Did I miss the memo?

Living abroad means that sometimes you just don’t get the memo. In the beginning I was ever-vigilant about things like what time to actually show up when invited for lunch at 12:30, or how best to befriend your new housekeeper, communicating respect, without totally freaking her out with your openness, or who to kiss hello and goodbye (including your dentist or cardiologist) and with how many slightly audible smacks.

I got the memo in advance about what to take to the beach (i.e. not a big towel, nor nearly anything else for that matter). My husband keeps slipping me the memo about flattery working better than sternness every time I get frustrated with a bank manager. And my mother-in-law has not given up trying to get me to read the memo about the omnipotence of the Brazilian family matriarch.

If you are no longer a teenager... wear the Speedo. [These boys look like they need some sunscreen as well!]

It didn't take long after I starting living here before I had to decide on which futebol team would be “my team.” Or better put, which team “was I?” According to the memo, here in Brazil people are not asking you which team you root for, they want to know which team you are. If you are asked: “What is your favorite futebol team?” the right answer begins with: “I am….” Nowadays my response is “Eu sou Flamengo.” “I am Flamengo.” Got it.

And speaking of futebol, there were a whole bunch of memos that must have gone out just before the World Cup started. Some I got, like the one that said to wear green and yellow on all game days. Everyone (EVERYONE), in any context, seems to have gotten that memo.

Several of my students slipped me the memo that said all bets are off regarding scheduled appointments or classes on game days for Brazil. Plus in Rio – if there is ANY game happening at Maracanã stadium, chances are businesses are closed (city government offices are certainly closed) or appointments are cancelled to avoid the craziness on the streets.

The one I didn't get (but should have anticipated) is the one that apparently told most workers that even though their boss will call them in for half a day on game days, letting them go a few hours before match time, they really don’t have to actually get any work done. So any attempt by unfamiliar gringos like me to, say, do some banking, or get a phone company issue resolved, or speak with a representative from the health insurance company --- forgeddaboutit.

OK, that’s fine. It's all good. Now I know. I’m not in a hurry anyway… For all intents and purposes, business in Brazil resumes in mid-July, after the World Cup has come to a (hopefully glorious) conclusion. Got the memo.

Brazil and the double edge sword that is the World Cup

I love this logo.

The Expat Blog Police just sent me a final notice. They are going to take away my membership card if I don’t post about the World Cup coming to Brazil.

Everyone has done it. Some bloggers have posted wicked (good and bad) critiques of FIFA and Brazilian politicians who are milking taxpayers for money they don’t have to line their pockets in the name of futebol. Other bloggers have tried to stay positive and posted videos and news bits about players, teams and home town pride in the lead up to the contest. One big theme has been the massive public response in Brazil against the wasteful spending on soon-to-be white elephant mega stadiums (some built in cities that don’t even have a home futebol team!) at the expense of improvements in healthcare, education, urban development and other proper priorities.

My commitment to myself here at Qualidade de Vida has been to keep it positive. Living abroad, living in Brazil, struggling to learn a new language and to adapt to new cultural norms – it’s not an easy road. While there are a ton of really fun and cool things that come your way, there are also some pretty challenging realities that wear on you. The internet machine is full of very vocal people griping about how crappy their life has become since they moved to Brazil and had to turn in their minivan and their dream of a GE Profile PFE29PSDSS refrigerator that automatically fills your water glass without spilling. Truth be told, there are some realities in Brazil worth griping about. But that makes for a lousy blog post, in my opinion.

If you know me you know that I am not a futebol fan. I don’t know the rules of soccer. I have never watched a basket ball game through in its entirety. The gratuitous violence in so many hockey games turns me off. The cultural grip American football has over the social construction of masculinity in the United States makes me sad. Sports have never been my thing. But hey, I get it that others go bonkers over this stuff. It’s all good. Go for it. But please don’t be stupid.

It seemed to me that the World Cup coming to Brazil was potentially a really good thing. Brazilians live and breathe futebol in such an all-consuming way that is difficult (perhaps impossible) to imagine if you don’t live here. This was an opportunity to put that passion on a world stage and really shine. It was an opportunity for Brazilians, the vast majority of whom have relatively little to nothing in terms of daily comforts, to focus on national pride and escape the hardships of their normal waking hours. Somewhere in here was an opportunity to leverage preparation spending to benefit locals in the long run.

