Teeth and Beer

I bet most of you realized that Ronaldo and Ronaldinho each have a pair of very prominent buck tooth. But ever wonder how they ever get so white? They brush it and very frequently too! Let me tell you this… Brazilians are one of the most orally hygienic people I’ve ever seen! After every meal, you’ll see a whole bunch of them like giggly school kids each with a small bag in hand heading to the toilet. There you’ll see all of them busily talking and laughing while brushing their teeth! God! I’ve never seen so many toothbrushes being used at a single time! And not just brushing, they floss them too! Try walking around and you’ll see 2 to 3 orthodontist clinic at every block! Now I’m beginning to understand why they pronounce “R” as “H”…As R is one of the most used consonant, they want to show off their fresh breath as often as possible.

Teeth aside, last night I head over to a place called Vila Olímpia. Vila Olímpia is something like our Bangsar in Malaysia. That place is full of nice restaurants, pubs and bars. (Apparently a bar is of a higher standard than a pub here. Bars can be pretty expensive with cover charge.) I went to a bar called “Bar de Juares” with Gushiken and a bunch of his friends. I’m now pretty sure that I’m like a circus freak show. Everytime Gushiken ask me out, there’s bound to be a bunch of his friends in tow. He would then introduce me to his friends and say that I’m from “Mareisha”. Then all his friends would have the same standard response: “Oooh, Mareisha…Twin Towers…big…long…good”. It’s like a bad script from a porn movie!

Now, Bar de Juares was a Whiskey House. It made me wonder what a whiskey house is. But apparently the definition of a whiskey house is that it serves whiskey! What you can do is order a bottle of whiskey for your party, and if you cannot finish it, the ‘house’ can keep it for your next visit. Man, if that’s the case, all our discotheques in Malaysia would be whiskey houses. In fact, they are also brandy house, tequila house, whatever you want housed, and they’ve got it!
Dinner was nice in Bar de Juares. We ordered some main dishes to be shared. Chicken nuggets, Pincanha and Carne Seca with cebolas. I’m sure there is no need to explain what nuggets are. But Pincanha is actually beef served on a hot plate. It’s actually our steak back home. However, the meat is sliced into small strips for you to cook on your own. And usually you’ll eat it with Farofa rice. Now Carne Seca was the more interesting food. It was beef jerky (Bak-knuah) strips stir fried with cebolas (onions). And instead of fries, it was served with deep fried tapioca. All that downed with free flowing Brahma Chopp Light bee. No one brought a camera that night. So the only picture we managed to take was using Masami's phone (Nokia 2.0M pixel with a big screen whatever the model is).
Now...ready? Un, dois, tres, say "Chopp Beer" and show off your pretty teeth :D

Brazilian Weekend

Did you know that outside of Japan, Brazil has the largest Japanese colony in the world? I did not know until my weekend was spent Brazilian-Japanese style. They are very much like us Chinese in Malaysia. Most of them are 3rd Generation Japanese in Brazil. Their grandparents were originally from Japan. They have names like Luciana Mayumi, Marino Gushiken, Marcus Hidetoshi, Ronaldo Takahashi, Lucio Masami and Silva Teruhiko. I made a total fool of myself when I first met my colleague who is a 3rd generation Japanese. I tried to show off whatever little Japanese that I know. It turns out that, that dude don’t speak a word of it! They’re confused people I tell you. More confused than us Malaysian. At least we have our Manglish and our dialects! These people only speak Portuguese. To be honest, it’s actually hilarious. A bunch of people with slit eyes talking in Klingon! I cannot help but laugh when I see them converse.

But these dudes are really cool. They invited me over to their place for a BBQ and to watch the Brazilian vs. France match on Saturday. The evening started early (around 300pm. The sky gets dark at 5 remember?) My friend (Marino Gushiken) stayed in an apartment so I had to help carry the 42 inch TV down to the pool side. I tried to hold him responsible if I had hernia, but he couldn’t understand what it was. He was even more confused when I explained. “You mean your balls will expand?” he asked ignorantly. Jeeze! I give up.

What greeted me after that was even more amazing. Around 20 minutes before the match started (4pm), there was the biggest congregation of Brazilian-Japanese I’ve ever seen. Kah-Nee-Neh, it turned out that Gushiken had invited the whole village! Everyone there is exactly the same. Japanese who ‘nao comprehendo’ Inglish nor Japanese! Every one of them came equipped with Fog horns, banners, flags and everything else short of painted faces and bodies!

What followed was the epitome of communication (or rather miscommunication)! They (Klingon speakers) and me (nao comprehendo Portuguese) sitting down watching the game and discussing it! Throughout the game, chants of Bhazil! Honaldo! Honaldinyo! (The ‘R’ is pronounced as ‘H’ here) can be heard not only from our congregation, but all around! Freaking amazing! Maybe that’s why it’s called Joga Bonito…beautiful game. But beautiful game it was not for Brazil. Pahera (Coach Alberto Carlos Parreira) was named a Karalu (Son of a bitch). Apparently the Brazilians adore Robinho and Cincinho and they cannot understand why Ronaldo and Cafu are always playing in their place. In the 57th minute Henry scored. I was pretty sure a riot was about to begin. But lucky for me, the only creature that got torn to pieces was the cow. Everybody got so pissed that they forget about the game and started barbequing. Food at last… And guess what was served with the barbequed meat? Farofa* Rice and White Rice! Rice with barbeque! What the F---??? The conclusion is: No matter how you mask yourself, the slit eyes genes, comes with an innate craving for rice! (*Farofa is rice mixed with corn with shredded chicken meat and bananas all mashed up).

