A few things... Italy, the church, Brazil and US...

I wasn't so wrong after all... I saw the signs and I was right, but, unfortunately where those in charge hiding the truth. Since the publication of December 2007 data I stated that the US were in recession... I thought I had misjudged but, after the official announcement today, I was right. Click on this link and look at the keywords aside and click on recession.

Italy...

A Neapolitan politician accused of instigating riots in Naples during the “rubbish crisis” has suicide. He could not bear anymore to be subject to such accusations. I do not really know if he was guilty or innocent and I am not writing here about it to talk about that. Giorgio Welby was a man that was turning himself into a vegetable due to a degenerative disease. He was used as symbol by the Radical Party and he managed to get his euthanasia in contrast to the current laws. A doctor offered to give him an injection. I do not want to talk either about the right people have to decided whether live paralised and be a problem and a weight to those he loved or else.

The thing I would like to understand is why, the politician has benefited of Church funerals and Welby has been refused the funerals… this is the Church… The same church that still orders Catholics in Africa to die and not to use condoms or the one that doesn’t support the French proposal to submit to the UN a petition where homosexuality should be no longer considered as a crime.

Sod the Church!

Ok guys,

Time to talk about Brazil.

This weekend I relaxed all day, I did virtually nothing and I had been thinking about the place I decided to live for a year.

Let’s see if I can put the things in prospective.

Brazil is a huge country, every single time I mention Brazil I mean the city where I am or the one I am referring to, unless I openly talk about Brazil.

Brazilians are the inhabitants of Brazil, Paulistanos, those of Sao Paulo, Paulistas those of the State of Sao Paulo, Cariocas the inhabitants of Rio de Janeiro.

As you can see I have been thinking a lot this weekend!

Food… My initial complaints about the food are still there but now I learned a few (expensive) restaurants and I know where to get decent meat and fish without feeling bloated. This thanks to my Paulistanos friends and colleagues that have literally adopted me, and take care of me the same way my Porteno friend took care of me 10 years ago in Argentina. Ah, portenos (the n is with the Spanish tilde, but I haven’t got it on my keyboard) are the inhabitants of Buenos Aires.

They are lovely, they do not leave me a lone one single day and I am lying to be left alone a couple of days per week…
Since I am here my habits have changed completely. In China the alarm was at 5:30-6:00 AM and first thing was the Gym, since I have been here the alarm is still at 6 but the first thing I do is deciding whether to go to the Gym or not and, most times the laziness wins. I have notices, though, that during the weekends I got no problem in finding the right motivations to get up and go so, I understood, that the main problem is the time. I must go to the gym in the afternoon. This would allow me to sleep longer in the morning and go to sleep earlier in the evening because I will be more tired. Cool! Let’s see if it works this way.

So, I was saying, food. Food is ok now and I even appreciate local stuff .Vegetables and fruits are really nice and all the tropical fruits we eat in Europe and are tasteless, over here are wonderful. Meat is great too and I enjoy the churrascaria more and more but I can only eat there at lunch during the weekends or I will not be able to sleep with so much food on the stomach… I found a very good fish restaurant that is owned by the same guy that owns my favourite Brazilian restaurant in Buenos Aires. A bit expensive but worth it. I am addicted to Tambaqui ribs… this fish is an Amazonian fish it tastes great like salt water ones and it can remind a pork rib really… Lovely! Another special thing you find over here is Cheese bread (pao de queijo), originating from the state of Mina Gerais, is now widespread in Brazil. Too tasty even to mention… My sugar level is going up just thinking of it. Another special cheese used a lot on everything you can think of is catupiry. This cheese comes from Minas Gerais too but was developed by an Italian immigrant in 1911, Mario Silvestrini. The name means Excellent and comes from an indigenous language. I do not think everyone can like that kind of soft cheese but Brazilians seem to love it. Me? It’s ok, I had better cheese. Coffee. I find Brazilian coffee generally nice and I love the Dulce de Leche Latte in Starbucks, fantastic!

Habits… Brazilians are bloody noisy! They are far worse than the Italians and restaurants with more than 15 tables require some ear plugs. They smoke like Turks and this despite the shock advertising campaign showing very crude pictures on the cigarette packets. I find rather disgusting those packets and, frankly, if I had not given up two years ago, this would have been the right time to do so. Take a look at this link to view the one that really shocked me. Be careful it can be really shocking!!! Link

Work wise Brazilians are very similar to Argentines, they are fairly relaxed and meeting at 9 doesn’t really mean meeting at 9, means that perhaps at 9 or 10 or during the day they will be in touch and postpone the meeting to another day… they great you with Tudo bem? But they really don’t care if you are fine or not, that is just a way to say hello like the American’s “how are you?” they cannot care less if you just found out to have 3 months of life left or you are in perfect health… It’s just hello!

