Vitor in Brazil

Auf Wiedersehen, Brasilien ("See you" Brazil)

2007-09-19T19:24:00.000-07:00

This blog had a six-month lifespan and 39 posts. The "Vitor na Alemanha" blog had a one-year lifespan and 127 posts.

I am starting this post by saying this because right now I want to write more than 100 posts a year. I want to be in a new environment, be challenged, travel, meet people, learn languages, take pictures, study and work in a different culture. I want to explore more, have more insight, feel the words coming to me again. I want to feel this desire to share experiences that are so amazing that I just NEED to share them.

Most people kept asking me: "How long are you staying in Germany?"; "Why are you going back there?"; "What are you going to do next?"; "Do you already have a permanent job?" and other things like that. I am going to write here what I answered to them all: right now, I don't know. I have a plan, I want to do certain things, but I am not making any major choice yet. I am not ready for it, I simply don't want it. I feel like there is still a lot that I need to explore and find out before I can choose to settle down. It's something that screams inside of me and that I wouldn't be able to run away from. I want to keep studying and broadening my views. I felt good in Germany, as if I was heading somewhere, and I want to go back to this track. Where it leads to is a mistery also for me, but that I am willing to find out.

To my people in Brazil, I can only say that I love you very much and that I am not leaving anybody. I may move around, but I will never be comfortable with the idea of abandonment. My heart and my mind are not mine, they belong to my friends and my family. Therefore, it's never in one place, and never really far away. Wherever I go, you are all there. This is what pushes me forward.

Life is a series of goodbyes. It's the price we pay for falling in love with the world around us. We change and the world changes; yet we manage to keep loving it. The longing doesn't have to hurt so much if we realize that it is always going to be with us. After all, everything is temporary. Maybe learning how to deal with longing is ultimately learning how to love.

I am not saying goodbye, or "adeus"; I really prefer to use the german way here: "Auf Wiedersehen", or "until the next time we see each other" ("até a próxima"). I am going to keep sharing my life, that also belongs to all of you, especially through my new blog. See you there!

Die letzten Tage (The last days)

2007-09-08T08:37:00.000-07:00

In the present moment it is hard for me to say if the six months I spent here in Brazil went by fast or not. I knew that coming back just to leave later was going to be hard, but it ended up being much harder than I expected. It's very different to visit somewhere for some weeks and spending six months in that place. I got used to many things again, got used to the company of friends, of the family; to the weather, to the language, to the food... And soon I will have to deconstruct all that once again.

I have started my new blog, Vitor in Germany, to separate both experiences I had in Germany, because they are really different. This time I chose the English language to keep it international. From the 22nd of September I am going to start writing there.

13 days to go...

Die Geburtstagfeier (The Birthday Party)

2007-09-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

Last saturday I gathered family and friends for a celebration of my birthday, my graduation and my farewell to Germany. It was a good opportunity to see some people I hadn't seen for a long time and be able to say goodbye to many of them.

My parents and Claudia, a friend of our family who organized the whole thing, made a big effort to throw a great party, where everyone had a good time with brazilian and german treats, as can be seen in the photos here in the album. Below there are just some example shots from the event.

Celebrating the link between Brazil and Germany!

One of the many pictures I took with the guests in the party. This is with my parents and Leticia, a big friend of our family here in Florianópolis who feeds me every tuesday during lunch time.

Me and my cousin Flora, who was in charge of the decoration. She came up with great ideas, such as writing in german on the walls.

Again I want to thank everybody who was there celebrating with me this important moment of my life. Now it's already countdown time... only 20 days to go!

Abschlussfeier (Graduation Party)

2007-08-28T21:16:00.000-07:00

Finally I have some time to write about the graduation ceremony and party that happened last monday, the 20th of August. I managed to antecipate my graduation in order to be able to travel to Germany as a Control and Automation Engineer. To the event came from Curitiba my mother and father, as well as my aunt Elizabeth and a friend of our Family, Edwiges. Also showed up my aunt Vera and my uncle Walter, who work in the university; and my cousin Pedro.

The ceremony was small and quick, but very significative, with speeches and everything. I was very satisfied to be able to share this celebration with my friend Rodolfo Lóssio, who was also graduating; and to thank my family and professors for the opportunity and the great experience I had while in the university.

At night we threw a dinner party to my family and university colleagues, to celebrate and enjoy some good food and wine. The event was held in a nice restaurant by the lagoon and everybody had a good time. Below some pictures can be seen. The rest of the picture set can be found here.

Me and Rodolfo. The proud graduates.

Me and my parents.

All the guests from the dinner party. In the center, the Chef.

Dreiundzwanzig (Twenty-Three)

2007-08-21T03:10:00.000-07:00

This is definitely my most emotionally-charged birthday ever. This last weekend I received my contract from SAP; monday was my graduation ceremony and today is my birthday. Everything mixed up with the notion that I am leaving in less than a month and in a spirit of mourning for my grandfather that naturally still affects all my family.

I will talk about the celebrations as soon as I get ahold of the pictures from the events. Right now I want to say some words regarding my birthday. People say that time goes by fast when you are happy. Looking back at the two last years, that went by so fast, I can then surely say I am happy. I feel like I found my calling in life and everything is working out very well for me, especially because I am getting all the support I could hope for from the people around me.

Last year I thanked everybody for my happiness. My spirit is the same this year. If I feel "right" as I never did before in life, that's because I have so many good friends to watch my back. Because of that, I do not fear my future, I look forward to it. So, again I have to thank all of you who choose to be a part of my story and let me be a part of yours. If this is as good as life gets, I am already deeply satisfied.

On to the future now, with heads up, peace of mind and lots of good will. I know I am still only getting started.

