{"id":786582,"date":"2026-09-29T17:34:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T17:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/786582\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T17:34:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T17:34:23","slug":"when-i-met-my-irish-partner-in-brazil-i-thought-he-looked-very-exotic-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/786582\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018When I met my Irish partner in Brazil, I thought he looked very exotic\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since moving to Belfas<\/a>t after leaving her native Brazil<\/a> in 2014, Juliana Germinio (34), has packed her bag four times with the intention of moving back home. <\/p>\n

Adjusting to life in Belfast was hard for Germinio, as she found both the weather and the culture colder than in her homeland. <\/p>\n

She had moved to Ireland to be with her then-partner Killian, whom she met when they were both volunteering for housing charity Habitat for Humanity in her home city of Recife. Her manager had asked her to go and speak to the Irish man there, as she had the best English of their group. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he was very exotic. I remember the first thing I said to him was, \u2018Did you apply suncream?\u2019\u201d Germinio says of Killian, now her husband. \u201cI had never met anybody that had blue eyes, very pale skin covered in freckles, and bald. That combination of factors was so foreign and so unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n

It turns out that Killian had not applied any suncream, and so was grateful to be offered some as they worked out in the open in a city that sits on the equator. <\/p>\n

Before long, the two became a pair, and by the end of that summer, Germinio, who was in college at the time, had decided she was going to move to Dublin with Killian and do an Erasmus year. <\/p>\n

She says her father knew then that she would not be moving back home. \u201cI had no idea, I am just go-with-the-flow, and it was one of those very immature things that we do when we are young.\u201d <\/p>\n

The couple did not stay in Dublin. Killian, a structural engineer, was soon offered a job in Belfast, to which the couple relocated. She admits she knew nothing of the city\u2019s history when they moved there. Her only indication of its complicated past was when her father expressed concern about her moving there. \u201cIt was a massive learning curve.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the start, the Belfast accent was a struggle for Germinio. \u201cI came to Belfast and I couldn\u2019t understand a thing.\u201d She was used to an American sort of English \u2013 not a Northern Irish sort of English. <\/p>\n

\"JulianaJuliana Germinio: ‘I am very passionate about Belfast. I think we have so much to offer. I am very involved in the community.’ Photograph: Chris Maddaloni\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

It was only after they moved to Belfast that the full weight of moving away from everything and everyone she knew hit her. As neither Germinio nor Killian are from Belfast, they were both starting from scratch with no support network. \u201cI could not wait to have my independence, but I did not know it was going to be this costly,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018I tell all my Irish friends that Ireland is the Brazil of Europe\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Germinio, who then dropped out of her university course, succeeded in getting a job in an art gallery and framers\u2019 in Belfast. She got the position by printing out her CV and going from door to door. <\/p>\n

In a bid to make friends, Germinio decided to go to a Portuguese language meet-up in Belfast she had seen online. It was run by a Brazilian man and his girlfriend, who wanted to practise her Portuguese. \u201cThey are our best friends to this day. They opened up a whole plethora of Brazilian people living in Northern Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

While today she has a wide circle of friends, there were a number of social norms to which Germinio had to adapt when she first moved. \u201cAt the beginning I would give people two kisses, one on each side of the cheek, and people would find that off-putting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, someone told her that people in Ireland often shake hands when meeting, and only hug if they know them in their personal life. A moment that still haunts her is when she bumped into an old boss and his wife. \u201cI pulled him in and gave him two kisses. Then I looked at his wife, and she was not pleased!\u201d <\/p>\n

After moving to Belfast, her father-in-law approached her and offered to pay to continue her education. \u201cHe said, \u2018My son took you out of education and I don\u2019t think that\u2019s right \u2013 so I am going to put you back in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JulianaJuliana Germinio: ‘I want to leave Belfast a better place than I found it. I can see the change \u2013 and that\u2019s the exciting bit.’ Photograph: Chris Maddaloni\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n

Germinio is quite emotional talking about this. She emphasises the belief that her father-in-law always had in her and the great financial commitment this represented. Being from Brazil, he had to pay international fees on her behalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the craziest thing I had done, as I was working full-time, and then doing this programme for managers in UCD.\u201d Once a month for four years, she would commute to Dublin for classes conducted over three-day weekends. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0A Brazilian man in Ireland: \u2018I was working nights just collecting drunk people\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In 2023, the couple welcomed the arrival of their daughter Pippa. Since then, Germinio has founded creative agency Yellow Zest, which runs the East Belfast Business Meet Up connecting local entrepreneurs, and hosts a monthly podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very passionate about Belfast. I think we have so much to offer. I am very involved in the community,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Germinio has even considered getting into politics in Belfast, but her husband has so far talked her out of it. \u201cI want to leave Belfast a better place than I found it. I can see the change \u2013 and that\u2019s the exciting bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

In particular, Germinio points to the regeneration of Newtownards Road in Belfast\u2019s city centre. \u201cAs time passes we can see more diversity in the food and activities, and the murals are now about hope and friendship.\u201d<\/p>\n

We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland in the past 10 years. To get involved, email newtotheparish@irishtimes.com<\/a> or send us two lines about yourself using the form below. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since moving to Belfast after leaving her native Brazil in 2014, Juliana Germinio (34), has packed her bag…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1334,9548,1397,259111,1647,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-786582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-belfast","tag-brazil","tag-environment","tag-new-to-the-parish","tag-northern-ireland","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}