This massive delay has again been caused by stupid amounts of work. If I thought my last stretch of work got in the way of blogging, I was sadly underestimating how much it could, in fact, get in the way. The last two weeks have been weekdays spent crunching at work pretty much every waking hour outside of showering and breakfast at home. My desire to hit the keyboard on the weekends (outside of more work on the weekends) has been effectively nill.
So as for what's going on, you can probably surmise that there's been much work and little play. This weekend I actually was able to put work away (though I will have a hell of a day tomorrow to get materials ready for a 4pm meeting). Finally, I was able to get some exercise in, which was sorely needed (though left me pretty sore in the end). Yesterday I got a good run in and today I played squash. Unfortunately, I ate enough yesterday to feed me for the weekend and still at some more today. I need to either make the time to work out more or start being at least somewhat cognizant of what I eat. I tend to rely on the exercise to balance my love for food but work has rendered that unfeasible of late. As such, my pants are not fitting so well right now. This project only has a week left so hopefully my next case will be a little more reasonable. Also, the next one should be my last case here in Brazil. I can't believe I have two months left. Two months from today is supposed to be my last work-day in Brazil.
On that note, there is an opportunity to stay here longer shaping up at work. How long and other details are as of yet unclear. I'm putting a lot of thought into the decision, as it is not an easy one. Especially at this point in my career, there are certain implications to the office I choose to be in for the next year or two... I'm not going to discuss where I stand in such an open forum, but it is definitely something on my mind a lot of late. Other than that, there's nothing much to report.
I was with my buddy Pedro today and we drove by Michigan Street, so I jumped out of the car and had him take my picture ... I happened to be wearing a Michigan t-shirt at the time. Cheesy yes, but I don't take enough pictures so why not? Once I get it off my phone I'll post it.
That's about it. I should know my next staffing situation soon - they don't dawdle here getting you going on the next case!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Way behind ... apologies
Wow - sorry for the delay. It is amazing what happens when you are so busy during the workdays and Saturdays and hung over enough to have no motivation to write. Well, much has gone down since I last wrote.
Got staffed on a new case. Working in the call center biz and I'm staffed locally, which is cool. Was working on this case before we'd even done the final presentation for the other case. This office is crazy busy. The team is great, manager is cool, topic is interesting and the pace is fast. Just arrived in LA for a week of training, which is going to be interesting given the pace of my case back in São Paulo. Something tells me I'll be working during training more this time than NCT.
My brother has been here twice in the last three weeks. He came in for work on a Thursday while I was in Rio but stayed until Sunday. We hung out Friday night through Sunday morning. It was awesome to get to see him. Just had a fun, relaxing time. Went to dinner on Saturday with Pedro and Lia at Brasil a Gosto - awesome restaurant in São Paulo. We ended up going out for a little bit, a little later than planned but we were none worse for the wear. Tyson had to roll out really early the next day.
The following weekend I caught up with Thiago and some of his friends. I hadn't seen them since my first weekend here, and it really was all on me. They'd called once or twice and I was busy, then I just felt awkward calling after time had elapsed. Stupid. What a great group of people. I have since hung out w/ Thiago, Bruno, Bianca and Julio a couple of times. They, as a group, are part of what made me think Brazilian people are so welcoming, and they are very much living up to that. Bianca and Bruno are from Goaina, I think, and understand what it is like to live somewhere w/out family, so they have offered to act as part of my family here. I think that's what happened with Julio too :) I'm down for sure.
Looking at my notes from last weekend at the bar: Don't let the pianist sing. They turn every song into a bad hippie version. Although the band was decent, the sounded like a bad version of my high school band Nedlog (much more talent). They were tarnishing one great song after another.
I arrived in LA for training today. Goes until next Wednesday at which point I'm heading to Chicago. Pretty stoked to 1. be in the US and 2. see a great crew from the Chicago and Toronto offices here for the week.
Promise to be better at keeping up to date.
Got staffed on a new case. Working in the call center biz and I'm staffed locally, which is cool. Was working on this case before we'd even done the final presentation for the other case. This office is crazy busy. The team is great, manager is cool, topic is interesting and the pace is fast. Just arrived in LA for a week of training, which is going to be interesting given the pace of my case back in São Paulo. Something tells me I'll be working during training more this time than NCT.
My brother has been here twice in the last three weeks. He came in for work on a Thursday while I was in Rio but stayed until Sunday. We hung out Friday night through Sunday morning. It was awesome to get to see him. Just had a fun, relaxing time. Went to dinner on Saturday with Pedro and Lia at Brasil a Gosto - awesome restaurant in São Paulo. We ended up going out for a little bit, a little later than planned but we were none worse for the wear. Tyson had to roll out really early the next day.
The following weekend I caught up with Thiago and some of his friends. I hadn't seen them since my first weekend here, and it really was all on me. They'd called once or twice and I was busy, then I just felt awkward calling after time had elapsed. Stupid. What a great group of people. I have since hung out w/ Thiago, Bruno, Bianca and Julio a couple of times. They, as a group, are part of what made me think Brazilian people are so welcoming, and they are very much living up to that. Bianca and Bruno are from Goaina, I think, and understand what it is like to live somewhere w/out family, so they have offered to act as part of my family here. I think that's what happened with Julio too :) I'm down for sure.
Looking at my notes from last weekend at the bar: Don't let the pianist sing. They turn every song into a bad hippie version. Although the band was decent, the sounded like a bad version of my high school band Nedlog (much more talent). They were tarnishing one great song after another.
I arrived in LA for training today. Goes until next Wednesday at which point I'm heading to Chicago. Pretty stoked to 1. be in the US and 2. see a great crew from the Chicago and Toronto offices here for the week.
Promise to be better at keeping up to date.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
An Epic day.
The last 25 hours have been the things that vacation blogs are made of, not real life with work involved on a Wednesday night through Thursday night blog material. I know I have over a week to catch up on, but that's going to have to wait.
My project wraps up tomorrow but I tried to get the final pre-wire scheduled for today or yesterday since my brother arrived in São Paulo today and I was hoping to fly back. Sadly, it got scheduled for 3-5 pm tomorrow. So, I worked to get my materials ready for yesterday, which I did (as in finish the work for the project). When my manager realized that I was done, asserted that if I had nothing to do, why come to the office today. I couldn't have agreed more. So, I finished up and left the office so I could meet up with a guy I had met last week through a friend. He'd invited me to join him for some beach volleyball. This is where the vacation-ness all begins.
I left my place around 7:30 and walked the mile down the beach to get to the beach volleyball class that started at 8. We did drills for 45 minutes on Ipanema beach under lights with the ocean crashing in the background followed by three games of 3-on-3 beach volleyball. The drills were a pretty intense workout and we built up quite a sweat. What better way to wrap it up than a jump in the ocean? Soaking wet we stopped by a place for some dinner and a beer. Wasn't too hungry so I had a bowl of fruit, a cake with strawberries on top and a beer. Exhausted, I called it a night and was asleep by 11.
Woke up pretty early feeling great. Lounged a little; headed down for breakfast at the flat around 9 and headed for a walk along the beach. Walked for about an hour with a brief shopping stop to pick up a pair of shorts. I hadn't planned on a day off so I didn't bring any other than a bathing suit. Took some pictures which is in the album below.
