So I’ve been pretty busy of late with end of year parties, moving house and other projects meaning I’ve let this blog slip a little, but I wanted to write a short summary life in Porto Alegre in 2016.
2016 will be remembered by a lot of people for a lot of terrible reasons.
In 2016 the world lost amazingly talented people at an alarming rate. David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Prince, George Michael, Carrie Fisher, Gene Hackman, Mohamed Ali and many more all passed away. This year also saw a definite shift in world politics with elections in the US, UK, Philippines and even Australia rewarding populist and often anti global sentiments.
Even here in Brazil the panic about the zika virus, the tragedy of the Chapecoense football club, the impeachment of President Dilma and the subsequent political and economic unrest has led to a lot of people suffering.
While 2016 has been difficult for many, for me 2016 has been memorable for good reasons. I got married, went to the Olympics and continued to get to know the city of Porto Alegre and it’s people.
Since finishing high school (19 years ago) I’ve lived in nine cities across six countries, and now having lived in Porto Alegre for 15 months, it is now second only to my home city of Melbourne for cities I have lived in the longest. Now that I have lived in Porto Alegre for all of 2016, it is the only other city that I have lived in for a full calendar year.
Obviously the highlight of my year was in April getting married to my beautiful wife (the reason I’m in Porto Alegre in the first place!). Getting to know all of her family and friends as they try to explain some of the quirks of life here in Brazil has been a lot of fun (usually).
Other highlights of 2016 include learning how to become a churrasco master; learning how to make chimarrao; seeing the Rolling Stones in person; getting to know people in the Porto Alegre expat community through the Internations network; discovering that there is, in fact, very good beer in Porto Alegre; some very good coffee; and also some restaurants that offer something different from the standard rice and beans - if you know where to look. Also, Porto Alegre has a lot of fun things to do.
Living in Porto Alegre also made it easy for me to achieve a life long dream and go to the Olympics in Rio in August, and also visit the stunning beaches of Santa Catarina in February and the border of Uruguay in November. Three things that were huge highlights for me this year.
In 2016 I discovered that Porto Alegre has a lot of things to love, but also a bunch of other things that aren’t so great. And that’s part of living in any city - there’s no such thing as perfection.
But for me, 2016 in Porto Alegre has been pretty damn good.
2016 will be remembered by a lot of people for a lot of terrible reasons.
In 2016 the world lost amazingly talented people at an alarming rate. David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Prince, George Michael, Carrie Fisher, Gene Hackman, Mohamed Ali and many more all passed away. This year also saw a definite shift in world politics with elections in the US, UK, Philippines and even Australia rewarding populist and often anti global sentiments.
Even here in Brazil the panic about the zika virus, the tragedy of the Chapecoense football club, the impeachment of President Dilma and the subsequent political and economic unrest has led to a lot of people suffering.
While 2016 has been difficult for many, for me 2016 has been memorable for good reasons. I got married, went to the Olympics and continued to get to know the city of Porto Alegre and it’s people.
Since finishing high school (19 years ago) I’ve lived in nine cities across six countries, and now having lived in Porto Alegre for 15 months, it is now second only to my home city of Melbourne for cities I have lived in the longest. Now that I have lived in Porto Alegre for all of 2016, it is the only other city that I have lived in for a full calendar year.
Obviously the highlight of my year was in April getting married to my beautiful wife (the reason I’m in Porto Alegre in the first place!). Getting to know all of her family and friends as they try to explain some of the quirks of life here in Brazil has been a lot of fun (usually).
Other highlights of 2016 include learning how to become a churrasco master; learning how to make chimarrao; seeing the Rolling Stones in person; getting to know people in the Porto Alegre expat community through the Internations network; discovering that there is, in fact, very good beer in Porto Alegre; some very good coffee; and also some restaurants that offer something different from the standard rice and beans - if you know where to look. Also, Porto Alegre has a lot of fun things to do.
Living in Porto Alegre also made it easy for me to achieve a life long dream and go to the Olympics in Rio in August, and also visit the stunning beaches of Santa Catarina in February and the border of Uruguay in November. Three things that were huge highlights for me this year.
In 2016 I discovered that Porto Alegre has a lot of things to love, but also a bunch of other things that aren’t so great. And that’s part of living in any city - there’s no such thing as perfection.
But for me, 2016 in Porto Alegre has been pretty damn good.
