Saturday, September 17, 2005

Rio ... remember?


Hello everybody. Just a short hi with two new fotos. On the left you see Anja and me in Rio de Janeiro, observing Copacabana (trying not to blink into the sun). On the right you see Nando and me. He was a YFU-exchange student in my parent's house in 2003 and his family invited us over for dinner. We had quite a nice time and Anja even got some high-school books about Brazilian history so she could polish up her knowledge for university (sometimes we both lack some background-information in classes... like what was the famous 30-revolution about? And when did it take place? 1830? 1930? Or just 30 revolutionaries giving name to the event?)

Thursday, September 08, 2005

beijinhos de Sao Paulo


So, that's all for today. I'm sending you my best greetings from far away Brasil and hope you are enjoying life at least half as much as I do!

Don't hesistate writing me, I always enjoy getting news from all of you (although I might not be the fastest one in answering emails). So keep in touch.

Beijos, Valentina.

more photos


Ok, that's Franco. Franco wanted to be in the picture with me by all means. He's the guy who sells us fruits every wednesday on the market. And yes, compared with the normal fruit buyer, he does make good business with me. That's because I enjoy being able to choose between about 10 different fruits every morning before deciding what I'll have for breakfast today.


And HE definetly wanted to be in the picture with Susann. She payed me a visit last weekend and we had a great time together. On that picture we are in Embu das Artes, a little village living apparently only on crafts etc. The clown we met during lunch break and spent about an hour chatting with him.

university "em greve"


This is the building of my faculty, the FFLCH (Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas). Last week, when this picture was taken, this part of the university declared a strike. That's why you don't see any students in the picture, but only this huge poster over the entrance.
The problem was a veto of the minister of Sao Paulo. He vetoed against a rise in university finances. Then the assembly of Sao Paulo State has about two weeks to veto that veto and get the rise through anyway. To put some pressure on the parlamentarians the students and employees (but not the teachers) decided to strike. I didn't see too much sense in that, but at least that way I gained some time to catch up with my readings...

living in Sao Paulo


Here you get a first impression of my room. In fact it is not much bigger than what you see on that picture. I'm living on about 5-6 qm at the moment. But for a year that's quite OK (less space to accumulate stuff I won't be able to bringt back after all). And, as you see, even a room as tiny at that one can be used as sleeping room, dressing room (although it's hard to reach the cupboard over the bed) and study hall (note the tea pot on my desk!). Oh, and it can turn into a guest room as well. On the floor is just enough space to squeeze in another matress (although part of it ends up in the bathroom). So, if anyone plans to stop by in Sao Paulo... just give me a call.

Ok, and here you see our cleaning plan. I mean, we are four girls and one boy living together. And suddenly without a housemaid or a dearly caring mother at hand to do the dishes and whatever cleaning needed, our apartement tended to be quite a mess. 'till the german girl came. Because she organized a plan how to do the cleaning and even created a poster in the kitchen so that no one might forget: everyone cleans his/her own dishes, every week one of us is responsable for cleaning the whole apartment, once a month the windows are due as well (Sao Paulo is reeeeaally dirty). We'll see how the plan works out. Up to know no one complained (or are they afraid to?).