Tag Archives: Sao Paulo

Being in Brazil

26 Thursday May 2022

Posted by in Daily Life, Finding Me

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“The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.” ― G.K. Chesterton

I have been in Brazil now since May 11th.  I am returning to NY this Saturday, May 28.  I love being in Brazil with my parents, but I miss my routine in the US. 

I came back to Brazil to bring my mother back after her stay in NY, and also to give my brother a vacation from taking care of my parents.  He went to Porto Seguro, Bahia, where it is always sunny and hot. 

In our area, in the Southeast of Brazil, it has been chilly. There is no indoor heating.  I have been trying to talk my parents into getting a heater but it has been tough for them to accept it.  Anything new to my parents, it is a waste of money.  It doesn’t matter if I am the one paying for.

“It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about?” ― Henry David Thoreau

While here I am spending most of my time:

  • Preparing lunch.  Lunch is a big deal here.  Right at breakfast we talk about what will be on the menu for lunch. There is always rice, beans and a salad.  Then a protein, mostly beef or chicken, and vegetables, anything from zucchini to okra.
  • Fixing stuff around the house/buying stuff. I bought new hampers and other accessories for the home, I cemented some loose stones around the the balcony and garage, cleaned closets, etc.
  • Having friends over for afternoon coffee.  Not all of them tell us they are coming.  Some just show up.  There is always country cheese, and a combination of breads, cookies, cheese bread, etc on the table.  
  • Working remotely.  I have been doing office work a few hours a day.  It is not as productive as when I am in the office, and often frustrating to work on a tiny laptop, but I have been getting stuff done.
  • Pilates.  I started on the day arrived and have been going every day for one hour.  The studio is around the corner from my house.  It has been amazing!!  I wish I could do Pilates every day forever.  
  • Answering the door.  There are all kinds of people selling all kinds of stuff.    We are customers of some of them for years. We buy everything from produce to water.  There is always some new face selling something.  My parents buy something from everyone to help them out.

I do a lot here, and still doesn’t feel I am doing enough or as much as I should. I arrive full of plans, and want to go home feeling I have accomplished a lot.

Lately when I am in Brazil I mostly stay with my parents.  I want to spend as much time with them as I can while I have them.  But the other evening I decided to meet some girlfriends for a drink.  We had pizza and wine, and it was a lot fun.

Since getting Covid in December I haven’t been myself mentally.  I forget things, I mess up things.  My family noticed and they are urging me to see a doctor.   Just today I went to another town one hour away to deliver some documents.  When I got there, I realized that I had taken the wrong envelope.  This type of situation has been a constant for me, daily. 

I hope this mental fogginess gets better.  The heartburn and anxiety are gone, so I have faith it is a matter of time.   It is just tough right now to be second guessing myself and see myself becoming insecure and unsure.

See you back in NY! 🙂

https://www.instagram.com/blessedwithastar/?hl=en

“One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

 

 

Happy to go and happy to return!

16 Wednesday Jun 2021

Posted by in Daily Life, Daily Message, Finding Me

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“Usually, there is nothing more pleasing that returning to a place where you have endured hardship.” ― Tahir Shah

I just arrived from Brazil.  Exhausted, but so happy I went!

When I left, I had great plans for this blog.  I was going to post something every day. There would be tons of pictures.  I assumed, incorrectly, that I would have the time and energy to write, and to also do my office work.  None of that happened.

Instead I devoted my time to my family.  I got there and gave my brother a much deserved break.  I was left in charge of everything, including meals, medication and taking my Mom to a couple of doctor’s appointment.

I have a renewed respect and understanding for all that my brother has been doing.  It is not easy!  And to cook, on top of it all!  Lunch is a huge affair in Brazil, specially at my house. At breakfast there is already discussion about the menu for lunch.

I will talk more about that and other details about being in Brazil.  At the moment I am scrambling to catch up with work stuff.  Work has been neglected. I have been neglected.  I neglected you.

Gotta run, just wanted to say hi.  I look forward to catching up to everyone’s blog/life.  I have missed you!!

“If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here and now and when you get there, you will discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful and strong.” ― Masaru Emoto

Far away family and unfinished floors

25 Wednesday Mar 2020

Posted by in Daily Life

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“None of us knows what might happen even the next minute, yet still we go forward. Because we trust. Because we have Faith.”― Paulo Coelho

My friend, and fellow blogger, David from Life and Random Thinking https://dfolstad58.wordpress.com/ asked me 2 questions while commenting on a post.  Here are the questions and answers:

David asked: How is your mom in Brazil? How did your reno turn out?

