Sunday, December 18, 2011

10 Ways Rio de Janeiro is Spoiling Me


There are certain aspects to middle class life in Rio de Janeiro that are definitely spoiling me.

1. I leave the dishes for the maid when she is coming the next day. Sure, it's her day to work but do I really need to stop cleaning up after myself at 2pm the day prior?

2. Complaining about services. I'm too lazy to take the car and drive to the grocery store, so I go and have the store deliver the groceries to me. The obvious trade for that convenience is the fact that I have to be home to collect them. I always get annoyed after around 30 minutes of waiting. I can't be bothered to carry my own stuff out nor can be bothered to wait. For me that translates into lazy  spoiled.

3. I resist leaving my general neighborhood. I basically have everything I need here and will attempt to stay in the area even though I have a metro and plenty of buses or cabs close by.

4. I love to order for delivery. You think not wanting to leave you neighborhood is bad, try not wanting to leave your house. I love to call and order food for delivery. I doubly love to get stuff from the pharmacy that way. That last one is partly because I am a horrible impulsive shopper at pharmacies. New toothbrushes for everyone!

5. I expect doorman help if I need it. I know it's part of their job but I find it odd that I now consider it a given. Of course I can over-shop and not have hands to open the door, Antonio will get it for me.

6. My kids know how to hail a taxi without having been explicitly told. I have those city gets who take taxis... in my defense, they also take the metro

7. I no longer clean toilets unless I really have to... or my two year old explodes all over the place (I'm not that mean).

8. If I wanted I could actually hire a cook to come into my home and make a weeks worth of meals for my family.

9. I can also easily hire someone to come in just to spend the day ironing all the clothes I own (this is very common).

10. Finally, I live in your vacation destination. 

28 comments:

  1. Yep, I've got all of them as well. I indulge on #9 (although it's just because dry cleaning and laundry service similar to what we had in NYC is so expensive), I am thinking about #8... but I just don't have #10. Well, for the next month I will have it.

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  2. Patricinha in the making!...just kiddin' I hope...

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  3. I find it useful to put a price tag on time. This way one can discover how much money he/she is saving, or losing, when performing a certain task. Don't forget the future investement factor though so if you are, say, studying and tasks were outsourced to a third party try to figure out the return of said studies in the future. And hell, take time of from the Protestant work ethic once in a full moon to just relax by hiring someone to do some work.

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  4. #11 - the pedicurist will come to your house for no extra charge (at least ours does).

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  5. I LOVE how Americans refuse to see themselves in the upper class, even when they are.

    If you live in the Zona Sul and have all of those advantages you are in the upper class. Even though you might FEEL like you are in the middle class looking back at your life in US or looking at your friends on expat contracts living the highlife in Leblon, you are the 5-10% who get to travel, get to send your kids to a good school, get to complain about your husband working late (and not working late on his second job), get to assume your kids will go to college if they want.

    You are in the classe "A" if you make over R$8.000 a month. 20% of Rio falls into classes A and B COMBINED. 10% falls into class E. The middle is C and D, and the middle you are not.

    There is absolutely nothing wrong with being upper class. But I think it sends a misguided view of Rio and Brazil in general when the middle class is travelling by 3trains to sweat in Madureira and save a buck and coming to wash your toilet, and people are publishing that the middle class has dryers and cooks.

    You don't need to be embarrassed about being upper class, or being one of the many middle class foreigners who got to join the Brazilian upper class in moving here, but you should own up to it and be factually correct tempering it by saying "lower-upper" but not stretching so far as to say "middle."

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  8. Lower- upper class? Anon, Do you keep track of my finances? Are you my accountant? Do you know how much my maid charges for twice a week? FYI, my maid has a maid. Is she upper class?

    I don't think there is anything wrong with upper class but I know I am not in class A. Trust me. I know my own finances.

    And just because I state that I have an option to have some of the above does not mean I can afford to do all of them at the same time. I am stating that they are a possibility.

    Also, Just because there is a Class A B C D E F G etc etc practically here does not mean that I am upper. Just because there are a variety of levels of poverty doesn't automatically make me upper class.

    And being totally honest, just because Brazil wants to declare that there's more people in the "new" middle class doesn't mean that they are actually middle class. Changing the requirements to be considered middle class does not make it middle class, no matter how much the country wants it to be.

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  9. FYI, it's awesome how people always choose ANON to criticize. This was a fun loving post, not a political statement

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  10. I used to have my hair cut at home. But, after moving to the other side of the World (beyond Niteroi) and going without a haircut for five months, my wife dragged me to the local barber, a rasta, who gave me the best haircut of 8 years in Brasil. Go figure, he had gone without a haircut for over 25 years but was the best I have seen in a long, long time. For R$12. I will walk a few blocks for that.

