Missing the snow ?

When I show pictures of my life in Brazil here in December I often get the question: Don't you miss the snow?

Well, sometimes I miss walking on frosty snow and hearing the special squecking noise it makes... but then thinking about the cold, so much clothes to wear, traffic jams, removing ice from the car and especially those very dark days.
For months its dark in Denmark when driving to work and dark again before leaving work. That is terrible.

In Brasilia, on the darkest days, its gets dark at around 7pm. But almost all days we have sunshine. The sunshine is so good for the body and mind. I would find it very depressing living in Denmark, after trying something else...
This is great !

One day before christmas I am at the pool, in 30 degrees and sunshine, while Denmark has snowstorm !
One big reason why Brasilianse are much more smiling :-)
I am too...

Dry season vs. Wet season...

The temperature here is more or less the same all year round, but what changes the most is the humidity.

The dry season goes from around May until November and during these it never rains... ever ! Everything is getting brown and its really hard (for me). 

A few examples of what I have experienced:
- under two hours to dry jeans after wash by just hanging inside
- during and after a hard soccer game in middle of the day, I didn't really sweat, and 10min after the game, I and the clothes were dry. No sweat!
- every plant and three become braun
- you really need to drink a lot (alcohol has a diuretic effect and doesn't help!)


The wet season on the other hand changes a lot during the day. You can have 27-29 degrees a little sunshine during the day, and then heavy rain, thunder and lightning at night. Really cool actually.

But sometimes it rains so much that some areas gets flooded..

Well the submarine is a manipulation...! 

But at some point the water got higher than the cars... eventhough it was a pretty good weather in the morning.

At this day, at the high point of the rain, the power went out in our neighborhood and our building. This resulted in lack of power for lightning and elevators - luckily none were inside the elevators. How terrible that must be...


All in all - its great with the change in weather, and still its between 25-35 all year around, cool !

Culturel differencies...

Everybody is out - all the time... here in Brasilia at least.

I am always getting surprised at night, from 5pm until midnight, many restaurants are fully booked and even people waiting in line close to midnight for something to eat... I am amazed.
On fridays you can find people parking in 2. or 3. line outside restaurants and bars and people parked in line just to deliver the car at the parking service... it's crazy !

Let me say that in Denmark, during the weekends, Copenhagen is crowded too. But many people are parking in separate parking areas (paying a small fortune) and walking the last way or they drive by taxi (or even by bicycle). As the weather is quit cold in Denmark (already 5-7 degrees in Oct.) a lot of people tend to stay in the warmth of their home. Of course people living in the center itself go out more. 

Rarely though, you will see huge queues outside restaurants and bars. Exceptions is at the nightclubs or for special events. 


So, this really explains a lot about why there is such a big difference in personality between the two cultures. 
This could also explain why people in Denmark are so closed. You really experience the big difference when one actually get away from it, and being more objective.

Much more sunshine and much longer days with light, makes people more energetic and happy...


I prefer to smile (and I love the sunshine and warmth) !

The Nobel Peace Prize goes to.... EU !

Come on.... really ??

After reading The Nobel Peace Prize 2012 went for the European Union, I was amazed. 
For the reason:  "for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe".
Well thats honorable, but thinking about all the fightings going on in the world these years, this seems too political in these years of economical crises.

This reason looks more as of a Lifetime award, in my opinion. 

People are still getting tortured for speaking their minds in China and sometimes disappear, people in an African country are struggling to avoid civil war between religions, people fighting for Syria's government to stop bombing their own people (with support from Russia and China), and unfortunately the list goes on.

And they gave it to some suits in EU... Come on !!

In 2009 the gave the prize President Barack Obama after ha had been 8 months in office. He himself was very surprised. It was given for helping world peace especially concerning nuclear power, and for hopefully future peaceful actions... hopefully...??!! 
In his speech when receiving he called for the necessarity of war before peace.! A very peaceful man...


On the other hand, this just tells me that one should not give The Nobel association too much credit.
The Nobel Organization is actually quite big Swedish/Norwegian and consist of multiple organizations with different tasks towards the awards. Of course these people have their agenda and can be moved towards a decision (though they probably don't acknowledge that. But they have so much attention from the hole world that they should be independent.

I would give them a lot more creditability if they more completely independent, with independent judges that didn't have any political agenda, except for supporting people struggling for peace and freedom.


