Olá!
We hope you all survived and enjoyed the extremely cold winter days in Europe. We saw all the beautiful winter pictures on Facebook and heard about the whole hype around “De Elfstedentocht”. So we could imagine a bit how the Netherlands turned into a picturesque landscape. However, really imagining is hard with 33 degrees and bright sunshine. At this moment it is so bloody hot that it is horrible to sit on a chair or couch inside the house. But no complains furthermore!
After our last blog in January, Ronald and I finally could enjoy our new house and neighborhood. Most of the (basic issues) where arranged, all movement done and the first Dutch visitors returned home. Mission completed?! Well, this is Brazil and unfortunately we found out that nothing is always completed in this place. At this stage we can write stories and stories about the Brazilian culture, but I will just pick out the most stunning one.
At the end of December I got a panicking message from one of Ronald’s colleagues that Ronald was trying to call me for already one hour, but that he couldn’t reach me. My poor husband was hit by a taxi driver and was now standing shocked alongside the high way. I immediately jumped into a taxi and drove to the place of the accident. Thank god, nothing happened to him, but our recently bought car was another story. It couldn’t drive for- or backward. In our minds we already thought about the whole annoying process we needed to start to get that car fixed, the damage paid and that we needed to arrange another vehicle to spend our Christmas at the beach. After a small 3 hours (which was said to be half an hour) we finally were picked up by our insurance company (at that time we were already used to the Brazilian lack of punctuality). Well, in short the whole process we needed to go through was that the insurance company of the taxi driver needed to check the damage first before it could be fixed. Ok, fine. Checking that car would not take more than max 2 days and the garage confirmed it would take 10 days to repair the car. Our Dutch minds calculated quickly that the car would be ready somewhere in the first week of January (the accident happened on the 19th of December). That was doable, because we didn’t need the car in between. But as you already can guess, that car was not fixed. The insurance company didn’t even check the status of the damage even though we informed regularly. Finally on the 3th they gave the garage the permission to start the reparation. Quite annoying because Ronald needs his car every day for work and a taxi cost him around 70 Euro for a return. Well, the garage confirmed by phone that the car would be ready on the 17th. Three days before we checked if this date was still the deadline. Yes, it is Mrs. Sanne, no worries. When contacting them on the 17th the car was not ready and what did we get, off course, an excuse. Now the car would be ready on the 20th, they told us. We expressed that the car really needed to be ready by then, because we were going out of town that weekend. That Thursday our consultant (from our expat agency) informed again if the car would be ready next day. “Ready?” they asked. No, the car will be ready on the 6th of February was their answer. I can still remember that I was running on the treadmill and that the steam was coming out of my ears. “They are going to arrange something otherwise they are not going to get their money! They have to arrange a temporary car!” I told our consultant. Oh, I was so pissed that I can still feel my anger. Well, off course I already rented a car (again) for that weekend, because I didn’t trust this whole situation. Surprisingly, I got a phone call on Friday afternoon that we got a temporary car, too late for that weekend, but at least we didn’t need to pay a taxi for the week after. I asked for a confirmation by email with location, date and time to pick up the car. Monday 8 am was the answer. On Sunday, on our way back home, Ronald was joking about the possibility that the car could have Rodizio (= you are not allowed to drive your car that day between 7 and 10 am and between 5 and 8 pm). “Nehhh, I said, if that happens they are very stupid. This will not happen”. So, next day Ronald went there and after half an hour waiting, making copies of his driver license and passport, the manager (!) came to him and said that he was sorry, but that the car had Rodizio. Wow, this guy was indeed the stupidest person in the world! Ronald needed to wait for 1,5 hour more. I have never seen him so angry, so angry that he completely molested our trash bin.
Besides this story we have some more in the same category. Our lesson from this incident was: don’t trust the people you make agreements with. I can tell you if you have a high trust in human kind, that’s a shame, because this will be gone in a second when you live in BrazilJ. I experienced myself!
After this and the incidents we faced with Brazilians in the last 6 months, we also can conclude that they don’t hesitate lying (in our eyes). Lying (small or big) is something they grew up with and mainly used for not making another person angry. We, Dutch, immediately think about the consequences when the person in question finds out the truth. This guy would be even angrier! But, Brazilians want to protect their face at that particular moment and they don’t worry about the consequences. That’s something for later. If necessary, and that is often, they blame another person. That’s insight number three, it is never their fault. It is interesting to see how they are living in the moment: not thinking about the consequences, not planning ahead or thinking in process steps (I told in one of our previous blogs). Besides all these insights about the Brazilian culture, I also have them about our little country. This I will safe for our next blog.
Furthermore, we are doing well even though you may think our stress level would be sky-high after reading previous experiences. This is not the case J we are enjoying Brazil (and neighboring countries) in full pull. We went a weekend to a coffee farm, I went to Buenos Aires to see one of my best friends and last week we experienced the Brazilian carnival! What a happening! A bit overrated and I think the image the world has of the Brazilian carnival is way different, but it was great to see the kissing (a lot) and partying Brazilians.
Tchau!
Ronald & Sanne
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| In de Sambodromo |
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| The coffee bean |
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| The coffee farm we stayed |