The day was absolutely clear and gorgeous, so I decided to hit the Cristo (Christ the Redeemer statue). The views were stunning. On the tram on the way up, my camera crapped the bed. When I went to turn it on, it would extend the lense them make funny sounds and the screen would just say E18. This happened repeatedly. I even tried the usual rememdies ... remove and re-seed the battery; shake it; hit it against the chair (I've found that effective with many electronics but wouldn't advise it for others). Nothing. I was pretty annoyed, given that I'd already taken photos with it that morning and I was re-visiting the freakin' site to see AND get better photos. Oh well, what can you do?
So, I got up to the monument site and it was pretty much all that it is cracked up to be. Awesome. The views are amazing. Today, there happened to be a full police band up there getting ready to play. I wandered around, enjoyed their music, eavesdropped on other tourists. You know, the usual. Then I decided to try my camera again. I pulled it out of my pocket, knocked it against the stone railing once or twice, then tried to turn it on. Magically, it worked. Amazing how happy one can be taking pictures when 10 minutes prior it seemed impossible. I had already thought about writing the story of it being broken, looking for canned shots online and saying that's pretty much what it looked like :)
From there, I headed to Sta. Teresa, an artist neighborhood in Rio. It also happens to be prone to robberies. I had gotten warnings from various people about it, but I wanted to see if I could find some cool artwork to remind me of Rio. After my camera died, I was all about seeing if someone robbed a busted camera from me. I already had most of my cash stashed in a hidden internal pocket so I wasn't too worried. Once it started working again, I went back to being a little more cautious. I kept taking the memory card out when I wasn't using it in case someone did actually steal it. The camera is old and my backup, but I didn't want to lose the photos. The neighborhood was really quite neat.
There were some cool art stores, some with artists painting in them. Nothing really got me to excited, however, so I just wandered. A buddy had emailed me a restaurant recommendation that I forgot to write down. I also forgot my GorillaPod (sweet camera tripod-thingy) so there are zero photos of me. All I thought I remembered from the recommendation was the street number, 264. Where the cab dropped me off was 400, so after wandering for a bit, I headed for 264. Lo and behold, there was a restaurant there called Espirito Santa. The place had a really neat patio out the back with great food. Had namorado viúva - namorado is a type of fish here. White, pretty meaty. It had crushed Brazil nuts on top and it was on a bed of grilled, skinny hearts of palm. (Happens to be the first dish described in the NYT review linked above.) It was tres cool.
Took "The Santa Teresa Historic Tramway" down from there to the city center. The trolly is ancient, bright yellow and very cool. I managed to snap a couple cool photos, then my battery died. Seriously. That camera was as roller coaster today! I believe you pay if you sit, not if you stand. I was standing. The tram took me right to the heart of Rio. Where it dropped me off was very cool. The buildings were some of most modern I've seen in Rio. Especially such a close collection of them. I wandered from the center towards Copacabana. After walking for over an hour, I hopped in a cab to finish the trip to Copacabana as I was pretty tired.
I walked almost the entire length of the beach there, buying a pretty neat painting along the way. At that point, I was completely spent so I hopped in a cab to get back to my hotel so I could rest up a little before heading to yet another beach volleyball lesson. I needn't retell the experience because it was pretty much identical to the night before, including jumping in the ocean, but I only had fruit and beer for dinner, no cake.
That brings me to now, where I'm in bed ready to get some rest. Given that this was a Thursday, a workday, I think it may go down as one of my most memorable.
Apologies for the long delay in posting ... I'll try to keep my once-per-week-minmum pace up.
My project wraps up tomorrow but I tried to get the final pre-wire scheduled for today or yesterday since my brother arrived in São Paulo today and I was hoping to fly back. Sadly, it got scheduled for 3-5 pm tomorrow. So, I worked to get my materials ready for yesterday, which I did (as in finish the work for the project). When my manager realized that I was done, asserted that if I had nothing to do, why come to the office today. I couldn't have agreed more. So, I finished up and left the office so I could meet up with a guy I had met last week through a friend. He'd invited me to join him for some beach volleyball. This is where the vacation-ness all begins.
I left my place around 7:30 and walked the mile down the beach to get to the beach volleyball class that started at 8. We did drills for 45 minutes on Ipanema beach under lights with the ocean crashing in the background followed by three games of 3-on-3 beach volleyball. The drills were a pretty intense workout and we built up quite a sweat. What better way to wrap it up than a jump in the ocean? Soaking wet we stopped by a place for some dinner and a beer. Wasn't too hungry so I had a bowl of fruit, a cake with strawberries on top and a beer. Exhausted, I called it a night and was asleep by 11.
Woke up pretty early feeling great. Lounged a little; headed down for breakfast at the flat around 9 and headed for a walk along the beach. Walked for about an hour with a brief shopping stop to pick up a pair of shorts. I hadn't planned on a day off so I didn't bring any other than a bathing suit. Took some pictures which is in the album below.
The day was absolutely clear and gorgeous, so I decided to hit the Cristo (Christ the Redeemer statue). The views were stunning. On the tram on the way up, my camera crapped the bed. When I went to turn it on, it would extend the lense them make funny sounds and the screen would just say E18. This happened repeatedly. I even tried the usual rememdies ... remove and re-seed the battery; shake it; hit it against the chair (I've found that effective with many electronics but wouldn't advise it for others). Nothing. I was pretty annoyed, given that I'd already taken photos with it that morning and I was re-visiting the freakin' site to see AND get better photos. Oh well, what can you do?
So, I got up to the monument site and it was pretty much all that it is cracked up to be. Awesome. The views are amazing. Today, there happened to be a full police band up there getting ready to play. I wandered around, enjoyed their music, eavesdropped on other tourists. You know, the usual. Then I decided to try my camera again. I pulled it out of my pocket, knocked it against the stone railing once or twice, then tried to turn it on. Magically, it worked. Amazing how happy one can be taking pictures when 10 minutes prior it seemed impossible. I had already thought about writing the story of it being broken, looking for canned shots online and saying that's pretty much what it looked like :)
From there, I headed to Sta. Teresa, an artist neighborhood in Rio. It also happens to be prone to robberies. I had gotten warnings from various people about it, but I wanted to see if I could find some cool artwork to remind me of Rio. After my camera died, I was all about seeing if someone robbed a busted camera from me. I already had most of my cash stashed in a hidden internal pocket so I wasn't too worried. Once it started working again, I went back to being a little more cautious. I kept taking the memory card out when I wasn't using it in case someone did actually steal it. The camera is old and my backup, but I didn't want to lose the photos. The neighborhood was really quite neat.
There were some cool art stores, some with artists painting in them. Nothing really got me to excited, however, so I just wandered. A buddy had emailed me a restaurant recommendation that I forgot to write down. I also forgot my GorillaPod (sweet camera tripod-thingy) so there are zero photos of me. All I thought I remembered from the recommendation was the street number, 264. Where the cab dropped me off was 400, so after wandering for a bit, I headed for 264. Lo and behold, there was a restaurant there called Espirito Santa. The place had a really neat patio out the back with great food. Had namorado viúva - namorado is a type of fish here. White, pretty meaty. It had crushed Brazil nuts on top and it was on a bed of grilled, skinny hearts of palm. (Happens to be the first dish described in the NYT review linked above.) It was tres cool.