But the World Cup is actually a big business venture. Oh yeah, they have international sports heroes play some games and all, but at the end of the day the event – the actual nuts and bolts of the event – is a venture capitalist’s wet dream. And the politicians that get to play with other people’s money? Well they are like pigs in slop. The television networks will make their money. Coca-cola, Budweiser and Visa will reinforce their brand to their followers. And large developers will make a killing on slip shod building projects that shine in the short term and then sit to decay when the cameras shut off.

Are we surprised? Is this unique to Brazil? Sadly no. FIFA has been leaving messes like this in their wake for a generation. The Olympic Committee comes to mind as another culprit of capitalizing on the public’s need to escape our daily drudgery if only for a short while. The Super Bowl folks in the States play this game, selling struggling communities the “privilege” to wave tax policies and local environmental ordinances to build unnecessary stadiums with money they don’t have on the promise of future glory which never comes… blah, blah, blah.

For me the good news is that this kind of corporate greed and political malfeasance is so in your face that the public gets awakened from their sleep and digs in for a chance to speak their mind. The communities displaced by developers making papier mâché facilities stand up and demand to be heard. Tax payers who may typically let a little corruption with public funds go unanswered suddenly say “enough.” A population is reminded who is supposed to be in charge and asserts itself to reestablish that order. Sometimes there is progress. Often times not. But at least people come alive for a short while and new activists are born.

Brazilians all across the country have been speaking up to say “enough.” There is a long political tradition here, like in so many developing countries and elsewhere, of deeply entrenched corruption.  It is endemic in the worst way. The population has largely been beaten into submission and share a feeling of hopelessness when it comes to politicians actually doing anything honest or truly good for the people – without also stealing a boat load of money in the process. But there is also a strong tradition of rebellion. Brazilians are fighters. Don’t forget it was just 30 years ago, in 1984, that widespread, organized, public pressure resulted in the brutal dictatorial government of Brazil surrendering to a popularly installed democratic administration. The taste of people power still lingers in the mouths of many present day citizens.

"Our heroes are teachers, not futebol players."

The current repulsive examples of corrupt politicians, greedy investors, entitled corporations and crony media networks has once again awakened a sleeping giant in Brazil. Students, urban residents, parents, religious leaders, artists, native peoples, labor unions… you name it. Look around – folks are pissed. Some say we are in for another round of people power that will result in real, lasting and proper changes for the better. Others just sigh and try to go back to sleep. We’ll see…

But the World Cup is coming. Billions have been spent. Sports broadcasters from around the globe are settling in for a fun ride. Fans are hoping for the best. And Brazilians still stand among the most enthusiastic fans once their team takes to the field. Politicians be damned – let’s play some futebol!

Brazil is a Third World country, remember?

Lately all eyes have been on Brazil. Whether you are a fan of the pope and watched as millions descended on Rio while it stretched its capacity to host enormous crowds, or an international travel agent already booking lodging and sightseeing packages for upcoming World Cup and Olympics visitors, or an ambitious investment fund manager making exciting new inroads into the Brazilian market that has (until recently) been outperforming many of the tired and failing options in your home country – chances are you have been wide-eyed about Brazil and its explosion onto the world stage as an all around powerhouse and emerging world hot spot.

Outside perceptions and media generalities can be deceiving.

A lot of people don’t like it when you refer to Brazil as a Third World country, especially some Brazilians. My experience, however, has been that it is Brazilians in particular that default to this kind of language. Some residents seem to use this expression as a way to explain away or justify some of the current national shortcomings and others, especially those now living abroad, would seem to use it to justify to themselves why they left their country in the first place.

I have steered clear of this label in favor of the more politically correct “developing country” mantle. My intention is to be accurate (i.e. not including Brazil among the so-called First World nations) while also trying not to give an exaggerated impression of undeveloped or backward that people may imagine when hearing “Third World.”

