Some observations
Transport
A major issue. The only stress free way of travelling is by helicopter (though I imagine that also has it's issues eg. when there isn't a convenient helipad around). The traffic is absolutely horrendous at peak times. A journey that might take 20 mins when there's no traffic can take 2 hours. There is also the problem of parking – both in terms of finding a space and in terms of safety of leaving your car.
The metro and train are good, but they don't cover the whole city. Also, people aren't very good at letting you off before they get on – I couldn't get off the train at my stop on two occasions. Have since learned to manoeuvre my way to the doors ahead of time. I have occasionally attempted to take the bus – not a good idea if you need to be somewhere at a particular time, as you can end up waiting for ages – they seem to run every 20-30 mins, but there is no information about when the next bus will arrive. Also, as there are so many one way streets in SP, the buses tend to do circular routes which makes it difficult to know which one to get and where from. I haven't yet found a bus map, though there is a very useful google map application that suggests a route for you when you give your departure and destination points.
Sometimes people will say places are too far to walk when they're not really. Although I don't really like to do it, I've been getting taxis when necessary. They have the advantage that you don't need to park!
A lot of people live with their parents and commute from wherever the family home is and it's not uncommon for people to have two hour commutes to work.
Weather
We're
getting into winter now and it's been quite cold (about 16 degrees)
for the last couple of weeks. The problem isn't really so much the cold though (which is nothing compared to in the UK) but the lack of insulation and heating in the buildings - as there's hardly any protection against the cold, it's not warm even when you're inside.
It's been raining every few days and there
have been a couple of thunder storms since I've been here. The
thunder is VERY loud, much louder than I remember it being in the UK.
The rain is also very heavy and going out in it shouldn't be a
decision taken lightly – unless you want to get completely soaked!
Language
My
Portuguese is improving, but it's still difficult to understand when people are talking in a group. Sometimes I
don't understand because I don't know the words, but I think that I
also need to train my ear to pick out words that I already know. I'm
also learning the type of Portuguese that they don't teach you in
classes – swearing and giria (slang)!!
One
thing that was tricky at work when I first got here was working out
how to use my laptop keyboard to put accents on letters. Tried to figure it out for a while, then had to ask. It's still a bit annoying putting accents on letters!
Apartments
I stayed in Itaim Bibi, a great location for going out, for my first month here, while I tried to find somewhere closer to work. I had a room in a 4 bedroom apartment - the owner, Joao, has one room and rents out the other three through a website called Airbnb. The picture below is the view of Faria Lima (the road name) from the apartment.
I'm now sharing an apartment with a Brazilian girl, Arlete, who I was introduced to by my friend Vanessa, who I met when travelling in the Northeast of Brazil (they work together). It takes me 25 minutes to walk from my apartment to work :-)
Going
out
The
first night I was here my host, Joao, took me out for acai and
cachaca. Have
been going out quite a lot since... There are lots of bars close to where I lived for the first month in
Itaim Bibi, including the well known Vaca Veia (old cow) and Wall Street,
where the drinks prices move up and down like the stock market. I've
also become a regular on a Friday night at a boteco, a typical
Brazilian street corner bar, nearby in Vila Olimpia. I've got quite a few friends/acquaintances now in Sao Paulo, so am not feeling lonely or short of things to do. I've even been to a Brazilian wedding, with my buddy Rodrigo:
Cultural stuff
I walked to a couple of museums that were close to me while I was living in Itaim Bibi - the Casa Brasileira, which had photos and films on the Cignanos (Brazilian gypsies) and the Museu da Imagem e do Som, which had a few interesting photography exhibitions - including Andy Warhol and a Brazilian photographer, Claudi Edinger, whose photos were taken in Bahia, Northeast Brazil. Lots of colour!
I also went with housemate Joao and friend Olivia to see a Portinari exhibition at the Memorial da Latina America.
Food
I've been going out for lunch to the various restaurants around my office on weekdays and eating out at the weekends too. I generally just have cereal, yoghurt and coffee for breakfast and a sandwich for dinner (as I'm eating more at lunchtime). A traditional Brazilian breakfast is bread with cheese and ham. The fruit is also good here, and I've been eating quite a lot of papaya and mango. Have unfortunately now run out of the chocolate supplies I brought from home...
Work
My office is mostly open plan, though the partners and directors have their own offices and the senior managers share offices. I'm on a bank of managers' desks. I've got a laptop and a locker under my desk. When people are working together on projects, they generally take their laptops and sit in a meeting room. I didn't get much of an induction, though I have an induction day coming up. People have been friendly though the fact that I'm not fluent in Portuguese makes conversation a bit harder - everyone speaks English, but they're generally more comfortable speaking Portuguese (unlike me!!).
It's taken a long time to sort out various admin things eg opening a bank account involved me going to the HSBC branch to sign various forms, and then I had to go again to sign more forms to pick up my debit card. I've also had to go to the Federal Police to register myself (they took extensive fingerprints of every digit on each hand) and to the Ministry of Labour twice to get my work card.
Summary
Coming here was a great decision - it's turned my life upside down, but in a good and exciting way!
