Becoming Famous – Part II

Patricia and myself at Nanaimo Hall of Fame

After our appearance in the Nanaimo Daily News, our way to Nanaimo Hall of Fame continued!!! People First Radio  invited us to talk about what we have been experiencing here in Canada. It was a pleasure to accept the invitation because we only have good things to talk about Canada and it is always a pleasure to tell good things to the world.

However, Patricia and I were so tense because we would speak live… And this is a tough task. I already worked on radio and I already spoke live. All I can say is that this is not an easy job… So, on Wednesday we woke up, had our breakfast and walked down to the radio building. Ashta Cormier, co-presenter of the show, hosted us with a smile that let us less anxious. Good! After that, Kevin Midbo, the other co-presenter, also came up to us. His calm voice also helped to relieve our tension. Awesome! But some minutes later we went into the broadcasting studio. So, guess what? We were so anxious again, when, suddenly, we were listening to a Brazilian song in a Canadian radio! Yeah, Kevin selected a Brazilian song to open the show! And what a beautiful song: “Longe”, Arnaldo Antunes. Arnaldo Antunes is a former integrant (the main lyricist) of Titãs, a rock band that we love! So, of course, we were fine and relaxed again. Ready to go!

Well, the interview was so cool, we could express all we would like to, and the best thing is that Patricia and I had a great time with Ashta, Kevin, and with the listeners. You can listen to the interview by clicking on this link. Oh, and if you want to listen to good music, click here to listen Arnaldo Antunes’ song and watch the music video.  See you around!

Becoming Famous

The article about us published in the Nanaimo Daily News

Since September 27th 2010, we've got 58 comments and 6,491 pageviews in our 20 posts here. Thanks to all our readers for this! But in this post we will share with you a funny experience. The blog is also making us “famous”! LOL.  

On Feb 12th, during another rainy Saturday in our beloved city, Renato and I went to a coffee shop in downtown for a friendly chat with Danielle Bell, reporter with the Nanaimo Daily News.  As journalists we are accustomed to ask questions and to make interviews and not to be interviewed. But the journalist was so nice and it looked like we were in a conversation among friends.

Besides some fun on the day of the interview, another surprise came when we had bought the newspaper on Feb 15th. They took a picture of the couple to be published together with the article, but, then, they cut off my dear husband from the picture. Is it possible to believe? It was not fair. Ok, we are journalists, we know that thinks like this can happen but for me it was really strange when I opened the newspaper and saw only my face there, without my dear Renato by my side.

It was the worst to endure the jokes after I published the article on my Facebook page. Some friends wrote that Renato was cut off not to take my shine away. LOL. Others said that I called the reporter and asked her to cut him off, so others would not be able to see my handsome husband in the newspaper (okay, who wrote that, in fact, were his mother and his aunt). LOL.

The important thing is that we laughed a lot and now we also have another cool story to share with you, our dear readers! For those who would like to read the article, check it out: http://bit.ly/gUnZvZ. And at the picture above you also can see the newspaper article with my photo…only my photo. Sorry, dear husband!  I love you anyway…

Small World

How the world is small!

As Paty and I moved from a big city (Sao Paulo - Brazil) to a really small town (Nanaimo - Canada), several people come to us saying “it is a boring thing to live in a small city, isn’t it? There is nothing to do…”. Well, Paty and I grew up in small towns and we know how that works. We know that it is not that boring. Besides, if you are really willing to do something, you will find something to do!

Plus, we would say that there is another interesting point in regards to living on a small town: you know every single person in that place. OK: it could be bad, since you can feel like you are being spied all the time. But, it could be good: if you need something, there will be someone near you that can help.

Thinking about it, some weeks ago we found out that that there was a Brazilian guy working at a car rental in Nanaimo. Since Paty and I were looking for a part time job, she phoned him and told our story. Also some weeks ago, a Brazilian girl commented on a post we wrote on this blog and told us that she was living in Nanaimo and studying at VIU. Paty answered her and they kept in touch.

So what? The funny thing is that, last week, that nice girl sent Paty a message: “Other day you talked with my husband on the phone. He told me that he had spoken with a Brazilian girl. When he told me her name, I checked on your blog, and I figure out that that this person is really you”. 

Well, small world! And good for us! Now that we had fun with the story we are going to meet them and drink a coffee as soon as we can. However, we would give you a hint: be careful about what you are doing around, especially if you are in Nanaimo! Maybe there are some “spies” around you!

Changing the References



Cafezinho (Coffee Brazilian Style): 50 ml of Coffee

Last weekend, Renato and I went to Tim Horton’s and he asked a large coffee (size 14 fl oz). Immediately I said: “OMG! You’re so Canadian. Are you sure that you will drink more than 400 ml of coffee?” Without think twice, he answered me: “I don’t think that is too much, the Starbucks venti size contains 20 fl oz. That is too much, almost 600 ml of coffee”. Ok, makes sense, but I had to remind him that in Brazil, we used to drink what we call cafezinho, it means, a 50 ml cup of coffee.

After we laugh about the situation, we start to think about some references that have been changed since we arrived here. Now, it is your turn. Quick question for you guys: what do these following words have in common? Edson Arantes do Nascimento X Wayne Douglas Gretzky; Brigadeiro X Nanaimo Bar; Beach X Snow; Cafezinho X Tim Hortons Large Coffee (14 fl oz); São Paulo X Nanaimo. The answer is, for us, a lot of things.

Before coming to Canada to take our MBA at VIU, our reference of the best sportsman ever was Edson Arantes do Nascimento, best known by his nickname Pelé, the greatest soccer player of all time. As a dessert, we used to eat brigadeiro, a Brazilian chocolate 'truffle' made of condensed milk, chocolate, and butter. Every single morning during the week and weekend, we used to stop at a bakery to drink what we call cafezinho, as I already mentioned, a 50 ml cup of coffee. On January and February, we used to go to the beach on weekends. And, by the way, we lived at Brazilian’s largest city, São Paulo, with an estimated population of 11 million habitants.

Since June 21^st 2010, when we arrived here, things have changed “a bit” for us. Now, we live in Nanaimo (estimated population: 84,228); we love to see the snow falling gently; we could not resist to eat Nanaimo bars after having a dinner, and now we also know that the best hockey player ever is "The Great One": Wayne Douglas Gretzky. Ah! We already switched the traditional French fries to the delicious poutine. And, of course, we love Tim Hortons, especially the donuts, timbits, muffins and cookies. I need to confess, however, that it is unfamiliar for me to ask for a large coffee, even with Renato’s naturalness who replied me saying that the large size is the Starbucks venti.