How hard can it be...

…to get an appointment with your bank manager at an HSBC Premier branch.

Now the HSBC Premier account is used by many expats as they (in theory) speak English. The branch I talk about is in Centro.

1^st email sent to 3 contacts at the Branch; I ask to have an appointment so I can be included in the bank account of my husband now that I have my permanent Visa and docs sorted. No answer.

2d email: asking that someone acknowledge my email. My email is forwarded to another person who came back to me saying she needs all the docs (my passport etc… to include me in the account)

3^rd Email: I have the docs when can I come to show them to you and sign whatever needs to be signed?

Asnwer; I am being dumped to a 5^th guy, saying again that they need my passport and docs proving I am resident here.

4^th email: Yes I know you need these docs, I have them, when can I come to sort this out?

No answer.

5^th email (5 peoples cc-ed by now): Can I get an answer? (I start to be pissed off by then!)

Answer: for inclusion into my husband account I need  to provide my passport etc…

6^th email: (I am starting to lose my sense of humour at this stage): I (f*ck*ng!!!) have the docs, when can I come?????????? I enclose photos of all docs to prove I have all in order.

Answer: we cannot use picture we need to see the real docs.

7^th email: that’s why I am asking for an appointment!! (GHHHHHAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!)

8^th email: So???????????? Any answer?

Answer: we need to see the docs.

9^th email: ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Tempted to send abusive email). I know I need to show you the docs, can I come next Friday lunch time

Answer: come Friday lunch time you will meet XYZ.

Moral of the story: don’t ever try to get an appointment, just turn up and make their life hell until you get what you want!

How hard can it be … to do a bill payment online using your HSBC website.

Our container is about to arrive in Brazil. Hurray! Now we just need to get through custom clearance (twice for some reason! Once at Santos where the boat arrive, then again in Rio. Oh dear we will never see our stuff ever again!!! ).

Anyhow, the company dealing with Custom is called FINK. They send us a bill we need to pay for their service. It is expensive. I decide to do the payment online.

I manage successfully to log into our account. The website has so many threads and links it is very confusing to know where to go. After a while I manage to find a link that seems to be for financial transfers. The only issue is that I cannot input the bank details of FINK.  I can only key a bar code! I don’t have one in the bill.

I phone HSBC Premier Branch in Centro. 1^st person: does not speak English (or Spanish, or French! How the hell did she manage to get this particular job then? This branch in Centro has MANY expats banking there!). I get passed to someone who “speak English”. He does not understand anything. I mix English with some Portuguese. After a long time navigating through the website he tells me that it is not possible to do a payment or transfer without the “bar code”. It is impossible to do a transfer using bank details only! What the hell?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I have to send an email to FINK asking for a “bar code” to do the payment. They finally send me one.

Now if someone can tell me how I can pay my rent online without a bar code, please send me urgently an email!

After 8 months in Rio I feel like I seriously need “Anger Management Classes”…

On the plus side there may be a way to get a work permit for me… all thanks to “Jeitinnho”. Let's see! 

Meanwhile we will be off kayaking in Botafogo Bay this Saturday… beats a raining cold run round Tesco in grid locked London any time J

little by little...

Carnaval is over, our friends are back to London and now things are moving again, slowly!
We finally have a bank account, I managed to get included in Alistair's account at last (although I don't have any card or anything yet!)! Our local ID cards (RNE) are being sorted...

There *may* be a way round getting a work permit for me (shhhhht ! Don't say anything... this is Brazil, it's all about "Jeitinho"...)

AND... most important, our container is on its way. Which means one very important thing: we will get (soon!) our motorcycle gear!!!!

So you know the drill! We are off bike shopping this weekend! :D
We won't go far, just to the Botafogo BMW dealer. I have (almost!) made up my mind. Al wants an F800GS, I will probably go for the G650GS. I know! Those who know me, heard me saying that after my experience with my previous F650GS I swore never to buy another BMW! God that bike was a DOG! But then the G650GS has a seat of 78cm, so no faffing around lowering the bike, and it is the cheapest lowest dual bike in Rio! So it might be a good choice. Although the Kawasaki ER-6N is still very tempting. But considering the state of the roads here, a dual bike is best!

Anyway we will have a look soon!

Meanwhile, I have been organising our next bike holiday, in June. We plan to rent a couple of bikes from Colorado and tour Wyoming and Montana for 3 weeks. They have some of the best (bike!) roads in the US apparently. We shall see! :)

Europe IS poor indeed!