Mein Grossvater (My Grandfather)

2007-08-11T20:20:00.000-07:00

This Thursday, the 9th of August of 2007, my grandfather passed away. He lived here in Florianópolis with my grandmother and I would visit both almost every weekend. In these last days me and my family, together with friends and relatives, gathered in his house to mourn our loss. He had a cardiovascular accident last week and stayed in the hospital for a few days. When his situation became irreversible, we brought him to rest at home, as he always said he wanted to. He passed away painless and smoothly, surrounded by his loving family. He was buried on Friday.

Born in the 25th of July of 1921, my grandfather spent most of his young life in the small city of Capinzal. During the World War II, he was a part of the brazilian militar force which was sent to Italy to help consolidate the allies' victory. There he faced the violence of war and lost many companions. As a proud soldier, he returned to Brazil and met my grandmother, with whom he was married for full 60 years. They had seven children and later moved to Florianópolis, where they stayed until now.

My grandfather was an example for his generation. He was a man who managed to fight through a war, raise seven kids and influence several people, making many friends and conquering respect and admiration. Always profoundly concerned about his family and his community, he was a man to rely on. This character passed on to his children and all the people whose lives intersected with his. He had the vision to make out a lot of his life, being rewarded with a healthy aging and the loving company of his family until his last days. I was named after this great man and I am very proud of it. His memory will live on in many people's minds and hearts, including mine.

Thank you, my dear grandfather, for all your caring and everything that you helped set in motion. Rest in peace.

Der neue Übermensch - Teil 2 (The new Overman - Part 2)

2007-08-07T18:44:00.000-07:00

In the last days I was inspired by some conversations with my friends and my father and especially by this article (originally found in the excellent blogossauro, from my friend Rubens Campana). As a follower of internet trends, I saw the rise of some interesting ways of thinking that are quickly spreading and modifying the entire society in a speed that was not possible before in the history of mankind. One of these trends is a new form of atheism, where people are encouraged to dismiss religion as a sort of ritualistic ignorant habit that must be negated in the name of reason and science.

These new atheists affirm that religion is the cause of ignorant behavior in society, mocking the Bible and attacking all sorts of religious leaders and institutions. But as the article points out, these people seem to forget that throughout human history reason has been hailed as the ultimate answer to mankind's despair by many intellectual movements and also regimes. It also points out, very correctly, that these movements and regimes, though revolutionary and very important, were also very violent periods of our history, being afterwards regarded as inhuman and grotesque. The strongest example would be some totalitary regimes, that managed to manipulate logic to justify just about any atrocity.

In Nietzsche's book "The Birth of Tragedy", the german author writes about how societies use art to channel their violence and express, somehow, their feeling of the "sacred", pointed out by the article as being the spiritual experiences that human beings go through during their lives. Neglecting these experiences does not bring us closer to any truth; it's quite the contrary, actually. Decent people who study or follow any religion do not take any of its symbolism concretely. It is as stupid to do that when attacking a religion as it is when it is being defended. The symbolism is the way that our "sacred" experience can be shared and brought into our culture; it's not supposed to define truth in any level, the same way as art is only representative.

By neglecting our religious past and the influences it has on our culture, we are not being "rational"; we are simply doing the easy thing: choosing a side. It's fairly understandable that us human beings, when faced with doubt, tend to choose a side to stand for. Our lives are not easy. We have to work, we have to socialize, take care of our health, face pain, death and emptiness. We struggle to put these feelings into containers, organize them; to be able to cope. When we decide to be "atheists", or merely "logical people", we are not standing above any religious zealot; we are doing exactly what we criticize: we are taking the "easy way out".

When Nietzsche wrote that God was dead, he didn't mean that religion was dead and certainly didn't mean that spirituality and art was dead. He meant that certainty was dead, that nothing or nobody could be "the truth". As he writes about his Übermensch, Nietzsche simply invites us to bear the pain of the doubt, to struggle with uncertainty. He invites us to avoid choosing a side, no matter how hard that might be. That is the superation of the human being: his capacity to constantly doubt himself.

That is certainly not easy; maybe impossible if we think how life used to be hard and how society evolved slowly in the past. However, we are in a different stage of evolution now. We are no longer holders of opinions, defenders of groups; we are no longer enemies. We live in a global village, where survival is no longer the priority of every man individually, but a collective concern. As a global conscience, constantly changing, this characteristic of self-doubting is almost inevitable. We don't have to find any answers by ourselves anymore, but just be a member of a network that by itself pursuits a constant renovation. That brings us to be an "Overman" as a group, not as an individual. Perhaps then we are able to deal with uncertainty while still living our lives in a comfortable, or at least bearable way, without resorting to ignorance.

Of course we have a long way ahead of us and what I am writing about still only applies to some individuals; but nonetheless it is already happening and hopefully the insights that we arrive to as a group will help us to pursuit a world where everyone can be a part of this same group. If we insist on isolating ourselves in ideas and choosing sides, we will just keep renewing the circle of ignorance that characterizes our history. The only way to escape ignorance is fully admiting it and learning to live with it; if we can't do that alone, let's try to do it as a connected group, as a network. Nietzsche said that perhaps in the 21st century people would start to understand what he wrote. Let's not disappoint him and at least keep trying.

Das unbegrenzte Web (The unlimited Web)

2007-08-03T20:03:00.000-07:00

As a member of the lucky generation which watched the internet be born and follow its evolution through time, I can say I am amazed with the tools that appear daily to gather and organize information of all sorts. I can hardly keep track of them, and I have a lot of time to do that lately, so I decided to share some of my most precious findings with you.

