Life, Brazil and Resilience!!!
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 31 °C, hot, sunny and slightly overcast. Early exercise and work, giving classes and studying in the morning and afternoon. At the end of the day, I had to take Yasmin to one of her classmates’ birthday parties in a restaurant in Tijuca. Tijuca is a neighbourhood in the north zone of Rio. Full of the […]
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 30 °C, hot, sunny, and slightly overcast. It is the 8th of March, Women’s Day and my mother’s birthday. I had tried to call my mother early in the morning when Yasmin was with me before she went to school, but there was no answer. I tried again in the early afternoon, but it was busy […]
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 31 °C, hot, sunny, and slightly overcast. This Tuesday was just another Tuesday of exercise, work, and resolving problems, but it was filled with a pinch of happiness throughout the day. I completed a strenuous workout in the morning, arriving home drenched in sweat but feeling content and accomplished. After a shower and changing clothes, I […]
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 30 °C, hot, sunny, and slightly overcast. It is Monday, and I am not feeling overly excited about exercising today, but that is how I am always. I reluctantly drag myself out of the house, with little energy to work out, but I always return home feeling happy and ready to tackle the day. At 56, […]
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 33 °C, hot, sunny, and slightly overcast. Something happened this morning that I am not proud of, but it shows what life in Brazil is like right now. Even though it was Sunday, I woke up early to exercise. It was not as early as during the week, but still quite early. When I arrived at […]
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 33 °C, hot and sunny. Since Yasmin arrived on Friday night, she has been in a bad mood; as always, it is related to her mother. Her mother says or does something that Yasmin does not like, or criticises her for something she did or did not do, leaving her extremely upset, down and in a […]
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 30 °C, hot, sunny, and a little overcast. Friday was a day of hard work and discipline. The hard workout required discipline, and giving at least eight classes on a Friday also needed a certain amount of strength and stamina. Rio de Janeiro is experiencing another heatwave right now; it is literally 30 degreesall the time. […]
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 30 °C, hot, sunny, and a little overcast. It’s just a normal first couple of days at the beginning of the New Year. I’m giving classes and receiving money that I neither feel, see, nor smell. And I will have to leave my bubble of cold refrigerated air in my bedroom, where my home office is, […]
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 27 °C, hot, sunny, and a little overcast. It is the beginning of the Brazilian New Year, and I am ready! I have started renegotiating my monthly fees with my students as they need to be readjusted. The end-of-year festivities are over, along with the financial obligations at the beginning of every new year here in […]
Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 31 °C, hot, Sunny, overcast and a little stormy at the end of the day. It has turned out to be a pretty productive day, even though it wasn’t expected. A heavy exercise session from 5 until almost 7 am to begin classes. A speedy shower, a change of clothes and right into giving a couple […]