A Great Surprise

Hi guys!
What a long time!

How have you been?

Today I got a really nice surprise from Bristol!!!!
Let me tell you something before.

When I was leaving my room at St. Johns House (the ELC school accomodation) I saw myself with a lot of things I brought from Brazil including some bottles of Cachaça, some school suplies, condoms (not used haha) and the famous Brazilian Havaianas.
And I decided that I would leave all this stuff hidden under the last drawer of my room's chest of drawers (room 11).
I wrote a letter saying who I am and saying all the things that someone would like to hear from an unknown person: bullshit!! hahahaha

Well, I arranged it all under the drawer and left it there waiting for the day that someone will find it and contact me to let me know about it.

Today is this day!!

I just saw an email from a Dutch Girl called Marjte who found all my presents stuff!!!
Here is the email:

"Dear Raphael,

i'm in your room in st johns house!
i found your stuff, really nice that nobody who was here before me cleaned the room.
i'm sorry but your condom is still here.
thank you for your alcoholic drink, the brazilian guys are really happy to have a drink from home.

Bye,

Claudine Wijsmuller, Valerie de Smet, Alice Rodenberg, Eva van der Donk, Max Regtuit, Mart van den Berg
all from holland"

hahahaha

I'm trying to contact her and I'll let you guys know about it.

When I thought that everything that could remind me of Bristol was over here comes another chapter!

See you soon guys!

The Last Step

Guess who's back?
It's not me! It's the surgery!! =(
hahahaha
To finish this cycle, to end what began on February 2011, to let me free of this metal piece inside my arm!
So, on 1st of June, I'll be back to the same Hospital that I was on 25th of May 2011 and I'll remove the metal plate that is located inside my left arm.
And I'll be free!!!

hahahaha
cya!

End.

Today is turning one month that I arrived in Brazil.
Many things have changed since then. I'm setting everything up to get ready for this year.
But the most important thing is that I'm happy here. I'm where I wanted to be and doing the things I needed to do.
But now a cycle must end. This blog helped me a lot with writing and I'm very pleased that I made part of my journey.

I have now a place where I can come back later and read all this posts and remember all theses crazy things that happened.
Thanks everyone who visited this blog along 2011.

End.

ps.: don't forget guys, enjoy!

Our life it's too short to keep living like somebody else. Live your life. Follow your dreams. Make your own path. And be happy!

Cheers!

Cliffs of Moher, Dublin, Bristol and finally London

Hi guys!
I was feeling bad for a couple of days but now I'm back to business!
So last back in time a few days, when I was in Dublin. I went with Vini (my friend from Brazil) to the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are located in the west coast of Ireland and offer a great view from the top of its 250 meters. Awesome!!
So we went to a walk on the cliffs. Unfortunately, we misunderstood the time that the bus driver arranged to meet us and we took a longer time in the walk. When we were coming back, following a narrow track just next tho the cliffs (scary!), we saw a helicopter with the colours of the emergency watching the cliffs so we concluded that something must happened!
We ran back to the bus and for our surprise we found everyone waiting for us there!! And to be worst, they had sent the helicopter to try to find us!! Hahahahaha ohh my god!! We entered the bus with our heads down trying not to laugh about the shit that we had just made!

In Dublin, I met some brazilians in the Tesco and they invited us for a party. They said that their Irish neighbour was going to make a party in their apartment and it would be nice if we just pop in.
So we did it. We met a lot of nice people there! And we had a great night. In the end, we invited one busker that was performing just in front of their house to play for us inside the party!
But do you think that this ended up well?? Haha of course not! The guy started to sip some cachaça (Brazilian spirit). I'm saying some to not say too many! Hahaha At the end, he was so drunk that we had to put him out of the flat and we discovered that he slept on the streets and broke his guitar! Ohh shit again! Hahaha

So after this crazy days, I came back to Bristol. But it isn't the same now. What made it like that was that I had there a big group of crazy friends and this time I was missing them there.
I met Mohamed for a couple of drinks but my stomach was killing me, and I had to come back home.
It was strange to leave Bristol, but on the other hand, I wanted to move on. I have a long journey in front of me, and stating there even for a couple of days more, would make me live in the memories of those amazing moments that we had there.