First of all, I updated this blog structure to include, in the right, links to web albums of my friends (currently only mine, Jadwiga's and Carlos') and a list of selected news that I find especially interesting during my surfing, to add up to the content I add here. Now on to the tools:

Google Reader - The most amazing thing I discovered in the last days. It aggregates news as if they were e-mails being received by you. Why surf after news if they come to you automatically? There is no better way to read, organize and share content as this tool. I am flabbergasted.

Picasa Web Albums - Integrates the great Picasa software from Google with the internet, working seamlessly with Blogger (where this blog is hosted) and other important tools.

iGoogle - Make your start page a portal with all the services you like the most, powered by the God Google. If you are a user, keep track of birthdays with the Orkut integration, show up the last feeds from the Reader or show random pictures from Picasa to make your days brighter.

Google Calendar - The best online calendar I've seen so far in the internet. Not only it's very easy to use and flexible, but also allows calendar sharing, invitations and integrates perfectly with iGoogle.

Expensr - Keep track of your expenses online! Unfortunately not as good as it could be and fails to integrate with the previously mentioned tools. Hopefully just a matter of time before the ultimate web service for finances show up. Until then, Expensr is enough.

Gubb.net - If you are insanely organized as me, you will like this to-do list organizer. I personally find it very useful to have my tasks accessible from anywhere in such a nice interface.

Last.fm - The excellent service that finds music you like, creates radios and shares all sorts of profiles to help you to never be in silence in your life.

Digg - My favorite news delivery service. Paired up with Reader, this website brings me the best of the web without any efforts. Truly a classic.

YouTube - This doesn't even need to be here, because everyone knows it. It's a phenomenon that can make you waste more time than you spent alive. Integrate it with Reader and Blogger and you have instant video sharing.

Internet services keep multiplying. Do you have any recommendations? Do you want to be part of the links or my feeds in the Reader? Post it in the comments!

God bless the Internet.

Das Wochenende bei meiner Schwester (The weekend with my sister)

2007-08-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I spent some days with my father in Curitiba (my hometown) and then we went together by plane to Foz do Iguaçu (where the biggest waterfalls in the world are located) in order to visit my sister, that works in a nearby city called Santa Helena. This is a very interesting region because it is also where three countries meet: Brazil, Argentina und Paraguay. Therefore, you can easily move between these territories and the diversity is interesting to see.

My sister was a great hostess and took us to shop, eat and visit some great places. Also, I finally got to know where she is living and working and it was a very interesting experience. Her husband lives in a nearby city and they can see each other at least every weekend. The only problem is that they are very far away from our home town (Curitiba). That's why me and my father took an airplane to Foz do Iguaçu. The flight to there was fine, took less than one hour.

However, you must have heard about the air crisis here in Brazil, especially after the last accident that killed 200 people. Hundreds of flights are being cancelled or terribly delayed. It's all a big mess. Therefore, when we were coming back, the flight was one hour late. We got up in the plane and it wouldn't fly. We waited for another hour inside the airplane and they informed us that the flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. We stepped out to discover that there were no more flights for that day. Since my father needed to work on monday already, we had no choice but to take a bus from the station to Curitiba. The flight was supposed to get off at 16:00, therefore we were at the airport at 15:00. We left the airport at 18:00 to go to the bus station and then wait until 21:10 for the next bus. The trip took 10 hours. We then arrived in Curitiba and had to go to the airport there to get my father's car, arriving home only at 9:00 am on Monday. The whole thing took ~21 hours.

I could realize that this air crisis is making people's lives here miserable. Because of it, so many people are prefering to drive and therefore the highways are crowded and the accidents are multiplying. It's sad to see how disorganized the whole system here got and I can only keep hoping that a solution comes soon. The situation right now is unbearable and unjustifiable. I wonder if I won't have problems with my flight to Germany... hopefully not.

I miss how things work well in Germany and I hope I can help my country to avoid situations like this in the future. It's a good thing to spend some time away to be able to realize the gravity of the situation in your home. Let this be a very harsh lesson for us brazilians and an incentive to change our way to deal with some things.

Endlich fertig mit der Uni (Finally done with the University)

2007-07-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

When I came back to Brazil to finish the university, I knew it was going to be hard to get used to the studies routine again, especially because things would've changed and most of my colleagues from previous years were already graduated. Either way, coming back to the university was harder than I expected. Although the subjects were much easier than the ones in the middle of the course, I had a hard time adjusting back to the routine, remembering concepts and even getting back in touch with some software. However, I think the chaotic schedules were the worst part, preventing me from building up a good routine for myself.

But I managed it and today I present the last of my projects for the university. The very last obligation I have to fulfill after five years of commitment. The feeling is mixed: these 5 and a half years were really meaningful, the university took me from oblivion and threw me into the world. Now I am going to be a graduated engineer. Life is going to be something entirely new. One thing at a time, though. Right now I want to celebrate and rest. I have two months to prepare my trip to Germany and it's going to be much easier without university obligations.

In other news, by an amazing coincidence, Paula (Carlos' girlfriend) ended up buying her flight ticket to Germany in the exact same flight that I am taking. It's gonna be great to have company during the flight and the waiting time in Milan (assuming no airplane explodes). Also, I think this is gonna make things easier for the people who expect to meet us in the airport in Frankfurt. So, consider this very good news! We are lucky people.

The Overwhelming Weight of Clarity

2007-07-09T17:50:00.001-07:00

Isn't it interesting to see that both our brazilian government and the american government seem to go unharmed through its hugest display of corruption and incompetence? Why do both our people and the american people seem to simply "sit and do nothing", despite the absurd amount of information to which all of us have access and that justify, by large, a major effort to take drastic measures in order to demand a decent government conduct?

I think our society is still overwhelmed with the responsibility that the access to information brings us. We are paralyzed by the possibilites, unable to filter them out, to take the most obvious attitudes.

