I've been in Brazil for a full year today and plan to stay.
I planned to live here for one year, but it's exactly as my brother predicted: once I've lived here, I don't want to leave.
I've had to build up quite a new life here. It's not always been easy, despite coming with just about every privilege that exists. I can't imagine how hard it must be without my unfair advantages. In many ways, being an immigrant sucks.
Having lived here for one year it's hard to imagine a nicer city for me than Florianópolis. Okay, safety needs to be better, traffic and roads needs to be better, I miss cycling everywhere. I miss being able to understand everyone; my portuguese is okay now, but the locals talk fast.
But nature is always close, I have good friends here and better social circles than at home, the weather and the people are nicer, warmer. I'm more confident.
I've worked from home most of this year (as a remote full-stack javascript developer). Now, the startup I worked for is out of money. It's summer here, so I'm taking a holiday as I had planned to do anyway. I'll go look for work again after that. It'll be fine. Tips are welcome. My professional blog is at javascriptdebugging.com.
In January, my parents will come visit me! I'm excited. I haven't seen them since last year. I'll show them around my new city and my new life. I'll hike trails and lie on the beach with them.
Here's to another beautiful year in my new town!
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A better 2018, two months in
In the last days of 2017, I resolved to do my little part to make 2018 better. I decided that I'm going to change, then what I'm going to change and why those things, and how I'll change them.
Two months in, let's see how it's going.
I
Overeating: I've made some progress. I have done this maybe 4 times, and mostly only slightly.
I still rarely separate the lunch and dinner before I start eating. What helped me get this right was mostly just having made myself the promise of not doing it, and having seriously thought through the consequences.
II
Sleeping enough: I'm as surprised as you, but I actually made progress! Especially in February,
For a better 2018, final part
So far, I have decided that I'm going to change, then what I'm going to change and why I'm going to change those things. The last question: how?
Ideally each of these would be a skill or habit that I train until it's natural and mostly effortless.
I can only sketch the initial attempt at improving these things. With time I'll learn if they work or not and change the method. I'll reflect in a month.
I
For overeating, the first step could be to decide how much I'll eat before I start eating. Ellen and I often cook more than we need to leave some for lunch. I could separate this in advance and leave only the amount I intend to eat, before I e
For a better 2018, part 3
Step 1 was deciding to better myself.
Step 2 was choosing five things I know I could do better. I have more, but five seems a good number to get started. And these five should lay a good basis for whatever may be next.
Step 3 is imagining. To be properly motivated to improve myself, it's important to realize well why I'm doing it - who I could be if I work on it, and who if I don't.
What if I don't?
If I don't improve on any of these dimensions, next year I'll be a year older and none the wiser. I'll still be wishing to improve on these things. I may have realized even more things I need to do better. I'll be further behind, and further fr
For a better 2018, part 2
What would "becoming a better person" look like, for me specifically?
I don't need to bother defining "good". I think I know how I can be better, if I ask myself.
I don't know how to be perfect. But some part in me knows at least 5 things I should be better at, by my own standards. My conscience tells me all the time. I just have to pay attention. That's hard, because I'm so used to ignoring it.
Actually, I just threw around the number 5, but let's see if I can come up with five.
I
One of the most common things it tells me (that I ignore) is "you should stop eating now". When I ignore it, I often end up with stomach ache, or being unable
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With the news talking about immigration so much, I've wondered how long you had to wait to immigrate to Brazil. Did it take long to get a work Visa? Are you limited in years as to how long you can stay?
I rarely see anyone on a bike. Living in a rural area means everything is miles apart, so a car is a necessity. The only bus service is one from Columbus, Ohio that makes an early morning stop and an evening stop to take people to work from the town to the city. It isn't a short trip by bus either. I had a friend who had to take the bus back and forth and she would leave home at 5 AM to make her way from her county home into the next small town, then get back after 7 PM. The bus picked her up at 6 AM then she was let off at 6:30 PM then had to get transport back to her home. Cities with constant bus schedules, bike paths, running paths and the like are the envy to the majority who live in rural areas and small towns.
I checked out your professional site, albeit I have no idea what a JavaScript Debugger even is
May you and Ellen be blessed in 2017!
I rarely see anyone on a bike. Living in a rural area means everything is miles apart, so a car is a necessity. The only bus service is one from Columbus, Ohio that makes an early morning stop and an evening stop to take people to work from the town to the city. It isn't a short trip by bus either. I had a friend who had to take the bus back and forth and she would leave home at 5 AM to make her way from her county home into the next small town, then get back after 7 PM. The bus picked her up at 6 AM then she was let off at 6:30 PM then had to get transport back to her home. Cities with constant bus schedules, bike paths, running paths and the like are the envy to the majority who live in rural areas and small towns.
I checked out your professional site, albeit I have no idea what a JavaScript Debugger even is
May you and Ellen be blessed in 2017!