Introduction

Welcome to the Gringoes.com email newsletter!
This newsletter pulls together some of the articles, photos, polls and other information that has been published on the Gringoes.com web site over the last week or so. Don't forget to visit the Gringoes.com site to checkout our article archive, useful information pages, classified adverts, services, forum and other pages. So read on and we hope you enjoy the newsletter. As always if you have any comments, such as what you'd like to see more or less of on the site or newsletter, don't hesitate to contact us at gringoes@gringoes.com.
Please note that although we are based in São Paulo, the site and newsletter are for the whole of Brazil. We are particularly interested in hearing from people outside of São Paulo city, specifically Rio de Janeiro and the Northeast, so if you would like to write about your experiences or any topic related to Brazil see our request for "Article Writers" below.
If you're interested to know the origin behind the site name, then read the "Dear Gringo" article here by Dr. G.


Sao Paulo: Celebrate Change at Finnegan's

November 12, 2008
Join the Democrats Abroad as São Paulo celebrates Barack Obama's historic White House journey.
Finnegan's Irish Pub
Rua Cristiano Viana, 358 - Pinheiros
R$9.00 - Call (11) 3062-3232 to reserve a table.
For future gigs refer to JasonBermingham.com. (Apologies for the last minute nature, but hopefully this will catch some subscribers)



Brazil: Illegal Immigrant Amnesty

November 12, 2008
Brazil's Federal Government is again planning for an amnesty of illegal immigrants within the country, which are estimated at around 50,000. Luiz Paulo Barreto, Executive Secretary for the Ministry of Justice, confirmed last week that the objective is to legalise the situation of the illegal aliens within the country, to reflect the help given by other countries that host Brazilian immigrants.
Barreto said that around 4 million Brazilians are living some form of clandestine existence outside of Brazil. According to immigration data the majority of Brazilians immigrants live in the USA and Japan.
The most recent amnesty was 10 years ago, in 1998. At that time those who were interested in becoming legalised needed to contact the Ministry of Justice. The Institute of Migration and Human Rights identified that 40,909 people applied for amnesty during this period. The majority were formed from Chinese, Bolivians, Argentineans, Uruguayans, Koreans, Lebanese, Peruvians, Chileans, Paraguayans, and Portuguese.
…click here to read the rest of the article>>


They've Got An Awful Lot of Coffee In Brazil - And It‘s Going Fair Trade!

By Lance Belville
November 3, 2008
"Way down among the Brazilians,
Coffee beans grow by the millions,
So they‘ve got to find those extra cups to fill,
They‘ve got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil."
-- Frank Sinatra
(Header photo: Author Belville tries his hand at the arcane ritual of coffee cupping. Photo by L. Lohr)
A few days ago, a unique combination of hard work and hard cash made Brazil‘s First International Fair Trade Certified Coffee Cupping Competition in Minas Gerais what Hollywood would call a boffo success. It brought to the small coffee-growing town of Machado an international panel of roasters, importers, exporters and coffee-judging (called cupping) superstars from the USA and South America to meet hard-working Brazilian Fair Trade Certified coffee producers to sniff, slurp and spit the black brew.
By all accounts, it was a taster‘s paradise. And the dash for the title of best of Brazil‘s Fair Trade Certified brews was decided by the 11 International judges who savored their way through 69 samples from seven Brazilian production regions on their way to picking six winners and 14 runners up.
…click here to read the rest of the article>>


Gringoes Poll

Last fortnight's poll is on Brazilian made films/movies. Are you amazed by all the films made in Brazil, less than impressed, or somewhere in between? It seems most of you are impressed with 36% voting "good", 19% "fantastic", 18% "average", and 14% "as long as Xuxa isn't in it!".
This fortnight's poll is on the recent rumblings about the amnesty for illegal immigrants. Are you going to claim amnesty if it arrives, or is there no need? Are If you haven't yet voted go to our homepage and look for the poll in the left-hand column.
If you can't stand our poll ideas and have better ones, or are curious about some aspect of the Gringoes.com readers, then send your ideas to us at mark@gringoes.com with "Poll Idea" in the subject. If we choose your poll you will get a credit in the newsletter, as well as the satisfaction of seeing what the answers are!


