Jairo Santos

“…
I introduce myself to the world
Here one sets oneself free
By discovering the thread
In the pit of the labyrinth

All ages rule here at once
Faces fit onto faces
And distance finishes
By confusing us with ourselves

Time is a filled-in lagoon
A tongue of earth thrust from the water
A mythic eternal blue mountain
A pillar raised facing the bay

Here centuries die and are reborn
To nourish human desires
They leave all the better to return
Here the absent are never wrong…”

(Amina Saïd, translated by Marilyn Hacked)



I decided to introduce myself by using translated poetry, for two reasons: first of all, because I wanted you guys to focus on the kind of work we are going to be doing "very soon". Isn’t it an amazing art? For a long time I've wished to be a translator and of course it’s probably useless to say how happy I am to have joined this group.
However, it's not easy to be a student-worker, I just think that every day when I get up and come to university, I make one more step to making my dream come true, and then, the hours don't count anymore, neither those I work, not those I study nor those few I sleep. I just want to enjoy every single minute I share with you all and learn as much as I can. I only wish I had more time... well, that's life...
The second reason is because the text explains a little of what I feel when I meet you everyday; here we come together as one. All the differences don't exist anymore. We become a team and that's the beautiful part.
I’m Jairo, 36, Brazilian, and I work in a restaurant in Bairro Alto. I like my job very much however it takes a lot of my time. I love travelling, dancing (also if I don't do it very often); I like to go to the gym, to the cinema and of course I love to go out and have a good meal with friends. If you want to know more about myself, don't be shy, I already know you aren't, so, ask me :-)