smells of the past

So I cleaned up my room yesterday and found this old perfume that my first boyfriend from high school gave me years and years ago...I can't remember what it's called but the perfume is by Escada. I loved the smell of this perfume and used to wear it almost every day. Today I decided to put it on and wear it to work. And that was a big mistake. The whole day, I just thought of the past...what I used to be like in high school...my ex-boyfriend...everything. That perfume made me nostalgic. And I was so tired of the smell even before I arrived to work. During my shift, I swear, the smell seeped into my mouth and I could taste a bitter taste in my mouth. Does perfume expire? I guess I should chuck that bottle away...I just have a hard time throwing away things. This was the first bottle of perfume that I ever owned!!

Anyway, an interesting conversation that I had today during my lunch break was the stigma of working in retail. Everyone in retail knows it, sales associates are at the bottom of the totem pole and if you want to move up, you have to dedicate your time to being a good employee before you can be promoted as a manager. Interestingly enough, decades ago, a sales associate was actually a reputable job because you really had to know your merchandise and people would specialize in their departments. But with the hustle and bustle rushed paced at the end of the 20th century, many retail jobs became lower end jobs. Think about boutique stores to Forever 21...very different store environments with different types of sales associates. But during this recession, the retail industry is one of the few industries that has been forecasted to grow. I am still embarrassed to be working in retail--but my position at Cwonder is more than just a sales associate--I do a lot of visual merchandising and promoting the brand. Cwonder has really surprised me by the caliber of sales associates that they hire. A lot of us are college graduates, students, or transitioning through careers. Today I got to know two more sales associates. One is apparently a R&B/Pop singer who just signed with Time Warner and is working on her first album! We heard some of her music today and it was pretty good! Another one is an accountant who used to work at Deloitte, Deutsche Bank and now will start her job at Ernst&Young in January! Who would have known, right?

From the client's perception of the sales associate, we may have lowly roles in their lives, just servicing them at stores...but at the end of the day, we are also human too. I think the problem arises when customers do not treat sales associates as people. Clients get mad, act rude, demand outrageous things from us and then they also want a discount on top of that. Don't get me wrong, there are also wonderful customers who are patient and treat me like a decent person...but there are other customers who just want to be waited on hand and foot. It's so interesting how people judge you based off of your job and then they either act like they are better than you or they can treat you as equals. This is a big lesson for me to always remember to treat everyone as equals, so when I become successful, I do not loose ground of where I've come from...from the bottom of the totem poll as a sales associate.

my off-by-a-centimeter day

I have decided to blog again! I am going to be more dedicated to documenting my life post-grad. I think this will be so great to read years from now when I am (hopefully) somewhat successful. I will look back and see all that I have overcome. And you know me, I am all about documenting moments in life since I am a sentimental and nostalgic human being. This blog will also hold me accountable for producing something...and I will be able to write again and think critically. Plus, this will be my outlet to do something somewhat intelligent.

For my inaugural welcome post in my new "twentysomething year old" themed blog, I will have to write about my off day today. You know when you're building something or measuring something, there's nothing worse than being off by one centimeter. It's like you are so close, but that tiny little gap makes all the difference. Well, that was what my day was like. I had an interview with the biggest Latin American television network called RedeGlobo. It is a Brazilian company and I was interviewing for a position in their international office in New York office. This job position hit me like a ton of bricks. I have already secured an internship for the Spring of 2012 and I'm doing pretty well at CWonder. Sage, my first Portuguese tutor who currently works there facebook messaged me about the job and the next day (today), I was already interviewing in Portuguese!!! Of course I was nervous because a) I don't like interviews...when I get really nervous, I just stammer and get really flustered b) I had to conduct the interview in Portuguese!! I haven't really spoken Portuguese in a formal setting since college! I know it hasn't been too long ago, but I have not been practicing very often. And my summer in Brazil was spent talking to little kids--so...yeah, my Portuguese is definitely on the decline. The interview was strange. It all lasted for about 15 minutes and by the end of the interview, I realized I did not want the job. I was going to be an office assistant--making coffee, buying bread for staff, and answering telephones. I feel like I have more impact at CWonder. I also did not get a good vibe from the office and from the management team. It seemed like a position that had no growth potential...but I could always finagle something and try to move up. Anyway, if given the offer, I don't know how likely I would accept this offer... The thing is, I spent a lot of time preparing for this interview and the process was a letdown. Just like being off by 1 centimeter. There wasn't a fit for me and my gut is telling me to not take this job offer. Anyway, here I am again going off on a hypothetical rant for a job that I have not even secured.

