Christmas in Brazil

In Brazil Christmas is celebrated on the 24th.. well midnight on the 24th.
On the evening of the 24th families tend to have a big meal and then will exchange gifts at midnight. There are fireworks, lots of drinking and the 25th is spent pretty much hungover!

We are each going to cook something for the meal. I wanted to make something traditionally English. I was going to make mince pies but they don't have mincemeat here and I was too lazy to make my own. Then I thought of trifle, but they don't have custard here. Or fresh cream. Or whole milk - only the UHT stuff. So I thought I would make fairy cakes and decorate festively.  However they only seem to sell teeny weeny cake cases for truffles in the super market.

Seriously Brazil!!! Why are you trying to stop me from baking?!

So I opted for a Victoria sponge cake in a ring tin as that was the only cake tin in the house, with butter icing and some festive decoration.

The cake slightly fell apart because of the ring, and then was undercooked, so I had to put it back in the oven. Then the butter icing completely melted and it was pretty much a disaster!

 We spent the Christmas Eve afternoon at a a friend's house by the pool.

 We then headed home to finish cooking dinner and to put the presents around the tree!

 For dinner we had salmon, Turkey, potato salad, tabbouleh and tuna salad.

 After dinner we opened presents. We didn't wait until midnight as Fabio's brother had to drive back to Floripa.

Neuci - Fabio's mum

Fabio with his stocking!

I bought Fabio some gliders but it seemed his Dad was more excited about them!

 Opening a present from Katy and Seb.
It was a union jack bag!

 Fabio was very excited over his water pistol, unfortunately us and the dogs who he kept using it on weren't!

 Charms Fabio bought me!

Feliz Natal!!!

Pool Day!

Wednesday, we spent the day at a friend's apartment, at the pool!

In 39c heat, drinking champagne and eating pastels.

It was such a nice, relaxing lazy day and  I could definitely get used to it!

Fabio, Me, Tiago - my 'brother from another mother', Tiago's Mum

Joinville Weather

Joinville weather is schizophrenic.

The other day is rained really heavily for about 3 hours. As a result downtown was flooded.

 

 Then again yesterday there was more rain and hailstones!!

 

 There was also an amazing lightening storm.



And the weather today... glorious sunshine and 30°C!!! for now anyway!


Well, they do say that Joinville is the 2nd rainiest place in Brazil!!

Brazilian Engagement Traditions

In Brazil when you are dating the couple both have silver bands,worn on the right hand. When you become engaged you have a gold band, again worn on the right hand. When you actually get married you then use the same ring on the left hand.


However both of us prefer silver, I wanted to wear the ring on my left hand being English and Fabio's finger on his right hand was fatter so it alternating to see which he prefers! A mix of both cultures!

He has my name engraved on the inside of his ring and I have his on the inside of my ring!

This article here gives you a bit more of an insight!

In case you hadn't guessed.. we are engaged!!

This week I have mainly just been... going out!

On Thursday I went to Joinville Square Gardens. I went to a formatura there in January. But this time it was as a club. Instead of it being the main hall, it was the (mostly apart from the bits not sheltered by the rain) covered outside.

It was Tiko Groove and some other DJ playing Electronic music. Not normally my type of music but it was fun to get out and people watch. Apparently it is the cool thing to wear sunglasses... at night.. in a club... a dark club!

 

 On Sunday there were some big football games on, so  I went with a group a girls to Madrileño Bar to watch them. It was quite entertaining watching the crowds reaction and then there were two big fights between the teams. The best part was though, as there were 5 of us and being female we were given a bottle of smirnoff vodka! They have a really good system where you leave your name on it and can leave it behind the bar if you don't finish it all.

We then headed to Expresso where they were playing live Pagode. 

In the garden

 In the garden there is......
 an ajabuticaba tree

 

 

Jabuticaba Tree

 a passion fruit tree

Passion Fruit

a banana tree

 And some pretty flowers....

New Year Traditions in Brazil

In Brazil for New Year people tend to wear white as it symbolises harmony, balance, and can be used to purify energies for a peaceful new year.

Also the colour of your underwear is what determines what you want most in the year to come!! 

Red - Passion and desire.
Yellow - Money.
Blue - Power and action.
Green - Health and justice.
Pink - Love.
Violet - Transformation
White - Peace
 

Most people will go to the beach for New Year and at midnight jump seven waves and throw flowers in the sea, while making a wish. This is also supposed to bring good luck and fortune.They say that the goddess who protects the sea will make their wishes come true. Because of that, some people also light candles in the sand on the beach. 

We are heading to Portobello Beach today to stay at a friends and spend New Year there.

Happy New Year and see you in 2012!!!

On Friday we helped a friend move from Joinville to Portabello Beach about an hours drive away.  The apartment is about a 10 minute walk from the actual beach.. not jealous at all.

Portabello Beach

After moving everything, having some lunch and some beer and a nap (Another think I love about Brazil - napping!) we caught the bus to São José to see Fabio's brother and his fiancee. His fiancee's niece was in a dance show at Colegio Gardener, so we went to see that. It was all about Evolution and showed different dances through different time periods.