My family in Brazil.  My family lives in a town in the state of Sao Paulo.  The population is about 85,000.  As of this moment there are no confirmed cases of the Coronavirus there, but I think it is only a matter of time.  

Healthcare in Brazil is really bad.  Too often hospitals lack equipment and space.  I cannot imagine what will happen if they become inundated with cases. On top of that, our president follows everything Trump says and does.  Right now he is arguing with governors and mayors over what he calls “overreaction”. 

My parents don’t seem too worried about themselves, or at least they don’t show.  They worry about the economy and the people that cannot afford to stay at home until this is over.  Mom is also sad that all our travel plans had to be canceled.  She was coming to NY in April.  Now all is on hold.

I remain positive that my mother, who is turning 85 years old on May 1st and my dad who is 83 will be okay.  They are homebodies anyway so it is not hard to keep them at home.  I worry about the people that normally come to the house.  

“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” ― George Burns

My brother, who is 62 years old, is the one that oversees the care of my parents.  He lives in the little house in the back of their house, so he is always there.  There is a lady that cleans the house twice a week and there is a nurse that comes once or twice a week to check on my dad issues with his leg (he had one leg amputated due to cancer). 

On our daily phone call, my sister and I have been stressing to them the need to use hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes everywhere.  At this point we need to trust that they will do their best to keep my parents safe.

Living far from my parents for the past 36 years I had to learn to come to terms with many things.  There is not a lot I can do being far away, other than helping them financially.  Time doesn’t stop for anyone, they are getting older and will eventually part.  Every time I visit them it could be the last.  So I do all I can from here and every time I am there I make the most of it.  No regrets.

“All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Apartment Renovation:  Don’t ask!  Just kidding, you can ask, but you just reminded me that my renovation is unfinished.  Not that I don’t see it every day. I have just been avoiding thinking about it.

The painting is done.  So are, the light fixtures, some removed and some hung up.  The flooring is another story. 

At this moment my sister’s bedroom has the new floor but the shoe moldings hasn’t been finished.  A friend who is a painter was doing the floor for me.  He said he knew how to do floors and he had done a few before.  Clearly he didn’t know anything about padding. 

When I mentioned wanting to keep the same padding that was under the carpeting that was removed he didn’t fight me on it.  Clearly it was the wrong call. When you step on the floor it moves.  He wanted to redo it right away, but I didn’t have the mental energy for it.  I got so frustrated that I halted everything.  

The picture below is my sister’s room.  Because the moldings weren’t finished the planks are moving, so the gaps are starting to show and become wider.

My sister’s room

My bedroom has only padding on the floor, as you can see on the picture below.  Even though my carpet wasn’t that bad I went ahead and removed it, thinking that the floor was going to be installed right away.   

All the flooring and the padding material are now hidden under my bed waiting until my mind is clear so I can choose what to do next.  I put some rugs down for now.

Please note that my friend was not doing me a favor, I probably paid him more than the going rate for the job. I don’t blame him.  I blame myself.

My bedroom

“The true genius shudders at incompleteness — imperfection — and usually prefers silence to saying the something which is not everything that should be said.”― Edgar Allan Poe

Thank you for asking David! You probably didn’t intend on getting such a long answer.  Be careful what you ask for/about! 🙂 ♥♥

Be blessed and safe everyone!

BRAZIL: The revolt of the Happy Giant!

20 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by in Daily Life, EX Files

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“World peace must develop from inner peace. Peace is not just mere absence of violence. Peace is, I think, the manifestation of human compassion.” 
― Dalai Lama 

Please note: I am the least political person in the world. I don’t like discussing politics and religion, normally wanting to keep my opinions to myself and avoiding conflict. I will tell anyone what I think if I am asked but I will not go out of my way to address certain issues.  I also don’t feel I have read enough and understand enough to opine, but I feel the need to say something, from my Brazilian heart.  There is danger in keeping quiet, there is danger in not voicing your opinions, there is danger in going with the flow.

