More SEXta-feira

I posted this to facebook today. Quite the suggestive message, isn't it? Date, time, location and a VERY clear action all provided on my phone, each Friday! Maybe my sense of humour is getting simpler, but I never get tired of this.

Bs As

Quick jaunt to Buenos Aires this weekend. You know, just for kicks.
April has been a stellar month for knocking out my Travel To-Do list. For this month, I clocked: Florinopolis, Porto Alegre and São Leopoldo, Campos do Jordão, Foz do Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. Not to mention my much-too-brief trip home to NYC. I'm becoming quite a pro at the flight situation out of São Paulo, though no matter how many times I live through the 3-hour Friday night commute to Cumbica (GRU the international airport), I cannot control my supreme irritation with sitting in gridlock and inevitable worry about nearly-missed flights. I will NEVER complain about NYC traffic again. (See earlier post on the same frustration).

But, luckily I rolled onto my flight just under the wire and arrived as planned for my BsAs weekend. After consuming A LOT of Malbec wines and amazing steaks all weekend, and loving every minute of it, the only sensible thing is to return again to Argentina immediately. So, despite the cooler temperatures (falltime is in full swing already in Buenos Aires), I am heading for the Andes and will be drinking my way through the vineyards of Mendoza on a brief vacation next week. I'm sure that will make for some interesting writing. Red wine is a great creativity tool!

Here are a couple great night shots of Peurto Madero in Buenos Aires. Thanks to my fab new camera.

















Also, I have some special mentions for April 25th:
HAPPY 22nd Birthday to my uber wonderful sister Caitlin in New Zealand.
HAPPY 1st anniversary to Alia and Slava (can't believe its been a year already, congrats!).
And,
Today is 5 years since I moved to NYC. While I may be on a South American adventure right now, NYC will always be my adopted home away from home. Five years in New York is considered a bit of a milestone for us transplants. I think this makes me an official New Yorker now. I definitely have adopted the demeanor and act like one (losing some of my typical apologetic Canadian traits... thankfully, in my opinion). NYC, I'll be back soon for the next 5!

Rio, eu te amo

I really love Rio. I especially love being asked to go to Rio for business meetings the day before a random Brazilian holiday that falls mid-week. I also extra love when my friends are also on business at our customers in Rio and we have an immediate beach day come together. A definite perk!

Foz do Iguaçu

So the Canadian invasion continues. On Friday, my friend Darryl arrived from Toronto. In fact, he arrived in Sao Paulo 2 hours after I landed from my NYC trip, thanks to my scheduling genius. After I attempted a brief work day, we collected a couple of my friends and headed directly back to the airport to go pay an important visit to one of the greatest natural wonders in South America, Iguazu Falls.

Iguazu is one of the largest waterfalls in the world and I'm sorry to say Canada but our lovely Niagra Falls do pale a bit in comparison. These falls are on the border of Argentina and Brazil (and adjacent to Paraguay too), and they literally took my breath away. The photos do not nearly do them justice and I'm now going to become a travel promoter for the area. Any future guests to my apartment in Brazil will be required to pay a visit to see Iguazu.

For all you outdoorsy types (Cam and Christine, this is for you), Iguazu will be your hiking, rafting, zip-lining and rappelling heaven. Yes, we did all of the above on our visit. Add the South American lack of safety concern and we had the chance to actually raft into and underneath the falls (yes, this is serious and was also seriously amazing!). After an intense weekend of all this energetic activity, plus a little time by the pool with some Argentinian wine, coming back to the city life does seem a little foreign.

New York City Drive-by

So I’m extra slow in reporting back. Now I really hope you haven’t all lost interest. I have lots of good stuff coming up, I promise.

But, as for the lapse of writing last week, I actually made my first trip back to the US since arriving in Brazil. I flew all the way back to NYC for just 2 way-too-quick nights to get re-fingerprinted for my Brazil work VISA. I won’t bore you all with the details of this entire work permit saga (which began nearly 6 months ago when I first was approved for my position in Brazil), but needless to say, it’s a long way to fly to go visit the NYPD for a couple hours. Of course, that purpose for my visit seems simple but add all the 17 other errands I had on my list to get done while I was in town (basic things like visiting the doctor and going to the bank, which I can't do in Brazil since I'm here on a temporary work transfer), meant that the trip was more exhausting than enjoyable. Luckily I did manage to squeeze in a few quick visits to catch up with some of my nearest and dearest while I was in town.