Took "The Santa Teresa Historic Tramway" down from there to the city center. The trolly is ancient, bright yellow and very cool. I managed to snap a couple cool photos, then my battery died. Seriously. That camera was as roller coaster today! I believe you pay if you sit, not if you stand. I was standing. The tram took me right to the heart of Rio. Where it dropped me off was very cool. The buildings were some of most modern I've seen in Rio. Especially such a close collection of them. I wandered from the center towards Copacabana. After walking for over an hour, I hopped in a cab to finish the trip to Copacabana as I was pretty tired.
I walked almost the entire length of the beach there, buying a pretty neat painting along the way. At that point, I was completely spent so I hopped in a cab to get back to my hotel so I could rest up a little before heading to yet another beach volleyball lesson. I needn't retell the experience because it was pretty much identical to the night before, including jumping in the ocean, but I only had fruit and beer for dinner, no cake.
That brings me to now, where I'm in bed ready to get some rest. Given that this was a Thursday, a workday, I think it may go down as one of my most memorable.
 |
| Most awesome day in Rio |
Apologies for the long delay in posting ... I'll try to keep my once-per-week-minmum pace up.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Photo links
OK - I've posted a couple albums from the occasions where I'm actually taken photos:
Wakeboarding (March 7, 2009):
The views from my hotel rooms:
My weekend in Maresias (April 3-5, 2009):
My weekend in Guarujá (April 17-20, 2009):
Weekend in Rio
Wakeboarding (March 7, 2009):
 |
| 2009 - Wakeboarding in Brazil |
The views from my hotel rooms:
 |
| 2009 - Rio Views from my hotels |
My weekend in Maresias (April 3-5, 2009):
 |
| 2009 - Maresias, April 3-5, Brazil |
My weekend in Guarujá (April 17-20, 2009):
 |
| Guarujá 2009 |
Weekend in Rio
 |
| 2009 - Rio de Janeiro, April 25-26 |
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Working, Running and being a tourist
As you may have noticed, there have been a few long weekends here lately, and I guess this next one coming up is again too. We get Friday off this week. Of the three long weekends in April/May, I really only know why we had one - Easter. The other two are a mystery to me. I'm sure there is a good reason for them and, per my desire to really consumer the culture wherever I am, I should probably know what they are. I'll get right on that.
After posting last week, the weekend took a turn for the more typical weekend at the beach. The partying and slightly foggier mornings came in with full effect. Overall, it was a complete blast. After the post we headed to the beach for a day of fun in the sun. Night one was a fairly standard party at a beach house with 25 people. Beers, music, jump rope, dancing, and more drinks. Day two was pretty similar except Clara and I went exploring at the beach along the rocks - think Tyson and me along the rocks of the Costa Brava (Spain) when we were young, only Clara is easier on the eyes than Tyson. I don't know if I'll ever lose my love of exploring rocky coastlines. Sunday night was a trip - apparently the alcoholic watermelon is a global phenomenon. That said, they certainly know how to do it right here ... we ended up putting quite a few bottles of vodka through Wilson, many more than a typical American application would support.
Below is me doing ... well ... having a deep conversation with Wilson.
Check out the photo album for more photos of what Wilson actually looks like.
Although last week was a shortened work week, we still got a lot done and had a major client update. It was an awesome 5-hour marathon. Overall it went well - the client was pretty happy. I got to meet the partner on my case for the first time ... 4 weeks in!
This week I decided to come to Rio on Saturday so I could take in some of the sights that aren't as accessible when you're working. After I landed on Saturday, I had lunch with Alan (Brazilian guy I met last weekend who was also spending the weekend here in Rio). He hadn't done the touristy things of Rio in a while so he offered to do some of them with me. Saturday, we went up to the Christ the Redeemer statue that looks over the whole of Rio. It is a huge statue, that's for sure. The views from up there are amazing even if it was a bit cloudy. The statue is huge, but I don't quite agree with it being one of the 7 New Wonders of the World ... Brazil happens to have a large, online/cell phone owning population which certainly helped when it came to voting for them.
Saturday night I went to a balada which is a disco/bar/danceclub. This one happened to have pretty much all three mixed across the three floors. I met up with three Bainees from the São Paulo office and had a few drinks, did some dancing and called it an early night around 1:30 so I could get up Sunday and continue the role of tourist. I met up with Alan again and we went to Pão de Açucar - another massive rock outcropping that juts out into the ocean and provides for spectactular views of Rio. There is a cable car that makes its way up there - I still haven't figured out how they got the materials up there to build the first one. That trip was pretty cool. The views were unreal. On the cable car, you can see people climbing up the side of the face. I have pictures of that but I didn't bring my camera cables on this trip ... will get those up at some point. The climbing looked really cool.
Sunday afternoon we headed to Maracanã, Brazil's largest soccer stadium. Current capacity is 95,000 but when it was built, it was closer to 200k. The record capacity is ~210k ... the upper deck used to be all open standing room. They've since installed seating which has seriously limited capacity. Safety ... what a crzay concept. The game was the first of two championship games for the Carioca Championship. (Carioca is a name that refers to people from Rio and this was the championship for the state of Rio de Janeiro league.) The game was pretty good - the fans were the best part. Ending in a 2-2 tie means the entire outcome rests on next week's game.
Sunday night we met up with some friends of Alan's. One of them mentioned something about Michigan so of course I asked more questions. Turns out that one of her friends is heading to Ross for her MBA in the fall. We're all having dinner tonight - what a small world, eh?
Overall a pretty good trip to Rio - caught a bunch of touristy things and then hit something a little more local. I woke up Monday and decided to go for a run. I think I ran the farthest I've ever run - 7km (4.4 miles). It felt pretty good ... but running along a beach in Rio always makes it feel better :)
Yesterday we had a decent day at work but I learned that I only have my AC for the balance of this week. I'm on my own to wrap up this case for the last two weeks of work. Very cool opportunity, kinda freaky because the last two weeks will be some content creation but mostly working with the client to get the execution plan locked down. Lots of meetings ... in Portuguese.
We have another long weekend this weekend and I'm contemplating heading back to São Paulo ... Three weekends in a row out of town and my new squash raquet back from repairs make me want to put some time in at home. Of course, 3 days is always an opportunity to travel. Not looking likely this week but I haven't booked a flight anywhere yet!
Apologies for the delay and the overwhelming lack of photos - I'll work on that soon.
After posting last week, the weekend took a turn for the more typical weekend at the beach. The partying and slightly foggier mornings came in with full effect. Overall, it was a complete blast. After the post we headed to the beach for a day of fun in the sun. Night one was a fairly standard party at a beach house with 25 people. Beers, music, jump rope, dancing, and more drinks. Day two was pretty similar except Clara and I went exploring at the beach along the rocks - think Tyson and me along the rocks of the Costa Brava (Spain) when we were young, only Clara is easier on the eyes than Tyson. I don't know if I'll ever lose my love of exploring rocky coastlines. Sunday night was a trip - apparently the alcoholic watermelon is a global phenomenon. That said, they certainly know how to do it right here ... we ended up putting quite a few bottles of vodka through Wilson, many more than a typical American application would support.
