I dont know what I was thinking when I decided it was an ok idea to start talking to my ex again… I think I wouldve been much better off if I just stayed in NYC…everything was good in my life while I was there… but as soon as started talking to him again everything I have been working towards for this past year has fallen apart-finally finishing school, a great job, finally some stability in my life… but he has a way of destroying everything I work so hard for….I wish he could just forget about me and leave me alone..what a disaster…. idk I wish there was a way where we could actually be cordial though. I would be perfectly happy having a friendship with him but he either wants a seriously-suffocating and depressing relationship or to be complete enemies..and I want neither of those… it’s almost impossible to disappear and hide from him…but at the same time i would actually try to be friends considering i invested 9 years of my life on him…it would feel like a waste turning my back on all that time and energy I spent with him… But!-after this miserable experience being around him just this past month and realizing how much damage he had caused in just a few weeks…it’s pretty obvious that it is even more of a waste continuing to talk to him. I can just imagine how much I could achieve if I was never to see or speak to him again….hmmmm…something to think about:) i think I’ll say ‘farewell’ to that horrible person…..:(
helllllll yaaaaaa this was worth doing!!!!!! i have NEVER had my drivers license!!.. and probably have been arrested numerous times just for the fact that I have been driving since I was about 14/15… I couldnt help it though- driving was like an unhealthy obsession and basically the only thing that could ever help relieve me of any stress- which i absorb a lot of…but I am now FREEEE and am able to drive, and even after all the suspensions I just cannot believe it- but this is one goal I will continue to keep a close watch on especially considering on how important it is to have one. Well maybe not as important in NYC, but it is basically a necessity to life everywhere else…..sighh….......thank..buddah…...
1) The Suez Canal
2) The Eiffel Tower
3) The Alaska Highway
4) The Golden Gate Bridge
5) The Empire State Building
6) Dneproges Dam, Dnieper River, Ukraine
7) The Panama Canal
Some of these wonders are not on all lists. Other “Modern Wonder” lists include:
• Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, England
• Big Ben Clock Tower, London, England
• Channel Tunnel, England/France
• CN Tower, Toronto, Canada
• Gateway Arch, St.Louis, USA
• High Dam, Aswan, Egypt
• Hoover Dam, Arizona/Nevada, USA
• Itaipú Dam, Brazil/Paraguay
• Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota, USA
• Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• Statue of Cristo Redentor, Rio de Janiero, Brazil
• Statue of Liberty, New York, USA
• Sydney Opera House, Australia1) Mount Everest
2) Niagara Falls. Canada/USA (+)
3) The Grand Canyon
4) The Great Barrier Reef (+)
5) The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) (+)
6) Paricutin (a “newly-born” (1943) Mexican volcano)
7) The Harbor at Rio de Janiero, Brazil
Some of these wonders are not on all lists. Other “Natural Wonder” lists include:
• Angel Falls, Venezuela
• Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, Canada
• Blue Grotto, Italy
• Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico, USA
• Crater Lake, Oregon, USA
• French and Spanish "Prehistoric Painting Caves"
• Giant Sequoia Trees, Yosemite Park, California, USA
• Iguaçú Falls, Brazil/Argentina
• Krakatoa Island, Indonesia
• Mount Fuji, Japan
• Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
• Natural Bridge, Virginia, USA
• Nile River
• Petrified Forest, Arizona, USA
• Rainbow Natural Bridge, Utah, USA
• Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Colorado, USA
• Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, Alaska, USA
• Yellowstone Falls in Yellowstone National Park1) The Colosseum of Rome
