Sufferings of frequently occurring Offline Existance – or: Internet in a small Brazilian town

Internet in Brazil is like an annoying neighbour: if you don´t need it, it´s always available and stopping you from doing your work but as soon as you urgently need its help it´s either busy due to a lot of people using it or not available.

*********************************************************************************

We like to think of Brazil as one of the leading nations. Economy, wealth, development.

Unfortunately I am forced to say that Luanda (capital of Angola) has more reliable internet providers. During my time there, the internet in two private apartments as well as the internet cafe never failed (only when we had some of the occasional electricity failures but then again, it wasn´t the internet providers fault…)...

Working mainly through the internet and online masterboards, my husband and I have been fighting our way through at least 4 different internet providers. Two mobile stick internet options (claro and vivo, incredibly expensive and incredibly slow), radio  and cable internets (affordable, but totally unreliable). We will hopefully soon be able to try out the last remaining, expensive option called Velox (unfortunately we do know from relatives using it here in Porto Seguro (region Bahia) that even this option has similar failures although it seems to be the fastest and reliable of all). So what do they all have in common?

Farofa de Frango e Cenoura

Another typical quick Bahian lunch: Rice with Farofa de Frango e Cenoura (Farofa is manioc flour mixed with fast-fried vegetables and other ingredients, this time it was yellow manioc flour mixed with chicken, carrots and peppers. Yummi!

My favourite London radio programme - the Vanessa Feltz Show

When I am not in London, it doesn´t mean that I cannot listen to London radio shows whenever I feel like it.

My absolute favourite is the Vanessa Feltz show, part of BBC Radio London. She discusses anything concerning enjoying and surviving life in the capital, current hot topics of the various London boroughs.

This week she discussed Londoners´ thoughts on the Paralympics, exaggerated beauty regimes of many UK kids and Christians fighting for their right to wear their crosses at work.

The show goes out Mon-Sat from 9am-12midday on 94.9fm. You can also listen to the best bits in the podcast section:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/vanessa

London on a budget - food

I guess almost everyone of us has lived through those days, when at the end of the money there were still many days of the month left. Being in that situation in London is a lot worse, as food in general is more expensive than in most other places.

Here a few tipps and tricks how to survive on a tight food/eat out budget in London, let´s say about 100-150 pounds per month for a couple.

Let´s say you spend about 25 pounds per week, then try to sort your shopping the following way: 6 pounds for veggies, 5 pounds for fruits, 4 pounds for grains, 4-5 pounds for proteins, 4 pounds for dairy and 1-2 pounds for oils and other foods:


Cook at home

My Top 5 favourite places in London

Those are my current Top 5 favourite places in London

1. Hampstead Heath 

My favourite London Park (Tube: Hampstead) and the area where I wish to have a small garden flat in the future. It is the place where I´ve dreamed alone, had picknicks with friends and where I can renew myself after a tiring day – whether working or when coming back from the busy centre

2. The British Library 

(Tube: Kings Cross) 
Researching, browsing or just enjoying free time over free classics of British literature and the whole atmosphere of reading people surrounding you, also offer free internet, lovely to meet other fellow literature/book fans. I also love tiny side street book shops, often just stumble over them during a shopping or sight seeing trip. Oh and the (under) Waterloo Bridge Second Hand book market is fantastic as well!

3. Whereever my beloved Zouk-Lambada, Samba and Kizomba classes take place

Carniv... errr, I meant elections in Brazil

Carniv... errr, I meant elections in Brazil are quite different from what I am used to, so I thought I'd give you an insight in the colourful, quite noisy election preparations....

Here another video with a view on Itagimirim, a small town in the countryside of Bahia.

How much does it cost to pick up your own birthday present at a Brazilian post office?

My dear parents and sister prepared a special surprise for my 26th birthday... 

My lovelies have collected my favourite EU products and other items (have not opened the box yet, birthday is still approaching!), put them into a huge box and sent them from Germany to Brazil to (punctually) arrive on my birthday. Must have spent a good amount of money to buy the products and another good amount for the parcel itself.

Now one might not think !Picking up! a birthday present is very expensive. I even thought well, I might have to pay a bit of border tax.

We arrived at the post office.

"São 255,04 reais" (about 100 euros)

:-O

Right. This really is the most expensive price I have ever had to pay to RECEIVE a birthday present.

An ordinary sleeping pattern during a weekend in Porto Seguro, Brazil

An ordinary sleeping pattern during a weekend in Porto Seguro, Brazil:

11pm-4am: Local Street Event (=you get free Party Music at xtreme volume in your house even with closed doors and windows)

4am-6am: drunk ppl walking home, screaming and throwing glass bottles on the street, cars getting damaged due to glass on street, fights...

6am-9am: Catholic Youth Centre (neighbour building) start their drum and capoeira training

o_O

Result of this weekend's sleeping pattern: non-existence ;)

Native Brazilian hair secrets - Dica da Índia: tutano do boi

Warning: The vegetarians and vegans amongst you might not want to read the next lines ;)

  

This Native Brazilian hair secret combines ox marrow (tutano do boi) with other natural or cosmetic ingredients:

First, the

A typical Brazilian lunch...

I thought I'd share a typical lunch with you. =)

Dish: Mild Saffron Rice with beans and chicken aromatised with green pepper, garlic, soja oil and red-corante pulver.

Drink: Fresh Pink Guava juice