Below is me doing ... well ... having a deep conversation with Wilson.
Check out the photo album for more photos of what Wilson actually looks like.Although last week was a shortened work week, we still got a lot done and had a major client update. It was an awesome 5-hour marathon. Overall it went well - the client was pretty happy. I got to meet the partner on my case for the first time ... 4 weeks in!
This week I decided to come to Rio on Saturday so I could take in some of the sights that aren't as accessible when you're working. After I landed on Saturday, I had lunch with Alan (Brazilian guy I met last weekend who was also spending the weekend here in Rio). He hadn't done the touristy things of Rio in a while so he offered to do some of them with me. Saturday, we went up to the Christ the Redeemer statue that looks over the whole of Rio. It is a huge statue, that's for sure. The views from up there are amazing even if it was a bit cloudy. The statue is huge, but I don't quite agree with it being one of the 7 New Wonders of the World ... Brazil happens to have a large, online/cell phone owning population which certainly helped when it came to voting for them.
Saturday night I went to a balada which is a disco/bar/danceclub. This one happened to have pretty much all three mixed across the three floors. I met up with three Bainees from the São Paulo office and had a few drinks, did some dancing and called it an early night around 1:30 so I could get up Sunday and continue the role of tourist. I met up with Alan again and we went to Pão de Açucar - another massive rock outcropping that juts out into the ocean and provides for spectactular views of Rio. There is a cable car that makes its way up there - I still haven't figured out how they got the materials up there to build the first one. That trip was pretty cool. The views were unreal. On the cable car, you can see people climbing up the side of the face. I have pictures of that but I didn't bring my camera cables on this trip ... will get those up at some point. The climbing looked really cool.
Sunday afternoon we headed to Maracanã, Brazil's largest soccer stadium. Current capacity is 95,000 but when it was built, it was closer to 200k. The record capacity is ~210k ... the upper deck used to be all open standing room. They've since installed seating which has seriously limited capacity. Safety ... what a crzay concept. The game was the first of two championship games for the Carioca Championship. (Carioca is a name that refers to people from Rio and this was the championship for the state of Rio de Janeiro league.) The game was pretty good - the fans were the best part. Ending in a 2-2 tie means the entire outcome rests on next week's game.
Sunday night we met up with some friends of Alan's. One of them mentioned something about Michigan so of course I asked more questions. Turns out that one of her friends is heading to Ross for her MBA in the fall. We're all having dinner tonight - what a small world, eh?
Overall a pretty good trip to Rio - caught a bunch of touristy things and then hit something a little more local. I woke up Monday and decided to go for a run. I think I ran the farthest I've ever run - 7km (4.4 miles). It felt pretty good ... but running along a beach in Rio always makes it feel better :)
Yesterday we had a decent day at work but I learned that I only have my AC for the balance of this week. I'm on my own to wrap up this case for the last two weeks of work. Very cool opportunity, kinda freaky because the last two weeks will be some content creation but mostly working with the client to get the execution plan locked down. Lots of meetings ... in Portuguese.
We have another long weekend this weekend and I'm contemplating heading back to São Paulo ... Three weekends in a row out of town and my new squash raquet back from repairs make me want to put some time in at home. Of course, 3 days is always an opportunity to travel. Not looking likely this week but I haven't booked a flight anywhere yet!
Apologies for the delay and the overwhelming lack of photos - I'll work on that soon.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
It's 10:49 and, yes they think I'm crazy
It is 10:49AM on a Saturday and the people around me think I'm crazy. I, however, am happy as a clam. I'm sitting out by the pool having a plate of leftover spaghetti with meat sauce for breakfast after an early run and hop in the pool. The running part is not so crazy, the leftovers for breakfast is.
There are back-to-back long weekends here in Brazil which is why I'm back at the beach this weekend. This time with a different group of friends. Carla, who organized it, apparently rents this house with some frequency. It is lining up to be a pretty awesome weekend. We've rented a house and I think by the end of today, we'll have 16 people here. It is a beautiful setup made much more convenient by having a cook/cleaning lady. As my obsession with media continues, here's a video that I took with my BlackBerry Pearl Flip that's a brief tour of the house (really just walking down the stairs and out to the pool)
Of course, I can't travel without a requisite minimum number of cables to connect to various speaker systems etc. Last night, we were able to watch a movie from my iPod using one cable and then we went old-school with the radio adapter to connect to a radio/speaker set. My camera has a bulky cable connecting setup so I didn't bring it... then I realized that I have my charging cable for my Pearl Flip. I can take photos and videos with it and upload them pretty quickly (I should have brought the Flip video recorder that my sister gave me ... better video quality and no cables needed! but you can only carry so much tech stuff, right?).
Shockingly, we're listening to Jack Johnson again. Such a great option for hanging by the pool, and also an easy option when you have too much music to pick from and no easy playlist set up.
Alright, back to being social and enjoying the sun.
There are back-to-back long weekends here in Brazil which is why I'm back at the beach this weekend. This time with a different group of friends. Carla, who organized it, apparently rents this house with some frequency. It is lining up to be a pretty awesome weekend. We've rented a house and I think by the end of today, we'll have 16 people here. It is a beautiful setup made much more convenient by having a cook/cleaning lady. As my obsession with media continues, here's a video that I took with my BlackBerry Pearl Flip that's a brief tour of the house (really just walking down the stairs and out to the pool)
Of course, I can't travel without a requisite minimum number of cables to connect to various speaker systems etc. Last night, we were able to watch a movie from my iPod using one cable and then we went old-school with the radio adapter to connect to a radio/speaker set. My camera has a bulky cable connecting setup so I didn't bring it... then I realized that I have my charging cable for my Pearl Flip. I can take photos and videos with it and upload them pretty quickly (I should have brought the Flip video recorder that my sister gave me ... better video quality and no cables needed! but you can only carry so much tech stuff, right?).
Shockingly, we're listening to Jack Johnson again. Such a great option for hanging by the pool, and also an easy option when you have too much music to pick from and no easy playlist set up.
Alright, back to being social and enjoying the sun.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Jack Johnson
They really like Jack Johnson down here. I'm OK with that because I like Jack Johnson too. In fact, I really like Jack Johnson. I didn't know him well until I saw him perform with Ben Harper at the Gorge. What a great venue, and especially for someone like him.
When we arrived in Maresias this weekend, Hernan set up his Bose SoundDock so we could listen to some music. Of course, I was excited to see a way to listen to music. To get into the vibe of being at a beach in a surf town, someone suggested Jack Johnson. I couldn't have agreed more with the selection.
Throughout the weekend I kept catching Jack throughout the weekend from bars as I walked down the beach, playing in cars that drove by and in bars during the evening. I heard Jack today while I was running along (and on) the beach, or while I was lunch. Maybe it was in the cab? Can't remember, but the point stands. Jack Johnson gets a lot of air time here - oh yeah, it was while getting ice cream after lunch - and the music really suits parts of this country. It suits the parts that you think about when you think of Brazil as a destination. Relaxing, beautiful times by the beach.
When we arrived in Maresias this weekend, Hernan set up his Bose SoundDock so we could listen to some music. Of course, I was excited to see a way to listen to music. To get into the vibe of being at a beach in a surf town, someone suggested Jack Johnson. I couldn't have agreed more with the selection.