Food was downed together with 15 liters of Chopp beer. (Chopp is a light beer…kinda go easy on the brain cells). My host was thoughtful enough to even buy the whole keg and rent a dispenser machine. As if 15 liters was not enough for the whole village and me, there were also bottles of vodka, lime and lime juice to make the Brazilian national cocktail Caipirosky (Pronounced: Kah-pee-ros-kee). Brazil may have lost, but the party goes on…And to quote Ronald Mcdonald, “Amo Muito Tudo Isso” (I’m loving it!)

(15 liters of Chopp Beer...Saude!)

Tatuape

I arrived at the Guarulhos Airport on Tuesday. I got to know it's an Indian name. A lot of areas in Sao Paulo are named after Indians. There were a lot of Indians before the Portuguese killed them all. Poor thing. There is also a road here called Aryton Senna. Named after the famous F1 driver. (He's also dead).
I'm staying in this area called Tatuape (another dead Indian name...what's with Brazilian and dead names?). And Tatuape is an industrial district. It's just like our Bayan Lepas FTZ. A lot of factories. My hotel is 15 minutes away from the office. There is nothing much to see or eat around my hotel. The sky gets dark by 6pm cause it's now Brazilian winter. Weather is chilly around 10 degrees celcius almost everyday. Kinda like Genting.
The people here are nice. All of them speaks Portuguese, a language that is almost similiar to Klingon in Star Trek. A lot of them thinks I'm local and tries to talk to me in Portuguese. I wonder which part of me looks Brazilian? English is like a language for God. Only privileged people speaks them. The managers in the office speaks English. Order takers in Mcdonald's only understand Portuguese. I tried ordering in English and it was a nightmare. I asked them "how much" and they just smiled at me and stared blankly. Reminds me of the guy in the show "Mind Your Language" that just say Por Favour. At the hotel it was even funnier...I asked them for a kettle to boil water and they asked me what is that. When I described, they told me that I do not have a stove in the room. Apparently, electric kettle is almost a non-existance here. They use fire. Pretty primitive.
Work so far has been ok. My boss is very understanding. He gives me more time to sleep to recover from jet-lag. Actually I sleep a lot since I got here. Usually will feel sleepy by 9pm. I'll nod off in front of the tv. Then I'll just wake up at 4am. Weird timing huh? They have porn showing on tv at that time. Maybe that's why I just wake up automatically? I've got an awesome body clock :-) Then i'll just have to try to force myself to sleep and get up at 730am. Which almost never work.
Have not had a chance to go sight seeing yet. Will probably head downtown over the weekend. No transportation except for taxi and these things can get pretty costly. To and from the hotel is around B$24.00 (which is around RM38.40).
Anyway, things are getting better cause today is Friday. My weekend is booked. There are some nice people who invited me over to their house for BBQ and to watch the Brazilian football match tomorrow. And on Sunday, I'll have a local as a guide to take me around town. (Hooray!)
I tell you, football is big here. Everybody talks about it. I make friends quite easily...I told them I support brazil and they are all embracing me like a brother. Wow, let's just hope I don't go home with a Brazilian name like Sanchez Chng...that'll be funny.
Today is retail therapy day...a.k.a shopping. I just found out that there is a shopping complex near my hotel. So it's not so disheartening after all. But this whole area is still very much 'sien'. Thinking of moving to an area called Paulista Avenue. That is more like the Beverly Hills of Sao Paulo. There they have theatres, cinemas, restaurants, shopping malls, museums and the likes. But the problem would be convincing my boss to let me move there as the hotels can be quite pricey. (I believe the most expensive hotels in Sao Paulo is there with a price tag of 300 pounds a night). Wish me luck.
A very 'cool' thing happened this morning in the hotel. As I was about to go have my breakfast (oh, breakfast is pathetic by the way. I have to look at the same thing everyday. Menu: scrambled eggs, boiled sausages, cereal, 4 types of fruits and juices) there was a commotion. It seems that the hotel staff were trying to break down a hotel door. Apparently, the guest inside couldn't wake up because of drug overdose! Awesome! Let's just hope he survives...
Lunch today was good. My boss took me out for lunch in a restaurant with TV. (Germany was playing Brazil's arch enemy: Argentina). All Brazilians were partying cause Argentina lost. Gosh! This is a clear case of having fun on other people's misery. The lunch was in a buffet restaurant that sells steak. There are people walking around carrying different part of the cow. Asking you if you want a piece. I didn't know there were so many names for the parts of the cow. I'm used to Sirloin but names like hump and rump? Man...it's making me have funny ideas! There are also salmon, prawns etc... pretty cool buffet. Think dim sum...except that it's eat all you can.
I'm getting pretty good at Portuguese. :-) How can you not improve when everyone around you speaks it. Bom Dia is portuguese for good morning. (Try changing my name to Ga bin Chng and saying that word in KLIA...I'll be a blardy terrorist!) My favourite pastime here is talk to the people in Hockkien. The people here sometimes tend to drift into Portuguese even when they start talking to you in English. When they start talking in Portuguese, my favorite thing to do would be to smile, look them in the eyes and ask..."Lu Kong Hamik Lampah?" They'll then smile back and apologize. :-) It's pretty cool. That's what keep me occupied.
I guess that's all from me for now. Still not use to the time change. Will write more when I have the time.
Tcau!