I was a very naughty little girl back in the days. I had that look in my eyes which screamed out “bus”, in english mischief or “to play tricks“. It all began in kindergarten. I was put in the same group as another naughty girl and so we clicked! We were the best team there was, and we played every trick we could possibly think of. We shared a beautiful love for “bus” and we also shared the same name. We were the Caroline’s from “bus-hell”. Continue reading
Champagne to be appreciated
This post won’t turn out the way it was planned, because the plan was to blame the concept of “sinking” on some country other than that of my own. But unfortunately, “sinking” is a translation of the Swedish word “vaskning”. Sinking Champagne, or “Vaska Champagne” in Swedish, basically means you order a bottle of Champagne in a bar and ask the waiter to pour it all out.
It is also an excellent way to show the world what level your intelligence is at. Continue reading
Pic cred: businessinsider.com
I really don’t like interviews, they make me nervous. I’m asked questions that I suddenly don’t know the answer to, stuff like how old I am or why I am in Brazil. I forget what I have done all my life and my language skills suddenly fade away.
There are more things I do not like, talking in front of people is a good example.
Last Friday I was called by a company who had come across my CV on a job site. They asked if I would like to come for an interview for a job within the mortgage industry and of course I accepted. I am thinking they are a recruiter as they are talking about a client of theirs, so even if this isn’t a job for me they might have other positions. My interview was booked with Debora at 10am, I arrived there a perfect 10 minutes early, and was asked to wait until called. I was in a room with a few other people, and more people kept coming. The odd thing was that everyone who came in said the same thing to the receptionist “I have an interview booked with Debora at 10am”. Odd. Debora finally came, only 15 minutes late, and asked that we all follow her. Ok, so she had not made a mistake. Interesting… Continue reading
Ok so lets generalize again. Not sure why I keep explaining myself, but just in case you actually thought I meant every single person in Brazil when I say Brazilians, or whoever I’m referring to at the time. Read my lips: ex·ag·ger·ate.
Brazilian women are known across the word for being beautiful, sexy and bootylicious (I bet here it is ok if I generalize). And of course they are known for their bikinis. It is funny, on a beach in Brazil most Europeans could feel overdressed with their diaper-like bottoms while these women run around in their thong. The top part only just covers their nipple whereas the European will cover the actual boob. Usually anyway. Because in Europe you can take your top of!! It isn’t perhaps so much my generation who walk around topless on the beaches, more the 50+ woman. However my generation might well tan topless, so lying there with their perky breast pointing to the sky (do you see what I did there?). It is only natural after all right? It is a beautiful female body part, everyone has been there as a baby. It is a motherhood blessing. On the other hand, if a Brazilian were to show up in their mini bikini on a (northern) European beach then people would stare at her (men would love it, women would loathe it), and probably think she looks cheap. But why? She isn’t actually showing any private parts? Is it because of the extra skin you see? The girl next to her is topless. So why is it such a problem?
It is provocative, that is the “problem”.
On the other hand, the tourist who visits Brazil and takes her top of will probably be fined. And people here will probably think this girl is cheap and disrespectful.
Example of the famous butt (photocred: http://entretenimento.band.uol.com.br)
Then there are the miniskirts. I don’t know how they can actually walk in those pieces of cloths without their butts popping out. Again, it is provocative. But it’s accepted here, well not at work of course (my Goody Two-Shoes subconscious frowns at the idea) but it is normal on the streets and definitely at night. And every man stares. I stare for heaven’s sake! How could I not. The butt inside that piece of cloth could easily be used as a table. It is a butt perkier than any breast I have ever seen, it is bigger than any backside Dr 90210 has ever touched. But it isn’t fat! It is just so, umm, full. I don’t know about you, but I would trade my flat swedish bum for some hot brazilian ass in a minute. But I am too lazy to do so, because it does come at a price. The girls aren’t born with these things, they work out like crazy! Do you do squats at the gym? Well, add 20kg weight to that. On each leg. As a warm up.
But why is it that Brazilians wear a thong bikini but “normal” underwear? My reasoning is, wear thongs under trousers so the line doesn’t show, and normal bikini bottoms. Although I don’t necessarily follow these “rules” myself as I quite like some versions of the brazilian bikini, I don’t get their reasoning unless it is that thing again. To provoke.
