So last week I received this letter from my landlord – actually the agency representing my landlord – saying that my contract was due and if I wanted to renew it. Wow, one entire year already? Almost…
Almost one year later and one visit back to Brazil has made me more sure about my decision, and I can say that’s the happier period of my life. Hector moved in with me, finally, almost four years now. I’m addicted to tea, one in the middle of the day and one decaf before going to bed. I changed my coffee and Coke to decaf and this fixed my insomnia problems. Work is going great, interesting times, and I’m spending most of my time trying to learn C++ and messing around with Qt. My only resolution for this year is to go to the gym 5x a week – which Murphy seems to disagree* – and grow my hair back to its natural colour, just to remember how it is like. I even cut a large piece of it, so damaged it was from all the tints I’ve being applying in the last 15 years. Spring is showing its first colours, and life is really good.
One year later, the experiences I had were also different.
Health Care
I finally understood and hacked down the healthy system. You see, NHS, UK’s health system, is suppose to be one of the best in the world. But I was used to the private system in Sao Paulo, which is really really good. In here I need to go see my GP first for anything, who only spends maximum 10min with me before deciding if s/he’s going to give me some medicine or send me to a specialist. First time I tried, because my fibromyalgia was kicking in, I got a prescription for an anti-inflammatory so strong it almost gave me my gastritis back. So I wasn’t trilled to go back, but I had to. Six months ago, I was trying to skate, and I felt down on my shoulder. I thought it would heal itself, but after that long, I was just tired of waiting. I went to my GP, who said that probably I only needed physiotherapy to get it back on shape. Since I got private insurance, I was able to do it quickly, otherwise it would be several months to get it.
Unfortunately, physiotherapy was not enough, and after three sessions it became clear I would need stronger resources. But I had to go back to the GP to inform and get a request for a specialist. This was the most frustrating part. First, to find the doctor. Since I was going through the private insurance, the GP didn’t gave me any names, just said to check on the yellow pages or Google. My private insurance company wouldn’t give me any referrals either because they think it’s ‘conflict of interest’, since they pay the specialist. So I found some hospitals online and called in to book an appointment. Going around and around trying to finally get the number for the orthopaedic clinic, extension and whatever to finally try to book a consultation, the first questions is if I have a referral from my GP. Yes, I do! Then the disappointment – your GP needs to send the request, not you. At this point, I started crying, so much frustration, I couldn’t understand the process, I couldn’t understand the accent most people I was trying to contact and they couldn’t understand mine, I was in pain and feeling in a loop without a way out. Then I calmed down and started thinking, I called back to the hospital and when they asked me if I got a referral, I said ‘I have private insurance’. Bingo! Or almost, I would have to wait 3 months to get an appointment. I finally got help when my physiotherapist gave me an indication, and I was able to book an appointment with an Injuries/Sports/Upper Limb(shoulder) Specialist. So far, I still don’t understand the specialities: in Brazil it would be an orthophedist and that’s it. Here they have an osteopath, which I’m not sure where fits, injuries specialists and the orthopaedic surgeon. And let’s not even talk about the health insurance saying the doctor was a physician and not a consultant(?), and could not request exams, which later they seemed to think otherwise. But even so, I managed to get a request and then a shoulder MRI, then a cortisone injection directly to the bursa. You know you’re getting old when your doctor explains to you what is bursitis. The injection was horrible, painful and I think got me high, I wasn’t able to make full sentences. The pain was aggravated immediately after the injection, so it was a miserable day where no position would make it better. But some hours later in the evening, I started to feel my shoulder better than before the injection. In the next days, it was getting better and better, and only one week later I’m fully recover. Now doing physiotherapy to strength the muscles around and get a better posture. The trick now is to convince my trainer that this doesn’t mean she can have me lifting weight yet…
I’m still not sure about the big difference on the systems. To see my GP, I need to make an appointment, and it’s not unusual to have to wait two days for that. In Brazil I would make no appointment and wait for 3hs – literally, I had to do that while I was there during the holidays. Both systems would make me wait for months for physiotherapy, and God know how long for an MRI. Maybe in the case of Brazil it would be years? But health it is really expensive. I received a letter from my insurance company stating the MRI costed 799 pounds, almost 2200 reais. No wonder the system is so difficult anywhere…
Oh, and I say Murphy disagree with my resolution to go to the gym more often because about 10 days after the holidays, when my body was starting to get back on track fitness-wise, I fell down on the street and hurt my knees badly. So, no gym for almost 3 weeks. After getting my knees better, I still need to go slow on the shoulder. But I’m persistent, I will continue to pursue my resolution. And after being that miserable, you really valuate your joints, so just the fact that I can walk and rotate my arms make me very happy. Let’s dance! \o\ /o/ _o_ |o|
Clothes
I’m still learning what to dress, and more important, what to buy. Once summer was over and autumn started to kick in, I discovered that I was being very optimistic with my purchases. The heaviest coat I had, a wool full length coat bought in Portland and used only there and about 3x in Brazil, very soon was not enough. Sizes are also tricky. You can’t buy a coat in your size, you need to buy one size extra so you can put a jumper or sweater underneath. And unfortunately for me, my weakest part are my feet, which mean I can’t use my shoes without freezing my toes. Then you start adding layers and layers of leggings, socks, sweaters, wool shirts and coat. Plus gloves, scarf and a hat. But then you enter the bus or train, and half of that goes off immediately. So I started realizing all that effort was mostly to walk one block to the bus station, and one block to work. And even with all this effort, my nose would freeze. Snow was really cool – specially because I only got like four days of it – but makes my tooth hurt if my face isn’t protected. So I had to learn to adjust the layers according to the plan. If I’m going to stay outdoors for some time, it’s better to be very warm. If it’s just a couple of blocks, not so much. Now the trick is to be able to predict exactly how much are you going to be outdoors, I miserably failed to predict that last time I went to Camden Town… but now I found the wonderful world of insulated fleeces, so I’m good. And usually, the amount of coats and layers tell off who is new in town.
