Flew a plane and jumped out of a plane

Not on the same sortie of course!

Counted down to 2015 in London and spent the start of the year in Europe; came back and spent the summer in Canbodia, Malaysia and Japan, and most recently to Brazil for the "winter" vacation. 

You're welcome 

And may the airliners earn more profits from me come 2016 

You're special

And you're one in a million. Or perhaps you're supposed to be extinct. 

That's what makes you so attractive, but that's also what makes you such a tough nut to crack. All social norms don't apply to you, which is very admirable, but yet challenging to me at the same time. But I'm trying to adapt to it, and I think I'm doing not too bad a job so far. But trust me, I'm still trying my very best and using my every energy to perfect it. Someday I'll be there, to be your perfect one :) 

What I would teach my 4-year old nephew

I wanted to write about how I'll teach my nephew not to be negative because it repels people away; not to use offensive aggression as a defense mechanism because it hurts others; and not to act like the world revolves around you even if you don't think you're acting that way. 

It was meant to be a reflection of what I've experienced on my Brazil trip based on a girl called Amanda, who will very likely be reading this anyway, and who I consistently refer to be "like my 4-year old" nephew because of her "childish" behaviors towards the end of the trip. 

--

Perhaps some of the lessons to be learnt still stand but after some introspective reflection and explanation on her part, I realize, in fact, that there is more for me myself to learn from this whole experience than to teach. 

So many what ifs appeared when things turned sort of sour, and we simply chose the simplest way out to assume the least of you. Sometimes it's easier to convince yourself of the side of the story you want to believe, that will absolve yourself of all responsibilities, that will bring you peace. But more often than not, that's not the side of the truth. Or rather, truth has no sides; and no matter how much we tell ourselves to wait for two sides of the story to be heard, we as humans are never objective. 

And that also applies to the person in question. You. Me. Any and everyone. The voice in our heads are never objective, and even when it's about ourselves, it's probably telling a story we want to tell, different from the intrinsic truth we know (or do we?) to be true. 

--

But everyone faces this pseudo-dilemma, everyone faces this daily struggle of the side they want to show. Everyone has a battle they need to fight everyday. Heck, everyone has battles they need to fight that no one else is ever gonna find out. The insecurity. The guilt. The regrets. The angst. The loneliness. The despair. No one's ever gonna know. Yet everyone knows. Because everyone is precisely fighting these same demons as you, me, any and everyone. 

And if we do it more often, perhaps this sense of sonder would have brought about true peace within and amongst human. We all need to stop behaving like 4-year olds.

And that calls for a celebration

Finishing 32MC sem is great, results were not too bad, what's even better is when the person that matters the most gained back her confidence and outdo me. 

I'm immensely proud of you, Ms Blur. 

--

Also, celebration is sweeter when you prepare it yourself hahaha 

Glad I'm back in time for this, having missed it last year. Happy winter solstice everyone! 

Rio de Janeiro 16/12/15 - 19/12/15

Day 9

This welcomed us. Look closely and find "Highest: 38 degrees Celsius"; wasn't prepared for this 

Headed to the beach with a bunch of paranoid girls screaming and getting worried at everything; made us all pretty nervous towards the end as the threat got higher along with the attention they attracted. And then it's back to site visits! 

Got to GOMA, a super hipster working space and was briefed by founder of Emzingo on the future of social entrepreneurship and the social business mapping canvas (which also exposed me to the conventional business mapping canvas)

And then participated in a mini case challenge amongst ourselves helping a new social entreprise, Tem Açucar, find avenues for revenue generation. Very interesting and even more interesting ideas were generated, triggering a tinge of enthusiasm to get into the social entrepreneurship in the future. But I know the risk averse me isn't that cut out for it lol. We'll see! But at least I'm sure I wanna participate in more social entrepreneurship case competition after this

And just to show some hipster-ness in the office space, it looks more like an archi studio to me. And different segments of the space with different layout and design is occupied by different groups of start ups with potential to synergize. "Sharing economy" in the physical form. 

