São Paulo's Mercadão; a photo essay.

I was born in São Paulo, Brazil. Between my many moves I've added up about 9 years here, and I barely know my own city.

I've decided that its better late than ever to venture out into the wild and get to know the places I've always heard about, but for a number of reasons never really got to know.

First stop; the Municipal Market
Rua Cantareira, 306 - Sé (near the São Bento Subway Station, or the Parque D Pedro II bus stop).

It is a gigantic farmer's market, located in downtown São Paulo that has somehow eluded me for years, and now I finally realised what I've been missing.

The architecture resembles an industrial warehouse, bursting with food items, from solid to liquid, cold to hot, fresh to dried, prepared or raw. There are dozens of fresh tropical fruits, vegetables, wine, cheese, chocolate, seafood, chicken and spices.There is something there for every taste, and I recommend you show up hungry and try  the famous Mortadella (Bologna) Sandwich or an enormous Pastel de Bacalhau (Cod fish pasty). 

If I had to describe it in one word it would be abundance.

Abundance of colors, smells, flavors, textures, sounds. It is a great collection that stimulates all the senses and were I a creative person of any sort, I would have felt compelled to write a song, a movie or paint abstract pictures.

Although I didn't create anything, I did feel a newfound appreciation for the city in which I live. There is so much in here that I am missing out by wishing I was somewhere else. 

There were things hanging from spice racks that I would have thought were a world away, but turned out to be within my reach, just a few stops down the subway line. Enough to inspire even the most culinary challenged (yours trully) to want to give a go to the most outrageous recipes.

All the vendors were very friendly and eager to get you to try their merchandise, so if you are comfortable with it you can make a meal of samples of all sorts of different flavors.

I finally understood why, for my entire life, people insisted that I go there, and the reason for the astonished and disapproving looks that followed the statement "Well, I just never got around to it". If you are a fan of food, if you're an artist, or just your run of the mill wanderer I absolutely recommend it.

Where the fuck, Morringhan?

I started this blog without much of an idea of what I wanted it to be.

You can probably tell how much attention I pay to it by the cookie-cutter layout and the amount of time that goes by between each post.

What I'd love for this to become is a travel blog. This is where this blog is headed, everybody strap in.

I'm not traveling much at the moment but I have a ton of planed trips, and I'm going to start sharing some of them, beginning by the preparation process, which is just as much fun as the trip itself.

So come with me... and you'll be... reading all about how I train for the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, how I penny pinch to get myself to Thailand, or scavenge booking sites like an underground creature looking for food, on the hunt for cheap flights and cheaper accomodation.

I hope you enjoy the trip.

Best,
M.

Mela

A couple of days ago one of my best friends posted this little gem on her Facebook.

I did repost it and was indeed surprised by the things people remember about me. A few of them I don't remember myself, but all the same was a fun read.

She on the other hand wasn't too happy with the memory I choose.

So here it is Marshmela:

I am Cool
A memoir of our friendship.

I remember when you first met me, which is a feat in it of itself for not only were you sorely unaware of all the awesome that had just walked into your life in the shape of yours truly, but was actively against all the greatness I insisted on thrusting upon you. You hated me for having a similar sounding name, and being excited about it. You hated me for being excited that I attended the school you were begrudgingly transferring to, and majored in your subject of choice. (It might also have had something to do with the fact that I crashed your birthday party, but I'm going with the excitement.)

You hated me because of my excitement! Yet, I somehow still managed to drag you onto roofs and woods and boring parties. This is a test of my power, fear me.

You hated my school more than me, so you found solace in a person oh so similar to yourself, but were previously uncertain of, and that's when you succumbed to me. Admit it, the day you saw me sitting in the sun waiting for classes and you asked me what I was listening to and I told you it was Brazilian Music; you thought I was cool. Which I was.

It was cool of me to listen to your radio show even though I wasn't a fan of the music you played, it was cool of me to coax you into just giving me tickets for a concert that nobody ended up calling for anyways.