What has this to do with my life in Brazil ?
As I moved from Europe, Denmark, I am still very interested in whats going on there, and very interested in the differences towards Brazil.

But this topic all came to my mind because one reporter her in Brazil joked: "Strange decision, but I guess it was better than giving EU the Economical Prize"...

Haha.... that would have been funny :-)

Brazil - Land of fruits...

Fresh fruits... its just great, especially when living in a very warm country.

But here in Brazil there are so many different kinds that its close to unbelievable.

In all supermarkets and on the streets you can by all kinds of fresh fruits like: pineapple, coconut, grapes, marangos, 100 different kinds of bananas, strawberries, apples, peppers, melons (huge watermelons) and of course vegetables as potatoes, onions, chilies, carrots, garlic etc etc...

To get the most fresh ones there is an open fruit market every saturday morning, where you will find everything within fruits and vegetables, and a lot of other accessories to cooking.

All these fruits and vegetables are picked, digged up and collected that very morning, early morning. These fruits are so fresh and juicy and super delicious - amazing.




You can buy these for making your own cooking, fruit juices or whatever...
If you don't really have the time or machine for making perfect fresh fruit juices, you can always go to the special restaurants for these... check out: Bendito Suco - nice place, and great juices !

My personal favorite, after arriving in Brazil, is just a coconut cold from refrigerator. 

Make a hole and get some straws... = Perfect refreshing ! (and probably the best for fighting hang-overs...).

Flip Flops - and a cultural difference

Flip Flops - I love them... !

In Denmark where the weather is much colder you rarely flip-flops, but only 10-15 days a year (unless you love the cold).

In the warmth of Brazil, Brasilia, where I have only experienced temperatures between 28 and 38 degrees, with only a few days without sunshine, it's perfect for flip-flops. I know my sweatty feet love it too.

But to my surprise I can't wear them everywhere. Obvious you might say, but at least my doctor hasn't complained in Denmark.
So once going to the doctor in Brasilia, to the public office (cartorio) or cathedral I had to wear normal shoes... surprise surprise...

How can people keep there feet dry all day ? Many places there are airconditions, but still...  

There are lots of different things between the two countries, which I most adjust to. One thing is a bigger respect for authorities and titles. 

I would never wear anything but closed shoes, pants and a nice shirt/polo for work in an office in Denmark or Europe, but some years ago people in offices lots the tie. Unless you are top level management or employees meeting customers directly. The trend came from the US to be more relaxed and casual, and at the same time came employee motivation questionaires. 

I still love wearing my Havaianas indoors or to the beach !

Economic crisis... turns into jealousy ?

It's on every newspaper, all stock analysts, everywhere - Economic crisis !

Once moving outside Denmark and Europe, I am getting a much more objective view on the situation in DK and Europe, compared to Brazil.
Much of the news covering Europe and US tells about all the bad things, companies cutting down on employees, moving production to lower-salary countries, selling factories to the Chinese. 

Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Ireland etc are in debt crises and their governments are cutting the costs. It's easy looking back, but "Stop spending borrowed money!!" should have been obvious, mostly for the politicians. Many private people have been taken higher loans, in their real-estate or just cash loans for spending on goods (produced in China), vacation, fancy new cars etc. 

The politicians and lots of people blames the crises on the banks and financial institutions. One politician from a danish government socialist party says: "If I am elected new president of our party, I will start a war on financial institutions". For me this is crazy !
It's way too easy, and comfortable, to blame it only on private banks, but it gives a lot of votes...

The politicians and private persons that enjoyed the expanding 2000+, for borrowed money, have to pay back the loans. Take your responsibility !
Still they keep producing everything from China (well mostly) and helping them grow - and people still buys products produced in China.
Why not move the production to the countries in crises in Europe instead ? 

According to EU there are now close to 17 million unemployed in EU or close to 12% and still rising...
In Denmark the unemployment rate is lower (ca 8%), but still there are many unemployed on job-training courses and in bad health, not included (nicely hidden in statistics).
With just over 50% of the population in DK working (32% of which works in public sector according to this), and the rest receiving some kind of money from the government, DK is gonna have problems in the future. 
The politicians have a very "clever" solution => higher taxes !

Just like peeing your pants - warm in the beginning but very cold later :-)

Comparing all this to Brazil can be a very long explanation. 
From my eyes, people here have to work to get money, so they work. For many people its very hard jobs and for many for a very low salary. But the thing I like is that you keep most of the money yourself (low income taxes) and you have possibility to become rich - if you work. As the lowest basic salary is very low, there are lost of jobs (lots of service jobs). 
In Brazil there is a huge difference from rich to poor, which it's not in DK.