Throughout the weekend I kept catching Jack throughout the weekend from bars as I walked down the beach, playing in cars that drove by and in bars during the evening. I heard Jack today while I was running along (and on) the beach, or while I was lunch. Maybe it was in the cab? Can't remember, but the point stands. Jack Johnson gets a lot of air time here - oh yeah, it was while getting ice cream after lunch - and the music really suits parts of this country. It suits the parts that you think about when you think of Brazil as a destination. Relaxing, beautiful times by the beach.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Expats anyone? And why won't my shoulder stop hurting?
Expats:
Recently I've started to feel the desire to meet some expats down here. As you may have noticed, I spend most of my time with Portuguese- or Spanish-speaking people down here. That is important to me because that's really the only way to learn Portuguese and to keep up my comfort in Spanish. I really enjoy the people down here and the friends I'm making, but I would like to make some friends of expats down here so I can have the occasional conversation with North Americans who share more than just the language with me.
A big part of our experience in Spain was involving ourselves in the culture. I have carried that with me wherever I go because I think that's how you get the most out of it. Sometimes I wonder if having the family (namely Mom) along gave Dad that core of familiarity while exploring something new? Perhaps a conversation for another time.
My shoulder:
I screwed my shoulder up wakeboarding the first weekend I was here in my awesome fall. I didn't think too much of it at the time because... well I'm getting old and things hurt after I do fun things like wakeboarding. Unfortunately, I think I aggravated my should where I hurt it a couple years ago playing squash. 5 weeks on, it is still in rough shape. I can't put on a shirt on or wash my hair without wincing. I'm still on US insurance and I'm not really sure how that all works down here. If I were in Chicago, I'd definitely go to the doctor. I'm not sure I should keep playing squash as that will keep it aggravated and possibly damage it further. Any educated thoughts?
Off to pack for another week in Rio!
Recently I've started to feel the desire to meet some expats down here. As you may have noticed, I spend most of my time with Portuguese- or Spanish-speaking people down here. That is important to me because that's really the only way to learn Portuguese and to keep up my comfort in Spanish. I really enjoy the people down here and the friends I'm making, but I would like to make some friends of expats down here so I can have the occasional conversation with North Americans who share more than just the language with me.
A big part of our experience in Spain was involving ourselves in the culture. I have carried that with me wherever I go because I think that's how you get the most out of it. Sometimes I wonder if having the family (namely Mom) along gave Dad that core of familiarity while exploring something new? Perhaps a conversation for another time.
My shoulder:
I screwed my shoulder up wakeboarding the first weekend I was here in my awesome fall. I didn't think too much of it at the time because... well I'm getting old and things hurt after I do fun things like wakeboarding. Unfortunately, I think I aggravated my should where I hurt it a couple years ago playing squash. 5 weeks on, it is still in rough shape. I can't put on a shirt on or wash my hair without wincing. I'm still on US insurance and I'm not really sure how that all works down here. If I were in Chicago, I'd definitely go to the doctor. I'm not sure I should keep playing squash as that will keep it aggravated and possibly damage it further. Any educated thoughts?
Off to pack for another week in Rio!
Now there's a beach, now there's not
We had beautiful weather on Saturday in Maresia. Unfortunately, we didn't have a beach! 
It was apparently a once-per-year happening where the waves kick up something fierce and they end up crashing all the way up the beach, leaving none of the beach dry. When we got there, it must have just gotten up that high because people were still sitting out on lawn chairs and vendors were still toting their carts. The crashing waves were pretty intense and they were dragging pretty much everything not heavy or attached back into the water. Flip flops, tables, chairs, small pets. If you click the Maresia link, you can see that there normally is a sizeable beach there. From the pictures, you can see that the water was coming right up to the restaurant where we spent most of the day.
The most amazing part was the surfers - later in the day, some dudes ended up out on the waves surfing! The waves were huge, as you can see from the photos. I don't have the world's best zoom lens on my camera so you'll have to look hard to find the dudes on their boards. That'll give you some perspective on the size of the waves. (FYI - click on the images to see larger versions where you can actually see the surfers)
Both nights we went out to a really great bar. It had live music and the band just made absolutely awesome song choices. It was a ton of fun to get out to the beach with friends. One of the most fun parts of the group dynamic was answering the question, "Where are you guys from?" The five of us are from five different countries: Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Costa Rica and, of course, Canada.
I thought this picture was funny at 4am ...
It was apparently a once-per-year happening where the waves kick up something fierce and they end up crashing all the way up the beach, leaving none of the beach dry. When we got there, it must have just gotten up that high because people were still sitting out on lawn chairs and vendors were still toting their carts. The crashing waves were pretty intense and they were dragging pretty much everything not heavy or attached back into the water. Flip flops, tables, chairs, small pets. If you click the Maresia link, you can see that there normally is a sizeable beach there. From the pictures, you can see that the water was coming right up to the restaurant where we spent most of the day.
The most amazing part was the surfers - later in the day, some dudes ended up out on the waves surfing! The waves were huge, as you can see from the photos. I don't have the world's best zoom lens on my camera so you'll have to look hard to find the dudes on their boards. That'll give you some perspective on the size of the waves. (FYI - click on the images to see larger versions where you can actually see the surfers)
Both nights we went out to a really great bar. It had live music and the band just made absolutely awesome song choices. It was a ton of fun to get out to the beach with friends. One of the most fun parts of the group dynamic was answering the question, "Where are you guys from?" The five of us are from five different countries: Peru, Argentina, Uruguay, Costa Rica and, of course, Canada.
I thought this picture was funny at 4am ...
Friday, April 10, 2009
Hammocks
Although I don't always find hammocks to be the most comfortable of seating choices, I usually find myself really enjoying it when I'm in one. Take right now, for example. I'm sitting in a hammock at the end of a Friday spent at the beach in April. (Although I just pushed off the chair next to me to get some rocking going and that my have been a mistake while typing.) We had the day off for Easter in Brazil so a group of 5 of us headed to Maresia for a few days at the beach. I brought my camera but have yet to take a picture - I'll work on that.
The drive down this morning was pretty uneventful - took about 3.5 hours and we didn't hit too much traffic. It was a beautiful day pretty much until we got here, at which point some clouds rolled in. With only a few days here, that wasn't going to stop us. Four of us headed to the beach while one, who got home at 6 am and was in the car with us at 7:45, stayed behind for a nap. I fell asleep on the beach :)
We're all back just relaxing tonight before we head out for, what looks like is going to be, a big night tonight. Hanging in a hammock listening to Jack Johnson. Ahh.
Had a good week in Rio this week. Still enjoying my team and my case. We made some really good progress on the work we're doing and the team dynamic seems to be working well still. Rio is a really beautiful city, though I realized this week that I'm only seeing a pretty small portion of it. Our hotel is in Ipanema and the office is in Jadim Botanico - they're only a couple kilometers apart and Rio is a pretty big city. If we manage to secure a flat for me in Rio (an extended stay type deal where I'd have the place for a month) I will end up spending a weekend or two up there which will give me a chance to explore the city a little more. Looking forward to that for sure.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I've been getting into the habit of jotting notes in my BlackBerry of things that I find interesting, funny or entertaining. I'm glad I'm getting into that because some of my observations provide a lot of entertainment. Either the moment was genuinely funny and I'm happy I captured it or I read it the next day and laugh/wonder what I was thinking writing that down.
