Me Ol' China! Vento do Brasil 2008, semana zero!

Me Ol’ China, I am typing while on board an Alitalia flight to Sao Paulo. It has been a bit of a tragic comedy this trip as I booked, initially, an Alitalia flight but, due to the company’s troubles I cancelled the booking (150 Euro cost, plus 20 euro for Expedia) and booked an economy flight with Aerolineas Argentinas (Rome – Buenos Aires – Sao Paulo) but considering the length of the flight and the fact that all of a sudden Business class seats were available, I opted for an upgrade (Fee 120 for the cancellation of the previous ticket, plus 20 Euro for Expedia). Only thanks to my dear young brother in Sydney I discovered that the flight was delayed by 4h30m and would have made my trip to Sao Paulo a 30 hours long journey… So, I cancelled (20 Euro for Expedia), and booked an Alitalia Business Class flight… So, I should land at 5 AM in Brazil and I hope the driver in Sao Paulo is aware of this change of programs… I will let you know next week.

However, I didn’t want to entertain you about my flights and cancellations but I wanted to explain why this Blog is now called “Vento do Brasil 1984-2008”.

Portuguese was the first language I studied when I was young. In 1984, I was a happy athlete, with a lovely (not really, but at the time seemed so) girlfriend and a fantastic holiday in Southern Italy to look forward to.

That Summer, my sister, met some guys from Brazil. I still remember the names of many of them. Gerson, Sergio, Miguel, Adriano and some other guys with some odd, at least they seemed so at the time, names.

They were happy and full of life and I enjoyed greatly being around them. They used to call me Gininho due to the fact that I was much younger than them and I showed great interested in learning Portuguese. I started taking a liking at Brazilian music and this pleasure is still there. 24 years later I still sing in Portuguese and I love my Escravo de Alegria’s and Voce Abusou, Aquarela and Aguas de Marco and so on...

Sorry guys, small break. Food is being served.

October 12th 11 AM, Sao Paulo Time.

So I had two breakfasts in the mean time, been to the gym, spoken to some friends on MSN, spoken to my wife and gone through a stressful morning because my contact here in Brazil has not informed the driver of the change of plans so I was stranded at the airport without cash, my mobile and laptop working and God knows what else! What a morning guys! Now I am relaxing and watching TV with a stinking headache that should go soon or I hit the wall with my big head!

The apartment hotel I am staying is really small but it is ok for a week or two or… fifty two… the weather is really crappy and the city looks a bit rundown.

The area I am staying, allegedly, is a good one but, to be honest, I wouldn’t be able to distinguish a good from a bad one unless someone points it out to me.

Brazil is going to be more mysterious than China for me and, I hope, equally interesting and fulfilling.

Oh sugar! I forgot! Let me go back to 1984…

Actually I loved Brazilian songs so much that I started singing only songs in Portuguese and even those in Italian started getting a sort of Portuguese accent… my girlfriend, at the time, hated me singing and she hated even more me singing in Portuguese. What a bitch she was!
1988, I was in Florence and guess who I met? My old friends… They were signing in a place called Be Bop in the centre of Florence and in another place called Paradise in Fiesole… They remembered I used to sing and they asked me if I could sing with them to replace a vocalist that was off sick… I loved the idea and I had no hesitation in accepting it.

It was a great success and Gininho, o piccolo, started being part of the band, until I went back to my usual business because there was plenty of fun but no money to collect…

Since then I lost touch with them and never heard from any of the guys. Why Vento do Brasil? Because a tape we recorded was called like that, Vento do Brasil 1984.

In 1988 I was back to Brazil for a few weeks for business and the dream of a place with carioca girls and paulistas was, instead, overshadowed by gamins, street boys, begging and committing crimes and people kicking them away as if they were stray dogs… sad, too sad to go back, ever…

Ever… in 1999 back again for s short time and refused the idea of moving here for the same reason: too much poverty… But now, here I am… In Sao Paulo and I hope everything will go well and that I will learn to get the hidden positive aspects of this place.

This blog has required a 24 hours effort… Between the take off from Rome and 25 hours later after a nice lunch in a churrascaria. Very nice food and good value for money if one eats like an Ogre.

I am now trying to cool off from the evening gym session. Twice per day, I must lose weight but it is hard to restart after a week of inactivity due to a fall occurred in Venice at a petrol station… anyway, me old China, I will keep you updated about Brazil and Sao Paulo. Take care and have a lovely week!

Cheers!