As described in Wikipedia, “Third World” and “developing” are seen as interchangeable terms when describing Brazil, but the term Third World is a bit antiquated since it originally simply referred to countries not aligned with either NATO (First World) or the Communist bloc (Second World). Over time the term Third World has come to be used as an economic term to describe poorer countries that have struggled to attain steady economic development.

There are no universal, agreed-upon criteria for what makes a country developing versus developed and the term Third World is rather squishy. I have come to be comfortable with the term “developing country” to describe Brazil because it seems (to me) to imply hope and real progress, leaving Third World to those times when I want to be deliberately provocative.

As long time readers of this blog know, I love Brazil. Luiz and I have never had second thoughts about our move to here nearly 6 years ago and we have no intentions to relocate any time soon. My blog is filled with all the reasons you might want to join us in this mid-life change of adventure we have created for ourselves. Here there is no shortage of daily wonders to soothe the soul and reinvigorate one’s zest for life. Brazil and Brazilians have a special kind of wow that we have experienced in few other lands – and we have visited many, many places. But yeah, when you peel back the travel brochure cover and look for the fine print, there it is: Brazil is still a developing country.

This comes as no surprise to those of us living here. While the television coverage of the upcoming World Cup and Olympic Games may focus on shiny new sports stadiums and grand openings at fancy new resort hotels, a peek behind the scenes reveals promised modern airports still in the early stages of construction (one still lacking paved roads to and from) and public policies that are displacing poor residents to make room for temporary international tourist conveniences. Rumors of political corruption, stolen public funds, illegal construction code violations and broken promises that urban development for the games will include vital infrastructure improvements for permanent residents take no one by surprise.

Persistent political corruption at all levels and shameless kowtowing to international capitalist pressures spawning shiny new millionaires at the expense of true democratic self determination and shared prosperity are the unfortunate tell tale signs of a “developing country” trying to get sturdy legs under itself. Generations of Brazilians have reluctantly grown accustomed to and somewhat hopeless regarding the stench of this political sewage and the oppressive economic inequality it sustains. Plus there are the pervasive legacy costs of political and family dynasties that have concentrated power and wealth over the years. [According to the celebrated Brazilian economist Marcio Pochman, published in the book “The Rich of Brazil” (2004), the assets of five thousand ‘very rich’ families, which account for 0.001 percent of all Brazilian families, amount to approximately 40% of the Brazilian Gross Domestic Product.]

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that Brazil is, indeed, developing. This development has been at a rather impressive pace in recent decades. Modernization in urban areas, in the commercial sector, in all areas medical and, more slowly, concerning the infrastructure that links vital population and resource centers across the country has been steady and persistent. Political reforms, while slow and somewhat limited in scope, have also been steady. Both dynamics have resulted in real and tangible improvements in the quality of life for tens of millions of Brazilians. And just like everywhere else on the planet, the internet has transformed nearly everything among those with access and among those who benefit in secondary and tertiary ways. Things are definitely looking up (i.e. developing).

What this means for Luiz and I is that, while we live in Brazil, we live in a comfortable two bedroom  apartment just down the street from a beautiful, mature urban park. We wash our clothes in a 10 kilogram capacity washing machine (although, it does not have a hot water option and we do not have a dryer, but hey…) and our refrigerator has a separate (although quite small) freezer compartment. Wireless internet service and an over-sized flat screen TV (with 3-D capability, although there are no 3-D signals in our area) as well as an imported, firm, queen size mattress round out or creature comforts.

Most of our banking is done either online or via an ATM machine, although Luiz has developed a meaningful friendly relationship with our branch manager in case of difficulties. Luiz has a cell phone, while I have eschewed said ball and chain. Most of our transportation needs are covered by bus and ferry services but our friends drive chic new cars that run on gasoline, alcohol and/or natural gas.

Regarding medical needs, we live in an insanely convenient part of town chock full of doctors’ offices, labs, ambulatory clinics, critical care facilities and full-on hospitals. We pay a relatively small monthly fee for supplemental private health care insurance that sweeps us up and over the inconveniences and limitations of the public health system, although in any possible circumstance we have medical care available.