Talking to women you realise that men here are pretty macho but, frankly, I do not get that impression while in Argentina was more visible, here it doesn’t seem so. Women, though, here are more forward than in Argentina or other parts of Europe, even eastern Europe. They do make sure you know they are interested in you and it’s up to you to pursue or keep off. A smile given to a lady looking at you is a sign of interest so, if you smile by mistake, make sure you turn your face immediately or you will have a lady chatting you up with the usual introduction questions used worldwide: How are you, where you from, do you like Brazil, how long will you be here and finally are you married? From the answer of the last question and answer depends your evening and perhaps the remaining part of your stay in Brazil. Ladies here seem to be more passionate than anywhere else and despite their openness, this ceases when you have been kissing for 3 or 4 hours the first night. They are really possessive and don’t even try to lie to them if you want to stay in the country. I heard of horror stories of women feeling teased and betrayed and you rather spend an evening with Glen Close in Fatal Attraction than with a Ana Paula or Beatrix in a disco…

Kissing is the national sport and means perfectly nothing! Kissing here is just an alternative to spend a lot of money on alcohol or a way to communicate with people who do not speak your language. Brazilians kiss for sport, they must have read that kissing burns calories and they do it even with more than one person during the same night. Looking at them kissing makes you realise that, effectively, the act of kissing came from feeding the children, a bit like the birds do, but it has evolved in the opposite direction: seems like they are trying to eat you! If they could they will bite your head off!

What else guys? Are they sexy? Yes they are. Are men sexy? They look sexy and according to Brazilian ladies they are the hottest lovers in the world. This has been confirmed by some non Brazilian friends of mine. How about women? Seems like they are excellent lovers too and they are pretty submissive more than dominant.

What do Brazilians do generally during the weekends is a bit of a mystery to know. When you ask how was the weekend to the married ones, the answer is “ok” to the single ones the answer is “good”. Have you done anything special? No, is the answer. I found out that a friend and his wife went to Iguazu to the waterfalls and he said that he did nothing special during the weekend… so I start thinking that their expectations are set quite high up…

The divorce rate in this country must be pretty high, nearly everyone i know has divorced at least once and has children. The laws protect divorcee mothers and, according to some friends, this is the reason why most women get pregnant young and then they leave their husbands with all sort of excuses or reasons. Failing to pay alimony here is like failing to pay tax in the US: prison is guaranteed! Funny enough, i was thinking to compare something so harsh and cohercitive in Italy but there is really nothing in my country that can be compared to anything harsh happening in other countries...

How about foreigners here? They are really sought after by local women. They love foreigners. Not even in China i found so much love towards Westerners. Amazing. They really track them down and the older they are the better! Men over 50 are really the favourite prey of Brazilian ladies in the bracket 30-40 while younger girls prefer same age partners or sugar daddies (50+).

Sao Paulo doesn’t have a huge foreign population so we are rare beasts when we go out. Whether you are accompanied by a lady or by a group, this doesn’t stop girls from launching hungry (i should say horny) glances and drop you a mobile phone number. Nothing stops them. Women! If your husband or boyfriend loves Sao Paulo, there can be a reason or two but they are both of the female gender! Sao Paulo as city can be compared to Milan but with less snob population. Frankly, if you love Milan, you should go for a shrink therapy, same if you love Sao Paulo. Yes, the nightlife is wonderful but there are so many cons that offset the few pros and living here forever for me in unthinkable.

Delays... Traffic... seems like everything is delayed here. Traffic is much worse than Beijing one and same for pollution. No to mention an open air sew, called river Pinheiro, that produces tons of mosquitoes and a very bad smell. For a normal 20/30 minutes rides from North to South of the Capital it might take up to 2 hours during rush hours. This morning a colleague told me that it took her 150 minutes to reach the office... that is more than double the normal rush hour time and 5 times the normal off peak hour’s.

Bob Sinclar concert. On the ticket with the inevitable typo “Sinclair”, says 23:00. I thought to be there by 23:00 but a colleague’s son recommended us to be there by 22:00... so at 22:40 we, three of us, where the second group to arrive there. There was just a couple exercising for the evening marathon, the kissing one i mentioned before. By 23:30 we must have been 20 people and the gates still well closed. At 00:05 the gates opened and we must have been no more than a hundred people. At 00:30 we were inside and the disco opened around 1:00 and Bob sinclar started performing at 1:30... Great show, but started 3 hours after we arrived there and 2:30 minutes late. At 4:15 i couldn’t cope anymore with the heat, the music, the people, the noise... Off I go! Straight to bed! The oldest people in the group left with me and, once again, this was a sign of age. The youngsters left at 6:30 and probably just because they were thrown out.

What kind of people attended the disco, Pacha? Youngsters. Majority in their early 20’s and many Asians. More women than men, for sure and very attractive ones. I highly recommend this place to single guys.

The rest of the weekend i was destroyed! I managed to go out to a park, to go to the gym, eat twice out and for dinner, room service.

This week i will take it much much easier! Age is age.

Now, something sad to mention.

The State of Santa Catarina has suffered tremendous floods and the situation doesn’t seem to improve. 114 people were killed due, mainly, to Mudslide and tens of thousands do not have homes to go to. There are still some people missing and dozens of towns isolated and unreachable via land. 52 centimeters of rain have fallen in a few days, this is 4 times the average for this time of the year. 160K people are left without electricity and 1.5 million people have been affected by landslide! The bad news is that the rains are likely to continue and watching TV doesn’t give you the impression that things are getting better... nearly 1 billion dollar aids have been allocated by the Federal Government plus volunteers are campaigning to collect funds and anything that can be used to relief those affected by this tragedy.

Far too many tragedies i have seen this year. Between China and here.

Till next guys,

PS sorry about al the i's that should be I's but my spellchecker is crap!