Osmel Almaguer's Diary Archives

Adapting to Survival in a Foreign Country

We immigrants are united by a kind of common bond, born of our awareness of the other’s griefs: “I suffer, I miss, I have to limit myself…”

After a year and a half without taking a vacation, the butcher department manager where I work has taken a month off.

I can now afford to pay 170 reais a month for gym membership, but only because I decided to stop spending on sweets and soda.

I haven’t seen my mother in two and a half years. My wife hasn’t seen hers in the same amount of time. My father died while I was away…

A friend of ours still living in Cuba, recently wrote to us, nearly in tears, because his phone fell to the ground and the screen shattered.

I have been thinking about opening my own butcher shop. However, the minimum amount needed for that is 50,000 reais (around $9,000 dollars)

One could say a churrasco (barbecue) tops the priority list for many Brazilians. Those who can afford it have one almost every weekend.

I’ve noticed this growing trend at the supermarket where I work and at stores, car washes, or barbecue stands.

One of the most traumatic memories from my life in Cuba is of those so-called “voluntary” workdays that weren’t really voluntary at all…

I’ve spent a lot of quality time going out with my family, and even celebrating my little daughter’s birthday at one of those natural parks.