I’m moving back to London
Hello everyone. I’ve been a little lazy with the blogging recently so I thought that even though I haven’t had time to prepare anything interesting, I should at least post a quick update. As the post title suggests, I’m leaving Brazil! I’ll fly back to London at the end of the month.
All together now: "Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again..." - I snapped this plane taking off from Santos Dumont airport last night.
BUT, I’m not going for ever! (I just thought it would be fun to be a little melodramatic in that first paragraph). Normally I try to steer away from diary-style blogging, but I guess I need to explain a little. I’ve got a new job! I will still be working in Rio (in yucky Barra – urgh…) but I’m being employed by a company that is based in London. So the first thing I’ll have to do is get trained up, which means taking a two month trip back to my old home town.
Would it be fraudulent to keep blogging on a site called Eat Rio, while I’m living in London? Well there will be a lot going on the next 3 weeks (including a little street party known as Carnaval!) so hopefully that will keep me fuelled with things to write about while I’m away. And perhaps I’ll be able to do some more up-to-date comparisons between my two favourite cities. But to be realistic I’m not sure how much time I will have for blogging while I’m there.
In the short term I should have some more free time during the remainder of this month, so I hope to add loads more stuff to the website. We should even see the return of the Brazilian Hand Gestures quizzes, some more of my, ahem, unique animation sequences (I know you guys love that stuff – don’t bother denying it) and of course there will be plenty of carnival goodness.
I will leave you with another long exposure photo of a plane taking off from Santos Dumont (I posted this one to my facebook page today… Oh, you didn’t know about the Eat Rio facebook page? Where have you been?! You should check it out and click “Like” – it’s what all the cool kids are doing apparently).
Congrats on being able to go home for a bit!!! Must be exciting for you. Glad to hear that you will keep up your blog postings. I love to check in daily to see of and what you’ve posted about :)
Thanks Brae. I’m feeling pretty excited about the next 3 months – a friend from NYC coming to stay, carnaval, moving back to London, a new job, catching up with friends and family, the British weather…. It’s going to be crazy but I’ll do my best to keep writing.
By the way, thanks for commenting – it’s really nice to hear from you and to get a little encouragement once in a while (I’m so needy! ;) )
Carnaval alone is enough to look forward to. I shared the link to your blog with my community-based Portuguese language class this week b/c I like it so much. Hopefully that means you’ll also get some addition traffic and encouragement :)
Awesome! Thanks Brae!
Tom,
You got me good!!! :)
Glad to hear you will be back…
Hey, it would be fun, if you have time, to share some pictures about London’s public transportation, like buses, subway and trains!
By the way, I just wrote a post about buses :)
Abracos
Ray
Brilliant post Ray! I even get a name-check! I love the video – if I saw those red double-deckers I would feel quite nostalgic (perhaps even a little saudade!) for London :)
I wanted to get mad at you for moving back, you traitor! I had a feeling you were lying though. ahahahh!
Anyways congrats on the new job, that’s wonderful. I look forward to hearing about London and saudades that you’re going to have while there!! eheheh
Ate mais,
Alex
Ha ha! Thanks Alex. No plans to ‘betray’ Brazil just yet!
You’re right about the saudades too – there will be all the excitement and fun of being back in London, but I know I’ll be pining for home too… :(
Congrats on the new job!! And my condolences for it being in barra ;)
Ha ha – thanks Rachel!
Oh Barra – I’m going to have to find a way to make friends with it (or at least stop hating it so intensely).
Ok, can someone please explain what’s so wrong with Barra?
I am not that familiar with Rio to fully comprehend…is it the distance? Lack of public transportation? No Subway?
:)
Hey Ray. I know a few people who live there and they like it, so I’m not saying it’s a “bad place” per se. But I don’t like it. I like towns and cities where you can walk places, where they have a soul, some heart.
In my opinion, Barra was built for cars, not people. It is full of bigass, ugly shopping malls and generic, near identical, 40 storey apartment blocks. It has a full-on freeway running right through the middle (you have to scamper across 8 lanes of traffic much like frogger…).
When I go to Barra I am reminded of the worst cities in visited in Latin America: Panama City, Guatemala City, Managua. I don’t feel like I’m in Rio anymore. I’m sure there are good things about Barra and for some people it represents a great balance of price (I think property is far more affordable over there) and facilities, but it ain’t for me! :)
Tom, apartments are not cheaper in Barra – especially because the condo fees are equal to, or higher than, the price of the apartment itself.
Because Barra lacks any kind of ‘neighbourhood feel’ (ie. no trees, no parks, no way to walk anywhere) the condos have built these little park-esque spaces inside the condo and then jacked up the condo fee to R$1000+++/month.
Seeing as I lived in Recreio and Jacarepagua (both neighbourhoods a little further than Barra) and worked in Barra for the first almost 2 years of living here, I can say with 100% certainty that I am so so sorry you have to move to Barra.
At least you have some friends there and you’ll live and work in the same neighbourhood. That will make life infinitely better! But sad you gotta leave Botafogo :(
GREAT TRIP HOME, YOU LUCKY SOD!
Hee hee, thanks Lindsey! You back up everything I feel about Barra.
I’m actually not planning on moving to there (jeez, I don’t even want to think about that!) but instead I’m going to commute. It’s not going to be easy because I’m actually living in Glória/Santa Teresa, so it’s a fair old way. But I’ll be travelling at the quietest times of day, traffic-wise, so fingers crossed I can make it work!
1.Congrats on the job.
2. You can start a short lived series called English Hand Gestures. For instance, display a distant “oh now now” pat to the shoulders and then add the matching setting: used when ‘patter’ is informed by the “pattie” that his/her entire family succumbed to a car accident
3. I hope food and regular street architecture (sidewalks for instance), are covered along with buses and transport in general in this London dispatchment ( If Ray gets to lobby then…)
4. You could re-enact this yourself, film it and then post. LOL.
Have a safe trip and a pleasant stay. :-)
Thanks Gritty.
Heh heh, I haven’t driven in almost 2 years and haven’t seen a roundabout in 3! If someone is crazy enough to let me behind the wheel then there’s a very chance of that happening!
Hey, Tom! Congrats on the new job. Seems like a real good opportunity (they are sending you to London and all!). Hope to see you before you leave, maybe during carnival in some bloco with Manuela. =)
Thanks Sthephani! Yes, it’s a great opportunity and the training back in London is the icing on the cake! See you soon!
Hello Tom,
It´s my frist time in here, so glad that i found u and ur blog because im brazilian but my heart is in London ..
Enjoy ur time back home.
Sorry my english :-)
Lohayne xx
Hi Lohayne!
I’m very happy you found EatRio! :D
A big part of my heart is in London too – it is a wonderful city!
Seu inglês é muito melhor de meu português! Entendi tudo! Mas se você preferir, pode escrever em português também – seria boa pratica para mim! rs
Abraço,
Tom
But i want to practice as well… i used to work at haché in Chelsea, the best burger in london, so if u find time to go i´m pretty sure u never are going to forget. xx
OK, I am very happy to help you practice your English :) I never went to Haché, but I have heard that it is excellent! I am going back to London for short trips in February and April, so I will try to go to Haché when I am there. Sounds amazing (now I am hungry…)
Great .. so as soon you get back to London please send us pictures and if you go to Haché let me know about it..
I will! I am already trying to decide which burger I will have :D