Last Monday Joice and I hopped on a plane to São Paulo from Salvador. Joice wasn´t originally going to accompany on this part of my journey but she arranged to reapply for her Visa at the São Paulo consulate.
We arrived in São Paulo at 5 PM, my boss had agreed to pick us up at the airport at 7PM, so before he arrived we walked the massive airport making an attempt for me to register with the Federal police. Instantly I was shocked by the diversity of São Paulo, In Salvador I was diverse and when a pale Jewish boy from the suburbs is diversity you know you are a long way from home! People were no longer gawking at my blinding white hue. São Paulo is just a lot more diverse in terms of ethnic background because during the 1800´s large groups of immigrants from Italy, Spain, Japan and Lebanon added to the ethnic diversity of the city and state. As we were walking through the corridors of Garulhos airport we noticed the increased mixture of ancestry in comparison to Salvador.
In Salvador the standard costume is brightly colored tank tops, board shorts and Brazilian Haviana sandals. However in São Paulo you see a lot more diversity in the dress of the people as well. You can see depressed teenagers making an attempt to dress like American depressed teenagers from the late 90s, stressed businessmen talking on blackberries wearing a three piece suit and women dressed in lavish multicolored dresses that require second glances.(NOTE: thankfully the hipster movement is contained and under control in this country.)
Eventually we found the federal police after a long and frustrating hour of walking through the airport. Unfortunately they told us that I had to register at a different federal police in a neighboring city but thankfully it killed enough time to take us to 7 PM. Joice and I waited at an airport cafe and I pulled out my laptop because I had seen that the São Paulo airport was a wi-fi hotspot. I got really excited as I haven´t been able to find even the weakest signal in this country, however the Hot Spot proved fruitless as You would have to pay for the access and the registration for the account was easier said than done. (I haven´t been able to hook my computer up to the internet once since arriving so that is why I haven´t put up any pictures yet. Sorry. They are mostly of guys in Speedos anyways so unless that's your thing you´ll just have to wait.)
As I was putting my laptop away I heard my name over the loud speaker telling me to go to the information desk on the second floor. I walked upstairs and waiting with a sign that said Oxbridge Customized Courses and my name stood Henrique my boss for the next year. Henrique looked completely different from my expectations, a little heavy-set, pale blue eyes, short greying brown hair, oculated, dressed professionally with a well pressed shirt, slacks and stylish designer tie. In fact Henrique is one beard, kip pa, and pa is away from working in Manhattan´s diamond cutting industry. I´m not sure if He´s Jewish and I didn´t want to ask but it takes one to know one. We gave our introductions and I took him downstairs to meet Joice.
Henrique is a really nice, well-organized, professional person. He spoke to me mostly in Portuguese however he was trained in England so when he speaks English he has a little bit of a Cockney drawl. He picked up his car and we hit the road on our way to Jundiaí. We passed through São Paulo on our way to the country side of São Paulo state asking Henrique questions about the city, himself and making random chit chat.
Jundiaí, the city I will be staying for the next six-months to year is 30 minutes north of São Paulo city. It has about 400,000 habitants and is on the boarder of being tropical and sub-tropical climate. I knew this because of the sign we passed on the highway stating "you have now passed the Tropic of Capricorn" Henrique gave us a quick tour of the neighborhood in his car and then we got to the "republic" or shared apartment.
The Dono or owner of the house came down and gave me a choice of two rooms, one a single plain square room with a bed, dresser and "desk" which in actuality is a sewing station with a communal bathroom to be shared with two other roomates. The other option was a double-room that would be shared with one of the incoming teachers with a bathroom to be shared with one other roomate. However I didn´t really want to share a room so I took the single bedroom.
The house is a bit of a dump. There is a long dark hallway that leads up a short flight of stairs to the communal lounge. There is a TV with cable and a telephone that only receives incoming calls. The kitchen is dark with a simple oven and a faucet that splashes water when turned on. The bathroom is decent. I moved my stuff into the room and we told the Dono that Joice would be staying for the first night and then she would get a hotel room for the remaining nights. This was a lie. We offered to pay him for the extra guest but he felt uncomfortable hosting a female in an all male residence. But what he doesn´t know won´t kill him.
My room is dusty and probably not properly cleaned before I arrived. I had a house greeting from a new friend, The largest cockroach I´ve ever seen outside of a zoo. This cockroach was about the size of my ring finger with wings, large antennae and the color of rust. Needless to say dinner was served! However you get for what you pay for . I pay R$230 per month which is about $115 American. Its right down the street from the school, the bus station, a grocery store and a pretty raunchy strip club! It will do for now and its just nice having a place to stay as soon as you land on the ground.
After dinner I met a few of the housemates some shy but nice Paulistos named João (John) and Paulo. Joice and I passed out in my humble abode hoping the cockroaches wouldn´t come back to say hello.
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