I also do believe, however, that this is only a phase, a sort of "rite of passage" through which we, as a global society, have to pass; in order to realize our power to be in control of those who supposedly are in control.

It is information that brings power, ergo responsibility. Let the people slowly learn how to deal with this responsibility by taking action, by speaking their minds, by shouting out the obvious wherever it is necessary. Once we get over this initial numbness, there will be no stopping to the colective voice. We are inevitably a part of this. Sooner or later, it will be clear to us all.

Fonte do video: Blogossauro

Ich hab's! (I got it!)

2007-07-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

Much earlier than expected I got my VISA from the german consulate! I have it right here, in my hands. The allowance to study in Germany and from the 20th of September to be in the country regularly. This is a huge accomplishment and I am very glad! Thanks for all the support that made this possible.

Get ready, Germany, because I am coming back!

Manche Nachrichten (Some News)

2007-06-23T18:43:00.000-07:00

Because it's been a while since I last posted, I think it's a good idea to tell some news from here:

- I am taking 5 hours of german classes every week. Two are private. I think I am improving very fast. There are many people here in my university learning german and many people taking on opportunities in Germany. Also, there are some german students here taking internships or simply visiting. The link between Brazil and Germany seems to be getting stronger.

- I have already requested a room in Mannheim. There are many Student Dorms there and I hope to get a good place for me. After all, I expect to be living there for at least two years.

- My university studies end on the 23rd of July. My graduation will happen on the 20th of August. In the beginning of August I am taking a german test, the DaF Zertifikat from the Goethe Institute.

- I am again going to the gym at least four times per week. It's been great for my health and also for my mood. Exercises truly improve the quality of life.

Hum, I think that's it. This is gonna be a stressful month because of the university exams and projects, but after that I can focus on organizing my trip and saying goodbye to everything here. It's only three months to go now!

Best regards and hugs to all.

Blumenau

2007-06-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to Blumenau (a city here in my state) with my parents to request my VISA, since Germany has an honorary consulate there. It's not a surprise that they do, because the whole city is colonized by germans. I could hear some people speaking german in the streets, as well as eat some typical food and be surrounded by the typical architecture.

Das Alinehaus! Here the tourists can have a taste of Germany.

Blumenau ist nicht Deutschland!

The VISA process went well. All the documents were in order and now I must only wait until August for the whole thing to be ready. One step at a time, things are going well so far.

Grün (Green)

2007-06-09T13:15:00.001-07:00

20 Minuten (20 Minutes)

2007-06-07T18:15:00.000-07:00

How valuable can 20 minutes be? In a time where technology allows us to seek information with a greater speed than we are able to filter, a third of an hour can have much more value than you would expect. A late bus, a line in the bank, waiting for an order or simply taking that extra nap after the alarm clock has gone off. Simply 20 mere minutes.

What if you could get in touch with some of the most incredible minds of our time without leaving the comfort of your home, in ultra-condensed, geniously crafted 20-minutes presentations? TED Talks offers you this opportunity, showing that with the right words and multimedia, ideas can be shared with amazing comprehensibility and speed.

Some of my current favorites:

-Do you want to understand better the nature of human happiness?

-What is the world's most famous atheist view on the misteries of the universe?

-How does the excessive amount of choices make people more unsatisfied?

-Using smart data to debunk some of the biggest third-world myths.

These oasis of wisdom make me wonder why do we still spend hours in classrooms where teachers don't want to teach and students don't want to learn, if in twenty minutes you can get such great insight from the people that are dealing directly with up-to-date issues. It makes me wonder if there is any way the educational system can survive as it is and how much time we are wasting.

This kind of initiative is invaluable and it's here, available to all of us, at our fingertips, literally. In the past people had to dig for information. Besides, no information was presented in attractive, dynamic ways as they are now.

How much easier it is, therefore, for us to deal with our ignorance, when it is truly a matter of choice to remain ignorant or not? How much can these pieces of 20 minutes change our life?

Go figure it out.

Die Abschlussfeier von der Uni (The Graduation Party from the University)

2007-06-05T18:45:00.000-07:00

Finally I have some stuff to post here! Two saturdays ago was the graduation party of the university group with which I took my graduation. However, I could not graduate since I am still taking some disciplines, since I spent a year in Germany. Either way, I was invited by my great friend, Rodrigo, to enjoy the party with them. It was a wonderful time, where we had a lot of fun and celebrated the end of the studies. Here are some pictures from the event:

Rodolfo, Aline, Rodrigo and me; during the formal ceremony in the university.

In the party! Rodrigo, Aline, me, Juliana and Paula.

Me and Rodrigo. You can notice how popular the colorful hat was. And in case you are wondering, we didn't drink any alcohol there!

In other news, I am going to start my VISA process this monday. I am driving to Blumenau, a small city here in the state with a german consulate; and handing out the documents they need to request my VISA. Wish me luck!

Best regards to all!

Ein Paar Bilder von der Uni (Some pictures from the University)

2007-05-23T15:42:00.000-07:00

I don't have much news now that I am back to the routine I used to have here. Therefore, I decided to take advantage of the only sunny day we had in the last 20 days of rain to take some pictures from the University.

A tree in the dusk...

The Center for Maths and Physics. Would you like to study here?

An old-fashioned mill that sells typical regional food.

Muttertag (Mother's day)

2007-05-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Mother's Day here in Brazil (and in many other countries as well). Our family had the privilege to spend it together, what is not easy to happen, since we all live in different cities. The summer is already over and it's cold and rainy over here. Anyway, we had a great time and some great sea food by the beach, that is always a nice view. Here is a picture from it:

My sister, my mother and me. The flag was there by chance, so we decided to make a picture of it specially for the blog

Wer hat gesagt, dass die Deutschen zurückhaltend sind? (Who said the germans are 'reserved'?)