Then, I went to the gym and worked out till 4PM because I wanted to go to Veronica's bikhram yoga class at 4:30. This was my second attempt to attend her class and it was a complete and miserable fail. Carlos, another co-worker of mine, was egging me to go with him to do the class for free.  He has been persistently asking me to go with him. So I decided to finally go...I enter the studio with 2 minutes to spare. I walk into this studio and this pungent smell of feet assaults my nose. I speak with the instructor and apparently, they only give out one free guest pass per class. And Carlos was listed for the free guest pass...and I wasn't. So I would have to pay for the class...and I wasn't in the mood to pay for a class that I thought would be free in a stinky room to do hot yoga for 90 minutes. nonooono. I just told the lady that this is not in my budget right now and thanked her for her time. Carlos felt so bad...and to be honest, I was also irritated. I lugged a really heavy gym bag all over the city to do this class with him, just for him and Veronica! I was already slightly moody because of my interview and hectic afternoon of going uptown and downtown and I just started to tear up. After I left the building, the tears just gathered in my eyes and sneaked down my cheeks. That was the frosting on the cake that had to make my day. Who knew such a tiny incident could finally push me over the anxiety edge and cry right there on Fulton St. in the financial district? As I made my way down the street with blurred vision, a kind lady who saw how distraught I was insisted that I walk first through the narrow street. She was so friendly and I won't forget her act of kindness. I dried my tears at the Duane Reade and vowed to never go to this yoga studio. I've just had very bad luck going there and the energy is just weird about this place. Plus it reeks of smelly feet odor! Sorry Veronica, I adore you, but this studio is on my RIDICU-List.

See what I mean by off-by-a-centimeter? So close, but no cigar!

Cheers and here's to a better Saturday!

Teleférico e Chocolate Chip Cookies in Complexo

This week, Rocinha was still under renovation and so classes were cancelled for the week.

With our kids in Complexo do Alemão, we scheduled a mini-class field trip to ride the cable cars, teleférico. Since most people are on break, the teleférico only operate till mid-day. We arrived in Complexo around 9:30 and headed up with our kids. It was so nice of them—most of our class showed up! Ana Carolina, Adriano, Mateus, Simone, Taimara, Raiana, and Sara came to show us around. I was very touched by their eagerness and appreciated the time they took out to hang out with us. Another plus was that for the first month, the teleférico is free for everyone. Afterwards, it will cost residents in Complexo R$1 (registered riders) and tourists R$10.

We started in Estação Baiana and went all the way to Estação Bom Sucesso. The cable cars are very nice and well designed. When riding in it, you don’t even feel like you are descending. The only setback is the lack of air circulation in the cable cars. In the summer time it is going to be very hot in the closed cable car environment. The cable car stations were beautifully decorated: each station had its own mural of the station name. Overall, I was impressed by the efficiency and aesthetics of the cable car system. I really hope that this helps the residents in their day to day lives and that this will be maintained even after the two international sporting events.

In Complexo, we were finishing up our story book project. Brenna and I typed up the story the class wrote in the previous class. With the help of some of the older students, we clarified the storyline, words we didn’t understand and added more details to the story. While some students were working on editing the story, others started drawing the pictures for our book, “O gato e a menina”. Each student was tasked with drawing at least 1 page of the book. With younger kids; we had to facilitate their drawing process. We reminded them of the weather at that point in the story and coached them how to draw or color certain objects. By the end of class, we almost finished the whole story book! With only two more pages to go, Brenna and I decided to draw the last two pages ourselves.

After each student finished their drawing, they received their developed photos. It was very interesting to finally see the students’ photography. They took photos of pets (a lot of cats!), family members, friends, the interior of their houses, and objects.

The cultural item for this week is: Chocolate chip cookies!!! We baked them using Brenna’s chocolate chip recipe. The students seem to really like this traditional American cookie!

Complexo do Alemão

Yesterday, Brenna and I went to Complexo. We went on three modes of transportation to get there—a ferry ride, the metro and a bus! We met with Donitra and she led us to Complexo. Complexo is very different from Rocinha. The part of Complexo that we were in is a quieter neighborhood. The NGO, Comunidade em Acção is located right next to a school. It is a small NGO, with only about 30 students. They have a wider variety of art classes, but fewer English courses. We watched this art class called “biscuit básico”, which I thought was a biscuit making class, but actually it was a cold porcelain molding class. They were making this cute little figurine—a little baby in a cupcake looking rug.

We met Rosangela, who is the administrator at the NGO and she is a reserved lady who knows everything and oversees the NGO in Brazil. Zak, the American we previously interviewed with works on the American side of the operations. Doni is an American volunteer from NYC who went to Howard University. There was also this Lithuanian guy (can’t remember his name!) who graduated from UPENN’s MBA program. And this British girl, Emma, who is taking a gap year before she starts college.

