parabéns para mim!

so yesterday was my 24th birthday!! i'm almost hitting that quarter century mark, i know, scary, lol.

my friend paty made it a point last year and has done it again, to make my birthday far from home as best as possible! this year she offered up her dad's office's backyard to host a cookout for my birthday :-) and there's nothing i like more than good food and good friends on a sunny day (although yesterday was quite muggy...)

and i must admit, despite it being ever so difficult to spend my birthday away from my parents (tears were certainly shed yesterday over the phone and off) and many of my friends in the U.S.... i'm oh-so grateful for the friendships i've cultivated here in São Paulo and can't get over how blessed i have been in that aspect throughout my life. so as i have done several times here on this blog - publically - my friends, i <3>

here are some pictures from the festivities!! (see more on my facebook album! feel free to friend me as well, but please mention you're a blog reader!)

a few of my favorite men...

the gorgeous little georgia & mami rebeca

my wonderful boyfriend, fábio.

being silly with PH & Ana

the lovely paty and i!

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I'm Forgetting English!

Yup, I said it... I think I'm forgetting English, and I'm worried.

My friend Nancy's friend John was here last week on business and after he finished his business duties, I took him in (our apt is much like a hostel... I really should sign us up for Couch Surfing), took him around, and let him out into the wild city of SP.

I've been trying to write this post for the past week because as much as I LOVED his visit and any friend of Nancy's has to be a friend of mine, I started to become worried when I couldn't think of certain SIMPLE words.

Then I started contemplating how every once in a while when I'm writing something for work in English, I've found myself thinking of the word in Portuguese first and then after pondering for a few seconds, making my way to my Google Talk translator (for those who have gmail, I HIGHLY recomend it for its convenience!) to look up the word in English and then feeling like an idiot.

Have any of you ever found this trouble? I know a lot of my readers are Brazilians who live outside of Brazil or native English speakers who have studied a foreign language. Please tell me I'm not the only one!! What have you done to help?!

beijooss!!

ps - it's my birthday this weekend \O/, so next week I'll post pictures and details on the festivities :-)

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Skilled Migrants - Good or Bad?

Last night, I got drinks with a girl who I know from Danbury (!) who I know from the church I used to attend there who has just moved to São Paulo through GE. She worked in one of the Connecticut offices and is not working in SP with ex-pats!! Which is funny because she's the ultimate ex-pat - Brazilian who went to the US at a young age (like me!) and is now back to Brazil after 16 years.

It was fun to catch up, talk about how neither of us regret coming to Brazil one bit, how our friends who are in the same situation I was in should come, and overall what I always say in this blog... how Brazil is SO much better than the US, despite all its downfalls, for us in particular. Note I said "us" as in the two of "us." No need to get all frantic bashing Brazil in the comments, mmkay? ;-)

Discussing her position working with ex-pats it was funny to think about how there are really so many ex-pats all over the world. What's even more funny is how "ex-pat," refers to a skilled worker whereas "unskilled worker," or in Portuguese (I HATE this word), "sub-empregado" (meaning you're "sub-employed," ugh, doesn't it sound so degrading?)... I have nothing to say about that yet, but it's something to think about for your comments on this post or an upcoming post.

As much as I LOVE LOVE LOVE living here, I've come to one barrier. I have a degree from the US. In order for me to get a masters in Brazil, it needs to be approved by MEC which is the federal department of education here. I've considered getting it approved here, but just to go through the process of POSSIBLY having it approved, I need to pay a lot of money with translations, and still need documentation from my college and the Brazilian consulate in Boston. One option I was considering was to get a masters in Europe. Whenever I mention this, I'm either given a response along the lines of, "DO IT!!!" or "Ugh, there goes another qualified worker and intellectual mind to leave Brazil..." Which makes me sick. Who's to say I'm not coming back? And even more, what does that say about the people who will be left here and minds that will be enlightened by the masters programs here?! That there's a limit to qualified workers and minds in this country?

I've never had a backed up argument for this until I read a GREAT article in Foreign Policy today (it's lengthy, but a worthy read). They give every reason for skilled emigration being a BENEFIT to both the receiving and originating country. The arguments are endless ranging from the fact that oftentimes emmigrants are skilled workers the country has too many of, to high levels of remittances, and my favorite - PEOPLE DO COME BACK!!!

I would love to travel the world. Live in at least another handful of countries. But one thing I've learned over the past two years... there's no place like home. And home is where you're accepted, not discriminated, where you are considered a citizen not by merit, but by birth and/or cultural afinity, and especially where you're not considered an "ex-pat." So sitting where I am now.... I think I'll find it hard to "settle," anywhere else but here.

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