So here I'm now in London for my goodbye to England (or better, just a see you soon?). I'm taking my flight tomorrow at 9 pm and I'll arrive in Brazil around 6 am! So Brazil, wait for me! I'm looking forward to see my brother, my parents and my friends. I really miss them!

Tonight is pub crawl night! I'll enjoy this night as if it was the last (but actually it is the last)!
So let's party hard! Haha
Cheers!

Food Poisoning

Yeah... food poisoning.
In Dublin, I went to a Chinese takeaway and order something to eat. The food was strange. And since then my stomach is hurting everyday.
I'm feeling bad.

I have a lot of things to write about the trip to Dublin but I'm not in the mood to do it right now.
Today is my last day in Bristol and I'm packing my luggages to let everything ready to go to London tomorrow.
I'm staying in a hostel in Russel Square which is located close to the Underground station, and finally which is in the main line that takes to Heatrow Airport.

Brazil, here I go!

Dublin, Guinness and Animals

Hi everyone!
I've been in Dublin for 4 days. And I'm really enjoying this lovely city.
Yesterday when I was having lunch with Lucas started to snow!! I was so excited! I asked the waitress if what I was seeing was snow or not. She almost laughed at me! Then she said that the forecast for Tuesday and Thursday was light snow. I just couldn't stop looking outside! But sadly, it snowed for a few minutes and stopped. I heard some news that they had the same in Bristol yesterday. Sooooo cool!
Yesterday we tried oysters with Guinness, a traditional combination here in Ireland. Well, it's not what I was expecting. It tastes like sea water (daerrr!) hahaha.
On Sunday we made the tour in the Guinness Storehouse. HUGE! The Guinness in Ireland is not only a brand or a stout, it's a empire! To realise this just take a look in how many people inside a pub are drinking it comparing with another beer.
In the end of the tour we had the opportunity to pour our own pint!! There is a special technique used to correctly pour it. And after that, of course, you can have a drink and enjoy the view of the bar on the top of the Storehouse.
When we were sit there, we met a woman from Australia. And believe it or not, she said that her job was to speak with animals. You probably can imagine that I had to make a real effort to keep a straight face!! Hahaha
She explained that she could speak with them by asking questions (detail: in English!) and they would answer (detail: in English) or with a image that would pop in her mind. But when I asked if she could speak with the animal that doesn't live in an English speaker country, she said that she have never tried before.
Then Young asked her something that she wanted to know about her dog but what no one were expecting was that the woman asked the name of her dog and to see a picture if it. Afterwards, she closed her eyes and made contact with the Young's dog that was in Korea!! Hahahahaha this was the climax! She answered Young as if she had made contact with her dog! So annoying! Hahaha
In the picture you can see my certificate that I poured the perfect pint! Fuck yeah!
Today I'm leaving the hostel and I'm going to meet a friend from my university in Brazil.
Take care everybody!

CAE, Last Week and Dublin

I can't deny. This was the most strange week ever in Bristol. A mix of feelings that it's impossible to describe to you guys.
Firstly I had the CAE On Wednesday. Was quite difficult, specially the listening, but I hope I managed to pass.
After the exam, was just celebration. Parties everywhere, pubs, pints and clubs.
We had the last school party on Thursday. I went dressed up as Father Christmas and it was so funny! Everyone was there, from students to teachers.
Well, after that I think that I don't have to say that the sadness was living with us in those last hours in Bristol. Every goodbye was full of tears and promises that might never became true, but this doesn't mean that they were lies.
I must say that I keep with me, small pieces of everyone that I have known since I arrived in Bristol. Moments that I will never forget! So the only thing that I could say is: thank you! For everything, for nothing, just thank you!
Well, today I caught a flight to Dublin. And here I'm. Dublin is such an amazing city! It has a great atmosphere.
After making the check in, we went to Temple Bar, which is the most famous pub here. What a great place! Live music, really warm compared with the 1 Celsius degree outside and really friendly people there. I wasn't expecting that the Irish were so nice! But was a good surprise.
Now I'm laying in my bed at the hostel. Take care everyone!
Cheers mate!

