Sod homesick....I don´t want to come home!!

I´ve figured out how I can do this, Flow can open up a new office in Salvador, Brasil. The economy is booming out here and they need UX people, they may not be totally aware yet, but I can convince them. I´ll take care of doing the research for location and new business and all that....all strictly professional ofcourse. Then we can have consultant rotation every few months so everyone gets a chance to do a project out here...see? Easy. And that takes care of me having a job.

Then family, Inxs, I think the air here would do you good, you can come over and work in the office with me, or you can start doing your entrepeneur thing, there are loads of artists (musical and art) who need representation and profiling, I trust you´ll hook it up in no time! Abi, they have computers here, come and programme something and Keshia...the prisons are full and need your help! And that takes care of having my family around. My mother loves travelling so it won´t take much convincing to get her to come for a visit. Sorted.

Right so friends next; Aish and Nay, well I don´t need to work it out for you guys, just get your arses over here! In the meantime, I´ll look into opening a super cheap hostel too, so the rest of my friend entourage can take it in turns to come and visit me. Can you all see how easy it is?! This way I never have to come back to England! I can live in paradise for ever and ever and ever and ever!!

Okay so moment of madness over, coming home is creeping up on me double time. Exactly 3 weeks from today. I will admit I was homesick, but knowing that within 2 weeks of coming home I´m probably gonna have an onslaught of severe depression is kind of overtaking me! I have totally fallen in love with Brazil and I´ve probably only seen like 10%. There wasn´t enough time or money and I unfortunately haven´t been able to hook up the Brazilian uber millionaire angle...can´t imagine why?!

Salvador is the most amazing city, its cute, its huge, its full of character, it has amazing beaches, astonishingly talented people and it has business and industry...it makes it possible to work and live in paradise! Imagine! Ok so it suffers from a few issues, favelas outnumber middle class areas, security can be an issue particularly in the Pelourinho (the most fun place to be in town), but its growing and changing and like everything else in Brazil, things are improving.

Mayday in Pelourinho was fabulous, three extra outdoor music stages (adding to the usual 3) were set up for artists supporting improved working contiditions. There was Reggae, Pagode, Samba, Salsa, you name it, it was there. This was all free and nobody seemed to be bothered about the rain either. Twice this week Pelourinho has provided a fabulous night out, Tuesday night the famous Geronimo played his legendary weekly free concert on church steps in San Antonio, plus it was the international day of dance and where better to find fantastic dancers of every style than in Bahia!

Its funny, Pelourinho has a major security issue, so you normally only find Brazilians there at night, when sane tourists have gone back to the safety of areas like Barra. But the most fun is to be had at night with all the live music and entertainment on offer. I managed to strike a balance, always finding people to go with and learning how to keep notes and change in my bra!

The food here is amazing too. Mainly because it all reminds me of Nigerian food which I miss like crazy. Different types of flavoured rice, shrimp mocqueca (a stewish dish) with beans and ´farofa´which is a slightly moister version of Gari (but in powder not solid form). Then there is my favourite, Acarajé. Its beanflour, mashed into a paste and then fried into small pie like shapes (its basically what we call Acara in Nigeria but minus the tomato). Once fried, its sliced up and served with an ocra mix, fresh onion and tomato, a fish paste, small crayfish and seriously spicy pepper on the side. It is delicious and on average about R$3 which is a bargain! I could eat this all day every day.

*Sigh, I do feel I´ve found a potential home in the future. I may have to work on my Brazilian portuguese, so far I´ve managed to get away with speaking spanish with a portuguese accent; I´m a good mimic and it seems to have worked, but I don´t think that would hold out for long. But this place is seriously pulling me, I suspected it might and its definitely given me something to think about!

So, I´m off to my last destination, Thailand! I´m looking forward to having a ´holiday´now. Everything slows down and I recharge my batteries before coming home. Its gonna be a long journey getting there! I have to fly to 10 hours to Dallas, then wait 4 hours, then fly 12 hours to Japan where I gain 12 hours because of crossing the date line, so I leave and arrive at the same time but the next day. Then I spend one night in Tokyo which is only rubbing salt in the wound as I can no longer afford to spend my planned week in Tokyo, but never mind. And finally I arrive in Bangkok on Wednesday. Phrew! I´m tired just thinking about it!

Another countdown has begun though, I´ll be home soon....I´ll try and bring the sunshine with me!