2007-05-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

A famous campaign in Heidelberg!

I remember these guys from when I used to stroll up and down the Hauptstrasse. It was a very cool initiative that shows that the old model of the "cold-hearted" german is falling apart. I have been in Germany and I can say they are a very open people who are learning to respect other cultures, welcoming diversity and making progress in bringing people together. One can say the whole Europe is doing this, or even the whole world; but as someone who spent a year only in Germany, I could notice the diversity first-hand and I can say that it is truly admirable.

Did you already hug someone today?

Erfolg bei der Präsentation (Success with the Presentation)

2007-05-10T07:51:00.000-07:00

I am very pleased to write that today I defended my PFC (End-Course Project) thesis here in my university and the work was very well-received. Although the whole process was very stressful and demanded a lot of attention, now it is over and I am proud of it.

I have to thank again everybody that supported me in this year that I was in Germany doing this work. When I see something this big finally reaching a successful end, I feel even more lucky for my experience and definitely looking forward to my future.

That's it. I am finally free from this. Time to move on!

Noch lebendig... (Still alive...)

2007-05-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry to leave this blog empty for so long, but my last days have been really busy and complicated. Soon I will present the work I have done in Germany and there is a lot to prepare. Also, the university, family and friends are taking a lot of my time. But I hope to keep writing as soon as something comes up to me. If not, at least I can put some pictures up.

Best regards to all!

Meine Erfahrung mit GTD (My experience with GTD)

2007-04-22T10:08:00.000-07:00

There is a "new" lifestyle that is very popular nowadays, especially among nerds all over. It is an action management method called "Get Things Done" or GTD. The term and the idea were brought by a guy called David Allen. The basic idea is to minimize procrastination by doing things as soon as possible and sticking to the plannings you made for yourself. For example, they say that if you need less than two minutes to do something, do it right now. For more information on the subject, you can look in Wikipedia (the closest thing we have to God).

The purpose of this post is to talk about my experience with this way of life. Before hearing about it, I was already a person who "got things done". However, using some websites such as lifehacker.com I came accross some tools such as Google Calendar and Gubb, that make everything much easier. Nowadays, I consider myself a fully converted person, planning my every step and relying on the internet to increase my productivity not only at work or study, but in my personal life as well. This lifestyle, as everything, has some up and some downsides. I want to share some of them with you.

The Advantages
- You remember every commitment, birthday, social event and etc... with enough time to prepare thoroughly;
- You never lose any objects anymore: the keys, the cards, the pens... everything has a place and you think about them as everything else; they are always kept, somehow, under control. You also make up some "good practices" to deal with unpleasant situations like robberies or losing your cell phone. The same is valid for data: back-ups everywhere become routine for you;
- By planning when to do each thing, you actually realize there is a lot of free time that you can allocate for things you like, without feeling guilty;
- People start relying on you a lot, since you are always responsive and know exactly what is happening around you. This makes people respect and like you not only at work or in the uni, but also in the family and friends circles. Everybody likes people who can be trusted;
- Big plans, that look scary at first, are chopped down in tasks and suitably allocated in your time-table. This makes them much less scary and you feel confident to take up huge challenges without fear;

The Disadvantages
- You are completely dependant on computers or, at least, scheduling tools to do what you need. Since you are always being reminded of things by agendas or cell phone warnings, your natural commitment awareness wears off quickly. Without a warning, you can even forget the most important birthdays, for example;
- You become obsessed about productivity. Every thing that you or people around you do will trigger your instincts to make it more efficient. This can be very tiring for you and annoying for others;
- You get so used to planning that you can actually spend more time planning and changing plans than doing anything for real;
- When you start "getting things done", some people around simply stop getting things done... and instead of asking them to do something, you end up doing things for them, since it seems that you will do it better or faster anyway. This is both bad for you, since you spend time doing other people's jobs, and for the person, since he or she will never learn to keep up with you and plan their own things. If this situation is kept for long, the relationship can reach a saturation level that is unsatisfying for both parties;
- When you organize a big project and it doesn't look scary anymore, you will be tempted to take up on other big projects and sometimes end up doing crazy things instead of separating some time for relaxing or just enjoying the outcomes of the previous endeavors.

As it can be seen, the GTD can be a great way of life and helps in several ways. However it is not the answer to all problems. If technology makes us more efficient, it's because we can use the saved time to relax and enjoy life instead of obsessing about the next challenge or task. This is a very hard balance to reach, but I believe it's a very important point to be aware of, since there are many people who are over-organizing themselves and getting too stressed or using this approach to "escape" their moments of free time and contemplation. This is, in my opinion, very nocive to individuals and to our society.

Either way, finding the balance in the GTD is making my life much better and helping me succeed in my plans. Therefore, I think everybody should give it at least a look. Best regards to all!

Bin fast da (I am almost there)

2007-04-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

Today I finally got the invitation letter from the Mannheim Hochschule that officially states that I am accepted in the Masters course and that I am starting in October 2007 and ending, at least, in 2009. Therefore, I have the document I need to get my VISA and also make my contract with SAP to work there from October on.

I am very happy to see this happening. I want to thank everybody who has supported me in making this "dream" come true. Now it's just a matter of time until I am back in Germany! Wait for me in October!

Eine kleine Erzählung von der Hochzeit (A small story from the marriage)

2007-04-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I went to a very small city in the middle of the state of Paraná to celebrate the marriage of a friend of our family who helped us to take very good care of my grandma in her last years. In Europe, small cities are usually the oldest, most conservative places. Their population is also older and decreasing. In Brazil it's the opposite: they are very new, modern, filled with young people and increasing in an amazing speed.

