Each day I learn a bit more about the people over here. Tuesday (09/06) my Chinese colleague and another Chinese who lives here cooked a Chinese dinner for the new trainees (us). It was the real Chinese food, not the Chinese-Brazilian one. Really tasty and a little spicy. I’m getting into spicy food recently. I’ll see if I can take home some of the different spices that Chinese and Koreans use. Anyway, it was a pleasant night. The day after a Brazilian who lives here came over to have a chat, it seems that some people come here to meet the new foreigners. Thursday another Brazilian invited us and the prefecture’s person responsible for us for dinner in her place. I think he was a little shy of having dinner with 4 foreign girls. He bought some snacks and non-alcoholic beer for us, very responsible! Read the rest of this entry »
A primeira semana foi conhecendo os arredores da minha nova casa pelos próximos 8 meses. O segundo dia aqui foi para resolver coisas burocraticas, como abertura de conta em banco, apresentação ao pessoal da secretaria de relações internacionais daqui e reunião sobre a programação geral. Tivemos 3 dias de folga antes do início das aulas. O primeiro mês será de aulas de língua japonesa.
Read the rest of this entry »
Life in JAPAN begins! It’s been a tiring week since I arrived. The airport was a scary experience. After landing the airplane was invaded by a dozen “astronauts” who wanted to examine the aliens (lol). Since the weather was changing in BH, I couldn’t avoid the cold. Just before the trip I’ve got sore throat. All the effort, mainly because of the “swine flu”, to get rid of it was in vain. There wasn’t anyone next to me at the plane until New York, after that, got some company, an American couple. Read the rest of this entry »
Ontem fui ver o Zeca Camargo! Foi uma entrevista de divulgação do livro “Isso aqui é seu!”. Só fui saber da existência deste livro quando recebi a divulgação da entrevista, porém assisti a vários episódios da série exibida no Fantástico e adorei. O homem é empolgadíssimo! Fala sem parar para respirar e a empolgação vai contagiando e a gente não quer parar de escutar. Para quem não sabe do que se trata, é sobre a sua segunda volta ao mundo (existe o livro da primeira também), mas desta vez visitando 10 patrimônios da humanidade (UNESCO), ameaçados e bem preservados, espalhados pelo 5 continentes. No total são mais de 700! Read the rest of this entry »
The 2009’s top events so far are:
* Alanis Morissette’s concert.
* Carnival’s trip to Paraty (again), I had a lot of fun as last time, enjoyed the beaches, the sea, the sun even more though. This time I had enough time to go to “Praia do Sono” (Sono’s Beach). A down: the town was too crowded. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s the last post of 2008 and I have a great news. After some months of hard work I did my IELTS exam. I truly thought I’d done bad at the speaking test. But, actually, I did well on it, in fact my overall average is a bit better than the one I was hoping to get when I decided to do this exam. All the effort made (and some people do know it’s true) was worthy and I’m really really happy for that.
Christmas was excellent! Mom came over, my cousin, Neia and her family joined in and we celebrated at my sister’s new home. The rain gave us a break so we could dine under the stars (actually the clouds were hiding them). The next day was another non-stop eating day with my brother-in-law’s family. Best Christmas ever!
Read the rest of this entry »
Just came back from my yoga class… it was a special one, a different practice where people in circle sing mantras and offer flowers and fruits to each other. Moreover, it was a farewell to my teacher, she’s going to teach in Paris… Great opportunity! I wish her all the luck. It’s also sad. We haven’t talked much to each other during these 9 months, I’ve got very attached though. I’ll miss her relaxing, peaceful, sweet voice. People come into our lives and go all the time… it’s life.
Read the rest of this entry »
Until some weeks ago I’d completely forgotten 2 local holidays we have every year in my city. One of them was yesterday. To make the most of it I had already planned to go swimming with some friends and last Thursday I discovered I had to work on Friday, damn! At night I went to kinda alternative pub with some friends, we played pool and there were 2 cover bands of Camel and Jethro Tull playing. Despite the fact I didn’t know any song, they played nicely and were worth listening to. Read the rest of this entry »
Last weekend I joined an excursion to São Paulo organised by the Japanese Association which my Japanese language school belongs to. The agenda for this trip was Japan Festival on Saturday and shopping at Liberdade district, the famous Japanese neighborhood, on Sunday. We set off last Friday night, I didn’t know almost anyone in the bus other than Cris, my classmate, Vivian and Kelen (students as well) and a friend of my sister. Read the rest of this entry »
Last week began the International Theater Festival in my city. This is a festival which happens every year and where there are many plays in the theaters and squares around the city. The tickets are cheap or free. I watched a Japanese play called “King Yebi”, it was really great, the first one with subtitles I’ve ever seen. The sound effects were made by some people playing instruments and a wonderful singer. Even though it was a tragedy there were some funny parts with the actors saying some Portuguese words. I also watched a French one, “Le Concert de Feu”, in a square. They presented percussion synchronized with fireworks. It was very crowded, so I couldn’t see the stage very well but the fireworks were very nice.
Read the rest of this entry »