Blue Glass, Feelings, BULATS and 3000 visitors

Hi guys! How are you?

Today is the last day of Stella in British lands. I wish to her a great journey back home and see you soon truta!

Yesterday we went to the Bristol Blue Glass factory for a tour as a social programme of the school. It was surprisingly to see the techniques which they used to mold the glass in so many different forms, varying from angels to penguins.

The blower was a guy from Poland who had a great ability to mold the glass into different shapes and sizes. It remembered me of the time that I was working in the Wheaton Brazil, a company which produces glass recipients for a huge variety of applications. But what amazed me was the price of the pieces. To bring one angel home, you would have to pay around £40!! Crazy, right??

When I was in the bus coming back from the factory, I realised that the city was all decorated with blue lights and Christmas trees everywhere. And I don't know why, but the thought that I have just only one more week of classes popped into my mind and made me feel sad. Bristol is a lovely city, with beautiful green areas, places to enjoy a sunny day and to have great fun in the night. But like happened with Gabi and Stella, my time is coming too. In exactly 20 days, I'll be taking my flight back to Brazil. Yeahhh buddy, I remember like it was yesterday when I arrived here in Bristol and I thought "Oh my god, I have 24 weeks to stay in these place and visit as many places as I would like!". But now it is the end of this long journey which changed my life. But like I said to Gabi, the dream is over and it's time to wake up and come back to our lives, but never forget that other nights will come and with them new dreams.

Changing totally the way, I did the BULATS exam on Thursday and I'm really happy to announce that I got the highest mark possible: C2! The C2 is like the the proficiency level in Business English and I hope that this certificate will help me to find a good job in the future!

In addition, I would like to announce that the blog reached 3000 views!! A month has passed since the 2000 views as achieved. Again, thanks for all of you who contributed with this!

Take care everyone!

The Cambridge Speaking Exam

Hi guys, how are you?
Well, today was my speaking exam! In my point of view, it was quite nice!
I was a little bit nervous but I hope this hadn't influenced in the result.
For those who don't know the exam I'll explain it here.
In the room, there is two examiners. One in the back who doesn't ask anything to you and just write somethings  down and the other which is the one who interacts with you. Doing the exam with you, will be another student, who in my case was a Korean girl, whose name is Yonji.
In the first part, she asks you about your daily life and about what you do in your country and other things to know something more about you. In this part you don't speak with your partner.
In the second part, she will ask you separately to discuss about 3 pictures, comparing and contrasting them, and answer two questions about it. Like in the first part, you don't interact with your partner.
After you have answered your questions, the examiner will ask your partner a question about the three pictures that you had. And the opposite way is the same.
In the third part, you'll have to discuss with your partner about a group of pictures and answer two questions about them. This is the part that you have to interact with your partner and usually when you have to find an agreement about one of the answers (what could be a little bit difficult).
After that, they will start to ask you questions about the main subject of the exam (mine was professions). So they asked if it's important to being updated with the latest news, and another questions that I can't remember at the moment.
After that you're free!
It's like a heavy weight that was removed from my back. But I now that the real problem will come next week in the writing / reading / listening / use of English (this is the hell!!) exams.
I hope I'll managed to do my best on those!

Tomorrow I'll take another exam: BULATS. This is an exam focused on Business vocabulary. But in these case, I receive the results just after I have finished it. So wish me good luck!

Good Luck!

Hey guys!
I just came to wish good luck for all my friends that are taking any exam!
I hope we all are going to pass it!
Cheers!

6 Months

Today is making exactly 6 months that I left Brazil. Six months that I left my family and everyone that I knew there. However, in less than a month I will be back there. And will be the time to leave everybody that I know here in Bristol and come back. In Brazil, I have some goals I need to achieve like graduate from my University.

