loved. It was nice to get away from the city life. Too much chaos living in the city. But it was nice! Rice & beans and meat and beer.... and caipirinha!!! It was NICE!!! Best part of my trip so far in SP to be honest. Surrounded by nice, friendly people, a good friend who I'm greatful to have invited me and great sceneries.