Finding a job in Brazil

Brazil is booming! There is a lack of skilled labor! Jobs abound!

Yes, that is true and these remarks were enough to convince A. to move to Brazil. He talked to several companies before moving and they all corroborated his views, said that fluent Portuguese was not a requirement, and that they would be happy to hire foreigners. But let me tell you a little secret: Brazilians are over optimistic. As a Brazilian I would know to discount what they were saying by at least 50%, and the Portuguese not being a requirement should be taken with a pound of salt. Not that there are no job opportunities for non-fluent Portuguese speakers, but in the area A. wants to work in, which demands exchanges with clients, it is a must-have. I tried to tell him that, but I ended up being the annoying wife that does not believe everyone wants to hire her husband.

Fast forward a few months... here we are in Brazil and A. is looking for a job. Since he has a permanent visa (equivalent to a green card) he does not need a work permit, which is a big plus. He's sent emails to all the contacts with the companies he met back in Paris... 2 straight forward "no"s come first... big hit. Then comes 1 interview: all in Portuguese! The whole damn thing, including calculations out loud! At this point he is cursing, but the search goes on. A few weeks later, another interview. Also in Portuguese, also no follow up. Tough... the situation gets tenser. It also does not help that he is not getting replies to many of the emails he sends. No big deal in Brazil, where people will rather not respond that say "no" up front, but it is very frustrating for A. There are also the nice replies that don't mean anything, like "we will get in touch next week".  It is a vague email, and as such, without a specific time set or a specific date, it means nothing. But Monday morning A. is cursing they have not gotten in touch... and nothing by Friday either, and nothing by the next week.

A. feels like Brazilians are deceitful, liars, and have misguided him on purpose. I've tried to explain that he is reading the culture wrong, that he needs to adjust the optimism, read in between the lines and don't expect a straight forward answer. Last week he asked a Brazilian friend from the school in Europe why had he been so enthusiastic when the reality is so different. His reply: "I thought you knew to discount what I was saying".

So where are we now? Job search continues, expanded beyond the dream list companies to others. Brazilians are still liars, deceitful and misguiding...

Long time no see

Yes, I know... it has been almost 2 months since I posted. And I think I need to explain what is going on. As you all know, A. and I moved to Brazil in July, bought a house, etc. As time goes by my life has becomes more ordinary (in terms of living, working, etc) while his seems to be a lot more interesting from an intercultural point of view. And then I stopped writing, not finding anything interesting to write about.

Sort of like heavy clouds with some rays of sun trying to break through.

As time went on I realized that there is some sort of (inverse? attached?) culture shock going on with me. It is the additional work and frustrations that come with having a partner suffering from classical culture shock. What seems so simple to me grows to huge, insurmountable problems for A. and I need to be there to help him climb the mountain. I searched online and there is not as much written about this since either couples are both foreigners wherever they are living or they meet after moving to each other's countries. There is also a lot of complaints and comments about what it feels like moving to a new place, but there is very little about seeing your own country through foreigners' eyes.

Let me tell you, it is not rosy. Not even pale pink. More like grey... on some days dark grey even. I am not trying to sweep away or even minimize all the issues and complications and frustrations A. has had to deal with, but for now I wish to write about the unsung complications of the culture shock spouse .

Construction and different points of view

Now that we have a house there are a few things we want to improve here and there. Which means we need to delay moving in until we get things done. In Brazil (as I imagine most developing countries would be) you hire the labor (1 guy for the wood work, another for putting tiles, one for the plumbing and a painter in our case) and buy the materials separate. They first come to the house, evaluate the work and set a price. This worked for the first 3, but the painter charged an absurd amount, which means we could start on the rest of the work while looking for another painter.  Thankfully my brother gave me the contact of the first 3 guys as they had worked on his house and were reliable.

The woodworker came on Monday and brought a nephew to help him. He is very nice and works fast, which are big pluses. The tile guy brought 2 people to help him set tiles and flooring, but they came only on Wednesday. So my schedule has been to wake up at 6:30am, go to the house, check with the workers was it missing (despite having bought all the material they wanted beforehand there is always something they forgot and needs to be bought asap). Then rush to the construction store and get the stuff, then go home, shower and get to work. At lunch I go out to buy the other things needed for a house to work, like a bed (Monday), a mattress (Tuesday), more construction materials that were forgotten (Wednesday), a fridge (Thursday). These purchases require going around 5-6 stores, asking for the price and whether they deliver, then going back to the best option and buying it. Back to work and finally head home around 7:30pm, go by the house to see what they have done, and crash. It is exhausting but should be rewarding once it is done.

Today A. accompanied me in the morning routine as he arrived last night. He is very different from me in regard to how to get things done. I, at this point in time, just want to get things done and move in, whether that requires more effort on my side or not. A., on the other hand, wants to do less work himself and hire someone. I explained I already tried 2 painters (the second one wanted me to go pick him up where he was working across the city, go to the house to give me an estimate and then drive him back... that did not happen) and have no more ideas on where to find another. So I am willing to paint the house this weekend and get it over with. A. planned to play cricket on Saturday, so that day he is not available. Meaning we could do it Sunday, but he is still trying to get a painter instead...

Gardening is the next issue... the yard is overgrown and although it has several nice fruit trees they need space to survive and sunlight to bear fruit. I worked on the yard the whole past weekend and although I made considerable progress there is still a lot to be done. I need help to cut some larger trees in the backyard but am willing to do the rest myself. A. wants the gardener (who is charging USD75 a day, a pretty high wage for here) to do everything, including manicuring work with small plants, which is the last thing on my list.

How to solve this impasse? Do it myself (which I consider sort of unfair since he's already away the whole week) or delay it until we find someone to do it for us? Anyone with renovation experiences out there?