While my trip was brief, I do have to admit that it did result in making me feel homesick. There is something about coming back to your own city where you know where everything is and how to get around without thinking too much and can communicate easily in English, that makes you realize how much more effort your brain is putting in on a daily basis adapting to a new country and new language. While most days I enjoy that challenge, there are some days that the 'easy' button would be a nice option to have.

As for NYC, the good news is, I will be back next month to finally claim this elusive work visa. And since my passport will not be at my disposal during this period, some good times in the city will definitely be in order.

Recovery

So apparently I needed week to recover from my birthday. Apologies for the radio silence, I was starting to get some flame mail! The birthday was one for the record books. I could detail all the goings on (including my good old Karaoke standby - Billy Idol, White Wedding performance, complete with choreography), but I think this photo just says it all.















I will add that we did keep to the schedule, hitting 3 of the 4 locations on the invitation as well as ending the night (morning) at a great breakfast place in jardins where I got to practice my fledgling Portuguese and insisted to the waiter that I needed a seal (foca) instead of a knife (faca). Oops.

Good times.

THANK YOU to all my new friends, and to those old friends who traveled from all over to be here. LOVE you peeps!


PS - The only casualty was my CAMERA, which I lost likely in the cab between location #1 and location #2. My brand new camera I bought before arriving in Brazil! This is the first time I've actually lost a camera so I figure its my due payment and immediately replaced it with the newer, better model in bright orange. Happy birthday to me.

Ammended to include my equally hilarious wannabe diva shot.

Party like its your birthday! Oh wait, it is.

Good day so far, except for that whole working for a living part.

But received lots of "Congratulations" today from my colleagues and friends here, as is the typical way to wish someone a happy birthday in Portuguese. It makes me feel like I have actually accomplished something for living 32 years on this planet, so I quite enjoy this!

Now, to make the day complete, I really hope someone sings the birthday song tonight, because the song they sing here for birthdays is fantastic.

Parabéns pra você
Nesta data querida
Muitas felicidades
Muitos anos de vida

This song involves a lot of clapping and excitment and wishing of congratulations for your birthday. If someone sings the song, I will definitely be recording it.

Congratulations to you!

Gearing up

So, people. Guess what tomorrow is?
Tomorrow is my birthday. Oh Yes! My absolute favorite day of the year (followed a close second by Halloween, but never eclipsed by my birthday).
But, my birthday anticipation is even greater as this year, as the planned party is the most epic all night city tour that one can imagine. Rodando pela cidade!

Check out this amazing invitation - you are all invited. Naturally.

Porto Alegre

So I jumped on a plane the day after getting back from Floripa to head directly back in the same direction, except this time a bit farther South. Porto Alegre is the town near where SAP has another big office, in Sao Leopoldo (this one, a Labs office). While its only a quick flight like Floripa, I had a most completely disorganized travel experience I’ve had in a very long time. TAM Airlines… Computer system entirely down. I have a hand written boarding pass (really? Is this for real?). No gates posted, no seats assigned. What a shit show. Luckily they applied ‘Assento Livre” = open seating and we all got corralled on the plane together. Thank god. I later heard from a colleague who was flying home from a location in the North of Brazil at the same time that this was a system-wide issue. Truly. Amazing. It’s actually a miracle the planes got off the ground.

But luckily I did, as I really enjoyed Porto Alegre and the surrounding area. So much so, that for brief nano-second, I actually considered an immediate transfer to the Sao Leopoldo office. Mostly because this office is really, really fantastic. I felt very zen while I was there. This office is an entirely 'green' project.. as in, everything is recycled or sourced from within the local area. They use natural light, making us all look slightly more attractive and making us feel a bit more relaxed and less like over worked selves. They also use wind and solar power and even use the grey water to water the plants. Very cool - Legal! After extensive and passionate descriptions by our colleagues in this office about their gorgeous office, I was really getting into this fictional move. Then, the icing on the cake was this: after lunchtime, I come back to see a full on fitness instructor (in gym gear, with a clipboard and whistle…okay maybe I imagined the whistle) leading the teams through a stretching exercise. This is not the same SAP that I work for in NYC or Sao Paulo!