The economy in Brazil is still increasing and getting better, very much helped by all the construction and organization work towards all the coming sports event (World Cup 2014, Olympics 2016, etc), high import taxes, tax benefits for foreign companies to setup production in Brazil (instead of importing).

Brazil is also very rich on natural resources which helps the economy, but Brazil has been through a long period of time with paying of foreign debt and hard times... Now it's Europe and US term to get to work.


What I am very surprised about is the arrogance from the western world.

Brazil is still known as a developing country despite: 
- 6th biggest economy in the world (no. 5 in 2017 according to CNN, Money)
- 36 $- billionaires (according to Forbes magazine)
- biggest city São Paulo has 11mill inhabitants (20 mill incl. metro), S.P. is the 10th biggest city in the world on purchasing power (6th largest in 2025 estimated; according to wikipedia.org).
- second biggest is Rio de Janeiro with 12 mill inhabitants incl. metro area
- 200 million people living here

Looking at the average GDP per inhabitants of all Brazil, that might not be high.


Brazil is a very powerful country, with lots of resources and lots of low-paid labour, willing to work - so the future seems bright !

Why is the western world then so arrogant ?
Hmm.. maybe they are just so jealous.... !

Top 10 - Business in Brazil

Here is my Top 10 most important things when starting a business in Brazil.

As the country is so diverse, and so is the parts of Brazil. From the not so developed northeast, Amazon rainforest, huge cities of São Paulo (with ca 11 mil people inside the city), Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and the capital Brasilia.

Many businesses, even foreigners is building there business in either Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo, but so many forget about the capital. Of course Rio and S.P. is where the most people lives and most foreigners (so it's relative easier to do business). They seem to forget about the capital. 
Keep in mind Brasilia has around 2 mil people (incl. suburbs), but all the federal offices, embassies, and ministries are placed there. This brings a massive buying power, not influenced by general economy.


Here is my Top 10 advise for doing business in Brazil:

1) Personal permission
You need to have a staying visa and work visa in order to do your own business in Brazil. These laws can be tricky and bureaucratic.

2) Business legislations
It's very difficult to get to know all the laws and regulations of starting a business, let alone if you want to hire someone. So get local help from a consultant or start a Joint Venture with a local. There are great help to get from SEBRAE that is a state controlled institution to help micro and SME companies with start-ups, market surveys, consultants etc.

3) Language
Knowing portuguese will help you everywhere. From meetings with authorities, communication with customers, contracts with suppliers and general life. Brazilians are very helpful and friendly (in general), but not everybody speaks english. 

4) Have patience
There are lots of bureaucracy and everything with authorities is in portuguese. If you need to bring papers from your country they all need to be approved in your home country and then translated in Brazil, before they will consider your application. Coming from Denmark I was used to efficiency as keyword and strict time management, it's not like that in Brazil. If you, as a foreigner, practice the same (as I in used to in DK), they can be a conflict. 

5) Connections
In Rio and S.P. there is a dynamic business environment and as they are so big there are lots of possibilities. In Brazil in general, especially in Brasilia, connections is everything. It takes time to become close and get advantage of this. Many people express their willingness to help, but mostly they just want to benefit from you, until you get closer.

6) Open mind
As well as doing business a different place, you need to have an open mind and listen. Great benefits can be obtained with watching and listening to get more aquatinted with business life and personal life.

7) Bureaucracy
Get used to it. There are so many different authorities and public offices. When applying for certifications or approvals, in general they have 20 work days to answer, and if the reply is somehow wrong one can complain to a senior staff who has 20 work days to decide (and if you are right) sends answer to the staff who then have 20 work days more to reply to you.... it can take a long time.
And of course everything is in portuguese.
This can be helped by having a local business partner or a local consultant/lawyer.

8) Have some money
The interest rate is much higher than in many other countries (especially than DK), but you need to have the money transfer explained and approved by the bank and authorities. For small amounts one could simply used international credit cards from local country.

9) Import taxes
This can be tricky too. There is a high import tax for goods and the import itself involves additional paperwork and bureaucracy (get used to it). The tax level is around 60%. Comparing this to brazilian produced goods with no tax, you need to have special products for it to be profitable. This is of course done to keep labour work inside the country and not get flooded with imports.