I was cool when I'd find dogs more interesting than our hosts at certain parties, I was cool with my funny accent and hairy legs. I was even cool in a car accident in the snow, and demonstrated my cucumber-like qualities when your sister was throwing tantrums.

I was cool about you abandoning me on my way to DC, Buenos Aires and God knows where else. I was the epitome of cool when I flew all the way to Colorado to buy you beer when you weren't old enough (and do other things there as well.)

I was particularly cool when I laughed like Voldemort for about 6 months in 2011.

I was cool when I actually listened to you and started calling myself a feminist, when I gave dubstep a chance, when I joined Tumblr, when I learned by doing and stopped being so judgmental.

I was cool enough to lend you my feety pajamas, my Uggs, my apartment, my food, my friends...

But the cherry on top of my cool sundae is how I joked about writing you an essay with "something much better" and went ahead not only to write said essay, but also make it all about me. All the while trusting you to understand the power of my personality enough to catch my meaning, even if others won't.

And there you have it, Mela, the thing I remember the most about you is that you have one cool friend.

M.

Down the Rabbit Hole.

On December 16 2013 it will be two years since I graduated college, and I’m still astounded by how much I changed in such a short period of time.

I graduated a semester early so at the end of winter break when all my friends were going back I felt incredibly lost. The experience always reminded me that scene in “Alice in Wonderland” when she falls through the rabbit hole, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, with no concept of what is up or down. She can’t see the bottom, she can’t see the top, and has nothing to hold on to. That’s what graduating felt like for me. I couldn’t go back, I couldn’t stop myself from falling and I sure as hell couldn’t see what was waiting for me.

After the initial anxiety passed and I made some tough but much needed decisions I reminded myself of what happens next in the movie, she gets to Wonderland. And it’s crazy and nonsensical but it also, for lack of a better term, wonderful. Filled with fantastic things that are new and curious. For somebody who was so keen on living adventures and seeing the world the prospect of Wonderland is like waiting for Christmas morning.

I can’t say I’ve figured out this new land and I’m confortable with it and the new rules, but I’m having a great time finding out, meeting people (some mad, some madder) and finding out about myself.

So maybe I found it accidentally, maybe it was where I was headed all along, but finding Wonderland is so worth throwing yourself down the rabbit hole.

M.

Writing

   It is no secret that I love to read. I'm a chain-reader. I read to live. And I've recently stated  I will run out of air before I run out of books. I love it too much to put it in words, and maybe I'll write another post about it, but for now I'll just leave it nicely resumed by one of the best Twitter accounts I follow.

   What I love just as much, but don't partake in with nearly as much frequency as I should/like is writing. I've been keeping journals since I was in 5th grade. I don't write anything important of even coherent in them. I also don't read them back. I write short-stories, and have begun several novels, none of which I've been able to bring to a conclusion, I don't mean to share or publish them, for now. 

    I just write for the sake of writing.

    I write because I have control of the story. I write fiction because I can take something that happened to me that day, and transform into the situation I wish had happened. I can write about situations that didn't happen anywhere else other than my head. I write non-fiction because I believe I'm truly special, a singular snow-flake type deal, and that what happens to me need to be remembered, and told.

   I write characters that I can identify with and are natural to me, and I write characters I puzze over for months. I write people I wish were my best friends and people I've wanted to kill in the page just for the satisfaction of making them not exist anymore. 

   I write so I don't become a consumer only. Somebody who just takes and take without ever giving back. I write so when I criticize a book or a story I'm not just finding flaws in the world, but so I can learn the process and know what and how to criticize. I'm doing it because if you think you can do it better, you should. Even if it's not really.

   I write so there are always things to read.

M.

Tough decisions

   I've been dealing recently with some tough questions regarding my job and possible career.

   What do you do when the job you currently work on conflicts with your morals, but you really need the money?

   Nobody is making me do anything I don't want, but there are some practices of my firm that although perfectly legal don't sit well with me.