If you squint a little and don’t try too hard to find any cracks, it looks a lot like a First World lifestyle. Most of the time it even feels like a First World lifestyle. But then, if you insist on seeing the glass half empty there is plenty to remind you that things are not all that they might first appear to be. For a listing of daily inconveniences and nearly unbelievable tales of stifling bureaucracies I kindly refer you to other blogs.

Mainly what affords us our comforts is that first and foremost we live in a modern, urban area that has been developing as a Brazilian city for more than 300 years. At some point you get paved roads, clean reliable drinking water, backup electrical power at hospitals and a police force with at least a minimum of training and support [key word: minimum]. Second, there are employment options in the area that provide a livable wage or better, and schools and universities are plentiful [even if they often lack a full complement of functioning light bulbs or ceiling fans].

Not bad, overall. But this is certainly not the case for the multitudes in the population that live in less developed cities and towns, favelas adjacent to rich urban areas and the more desperate rural parts of the country. This is where much of the Third World reality exists.

In Brazil as a whole about 35 per cent of the population lives in poverty, on less than two dollars a day. This is most visually represented by the various favelas, or slums, in the country's metropolitan areas where residents suffer with economic underdevelopment and below-par standards of living. In Brazil’s rural areas poverty affects about 51 per cent of the population. This means that Brazil has about 18 million poor rural people, the largest number in the Western Hemisphere. Poor rural communities live in disadvantaged conditions: education and health facilities are not readily available, water supply and sewage systems are generally inadequate, and rural people face severe constraints in accessing technology and infrastructure. [sourced here]

The degree to which you feel the “developing” part of living in Brazil is directly related to your place on the class ladder. Here people with money generally have A LOT of money and can buy their way into a pretty good facsimile of a First World lifestyle. Poor folks, as usual, are shit out of luck. The oft-touted newly emerging Brazilian middle class (myth for a future post) tends to enjoy just enough of an income to buy into a look-alike First World lifestyle without the political/economic/consumer goods quality underpinnings to back it up. [Aside: the vastly expanded consumer credit market in this regard is a ticking time bomb.]

Visitors to Brazil quickly notice the gulf between the haves and the have-nots. Years of government investments in the tourism sector has bolstered the infrastructure for travelers so they can have more of a modern, convenient experience. Tourists who never leave the beaches in Rio and who cannot understand the Portuguese newsprint or television reports may never know they are vacationing in a developing country.

We who live here know Brazil is in a state of development. The struggles to develop are not subtle or inconsequential to our regular lives. Political push back from the general population against governmental corruption and incompetence has been on the rise. The growing number of people lifted out of poverty in recent years (thanks to some good governmental action) has created a new class of citizens who have no intention of going back to the desperate poverty they left behind. At this point it is develop or bust. But it is not easy and it will take more time.

So if you are among the throngs who will be coming to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup or the 2016 Olympic Games, be patient with us. We really are trying to provide you with a comfortable, drama-free adventure. But we are also trying to get reliably clean drinking water and doctors on call to millions of our fellow countrymen and their families.

Going off-market to renovate our apartment building

For privacy reasons I am not including actual photos of our building.

Workers have just completed the resurfacing of our building’s exterior. Here is the story.

We live in a 12 unit apartment building (condominium) that was built in the early 1970s. It is a typical building of its sort here in Brazil: clay brick and cement construction, two bedroom apartments a bit on the small side, no elevator or off street parking, and a great street corner location across from a rare green space in the neighborhood.

Most of the units have been occupied for the past 40 years by their original owners.  Five of the apartments are now occupied by aging, widowed octogenarians. The rest are mature families or second or third generation family members of original owners.

It is a quiet building on a loud and busy neighborhood thoroughfare where most newer buildings have commercial spaces on the street level. Ours is among the older buildings in the vicinity. Over the years smaller buildings have been bought out and replaced by shiny new 20 story condos with all the modern conveniences (like parking and hot water). One of these years our building will suffer this same fate. But until many of the older residents no longer need their unit there will never be a consensus among residents to sell to developers. In the mean time, I suppose, the location of the building continues to hold its value.