Love, CJ
…hello? Errr… Okeeeyy so that was awkward… Anyone?
Never mind.
I am ever so sorry for my blogging absence, life is busy here in the fab lane and I guess I just haven’t had time. I really wish that was true, but unfortunately the cold, hard truth is that I have absolutely nothing to say. Zip!
I usually spend my days in front of the laptop, by the pool or at a coffee shop. I am still not working but I do have a project going on with my hubby so I might have more things to do very soon. Fingers crossed and I am sure to blog about it once it has happened. Until then I am just a housewife doing next to nothing. Actually, yesterday I went with my friend J to the Policia Federal to sort some stuff with our Permanent Residencies so it was a productive day. Obviously, after such a tiring morning we had to stop for a quick coffee break. We went to Le Pain, a lovely place in Vila Madalena. After about two hours we left and went to heaven. In Brazil, the word for heaven is Via Vila. We walked in, shared too many “oohs” and “aaahs”, moved further in; it felt like the shop never ended. We went upstairs and sat in two garden armchairs, they were so so comfy even without a cushion. We just sat there, but as time passed and nobody came to serve us any wine we gathered it was time to leave. I have now liked them on FB, I have checked all their pictures, I have planned my next house and I showed it all to my husband. Continue reading
No I am not rasist, it is just nice to know some fellow Swedes when you live abroad. I have been a very lucky girl and met two lovely swedish girls so far, but we want to meet more of you! If you are swedish, and live in São Paulo, let me know!! We like to relax by the pool, drink salsa and dance beer, we love to go to coffee shops and just really hang out and have a good time.
Ok, about the Salsa… we might need to discuss that. But we like to watch others dance! Oh, we like Mojitos, if that’s close enough? I promise we will not disappoint you. Otherwise I know about a Swedish couple visiting São Paulo very soon who CLAIM they can dance salsa… Let’s see. Continue reading
Queueing for a little green book at 5:45am
I was going to write this post only once I have everything ready but have actually had requests about it a couple of times so I thought I might write a post about progress so far.
The first thing you need to do is find yourself a hot Brazilian man (or woman) who will marry you. Once that little obstacle is over with, you can basically move to Brazil straight away. I got married in Portugal which made things easier in the sense I didn’t need anything translated. Yes, the languages are the same. No, it is not Spanish. One thing we did over in Portugal which made a difference here is we registered our marriage at the Brazilian consulate straight away. That is really the only document we have needed from Portugal to prove we are married, in fact, it has been the key document apart from other obvious stuff like ID. Continue reading
credit: openclipart.org
Cos I am definitely worth it.
I am a very relaxed, down to earth and patient young lady
…err, never mind…
Before I came to Brazil I had a job lined up, however it didn’t quite work out so I left. I am now doing some random english teaching to get my butt out of the apartment and have a reason to shower other than my husbands continuous begging. It is alright, but it isn’t what I want to do. I want a full-time job at a company where I can learn and hopefully grow a career. Every day there are hundreds of new jobs posted on different job sites, most are not jobs I am qualified to apply for because they either request something I don’t have, or they want you to be a student in your last year so they can mould you the way they want and catch a good worker before they are ruined with bad habits. Continue reading
I’m not going to spend the next couple of minutes moaning about how hard it is to be a woman and how I feel suppressed in this ugly world run by men. I quite like men, and considering my current laziness, they can run it all they want. But running the world or not, being a woman in today’s day and age is, oh, so hard…
The other day I went for my regular wax. That means I dress up in something lose, preferably a skirt and no undies but that is risky, so usually a skirt with undies. After a ten minute walk, trying to be as discreet as possible to avoid anyone seeing my hairy legs, I get to the waxing place which I still don’t know the name of, at Shopping Eldorado. Finally I am at a place where being hairy is accepted, but I can never help myself but to excuse my hairiness to the poor lady who is about to begin her work. Continue reading
I have lit a candle for Brazil
It is a tragedy and I struggle to describe my feelings in words. I wasn’t there, I don’t know anyone who was there, I have not been through it myself. I only know that these kids went through terror, and now their friends and families are going through their worse nightmare. Continue reading