   Sadly I really need the money, and unfortunately grad school is getting more expensive by the minute. So I'll stay, and not say anything against it because I don't want to lose my job. The compromise I've made is that I'm not going to build a career here, nor will I rely on my current bosses to provide me with recommendations along the way. This way my conscience can be a little at peace, although it nags me from time to time.

    It got me wondering about people who really need the money, for their basic needs like feeding their families and paying their mortgage, and the things they have to put up with. Or as my dad says "swallowing the frog". As much as I want to go to grad school, I won't die or be homeless if I don't go, so the day I can't handle this anymore I can just get up and say "fuck it", hop on my high horse and gallop away.

   What do you guys do when faced with choices like that?

M.

My (emphasis on the MY) Halloween Costume Rules

   I love Halloween, it is not only a fantastic, magical "holiday" but also the usher to Thanksgiving and Christmas, which are also favorites of mine.

   Having grown up in a different country my idea of Halloween, specially my very first one, where somewhat distant from the real thing as I only had movies and tv shows to base my so called knowledge on. As time went by I've managed to approach my perceptions with reality, without losing too much of what made it special for me. The main thing being my choice for costumes and the rules I choose to follow in picking one out.

   Disclaimer: this is not a rant or me wanting to impose any of the "rules" on anybody, these are just the guidelines I like to go with when picking a halloween costume. When it comes to yours, do whatever you want, I'm not your mother.


So without further adue, here are my rules.

1. Nothing sexy.

Is nothing sacred anymore?!

    I am not particularly comfortable with the idea of being sexy, specially because it often involves little clothing and October is a cold month. Also sometimes these sexy costumes just ruin some dear characters to me and are often things I can't unsee. So if you like to wear lingerie out on a cold October night, be my guest, but I'll skip on that, thanks.

2. Something I will wear again.
    Halloween costumes are expensive, I've followed this through high school but it didn't become a rule until college where I had to fend for myself and make the decision between paying $60+ for something I'd wear once. I may not be the Belle at the ball, but I dressed up as Alex DeLarge, three years ago and those are still one of my favorite pants.

3. Something original.
    I'm not the most creative person out there, and you'll be hard pressed to find me in any "best costumes ever" list, but I like for my friends to be able to find me for my costume when I tend to Irish Goodbye them. "Have you seen the sexy school girl?" just doesn't narrow it down.

So that's it, three simple guidelines that make my October worth living and the anticipation of Halloween that much more exciting.

Would love to hear if you have any rules for yourself, and if you already know what you'll be this year.

M.

p.s. In case you were wondering, I'm dead set on being Baljeet from Phineas & Ferb.

Books!

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody who knows me that I love books.

I simply adore them. I prefer the company of books to people. If you're ever stuck on what to get me for a present you can never go wrong with a book or a notebook. Even if its something I've already read, or doesn't seem like its my taste, I'll always give any book a chance.

So it is no wonder that I'm particularly fond of Neil Gaiman's (one of my favorite authors) All Hallows Read. It is an amazing idea that will become tradition in ten years time, and I'm excited to be part of its beginnings.

The gist of it? Give somebody a scary book for halloween. Something spooky and bone chilling that they can read on a scary night. Give it to lots of somebodys, give it do a stranger, doesn't matter.

Although candy and fake blood are important there with the overwhelming amount of slutty costumes I feel like the scary is getting pushed out of halloween. So I've committed myself to making this a tradition.

Would love to know some book recommendations for all ages on the matter.

M.

Stories that need to be told.

While its no secret that I love to whine about my job, this isn't one of the times where I talk about how about what other people are doing things much cooler than what I do. Ok, maybe it is.

   One of my best friends is getting her master's in social work and working at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, I'll admit, my first reaction was less than stellar, along the lines of "oh... so you're working in jail? that's... interesting...or something?" but on further thought I realised that being the sucker for stories the way I am, I was missing out on this endless pool of tales that have just been waiting to be told.