As a smaller building without an elevator or a door man we enjoy a very low monthly condominium fee. Most residents are happy to simply have a weekly cleaning of the hallways and entry as well as a well functioning front gate and intercom system. Not much to keep up. Once in a great while we get the walls painted in the interior hallway/stairway.

Alas, some time ago, neighborhood youth came through and “tagged” our building on the outer first and second floors. It has been an eyesore for years. I have not encouraged my friends to look us up on Google Maps Street View because the resulting snapshot revealed our shame. Getting the building residents to kick in the extra monthly fees required to afford a resurfacing of the outside of the building has been like pulling teeth (maybe the wrong expression, as many residents lack their original teeth). But finally the younger residents prevailed and we got a temporary condominium fee increase passed, prescribed for a building face lift.

So – big deal, we got the building resurfaced. I say resurfaced and not repainted because we have this cute but maintenance-intense sandy coating applied to the cement outer surface of the building. It looks great, but it is not suitable for a coating of paint. To freshen it up you have to apply a new layer of this sand-like material (we can choose the color).

But still, what is the blog-appropriate tale behind this activity? As with so many things here in Brazil, it is not the destination, but the journey, that makes living here such an adventure.

OK – so we start with the assumption by all the residents that we will not be hiring a big, professional building maintenance company with a crew of trained employees to do the work. Everyone knows that that will be expensive and that surely somebody knows somebody who has a guy who does this sort of thing for a lot less (working 'off market,' in the grey market, or underground). Sure enough, the síndico (the building resident elected by everyone to take care of building issues) identifies a couple of these off-market ‘tradesmen’ and gets some bids. Once a guy is chosen he is given 50% of the agreed upon fee to buy materials, rent scaffolding and get the ball rolling. Sure enough, a motley crew of disheveled workers appears and begins the process. As usual, I am taken aback by the lack of safety equipment, proper shoes and apparent lack of supervision. But hey, this has been my experience over and over again here, so I am not surprised. I will say that my early suggestions to get a detailed written contract and proof of insurance, etc. fell on deaf ears. Fellow residents were not up for going legit for something as ‘simple’ as resurfacing the building. (Insert swelling ominous background music here.)

Not long after erecting the scaffolding (including trampling over one of Zozó’s patio flower beds) the materials arrived and work began. The next day the contractor (the white guy with the nice car) showed up to tell the síndico that his bid had been too low and that he would need an additional R$6,000 to complete the job. WTF? (Insert cartoon image of Jim with scrunched face mouthing ‘I told you so’ here.)

Across the street, to save money, they repainted the building without the use of scaffolding.

Sigh. No agreement was reached. After about a week of activity and only 1/3 of the job completed the contractor pulled his workers, refusing to continue without his extortion pay additional payment. To make matters worse, he returned in the middle of the night and stole building materials we had paid for.

Now the síndico was left with the unenviable task of finding another off-market guy who would pick up the pieces and complete the job for a price that would not cause a total revolt among building residents. It was not a happy time. Under the circumstances she did a great job finding another friend of a friend’s friend who does this kind of work and who would take the job for the available price.

Once again we were invaded by a crew of (seemingly interchangeable) anonymous workers in flip flops ready to spread sandy mud on the building façade. They were a jovial crew and worked pretty fast. Being tidy or detail oriented did not seem to be included in the contract, but before long the job was finished. 

Unfortunately these guys did some pretty serious damage to the remaining two flower beds in the patio area, but I was told to hold my tongue. They were done and the whole process would soon be behind us.

I’m sure we saved a lot of money by going this all-too-common “nas coxas” route (to do something in haste, without care or attention to quality). But the proof is in the pudding. We will see how long the treatment lasts. It could easily be of equal or better quality to the same work done by a more expensive company, but nobody knows at this point.

The point of this whole thing has more to do with the common propensity here to get things done off-market and save some money. Many people feel hopeless about any guarantees offered by larger companies and they are very accustomed to using casual labor. The fact that any finished product may have its flaws, or that gardens may get trampled in the process is just how it goes. Suing for breach of contract or unresolved disputes like replanting the gardens is just unthinkable and impractical to almost everyone. Any suit filed could easily take several years to resolve, even if settled out of court. In general, people don’t go there.