In addition, Ex sent me a text saying how sorry he was about the protests going on in Brazil.  I replied thanking him and saying it was a good thing.  He was shocked by my reply to agreeing with a protest for a few cents.  This morning he sent me this article saying that now that he read it my reply makes more sense:

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-988431?hpt=hp_bn8

So,  I decided to write about the protest going on in Brazil right now.

“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.” 
― William Wilberforce

Today I am wearing my Brazilian Soccer jersey, which a lot of my co-workers thought it was because Brazil beat Mexico yesterday in a soccer game. So I guess I am killing 2 birds with one stone 🙂  My soccer jersey is to show my support to Brazil and perhaps an invitation to people to talk to me about Brazil, and I can’t deny I love Brazilian soccer.

The idea of the protest in Brazil is a good thing. I think it does lack a bit of clarity.  Is there a clear list of demands? oh wait, is that what protesters do or perhaps that is what hijackers do? whatever it is I am confused to what we (Brazilians) want.  We want change, but perhaps at this time we need to be more specific and spell it out the list of changes!

“Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.” 
― Albert Schweitzer

The protest is not about the increase of a few cents on public transportation fares! It is about the never ending corruption and inequality.  It is about the changing of laws to protect the corrupt and powerful. It is about hospitals and schools in deplorable state.  It is about so much more.

I hate to see hurt and destruction provoked by vandals and criminals that take the opportunity of the protest to cause chaos; but to the protest and the reasons behind it I say: “It is about time!”

Next year will mark 30 years of leaving Brazil and living in the USA.  In all these  years I go to Brazil every year and have the opportunity to notice the changes in our economy and way of life.  Also my family lives there, so I know how their lives have improved.  Brazilians now have jobs available, we are eating better, travelling more, have access to everything the First world has (and speaking of First world, Second World, Third World, what is up with that? we are all one world!!!).  We have come a long way, and I see improvements in most areas, but still we are so far from where we could and should be.

Education, healthcare and the justice system needs an immediate overhaul.  Income inequality is another area that needs to be addressed asap.

The past several years I have witnessed a resurgence of “being proud to be Brazilian”.  I credit Lula (former President  Luis Inacio Lula da Silva) for putting Brazil in the world economy map and bringing about change.  I may not agree with everything he has done, and he has had his share of political scandals, but there was decidedly an improvement in the economy in Brazil caused by his presidency.  No single person alone can change a country and please everybody.

“Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace.” 
― Amelia Earhart

When I speak,  I speak of my experience, I speak of my family’s experience living in the suburbs of Sao Paulo. The experience and lives of people living in other areas of huge Brazil are vastly different.  The truth is, to one degree or another the entire Brazil suffers.

I have been happy with the little improvements in Brazil.  Perhaps that has been Brazil’s problem all along: to be happy with the little that has been offered, never causing any waves, always wanting to please.  When you never had much a little can seem huge! As long as we have our Sunday football, yearly carnival, daily soap operas, we are happy and quiet!

Criminals go impune hiding behind an outdated criminal code (he/she is a minor, it is his/her first offense, and the list to go totally scot free goes on and on and on.  Criminals get arrested today and go free on the same day.  The Brazilian Legal System has become a joke.  Brazilians citizens have lost total faith.

I pray this opportunity for the Powers that Be to take notice and do something about it is not wasted. But honestly I don’t have high hopes.

In Brazil we are so used to things not getting done, not getting resolved, specially with the politicians in Brasilia, that we even coined a term “tudo vai acabar em pizza”, meaning “everything will end up in pizza”.  It means they will talk about it, fight with each other, say they have the people’s best interest at heart, but in the end all stays the same and the politicians, or the people in charge, end up in a bar eating pizza together.

The coming up World Cup is the icing on the corruption cake! Where is all the money going?

I am proud, happy and blessed to be both Brazilian and American. My prayers go to my fellow Brazilians living in Brazil.  May we be noticed and heard!

My truth is I have 2 loves which I cannot say which one I love more.  Brazil is my first love, Brazil is in my blood and in my heart.  US is my day to day, the welcoming open arms, the land of opportunity. Brazil is my biological country, US is my adoptive country!

My heart aches for Brazil, Turkey, Syria, anywhere and everywhere in the world where there is political turmoil and unrest.  May compassion be in the heart of all, may the powerful be kind, may the weak be strong.  May understanding be a bridge to a peaceful destination.

“The day the power of love overrules the love of power, the world will know peace.” 

― Mahatma Gandhi