    I used to have groceries delivered too, but it is just too much fun to play crash carts in the aisles weaving among Brasilians who have a love of standing in the middle of the aisle reading the small print on every can.

    The beauty of it all is the fact you have these options, and they are not unreasonably expensive. And, leaving the house in Rio is always an adventure. Exploding manholes come to mind. Why miss out?

    Still, there is some truth to the statement that middle class in Brasil is a step or two down from owning an apartment in Zona Sul and having the choice of various in home services. Rio is very different from the rest of Brasil, for the price of a simple two bedroom apartment in Copacabana you can own a sizeable farm in the NE of Brasil. Middle class compared with overall Zona Sul, sure. There is some serious, though rather discrete, money in Zona Sul. Middle class for overall Brasil, I don't think so. Kick yourself up a notch in that category.

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  11. I am not the other Anon person, but don't you send your children to private school? I am not stalking you lol, but you mentioned it in a previous post. Maybe it is less expensive then the U.S but somehow I doubt it is dirt cheap, like can anyone send their child to private school? So I can see what the other Anon person is saying.

    Like he/she said, there is nothing wrong with having money and being in the upper class. Maybe you don't think you are because you spend your money wisely instead of buying designer shoes and clothes in the thousands of dollars, you spend it on your children instead. Many people would love to be in your shoes. I hope to have money someday too, so I am not hating!! I wish everyone to have money and good things in their lives. The only person you hurt is yourself, when you hold envy toward other people who seem to have more or actually do whether it be over material things, beauty etc. Besides there will always be people who have "more"...

    No, I have no idea what your finances are, I just think that private schooling is an indicator of where you might be in Rio's economic ladder. But like I said, if you spent your money on louboutins, you probably wouldn't have money left over for private school. So I don't think you are super wealthy flinging dollar bills outside your window, just maybe above middle class perhaps? This is just my opinon, and people will always have opinons sometimes they won't mesh with your own. Anyway it isn't my intention to be mean or rude so hopefully this comment won't be taken as such.

    Have a nice day:-D

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  12. Private schooling is something that people, at least in Rio, scrape money together for. Honestly, we have a lot of scraping happening to afford it.

    Mr. Rant considers public education something that should be saved for those who absolutely have no means to scrape together the money for private. Since we have better options for most, he prefers to save the limited slots for others

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  13. I see all of your points and would say I qualify as upper upper middle class. Honestly though, I don't think it's good for Brazil to strive to change my view of middle class as opposed to the country attempting to raise the quality of life of others to an acceptable level of middle class.

    Of course Brazil has not asked my opinion on how to run things and that is a good thing as I am no expert :)

    As for all the Zona Sul finger pointing, I'm sure there are plenty of people who live outside of Zona Sul, who you would allow to be called middle class, in a much larger place than I am in. Just because I opted for location over space does not mean my R$1 is worth more than theirs.

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  14. Yes, you are middle class. I know your lifestyle and the sacrifices you and your family make to make ends mean. The northeast, is POOR considering international and Brazilian standards. I couldn't care less about the ABCD's labels, that's pure semantics.
    Dudes, if you live in madureira and you're taking 3 trains to get to work, generally speaking, you're not middle class. Three trains from Madureira ... seriously?? Don't be dramatic that doesn't even make sense, unless that person works in guapimirim!!! Just look at the SuperVia track map.
    In my experience, people are too quick to label Americans as unaware of their wealth. C'mon people, let's quit using that one year "intercambio" experience and all those tv shows you watch as parameter. Most importantly, let's keep the NE and real poor people out of a middle class discussion, it's really bad to use them just for dramatic effect!
    We're ALL aware of the poverty conditions many people live around the world, don't feel privileged because you had a Brazilian education (as I did) and here we actually see poverty on a daily basis.
    Anyway, if you are an expat coming to Brazil with a college level degree, I'm not talking about big time executives and company directors, this blog and this blog post can give you a pretty good idea of what middle class life looks like over here.
    Beijos :)

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  15. Rachel is one of the first blogs I started following in brazil and I am biased to her as she has given me a lot of advice and support. But what you guys are saying really isn't accurate either.

    I think Middle or Upper class or whatever are ideas we created. To make us feel better, worse and many many functions. Something we can compare and measure in research for example. So many reasons, but the scale I think in Brazil the class scale is super crazy and off. And that's not Rachel's fault. It needs work, let's say that.

    Rachel has been in Brazil for a long time. She invested into real estate before the hikes and was lucky about her situation. Because she made good choices with her life. So you shouldn't "burn" someone for being lucky and smart. Her husband's family and her family come from Middle class standards. So she is not going to move much out of their mobility.

    Hell, I am class B and I am worrying about how I am going to make all my baby purchases for my child coming in three months, paying for my economic car, building a house and paying for basic expenses. Being class A is not so clear cut, let me explain.

