📋 Cool things I like about living in Germany,

that I actually thought I wouldn't like...

You grow up in a society and the society grows up in you, what means that several little, and big, rules of living together become part of yourself. Who would guess that I actually feel relief giving up on certain habits we have in Brazil. Here are some :

- You don't kiss people on the cheek (well you do, if you know the person, or if you want, but it is not a problem if you don't want, just 'give the hand')

- You have to leave a party/event? You don't have to start 30 minutes earlier so you can say goodbye to everybody, also people will not ask you to "stay a bit longer" and engage in a new topic. You can just politelly wave and LEAVE! 👋 (ok, now with some friends that either lived in Brazil, or Latin America, or like latino culture, I need some minutes to just say goodbye)

- Everything has their right time: Lebkuchen is awesome, it smells like Christmas, is sweet, cute. It is a shame that you can only buy it between end of November and Dezember. Or Glühwein, you should only drink it during Weihnachtsmarkt time. I used to think like that, but now I know that that´s what makes them so special. If we could have it any time, half of the fun would be gone.

- Picnic. Maybe that was just not my thing, but I would prefer to go to a restaurant or bar with friends than to seat on the grass and have snacks. But now I even carry a little grill on my bicycle! A long summer day drinking Radler with a lot of different people, sound cooler than bars.

- Mixing alcohol with water or soda. First time I heard about it I was incredulous; "Beer with coke?" but beer with soda our lemon juice is awesome. Specially good to avoid hangover, at least for me!

My list will still grow, but what about yours? Would you add something?

Incredible things Germans do when biking

First of all, most of the things here are no recommendable, although pretty awesome, they are also dangerous.
One time a girl biking in front of me on a busy street dropped her purse and we almost had an accident, luckly I always keep a big distance.
After the shock I screamed a bit at her and follow my path.
Yesterday I biked for the first time from my house to the main station of Munich, something around 6 kilometers away, I realized I need to buy me a helmet.
All my daily experience biking made me thing about the following drawing:

Happy End

Just I quick update.
Now I live happily with my boyfriend and a fluffy-cute toilet paper.

The first thing I'm gonna buy when I move to a flat alone with my boyfriend

The first thing I'm gonna buy when I move to a flat alone with my boyfriend, and not share with other 3 people, is a package of this very expensive-fluffy-ocean scented toilet paper.
When other people, that you are not related, are also using what you buy I don't see a point in expending money with nice stuff, even if it means cleaning myself with recycled toilet paper.
The same applies to other items in the household.

I guess we are not kids anymore

With life expectancy reaching 100 years old we are taking longer to become adults. The thirties are the new twenties and we try, hopelessly, to hold on to our last moments as "teens." I am totally gilt of doing that.

The "oh-my-God-I-am-old" moment came with my 30th birthday, not only because this number is emblematic for women, but also because from this moment on you are obligated to contribute as a "grown-up." I was in the middle of my masters degree in Germany, looking for an internship, and one of the perks of being a student was the cheaper insurance and the free-of-charge bank account. But that was only until the twenties were over, after that my insurance doubled and my bank was not so nice anymore.

"oh that's cool, now you should start acting like an adult, even if you cannot find a job, you have to pay the grown-up's fee."

Probably I will have to work until 95 before I can retire, being optimistic, but still it is expected that I enter the adults life, suddenly, with terrible welcome presents.

And don't let me even start to narrate other people's opinion about my biological clock.

How could I collect that many things?

I lived almost my whole life in São Paulo, in the same house for 28 years before moving to Germany, what alone would be enough to help me accumulate a lot of possessions, but it is intensified by five years working with fashion; it made me collect quite a lot of stuff: clothes, shoes, accessories, etc. I also like japanese culture and all that comes with it, so books, magazines, dolls, toys, are all part of the things I love...
So I think it is easy to imagine how my room, and house were!
When I decided to study at the University of Heidelberg, I realized I would have to set a lot of my things free. I would not be able to bring too many things because I didn't have a place yet to stay and I knew I would have to carry my things up and down the city.
My goal, when openning my closet was clear, to make money out of it, so I loaded my Facebook page and blog with my precious things.
Funny fact is, before deciding to move, my requirements when tidying up my belongings were pretty different than the ones before traveling.