I read this interview of the former Malaysian prime minister in the BBC and thought I should post it. It is so spot on!

That's why so many of us have left (or are about to leave) Europe....

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For decades the West has lectured the East on how to manage its economies. Not any more.

Now the emerging economies of Asia look like models of steady, consistent policy and sustained growth while Europe, America and Japan are mired in debt and are growing achingly slowly, if at all.
So what can the West learn from the East?
According to former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, the message is simple but devastating: Europe must face up to the new economic reality.
"Europe... has lost a lot of money and therefore you must be poor now relative to the past," he reasons in an interview with BBC World Service's Business Daily.
"And in Asia we live within our means. So when we are poor, we live as poor people. I think that is a lesson that Europe can learn from Asia."
Dr Mahathir is well qualified to pass judgement.
If any Asian leader can make claim to having laid the groundwork for his country's economic expansion, it is he.
During his two decades in power, Dr Mahathir helped transform Malaysia from a sleepy former colony into an economic tiger.

But his advice will not make happy reading in the capitals of Europe.
Dr Mahathir believes European leaders are in a state of denial.
"You refuse to acknowledge you have lost money and therefore you are poor," he says.
"And you can't remedy that by printing money. Money is not something you just print. It must be backed by something, either good economy or gold."
Dr Mahathir may be 86 years old, but he still holds very strong views.
In particular, he believes Europe and the West must begin the long slow process of restructuring their economies to reduce their dependence on the financial sector.
"I think you should go back to doing what I call real business - producing goods, providing services, trading - not just moving figures in bank books, which is what you are doing."
His big bugbear is still currency trading, which he believes did huge damage to the Malaysian economy during the financial crisis that hit Asia in the late 1990s.
"Currency is not a commodity", he says.
"You sell coffee. Coffee… can be ground and made into a cup of coffee.
"But currency, you cannot grind it and make it into anything. It is just figures in the books of the banks and you can trade with figures in the books of banks only.
"There must be something solid to trade, then you can legitimately make money."
Tough message
But even if Europe takes his advice, Dr Mahathir believes there will be no quick return to economic health.
"To recover your wealth you have to work over many years to rebuild your capacities, to produce goods and services to sell to the world, to compete with the eastern countries," he says.
European workers are overpaid and unproductive, Dr Mahathir believes.
"I think you have paid your workers far too much money for much less work," he says.
"So you cannot expect to live at this level of wealth when you are not producing anything that is marketable."
His message is tough, he acknowledges, before adding with a laugh: "We used to get tough messages from you before, remember?"
"And now, what is the result? Sometimes you undermined our currency and we became very poor. Well, we learn from each other. We were Euro-centric before. I think it should be a little bit Asia-centric now."
A tough message indeed.

**************************************************************************

There and back again!

It was a quick trip but we finally managed to pick up our VIPERs at the Brazilian embassy in London! YEP! It only took 9 ½ months since the day Alistair arrived in Rio.

This time we flew with Air France because the flight arrived early morning in London and we wanted to drop our visas at the embassy on the same day.

Well, the flight to London was pleasant enough in Premium Economy! Actually of all the companies we tried so far on that route, they have the best food by a long shot!

The flight back was another story.

We could not get our boarding passes for the Paris to Rio flight  from London. The staff at Heathrow seemed totally clueless and disorganised.

When we got to Paris we had just an hour to pick up our next plane… except that the aircraft doing that route had broken down… people were bumped into a smaller plane. Some people were booted out of the plane totally and put into the next one (the following day!)  We were downgraded to Economy. On top of that it was complete chaos. Not a single couple got together, children separated from their parents, partners from each other,  it was absolute pandemonium as people started to trade places in the plane to be close to their friends/partners/young children….

Alistair got wedged next to a big fat Smelly Russian and a very drunk Scotman. Scotman was so pissed he kept complaining to the air attendants about the seats and kept just drinking. Alistair could sit on his seat only by lining 45 degrees away from Fat Russian… the smell did not help….

I was luckier, seated at the other end of the plane next to a Brazilian guy who was  tiny so I had a bit of space.

Things got better for Alistair as Pissed Scotman managed to get Fat Russian Man to swap his seat with a girl, whom, either was with Pissed Scotman or was picked up on the way….

Well, I am complaining but the alternative could have been ending up at the bottom at the sea like another Air France flight (from Rio) did some time ago. In any case all this chaos and dodgy planes did not fill me with much confidence with the company and from now on I will stick to TAM or BA….

