Baby Abroad - Expat life in Sampa

A friend recently asked if I was looking forward to carnival in Brazil, famous for staging probably the world’s most awesome spectacle. I didn’t really know, was the answer. Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is a pretty legendary affair , but I had no idea what it would be like in S ã o Paulo. Although Rio is considered the carnival, S ão Paulo has caught up to attract millions of revellers . It wasn’t long after we arrived in Sampa at the end of July 2017 that we could hear the samba school near us in Vila Madalena practising its rhythmic beats pretty much every Sunday afternoon, from about 6pm to around 10.30pm. Of course, this ramped this up to twice a week as we got closer to carnival. Bloco for kids in Sampa I’m no samba expert and I’m sure they were very good, but it was a bit racket (I know, a very British thing to say). More so, it’s a bit tricky with a one-year-old and getting them to go to sleep (and stay asleep). I was intrigued by what lay in store, but also ...

Sao Paulo has far less dog pooy pavements than Buenos Aires (and probably France ). Seriously, I don’t think I’ve lived in a place with so much dog poo on the pavements. It was estimated in 2014 that dogs left 70,000 kg of poo per day in the city of Buenos Aires . Some days I could block it out, but other days it would make my stomach churn. So, initially, the pavements in Sao Paulo ( although also in a terrible state ) were a dream. Until…   … the other day when I was pushing my daughter in her buggy and drove it straight into a load of turd. And fresh at that. To be fair, the owner was about to pick it up; however I didn’t see her and as everyone walks so slowly in Sampa , I was just trying to get past and get on with my day.  Although the owner was kind of taking responsibility, she still let her dog poo in the middle of the pavement. Buenos Aires has a lot of stray dogs, whereas I have yet to see a stray dog in Sao Paulo. So from what I’ve seen, if Sao Paulo has ver...

I’m a pretty fast walker, usually because I’m running late and have underestimated how long it will take me to get to places. I honed my pace in my childhood, from the age of about four, when I had to run to catch up with my 6ft-dad walking to school. Pace is good. It may not always be relaxing but it gets my heart rate up and my muscles working. It seems I’m not the only one who thinks so. The pace of life, measuring pedestrians’ walking pace, had gone up by 10% in 2007, compared with the 1990s . Admittedly this research, led by Professor Richard Wiseman , is 10 years old, but by this logic the pace of life should be even faster now. I think this speaks for itself Well, not in some cities it would appear. I thought that people walked slowly in Buenos Aires , where we moved to from London in 2015. I was wrong. Since moving to Sao Paulo in July I have realised that many people here walk even slower. Sao Paulo is a great city, don't get me wrong. It's international,...

I was recently watching a sketch by the British comedian Micky Flanagan about the delights of child rearing. They wake up at 6.30am (if you’re lucky) and by about 7.30am you’re running out of ideas about what to do with them. Yes pretty accurate. Living in São Paulo is a funny place when it comes to entertaining baby. On the one hand, people are generally very child friendly. Shops, banks and many other institutions have preferential queues for mums and babies and whenever we’re out and about waiting at the traffic lights or queuing somewhere everyone talks to my 10-month old daughter (fair enough, she is cuter than me). Yet on the other hand, mum and baby groups – important for both mine and my daughter’s sanity – or play groups don’t really exist here. Or certainly not in the way that they do back in the UK.  I guess I knew it would have been like this. Having come from Buenos Aires, which was pretty similar, the culture is more family-oriented and about who you know so there is...

In my last blog I wrote about the trials, tribulations, excitement and adventures of expat life in Buenos Aires . Since moving to Sao Paulo almost three months ago I’ve decided to set up another blog about life as an expat in Brazil.  I’ve called it Baby Abroad because I do have a baby, but also because life in a new country (even though same continent as before) can be daunting. I’m taking baby steps to adjust to a new life, find my way around and meet new people, especially with a baby. I hope to share some knowledge, pass on some anecdotes, have an occasional moan, sometimes feel a bit smug but always with some good-natured humour. View of Sampa from our flat Even though I feel like I’ve only been here two minutes, some things are just as I imagined they would be yet others very different.   First impressions about Sampa   1. Hip city When we told our Argentine friends we were moving to Sao Paulo, many were quick to point out that it was fea (ugly). Tr...