Late in returning back to hotel so dinner was a VERY big portion. Haha I'm kidding, this is a plater for 3 by the beach. Not too shabby 

And then this. Apparently we were at "Porto 3" then the next is "Porto 4" and this is at "Porto 5" (makes sense). But she didn't mention anything about the distance. So we walked for about half an hour rushing for the free flow beer that ends at 12. Pub's name wasn't even at the door so it was pretty lucky we found it. Got 4 beers in quick succession 

Some Latino/Portuguese music and some attempts to samba dance later, 45 minutes of non-stop EDM got us all wet (literally, with sweat). And that about spent all the energy this old man in me has. And some abrupt decisions later, 4 of us got on a cab and got back to the hotel in less than Rs10 (S$4) while the rest walked the 30 minute route. 

Day 10

Next day started with a road trip again 

And check out the matching Brazilian colours standing together, with ever photo-ready cool kid Yixiu in the background 

Orangelife advertisement: says something about speed being the most important thingy or something like that lol 

Lunch was at this super cheap outskirt of town, costing just Rs26 for what would usually be around Rs40 without the rich selection 

Then SangueBom by the same founder, apparently an aspiring plastic surgeon (looks the part at least) who got rejected when he came over to Brazil from Italy due to unforeseen circumstances, and his private yacht dream turned into favela adventures that made him realize the social importance of healthcare services, thus setting up these two social enterprises producing means of rapid diagnosis currently lacking in Brazil. He also manage to smoothly boast about his LV belt mid-speech. Also, liked how he pulled of the (ugly) NUS tie with swag. Wasn't stalkerish enough to snap a photo of him though. 

Went back to hotel and after a mad frenzy of 5-minute changing parade (cos the bus couldn't wait at the lobby for long):

The amazing sunset view from the Sugar Loaf Mountain. Well worth the rush and the wait...

Dinner then night market and a short drinking session that ended in a shophouse (what?!) ended the day.

Day 11

Then the second highlight of the trip: Christ the Redeemer! 

View was also not too bad 

And even got to hi5 him! I mean, so many are trying (see Beatrice and Sherann trying on the right) but I guess only the chosen one got it. Or at least from my perspective that's the case. Lol 

LiNUS also had a great time! HAHAHA 

Then PUC-Rio for tour, lunch, and some lecture on Brazil's economy and social entrepreneurship scene; the aircon that spoiled made the whole experience pretty unbearable. And the Econs lecturer wasn't very knowledgeable bout the Brazilian economy haha 

And finally the last site for our study visits: another incubator with many cool start-ups dealing mainly with the favela (such as Faveliving which brings tourist into the favela - safer ones - to stay) but also some to conserve the environment (which is rare consider the "main" natural attraction in Brazil is Amazon in the north, haven't heard of much talk about the environment the whole time we were in Regió Sudeste) 

That wasn't the final stop though, this is. Some carnivore like meat buffet restaurants that we ate our worth at. Good thing we had the local regular sitting beside us, giving us winks, nudges, and head shakes to differentiate the good stuff from the less-worth when the waiters bring it in. Haven't been to Singapore's Carnivore but I would think this is probably one of the best any of the people present that day ever had (except steak wasn't as good as the Kobe one, I insist, haha)

Headed back to hotel, packed, and took a nap before the sleepless night begins. Went to the beach for a simple pre drinking then headed down to Lapa. And damn we've been in the wrong place all along!! This is indeed where Rio never sleeps. And though we didn't find a club that's good enough to get us high like a kite, the atmosphere in the streets in this area was really pretty intense and exciting. I'm really glad we made this trip; eye-opening! 

And then it ended with this: one of the most amazing sunrise I've ever seen. Well worth the staying up mates, well worth. 

