Starting our new life in Sao Paulo
Settling into our new tiny place: It looks like we will be here, at our serviced apartment, for a while i.e. at least about 4-5 months. Dangdamnit. I was living in denial, thinking it was less but yesterday E reminded me that the paperwork relating to our residence permit, transportation of our goods from Switzerland and various other matters will require some patience. Two bedroom serviced apartments in this busy area are scarce; we settled on a one bedroom while asking to be on the wait list for the former so we could move out from the hotel as soon as possible. I've organised our apartment to make it more comfortable and yet uncluttered. Not too straight forward with a Koala baby demanding a lot of attention. There are however numerous shops and even a big Extra supermarket and Alo Bebe store around here - making the tasks of obtaining and carting back Koala Baby items and our food and toiletries somewhat easy.
I've only travelled in the car with Koala Baby accompanied by E. Koala Baby is not yet accustomed to the heat or being in the car (he is such a Swiss winter village bubba) so I usually have to pacify him while E takes care of the diaper bag and all things related to the taxi. Up until yesterday when I had to bring Koala Baby for a 1830 appointment with the new paediatrician. 1830? I had to reorient myself to the fact that people work later here than they do in Basel. Being on my own was much tougher than I anticipated. Not least because the taxi I called for didn't arrive and running after passing taxis in the dark and while its drizzling with a baby strapped on to my chest and a diaper bag hanging on my shoulder proved challenging. I used the little Portuguese I remembered from my classes and made up the rest in an attempt to communicate with the taxi driver and got by. The traffic however was simply horrendous. A 5km journey ended up taking c.80 minutes! Koala Baby was sweaty and fretful and cried a number of times. The taxi driver, not unlike the other people I've encountered in this city, seemed enamoured by Koala Baby and tried to cheer him up by cooing to him and when that didn't work wound the automatic windows up and down and put on some Brasillian music for entertainment. Of course, we ended up being very late for our appointment. Not a problem as the clinic was still open and the Doctor still around.
I was dreading the journey back. Not only fearing of another traffic jam but also the difficulties of getting a taxi. It was getting late for the exhausted Koala Baby. Calls for taxis went unanswered and it was still drizzling outside. In the end the receptionist helped me: waiting for me to feed Koala Baby before closing shop and accompanying me to a taxi rank around the corner. She spoke to a driver so that he knew where to take us. I felt incredibly relief when we got home. The reality hit me: I am back to living in a city where public transport is not completely developed and traffic is always heavy. Time spent on the road will be considerably longer.