So here is more or less how I made my decision:

( Make up was not included because I was never addicted to that, I use the same eye shadow collection since 2011, same with perfum, always Bombshell or Funny da Moschino)

So in 2013 I donated or sold like 40 % of my belongings, I must confess the worst part was let my books and toys go, but I am sure they have new homes. I also got new ones in Germany, I finally got a Monchchichi to call mine!

Now I am moving again after 3 years living in the same room, and one more time a big challenge! I don't have as many things as before coming here, but I have now kitchen paraphernalia and other important things like a fan!

I tried to use Konmari's method, what makes me happy stay, but my question was:

I also checked some videos online about minimalism and organization, and I decided to combine everything: what makes me really happy, less is more, and to keep just one representative of the things I love, for example from my childhood I kept my Tiger from Disney, from my nerdy past my collection of Sailor Moon, from Hello Kitty a very special and limited edition and things related to Alice in Wonderland.
It is working, let's see what will be my next strategy when I move to another city.

 

Strategies to overcome Heimweh

German can be considered an awful language (here I agree with Mark Twain) but it offers us wonderful expressions like:

Picture of Anhangabaú in São Paulo, 3 minutes before a heavy storm, nothing is more "São Paulo" than a torrential rain.

It comes from “Heim” as home and part of the verb “wehtun,” that means to hurt or ache. And many times I have this feeling that is not exactly melancholy, well Heimweh it is. And I felt it really strong after spending awesome 44 days with my family and friends.

I heard that the match is basic: " the longer you stay 'home' the hardest it is to reconnect to your new home." It made sense, when you are visiting a place you oversee the bad parts and getting used to a routine makes it hard to recover.

So my tatics were:

- Do as fast as possible, and as many as possible the things you love and that made you decide for the new place. What I do: I go hiking, or biking. Reading a book close to the river or park, having a coffee with friends and having fun with my boyfriend.

- Focus on your decision. You decided to move abroad because of working opportunities, for learning a new language, to have a better life qualty...There are many reasons, some are sad like escaping war or poverty, so whatever it migh be, focus on it! 

- Try to maintain a good relationship with friends and family back "home," you can be far away, but they will still help you when you are felling Heimweh. So you all you can, Skype, Whatsapp, Instagram.

Now I want to know, what are your strategies?

To the things we gain, and the things we lose

The view from my bedroom's window- São Paulo

After more than three years without visiting home, consequently three years with no revelant posts here, I decided to spend some time in Brazil. For reasons of cheaper flight tickets I had to stay 44 days. My boyfriend's concern was "should you call your mother and ask with you can stay that long at her place?"
I laughed and replied "You still have no idea how Brazilian mothers work!"
With the ticket paid I told my mother the good news and, as expected, she got emotional and seemed really happy.
I was anxious, three years away would definitely cause me some strangeness, and my expectations were not deceived, São Paulo is too noisy, too chaotic, too busy, wonderful!
My first two weeks were devided between getting used to the weather, to the noise - cars passing the day and night, plus my mother lives close to a Samba school and in December/January they are practicing a lot - and getting used to speaking Portuguese all the time.
Living in Germany with poor German makes you ignore outside noises, I hear people speaking Turkish, Chinese and German everyday and since I don't understand, I don't care so much and I end up living in my own little world, but in Brazil it is different: Chinese people, they speak Portuguese, Syrian descendents? They also do. So I could understand everybody and that bothered my thoughts a bit.
After the first impression passed, everything was cool, beautiful and exciting! For New Years I met some friends and we celebrate in a very charming part of the city. The following week was beach time! And I visited some places at the coast of São Paulo, gorgeous water and awesome view.

How could I have left such place, where my family is, and my dearest friends? Like reading my thoughts my mother answered.
"You are on vacations, don't forget. People are now making a huge effort to see you, and maybe if you were living here, you would stay months or maybe years without seeing them!"

And that makes sense, some people I invited to go to my mother's house for a clothing swap I organized never came and never said the reason they didn't come.
Still I started thinking about all the new emotions I experimented, like the loneliness of moving to a new country but also the feeling that I am capable to do things alone, the confidence that you will find help on the way, that you will meet new people and live new adventures.
Going or staying, it doesn't matter, we always lose something and gain others, but the time I stayed "home" showed me that I have to be myself again, do more things that I used to like three years ago.