Today is Gabi's last night. We are going to meet for stay with her this last night. I would like to write some things about it but it won't be possible now. But for sure, later I'll!

See you guys later!

Dragon's Den

Today's business class was one of the most exciting!

There's a programme in the BBC called Dragon's Den. The main point of the programme is that there are five entrepreneurs who are looking for good ideas to invest. So the candidates come to the programme and present their ideas for the Dragons and hopefully receive an offer for a part of the shares of the company.

Today we watched one of the episodes which a guy called Levi Roots was trying to get some investments for a mass production of a sauce, which he named as "Reagge Reaggue Sauce".

If you want to watch it, take a look in this link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/entrepreneurs/leviroots.shtml

Resuming, he received an offer from one of the Dragons and went back home happy. However we knew that, we didn't know if the company was really successful in its journey of producing the sauce.

Than the teacher Jeff, took us to the class and asked whether the company was successful or not for the us (the students). I had a hunch that it wasn't that good at all but I waited to see.

Suddenly the teacher showed us this:

Hahahahahahaha "Ohh shit!" was the first comments of the class after he had shown the bottle. Jeff gave us some Cheddar cheese to try the sauce, which is really tasty!

Well, his company now worth £8m! Now the company is selling its sauce for the whole Sainsbury empire (for the Brazilians is like a Carrefour, it's possible to find everywhere!) and with Dominos Pizza for big deals for a "Reagge-Reagge Pizza"! hahaha

Where can an idea take us? What will answer this question is your entrepreneurial vision of the business and the possibilities to do it!

 If you want to take a look at the company's website http://www.reggae-reggae.co.uk.

See you later!

Bad Chef!

Well, today it isn't my day!
I wanted to eat a pizza tonight so instead of going to Dominos where the pizza is really nice I decided to buy one in Sainsbury.
So I bought two frozen pizzas and came back home.
I put one in the oven and waited. After maybe 15 min I went to take a look and the pizza was ALL BLACK! hahahaha
I took it off the oven and let it out. But suddenly, the fire alarm went off!
As a security procedure, we had to go outside but I knew that the problem was my burnt pizza. So I went outside and met like 20 people complaining about who was the guilty one! hahahahahaha
I just apologized for them and waited until we were allowed to enter again the building.
Yeah.... I know... sorry guys! hahaha

Brazilian Joke

Today I have to show a very funny video that my friend Stella made with her Japanese friend. Probably if you aren't Brazilian you'll not understand it.



Hahahahahaha
Now a English joke: Do you know the difference between the Snowman and the Snowoman?
.
.
.
The Snowballs!
See you guys later!

Fixed pairs and Speaking Exam

Today's post will be different. Yesterday I was taking a look in my files, gathering some expressions for my mock exam that happened today. And I found a really nice list with some expressions called "fixed pairs".

These expressions are made of two words that go with an "&" in the middle. These words might not have any meaning alone, but together they do.

I've selected some of them to put up in the blog so you can take a look and learn some of them.
Bits & Bobs - small things that you usually find lost in a drawer (general things).
Movers & Shakers - the powerful people, usually Presidents, Prime Ministers, etc...
Short & Sweet - much quicker, easier and nicer than you expected.
On & Off - When something happens during a period of time but not continuously.
Ins & Outs - the details of something.
Sick & Tired - fed up with something.

Well, I think the list is this. I have some more expressions but for now, this will work. In the next posts I will try to put them in the text so you can understand the context that they are used.

As I said, I had the mock speaking exam today. Was really well. Sometimes was a little bit to speak because we (me and Won Ho) had already had that picture before but now the questions were different.
On the whole it was short and sweet. Although we had 3 minutes to speak about some pictures, there was a time that we had already finished it and we were trying to find something to say. Unfortunately, this is what I have to avoid in the exam because it's when you say stupid things.
After the exam, the teacher said that both of us would have passed the exam without problem.