And the painter is still to be found. 

We have a house!

Remember the house I was chasing? Well, we bought it! After a whole month of back and forth with the owner we finally settled the deal! But even after buying it I was not sure when we would be able to take over, since Sadhu (owner) was still living there and had no concrete plans of moving. I mean, he did want to buy a house in the village he is going to and move, but the houses he saw were never good enough or had some problem with inheritance or with papers and nothing materialized. I must admit I freaked out a bit: 3 bank accounts (in 3 continents) were all swiped clean and still I had nothing to feel like I made a good decision. A. got quite mad at my reaction, since there was a 4th account that was not empty so I should not be complaining about money, but for me it was indeed a shock.

The house buying was 2 weeks ago yesterday and suddenly Sadhu called me Monday saying he was moving today (Wednesday)! He still did not buy the house he wants but he arranged with the owner that he will stay in it until they figure out the paperwork. So I just got a call saying he is on his way and the house is mine! I can barely believe it! Now there are some renovations to be done before moving in, but they are small and hopefully we will be able to have a house to call our own in a few weeks! This will be the first time that we have a permanent place to live since Raleigh (USA) over a year and a half ago, since in the mean time I have moved 7 times! Yay for unpacking!!

And to give you an idea of what the jungle house (as A. calls it) looks as of now...

Reunion

This past weekend I flew to São Paulo to meet A. and on Saturday was my sorority reunion. Sororities in Brazil are a different from those in the US (or elsewhere??) but you get the idea: 10 girls of different years in college living together. And all that in a 3 bedroom house! It definitely resulted in many half crazy experiences, some fights, lot's of laughter and cheap living too! And a lot of hazing, of course. Like getting down on your knees to introduce yourself to elders and if someone elder than you kneels you lie on the floor. (Maybe that's why lying down to greet my in-laws in India did not feel that awkward??) But overall the hazing is all about getting to know other people and breaking the ice, not forceful or dangerous.

Sort of like that... hehehe

At first A. was completely against it. He said he did not take part in any of this at his university, and since he studied in the same city he lived before, his college experience was quite different from mine. When we arrived at the house and the current girls living there came to introduce themselves to me, A.did not know what to make of it all. Then at some point when we were at the bbq someone elder than me knelt and, to A.'s dismay I was lying on the floor. Soon afterwards he started getting used to it to the point of asking if I could make so-and-so kneel just for the fun of it. Yes, I could, but I did not want to be so annoying. It was really nice to see lot's of people I had not seen in years, to realize that the girls in college now are really not different from us back then.

A. also appreciated that the younger girls kept his beer glass full, to the point that he did not want to leave. The bbq started at noon and by the time we got to my mom's place it was 10pm. Not bad :)

Incognito or not.

Our situation in Brazil has been quite funny.

At my job I work with mostly internationals, speaking Spanish and English more than Portuguese. After lunch with a few colleagues the other day, when I was explaining about ids and other documents in Brazil one of them asked me (in English):

"And how do you know all this?" she asked.

"I'm Brazilian and my husband is Indian, so we've had to navigate the maze a bit..." I replied.

"Oh... I guess I made the mistake of assuming you are American.". 

Yup, she did. 

Then yesterday when I was calling some language classes to ask (in Portuguese) about Portuguese classes for A:

"I would like to know the time of the classes..."

The lady replies: "It depends on the level, I guess yours is advanced?"

I would have liked to blurt out: "As advanced as yours, are you going to be taking them as well??" What the hell? Portuguese in my native language!

And in the mean time, as long as A. does not open his mouth he is taken to be Brazilian. People don't quite know which part of the country he comes from but he's been making up jokes about coming from some faraway place in the Amazon that most Brazilians have not heard of, just to crack up after the second sentence. 

I guess it all goes back to how to define fitting in. I would definitely like to be recognized as a local. But on the other hand, as A. has been experiencing, Brazilians are very friendly towards foreigners, so at least there is no negative in being taken for a gringa. 

Indian in Brazil

It's been a while... A. has arrived in Brazil, spent 2 weeks in Brasília and is now in São Paulo. I'm really proud of his courage and fearlessness in taking on the challenge of a new country. Different from the other places we've lived, now he is a foreigner and I'm a local. Previously we had both always been foreigners which has good and bad sides to it. If both are foreigners you can both bitch and sigh at the idiosyncratic ways of the new place but you have to figure your way around. If one is a local, figuring things out is easier but sensitivities about the new place are also higher (in this case, from my side).

Not this one...

For example, there are tons of bakeries in Brazil, usually one every few blocks (in cities) since Brazilians like to get their breakfast bread fresh each day. This is something that I always missed while living abroad so I did not take it too nicely when A. asked: "Where can I find bread like in France?". Well, first of, the French are renown worldwide for the quality of their bread so it seems a bit much to expect to find it in any bakery in São Paulo. I think it is a matter of adjusting expectations with what the country has to offer and also about figuring out what is out there.

This one!!

Like I was super surprised when A. said he found an Indian place close to his apartment. And it even sells dosas! After a few visits his enthusiasm died down though: their dosas were rice flour only and their biryani was made with local rice. Oh well... the last visit sealed it: a Brazilian that went with him had beef (!) curry and had to ask for extra chilly! I guess it will be a place to go when all else fails and home food, despite being fake, is missed.

And finally a note on the abundance of Indians in Brazil: none! I mean, for a country with a huge population like India, with large immigrant communities in so many places it is astonishing to find out there are 200 families in the entire country of Brazil! As the embassy here in Brasília told A. when he visited: "Congratulations! On your arrival you have increased the population of Indians in this city by 10-20%!"