    Class B is after 4,000 heais. Let's look at that, hmmm 2,000 dollars a month. Ok, that's considered poverty on the index of the 1950's for a family of four. 8,000 heais, is just 4,000 dollars in the US index still-- poverty.

    I think that the 7 billion people in the world can't live by the US index standard we just don't have an SUV for every family in the world. However, I don't think that families should go survive on 250 bucks a month. that's not right. AND Rachel is not someone that you should be complaining to. It's true the top 1% of the world are the ones you need to be barking to. They are the ones messing up this system and oh why we have poverty.

    Yeah, I am American and I have better situation then most here, but I wasn't just given that. And you shouldn't assume that Rachel was just given that. Her and her husband worked hard and made good choices. So she is supposed to be punished for good choices.

    And yeah being American we like to put ourselves in the middle class. It's a cultural thing, wether you fail short or high we tend to put ourselves in the middle. We don't like extremes.

    And education is a value that is taught to us as people. Not everyone with money or a way pays for their kids to go to private school. And private school is much more than just education here is Brazil. I would pay top dollar and skip out on all my extras for my child's education.

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  16. I know Rachel and have been to her apartment - spent time with Mr. Rant and the boys... middle class (in the nicest way) get over yourselves critics. There is wealth in Rio, for sure. Unfortunately, not at Rachel's hous...

    Love you Rachel.

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  17. Middle class, upper class, in the end, what does it matter?

    As music Lulu Santos said: "We'll live all there is to live, We will allow ourselves"

    and money will ''vai e vêm'' in the end all that matters are the emotions who you lived, are the sunny days you can enjoy with your family ...

    Deveria ser proibido postar em anônimo... Só gera discórdia.

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  18. I honestly don't know why you and other people, presumably your friends and fellow bloggers, feel the need to defend your honor and call these anon comments "nasty" as Danielle did in her post. I have read through all of the comments and I didn't think any of them were criticizing you or your lifestyle or how you spend your money in any way; rather, I think they were expressing different viewpoints. I think they were trying to discuss and point out different ideas that everyone has for what constitutes "middle class" or "upper class". Nothing written here seemed to me to be nasty or insulting. I think that people are getting the wrong idea from the anon posts. I love your blog but bloggers need not get so defensive. You are putting your ideas, experiences, opinions etc. out there and not everyone will agree with you and that's totally okay. Feeling the need to defend yourself when someone disagrees is, of course, your choice but getting riled up about it is, in my opinion, not necessary.

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  19. "I honestly don't know why you and other people, presumably your friends and fellow bloggers, feel the need to defend your honor and call these anon comments "nasty" as Danielle did in her post. I have read through all of the comments and I didn't think any of them were criticizing you or your lifestyle or how you spend your money in any way; rather, I think they were expressing different viewpoints. I think they were trying to discuss and point out different ideas that everyone has for what constitutes "middle class" or "upper class". Nothing written here seemed to me to be nasty or insulting. I think that people are getting the wrong idea from the anon posts. I love your blog but bloggers need not get so defensive. You are putting your ideas, experiences, opinions etc. out there and not everyone will agree with you and that's totally okay. Feeling the need to defend yourself when someone disagrees is, of course, your choice but getting riled up about it is, in my opinion, not necessary."(2)
    PS:Yes,Rachel,you are upper class.Own it,instead of acting(and have other bloggers act) defensive.

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  20. Your life style is very similar to mine. I do have kids in private school, travel when we can, have a car and even live in city that proportionally has the most class A in Brasil, Niteroi. Yet this comes with choices. If we want to travel, we need to cut down on certain expenses and spread out in payments (prestação). If we need big ticket items, we need to do the same. What may seem a middle class lifestyle in some developed countries, in Brasil, unfortunately is considered upper middle class. And I think as a Brazilian, we are only fooling ourselves thinking because people can afford TV, refrigerator, washer and dryer, they can immediately be considered middle class. This only serves as distraction from politicians to address the real problems of access to basic services, infrastructure and education. We are making progress but we still have a long way to go. This is only my two cents from an upper middle class guy! :-)Carlos Lima

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  21. Regardless of the social class-definition - having groceries delivered and pharmacy products delivered - is just straight up spoiled and lazy. Why would you even come to live in Rio, if you're just going to stay locked inside your house all day?

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  22. Omg, Seriously? Does no one have a sense of humor. Of course I don't stay locked in my house all day. Have you ever walked 5 city blocks with 2 kids and groceries for 4 people? It's a bitch. I don't have one of those pully bag things either.

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  23. I love having groceries delivered, it not only prevents my arms from stretching to where my knuckles scrape the sidewalk, it is a time saver which allows me to get out of the house and enjoy what Rio has to offer.

    I hope everyone had a marvelous Christmas and will have a safe, happy and prosperous New Year! How perfect that it rained, and cooled off to allow some good sleep time that last two nights.

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