Interviews

If you would like to be in our Brazil Through Foreign Eyes, or Foreigners Through Brazilian Eyes series please send us an email. As you can see it doesn't matter if you're a foreigner to Brazil, or Brazilian, we're still interested to hear from you. The interview series is a fascinating look at how real people are enjoying Brazil, and equally how Brazilians really see foreigners. They also give various tips on what to see in Brazil, and how to survive here.
The interview itself is a set of around 15 easy-to-answer questions, and ideally we like a digital photo of you as well we can place with the interview.
So if you're interested, don't be shy, send a blank email to mark@gringoes.com with "Interview" in the subject. We will then send you the questions, and instructions on how to complete. We'd love to hear from you!
A gentle reminder to those who have been sent questions. Please don't forget to complete and return them!

Please send this email to anyone you think might find it interesting. If you have not yet registered with gringoes.com and would like to receive future newsletters click here. If you have mistakenly received this message, or would no longer like to receive mail from us, then please reply to this email with the word 'take out' in the subject line. If you are unsubscribing because the newsletter doesn't meet your needs then please let us know how we can improve it.

Photo of the Week

The photo of the week is titled Drowning taken by Sydnee Voigt in Brooklin, São Paulo. Click here to see the photo.
Thanks to all those who've sent in photos based on our request, but we can always do with more. So if you have a funny or unusual photo depicting life in Brazil please send it to gringoes@gringoes.com with ‘Photo of the Week’ in the subject line. Ideally we are after photos that are of something a little different, not traditional shots of beaches and sunsets. Please send relatively high resolution images (0.5 Megapixel / 640 x 480 or bigger), and let us know where you took the photo and if you have a title for it.


Yahoo Issues With Email Newsletter

November 3, 2008
Just to let our email newsletter subscribers know that Yahoo have temporarily blocked our email newsletter due to a complaint from a Yahoo member. We have contacted Yahoo about this, but if you are a Yahoo member that wants to receive our email newsletter then please contact their support and advise that the gringoes.com domain, and the newsletter@gringoes.com email address are both valid and sending genuine email.
If you do not want to receive our email newsletter then it is very easy to opt out by sending an email from the address you want to cancel and putting "take out" in the subject.
For those who have found they aren't receiving our newsletter, then check for emails from newsletter@gringoes.com and ensure that the same address is not blocked in your spam filter.



LinkedIn Group

November 3, 2008
By request we have created a group on the LinkedIn social networking site.
For those who have not used LinkedIn before, it is a site with a focus on business and networking, so may well be ideal for "Gringoes" who are looking for work in Brazil.
If you would like to add it then point your browser here.
Alternatively if you don't have a LinkedIn account then you can also discuss at our forum, which requires registration.



Discussion Forum

If you've not had a chance yet then pop over to our web forum, register, and start joining in the discussion about Brazil. There are many forum areas such as Living in Brazil, Teaching English, Visas and Documentation, and even a place to Vent Your Frustrations! If you've got some burning question about Brazil, or just want to discuss a particular topic, then you're bound to get an answer there.
There's also a forum which allows you to comment and give us feedback on Gringoes.com, either with your views about past articles, areas of the site, or to make suggestions for future articles and content.
Note that foul language, abusive posts and certain types of advertising in the forum will not be tolerated. Make sure to check the Read This First area first before posting. The forum is intended to be a constructive and lighthearted place for discussion about Brazil.


Forex

The US Dollar has risen again over the fortnight, from R$2.12 to R$2.27. The Euro has risen as well, from R$2.74 to R$2.86. The British Pound has dropped, from R$3.47 to R$3.41.