Having grown up in a family where my father was a contractor with keen attention to detail, trustworthiness and value, this local approach sets my skin to crawling. On the bright side, in the end our building looks great and no big harm seems to have come from working off-market. And we saved nearly 50% over the cost of a ‘regular’ contractor. Fingers crossed.

Google Maps Street View, we are ready for our close-up.

Starting a business in Brazil – some tips

First, as my 77 year old Brazilian father-in-law and previous business owner used to say (may he rest in peace) “Be careful what you wish for.”

Should I start with the positives or the negatives? Oh heck, I’ll dive into the starry eyed positives as seen by this newcomer through his rose colored glasses. Luiz and I traveled to Brazil many times in the years before we picked up and moved here. During that time I had one eye looking out for business opportunities – and thought I saw many sure things.

Like: we could open a Mexican restaurant/taqueria. Cheap ingredients, hearty food, great take out for working people and the taquerias in San Francisco ALWAYS had a line out the door. Easy peasy.

Or maybe Luiz should take his formal education and international training as a floral designer and open a flower shop with event flowers as a featured service. We went so far as to produce a beautiful website, brochures, note cards and brought a ton of specialty items to make his arrangements pop.

How about an import/export business? So many things are cheaper in the US. We could import them to Brazil. And there is a rich art and fashion pulse in Brazil that would surely appeal to US Americans.

Best of all, we could find a tiny coastal village just beginning to get noticed and open a tropical paradise bed and breakfast (pousada). We would make it a cut above and appeal to the international travel set and the expanding middle class of Brazilians taking family vacations – all the while sitting on the beach sipping chilled coconut water and telling our housekeeper and pool boy what to do next.

Then our plane landed in Brazil. We moved into our apartment and, once we got our bearings, we started to investigate the possibilities for real. (Here comes the negative part.)

Truth be told, we did not move to Brazil to start up a whole new chapter in our life growing a business and working too much. As far as 60 hour work weeks go – been there, done that. So we scratched most of our fantasies and focused on our “unfair competitive advantages” e.g. Luiz’s international floral design expertise and my being a native English speaker from the United States in a country that likes those kinds of English teachers.

It became immediately apparent to us that Brazilians are very clever, hardworking and seasoned (not to mention cut-throat) entrepreneurs. In a land with a history of minimal (honest) opportunities to earn a substantial living and one with a byzantine legal system that regulates and taxes (or charges fees for) just about everything, as outsiders we were at a decidedly woeful disadvantage in the mainstream of building a successful business. Knowing how to manage the system and flourish within a web of personal connections is baseline. These are insights and relationships generally out of reach to most newcomers.

As an outsider I could see so many ways that businesses could be made more efficient or otherwise improved, or so I thought, only to learn that government regulations, bank loan interest rates, taxes, labor laws, the availability (lack thereof) of skilled workers with an earnest work ethic, taxes, local corruption, near closed business environments in some competitive areas, and taxes were the real culprits.

To my friends looking to move to Brazil and open a business I say: welcome, good luck, and start looking for a good lawyer and a “fixer” to help you get started. I’m sure it could be a breeze for some, I just have never seen evidence of that. I prefer my rosy glasses and chilled coconut water on the beach.

So we bailed on any thoughts of a pousada or an import/export gig from scratch. Luiz has found his niché in flower design working in “permanent botanicals” showcased at the weekly arts fair in the park and designing for individual clients.

Over time our musings about opening a lunch and dinner Mexican restaurant have morphed into launching a food truck specializing in wraps of all kinds. This addresses the reluctance among locals to try “different” foods. We could produce a “Carioca Wrap” or a Mexican inspired burrito with carne seca, or maybe a Bahian inspired spicy seafood wrap. Also, the truck eliminates the need to rent space etc., we would not have to hire people, and we could move it around to where the people are (festivals, street parties, nighttime hot spots, etc.) But still there are the regulations, licenses, taxes and turf power brokers. That beach still looks pretty good to me.  