   So I'm really happy that she started a blog about the inmates stories, as well as some of her own, and knowing her like I do I know her passion will fizzle out quickly, so I just want to do a bit of promotion here, and wherever possible to positively reinforce her into keep writing these stories, sharing what needs to be shared and showing the world that these women are in fact survivors, and not the monsters we all assume.

Give it a go.

M.

Quitting my Bitching.

   A while a go I made a promise to myself that I would complain less about things. To anyone who knows me, this is virtually impossible as I spend 97% of my awake moments complaining about one thing or another.

  

  Since I love money I decided that would be my motivator, and for every day that I complained I'd have to donate a dollar to a charity, or any cause that could use the help. Mainly when I complain I need to remind myself that I'm lucky to be healthy, loved and with enough money to not just afford my basic needs but a few luxuries as well. So when I'm bitching about something I make a little note on my planner and I have to donate a certain amount.

  I just donated $25 for the month of August for Teenage Cancer Trust, and you can do so here. Weird thing is, it feels pretty good to do something, as small as this, for somebody else. Maybe I'll continue to complain just to add that little bit to world.

Best,

M.

Experiment!

   I will be moving house (again!) next weekend, and I'll be renting a room at the house of an older woman who doesn't have wi-fi (!). She said she doesn't want use it and has no need for it, but if I pay for it she has no problems with installing a router in the house.
 
   Which is when I came up with the idea, of testing out my will power.

   I will go on for three months without internet at my house. And if at the end of it I am dying, I'll just call for help and have somebody install it, after all it doesn't take that long.

   It's not as daring as I'd like it to be, since I do have wi-fi at work, where I spend most of my time, and free range to navigate every page I want to. So this will just curb my weekend and night-time cruising. I don't think I'm debilitatingly addicted to tumblr or this blog (specially if you judge by how often I post) but I do like to be connected to twitter and youtube.

  I'm excited about it, mainly because I don't think it'll be that big of a challenge. I like to read for fun and I'm pretty content with going for walks or just being outside, so hopefully that'll spark a little bit more of that. Maybe I'll even begin going to the gym. (gasp).

  I guess this post is a little pointless, but then again, aren't them all? It just one of those days when I had the itches to write and had nothing to write about so I'm just blurting words out. So sorry about that.


M.

Making Sacrifices

   Almost all my life I've been working towards being location independent. Hasn't happened it yet, but I slowly but surely cut ties here and there to things that could keep me in one place for too long. I do this because I want to travel. I want to travel on a whim and be able to just lock up behind me and not have to think if I've got somebody to watch the dog, or water the plants, or somewhere to forward my bills to. I just want to lock up and go.

   Ironically, yesterday I applied for a tourist visa to another country I was planning on going this Christmas and it got denied specifically for that reason. I do not have strong enough ties anywhere that prove to them that I wouldn't just stay in that country.

  Which is fine, the person who interviewed me was very open and honest about it, and I'm not holding he/she personally responsible for anything. But it did get me thinking about the things I'm willing to sacrifice for that need of freedom and to literally not be tied down and feel like any gust  of wind could take me anywhere. And yes, it is so worth it.

  It is a mild inconvenience to have been said no to, but now I get to do one of my favorite things, and plan a new trip to someplace else. I can use the money for that trip (which I considered gone by the time I decided to go) for a different one, maybe go see my family. Maybe go someplace I've never been.

I'm excited. It's cliché to say it, but sometimes not getting what you wanted is exactly what you needed. I was bummed out about it for all of yesterday. Today, I hit the stores for some new travel guides.

M.

I like clothes.

Anyone who knows me can tell you that I have more clothes than people should, and I like to buy shoes when I'm feeling down. Which does become a hindrance when I'm trying to find an apartment (as I am at the moment) and it needs to be big enough to fit all my shit.

In a meeting at work (of all places) I was introduced to Fashiolista, an internet fashion community where you can save your loved items, see what other people are liking and etc etc. It's great and I'd give it a look-see if you are into this kind of thing.