Also met this bunch of dubious people who were pretty eccentric (with non-conventional sexual orientation/identification) but they turned out to be warning us against going to the left side of the beach cos there're pickpockets there! Such kind people and random acts made the sunrise even warmer. 

A quick nap later, it's goodbye. First to Rio, then met Lucio and left him for good this time round after we reach the international airport in São Paulo, in which we spent 7 hours hobo-ing. 

14 hours later landed in Dubai, bathed, nua-ed and then another 7 hours back to Singapore and responsibilities. 2 weeks felt kinda short and I'm already missing everyone as I type this. It's nice because the time was so well spent, and the fun was so intense these happy moments just seem go fly by; and it wasn't as if life was being wasted since we visited so many educational sites, be it a company, an university, or some on-site excursions. It's really been 2 weeks well spent. And most importantly (and hopefully), using this 2-week to exchange for some lifelong friendships - definitely worth it. Sibo~

São Paulo (2) 11/12/15 - 16/12/15

Day 4

Next day started off with a lecture in USP's Econs department informing us of the social business scene in Brazil, then Prof Teo from our version of USP gave the Singapore side of the story. 

Lunch at the student cafeteria was meh (as expected), then the next talk by LGT Venture Philanthropy (a social VC of the Lichtenstein's royal family), which tells the credit-side story of the social entrepreneurship industy, is also pretty interesting, getting to know how they measure their impact investment and the success/failure stories in different parts of the world. 

And since the programmed ended pretty early, it's time to rock and roll. Girls went on yet another round of shopping while the guys and the cool kid Yixiu went crazy at the grocery store. Got two twelve-pack (for a few cents a can!), some wine (less than S$5), and some booze. Nothing too hardcore. 

And dinner is this: sushi but with cream cheese... Yet another case in point of how the Jap food here is infused with Brazillian elements

Then dropped our stuff and off we go: parteh! 

Went to this bar beside the club we were recommended to go after walking up and down a few times and finally found a seat. Pretty nice system that encourages you to consume cos they just exchanged your IC with a card that you use to pay (and this works pretty much the same in the club later), so you don't see the money going out each time you order. Also cos many people are just standing around with no table nor table number to tag their bills to. 

Mojito (not too shabby with salt spamming) and Sangria (weird with white wine). Also had a few rounds of beer and, of course, Caipirinhas

And I think the drinking part was nice, perhaps even nicer than the clubbing part (Amanda would beg to differ). Doesn't matter; after much cajoling and hustling, off we go. 

Started off with a live band and we were quite stun/disappointed though it was good. And then the music came and the rest is history 

Day 5 

Woke up seven early eight early for shopping again, and a curious incident happened: the guys got things from Forever 21 and the girls all came out empty-handed. 

Got back to the hotel after some chilling in a local cafe with this interesting drink, the spoon wrapped in aluminum foil is coated with chocolate inside. The drink's pretty meh though 

And saw this along the way! 

First itinerary: Japan town 

And it's the traffic light again! 

Rushed through all the exhibits talking about Japanese mass emigration pre and post war, specifically into Brazil (duh!) 

And also that they set up one of the first cooperatives here. And then we used the rest of a 45min period for lunch but the ramen in Brazil's Japan town wasn't very impressive, as expected 

Then here, futbol museum 

Which turned out surprisingly cool

With very futuristic kind of set up, and there's even another room looking like a Harry Potter film set

And that's kinda it for the tour day! And then it's free and easy! 

While the rest left halfway for Japanese cuisines, some of us decided to check out this large (luxurious) mall in the other side of town. 

And here is an OOTD shot by the philosopher roommate haha!

Then some drinking at yet another bar at Villa Mendalena with many random weirdos approaching us, and that ended Day 5. 

Day 6 

It's Sunday! 

All of us sort of signed up for a tour and got to this village out of São Paulo city, Embu des Artes

And it's a Sunday market! 

With amazing paintings for sale and they were pretty cheap! Other stuff was pretty alright at best, but still, something new! 

