As the last few weekends are ahead of us (woohoo!) we are trying to make the most of them more. Marcela invited us to her countryside house, which was just a couple of hours outside of the city, so we all drove over for a bbq and catch up chill out weekend (why ever not?!). Weekends like this are why living in Brazil can be great fun!
Giggling girls
Pod, Fernanda, Luke and JC
The house was beautiful. I loved the huge veranda, it really felt like being back in Kenya. I really struggle with the lack of space and openness in Sao Paulo, so being in the country house was perfect! We had a very Brazilian bbq so got to sample loads of new foods, and enjoyed a leisurely catch up.
One of the things I miss massively about London is how easy it is to go to the theatre. A friend in work, Amanda invited Emma and I to watch the Lion King, something I'd wanted to see in years. Well, it was all in Portuguese, which was a little tricky, but it is a familiar story and the songs were all to the same Disney tunes, despite the language change so we were happy to sing along...except for Hakuna Matata of course, the Swahili was kept! The talent, costumes and stage were just amazing. It was so, so good. I loved how the African landscape was portrayed, and it made me feel very excited and happy about going back.
The hardest part was the Brazilian nature of it.....I challenge anyone to go and sit in a dark auditorium and watch a show in a language they don't speak.....and let the show start after nine....and keep their eyes open throughout! It finished at quarter to midnight, when Amanda asked us to join her and her family for dinner! Emma and I were too tired to not be surprised...dinner?! It was home to bed for us! I do not understand that culture of eating so late here, and also things starting so late. What is wrong with a nice 7.30pm performance?! Oh man, I really am 31....
It is always a bit strange having your birthday away from home....and this is the first one in four years that I've had to work on....very strange, but with actual awesome perks! My class were so cute, and I arrived in work to a class full of balloons, shoes, chocolate and goodies. My class all bought me and my TA, Ana a Brazilian football shirt, which they all signed which was so cute! I was very spoilt!
Just two more months to go!
It took me ages to work out the 2 is because I teach Year 2!
Greatest brigadeiros ever! Thank-you Marcela!
In the evening, my friends and I went to the Italian building, which is my fav city downtown, the second highest in the city.
Ana, me, Luke and Rusty...the side of the table that embraced hugging!
As hard as this year has been, there are many times when I do feel so privileged and very happy to be in Brazil. This blog has helped a lot actually as it has made me document more and also look back on a very unique year with some awesome opportunities and experiences. As excited as I am to be moving on, there are some cool things about being here that sadly Nairobi cannot yet offer.
Randomly, Sao Paulo Fashion Week was one of these events. It is so refreshing to go and do something completely out of the ordinary weekly routine. Dressing up in a favourite black dress and best red lipstick (it was Fashion Week after all!) are always good mood lifters too!
After a golf buggy lift to the main venue, we joined some of the after parties (Rusty has so many good connections!) and crashed a few others...latching onto people with press passes has so many benefits! I loved cheekbone and shoe spotting.....there were some incredibly clad people about. Gisele was here earlier in the week, though as my knowledge of celebrity was one of my new year's resolutions to seriously decrease (it has been kept, I am now totally clueless on everybody!) I doubt I would have recognised anyone! I was very happy to drink cachaca cocktails and enjoy there being so much English spoken! Apparently Sao Paulo is very up and coming, and their week is in the tier below New York, Paris, London, Milan etc!
Ana's parents have an apartment at the beach that we have always meant to go to but never got round to it. As a pre birthday treat, Emma, Ana, Cassia, our pilates teacher and I headed to Guaruja, a city two hours from Sao Paulo.
It was the girly chill out weekend I have been craving for so long! The beach was two minutes walk away, and was relaxed and pretty. As with many beaches in Brazil, the promenade was filled with skyscrapers...it is such a contrast to UK beaches, or even Kenyan ones!
It is always interesting seeing what is being sold on the beach, and my favourite this time was men walking up and down the beach with kites. They would string them all together, so the kites would fly so high in the sky, it was beautiful.
What I do love about the beaches here is that everything is so well organised. We just had to find a spot, then all our food and drinks would be served to us, umbrellas put up, chairs delivered.....love it!
There is a big push to try to encourage cyclists in Brazil. Brazilians love working out, but cycling instead of driving has not yet taken off (cars are only allowed to be driven 4 out of 5 work days in rush hour to try to combat traffic, but Brazilians simply buy another car!) There are lots of bikes around the city that you can hire for a few hours and ride about on, but with the traffic as it is, I m not too keen! On Sundays though, they have special solo cycle lanes all over the city, so Luke and I decided to have a go.
It was so much fun! Fortunately we only had one upward hill (we got the metro home to avoid any more up hills hehe) and the rest was relatively flat, or downhill! We rode into the city seeing lots of cool places en route, including a drive through church! Confessions sorted without even having to leave your vehicle!
It was great to be outside and exercising while getting to see more of Sao Paulo. We enjoyed carb loading as we went...stopping at bakeries, and then going to the Japanese area for lunch.
The bikes were not the greatest...my gears didn't work, and Luke's started making a bad clacking sound for the last hour, but the lanes are so well organised and it was a day of giggles!
Despite being completely shattered, we all forced ourselves out on a rather wet Friday night, with various Rio costume leftovers to jazz us up! Ana joined us which was ace as it really helped having someone to answer all our questions about samba and the parades! I was also thrilled to have a lovely girlfriend for company! Ana had actually never been before, it's funny, unless you are really part of a samba school, many Brazilians don't really bother. Ana took the pic on the right unbeknown to me hahaha you can't see my ears, they are under my hood, but Gracie's tail is obvious! Lovely poncho clad men in the background!
It was quite a walk to get into the stands, and we wandered past lots of dancers all in various states of costume.
Pile of costumes accessories
Re-fueling before their performance
Traditional Bahian dresses. They must be part of each samba school parade.
Rusty went for an umbrella hat instead of a poncho!
Eight of the winning schools paraded. The samba drome was loads smaller than Rio's, and it was empty. I'd read that the winner's parade in Rio is also badly attended and that the best atmosphere is during carnival so it wasn't such a surprise, but I did feel a bit sorry for all the paraders as the contrast in just a few days must have been massive. I don't think the rain helped, but lots of people wore ponchos and it did finally stop!
A bit of rain could not stop these ladies booty shaking!
Thriller!
My favourite parade was one about the nostalgia of the 80's. It began with Michael Jackson dancers in a Thriller tribute, and went on to childhood games, rubix cubes, massive computers, rollerskates, hoovers with bags etc etc.....
The name of the school was the Royal Dragons.
Remember this game?!
I didn't understand the zebra connection, but I love zebras!
As the parades progressed, dancers would donate parts of the their costumes to the spectators. The costumes were so expensive so this surprised us rather, though the boys thoroughly enjoyed it and our taxi was full on the way home! I was so surprised to see the giant ant head I had tried on in Rio was part of the parade. The guy, who was from SP, must have taken part on Friday night and then flown up to Rio where we met on Sunday. Random!
Happy spectators wearing various donated goodies including an ant head!
A thrilled Rusty and Luke
Cute bin!
The clean up operation was so smooth and well organised after each samba school, it looked part of the parade!
And now Carnival is officially over......the blues remain a little, but the tiredness is immense! Looking forward to the end of nocturnal living and dare I say it, getting back into a routine!
Above is a compacted video of the Sao Paulo winners, 2014. Their theme was world religions.