I have recently created a profile, and being an online shopping addict that I am, I thought I'd start posting my recent buys there. You may have noticed my new side bar item, that's where my things will be.

So that's it really, those are my clothes, if you'd want to follow me please feel free. And check out Fashiolista.

Best,

M.

It's just love!

Following along with the awesome things that have happened to me this year... JOHN GREEN JUST REBLOGGED ME!

I posted this on my tumblr about a month ago, of this really cool thing the editor for Will Grayson, Will Grayson did regarding the publishing of the book here in Brazil, and in an awesome game of "make John Green find the thing" he has found it! And reblogged it from me! You can see the original post here, or you can see his reblog here.

It is awesome to see the world being spread and activity on my tumblr has gone through the roof. Mainly thanks to our awesome sauce Brazilian nerdfighters. You guys are amazing!

M.

I vow, from here on out, to Douche Shame

I am really proud to work for an association where the top three spots are filled by women. I admire our president, our director and our executive manager for breaking through the glass ceiling and working in an environment mostly dominated by men.

Today we are having a very important assembly at the office, composed of about 50 people, give or take, about a third of which are women. The set up of this assembly is similar to that of a class room, with rows of chairs set up facing a single direction. Most people prefer to sit by the door leaving the harder to reach places to those who arrive late.

Three women arrived late and had to walk across the space to reach those empty chairs, at this point a particular asshole-type decided to WOLF WISTLE as each of them made their way quietly across the room in hopes of not disturbing the meeting that was in place.

Just to be clear: there is a man currently sitting in my office who thinks its ok to WOLF WISTLE at women who are equal to him in professional, social and assumed intelligence status (although I'm starting to second guess the third), THREE different times.

As the lowly office assistant who cannot afford to lose her job due to student loans, I couldn't bring myself to speak up. I can blame my silence on many other factors of the society and my position, but in truth I failed my feminist instincts and now I'm ashamed of it.

No other person pronounced themselves which only makes me regret even more that I didn't say a word, and was only able to give him a disapproving look of disgust, which I'm sure he didn't notice.

So this is my vow to you people, that I will not be quiet next time I find myself in a similar situation. I am putting this to my few, but beloved readers, and the internet to hold me accountable to shame douche bags like that whenever I come in contact with them.

M.

Using my wit for Evil.

I am a very witty person, sometime my comebacks are so good I would like to give myself a pat on the back. (Ok, maybe not so much, but I am confident in my well-thought, quick fire answers). The problem is I don't use it to put any good into the world.

On the contrary, I tend to use to make it suck more.

I am a lot better at coming up with insults and compliments. When somebody pisses me off, what immediately comes out of my mouth is "pie-eating cock goblin", but when somebody does something good for me I respond with something like "you're so... nice!" Really? Nice?! I couldn't come up with anything better?

I pride myself on my vocabulary, and I could have said that person was generous, kind or the best thing to happen to me since slided bread, but I went with nice.

I'm not sure if this is just another way in which I am a product of my generation, or how the internet had ruined me for life or what. I've just realised my twitter feed contains about 7 complaints/insults to every 1 good-natured thing I have to say. Also, those 7 tweets are much more interesting, funny and well thought out than the 1 outlier.

M.

New Obsession Alert!

   So I find that this is a common thing on the internet, or maybe I just tend to socialize with like-minded people, but people don't just like things. They're obsessed.

   When I have a new interest it is my top priority on getting as much information as fast as possible, becoming an overnight expert on a new tv show, an athlete's career or that new book I just finished. They are usually short lived; they burn bright, but they burn fast.

   I will sacrifice sleep in order to watch every single video there is on YouTube about that thing, I will read as many news articles as I can sneak during my work hours, and I will most certainly follow at least 5 Twitter accounts that are related to that thing. Some would consider it borderline stalking. And I will share that information with anybody who is around long enough to hear me say "so I have a new obsession." It annoys my friends, my family members and co-workers, but after the first weekend of "did you knows" I'm usually able to direct my attention to Tumblr.