The most interesting thing that happened to me there was in the way back to the hotel, where I asked a woman for directions and she asked me where I was from. I told her I was from the capital City (Curitiba), that has simply 200 times more people than there. Here is a free translation of the story she told me:

"I was tired of this small city life where everybody knows about everybody's life. So me and some friends decided to go to Curitiba. I spent one year there working in a restaurant. But I think my destiny was not the same as my friends'. Two of them were killed while we were there, so I decided to come back here."

I was really shocked to hear something like that out of the blue. So much for small talk... Most people here have a story to tell, many of them are very tragic. I live in another world and Europe is an even more distinct reality. But most people are like this woman, trying to find their place in a very dangerous and aggressive world.

I just wanted to share this story.

Bilder vom Paradies (Pictures from Paradise)

2007-04-13T13:51:00.000-07:00

Finally I received the pictures from my first day at the beach after coming back here. It was a great day with some good friends to relax and remember how amazing is nature in my country. Below are some pictures to make you all jealous.

The food they serve in the beach is often delicious and cheap. No wonder tourists love to come here.

My friends and a kid who was selling stuff at the beach. We invited him to take part in the picture. It is very common for people to sell things at the beach.
A funny picture we made in order to make people in Europe very jealous. Brazil is all about the beaches, the sun and the women ;-)

Now it's time for us to face the winter and you to have nice weather. I expect to see some great pictures from you as well. Best regards to all.

Der neue Übermensch - Teil 1 (The new Overman - Part 1)

2007-04-11T18:48:00.000-07:00

When I was in Germany I learned that some of the german people had issues with Nietzsche and his writings. I could understand that because of the connection made between him and the rise of Nazism in the country. However, I don't think that Nietzsche's ideas can be held accountable for any future misinterpretations and he is definitely one of my favorite writers.

Thinking about his concept of the "Overman" (Übermensch), I realized lately that our world is a very different world from Nietzsche's. In his time, perhaps the effort to grow beyond the limits of the ordinary human being, facing nihilism, overcoming it and becoming something else could be a very powerful concept to guide people away from the numbness of morals, apathy and alienation.

However, beyond Nietzsche's wildest predictions, we live in a world where the communications brought us together and are progressively annihilating the concepts of morality as any fixed set of rules which would push us into oblivion. On the contrary, most people face nihilism even without wishing to do so, being overwhelmed with information and having all their beliefs constantly challenged.

Does our society follow Nietzsche's dream? Are we all "Overmen"? I wouldn't say so. I appreciate Nietzsche's contribution and I think he was important for mankind to reach the level of open-mindness that it did. However, we face a much more important challenge right now than the mere improvement of ourselves as human beings. We face our own annihilation through a sinister, irrational culture of overconsumism that is not only devouring our planet's resources but pushing our society to pursuit shallow and egoistical goals.

Facing this scenario, I would say that the "Overman" is not only a person who is able to look inside him or herself and break free from morality or religion as opressive elements. This is only the first step for us. The new "Overman" must realize he is part of a decaying society and has a responsibility to use his or her awareness to truly make a positive impact in this scenario.

There is no point in becoming aware of the universe, finding out the meaning of life, finding inner peace or anything like that if we can't share it with a world that has a future. Right now our future is dark and a person who denies that cannot say that he or she is enlightened in any level. Each of us is more responsible for our society than ever before; we act locally and have global influence. Our vision is wide now, it won't go back to ignorance.

In this series of posts I will talk about some ideas for the new Übermensch as a collective effort to understand better which responsibilities we all have if we want to reach the next level as a society. More than an utopia, this is a matter of survival.

Lass das Neue kommen (Let the new come)

2007-04-06T08:51:00.000-07:00

From time to time it's necessary to stop and look at the new configuration of things. I had started this blog without really caring for the changes around it. Now I fixed this. The links in the right menu are updated.

First of all, I added a link to my old blog, the "Vitor na Alemanha" one, where I used to write in portuguese about my experience in Germany. I also took out the link to Rodolfo's blog since he returned to Brazil. I kept Andra's blog since she keeps writing. Rubens changed his blog to another address and another name. Now it's called "blogossauro". It is in portuguese, but it is really great and I recommend that everybody checks it out. Lucas' blog keeps being updated as well, so it's still there (in portuguese too).

Last but certainly not least is that Carlos Vieira, one of my best friends here, is going to Germany to work and live in the same places where I was. He will be in my team in SAP and living in my dorm in Heidelberg. He also decided to create a weblog, Vieira and Vieira, where he will write about his experience there.

I wish him all the best in his experience in Germany. I hope you all have a good time with him. I somehow envy him because he is going to "take over" my old life in Germany. But at the same time I am really happy that such a good friend is going to do this.

I miss you all a lot.

Manche Bilder von meinem Alltag (Some pictures from my routine)

2007-04-04T17:48:00.000-07:00

Hello, everybody. It's funny that when I returned to my country I still kept the "Tourist Delight" over everything. Therefore, as I did when I arrived in Germany, I want to post some pictures from my routine here, that might be interesting for you to understand better my life back in Brazil.

A typical classroom in our university...

The outside of the "CTC", the technological studies center of my University.

The inside of one of the classroom buildings from the CTC.

My apartment in Florianópolis!

My KAr! I hate to drive, but here it's almost a necessity...

Best regards to all!

TV Weisheit (TV Wisdom)

2007-03-30T17:16:00.000-07:00

"A man must choose whether to live a happy life or a life of meaning. He can't have both because to be truly happy, one must live absolutely in the present. No thought of what's gone before and no thought about what lies ahead. On the other hand, to have a life of meaning, one is condemned to wallow on the past and obsess about the future."

Mr. Lindermann, on the episode 18 of the first season of "Heroes".

