Nationality: Brazilian

Birthday: 1964/07/30

Email: sbarddal@yahoo.com.sg

My father ignited my passion for China and we have been sharing this dream for more than 30 years. The possibility of carrying the Olympic Torch to Beijing gives me a unique opportunity to pay tribute to my father and honor Chinese minorities from Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

China was so distant from my home country that I rarely met anyone besides my parents who had visited it before the 1990s.

Being an expat in China was a dream that came true in 2005. Besides all the benefits that I took from this experience, one thing will bond me to this country forever. That was the opportunity of bringing my father back and listening to his testimony about how China has changed and how happy people are now. It had been 30 years since his last visit and he came here just a few months before he passed away.

I work as a forester and live with my family in Beihai, Guangxi, a sunny bay area in a multicultural environment. I am not the conventional athletic type but in order to cope with the speed of this country, we must all be strong and energetic.

I can speak a little Chinese, but nobody except some of my co-workers can truly understand me. Maybe this is my "Brazilian accent". So, I have to count on my daughters (8 and 12 years old) as "out of work translators". Life is great, but not perfect. There is no cheese available but I can taste the best fruits and the most delicious seafood the world has to offer.

Some amusing episodes and small conflicts related to the thorny issue of "cultural differences" crop up in daily life and make for interesting work experiences. I have been learning how to be "less Latin-tempered" and more in line with Confucian wisdom, but I still face difficulties related to my own foolishness.

Living in China has been a daily learning opportunity for me, my family, my employees and my colleagues. Exchanging experiences in such a small unit (our company) has shown us that the best results can be achieved only when we respect each other's differences and optimize our best qualities. We are people from many countries working together towards the Olympic motto of "One Dream".