Buenos Aires - the land of Evita and tango

In my last week before starting work at my host institution in Sao Paulo I decided to visit Argentina. Summer, who was traveling with me in Sao Paulo was going there for a conference with some of her colleagues, so I was able to see them a bit and then also tour on my own while they were working:) It was during Brazilian Carnaval so it was vacation time in much of South America, but there were only isolated carnival celebrations in Buenos Aires. But that was fine since I had already been in Rio last year. I still had one week to explore the neighborhoods of the city, try their wonderful cuisine and see some tango performances. The official tango dinner shows were extremely expensive, so I didn't go to one of those. But they did have tango in the streets in certain neighborhoods and during the evenings in my hotel. I have defintitely fallen in love with the style of tango music and dance; it's so beautiful! Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of this, I didn't have my camera at that time, but you can imagine. Buenos Aires is gorgeous. It's the South America we imagine, bright sunny days, lots of cafes, beautiful people (maybe some former Nazis too) and passion in every way. Passion for love, for life, and for politics. I visited the Eva Peron museum and cemetery and both were very moving. I wish we could be that enthusiastic for a leader once again. I guess Obama comes fairly close, although maybe close in excitement, but I'm not so sure about the drama and worshipping. When you see the images from Evita's funeral, all the people that attended, it is quite incredible.

I didn't expect so many parks and green spaces, my photos look like I was in Spain, Italy or France at times. One of the major architects who helped design Buenos Aires was French, which also makes sense because there are many wide, open boulevards too. I was surpised, however, by the garbage on the streets. It wasn't so much pieces of paper or trash by themselves, but bags and bags of garbage piled together as if waiting to be collected. Except they were on very prominent street corners and it stunk! This along with the dog poop and uneven sidewalks truly made this city European with a Latin American twist:) But I still loved it! Especially the media lunas (half moon croissants) you could have in the mornings. They were like croissant from Paris but with sugar on top - yum! Here is sampling of photos from my time there. Viva Argentina!



Having lunch with Maristela (Manaus) and Summer)



Beautiful obeslico, views from my hotel, Hotel Republica - excellent!





Gorgeous Casa Rosada





Parks downtown Buenos Aires





Sadly, a pile of trash outside another nice park - what is this???



Famous Cafe Tortoni (like Cafe de l'Opera in Paris)



With Eugenia from Uruguay at Cafe Tortoni



Rose and flower gardens in Palermo, Buenos Aires











Japanese Gardens










Recoleta church & cemetery and Eva Peron's grave







Fantastic cafes of Buenos Aires day and night

In San Telmo


In Recoleta





Don't cry for me, Argentina; I hope to be back soon!

Movin' on up, to the east side...

...to a delux apartment in the sky-ay-ay. Wow, what a surprise, I'm quoting 70s tv shows:) But this time, it may be appropriate, we'll see. I did just find an apt and it's on the 22nd floor! So, I guess I am moving on up after all!!:) From 500,000 inhabitants last year to about 20 million this year! So far, I have only been in Sao Paulo one week, but I like it a lot. You can find everything here - from food, to clothes, to coffee shops and bookstores, I think it's going to be a lot of fun.

Views from my balcony






My memories of my first week here are going to be watching many episodes of Law and Order on tv in the hotel, going to shopping malls nearby, and looking for an apt. I was so tired, I didn't feel like doing much more than that. Our hotel was in Morumbi, close to the consulate because we had one day of orientation there. But the neighborhood I was looking for an apt in, near my school, was across town. Summer( the other returning fellow living in Manaus) came with me to look for apts, and by the time we took a cab there and looked around for a while, we were ready to come back and crash at the end of the day. So, having Starbucks and shopping across the street from the hotel was actually a really comforting thing to do in the evenings.

We did go out on Tuesday with some Embassy staff after our orientation to a magnificent bar on top of Hotel Unique (voted best hotel bar of Sao Paulo). The hotel is shaped like half a watermelon and on top is a bar with a pool and outdoor tables, and incredible views of Sao Paulo. We had champagne and sushi, which is not my average Tuesday evening to say the least! I think the Embassy employees forgot that we were teachers and not wealthy diplomats:) But it was a lot of fun and I'm sure I will go back there. Below are a few photos from that day with the other fellows.

At the Consulate


Sky Bar at Hotel Unique with the other fellows




On our second to last day, Summer and I went to Shopping Cidade Jardins. This was close to our hotel but just off the highway and virtually impossible to access without a car or taxi. It is located right next to a large favela (slum) and almost seems to be rubbing the favela's nose in it because this was not an ordinary shopping center. It was gorgeous with lots of trees and very, very high end shopping. Even the movie theater had options for different kinds of olive oils you could add to your popcorn! On the rooftop there was also an outdoor garden and restaurant. It was such a peaceful, relaxing break from the city, albeit a rather unreal experience given the realities of most of Sao Paulo. But I am very glad to have seen it, even if I did feel a tad unsophisticated there. Most of the shoppers resembled the wealthy, older French women you can see on the Riviera in Cannes or Nice - lots of gold jewelry, large sunglasses and heavy perfume:) They had an upscale Johnny Rockets restaurant in the mall where we ate, and I had a hamburger with Roquefort cheese - actually, it was maybe the best I have ever had! Here are a few images from inside and out of the shopping center.







