News from Brazil, where the nuts are from: Anecdotes from São Paulo

Coffee and books - Seattle or São Paulo?:)

Since I last wrote, I have been trying to visit more of downtown São Paulo and see some of the sites, great cafés and bookstores, bars and restaurants. Sunday I went to the fair in Liberdade, the Asian neighborhood (mainly Japanese) of São Paulo. It was so great – just like Tokyo: lots of cute/tacky souvenirs, stir fry and Japanese lanterns. The music stores had a distinctly Brazilian feel however, with Japanese decorations but then Carpenters music:) Somehow Brazil always seems to be playing 70s/80s music – love it! On the way home, I then went to a free exhibit on Avenida Paulista on Serge Gainsbourg. Since it is Ano da Franca no Brasil, they are having tons of French-themed exhibits, plays, concerts, etc. This was really well done, with computers for people to sit down with headphones and listen to music from all the different periods of his career. On the wall were covers of his albums and those of famous French singers in the 60s. Then on the next floor, there were videos, photos and explanations of his songs and lifestyle – qu’est-ce que j’adore la musique française!

Liberdade- Japanese street fair!

I have to say though too, that in addition to the sight-seeing, I have now visited several doctor’s offices, pharmacies, nail salons and a labclinic in São Paulo, all of which were interesting experiences as well. After having blood work done at the lab, they have a small café where they give you free capuccinos and cookies – feels like a step up from the U.S. labs:) And the pharmacy was a real surprise too. One of the doctors had requested that I get a shot to stop some of the swelling in my legs, caused by mosquitos – grrrr!! Anyway, I have always had shots given by nurses in doctor’s office, but here you have to go to the pharmacy to have this done. Okay, tudo bem, so I went there and told the pharmacist what I needed and she gave me this box with a syringe in plastic wrapping with the syrum I needed. I looked at her like, “do I have to do this myself???” and it turned out she was just waiting for me to go to the cashier and pay and then come back for her to administer the shot. I would have thought we get the shot and then pay, but in Brazil they seem to love sending you to one counter to wait and then to another and then have you return to the first one. Go figure:)

Anyway, I also found it funny that all of the doctor´s offices I have been to here are in fancy buildings, but when you arrive, instead of the doctor´s offices I´ve always visited in the U.S., with a large waiting room and a front desk, these are TINY rooms with just one doctor and one receptionist. The hallways leading to the offices look like dorm hallways and there aren´t any signs. You have to know the room number and when you arrive SOMETIMES there is a sign on the door. Otherwise, you just knock and go in. I’m sure there are larger medical offices in Brazil, but the ones I went to, each doctor had their own individual, miniscule office with just a few chairs right next to the reception desk for the waiting clients. The dermatolagist I last visited in São Paulo had all of these antique decorations in the waiting room with green velvet chairs, and when I arrived at the office I had to ring the bell because it was technically still lunch time:) The receptionist opened the door with her toothbrush in hand. She was just brushing her teeth before the afternoon clients arrived – so informal:) Plus, I was the only one waiting at the beginning and it was so quiet that you could hear the antique clock on the wall going tick tock, tick tock (you would hate it, mom!!:)) The doctor was great, but it felt so quaint and old-fashioned, it was almost like going to visit a doctor from Little House on the Prairie:)

So, other than doctors, here are a few amusing/frustrating stories of daily Brazilian life over the past few weeks.

Cell phone shenanigans

Okay, granted I haven´t spent excessive amounts of time in cell phone stores in the U.S., but I never remember having to go to a store and then use their phone to talk to a central agency to solve my problem. One frustrating thing here is that you go into a cell phone store ( my provider is TIM) and you draw a number, wait, and then talk to an employee who almost always proceeds to tell you that they can’t help you, but if you will use their TIM service phone, you can speak to the Central Customer Service (Centro de atendimento) office for more assistance. There are TIM stores that can only sell you a phone, others that can deal with problems up to an extent and then tell you to use the store phone (no the white phone!:)) to talk to Customer Service, and then other kiosks in shopping malls where you can re-charge your cell phone with credits. Although, I guess these kiosks have a limited number of credits that they can sell and if they go through them by mid-week for example, then you have to go to a dept store or a grocery store to re-charge your phone. So, I always wonder, what purpose do they serve in the first place?

For nearly every issue I´ve had, I go into the store and they tell me that I need to call the Centro de atendimento (seriously - the white phone!:)) in the middle of the store. There you are transfered to a group of operators, 24, I think and they supposedly have more power to resolve your issues. Except that this phone is literally in the middle of a LOUD store with a connection that is so staticy it sounds like you are trying to call Calcutta in the 1950s! I can barely hear what they are asking me, let alone explain my problem in another language!!!

I had a number from a different state (Paraná) and so I tried to cancel this line and switch to a number for São Paulo in April, but I am still receiving bills each month. So, I went into a TIM store near me (of course this was one that only sells phones, but they did agree to help me call the central line). I wanted to contest the bill I had received and explain that I had already cancelled the number and shouldn´t be paying any longer. The salesman at TIM was able to talk to someone for me and explained the situation. It turned out that it was indeed TIM´s error, but that I would have to pay one more month´s bill because I had used the phone for a couple days during that period. I thought it should have been pro-rated at least, but I guess that was too complicated and after an hour on “the white phone!”:) it seemed easier just to go and pay the bill. They promised me that when I received the next month´s bill I could call and contest and I wouldn´t have to pay one more cent.