Talking about planes falling into the sea, one of our Brazilian friend was due to take that doomed flight, except that her boss phoned her the day before leaving and made her delay her departure (due to last minute work issue)  At the time she was rather pissed off with her boss… until the plane fell.

It must have been the luckiest phone call of her life. Must be fate!

Now we are back at home… trying to organise the shipping of our container. I feel this is going to be another adventure…

My visa seems to not allow me to work. I will investigate this further as it is annoying. I like to keep my options open.

After a dreadful  return flight in a plane that seems full of monkeys rather than people we arrived at Rio where it was barely 20 degrees. We could not believe it. And since last week end the weather has been wet and cold. It should be 40 by now, but it is barely 23 or 25!  Positively freezing for the locals! So if the weather has been unusually warm in the northern hemisphere, here it has been unusually cold and / or wet.

We have friends coming soon for Carnaval.  They are going to be so annoyed if the weather keeps awful!

I asked a Brazilian friend what would happen if it rains during Carnaval. “There would be a revolution” he said. So let’s see! J

Sometimes I just want to sit down and cry in frustration!

Paying our rent here in Brazil has been a nightmare since day 1.

First, we could not have a local bank account so we had to pay cash. Yes you read it well.

Alistair was given a card (by his Parent company) which was a sort of Purse card where the living allowance would be paid into. But we could not use it to pay the rent (don’t ask why!)! So every month we had to go round the banks over a 3 days period, to withdraw the amount required then go to Banco Itau and pay the rent.

Now, walking around Rio with a big wad of cash in your pocket is not something I would recommend!

Every month we thought it was the last time, as (surely!) the visas would get approved and we would get a bank account.

So after 7 or 8 month of this joke, and with the help of the new HR girl from Alistair’s company (who works in the London office but happens to be Brazilian) we managed to open a bank account few weeks ago. After all, our visa approval had just been published in the Jornal Official!  Well, Alistair did manage to open an account, I could not be included for some stupid admin reason involving more stupid bureaucracy and admin sh*te.

Anyway, Alistair received his debit card and pin few days ago and we thought “Great” we can use it to pay the rent now, while we wait for the cheque book!

Anyhow, today the rent was due, so I went to Itau (which is the estate agent’s bank) with Alistair’s HSBC Brazil debit card and his pin number. How hard could it be? Well, at Banco  Itau I was told that they only accept Itau cards.

So I went to HSBC, how hard could it be, paying my rent with an HSBC card at HSBC into an Itau account????

Well not so fast. I either had to order the cash, get Alistair to pick it up the next day, and pay in cash to Itau, OR, I had to show a passport. As the card is only at Alistair’s name I had a problem.

Solution: getting Alistair back from work mid-afternoon on the day his company’s MD is visiting the Brazil Office so he could use his card and show his passport!  

Another fun day in Rio.

Internet banking? Maybe one day! This is Brazil, things happen eventually, but at their own pace!

Back to London to pick up our VIPERs (5 year visas) tomorrow. Wish us luck!

Aipim frito

Now there is something you will eat (and love!) when you get  to Rio: Aipim frito (fried Aipim).
Aipim is also called Yuca around South America and everywehere else in Brazil.
In Africa it is called Manioc.
It took me a couple of trials but I cracked it!



How to do it!

Aipim is a root so it is very hard. You need to peel it with a sharp knife and cut in chunks. Leave in water overnight or up to 24h.

Then boil a bit in water until relatively tender.
Put in a colander to dry.

When the aipim is dry, heat oil in a pan. Shove the chunks of aipim in when the oil is very hot and fry until golden.

For a dipping sauce try to do the following dipping sauce:
- juice of one lime
- a drop of cachaca
- juice of chilli mix (made mixing birds eyes chillis + 1/2 vinegar and 1/2 water) or some chilli sauce for spice to taste
- a bit of olive oil
- onion sliced or diced.


Enjoy!

This is what it is all about! :)

Saturday morning, wee get up and have a quick breakfast.
We get in a bus to Botafogo (10 minutes) and get off to go to the Clube de Regatas de Guanabara.

Get on the Regata side, borrow a dual kayak and get off in the bay of Botafogo, all the way to Sugar Loaf Mountain before kayaking back.

After tidying and rinsing the kayak we get to the club's restaurant for a big plate of (dirt cheap!) prawns and few beers looking over the bay! Bliss!

Next week we will borrow 2 single kayaks and go further away!

Time to have fun :)



http://crguanabara.com.br/home/pt/home.html

Post dedicated to all my friends in rainy London!