2) The Catacombs of Alexandria, Egypt
3) The Great Wall of China
4) Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain, England
5) The Leaning Tower of Pisa
6) The Porcelain Tower of Nanking, China
7) The Mosque of Saint Sophia at Constantinople (now Istanbul)
There is much variation in this and the next 2 lists. Some of the above wonders are not on some lists and other lists include:
• Abu Simbel Temple, Egypt
• Angkor Wat, Cambodia
• Aztec Temple, Tenochtitlan, Mexico
• Banaue Rice Terraces, Philippines
• Borobudur Temple, Indonesia
• Inca City of Machu Picchu, Peru
• Mayan Temples, Tikal, Guatemala
• Moai Statues of Easter Island, Rapa Nui, Chile
• Mont-Saint-Michel, Normandy, France
• Throne Hall of Persepolis, Iran
• Parthenon, Athens, Greece
• Petra (Rock-Carved City), Jordan
• Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar
• Taj Mahal, Agra, India
• Temple of the Inscriptions, Palenque, MexicoTemple of Artemis at Ephesus (Selcuk, Turkey) (completed+)
Mausoleum of Halicarnassus (Bodrum, Turkey)
Colossus of Rhodes (Rhodes, Greece)
Statue of Zeus at Olympia (Olympia, Greece)
Lighthouse of Alexandria (Alexandia, Egypt)
Great Pyramid of Giza (Cairo, Egypt)
Hanging Gardens of Babylon (Iraq)
(Traveling itenerary:
Bodrum to Rhodes- one way ferry 60euro
Rhodes to Athens
Athens to Olympus
Olympus to Sofia
Sofia to Belgrade
Belgarde to Bucharest…)
or… cesme to chioc
chios to rhodes
rhodes to athens
athens to olympos????
or bus to istanbul
istanbul to olympus
olypos to athens
athens to cario (plane)
The 79th Annual Tree Lighting is~ Wednesday, November 30, 2011
@ 7-9 pm
This will be my first year living in New York and actually {{hopefully}} being able to see the lighting of the Rockefeller Christmas tree!! This is exciting because the week after Thanksgiving represents the true start of Holiday Season in NYC for many New Yorkers :)
Delta Air Lines
Flights 34 / 9622
Flight 9622 operated by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
1 Stop
Depart: 5:45 PM
Newark, NJ (EWR)
Arrive: 3:50 PM
Istanbul, Turkey (IST)
Connect in: Amsterdam
Guaranteed Best Price
per person
Total $601
$479
This was amazingly- breathtakingly beautiful!!!! Felt sooo blessed to have been able to experience this in my life!
Hi all! lol thats about the extent of what I can write in Spanish, for now at least. Im really interested in attending the Universidad de Buenos Aires- my education has always been a very important part of my life- and since Im struggling so much to finish school in the US, I would really love to move to Argentina to enroll into their university. I have also always had a strong love for the Hispanic culture- their food, music, passionate language, i love everything about it, so i would be so happy to be able to live here while I study. I have been looking everywhere online and doing tons of research trying to find information on how to enroll, and when I should do this. Should I get a student visa first, or could I just go to Argentina on a tourist visa and obtain my student visa after I enter the country. Do i need high school transcripts to enroll?...or could I just use my college transcript?and would my credits actually transfer, even though they are from an American University? Please if anyone has any information on this please help. Thank you!
So this is one of my MAIN goals I would reallyy like to accomplish in the next couple months! This is so important- I should be going to South America by the end of the year- “if the good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise”... and even though the people Ive talked with says the being certified isn’t really necessary- I would much rather have one just incase- and also for the knowledge of course.
I’m just wondering if anyone knows if there are any loans or grants out there that assist with this course? I found a school in San Diego- but I’m willing to take this course anywhere really, as long as I could find a more affordable class that is less than the $2,500. If anyone has any tips, please let me know. Thank you!