Is this really true? Can happiness be truly found also in meaning? Can you make your life meaningful without obsessing?

Wer du bist hängt davon ab, wo du bist (Who you are depends on where you are)

2007-03-28T06:09:00.000-07:00

When I was in Germany I built a routine for my life that made me very proud. I was working more than eight hours a day, sleeping from 6-8 hours, having breakfast, lunch and dinner; keeping my evenings to do things I like and using my weekends to relax and go out. It was a perfect life for me, since I never felt anything was missing and it was really easy to plan my next steps, even when annoying things happened, such as getting sick.

Therefore, I had this illusion that when I came back to Brazil I would be able to build up a similar routine for me. At least keep the most important aspects of it, such as having breakfast everyday or keeping the weekends for fun. However, it seems that this endeavour is not as easy as I thought. As I live this second week here, with all my classes defined, I wonder why can't I make up some sort of healthy, decent routine for myself. I am sleeping too much, eating chaotically, having less free time than expected and feeling like I can't plan well on my projects.

I think many factors contribute to this situation. The heat is a strong one. It's not a secret that extreme heat makes me lazy and not hungry. Mostly I just feel like lying somewhere and not doing anything. However, I really hate to do that. Another thing is realizing that the public system here is not practical at all. In Germany I could plan to leave the house one minute before the tram arrived and was sure not to find any lines in the bank or in the stores. Here I have to take my car most of the times, face huge traffic, get stressed with crazy pedestrians and lack of signalization; and the bank has a line of dozens of people and even the people attending you don't know to whom you need to talk.

Besides, the overall feeling is different: people don't care so much about the laws, they don't take their studies too seriously, don't plan their life as much as in Germany and there is the permanent, stressful feeling of insecurity when I leave home. It's inevitable that all this undermines my determination and disturbs my attitude. I feel unmotivated and have this awful feeling of "not caring" anymore.

I hope I can manage to shield myself against all these aspects that prevent me from functioning the way I want to and find my place in here, even though it is much harder than it was in Germany. There is a lot to be taken care of here and I can't let the environment and society drag me down. Coming back is not easy.

Was ist besonders mit der Rückkehr (What is peculiar about the return)

2007-03-25T19:05:00.000-07:00

There are some impressions that must be recorded here, regarding the experience of "coming back". The vision that I have over everything here, that was so familiar to me after living in this city for four years, has changed considerably. Here are some interesting facts:

- When I was in Germany, I tried to pay attention to every conversation around me and every advertisement in the radio and TV, since I was trying to understand what people were saying as a training for my German. Since I can understand everything people say here and every kind of advertisement, I am being overwhelmed with information, since it's harder to stop caring at once.

- Driving a car is like riding a bike: you don't forget how to do it. However, I needed some time to recover the awareness state that is required for driving. Therefore, I am not putting myself into any troublesome situation yet.

- Most things DON'T change in one year. Most people won't realize you were away for so long. Apart from some details, that I noticed clearly, most things just seem very familiar and I remember how to deal with them. For example, the exact way to turn the key in the door for my apartment, that wouldn't work otherwise.

- I started to notice many more details in people's behavior, especially the ones that were very close to me. Distance definitely brings perspective.

- The food is something that takes time to get used to. Maybe my head can switch easily from Germany to Brazil, but my stomach is having a hard time to adjust to our typical food, especially in big quantities.

- I acquired sort of a "tourist delight" when I walk around the city. Even very common things seem much more interesting to me and I can notice many more details on the familiar scenarios around me. I also feel like taking pictures of everything to show to my friends in Germany.

- Going back to the university after one year is not easy. Having classes requires a state of mind that I had simply given away when I was in Germany. I might take a while to get used to this rhythm once more.

- The currency change also takes a while to get used to. I still look at the prices as if they were Euros and therefore everything here scares me at first. Luckily, after I realize that and divide the prices by 3, I feel much, much better.

I will try to get ahold of more pictures for the next posting! Best regards to all.

Bilder von der Rückkehr (Pictures from the return)

2007-03-24T06:32:00.000-07:00

Finally I found some time to select some pictures to put here. My mother was kind enough to register the whole event of me "coming back" with some nice images. Here are my favorites:

My mother, me and my grandparents in their house in Florianópolis.

Me, Osso, Anthuan and Mariana: My best friends in my home town, Curitiba. They paid me a visit in the same day I arrived in Brazil.

Me, Marcelo, my Mother, Carlos and Paula. Marcelo is going back to Flensburg, in the north of Germany, to work there. Carlos is going to work for SAP next month and Paula is his girlfriend.

Me, my sister, her husband and their dog. They were very lucky to find this great dog and now she is part of their family.

There is a lot to be shown here. I expect to take many more pictures soon. Best regards to all!

Gute Dinge und schlechte Dinge (Good things and bad things)

2007-03-22T07:28:00.000-07:00

After some days here I start to recover my way of life in this such different environment. I think I complained too much in the last posts, I want to mend this. The weather here is weird for me and a little tiring, but mostly it's awesome: it's hot, we have the sea breeze and nature shines in several colors. My health is great and I feel really good.

Another obvious advantage is that everything "basic" here is cheap! Today I got a haircut for 2.5 euros. Food is also cheap overall. And I like to make my calculations in Euros, it makes everything better. Some local specialities, like fruits, juices and the famous "rice and beans" are also fantastic and I did miss it a lot.

On the other hand, I must tell you about something that is happening here and I find really disturbing and interesting. Today my mother answered the phone to a person screaming "mom!" in a desperate way on the other side. Some time ago my grandma got a phone call saying that one of my aunts was being kept hostage and a scream on the other side that sounded like my aunt. Very disturbing, isn't it? What happens is the following: prisioners from the detention houses in Brazil get ahold of cell phones and call some people saying that they have relatives as hostages. They force these people to make money transfers or else they would kill or harm the relatives. This is a very common scam nowadays in Brazil and there are reports of five people who got so nervous with such calls that they had heart attacks.