I have settled into a comfortable work schedule (including the afore mentioned beach, glasses and beverage) as an “English Polisher” for adult professionals preparing to present at an international conference or about to ship off to the States for a 6 month work gig. Doctors and lawyers are always looking to improve their English speaking skills. Students headed for graduate school in the States always want to speak better. And my sometimes favorite: bored rich housewives preparing to go on a shopping trip to New York City are sure they need specialized vocabulary assistance.

All that said, here are a few new ideas for a bright and overachieving entrepreneur looking to make a go of it here in Brazil:

-          -  Running a mobile copy service: a cart you can park in front of the Federal Police office, the Notary Public, the Consulate, etc. Visitors to these offices always need additional copies of some document or another and the offices themselves do not make their copy machines available.

-         -  A private parking and traffic enforcement operation. In the past five and a half years I have never seen a city official write a parking ticket or stop a driver for even the most egregious driving offense. Of course, you would have to convince the local government to outsource this function – but believe me, it would reap a fortune for all stakeholders.

-        -  Full service business consulting for expats looking to beat Brazilian entrepreneurs at their own game. To put your clients at ease, put a pink light bulb in your desk lamp and serve coconut water in your office cooler.

I’m sure other expats who have been here a while would have a few suggestions and/or a cautionary tale or two.

Christmas time at Flor de Luiz

 It's the holidays at Flor de Luiz.

Luiz is working overtime making Christmas designs to sell at the crafts fair.

It's great to see him so concentrated on his florals and even better to see his final results.

This man knows his stuff!

Luiz at the art fair

We live one block from the main park in Niterói. Every weekend the park fills with families taking their kids to the carni-rides (merry-go-round, bumper cars, swirling tea cups, etc.), regular child play structures and balloon and ice cream vendors.

There is usually musical entertainment in the central elevated gazebo. Plus folks stroll through the park enjoying the dozens of stands selling hand crafted items, or food.

We often buy fresh gnochi from the lady who does it so well.

Luiz has just been awarded a space at the fair to sell his flowers - "permanent botanicals" to be specific (plastic/silk flowers). He competed with more than 200 artisans for a spot.

He has been pumping out designs and is ready for his debut. Luiz is in the zone!

The launch is in late October -- just in time for Xmas designs.

Pictures to come...

Polishing English at Zanna Sound

As an expat without a sponsoring employer, my employment options in the short run here in Brazil distill down to teaching English (even if you don’t know crap about English grammar). To be fair – I never suggest to potential students/clients that I am an English teacher.  I state that I am simply a native speaker with some smarts. So I describe myself as an English “polisher”, which is of value to bi-lingual professionals.

Get it right. Speak clearly and concisely. Communicate effectively. Be articulate. Connect with those who speak English. That is my job.

It has been very exciting this past year to work with Zanna at Zanna Sound.  Learning about Sound Branding as an English consultant for Zanna Sound in Rio has been very interesting and it has certainly been innovative stuff. 

Zanna, principle of Zanna Sound, is more than an intriguing and inspiring client. She has changed and is changing the landscape of marketing via sound, and I have found it remarkably interesting to be in this process.

There is nothing more fun than a smart client with sophisticated content wanting my assistance. Thank the goddess that most of my English students/clients are advanced professionals with interesting things to engage in.

Zanna lights up the room. She is a brilliant innovator and has built an international reputation as a leader in Sound Branding. She is in fact the premiere professional in this field in Latin America.

Sound branding is that thing you already know about – think about the sound that happens when you turn on your computer. You instantly recognize the sound – and the association with the brand. Think about the ambient sound you hear when you go into some retail spaces (good or bad). Think about the sounds associated with some companies when you are put on hold on the phone. This is all thoughtful stuff on their part. (Or it should be.)

Zanna Sound works to educate companies about the significant value of working this sound dynamic to their advantage. And Zanna has developed an innovative methodology for securing results.

I will not go into the details – but do follow the links to learn more.

Suffice it to say that Zanna is an innovator, she is opening new spaces for companies to grow their brand, and she will be a force to be acknowledged for many years to come.

It is a delight to work with her – and I look forward to more collaboration in the future.

Check out her website!

Sometimes it is fun to go to work.

Note: - Zanna is currently in southern France at Cannes Lions (the 59^th annual conference of creativity) as a juror and a presenter.