After we went to a rodizio de pizza. Basically you sit at a table, which has a a wheel that you can change to say if you want salgado  (salty), doce (sweet), both or if you are full. They keep offering you pizza until you are full. The best one was a chocolate pizza with ice cream on!


On Saturday we headed to Lagoa da conceição in Floripa.

We had a sequencia de camarões, where they bring out shrimp in various recipes.

After this we walked along the coast, took lots of photos and ate ice cream.

Mirantes

In the evening I introduced them to veggie burgers, which went down as well as can be expected!

Fabio, Me, Neuci, Titi, Felipe

We were invited to another BBQ. I love the fact that one minute we have no plans and then in half an hour we have too many plans. In England when I meet up with friends it requires a lot of planning, date/time changes. In Brazil you phone someone, go and buy beer and meat and the party begins!

At about 10pm at this BBQ a couple turned up with a baby. I would have thought it was way past this 4 months old baby´s bed time but she seemed quite happy. The music wasn´t turned down and she seemed quite content. Even when she went to bed, the party continued as normal.

Then at about midnight another couple turned up wth their 9 month old baby. Again she had no problems with the party, noise or random people and was still up at 3am when her parents left.

On one hand I like the fact that these parent´s socialising and lives don´t end when they have a baby but on the other hand what is the routine for the baby? How do the couple really surive with the lack of sleep a baby brings and still manage to socialise?!

Just another cultural difference Brazil has......

I have finally go over the trauma of my flight.

Last weeknd was spent catching up with friends. We went over to Taby and Tiago´s for a BBQ.

We then decided to head to Luiz´s beach house and hung out there for most of the weekend and headed back to Joinville late Sunday evening.

The rest of the week I have been relaxing and catching up with more friends! :D

I hate TAM airlines

Back in Brazil after quite possibly the worst flight I have ever had. I feel like that is a bit harsh as I did just manage to make all my connections and get here at the time I said I would, but not without problems.

First of all Brazil sent a plane over to Heathrow that was too small. TAM airlines were offering people checking in at Heathrow 400 pounds to go on the next flight. As I had flown from Manchester, I was already checked in and wasn´t offered this, as I may have taken it!! As we were boarding some people were being taken to one side, but no one was told what was going on. We sat on the plane the pilot announced we were going to fly via Recife. This is way up in the north about 1652miles frm Sao Paulo. Still not having a clue what was going on, we continued to sit on the plane. I earwigged on the girl´s conversation next to me and found out about the plane situation. We were going to fly via Recife to either change planes or change staff. I also found out that there were 2 spare seats, so the plane size was ok. After sitting for longer and it being half an hour past our alloted time. They then announced that they needed 3 volunteers to get off the flight. After more faffing and it sorted itself out. However by this time it was an hour past our slot and they cancelled the flight.

Cue lots of very unhappy people. We all got off the plane and went back through immigration and were at baggage claim. There were whispers of coachs waiting outside to take us to hotels but again no proper information. Then they wouldn´t give us our bags back as they said we would be using the same plane when we probably flew tomorrow. Nobody seemed to know anything, not even the staff.


Fortunately 2 hours after we should have flown they announced that we were going to fly that night and we all bundled onto the plane.

By this point I was so tired and happy to actually be on my way, I fell alseep, woke up later and nearly fainted. I am not sure if I was too hot or tired but there was something going on!


We finally arrived in Sao Paulo at 9.25am I should have arrived at 6.05am but I thought I would still have enough time to get my next flight at 11.55. I got in baggage claim and waited for my bags... and waited......and waited.... and waited..... for an hour. It was now 10.45am, no bags and still hadn´t checked in for my other flight. I kept asking people if more bags were coming out and was told to wait. Finally when there were 4 people left, they realised that our luggage had been lost. After more faffing and form filling and I was finially escorted through customs when I ran round like a headless chicken trying to figure out where to check in. It was now 11.15 and I was sure that check in had closed.


Eventually I  found the right desk and burst in tears and kept saying ´´I have missed check in´. A rather bemused girl asked me where I was going and if I had any luggague, cue more tears as I said it had been lost. ´TAM?´ she said sympathetically (Seems it must be  regualt occurence!), gave me boardng card, and pointed me in the right direction. Ran through security and surprise surprise actually mananged to make the flight!!!


The flight to Joinville was only about an hour wher I managed to squeeze myself into the tiny toilet and at least brush my teeth for the first time in over a day. 


We spoke to rep at Joinville airport who told me my bags were in Sao Paulo and would probably be delivered today on the next flight at around 5. After calling them again later that night. We were told that actually my bags were in London and never made it on the flight!!!! and should probably come in tomorrow.
After a few more phone calls, my bags finally turned up on Saturday evening. Accompanied by a reciept confirming my bags had been recieved on the 6th Ocotber..... funny that I was still in the UK and hadn´t even packed then!!