Ive been needing a nice phone for awhile now- I did have the lovely Samsung Instinct- for Sprint- which I really have no complaints for…ahhh i loved that phone. but i lost it in Pittsburgh one day :( sooo I had to find me another one..so I’ll have the Samsung Continuum here in a couple days--yeyy…so excited! well sort of…im definitely excited since I’m due for a new one, but it’s through verizon which Im not too thrilled about since their plan is horrible compared to Sprint. But the phone should be nice since well, its an Android of course….lost of nice features :)
Brazil: Go East, Young Man
By Stephen Thompson
August 6, 2007
I love to get email from Gringoes.com readers, and it always spurs me on to write again for this site. This week, an English teacher asked me about opportunities teaching English in Rio. I have never tried teaching English in Rio, but I hear the rates are lower than in São Paulo. On the other hand, it‘s cheaper to get to the beach in Rio, so at least you can breath deeply while you watch your savings slowly disappear.
Apart from a few lucky teachers, teaching English in Brazil is a survival option. In Portuguese, “um quebra galho”, something you do to get by for a while.
Last week I wrote about our “Brazilian” lifestyle here in south China, where the beaches, mountains, flora and fruit remind me a bit of Rio, but where the employment opportunities for gringos are much better. Today I‘ll write a bit more detail comparing the work opportunities for gringos here, or gweilos as they are called in Cantonese, with the situation in Brazil. I‘ll focus on English teaching because I know most about it, and I‘ll use São Paulo and Shanghai to make my comparison, as these two cities are the ones I know best. Shanghai is a good comparison for São Paulo because they are the largest and most economically developed cities in their respective countries. I‘ll try and tempt you gringos who are stuck teaching English in Brazil for slave wages to head East across the Pacific, to the new land of opportunity!
English teachers in São Paulo make around 2,000 Reais a month at Cultura Inglesa, an English teaching market leader and so a good reference guide. English teachers in Shanghai China make around 20,000 Yuan a month. Private English classes with native speakers vary a lot, but 50 Reais an hour is considered a good rate. São Paulo has the best rates in Brazil and rates in other Brazilian cities are lower. Rates for private classes for English teachers in Shanghai are around 250 Yuan per hour.
Unlike Brazilians, Chinese prefer to be taught by native speakers at all levels. There are lots of opportunities for teaching in Chinese kindergartens, as well as English schools and universities. In Brazil there are too many English speaking Brazilians and Brazilians normally take lessons with a Brazilian teacher until they get to an advanced level. Then they look for a native speaker for private conversation classes, to improve their vocabulary and fluency. The native speaker then has to correct the mistakes the student has learnt from the Brazilian teacher, of which the most common one is the incorrect pronunciation of “-ed” verb endings.
The Real is worth around 3.75 Yuan, so 20,000 Yuan converts to around 6,000 reais, but this is only half the story, because the cost of living in Shanghai is lower than São Paulo, so that in terms of purchasing power I would guess that 20,000 yuan is more like 9,000 reais. Shanghai is very flat and there are many bicycle lanes, so you can get around by bike. The Shanghai metro system is small but it is very growing fast, whereas the São Paulo one is like a Shitzu dog; tiny and carefully groomed, but too small to be really useful. Taxis are also a lot cheaper than in São Paulo. Flagfall, what you pay when you get in the cab, is about the same as in São Paulo, but you go for over 2km taxi ride before it starts going up, and then it is only 2 Yuan per kilometre.
There are lots of good and cheap places to eat in both cities, although you have to be more wary about food safety in Shanghai. I‘ve only been sick twice, but the media regularly prints stories about adulterated and unhealthy foods and drink, and many of them are eye-poppingly nauseating. Things I miss most in China are dairy products, pizza, pão de quejo, and surprisingly, fruit, because it isn‘t part of the local diet, and hence tends to be relatively expensive, although no more so in absolute terms than in Brazil. Since just about everything else on sale in the world these days is made in China, it stands to reason that you can get all this stuff cheaply there too.
As for accommodation, you can rent a centrally located 2 bed apartment for around 3,000 Yuan, and in China you don‘t pay any additional condominium, or service charge. 24 hour security is included in the rent.
There are also opportunities for English editors, proofreaders and copywriters here. Translation from Chinese usually pays poorly, because there are many Chinese translators who translate English, albeit badly. But there are opportunities for other languages. I have one client who regularly needs Portuguese/English translation.