There is a lot of development work being done in Complexo. They were paving streets and constructing buildings. We saw a couple of UPP officers wearing camouflage with blue helmets, indicating that they were part of the UPP troop. The layout of Complexo seems a lot more sprawled out and spacious. We did not enter into any narrow streets (I also didn’t see any). And they have cable cars!!! This is a huge mark of development as it helps commuters who live farther away on the steeper hillsides travel easier. It has taken two years to construct them and get them running. This Friday they are finally inaugurating the teléferico (cable cars)! It looks really nice and hopefully it will serve the community well. I hope I get a chance to ride on them—the view must be incredible.

During our day at CiA, we printed flyers and chatted with some of the community members. There is a very homey feel to CiA that is different than i2i. CiA seems to serve mostly adults, while i2i seems to cater to children. But maybe it was the time of day that we went to visit. One older woman even offered to be our guide around Complexo so that we can take photos. We’ll have to take her up on that offer because I am dying to take pictures!!!!

Rocinha, my first visit to a favela

On Friday (July 1), Brenna and I went to Rocinha to visit our first NGO, Instituo dois Irmãos (i2i). It was my first time in a favela and at first sight; it was a little intimidating and frightening.

After 40 minutes on the bus to Gavea from Niterói and then a sketchy van ride later, we arrived to an entrance of Rocinha. Rocinha, is one of the biggest favelas (slums) in Latin America. With a population from anywhere between 100,000-200,000, Rocinha is a city in of itself!

As Brenna and I waited on the corner for our contact from i2i to pick us up, a fight broke out. A motorbike driver looked over at me and said “briga, briga!” (fight, fight) and I was so confused. I had no idea what he was talking about. A minute later, a crowd gathers and these two boys are fighting in the street. One was Moreno and shirtless, the other white, wearing a gray shirt. The Moreno one was kicking the sh*t out of the white one. As the white one tried to escape, the Moreno one followed and aggressively punched, kicked and beat up the white one. The crowd blocked my view of the whole fight—and I was also scared out of my ass and trying to stay away from the crowd and the fight. The fight moved to the middle of the street, behind a bus. As I watched the Moreno pummel the other kid, my body went numb. I thought to myself, oh lord, what am I going in for? Shortly afterwards, Rogério, came and led us to the NGO office.

On the way to the NGO, I noticed that people mostly wore havaiana flip-flops. I saw a Black grandmother with blue eyes holding the hands of her grandchildren who both were playing games on their cell phones. The kids were no older than 8 years old. There were bakeries, fruit stands, grocery stores and clothing shops on what I assume is the main street. The streets were asphalted. As we walked up the block, I saw mattresses and refrigerators (there must’ve been 10 of them) lined up on the walls. I could see inside the houses, which were mostly made of concrete. We walked across this open sewer where we saw sewer water flowing underneath. It smelled like old garbage and pee. We left the main street and entered into the small residential streets where people lived. I have never been on a street so narrow. A boy on a bicycle was headed towards us and he could barely squeeze through this street on his youth-sized bike. I could see into every house we passed by. The one house that remains vivid in my memory is this one that was completely pink on the inside. There was an elderly woman sweeping in the doorstep and I remember smiling at her and peering into her house. All four walls were pink; she had a couch, a TV, white floors and some family photos on the shelves. If we were not in Rocinha, I would never have thought that we were in a slum. The inside of her house looked like any other Brazilian household. Her house was neat, furnished and clean. I thought about this article I read a couple months ago about how the urban poor in Brazil differs drastically from the rural poor. A new definition of poverty must be applied when referring to the urban poor. There is more access to water, electricity and food. The growing population of poor is mostly living in cities where they live in favelas because of lower rent. Real estate is very expensive in Rio de Janeiro and favelas have become the solution for lower-income families who work in Rio and live on the outskirts.

We arrive at i2i and met with Daniel, our supervisor. He gives us a tour of the NGO. He tells us that the NGO office is going to be reformed in the coming weeks. The main office is has a small reception area, with bookcases filled with books. There are flags painted all around the top of the walls that represent all the international volunteers who have participated in i2i. There must have been more than 10 different countries represented. I thought it was a genius idea!

He shows us the classroom we would be using for our program and it is a spacious room with high ceilings and many windows. There is a mural of a beautiful tree painted by a volunteer in the back wall of the classroom.

After the tour, we watch a children’s English class in session. It was a very dynamic and engaging class. The class was divided into two groups. The teacher would say a letter of the alphabet and 1 or 2 students would run up to the piece of paper taped on the wall and write a word starting with that letter. The kids were going crazy, trying to remember how to spell words in English. When the teacher said the letter T…I was trying to help out this one boy and I asked him in Portuguese “O que é chá em ingles?” but all he heard was “O que é chá?” and he got all excited and ran to write KESHA on the piece of paper. He didn’t understand that I meant tea. So silly!

The visit to Rocinha was great. I loved the environment of i2i—it feels like there is a real sense of community involvement. I am excited to start our classes and work with the kids!