One in particular that is very much the former and borderline the latter is:
The drive down this morning was pretty uneventful - took about 3.5 hours and we didn't hit too much traffic. It was a beautiful day pretty much until we got here, at which point some clouds rolled in. With only a few days here, that wasn't going to stop us. Four of us headed to the beach while one, who got home at 6 am and was in the car with us at 7:45, stayed behind for a nap. I fell asleep on the beach :)
We're all back just relaxing tonight before we head out for, what looks like is going to be, a big night tonight. Hanging in a hammock listening to Jack Johnson. Ahh.
Had a good week in Rio this week. Still enjoying my team and my case. We made some really good progress on the work we're doing and the team dynamic seems to be working well still. Rio is a really beautiful city, though I realized this week that I'm only seeing a pretty small portion of it. Our hotel is in Ipanema and the office is in Jadim Botanico - they're only a couple kilometers apart and Rio is a pretty big city. If we manage to secure a flat for me in Rio (an extended stay type deal where I'd have the place for a month) I will end up spending a weekend or two up there which will give me a chance to explore the city a little more. Looking forward to that for sure.
I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but I've been getting into the habit of jotting notes in my BlackBerry of things that I find interesting, funny or entertaining. I'm glad I'm getting into that because some of my observations provide a lot of entertainment. Either the moment was genuinely funny and I'm happy I captured it or I read it the next day and laugh/wonder what I was thinking writing that down.
One in particular that is very much the former and borderline the latter is:
- "It is like the fifth or sixth gait of an icelandic horse. I just don't have it." I wrote this down in reference to Brazilian dancing.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Work-oriented update
I wrote the basis for this for someone in the Chicago office. I realize that it captures a bunch of what I want to say, so why not share it more broadly?
I'm staffed in Rio de Janeiro which is a 40-minute flight from SP. CM spoke the partner and made it clear I was supposed to be able to make to the office on Fridays and that seems to be the intent. Most people in the office have been happy/surprised by my Portuguese, which makes the classes worth it all the more. Unfortunately, my internal bar is my level of Spanish, which is a bit unrealistic at this point. Working in the language will really help. I had a few client meetings over the last week and they've gone well - understanding the majority of them and actually getting into the conversation. Of course, every once in a while I have one where I either struggle to say something (before my AC steps in and graciously helps out) or where I miss more than I'd like to.
I am really enjoying the city of São Paulo. I think my experiences in and enjoyment of Mexico City really helps. Yes, it is big, lots of concrete and less safe than the US, but life is so vibrant down here. I guess the tradeoffs work for me.
The office has been amazing at welcoming me and looking out for me. The ACs/CONs have all been great at including me in things and becoming friends (not just a tag-along). I have gelled quickly with the Spanish-speakers (Argentina, Peru, Columbia etc.) because I can integrate seamlessly into their scene. I am less comfortable with the Brazilians (by no fault of theirs, but because of the language) but they have been equally welcoming.
I've had limited exposure to partners, but the couple I have dealt with have been good. CM, the staffing partner, really impressed me with how considerate he was being to a transfer. He was quite busy and had appendicitis the 2nd week I was here so I didn't get to meet with him for a couple weeks. They were clearly looking for the right opportunity for me to maximize value add to our firm, the client and my experience. (I was a little surprised how much my interests were considered). Example: There's a project coming up in Chile and, although it would be easier for me, CM was leaning against it because of how far it would be from São Paulo and the office. After we spoke and I mentioned I like media and tech, it was less than 2 business days before I was working on a great project supporting an IT group at an interesting media company in Brazil!
I'm staffed in Rio de Janeiro which is a 40-minute flight from SP. CM spoke the partner and made it clear I was supposed to be able to make to the office on Fridays and that seems to be the intent. Most people in the office have been happy/surprised by my Portuguese, which makes the classes worth it all the more. Unfortunately, my internal bar is my level of Spanish, which is a bit unrealistic at this point. Working in the language will really help. I had a few client meetings over the last week and they've gone well - understanding the majority of them and actually getting into the conversation. Of course, every once in a while I have one where I either struggle to say something (before my AC steps in and graciously helps out) or where I miss more than I'd like to.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Great example of the difference between Sampa and Chicago
This morning, I got an email to the whole Chicago office that we'd have cake in the office today at 3 to celebrate April birthdays. Very exciting - I was sad to miss it.
I just got an email to the whole São Paulo office announcing that we were having cake at 4:30 (just 30 minutes before when cake will start in Chicago). Very exciting. The primary difference, here we're celebrating the March birthdays...
(Humour about the pace of life aside, there is apparently a cultural reason to explain it. It is considered bad luck to celebrate your birthday before it actually happens. A lot less funny when there's a logical explanation to it.)
I just got an email to the whole São Paulo office announcing that we were having cake at 4:30 (just 30 minutes before when cake will start in Chicago). Very exciting. The primary difference, here we're celebrating the March birthdays...
(Humour about the pace of life aside, there is apparently a cultural reason to explain it. It is considered bad luck to celebrate your birthday before it actually happens. A lot less funny when there's a logical explanation to it.)
Monday, March 30, 2009
Where the rubber meets the road...
or where the shit hits the fan. I think both could be used to describe the reality that I am currently faced with. I have been staffed. This could be a good thing; this could be a bad thing; it is, with great certainty, a scary thing.
I will be working for a client based in Rio de Janeiro which means I will truly hit quite a few firsts on this next assignment:
I will be working for a client based in Rio de Janeiro which means I will truly hit quite a few firsts on this next assignment:
- First case in Brazil
- First travel case
- First case in another language (Portuguese ... not one with which I am intimately familiar yet)
- First case where Adnan isn't my manager
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Why do I fing blogging such an effort?
Really, I do. After a week has past, I just don't feel like re-hashing everything that happened in a week. Today, I'll just throw out some of my recent observations in Brazil:
- People in Brazil walk really slowly.
- Watched a guy on a motorcyle almost crash as he stared and honked at 3 women crossing the street. He didn't take his eyes off them as he rode past ... 50 meters down the street. It was only when he lost his balance and the bike swerved to within 2 feet of a parked car did he resume paying attention long enough to pull a u-turn to ride by and honk some more
- Out for a birthday shindig a while back, someone ordered some "canapés of milanesa." Sounds incredibly fancy, no? Well, I could barely contain my excitement when they arrived looking like open-faced grilled cheese with a chicken McNugget on top. The McNugget was actully meat instead of chicken, but it was pretty awesome.
- I figured out why people walk so slowly - they're busy staring at chicks
- Time for a quick Portuguese lesson. Chicken = Frango. Strawberry = Morango. You'll notice that they both end in RANGO.