Take care everyone!
It's my cleaning day and the kitchen awaits me!

What a week!

This week was so full of everything! A lot of happy moments and some sad ones.

It was my friend (Claudia) birthday. We had dinner in a restaurant and afterwards we went to drink in a park. We had a lot of fun that night! 

This week I received two really bad news. One here in England and one from Brazil. Those news have something in common: both of them are related to the health of a member of the family of a good friend.

I'm not going to say their names in respect of them, but what I'm going to do is to declare here my support for them. You'll know if you're one of them.

On Thursday in this following week, I'm going to have my mock speaking exam. I will make a group with Wonho (a guy who is from Korea and is in my class), and we'll be examined by a teacher that I never heard about it. The whole speaking exam must not take more than 20 minutes. So I have half of this, expecting that me and Wonho are going to share the twenty minutes, to convince the interviewer that I deserve an A! hahahahaha Really hard job actually!

This weekend was Gabi's last one in Bristol! She is going back to Brazil on Saturday. So me, Gabi and Stella went to the Browns to have the last English Afternoon Tea and scones. In fact, we just had the scones and decided to not drink the tea. We spoke about a lot of things, about how we changed since we arrived here in Bristol. After the Afternoon Tea, we went to the same park that I've been with my friends in the picture above. We stayed there for a couple of minutes and headed back home.

Gabi, I wish you all the best! I'll miss you here truta!

See you later guys!

Editing: Scone is like a mini cake that you open it and put cream and strawberry jam! It's very nice and typical English one.

Autumn Walk

Welcome back guys!
Yesterday, my ex host-sister, Holly, invited me to go for an Autumn Walk around Bristol. She arranged with Ash (one of the her sisters) and some friends of them. So we met at the Suspension Bridge around midday and went to the Ashton Court which is a private park but open to the public.
The view was awesome! In the Autumn, the leaves fall and change colors from green to yellow. It's so different because the ground is covered with leaves and its colors contrasts with the colors of the leaves which haven't fallen yet. I'm putting up some pictures as you can see what I'm talking about.

We were really lucky because this day the weather was so good! We stayed around 3 hours in the park enjoying an unusual sunny time in this part of the year. In the park, there are some wild deer living.
It's so strange because they are free in the park and the hart have really big antlers. I was thinking if anytime happened that one of them attacked a person but Ash told me that they are really shy and run when you approach.
After all, it was a really nice Autumn Walk around the park. After staying here for 6 months, it was the first time that I was there!
See you later guys!

Viewers

I was just checking my audience with the blog and for my surprise, the second country that most visits my blog is: Russia! Editing: Just to make it clear, I have more viewers from Russia than viewers from the UK! It's fascinating how far I can reach with this blog and how many people I have met because of it. So, just for curiosity, if you are a frequent reader (or just felt in this blog by accident), could you post a comment telling what do you think about the blog and where you from? Any suggestion will be nice too! Thanks!

International Food Party, Brazilian Situation and Smiles

Today I have time so I will make a big post with a lot of things that I have to update. Yesterday was so F***ING funny! Maybe, it was the funniest White Harte ever! For those that don't know, The White Harte is the famous pub that we go every Thursday because they have 1 pound 1 beer! So half liter for just one pound! It's a big deal! Continuing, we stayed in a table maybe with 15 people all of them were from the ELC. Everybody was so drunk and laughing because we had been playing that drinking games for hours! It was the day that the main programme of the night was in White Harte. Lets speak about the International Food Party that happened on Wednesday. Can you imagine like 25 nationalities, being represented by 100 different dishes? Yeah, the Party was like this! I ate all different types of food and from different countries as well. Korea, Switzerland, Qatar, Spain, Italy, The Netherlands, China, Brazilian (of course) and there you go... So around 200 students inside a big room with their dishes displayed in long tables just waiting for the bell to ring so that they can start to eat everything that is in front of them. Here is a picture just before the ringing of the bell.

