Jess' Adventures in Brazil

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

There are NO CHOCOLATE CHIPS in Brazil!

Which makes it very hard to make chocolate chip cookies! Which is exactly what I was trying to do!

Monday was a bit of a wasted day. I did all the work I had to do in the morning, and then I could have done some research or something, but instead I talked to people on MSN and didn’t do much of anything. I wanted to do stuff, but there just wasn’t much to do. And it was just me in the office. My area is People Development, so it’s difficult to do much without any people! I did go to an Arabian fast food restaurant for lunch with two former LCPs though, which was cool. I had these little pizza-like things, one with chicken, two with beef and one with cheese. I hung around because I was supposed to have a meeting at 6:00, but then I found at 4:30 it was cancelled. At that point I wouldn’t be able to make it home before rush hour struck to I hung around a bit longer. I went to the bandejon (absolutely guessed the spelling…) with Renato. Basically it’s the really cheap cafeteria that is subsidized by the government so students can afford to eat. It’s $R1.90 for a whole meal. You are supposed to be an USP student to get in, but I have Diogo’s old card and they don’t really look that closely. In all, I spent around 10 hours on the computer on Monday. Note to self: don’t do that again.

Today was better. I was supposed to have a meeting with Renata, so I prepped for it in the morning. Turns out she couldn’t make it, but it kept me busy. I ended up exploring @.net for several hours. And I found so much awesome stuff! @.net can be the most horrible thing and the most wonderful thing sometimes. I must have joined 10 or more communities today, and I found loads of resources about PBoX, Explora, CEE PBoXes and implementing the @XP. It was like AIESEC euphoria, and finding all these recourses gave me a lot of ideas. I find that I approach @ very intuitively. I figure out what needs to be done and I do it, without really realizing what I’m doing. So when it comes explaining my roles and responsibilities, sometimes I have trouble expressing what exactly it is that I do. But going over the documents on @.net really helps a lot. Instead of saying “I make sure everyone has something to do in AIESEC” I can say I’m in charge of “Talent Management”, or something like that. I’m getting better at breaking down jobs and responsibilities, but I still have a ways to go. Anyways, back to the day… it was pretty quiet as well. There were a couple people around, but I was basically on my own. After a while I got to a point where I just couldn’t look at the computer anymore, so I decided I would go home early. But if I went home early… what could I do? Dinner isn’t until late, so I’d have a lot of time to kill. But I really wanted to DO something. So… I decided to make cookies! I grabbed a recipe off the internet and then Renato went with me to the super market to buy everything. I came home and tried to explain to Iza’s Mom that I wanted to bake cookies. She said it was ok, so I set to work. Paulo came home shortly after and I guess he had never made cookies before, because he seemed very interested in what I was doing. He asked me some questions and kind of watched as I made the batter. Of course I had no chocolate chips, so I just used a knife to chop up some baking chocolate I had bought. Oh, and ovens here (at least at Iza’s house) don’t have temperature settings. There’s just, hot, medium and not so hot. So we decided to go for medium. The oven also does not tell you when it is hot, so you just have to guess. The cookies turned out ok. They were kind of crunchy, and I prefer the soft cookies. But Iza’s family seemed to like them. And I was very glad to do something a little different. Even if I’m not that good at it, I like baking and cooking, and it makes me feel useful and productive. I think I will try again soon.

In other news, I made myself a calendar and I’m working on some travel plans. I’ll be going to Rio June 15-18 and possibly to the northeast after that. This weekend I might be travelling as well, on a mini @ road trip. More to come.

I also tried contacting the recycling people, but the person I got on the phone didn't speak english. I might try again later, but it might not be as easy as I thought.

Sorry, no picture today, I need to take some more!

Monday, May 29, 2006

Weekend Report :)

Isn’t it odd how sometimes the weather mimics one’s mood? Early in the week it was rainy and I was feeling kind of glum. This weekend, it was warm and sunny, and I felt great!