- On Friday, I tried to order a strawberry caipirinha ... I asked for a "caipirinha de frango" three times. Three times the bartender looked at me like I was crazy. I thought he was making fun of me for ordering a girl drink. No, he was looking at me funny because I was ordering a chicken caipirinha.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Another week
Remember how excited I was to play squash? Remember how excited I was about my new racquet? I broke it during my first game. I'm pretty sure we didn't get 20 minutes into the first game. I was losing 8-1 (and you play to 9) so breaking it saved me losing my first match 9-1, although I may have broken it on the 9th point. Fortunately, we were so distracted that neither of us are sure. On a bright note, when Andres bought his new racquet, he was left with a backup in his old racquet. It may weigh 2-3 times as much as my new racquet, but it will get me playing and strengthen my arm for when I get my racquet back. On a very bright, and quite surprising note, the store where I bought it said they work with Wilson enough to know that they should admit it is a defective racquet and replace it. It should take about a month, but I have a loaner from Andres so I can keep playing.
Good week overall - still unstaffed but keeping occupied. Went out Wednesday to a pretty cool bar called Skye Bar at the Unique Hotel. It is a bar on the roof of the hotel with great windows and a huge deck. Unfortunately, it had been raining so the deck was damp and most people didn't want to spend much time outside. The view is gorgeous and the drinks were good. Was out a little later than planned, but had a good time. My buddy Mateo invited me to join him in meeting up with some IESE buddies. (Mateo is also the squash buddy who was kicking my butt when I broke my racquet earlier that evening). When I ran into a fellow consultant, Esther, who lives in the same building as me the next morning, she told me I looked tired. I did have some decent sized bags under my eyes. I'm glad she's a friend already!
Friday, I was invited to a birthday party by a co-worker who has been at Bain SP about a week longer than I have. The party was held in the rooftop party room of the birthday boy's apartment building. Very cool setup with a DJ and bartenders - one of whom was quite good at the flare. Had a great time and met some cool people, including a Bainie from the SP office that I hadn't met yet (he too wants to play squash because his girlfriend is into it and keeps beating him). At around 2:30 I thought I might take off. When I told Fernando, he said no worries, they were heading out soon and they'd give me a ride. As you can imagine, one thing led to another and I got home at 4:30. Oops. Amazingly, however, I felt OK Saturday and woke up at 9:45. I did, however, feel the night's activities when I played a tough squash match with Andres. Looking forward to playing him as he and I are quite well matched.
Today, I took a cab to a well-known market Mercado Municipal in SP. Starting there, I made my way through the city hitting various of the sights, including the famous cathedral and central plaza, the Japanese Sunday crafts fair and the Japanese district. I walked for ~8 miles (13Km) all the way back here. With no map, no less. I'm a pretty terrible tourist ... I took zero pictures. I thought about occasionally taking a photo, but none of them felt like they'd be that interesting. I'm going to need to get better at that.
Time for the weekly observations:
Till next time.
Good week overall - still unstaffed but keeping occupied. Went out Wednesday to a pretty cool bar called Skye Bar at the Unique Hotel. It is a bar on the roof of the hotel with great windows and a huge deck. Unfortunately, it had been raining so the deck was damp and most people didn't want to spend much time outside. The view is gorgeous and the drinks were good. Was out a little later than planned, but had a good time. My buddy Mateo invited me to join him in meeting up with some IESE buddies. (Mateo is also the squash buddy who was kicking my butt when I broke my racquet earlier that evening). When I ran into a fellow consultant, Esther, who lives in the same building as me the next morning, she told me I looked tired. I did have some decent sized bags under my eyes. I'm glad she's a friend already!
Friday, I was invited to a birthday party by a co-worker who has been at Bain SP about a week longer than I have. The party was held in the rooftop party room of the birthday boy's apartment building. Very cool setup with a DJ and bartenders - one of whom was quite good at the flare. Had a great time and met some cool people, including a Bainie from the SP office that I hadn't met yet (he too wants to play squash because his girlfriend is into it and keeps beating him). At around 2:30 I thought I might take off. When I told Fernando, he said no worries, they were heading out soon and they'd give me a ride. As you can imagine, one thing led to another and I got home at 4:30. Oops. Amazingly, however, I felt OK Saturday and woke up at 9:45. I did, however, feel the night's activities when I played a tough squash match with Andres. Looking forward to playing him as he and I are quite well matched.
Today, I took a cab to a well-known market Mercado Municipal in SP. Starting there, I made my way through the city hitting various of the sights, including the famous cathedral and central plaza, the Japanese Sunday crafts fair and the Japanese district. I walked for ~8 miles (13Km) all the way back here. With no map, no less. I'm a pretty terrible tourist ... I took zero pictures. I thought about occasionally taking a photo, but none of them felt like they'd be that interesting. I'm going to need to get better at that.
Time for the weekly observations:
- It is awesome to be at a patio party in March
- Doormen laugh when you come home handcuffed in glowsticks
- There must be a lot of TV remote theft or abuse here because the number of vendors that sell replacement TV remotes is staggering
- I'm still struggling to see the complimentary nature of selling DVDs and toothbrushes together
- Awesome mullet of the day: Short in the front dreadlocks in the back
Till next time.
Albums I want to get when I get home (Suggestions welcome)
U2 - No Line on the Horizon (though I don't love Get on your Boots)
PS I Love You Soundtrack
Katy Perry - One of the Boys
Van Morrison Astral Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl
More Al Green
Obadiah Parker - Whatever ablum has Hey Ya
Diana Krall
Gilberto Gil
New Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Specific songs:
Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal
Basement Jaxx - Red Alert
The Flys - Got you where I want you
(that's it for now, but I'll be adding to the list)
PS I Love You Soundtrack
Katy Perry - One of the Boys
Van Morrison Astral Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl
More Al Green
Obadiah Parker - Whatever ablum has Hey Ya
Diana Krall
Gilberto Gil
New Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Specific songs:
Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal
Basement Jaxx - Red Alert
The Flys - Got you where I want you
(that's it for now, but I'll be adding to the list)
Monday, March 16, 2009
Two weeks in
Welcome to my thoughts on my time in Brazil. This will have some notes on what I've done as well as what I think about. I'll try to keep the posts regular so they don't get so long you don't want to read them.
I'm two weeks into my Brazilian adventure and I have many mundane observations that jumped out at me, but nothing earthshattering to report. I have been pleasantly surprised to find that I really like the parts of the city I have so far explored. The people here have been incredibly welcoming which has kept me really busy and helped me explore different areas of the city.
What have I been up to?
I arrived here on Tuesday, March 3rd following an amazing week in Acapulco for my brother's wedding and 36 hours of hectic travel/packing. I made it to my hotel without too many problems. Two small roadbumps:
I got a cold during my second week here, so I limited myself to meeting up with folks to Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I needed Tuesday and Thursday to rest up. This weekend I moved into my new apartment (google maps link) where I'll be living for the rest of the transfer. It is not huge (~300 sq feet) but it is in a great building, and has good amenities. A washing machine is included, which is pretty rare. It has a balcony and has a TV and stereo. Internet is also included ... I brought my own wireless router and of course that was absolutely the first thing I sorted out after moving in. The building is close to the office, which I appreciate. It has a decent little gym, sauna, pool, "zen" area outside and, most amazingly, a SQUASH COURT!! Given the hassle of having my squash racquet shipped down here, I bought a new one on Saturday with a co-worker. He picked one up and hopes that the investment will drive him to play more.