Apart from language-related work, there are other work opportunities wherever foreigners have a competitive advantage, for example selling French wine, modeling and acting, cooking for chefs, construction for architects etc. The key is to avoid competing with the locals, who always do everything twice as fast for half the price.
You can get great churrasco in Shanghai as I have written in a previous posting.
There are lots of Brazilians in China, although you wouldn‘t know it at their parties, because most of them are ethnic Chinese who were brought up in Brazil. Some of them have cultural identity issues, and can‘t decide whether to get drunk on Maotai or caipirinha so they settle for beer. China is the world‘s largest producer of beer, and Chinese Maotai looks a bit like Brazilian pinga, although it‘s stronger and smells more like cleaning fluid than pinga.
By Stephen Thompson
If you are new to São Paulo and thinking of buying a car and driving here, here‘s my advice; don‘t. Owning a car here is like having a child, it requires a major investment of money and doesn‘t solve the problem of how to get around quickly. Today a traffic offence penalty arrived in the mail, several months after I finally sold my car, to remind me of this fact. I had been photographed driving at 32 mph in a street with a maximum speed of 25 mph, which is not exactly fast. This was the eighth traffic violation for which I was fined, and I hope the last since I have now sold the car. Selling the car gave me mixed feelings, like when you return a dog to the lost dogs home, but the overall feeling was one of immense relief.
A lot of money is made from imposing these traffic fines, which grow like snowballs rolling downhill as late payment charges and interest charges are added.
I have never received a traffic fine in London, where I drove a car for 10 years. But here, in a space of a few months I received eight, including a fine for throwing fruit peel out of my car window. This was a surprise, considering the state of Brazilian streets.
Other unpleasant surprises included the size of my car tax bill, which apparently is calculated at 5% of the value of the vehicle, and is also increased by penalties and interest charges for late payment.
Another unavoidable expense is parking. I think most Brazilians would agree that it‘s not safe to leave your car overnight in the street. I used to pay over 100 Reais a month at my local car park. You also have to pay to park your car when you drive into town, or go out in the evening, or go to the shops.
One night when I went out to a bar in the Vila Madalena, I paid the car valet service at the restaurant to park my car which they did, but incorrectly. Three weeks later I received a fine for double parking, by which time I couldn‘t remember which bar I‘d been at
Car insurance is also high, I‘m not sure how high because I never paid it, since I always left my car in the car park.
Finally, after paying all these charges and fines, you can only use your car four days a week and at the weekend. This is due to the rotation system based on the last number of car licence plates, which is meant to reduce traffic congestion.
So, if in spite of this advice you decide to actually drive in São Paulo, make sure that you study your route well before leaving home. Remember that most streets are one way, and that is almost always illegal to turn left, so if you have to turn left, you will need to make a detour. Be prepared for lengthy delays due to traffic accidents or roadworks. After many years
delay, São Paulo is finally getting a new metro line, and this is causing lengthy delays where roads are being excavated.
Beware of the Brazilian Federal highway police! The first time I came to Brazil, I forgot my driving licence. Nevertheless, I decided to take the risk of borrowing my mother-in-law‘s car and driving down to the beach to spend carnival. Just to be on the safe side, my wife consulted the I Ching, which confirmed that we would have a smooth and safe journey. Halfway down through the mountains, in the middle of the night, we were stopped by the Brazilian federal highway police, who immediately impounded my mother-in-law‘s car when I couldn‘t produce my driving licence, and to cut a long story short, we had to give them out holiday spending money in order to persuade them to be nice and give the car back.
My advice to any would-be motorists in São Paulo is keep your car money in the bank, and use public transport.
By Stephen Thompson
I can‘t pretend to be an expert on this subject, since I haven‘t managed to get into university in Brazil yet. However, this is what I‘ve learned so far.