10) Body language
As with most latin countries, people use lots of body language, loud voices and temper. For many people this seems intimidating, but is only part of communication. You are never in doubt of the meaning of the words coming out in these situations and in many cases it goes over once the steam is out.

This is just Top 10 - there are many other things to consider when either doing business here or moving here. The internet is great for getting prepared. Access brazilian forums for business, talk to your embassy, search the local government pages of Brazil (there are quit informative).

BRAZIL is a fantastisc country and very diverse. People are very friendly, great service and it's fascinating lively... so much different from cold, rainy northern Europe...

Have patience.....!

AS I am from Denmark, I am used to the keyword; efficiency. From the private businesses I have been part of and also in stores all around. The biggest reason is, of course, keeping the manpower costs as low as possible, optimizing the results and for competing internationally. 

In general, there have been a cut-back in service especially in physical stores, but also it has become very fashionable with online chat service or customer service in low-salary countries (outsourcing). With a relative high lowest salary allowed in DK (due to high taxes and the development) it makes the companies have less amount of people employed.

When looking at Brazil, the lowest allowed salary is (relatively) very low, so the number of employed people has less importance to the end result of the company. You have people filling your car with gas, always many sales persons in stores, always many people employed. 

BUT the service is sometimes too much - here is an example:
I went to a small hardware store in middle of the day with no other customers in the store. Firstly I was met by a friendly salesperson (no. 1) who helped me pick out a cooking spoon, after that I had to talk with another person (no. 2) to have the spoon registered in the system. At the other end of the store I had to pay (no. 3), and at no. 4 person (sitting right next to no. 3) she had to check my receipt and hand-out my spoon... It was fine because I was in no hurry and the people were very friendly so I could try my portuguese :-) But can you imagine being in a hurry and very busy, standing in line 4 different places...? 

The relative high basic salary level in Denmark has resulted in companies optimizing the number of employees (for the fewest possible). At the same time DK is so rich that unemployment money is so high that for the lowest educated people, they don't financially benefit from working - and people can choose (if they bend the rules a little) wether they want to work or not... 
This way the companies doesn't pay for them, the government does => higher taxes...

So it still feels as too much service with all these people helping you, and you can rarely "jump in a store, shop and quickly move on"... Deep breathing is very helpful :-)

At the end of the day, it is still better to have it this way of too much service, rather than the government paying them for not working at all.

Super dry season

Since it haven't been raining since june, it is now very dry and very warm. Schools are not allowing students to play outside between 10am-6pm due to the very dry and warm weather. I can only imagine what this means for all the elderly people or all the ones that have to work outside.

Temperatures up to 40 degrees and humidity down to 7%, which is the level of the deserts... Or to put it an other way - it takes around two hours to dry jeans after washing when its hanging inside. 

So, I and everybody else is longing for the rain to come, which will be very soon !

Ever since June, when I arrived at Brasilia, it has been sunshine with blue skies every day. For me that is just fantastic. Combine this with access to cold pools or public natural baths, its amazing.

As I am from Denmark, I am used to the summer being round 20 degrees and being lucky if there were several days in a row with sunshine. Most of the time its grayish and around 18-20 degrees in the summertime. Here it feels like summer all the time. 

For these last few days there has been a strange look in the sky. It seems like its foggy, with low visibility and sometimes there is a heavy breeze coming by. Its very strange. 

Check the morning picture below the foggy view.

This is only surprising for foreigners as there are air-conditions and humidifiers everywhere. Still the walk form your parked car to the air-condition can be very warm (if you are from a cold country). For me its a challenge just to wear long pants and closed shoes....

Why is it so difficult to be international?

Its no different to which country you want to move. All the paperwork needs to be done according to local requirements, of course. But is it really necessary this way... :

1) first make your local authority print and sign your papers
2) get your local Foreign Minister office to sign off that it is official
3) get the embassy to the country you are moving to approve the local Foreign Miniters signature
4) go to your new country and get a translation to the new language, from an authorised translator 
5) then you can use the papers for the new local authorities
 - AND all of these costs money (of course)...

This is no different from what I am going through, these days. I already moved to Brazil, with my future wife and child, and so I need some documents from Denmark. Luckily I moved to a relative easy country and just need the above mentioned done. To get a permanent stay in Denmark is even more difficult.

