futebol III

And this is how I spent most of the Brazilian Games: Take some good friends. And some beer. And some good food.


A really big flag, so everyone knows which is your team (what a question).


Then a big room with a "telao" (big screen), so you are sure to see every detail. After all, you'll have to discuss it afterwards.

Then tell everyone what the result was (here: 4 to 1)

And do NOT put the flag away while going home. Show it to everyone!

futebol II

This is someone, who hasn't decided yet, for whom to cheer. Well, actually I HAVE decided, but as they aren't meeting yet, in the meantime I chear for both ;-)

This wall cheers for Brazil as well... as do many other things.

For example: bus- and subway-stations

Or whole kiosques.

Or even little bag-carriers, clocks and "roletas" (these things you have to go through in order to enter the subway...)

12/06/2006: Feliz Dia dos Namorados

Dia dos Namorados - Valentine's Day

Everyone of you probably knows Valentine's Day. The 14th of February where the most part of the couples enters in a major crises, because he forgot the date (what is not really easy with all the commercials) or because he didn't choose the right restaurant/present/film or else. Here in Brasil the 14th of February is also a major crisis-day, but rather because of its proximity to carneval where, as legend tells us, the moral standards of the rest of the year are sometimes a little bit softened.
So, with carneval and the biggest holiday season at stake, someone in Brazil decided that the "dia dos namorados" should rather be on another day. I still have to figure out WHO decided this, but fact is, that right after mothersday in may, the commercials quickly shifted to dia dos namorados, scheduled for June, 12th.
Which is today. And in fact I didn't really expect more than a little card and perhaps a little flower. After all it's neither Christmas nor my birthday (as Valentine's Day would have been, hehe).
So, this morning Ricardo left at 6h, because he had to stop by his place before going to work. As it was still dark, I decided not to get up yet. About 2 hours later the guard from downstairs called me. A present had just been delivered. If I could come down to fetch it as soon as possible. OK, no problem. So I went down there and asked the guard about the present. He pointed at the table behind me: "all that over there! And I think, the flowers would like some water."



Honestly? I was totally speechless and overwhelmed (and hey: it means something if I suddenly forget my ability to speak!). This was by far the biggest bouquet I EVER got. And for those of you who wonder, why it's not the traditional red-roses-presentation (but rather lots of coloured roses): there is a deeper meaning behind it. Although I won't tell you about it, hehe.
Anyway: this is what my workplace looks like, now that I arranged the flowers.

So, and this is the present that I got together with the flowers. And of course an extremely tasteful card. I just love the sender. So sophisticated.

So, after carefully opening up the present: tadaaaaaaa. A 2m flag, super elaborated from BOTH sides, of course respecting the official proportions.
And my two favourite teas from Tee Gschwendner. Here goes a big thank you to Anja, who seemed to have a part in the choice for this part of the present. And I didn't even suspect anything when you asked me about my actual favourites!

So, my room now looks like this: flowers and flag seem to make up the most part of it ;-)
And the perfum of the roses is just marvelous. And as my room is so small, every time I enter it, I walk into a cloud of fresh rose-perfum. I just haven't decided yet if this is good or bad for my homeworks still to do...

Anja in Sao Paulo

The weekend before Dia dos Namorados, Anja came to Sao Paulo. And of course I didn't suspect nothing, while behind my back she planned with Ricardo what he would best give me. Engaging in fake-tea-conversation with me etc. YOU ARE THE BEST, ANJA!



We spent Saturday evening at the museo do imigrante (immigrant museum), because they had some kind of party there with ethnic presentations, like russian dances and german food etc. And we took a ride with this beautiful old train. Well, a ride is perhaps said too much. We got on the train, moved about 200 meters back and forth and were told stories about the imigrants. But it was kind of cute. And of course, here the mandatory group photo.

What a lovely immigrant lady. He DOES look like a Brazilian.

The train... another "Maria Fumaca" (smoking Mary), how they call their trains around here.

And here you see Cesar and RIcardo tasting some typical Polish? German? food. Please note the little ribbons in black-red-golden on their shirts (looks especially great when combined with a Brazilien Camisa-da-Selecao)

World Cup Opening Game at the Goethe Institut

Welcome to the Goethe Institut. Here they transformed the "Auditorio" into a football arena, including fake grass and some impressionist paintings on the wall. As I do not have my own "camiseta da selecao" (team-t-shirt), I attend all the games with my t-shirt "Ausländerin" - foreigner. It's true after all ;-)

This is Goethe. Did you get it? He and the head of Goethe Institut and some other important people I don't really remember opened the World Cup at the Institute. The white wall behind them will be our screen. And of course we had German beer for free. Well, the others had.

This is how the stage looked during the first half of the game. O Globo, the biggest TV-station in the country had to do some interviews with "real" German fans, and they did find them here. I was also asked some interesting questions, such as "Isn't it hard to be so far away from home during the Championship" and "so what will you do in the last game? Brasil or Germany?". But I don't know if they actually published it ;-)

And this is the stage during the second half. On behalf of some tired neck-muscles...

Remember? That was the first game, Germany won... and many more are to follow.

festa do imigrantes - immigrant party

this post is under construction. please try again later.