Firstly, I should say that if you are able to get into university in Brazil, and especially a good Federal or State University like the University of São Paulo, it‘s well worth it. Courses are completely free of course, and students at the University of São Paulo have access to good free sports facilities, and even creche and medical services. Brazilians are diploma mad, and you will be treated with much more respect if you are studying for a university degree. Also, studying at university doesn‘t necessarily mean giving up work, there are many full-time night courses. Students also get half price cinema tickets.
On the downside, I should mention that Brazilian University students constantly talk amongst themselves during lectures, making it difficult to hear what the teacher is saying. Also, Brazilian state and federal universities are prone to strikes. Some faculties go on strike every year for months, and I don‘t know how students ever manage to graduate.
If you want to take an undergraduate course at a Brazilian state university, the first step is to enroll for the FUVEST exam. You will need a foreigners ID registration number, or RNE. At http://www.fuvest.br you can see previous years exams. Enrolments finish in September and the first phase exams take place in November. You have to decide when you enroll and which course you want to take, and you can consult the previous years exam results to see what score you need to get in order to pass the first phase. The first phase exam is a multiple-choice general exam, which covers chemistry, biology, physics, maths, geography, history, Portuguese and English. If you do well in the first phase, you can then proceed to the second phase, which is a Portuguese written exam. There are many schools specialising in preparing students to take the FUVEST exam. These are called “cursinhos” (“little courses”).
Since your written Portuguese is probably not as good as a Brazilian, you will almost certainly fail the second phase, unless you apply for something no one else wants to study such as Environmental Protection with Pedagogy.
But there are other ways of getting into Brazilian Universities. If you already have a University degree recognised by a Brazilian University, and an RNE, you can apply to study for a higher degree, or be accepted to a degree course without taking the FUVEST exam.
To get your University degree recognised by a Brazilian University it has to be evaluated as being equivalent to a degree course in Brazil. You have to show a transcription of all your undergraduate exam results. This evaluation process takes eight to 10 months, but it‘s better to allow a year including carnival and the summer holidays when not much gets done. It will be difficult to get equivalence for a nonstandard degree, such as Surfing Studies or (in my case) Chinese Studies, as these kind of courses are not offered by Brazilian universities.
A third way in is to start a course at a private university, and then apply for a transfer after two months to the public University of your choice.
Finally, if all else fails, go and speak to the tutors, and ask if you can sit in on their classes. This will be good for your Portuguese, and you‘ll make friends with other students, and with the teacher, who can explain to you how to navigate the bureaucratic maze. Most tutors are happy to allow this in my experience.
Going to University in Brazil is also a historical experience, in the sense that you may feel that you are going back in time. You will experience the kind of campus politics which died out back home in the 1970s. Also Brazilian social science is still stuck in a mid 20th century French mindset.
In 2003, I applied to the University of São Paulo to join their PhD history programme. I had to take a test of Portuguese for foreigners, which I passed. My topic was Chinese history, and I thought that my language skills were good enough; apart from English and Portuguese, I know Chinese (Mandarin) and some Japanese. However, I was rejected because I could not translate from French into Portuguese. The Brazilian University system was strongly influence by France at one point and French still lives on in Brazilian ivory towers.
By Stephen Thompson
If you are one of the increasing number of English-speaking people with a Brazilian partner who is thinking of coming to Brazil to look for work, read this carefully.
Getting well-paid, secure employment in Brazil is hard.
There are a number of points you need to be aware of:
1. The best paid jobs in Brazil are in the public sector, and only Brazilian passport holders are allowed to apply for these and sit the exams called “concourso publico”. A foreigner‘s RNE is not enough.
2. Don‘t assume that that because wages are low, the cost of living will also be low as well. Unfortunately it doesn‘t work like that. Although accommodation, food and alcohol are relatively cheap, a lot of things are actually more expensive, in particular cars, telephones/cellphones and electronic goods. And you need a car in Brazil, because public transport is poor. Ditto public health care. Assume that you will get nothing for free, and that you will have to pay a lot of services and charges. There are also lots of other “hidden costs” and taxes.