What I found really frustrating about the whole flight was the lack of communication and information about anything. Even when they did give info in London, it was all in Portuguese so half of us never knew what was going on. When we were given information, most of the time it was wrong. TAM sort yourself out!!!

Happier post to come next time!

Back to Brazil

After 7 months away from Brazil, I am heading back for just under 3 months.
I will be in Brazil for Christmas and New year! Looking forward to be in a sunny climate instead of the snow over Christmas... but will it be the same?

I'll keep you updated!!

So the destination of choice was Winchester via the super cheap Megabus to see Rose and Keith.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous and the few days consisted of going to Winchester Cathedral.Walking round AlresfordWatching the alpacas in the back garden

and just general eating, drinking and relaxing in the garden!

Again, it has been a while...

I met up with (nearly) all of my old uni friends. It was so god to catch up with them all, for Emily and I it had been over 5 years since we last saw each other!Then, it was a colleague's Wedding, much fun and dancing was had.Last week Sian came up we mostly ate, went to Betty's Tea room. shopped, ate some more, chatted, ate some more and .. oh ate some more!
Tomorrow I am off to Party in the Park and just found out I have no students so have next week off..... oh the possibilities!!

It's been a long time, as nothing really has been happening. I have just been working lots!!
I have been working at the pub, teaching at the school, teaching private lessons and learning Portuguese.

All of my Arabic housewives have left for the summer, so we have lots of new students. At the moment I am teaching a weightlifter from Spain, a 16 year old boy and his Dad and another Saudi boy with the biggest afro ever. They dynamics in in the class are interesting to say the least!! It is nice to have a mix of langauges and students after having the same students for 14 weeks.

This month is going to be a busy one. Last weekend I went to see Footloose at The Grand Theatre, which was really good. This weekend, a Uni reunion, then a colleagues wedding, then another friend is coming up and then a possible visit from a friend from NYC.

However more importantly, I have booked a flight back to Brazil in October for about 3 months. I am super excited to spend Christmas and New Year at the beach and in the sun! :D

It's been 3 weeks since my last post and I feel under pressure to write something....
But really nothing exciting has been happening.
I have just been trying to get back into a routine - which has been hard with all the bank holidays and long weekends.
The weather has been really nice and Katy and I have been checking out all the local beer gardens and just generally enjoying ourselves!!

I arrived in Rio yesterday and am staying with a friend in Jardim Botânico.

She has a really nice apartment and is it nice to stay with her and her family and get a real perspective of Rio, not the touristy version.

Today we went to see Christ the Redeemer, unfortunately it was really cloudy, so I didn't get a view of the city but I did manage to get some good photos of the Christ.

After we had a quick walk around Parque Lage and Escola de Artes Visuais de Parque Lage

We then hung out in Leblon, did some window shopping and walked along the beach, while Grace's son has basketball practice.

Finally we had a sunny day, so we walked to the zoo/botanical park. There wasn´t that much there but it was better than sitting at home!!

One thing I had forgotton about but love about Brazil is the abilty to have random parties or gatherings at a moments notice. On Saturday, I went to an ex-collegue´s boyfriend´s Birthday, ate lots of fresh mussels, practised lots of portuguese and drank lots of tequlia.

Last night we had an impromptu dinner at a friend´s house. I love that. To see my friends in the UK, we have to organise it at least a few weeks in advance and plan everything, organise lifts, if people are staying over. Here in Brazil, it just happens and nobody stresses about any of it!

On Saturday, we have been invited to another ex-collegue´s boyfriend´s mum´s Formatura or Graduation. They are a HUGE deal here, so it should be exciting to experience it.

Today I went to a Formatura of an ex collegue´s boyfriend´s mum!

A formature is basically a graduation but on a huuuuuuuge scale. This blog sort of describes the madness involved.

This one was at Joinville Square Gardens. There had been other parties he night before and this was the final one. Basically it was just another excuse to drink and dance. It was a big hall with seperate tables for each student.

All the student´s names were announced and the the student danced with their husband or wife, then children, then we all go to dance!

Lots of wigs, glasses and feather boas were produced and we all dressed up as well.

Chuva, Chuva, Chuva!!

It´s been raining - A LOT. Downtown is flooded but some how yesterday we didn´t have any water...!

I spent Carnaval in Portobello, at a friend's beach house a beach town about 2 hours drive from Joinville.

I had toyed with the idea of going to Salvador for Carnaval but didn't think I was up for the crowds, sweaty bodies and groping that would happen.

This video gives you an idea of it all.



It was a pretty chilled affair with lots of drinking, lying on the beach and eating.

The first night we went to Bombinha's and there was a parade and a beach party.


The weather was pretty good, as in Joinville at the moment, all it seems to do is rain!

Yesterday it was Joinville's 160th Birthday and there was a parade and an exhibition centre. I managed to get a rose for being a woman, a recycled bag and a coconut plant!
However it began to chuck it down again, so we only saw part of the parade.