Lessons in patience

Ola nossos amigos!

Tudo bem? Connosco tudo e otimo! Thanks for all the nice e-mails we already received. Especially for me it’s nice, due to the fact my days are not yet that filled as Ronald’s J

Let’s give you an update of last week experiences. As expected sooner or later, we got our first lessons in being patient. Not the easiest one for us, Dutch people, we can tell.

Lesson 1: Don’t have expectations and don’t plan

The first thing we needed to deal with was our hope to have our own apartment around October. As some of you know, we need to get a number from the federal police so that Ronald can be put on the payroll. Only then you can rent your own apartment. It was supposed to take around 50 days. Well, last week we got the news that it now would take around 110 days, which means that we can rent something from January onwards. Off course!

Lesson 2: Brazilians always make things more positive then they are

As mentioned in our previous blog, we were expecting to get a car last Friday and leave this ´lively´ suburb of Alphaville that weekend. We should have known that this wouldn’t be the case. After several times of sending e-mails, calling and passing by on Thursday and Friday we still didn’t get an answer at 5 pm Friday afternoon. At 6 pm we got the information that we probably would get a car on Monday and that they still didn’t found a place for us to stay in Sao Paulo centre. So, we needed to stay a bit longer in this vibrant place. Ok, …..we could deal with that.

That weekend we went to Ibirapuera parc (you can compare it with Central Parc) and we had a goodbye party of a Dutch couple. It was really nice to see the Dutch clan over here (a group of around 25 people between the age of 27 to 36). Very nice people. It is quite easy to get in touch with the Dutch, because there is most of the time already a link that goes back to the Netherlands (working at the same company, having same friends and off course sharing the same experience). Getting in touch with other nationalities or becoming really good friends with Brazilians is more difficult one says. Let’s see. We want to face this challenge and would love to put our effort in it. Then we will see what the result will be.

Bamboo in Ibirapuera parc

Lesson 3: Be flexible and live NOW

Last Monday we got our third lesson: Ronald heard at 5.45 pm that he needed to pick up the renting car before 6.30 pm, impossible due to the heavy traffic at this time of the day! He didn’t make it. So we needed to pick up the car the next day. Ronald also got the message that we needed to leave the hotel before 12 pm the next day. Ok, no problem! We are flexible. Where are we going then? They didn’t know yet. Ok, fine, we can handle it. Next day we first went to the renting car company. ¨Sir you needed to pick up the car yesterday, now I don’t know if it is still possible. Why not? We rented the car for at least a month! Yes, I know, but the policy……¨ After 1 hour we finally got our car. Pffff, at least one thing arranged.

Back at the hotel, still no news of our new place to stay. 12 pm: no news. 12.30 pm: we got the answer that our check/out would be extended until 2 pm. 2 pm: we finally got the news that they found again a temporary (for a few days) hotel, just on the corner of the previous one. Still not in Sao Paulo centre, which means still no Portuguese classes, not visiting people, not exploring Sao Paulo etc. Pfff, more filling my days with internet, reading books, doing some Portuguese exercises on my own (swimming pool/tanning was not an option anymore, no facilities). I really wondered how all those expat woman were spending their time!

Checking out was also challenging our patience, which was in the meanwhile disappearing more and more. The week before Ronald had checked several times with the guy from Philips if he could take care of all the payment for the hotel (Ronald is still not on the payroll in either Brazil our Netherlands so he can’t declare any expenses). ¨No worries, everything is arranged¨, he said. While checking out, nothing seemed to be arranged. Calling this guy several times, not picking up. Waiting, waiting in front of the hotel desk with all the luggage, after 40 minutes he finally called back. After Ronald still paid a certain amount, we arrived at our new place at 4 pm. We needed a break…….a relaxing massage was the ultimate solution. So we did.

Our lessons of this week:

1) Have NO EXPECTATIONS and DON´T PLAN

2) Brazilians always make things more positive then they are

3) Be flexible and live NOW

I need to tell, we also got one positive surprise. They found a way to get Ronald on the payroll before October. Well, as lesson number one says, we have no expectations anymore. First see, then believe.

Beijos!

We arrived!

Finally we are here in Sao Paulo! Months we have waited for this moment. A waiting which can be characterized by hope, extension, hope, extension, hope……But now this is over, or maybe this is just the beginning of what we can expect here. We will see.

After almost a month of saying goodbye to everyone, we arrived here on the 6^th of August. A warm welcome was waiting for us: Mr. Marques (our faithful taxi driver who had picked us up the last time and other times when Ronald was on business trips) and a very nice temperature of 29 degrees. How awful to know that this is just wintertime….

Ronald and I are spending our first week close to the Philips office, which is in a suburb outside Sao Paulo. We have a nice hotel with swimming pool and a fitness centre. I was already looking forward spending my time at this swimming pool in the next couple of days, reading some books, tanning…. Well, this plan was a bit disturbed. Since yesterday there are grey clouds moving by and a bit of rain is falling(still 21 degrees though). With this weather this place is a bit boring and reading books, using the internet and doing some Portuguese exercises is satisfying for some time, but not for days. So we needed some action! Today I decided to visit some hotels in which it is possible to stay after this week. They are located more in the centre of Sao Paulo. Philips offered us this option so that we can find a nice and lovely place for the next two months. An offer I accepted with pleasure!

Another thing Ronald and I would like to give notice of is the way how Brazilians do sports. IT IS VERY FUNNY! They all dress up with their most fancy sport outfits and then…… there is almost no activity or progress. They are as slow as slugs. If they run or bike, it’s all the same. No progress. It is so funny, haha. We have put a picture of the running cycle just in front of our hotel which is a small 1 km run. They are walking on it over and over again. Running on the streets is a bit uncommon here.

Well tonight we are going to have dinner with Anniek, a Dutch girl and a colleague of Ronald, here in Alphaville. Hopefully we can move to the city centre this weekend. The weather forecast is at least very good (28 degrees). Still a topic a Dutchie is fond of talking :) Speak to you soon!

Some first pictures below

An impression of Alphaville suburb

Philips Head Office

How Brazilians do sports: slowly

Skyline Sao Paulo