3. Make sure you have good contacts. Most work in Brazil is arranged through the grapevine, rather than official sources. If you don‘t have good contacts, you going to have to do a lot of networking.
4. Evaluate your skills. Unless you are a telecoms engineer or international banker, your most valuable skill in the Brazilian job market is probably your English fluency, and your knowledge of English speaking culture. But be aware that it is a premium service you are offering – don‘t compete with Brazilian English teachers. Target the top end of the English teaching/translation market. Try contacting the universities and large companies and avoid most English schools as the pay is too low; as low as R$8/hour. Look for business English teaching and focus on the best schools such Alumni. Remember for Brazilian schools the year starts in February, which is the best time to look for private students, but schools will be contracting earlier.
5. Don‘t assume that you can teach English better than Brazilians just because you‘re a native speaker. You need to know a lot of grammar as well, and Brazilian teachers have an advantage in that they‘ve learnt English the hard way.
6. Be aware that private students will cancel their classes in December and return only after Carnival. Ask for one month‘s payment in advance, and try to get them to sign a contract. Explain to them that is not acceptable to cancel classes at the last minute, or they will do this and assume they do not have to pay. Don‘t expect your students to be punctual for a class. Explain that it‘s important they turn up on time, as you have other commitments and work.
7. Be aware that it takes longer to get things done in Brazil. And don‘t expect much to happen in January or July or during Carnaval.
8. The Brazilian business day runs from nine to five, with a two-hour lunch break between midday and 2:30 p.m. Don‘t bother calling outside these times. Be patient and persistent.
9. Be aware of bank holidays, and expect people to take the whole week off.
10. Don‘t expect Brazilians to answer their cell phones, especially in the evening or at the weekend.
11. Don‘t expect to find work on the Internet. If the person you‘re e-mailing doesn‘t reply, visit them in person. Ditto phone calls.
12. If you‘re working freelance, get registered as an “autonomo” (self-employed) at your local Prefeitura. Otherwise, you will have difficulty getting paid. Brazilian companies require a “nota fiscal” from a registered company before they can pay you.
13. It takes several months to open a company in Brazil (and several years to close one).
14. Don‘t expect to receive all the benefits you are entitled to by law. It is usual, especially in smaller companies, to record a worker on a small salary in order to reduce employers social security, holiday and other obligations. The rest of your money will be paid in cash under the table (“caixa dois” in Portuguese).
15. Don‘t imagine because you have work you can get credit. And if you are offered credit, refuse it. Brazilian interest rates are absurdly high.
16. If you are living in Brazil and married to a Brazilian, but don‘t have a work permit, don‘t assume that it‘s illegal to work. The Brazilian law is contradictory. You have a legal requirement to support your spouse.
17. Don‘t always take Brazilian job offers seriously. Sometimes Brazilians say things without meaning them.
18. Don‘t be surprised if your Brazilian job gets cancelled at the last minute.
19. Don‘t assume that things are going to get better, on the contrary, prepare for the worst-currency devaluation, an energy crisis, and government confiscation of your bank account – these have all happened in recent years! The Brazilian economy is not going anywhere, and Brazil has 3 or 4 million more hungry mouths to feed every year.
20. Finally, relax and enjoy it! No matter how hard things are, there is always another public holiday around the corner when you can go to the beach with your partner, who hopefully is making more money then you are!
Managing a Brazilian bank account
By Stephen Thompson
The first two years I lived in Brazil, I longed to have a bank account. But now I’ve got one, I wish I didn’t.
I sometimes wonder what Kafka would have thought of Brazil. Perhaps he would have written extra chapters to his book The Trial, which became a synonym for bureaucratic nightmares, including one on the Brazilian banking system, had he had the pleasure to have an account here.
I couldn’t open a bank account because I didn’t have an RNE, a National Foreigners Registration number. I was married to a Brazilian, so I had a right to permanent residency, but the waiting time for an RNE was about two years.
