Asian Australians

We arrived in Sydney on a Friday evening. It was an 11-hour flight... In the first 24 hours I could already understand the spirit of Sydney city. Lots of people on the street, many bars and pubs… everybody looking for fun!
I’m from the other side of the world. I call my mother before I go out to a club and she might be having breakfast! At the same time, I have lots of Brazilian friends that came to live here for one year to study English or work, so I had an idea of what Australia is like. But I was completely wrong. I thought that I would see nature everywhere - kangaroos, koalas and beaches everywhere. No! It’s been one week that I’ve been here and I haven’t seen any of this. But don’t worry; I’m not sad at all! Impossible, with the amount of entertainment that this city has to offer. And also here I remember always that I’m really close to Asia… I was impressed with the amount of Asians that I saw in Sydney. Smart people. Living here is great!

Did I really travel?

It’s been already ten days since I left my country, but something feels wrong. I feel home! Funny, right? But South Africa is really similar to Brazil. Starting by the people. Both countries have white and black living together. And, especially the white ones, have really similar outfits. The South Africans are a mixture of Europeans, like the Brazilians are. I’m a good example of “nations soup”; I have descendents from Portugal, Italy, Spain and Greece. I asked some people here about their origins, and they said me the most different countries from Europe. Lots of Europeans immigrated here after World War 2… but what a good choice! I think they really came to live in this paradise. Here they have amazing beaches, the blue water contrasting with the green vegetation and the white sand. Lots of big houses, some with the cliff train to transport people down from the highest rooms. You can’t lose the view, you can’t lose the breath. Almost the same principle as the Cliff that takes the tourists up to Table Mountain, the rock that is in the middle of the city. And – I can’t forget my country – it remembers me the Pao de Acucar, another unbelievable sight from Rio de Janeiro. Ok, I know that there is no place like another, and that’s no people like others. But it is a compliment to the country from the other side of Atlantic Ocean: as I love my Brazil, I love South Africa!

Fancy Africa

My first destination on this world trip is South Africa. It’s amazing, I never thought about coming here so young. OK, I’m lying. I was thinking about coming in 2010, at the World Cup. In fact it was more a dream that a thought. We just got here, so I’m going to tell you about my first impressions. At the South African’s airline I was already starting to love the country. People were nice and lovely, and like Kareem said at the airport: “There are a lot of Akonas here”. Of course it’s a joke, each person is unique. But there are so many black elegant women, bold and with big earrings and necklaces. Akona really represents a good African Style. Two Chinese tourists even knocked on our door (we are sharing rooms) to ask her if they could take one photo with her! Funny… And like the people, buildings in Cape Town are elegant. Every building seems new and clean. On the first day, after getting to the hotel and taking a shower, we went to “Victoria and Alfred Waterfront”. It’s like a marina around the sea with boats with lots of restaurants and a shopping mall – a really fancy place. When we were walking and searching for a restaurant, we were lucky to see some singers in line, singing African songs. It was amazing, made me think that now I can prove for real if a place is just how the movies and the television shows! This is culture, now I can have a trusted opinion about a country. Africa isn’t poor at all. In fact, Cape Town is one of the most fancy places that I have been. Besides that, Africans are rich… with joy!