And last but probably more importantly, on the same trip, I found my 17 year old sister Sean a very cute 18 year old Brazilian boyfriend candidate, the son of one of the partners I was visiting. Sean he’s really cute I promise! And we have a return invitation to Porto Alegre when you come visit later this year. Bonus.

Floripa!

This weekend while Helen was visiting, we ditched the city in favour of some sandy beaches in the South of Brazil in Florianopolis. Floripa did not disappoint. Beautiful white sand on these beaches, lots of green jungle and gorgeous tropical flowers. Plus, cute little towns that make you want to stay longer than a couple brief days. And we finally escaped to a bit of sun after all the depressingly constant clouds and rain we have had in Sao Paulo.

Best day of the trip, we had quite a marathon day at a place called P12. This beachside pool "bar" could be compared to some of the South Beach locations like Nikki Beach or the Sunday pool party at the Raleigh. Except filled entirely with Brazilians. And us four girls: 2 Canadians, an Argentine and a Mexicana. Who, by Brazilian standards are apparently all four of us, Gringas. Different than other parts of Latin America, Brazilians use the term gringo for foreigners, no matter where they are from, and not just for Americans and the rest of us um, paler peoples. Interesting.

But, I digress from the very exciting day's itinerary at the beach bar. It went something like this:

Suntan, swim, drink
Suntan, swim, drink
Is it time for a bottle of pink champers? Sim, claro!
Suntan, swim, drink
Oh wait, we better eat something? If we must.
Suntan, swim, drink
Oh now there’s a DJ. And dancing. Isn’t it only 4pm? Sim, otimo! Let's do it.
Swim, drink, dance
Everyone arriving now looks like they are dressed for some swanky club. We are damp and covered in sunscreen. Who cares? True.
Swim, drink, dance
I think we’ve been here 12 hours...? Yes, we may have reached our expiration date.
Swim, drink, dance
Maybe one more?
Swim, drink, dance
Okay we are really leaving now!

At any rate, we lived the life for the day. And, I’m happy to report that I look slightly less white now.

PS - Bad news to report following Thursday's post. Ambien is no longer sold over the counter without a prescription here. So, you can hold on those shopping lists!

Carrots

Brazil is crazy about Easter. About a month ago, I started spotting carrots in trees around the city. Carrots? Yes. Big, actually giant, stuffed carrots in the trees. I have to say, I find this a bit bizarre. First of all, carrots don’t grow on trees. Secondly, since we have daily torrential downpours in Sao Paulo, these poufy carrots are constantly drenched and dripping. And, instead of the Easter Bunny being the patron saint of the commercial version of Easter (as in North America), here its just carrots and eggs everywhere. Like at the grocery store, where you get assaulted with the zillion Easter eggs in elaborate foil hanging from the ceiling and knocking into you as you try to duck through the shiny insanity to get to what you are actually looking for. Though, good luck finding anything except chocolate at the store for the month leading up to the big day. And I thought the US had made Easter into a Hallmark holiday. North America has nothing on Brazil when it comes to Easter! Hope you all had a Feliz Páscoa. Photos definitely required to demonstrate on this one.

Surprise, you’re going to Brazil next week.

A+ to Brian for pulling off yet another fantastic surprise on his wife, my dear friend Helen. Helen, for the last few months, thought she was going to Paris for Easter. She thought they were going to have some quality family time with her husband and son, maybe some dinners out, some shopping on the Champs, and a nice rest from work.

Um, no. Sorry. You are coming to Brazil and I’m dragging you around this non-stop city and taking you on a girls beach party weekend to Florianopolis, and you surely will head home feeling like you need a vacation from the vacation. Hope you are ready! (Luckily you can get sleeping pills over the counter here, we will definitely stock her up for the flight home).

But in all seriousness, its so great to have my nearest and dearest from Canada here. Watch out Brazil, here come the crazy Canucks!!