When I applied for an RNE, I was interviewed by the Brazilian Federal police. I was asked whether I had been working in Brazil, but I was warned that before I answered I should bear in mind that either answer would incriminate me. It is illegal to work in Brazil without an RNE, but it is also illegal to be married to a Brazilian and not provide financial support to them. I thought for a while and then asked which crime carried a heavier penalty. “I’m afraid you’ll have to consult a lawyer”, came the reply. So I said, “well I’ve been working a little bit, doing some odd jobs you know what I mean.” “That’s okay then,” said the police woman.
Eventually I jumped the queue and got my RNE within a few weeks by applying directly to the Brazilian Embassy from my own country, and when I returned to Brazil I was finally able to open a Brazilian bank account. That’s when all my troubles began.
Today I’m trying to sort out my credit card. While I was away, my payments were not deducted automatically because my money was in the wrong kind of fund. Shortly after returning to Brazil, I received a phone call offering a deal to clear my debts. This I did, however a few weeks later I received another phone call explaining that I was being taken to court because I hadn’t paid the debt in full.
This afternoon I have been trying to find out what happened. It seems to be something to do with the Brazilian custom of spreading payments for big-ticket items over several months. For example if you buy an air ticket, you can pay for it in up to 10 instalments. The instalments are charged to
your credit card over a period of 10 months. As interest payments on visiting credit cards are in the region of 10% per month, this saves a lot of interest. It appears that one or more of these monthly payments was not included on my credit card statements.
I’m trying to speak to the credit card company and I’m slowly going crazy. This morning I phoned them 12 times, four times I’ve been put through to a recorded message saying that all the lines are busy and will I please call back later. The other eight times a sleepy sounding secretary at the University of Brasilia has answered my call. There is some kind of malfunction with the telephone system but presumably I’m not being charged for a long-distance call from São Paulo to Brasilia. The secretary doesn’t seem to be irritated after I call her by accident eight times, I explain what’s happening and she tells me this is normal, it happens all the time. Something is wrong with the telephone system.
But as I have some unfinished business at the University of Brasilia maybe this telephonic glitch has a silver lining for me.
I have been trying for some time to be accepted at the University of São Paulo and this has become another ongoing bureaucratic battle. In order to study at a Brazilian University, my university degree needs to be ratified by a Brazilian University. Since my university degree is not offered by any Brazilian University, I have been advised that I have more chance at the University of Brasilia, where they have more experience of dealing with foreigners with strange qualifications,
due to the large diplomatic community resident in the capital. But this ratification process is slow and bureaucratic, taking an average of eight to 10 months, and involves lots of expensive long-distance telephone calls, and I have been so busy lately dealing with my bank account that I don’t know where I got to in the process.
So since I can’t sort out my credit card bill, I decided to take advantage of the malfunction of the telephone system, to speak to the staff at the University of Brasilia for the cost of a local call. Then maybe I can go back to university in Brazil, which is one of the few freebies available to foreigners here. In the meantime, the Brazilian justice system will order my bank account to be suspended and I can go back to keeping my cash under the mattress, which is probably the safest place for it.
So if you were thinking of opening a bank account, here is my advice. If you have a lot of money, you will earn lots of money in interest payments. But if you don’t have very much money, you will pay a lot of money in bank charges. Try to avoid having a credit card, if you miss a payment you’ll be charged at least 10% and could be taken to court. Don’t use an overdraft, the interest payment is almost as much as for a credit card. If you use a cheque-book, don’t write cheques for small amounts less than 25 reals, as you will be charged by your bank. A common form of crime in Brazil is altering checks, keep an eye on your bank statement. If you’re thinking about transferring money to Brazil from abroad, be aware that it may not be possible to send it back again. Remember the Brazilian currency goes up and down, and that this depends more on what’s happening to US interest rates than to the fundamentals of the Brazilian economy. At the moment the Brazilian real is strong, but you can be pretty sure that the exchange-rate will be different in six to 12 months.