Getting the apt this time was still an ordeal, although a bit better than last year because I already had a CPF (social security number). However, my residence card was from Londrina so they needed me to give them one extra month's rent to be returned to me when I can provide the protocol number for my new card in Sao Paulo. Who knows when that will be!? And I was obligated to wait for someone at my new school, Alumni to write the realtor a check because I don't have a bank account yet in Brazil. But other than that, things went fairly smoothly. It's actually a furnished "flat" as they call them, long stay rooms located in hotels, mainly. To get an actual apt in Sao Paulo, they require a lease of 30 months and a guartantee signed by someone who lives in the actual city of Sao Paulo. Since this would be too complicated for my situation, a flat seemed to make the most sense. I am near my school and Ave. Paulista, the main street in my neighborhood, so that should be good. So that's all for now, but I'm sure there will be more stories once I actually move in:)



Signing the apt lease

Tchau, tchau Londrina

Fique a vontade!!

This is a very belated message from my last month in Londrina, December 2008.
After being back in the U.S. for the month of January, so many things struck me as different, better, and worse than in Brazil. Things I had always taken for granted like free paper and paper clips at Kinkos, huge bookstores and coffee to go, bagels and cream cheese, easy parking lots, and incredibly organized grocery stores and phrarmacies, I appreciated so much this time at home. But I also missed the warm weather and outdoor night life of Brazil, the craziness and noise and lively discussions there. One difference in particular that I had noticed all year in Londrina was the attention one receives in the stores/restaurants, etc. from clerks/wait staff. No matter how small the store, there always seem to be 10-12 attendants (usually standing around) who are just waiting to pounce on you when you come in the door. They want to know your name and what you are looking for, and will take you around giving you suggestions, and basically never leave you alone until you leave. My jerk reaction was simply to say that I was just looking so that I could continue shopping around at my own pace until I needed help. The Brazilian response to this was “ sim, fique a vontade”, which translates more or less to “make yourself at home”, “take your time”, “do as you please” or more realistically "take your time and I will be back to start the whole process again in 3 minutes or so."

So, this “fique a vontade” would last about 3-5 minutes until the time where they would come up to you again and ask if you needed any help. Again I would say no, I’m just looking and their response would be “okay, fique a vontade”. I thought, thanks, but I’m still making myself at home from the first time you said “fique a vontade”, no need to go through this all again. Yet, you cannot really shop alone in Brazil, the sales clerks kind of follow you around while you are looking so that they are there the second you may decide to try something on or require assistance. Although this is, of course, very courteous and polite, and it shouldn't annoy me, it just does. I thought sales clerks in the U.S. were bad compared to Europe where you are really on your own as you shop, but Brazil takes service to a whole other level.

Even in the bakeries, if I didn’t know what I wanted, I would say that I was still looking and take a minute to glance at the rest of the deserts and breads in the glass case. But despite the sales girl uttering "fique a vontade", she would then proceed to shadow me along the counter until I told her what I wanted. I would have to stop and say, "No really, I don’t know yet what I would like." To which she would reply, “fique a vontade”, and yet continue to follow me around the counter;)!!! One day I was ready to just punch her in the face, I don't know!

But then it kind of struck me that this was not only a cultural difference in language and mannerisms, but really, I think, demonstrates our priorities and our entire way of interacting with others. It's funny how in the U.S. we try to make each experience as independent as possible with a minimum of human contact. Many times you don’t have to speak with anyone if you don’t want to. At the grocery stores we can do self check-out, at Kinkos, you do all your own photocopying and don’t even have to speak to an employee to pay because you have put your card in the copier directly! (I did REALLY appreciate this, by the way, when I was home:)) Most noticeably at the bank, we can do almost all of our deposits through the ATM, or we pay our bills online. In Brazil, nearly everything has to be cleared with a teller in person. Even at the gym, in the U.S. you go in and do your own workout on the machines; nobody is there to help or guide you unless you request it. And I admit, I also love this.

Going to the gym in Brazil was a major social experience because I had to speak to three different trainers when I came in the building, explaining who I was, why I was there, etc. They wouldn’t let me use any of the machines unless they were there with me showing me how it worked! Now, I guess this is a good precaution, but I did feel pretty confident about how to work everyhing since I had done it many times before, so I just found it frustrating. Each time I finished on one machine, I had to wait for somebody to lead me to the next one and tell me how many minutes or repetitions to do. It was comical, really. I wanted to go and exercise quickly for about 30 minutes ( I had class shortly afterwards) and instead I was there for 2 hours because they wouldn’t let me leave without doing a little bit on all the machines! I was picturing what my excuse would be to my students - that I was late to class because I was at the gym - this would definitely go over well in the U.S.!:)

It was nice in that you have free trainers there to guide you and probably help you have a better workout, but my impatience got the better of me and I just wanted to be able to do everything myself. This is a constant problem I have had here because since I am not Brazilian, I generally need someone's help to co-sign important papers or cash a check for me at the bank, etc. And probably it is a good lesson for me to learn to be more patient and flexible.

At any rate, I wonder if the way we organize our businesses and daily interactions really does pararell our social attitudes. I hadn't thought of it in that way before, but certainly in Brazil, their kind and social nature seems to shine through in almost every type of daily communication. And in the U.S., we can see Americans' independent, individualistic spirit in the way they like to do business. Both can do be good, and frustrating at times.

I’m guessing much of this will be the same in Sao Paulo too, but I will continue to write more impressions from there in my next entries.

I would like to say "Tchau, Londrina! I will miss this city and the marvelous people I met there very much!

Below are a few pictures from my last couple of months in the city.


The university campus







My international friends and colleagues



Dear portuguese classmates from Chile and Italy



Diego's visit from Chile




With Luis from India in Arapongas



With Arelis from Cuba






Great fellow teachers at UEL at Menina dos Olhos - goodbye happy hour



With Telma at Menina dos Olhos




Corina, Gladys, Adriana and me




Londrina by night



Sunsets from my apt.



Londrina






Adios y hasta luego!!