Well, of course that was way too good to be true. When I got this month´s bill for June, I went and tried to have the same salesclerk call for me again, only this time TIM wouldn´t accept that he speak on my behalf; they wanted me to authorize this each time. Well, if he was speaking for me in the first place it was because I didn´t speak enough Portuguese, so then how could I even give them the information they needed from me on the phone? Each time we spoke to one dept, we would explain the whole story, that the number had been cancelled but we just wanted to contest this month´s bill. And each time the clerk had to pass me the phone to say my full name and that infamous CPF number (Social security # that you can´t do ANYTHING in Brazil without - thank God I at least have this) and then I had to authorize his speaking on my behalf. Okay, but we were transfered from dept to dept and after 4 times repeating the same info, it got a bit frustrating. Plus nobody seemed to know how to help us. We were never able to do anything.

So, after more than 2 hours in the store, I was definitely ready to scream. Why can’t TIM or other cell phone companies be centralized so that no matter what store you walk into, the workers can use their computer and help you IN PERSON with whatever possible question you may have??????? Is that too much to ask? I guess they are afraid of what might happen if they give too much power to too many people. But as a foreigner, speaking face to face is obviously MUCH easier than trying to talk on the phone, and if the only way we will be able to resolve anything is over the phone, and they insist on speaking only to me (since the cell phone is in my name) then I don´t know how this is going to finish. I think I´m going to have to write a letter and contest that way. I know this seems like a small thing, but after 2 hours in a store like that with no result, your energy is completely drained and you just want to go back to sleep. Plus, you feel horrible about your language skills because you are unable to convey exactly what you mean on a crackily line in the middle of a loud store!!

More news on the outcome of this later...

Nail salons in Brazil

Having your nails done in Brazil is definitely an experience. I always feel like I´m in the movie Steal Magnolias, lots of women who apparently know each other and have no problem sitting there for hours while they have their hair and nails done;)If you are in a hurry, I don´t suggest you attempt to go to one of these salons. Usually, the women working on your nails will take their time while they talk to you, or worse, stop and talk to another customer about her life problems for 20 minutes and then get back to you. But who can complain really when the prices are so excellent! Brazilians have their nails done weekly, so it´s incredibly reasonable. Even in São Paulo I just went to have them done today and it was R$10
($5)!

But I just think it´s so funny because most of the time it is not a large operation, but rather a small neighborhood business even in a city of 20 million. The place I went today I never would have even found if I hadn´t asked someone at my school. You had to go into a linen/alterations store and then at the back there was a mini salon. The woman was very sweet, but each time someone came into the store, she had to leave me and go help them. At one poin, though, she wanted to finish painting my nails and asked the customer to pick out the material she wanted, cut the amount of string she needed and then had the customer pay her in the salon. There was another store on the floor above that was owned by the manicurist’s sister and happened to be closed exceptionally because her sister was at the doctor. More customers kept coming into the salon and asking if the clothes store upstairs were open and the manicurist would tell, without looking up from my nails, that it was closed. The customers seemed completely unphased and just said, “okay, I’ll try again tomorrow then.” There were no set opening or closing hours and everyone was fine with this, even if it meant them stopping by several times to no avail. Again, I felt like Little House on the Prairie and the General Store– very funny and informal.

Food, glorious food....

On a lighter note, my neighbor´s girlfriend, Elisa, is in São Paulo for 7 weeks doing an internship for IBM and we have been able to laugh about a lot of these things, plus meandar around the great streets of São Paulo and try some great restaurants in various neighborhoods of the city. The first place we went to was a classic Italian restaurant here, Famiglia Mancini. The Mancini family feels like a mafia family (although probably not). They own one whole street with nothing but Italian restaurants near downtown. It was excellent. We went to the most traditional one with wine bottles hanging from the ceiling, and black and white pictures of Italy and famous Italians. We had great chianti wine, four cheese pasta and an assortment of goodies from the anti-pasta bar. Almost like Moonstruck!:)

Yesterday, we went to another cute bar in Jardins a bit simpler called, Zurich Café. It was great too – who can complain about creamy soups, fried appetizers and Brazilian beer?:)Before we got to the restaurant we found the grocery store everyone had been telling me about – Casa Santa Luzia. Lots of imported brands and European cheese, among other things! I was so happy to find the cheese section especially because I really have not found many varieties of cheese since I arrived in Brazil. This place has everything we have in the US, albeit a bit expensive too, but at least it´s there!:)

Elisa at the famous grocery store - Casa Santa Luiza

I also made it to the famous café on the corner of Ipiranga and São João (Café Brahma) and Papo, Pinga e Petisco, an excellent bohemian dive where Elise Regina first got her singing career started. There is an Elvis statue outside and then inside there is music memorabilia of all types on the walls, plus an antique record store in the back. A real classic! I will need to go back to these places with my camera and add photos next time.

Here are a few photos I did take from the past several weeks.

Beautiful Higienopiolis neighborhood