You can get Brazilian citizenship without giving up your existing nationality. This was pointed out to me by David, a Canadian who lives in Salvador. So now I don’t have to be envious of Brazilians, including my own wife and daughter, who have dual nationality, and who got it without giving up their other passport. The Brazilian Constitution was changed in 1988 and again in 1994, to allow Brazilian economic migrants to maintain their Brazilian nationality.
According to the Brazilian Embassy, citizenship can be granted in after just one year of residency in Brazil, if the applicant has a Brazilian wife or child. For more details, see http://www.brazil.org.uk/page.php?n=484
So why did it take a badtempered article on the Internet for me to get the right information? I had been told so many times that I would have to renounce my British nationality, in order to get the Brazilian one, that I assumed it must be true. It seems that most people are unaware of the relatively recent changes in the Brazilian Constitution. During the era of mass immigration and nationbuilding, European and Japanese immigrants were required to renounce their existing nationality, in order to encourage allegiance to their new homeland. And folk memories of this are still strong.
In the last 30 years, the flow of migrants has been in the opposite direction, as Brazilians sought to escape Brazil’s economic problems by going overseas, often acquiring a second nationality in the process. In the 1980s, many Brazilians were obliged to give up their Brazilian citizenship after living abroad. But it was soon realised that these Brazilians were acquiring second passports mostly for pragmatic reasons, and that at heart they remained Brazilians, true to the Brazilian Motherland, and intent on returning home again one day. So the Constitution was changed, to allow Brazilians to come home.
Which is how you and I also came to benefit, dear reader, assuming that you, like I, are a gringo interested in acquiring Brazilian nationality. We too have benefited from the changes in the Brazilian Constitution, and we too now have the right to Brazilian citizenship while retaining our British, US, Australian, or any other passport.
So how do you qualify for Brazilian citizenship? If you have been a permanent resident of Brazil for 15 years and do not have a criminal record, then you qualify. However, the process can be cut down to four years if you read and write Portuguese, have employment or have sufficient funds to support yourself and your family, are in good health and of “good conduct”. (I’m not sure whether this includes writing misleading articles on the Internet about Brazilian citizenship)
Time requirements can be further reduced to only one year if you have a Brazilian wife or child, or to two years if you are have certain professional, scientific or artistic abilities, or to three years if you own property or a business in Brazil with a certain value.
So it seems that the foreigner can actually get Brazilian citizenship within a year, after marrying a Brazilian. On the other hand, it takes five years for a Brazilian in the same circumstances to get British nationality. Maybe in the interests of reciprocity the British government should make it easier for Brazilians.
What are the advantages and responsibilities of holding a Brazilian passport? You will be able to get through immigration faster. You will be eligible to vote, but did you know that voting is compulsory? If you’re unable to vote, you will have to justify this to the relevant bodies, but this is usually a trivial task. You could be eligible for military service, as Brazil still practices conscription. You will be able to stand for public office, although you can’t be president of Brazil unless you’re born there, and this applies to a few other top jobs. You will be eligible to apply for jobs in the Brazilian public service, which are normally better paid than those in the private sector.
However, if you want to take advantage of these opportunities, and fulfil these duties, you need to speak, read and write Portuguese well. If like me, you picked Portuguese up by chatting to friends and reading the newspaper, it’s time for some serious study, especially if you want to apply for a good job in the Brazilian public service.
One of the BEST books I’ve read in awhile- opened my eyes to the reasons why some countries go to war, why some succeed and why others fail…also helped me develope a lot of interesting opinions and understand a little more about whats happening with my own country and the multiple wars we’re in right now. Very excellent read…
And if anyone if interested in reading this- go to this website:
http://scienceofstrategy.org/main/content/art-war-pdf-download-translation-only
You can find a FREE :) ebook (kindle, etc) copy of it!
Knowledge is Power! And this book is not only filled with useful information- but wisdom also. So take advantage of the free ebook lol