I love the exchange right now. Overall, this is a relatively expensive city, but the exchange rate moved from $1USD = R$1.6 to $1USD = R$2.3 in the last six months. That makes my dollars go ~50% further than they did in September or so. Case in point, the squash racquet that I just bought. It was R$325 which, back in September when they probably bought it, would have been $200USD. That's $50 more than the $150 I found it online for - about in line for buying a foreign good here. Since the exchange rate has changed, along with some negotiation by Andrés, it cost $125. Not bad in my book.
We went to a pretty traditional Irish pub called O'Malley's on Saturday to honor St. Patrick - it was fun to see Brazilians getting into it as well. There was a good Irish band that played for most of the night. They had a promotion where, if you drank 5 Guinness/Kilkenny/Harps, you could get a short sleeved Guinness rugby shirt for R$20. Of course, I was all over that. Pedro and Bruno both also thought it was a good idea but Lia and Esther (their s.o.'s, respectively) did not think it such a great idea. Instead of 5 beers for a crappy free t-shirt, the extra R$20 actually netted us decent shirts. I'm hoping to find an excuse for all three of us to wear them at the same time ...
One thing I have enjoyed is how easy it is to make connections with people here. On one hand, it is easy with other recent expats here, but even the Brazilians have been incredibly welcoming. An example of connecting with an expat: Yesterday, I met Pedro for brunch near his place. A friend and fellow Bainee, André, walked into the restaurant where we were eating, so we joined them after we wrapped up our meal. A friend of André's, Jaume, joined us. Jaume is from Barcelona, moved here in January, and lives a block and half from me. I'd mentioned going for a run and he said he was planning to go in an hour so. We exchanged contact info and ended up going for a run in Parque do Ibirapuera (big park in town).
OK - now time for the (sort of) short observations I've had since getting here... they are little things I've noticed that entertain me.
I'm two weeks into my Brazilian adventure and I have many mundane observations that jumped out at me, but nothing earthshattering to report. I have been pleasantly surprised to find that I really like the parts of the city I have so far explored. The people here have been incredibly welcoming which has kept me really busy and helped me explore different areas of the city.
What have I been up to?
I arrived here on Tuesday, March 3rd following an amazing week in Acapulco for my brother's wedding and 36 hours of hectic travel/packing. I made it to my hotel without too many problems. Two small roadbumps:
- My luggage was wet and smelled like fish (initially I thought it was pee) ... after arriving at my hotel I found some of my clothes inside were stained with what looks like fish blood. Sucks when you're staying in a hotel room and the whole place smells like fish. Continental, however, has been very responsive and not only agreed to pay to have the clothes cleaned, they have offered to pick up my luggage and have it cleaned. Pretty awesome
- I was unsuccessful in withdrawing money from 4 consecutive banks at the airport. that was very disconcerting. No working bank cards was definitely going to pose an issue going forward. Fortunately, I brought some US cash and was able to exchange at the airport so I could get to my hotel etc. It took a week to find a working, acceptable ATM (look for the international banks like HSBC or Citi). Fortunately, almost everyone here takes credit cards so it was pretty easy to make my cash last a while.
I got a cold during my second week here, so I limited myself to meeting up with folks to Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I needed Tuesday and Thursday to rest up. This weekend I moved into my new apartment (google maps link) where I'll be living for the rest of the transfer. It is not huge (~300 sq feet) but it is in a great building, and has good amenities. A washing machine is included, which is pretty rare. It has a balcony and has a TV and stereo. Internet is also included ... I brought my own wireless router and of course that was absolutely the first thing I sorted out after moving in. The building is close to the office, which I appreciate. It has a decent little gym, sauna, pool, "zen" area outside and, most amazingly, a SQUASH COURT!! Given the hassle of having my squash racquet shipped down here, I bought a new one on Saturday with a co-worker. He picked one up and hopes that the investment will drive him to play more.
I love the exchange right now. Overall, this is a relatively expensive city, but the exchange rate moved from $1USD = R$1.6 to $1USD = R$2.3 in the last six months. That makes my dollars go ~50% further than they did in September or so. Case in point, the squash racquet that I just bought. It was R$325 which, back in September when they probably bought it, would have been $200USD. That's $50 more than the $150 I found it online for - about in line for buying a foreign good here. Since the exchange rate has changed, along with some negotiation by Andrés, it cost $125. Not bad in my book.
We went to a pretty traditional Irish pub called O'Malley's on Saturday to honor St. Patrick - it was fun to see Brazilians getting into it as well. There was a good Irish band that played for most of the night. They had a promotion where, if you drank 5 Guinness/Kilkenny/Harps, you could get a short sleeved Guinness rugby shirt for R$20. Of course, I was all over that. Pedro and Bruno both also thought it was a good idea but Lia and Esther (their s.o.'s, respectively) did not think it such a great idea. Instead of 5 beers for a crappy free t-shirt, the extra R$20 actually netted us decent shirts. I'm hoping to find an excuse for all three of us to wear them at the same time ...
One thing I have enjoyed is how easy it is to make connections with people here. On one hand, it is easy with other recent expats here, but even the Brazilians have been incredibly welcoming. An example of connecting with an expat: Yesterday, I met Pedro for brunch near his place. A friend and fellow Bainee, André, walked into the restaurant where we were eating, so we joined them after we wrapped up our meal. A friend of André's, Jaume, joined us. Jaume is from Barcelona, moved here in January, and lives a block and half from me. I'd mentioned going for a run and he said he was planning to go in an hour so. We exchanged contact info and ended up going for a run in Parque do Ibirapuera (big park in town).
OK - now time for the (sort of) short observations I've had since getting here... they are little things I've noticed that entertain me.
- Short sleeved dress shirts are definitely still in style down here
- The whiteboards in our office are really cool & classy - panes of pale beveled green glass mounted on the wall (none of that crappy white plastic crap)
- Out for dinner last Friday, someone ordered what were, by all accounts, really fancy hot pockets. Quente pockets! (that means hot pockets in Portuguese)
- At the restaurant last Friday, there was this really creepy dude lurking around. Creepy but excited smiles straight out of an SNL skit, white t-shirt with a black leather vest, really big 80's hair, significant facial hair capacity (a-la Steve Spaulding). He just lurked around the bar on his own, occasionally approaching tables of ladies. He didn't seem to have much success, but he was definitely committed to the cause. I have to admit, he reminded me way to much of Spauldo gone wrong.
- People from Spain really do say all the things my brother and Sofia joke about when they discuss (make fun of) my Spanish accent. I was out with 3 folks from Spain and I laughed heartily at the frequent use of tio, joder... and many more. That said, there is a distinct set of Mexican words too... I hung out with a Mexican dude this past Friday and I could tell he was from there in ~30 seconds. I think someone was arriving ahorita :)
- We have maids in the office here. I think there are four of them. The best part - they make fresh fruit salad every day around 5 or 6. They take a huge pile of fruit, peel it by hand, chop it up, and place it into little containers for us to snack on. I walked in there the other day and was amazed at the pile of fruit in action.
- Last Saturday, we went out for a birthday. People raved about how good the cake was. It tasted like raw pasta and marshmallows ... perhaps not my cup of tea
- Hotel employees will giggle a little when you say "Goodnight" to them at 5:03 in the morning
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)