Since my family had heard of this before, they tried to keep calm and called my aunt to see if she was ok. Thankfully she was (as was I and my sister), so we could just hang up the damn phone. This is the kind of scam that people are able to pull off in our country. The feeling of insecurity is really constant and unbearable. Definitely that is what I hate the most about here...

I will try to take some pictures for the next post. There is a lot of interesting things to be shown. Best regards to all!

Die meisten Überraschungen sind schlechte Überraschungen (Most surprises are bad surprises)

2007-03-21T04:20:00.001-07:00

Although some people seem to think I came here to lie down on some beach and relax for six months, that is really far from the truth. So far I realized that even though I was a foreigner in a country whose language I can't speak and 12.000km away from home, my life was easier in Germany than here.

The problem is that here I feel always stressed out by the environment. Facing a 35 degrees heat with a strong sun and afraid of using my car because I haven't driven for too long, I was welcomed by some unexpected surprises: Both my local bank cards don't work anymore; my local cell phone (that has been stolen here when I was in Germany) is still being paid even though I cancelled the contract; since I didn't go to vote last year, I have one month to solve my situation with the voting comitee or else I will become a criminal. This is all on top of everything else I knew I would have to figure out here.

Maybe all that doesn't sound so bad, but notice the following: yesterday I spent 40 minutes waiting in a bank line with around 120 other people and 30 degrees in the room just to have the chance to ask someone what was happening to my account. And they were unable to solve my problem because I need to go again to my home city (Curitiba) to do so. When will I have the time to travel again 4 hours back there in a working day (when I always have classes) to figure this out? The same happens to my voting comitee thing, since I vote in my home city.

Well, not everything is so bad, naturally. I am going to write more and about better things in other posts. I am just really bothered by these situations right now and wanted to share them with you. Today after lunch I have my first classes at the university. Let's see how that goes...

Wo ist wirklich Heim? (Where is really home?)

2007-03-19T13:21:00.000-07:00

So I am back in Brazil. After travelling almost 24 hours because of flight changes and a lot of delay, I arrived in Curitiba at 14:00 local time, what in Germany means 18:00. I couldn't expect what I felt when I got here. Instead of feeling weird or confused, it feels like I never left the country in the first place! It's like I was in "Germany Mode" and now simply switched back to "Brazil Mode". Nothing here really changed. The hot weather stroke me hard and I simply couldn't remember that mere 24 hours ago I was in a completely different environment. I had no idea I would be capable of "switching" that easily.

Unfortunately, this is not a good thing. People here behave as I haven't been away at all and therefore everything is predictable and incredibly boring. I already feel like coming back to Germany, since here I "know" everything. I hope things feel different once I get to Florianópolis and start my routine. Either way, I already miss Germany, SAP and even my small, dirty room.

There are many impressions to be reported here, most of them completely unexpected. But I don't think I will be "left alone" today to write as much as I would like to. So I will stop here for now. I just wanted to let everybody know that everything went fine and that I am okay.

Best regards to all!

First Post (Erste Post)

2007-03-01T02:47:00.000-08:00

As promised, here I start my new weblog, where I am going to post the news about me back in my home country, Brazil. This will be written in English and German because the whole point of this endeavour is to allow my international friends to follow my life even being away from me. I think it is an interesting idea to write about the return impressions of my trip, because I know everything will look and feel very different for me now.

I only get back to Brazil on the 19th of March. From that day on I will stop my "Vitor na Alemanha" blog and write only here. See you then.

Vitor in Brazil

Auf Wiedersehen, Brasilien ("See you" Brazil)

Die letzten Tage (The last days)

Die Geburtstagfeier (The Birthday Party)

Abschlussfeier (Graduation Party)

Dreiundzwanzig (Twenty-Three)

Mein Grossvater (My Grandfather)

Der neue Übermensch - Teil 2 (The new Overman - Part 2)

Das unbegrenzte Web (The unlimited Web)

Das Wochenende bei meiner Schwester (The weekend with my sister)

Endlich fertig mit der Uni (Finally done with the University)

Related to the post below...

The Overwhelming Weight of Clarity

Ich hab's! (I got it!)

Manche Nachrichten (Some News)

Blumenau

Grün (Green)

20 Minuten (20 Minutes)

Die Abschlussfeier von der Uni (The Graduation Party from the University)

Ein Paar Bilder von der Uni (Some pictures from the University)

Muttertag (Mother's day)

Wer hat gesagt, dass die Deutschen zurückhaltend sind? (Who said the germans are 'reserved'?)

Erfolg bei der Präsentation (Success with the Presentation)

Noch lebendig... (Still alive...)

Meine Erfahrung mit GTD (My experience with GTD)

Bin fast da (I am almost there)

Eine kleine Erzählung von der Hochzeit (A small story from the marriage)

Bilder vom Paradies (Pictures from Paradise)

Der neue Übermensch - Teil 1 (The new Overman - Part 1)

Lass das Neue kommen (Let the new come)

Manche Bilder von meinem Alltag (Some pictures from my routine)

TV Weisheit (TV Wisdom)

Wer du bist hängt davon ab, wo du bist (Who you are depends on where you are)

Was ist besonders mit der Rückkehr (What is peculiar about the return)

Bilder von der Rückkehr (Pictures from the return)

Gute Dinge und schlechte Dinge (Good things and bad things)

Die meisten Überraschungen sind schlechte Überraschungen (Most surprises are bad surprises)

Wo ist wirklich Heim? (Where is really home?)

First Post (Erste Post)