Shoes are also being tricky, because it’s much more random than should be. Supposedly, my size would convert to a size 6. Many shoes here are sold in the European metric, in which case would be 39 for me. But the problem is, almost half of the time, I find that I may be a size 5 or 38. Which is horrible when your favourite shoe store is online…
I finally accepted the fact that there is no fabric to make trousers proper for winter. I tried the leggings 80 with skirt, and it doesn’t make much difference from a pair of jeans. What clearly distinguish the natives from outsiders is the fact that they don’t need layers. They go bravely with bare legs or just one sweater over the t-shirt. Show off. I never got the guts to ask if they had any cognac to heat up before going out…
Cooking
You never realise how much vocabulary do you actually need for simple things like shopping. What is basil, exactly? What is celery? How can I cook black beans? And where are the black beans, by the way? Do I like sirloin, rump steak or angus, or should I just stop eating meat? With those prices, it’s a tempting idea. The best thing is that cod, tuna and salmon are cheaper than meat, which I was reducing the intake anyway. And I gotta tell you, sometimes a fresh tuna steak is better than meat.
I’m even trying some new recipes. I bought my own casserole and did lamb stew, which cooks slowly on the oven for 1:30hs. It was good, but I can do better. It usually takes me three trials to master a recipe. I was so captivated by the movie Julie & Julia that I bought the book, and learned how to make perfect poached eggs. Every week we make something more elaborated, like potato fungi, and it’s a great tradition so far.
Oh, and for the smart asses there: yes, I know which meat cuts are what, and my favourite is the same: fillet.
News from here outside
It’s unbelievable the amount of completely irrelevant and utterly embarrassing news Brazilian newspapers choose to publish about Britain. Their favourites are the weirdest possible ’scientific research’, but I would say 90% of the news you read about UK in Brazilian papers are not in the local newspapers. And the worst is that sounds like that was the big news around here. Festivals no one heard about, obscure stores or restaurants, bizarre stories told by some tabloid. Sometimes I think they do that just to make this image that here everything is about this silly issues.
Which would make sense, because if they publish the real thing, the readers either won’t be interested or they would start comparing with Brazil. For example, one of the biggest discussions of last months was around the parliamentary expenses. But that was only in discussion because everybody has access to what they declare as expenses. Sure, there was many arguments and politicians trying to pretend there was nothing wrong with it, but in the end of the day, contributors have the right to know where their money is being used. Back to Brazil… no need for comments, right?
Back in the first months I started reading this blog from this guy living in London, but he was so annoying I couldn’t bear it, always complaining in a very rude way and many times pretending his opinion was shared with everyone living here. And it’s not like I don’t like grumpiness, on the contrary. My favourite TV shows now are Grumpy Old Men and Grouchy Young Men. But there is a difference between being grumpy in a sarcastic intelligent way and being just rude and clueless. So, I’m avoiding reading news about UK in Brazilian press, it just doesn’t worth it.
News of Brazil from here
That is something that I’m still not over. The Public Relationships team working for this government it’s the best team evah. I mean, only a week after Rio de Janeiro was announced as the host for the Olympics 2016, drug dealers shot down a military helicopter – and here no one knew it. When I saw the news in Brazilian online newspapers, I though “this is going to be a bomb”. But nothing. Several days later, I couldn’t understand, so I started looking for related news at BBC news website and others, and only found a small note about it, thrown at some corner with no importance. The visit of Iranian president was another point to understand that. While on the Portuguese news websites Lula was supporting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, defending his election – he literally said the protesters were just a political opposition minority, and it was a matter similar to rivalry in football - and another insanities, outside he was being portrait as someone trying to talk some senses into Ahmadinejad. I mean, really??? What will take to the world to understand that between Chavez and Lula there isn’t that much of difference? That there is a reason why Lula’s best friends are Chavez, Fidel, and now, Ahmadinejad?
There are also the comic pieces. The last one was “Brazil ends corruption“, and people claiming “what an example to follow!”. Oh geez… but then I decided to stop reading Brazilian newspappers. Why would I?
XoXo, Grouchy Young Woman
), as well another PT and the receptionist at the gym – our little mafia. At the office with about 20 people, I guess only half are British. It’s normal to see women in saris or veils in the street, and even in burkhas; they go side by side with the micro skirts on the tube. Meanwhile, in Brazil, a 