If you have really good eyes, you can see me just next to the shoulder of the guy wearing a dark red jacket in the center of the picture. I was quite surprised with the taste of some dishes. Actually because some of them, didn't look very good but were really nice! After the Food Party we went to the same pub that I have salsa classes but this time just for a drink with my friends and we finished the night in MBargo. Well, I have promised that I would say about the Brazilian situation and I will do it now. After staying this 6 months in England, I realised how different it's from Brazil. Here I can walk in the streets without worrying about anything. I take a bus and keep listening to music without being afraid of anyone. And this is something that I will miss in Brazil. My brother told me that he was robbed by a guy carrying a knife. He was really lucky because the guy didn't hurt him and he just robbed the money. The point is that São Paulo is that extreme and not every city in Brazil. But the sad is that it continues to happen. And sometimes I get very upset with this and I'm sorry about that. When I said that I don't want to come back to Brazil is that I don't want to start to live with worries again. I don't want to be afraid of being robbed or something like that, but I know that the place that I will live in Brazil until I finish my university it's like that so I just have to know how I'm going to cope with it. This is it! Lets talk about something happy. These week there was 3 smiles that make me feel really good. So I'll describe each of them now. On Wednesday, we had the International Food Party and there I meet the Andrea's daughter who I nicknamed as "baixinha". Andrea is the social assistance in the school. She is Brazilian but has been living in England for more than five years. Her daughter is 8 years old and really shy. She can speaks Portuguese with a weak accent. We played the whole night and I taught her to say "truta"! It was a really nice and fun night. When Andrea and baixinha were leaving the party, she looked at me, smiled and said: "Vai embora comigo pra gente poder brincar mais?" and this was the first smile that made my week. On Sunday I had dinner with my ex-host family and the daughter, Sophie, cooked some cupcakes for us. I was so pleased because she only cooked them because of me and it was so nice, it really was! So I thought to thank her in another way: I asked her if she was accepting orders and ordered 14 cupcakes to take it to my class on Friday. She said that she would make it for 50p each of them and this was how we made the deal. On Thursday I came back to take my order. Sophie was so happy that she was earning some money (what I called a "fortune" for her) with her cooking abilities!! She just couldn't stop smiling. Her happiness made me feel really good and this is why I put her as the second smile. Well, the third one is a very complicated history. On Wednesday after the Party, we went to a pub with the people from school. There I found a jacket with a mobile, a gloss, some keys and a card of the pub. I thought it was from any of the students because the jacket was in the sofas that we were sitting at the moment, so I took it with me to the MBargo. I realised that it wasn't from any of the students when nobody said nothing about had forgotten a jacket in the pub. So when I arrived at home, I took a look at the mobile and I guessed it was from an English girl because of the contacts and the texts that was in the mobile. The mobile was a HTC, really nice with touch screen. So I texted some numbers of her contact list and waited for an answer. Yesterday, a girl answered me asked me to contact her in another number. Today, she called me and we arranged to meet in the Sainsbury so I could give her jacket/mobile/gloss/keys. So we met in the Sainsbury. It was really short. I just gave her stuff and in this moment her eyes were flooded in tears. She smiled back and gave me a big huge. She offered to pay me a drink in another day and I accepted. She said that she will call me another day so that we can arrange it. I chose these smile because it was really pure like the other two. I felt really good about doing the right thing and I was happy to be rewarded with that smile. Made my day. Tomorrow I'm going to meet Holly and Ash (two of the daughters of my ex-host family) and we're going for what they called a Autumn walk. Pip told me that is like a walk in a park when the leaves are changing colors. Actually, there are a lot of them in the streets now. It's really beautiful! That landscape between gray and yellow is so nice! So I'm looking forward to the Autumn walk tomorrow! I'll take some pictures and put them up here later! I'm feeling really sleepy now, so bye bye fellows!

Internation Food Party!

Today we have the International Food Party! We made "brigadeiros"! IIIIhulll! I'm a little bit afraid that I'm late. So I have to go! See you later!