  Some people seem concerned, my therapist said it was a healthy thing since I have a novelty-seeking personality. Everybody has an opinion. But as long as I'm not hurting myself or others, I say let it be.

What about you, my chers, who obsessive or unobsessive are you? About what?

M.

Buzzfeed gets me

something Good for something Great

   I feel like I talk a lot about my job lately, but being in the office (or work related things) from 9am-6pm everyday (and sometimes on the weekends) there's rarely other things in my life worth talking about. (Which is sad.. I know, I know.)

  What has been swirling in my mind lately is how often I get job "offers" while doing things for the job I currently have. I get to meet very interesting and influential people who somehow fall for my smoke and mirror tricks of thinking I'm a competent young professional.  I've been offered "job security" here and there, and one particular gentleman has jokingly placed bids on my future salary with my boss over a couple drinks.

  I'm aware that those are not official job offers and I'd be stupid to jump into any conclusions from these simple matter of fact statements. At the same time, though, people don't need to say those things to me, and I'm tempted to find that there is something true in those words, that they'd at least pay a little more attention to my resume if I decided to send it in.

  But then I remind myself that I'm leaving for London in 15 months to pursue my dream of living there and getting my master's, which is what I've wanted forever. I don't want to accept an awesome job that I'll have to quit shortly just because I have something awesomer (sorry, I know) coming along.

  In the confused mental state that will last all of my 20s (and probably continue from there on) it is a hard choice to be faced with, specially in the occasions when things at my current job aren't as pleasant as I'd like them to be, and my novelty seeking personally is already yearning for a new city and new faces.

 It would be great if all the world's problems were as terrible as my own.

But I'm interested to know, how often do you guys have to give up something good for something you know is better, specially when that thing might be in the not so near future?

M.

On meeting people I look up to.

   So if you read this blog, you know all about my J.K. Rowling fiasco, if you don't, click the link to find out how I choked in front of one of my biggest idols. Spoilers, I choke.

   This past week I was in France for the Cannes Lions festival, and it was amazing. The festival itself, the networking opportunities and so on and so forth. But I have to admit what I liked the most about it was meeting people I look up to.

  Before heading off to France I saw that the Sorted boys tweeted about being there and lost my mind momentarily. Then I tweeted them, all nonchalant, and invited them to come to our lounge and try some caipirinhas. To which they replied. (Be still my fangirl heart.) Long story short, after some mild (or not so much) stalking on my part I did get to meet them and they were as lovely as anybody would expect. I also got to meet Dan and Phil who are a lot taller than I imagined but just as lovely!

   What I learned from my sad sad story with J.K. Rowling was that even if I was nervous or starstruck I better get ahold of myself quickly, because I could be missing out on some very interesting conversations with really top notch people. Regardless of how much I look up to them, or how successful they are, as I curled up into a ball at that theatre in Bath and cried in front of strangers I promised myself I would never miss opportunities like that again.
And I didn't!

M.

SortedFood boys enjoying a Caipirinha at the FilmBrazil Lounge - Cannes Lions 2013

 

Doing it anyways...

   So it's no secret that one of my favorite blogs is All Groan Up, it is funny, insightful and just plain old good read. I was particularly chuffed when I learned Paul (who follows me on twitter, cough cough) was releasing his book, 101 Secrets for your Twenties.

   It was particularly great to see that he had set up a contest for his readers to become part of the book, submitting their own secret that either got them through their twenties or is helping them now. So I wrote something.

   In all fairness, maybe "wrote" is putting it nicely, I jotted something down and sent over, without thinking too much about it. I find that my best writing comes out as "mind-vomit", and I can ruin a text like nobody's business by overediting and over thinking the main idea. I have no expectations to be published or even picked as the top 100 of all the submissions  because of the lack of effort I put into it. But I did it anyways, because I love to write, and would have done it even if this contest didn't exist at all.

   So that's the topic for today, boys and girls, not what have you done lately that you expected no results, but why did you do it anyways?

M.