On top of all this paperwork add:
- have stayed legally 5 years in DK (to get this you need ca. $6.000 in bank account too)
- no criminal record
- no debt to public authorities
- go through a point system
- learn some danish (which is very difficult) and take a language test 
Then you can apply.
Read more here: https://www.nyidanmark.dk/da-dk/Ophold/permanent-ophold/permanent-ophold.htm. 
The rules  are very complicated and you might receive different information from different authorities. Great!

Here in Brazil its a little different. You can not get a working visa, unless a company wants to hire you, if you can bring something to the company that local employees can not and foreign employees does not exceed a certain percentage. Then you can stay as long as you are working for this company.
For me, I want to stay with my future wife, and then the country is secondary. So another way is to get married and then apply for a temporary visa. After several years one could apply for a permanent visa.

So moving to Brazil with higher education, good working experience, an international mindset and wants to work for my money - WHY is it that difficult to be accepted (in these countries) ?

Why is it so difficult to move between countries? 

Is it really that unfair to give positive treatment if you:
- have education
- not expecting unemployment pay
- wants to integrate
- wants to work for the money
- learn local language
- respect local laws
Isn't that want the countries are needing in the future???

Language problems...

Language problems ?

One of the biggest problems in Brazil is the language. 
In Brazil they speak portuguese, and very few in restaurants, bars, supermarkets, post offices, police, federal offices and businesses speak english. One reason is that most music and television programs are Brazilian or synchronized to portuguese. Once you talk with more educated people they speak english. But the problem is all the day-to-day issues.
Of course this is a great way for foreigners moving here, because your portuguese language skills will improve much faster. The Brazilians have more patience and are willing to help, even with a smile (this is not as common in Europe in general, France especially).

Problems can occur once you have to:
- apply for your CPF no. (personal no.)
- extension of tourist visa, local driver license
- going to the hospital or 
- if you have to talk with the police  (for some reason)
they usually don't speak english!
(Meeting people on the street and try to communicate can be fun...)

In Denmark, where I am from, we have lots of english/american music and no synchronization of television programs. This helps the danes speak english better, but also not optimal for foreigners in DK to learn danish.

So, I guess there are some challengers.... foreigners coming to Brazil (especially with the coming World Cup 2014 and the Olympics in 2016 Rio de Janeiro) and for Brazilians moving abroad. 
Millions of tourists are coming to Brazil the coming years, especially for the sports events, but also because of all the media coverage that will focus on Brazil. The local restaurants, bars, shops, supermarkets etc. can benefit (and improve sales) if they learn some english. All the tourists must be aware of this language issue... so if you are going be aware and prepared!

With all this attention on Brazil (with the growing economy) foreign companies that want to invest here on to export to Brazil will have issues like:
- import costums
- authorities approval
- distributions
- banks
- investments
many authorities do not speak english!

For the Brazilians that are going to study or travel abroad, you will have great benefits of knowing some english in advance. Not that many people around the world speak portuguese (or spanish), neither at authorities or hospitals. 

The missing language can give you many difficulties, but stepping one step closer to each other, and you will both benefit greatly !

So.... if you should have any questions or if you need some help with translation of want to know more of both portuguese and english language or cultural differences - I can help you !!

Moving to Brazil...

Welcome !

This blog will be about life in Brazil, mostly from the capital Brasilia.



3 months ago I decided to leave the safety of my life in Denmark, my family and lots of good friends. Instead for a life with my own new family and lots of sunshine...

In Denmark (Copenhagen) I had lots of good friends, great family, own apartment, Alfa Romeo sportscar and the well-paid office job. When it was windy I was out windsurfing, speedboating in nice weather, did some running in the forrest, enjoying Copenhagen and the yearly skiing trip to the Alpes.
Which was all very nice.

Working 8 hours every day in an office, 1 hour of traffic every day, too many days with boring weather... life is just too short for that ! 
So when the opportunity arose for a new great adventure - the decision was easy. 
While the decision was easy there were lots of things to deal with, and there still are - selling all my stuff in CPH, selling apartment (or renting it out), getting all the papers transfered from DK til Brazil, learning a new language and culture, getting used to the food... and not having friends or family around.

Being really privileged to live in the center city of Brasilia in a nice area, all the great friends of my (future) wife and her nice family, the movement has been very easy.

But there are so many different things to Brazil than Denmark...
I will update on more things to come!


Have a great day and enjoy the day !





Following picture is taken from the TV tower in middle of center Brasilia.