One more, love the one nearest on the right  

And this is pretty cool as well 

This was damn good though 

Lunch place wasn't very fantastic 

Many cool shit though 

And stuff like this. Got a t-shirt as well! 

And we almost didn't make it out of this rural village!!! (Jk, I like the aunty's expression lol, like "dafuq?!")

Came back and went for this: my first demonstration ever. Was protesting against the heat 

Mixed feelings about all the passion I've felt on the ground. Wondering how many of such demonstrations are rational but this one was pretty controlled (and given the corruption scandal, it's understandable). Just hoping they'll sort out the mess soon, if ever. 

 Got back and showered then headed to Hotel Unique, architecture was pretty unique alright

View was okay at best though 

But Unique Watermelon was damn good. Haha 

Dinner at Burger Lab nearby. Dem bacon~

Day 7

Road trip Monday out of town. Pastures of green reminded me of the times road tripping in Europe. Good times, good times. 

Traveled all the way out for 2 hours to visit this MFI, a very "fresh" experience even though I've been studying them for the most part of last semester cos it was really up-close and kinda personal (the founder was there to talk to us!). What's even nicer is that she joined some sort of case competition and won, using the opportunity to go a step further and set up this bank. Makes me fantasize my own breakthrough someday...

The founder, whose name I forgot haha. Very young though 

Then took another 2 hour bus ride after a good lunch to visit the incubator. Not too bad but was kinda underwhelming. Highlight was the old school classroom haha 

More shopping and visited this amazing toilet upon the guide's recommendation. Posh sibo~

Dinner was macs and never say no to bacon fast food overseas 

#205presents #muckupmonday

Drinking session was pretty alright, what's amazing is that we woke up the next morning with 4 hours of sleep as if nothing happened the night before...

Day 8

Cooperative day. Factory visits. 

Then a talk by Unisol, which wasn't very productive cos they needed a translator and it's super distracting to wait for translation. Which begs the question: if a topic is really interesting and important, should you learn the language it's prominent in, or should the topic be translated to a common language of wider audience so that it can be further promoted? 

Visited some graffitis which were super communistic 

Going against the chronological order of events in the day to talk about the dinner at this food truck place serving good burgers before I blog about our final site visit in São Paulo cos that is just too impactful to not be the last...

Walked back and found some pretty street lights 

And fake Eiffel towel

Before trying out the metro system here in Brazil to get back to our hotel

A simple final drink at 248 just across our hotel marks the end of our time here in this ex-capital of Brazil...

And off we go! 

--

Our final stop in this city, which also turned out to be the most memorable for most: favela. We technically didn't enter the favela but stayed on the fringe, but it was still quite an eye opener. This is perhaps something average tourists will never get to see (Favela Adventures, I heard in a talk in Rio later, brings people to Rocinha, so maybe I'm not entirely right). But still...

Beyond a simple sightseeing objective, we came here to learn about the local women's garbage collection/recycling cooperative. And it was amazing firstly because we get to see them on-site/in-situ, up-close and personal; and secondly, because they welcomed us with open arms. 

Beyond that, this group of women displayed optimism, courage, and tenacity I've never come close to experiencing before. It's life and death. It's do or die. And they chose the harder route, all in hope of getting a better life. No, not a better life out of this community outsiders called "slums", but to improve things within, and to work something out together as a whole; not abandon others for their own good. 

Two incidents were particularly poignant: (i) when the ladies shared their failure the previous year, when people abandoned them, when things started to crumble, but they held on, and believed that they have all that they need to improve their lives, to get that education, to get that much-needed proper roof above their head, to get the kids grow up to be better persons than they can imagine; and (ii) when they displayed not a sign of despair, when they showcased the gayness in this small little garbage dump, when life so meaningful and hopeful is found in a place no one ever bothers noticing, much less enter. This is their life; this is their home. And they work goddam hard to make it what they want it to be...