Fri May 26

I mentioned in an earlier post that Diogo took me to the anthropology department, FFLCH (pronounced fafelachee and literally the Faculty of (F)ilosophy, Literature and (C)cience Humans). This week there were some seminars being offered, and the one on Friday was about ethnographic film (WOOOO!!! …… what?) and was being presented by a guy from the University of Manchester. So I decided to go. I went really early because I didn`t know exactly where I was going. But it turns out it was really easy to find, so I was there 45 minutes before it started. So I waited around. Then it was supposed to start at 9:30, but in traditional Brazilian fashion, it was late. It finally started at just after 10:00, after I had been waiting more than an hour. And guess what? It was in Portuguese!! Go figure the guy from Manchester spoke perfect Portuguese. No fair! So after a few minutes I gave up and left. I could understand a few words, like filme and anthropologie and ethnographie… but that’s not quite enough to be worthwhile ;) So I headed back to the office and did some work. Actually I got quite a bit done. I finally feel like I have stuff to do and things to contribute. And I think soon I will be quite busy because we are starting some new projects. More later. I left around 5:00 and managed to get stuck in rush hour traffic coming home. The bus was ok, but the subway was crazy!! When people told me that sometimes you don’t need to hold onto the pole because you are so squished the people around you hold you up, I didn’t believe them. But it’s true! In the evening I went out with Iza’s family to what her Mom called a “Happy Hour” but I think she was a little mistaken in this translation :P It was just a social gathering and dinner at the hospital social club. It was nice, and I had some caipirinha.

Can you read this? I can read most of it!

Sat May 27

Saturday was awesome!! Iza and I had to get up early, because we had an AIESEC General Meeting at 9:00am at FEA. It was cool to go to the university and see everyone gathered (well most people). And I was also really excited because I was doing my Canada presentation!!! I got to go first, and I think they really liked it. I asked them some questions, like “what do you think of when you think of Canada?” Ice! Hockey! French! Etc. And I stumped them with a few questions, like “Who is Canada’s Head of State?” At the end I played Canada is Really Big and they loved it, and then I passed out pins and maple syrup and candies. So it went really well. Then in the rest of the meeting we talked about the new structure and the new projects we will be working on. In @USP there is a lot more that the members are “required” to do, and all the new members will not be considered full members of AIESEC until they are done. It is much more strict that in Victoria. But that’s another issue. After the meeting I went with Koba, Judy, Koge and Isabel (from Columbia) to Liberdade (the Japanese community). We did some shopping and bought some food. It was very odd to walk into the mall and hear music from Kenshin being played. There was a lot of anime stuff, but I’m pretty sure most of it was bootleg. Then Isabel and I went to Koge’s house for dinner. He lives with his family in an apartment on the other side of the city from Iza’s. We all chopped up the veggies and talked about different things. We talked a lot about CONADE and how it could have been better with more integration between the new and old members. Then we cooked dinner, which was of course Japanese food. We put all the veggies and some meat into an electric pot on the table and then coated it with Soiya (Soy Sauce) and then covered it and let it cook for a few minutes. Then you spoon some out with chopsticks and eat it over rice. It was very good! A couple of the veggies were odd choices (like lettuce) but it was pretty yummy. After dinner Isabel had to go home, but I stayed and talked to Koge some more. I have to spend as much time as I can with him because next week he is moving to Rio! He got a job there, so I won’t see him any more (except on trips to Rio ;) ). Everyone is sad that he is leaving because he has done so much for @USP and he’s a really nice person. We talked for a while and then his Mom came home and I talked to her (through Koge) for a long time. She and Koge asked me a lot about Canada. I also found out that his sister has done a lot of volunteer work in Sao Paulo and that she can arrange a tour of a flavela for me. It seems like of odd, actually, to do a “tour” of such a place (the flavelas are the shanty towns) but I would really like to see what they are like, so I might take her up on the offer. I took the subway home and went to bed fairly early since I had been up early in the morning.

USP Wooo!

back (L->R): Koba, Judy, Maira, Iza, Guilherme, Koge, Renato ... front (L->R): Flavia, Fernando

Sun May 28

Today was fairly mellow. I slept in a little and then after breakfast I went with Iza’s parents to her aunt’s house for lunch. There was a old guy there who made genuine Italian pasta from scratch! It was interesting to see. There were a couple of little girls there that were soooo cute, but they kept trying to talk to me and I didn’t know what to say! I ate some bread with cheese spread, hamburgers, several plates of the pasta and then some dessert as well. But it was good. We watched some TV and just kinda hung out. Actually there’s really not that much to say. It was a really nice warm day and I could finally pull out my sandals again. I had some coconut water and pineapple juice as well, and while both are drinkable, I’m not a huge fan.

Laundry? No, Pasta!

Ah ha! Fetucchini!

Sorry again for the super long posts >_<

One more section, that I hope I can add to later:

Life as a Gringo (foreigner): Part I

Now that I have been here for three weeks, I’m starting to get more used to things. I have noticed that people on the bus and the subway sometimes look at me funny. The thing is, São Paulo is so multicultural I COULD be Brazilian, so nobody is quite sure. Sometimes people will start talking to me in Portuguese and I usually just nod or, if I have to, say “Eu não falo portugês” [I don’t speak Portuguese]. On Friday, I had to call Tatiana while I was on the subway. So I called her and told her I was on my way home, and then as I hung up the phone, I realized that everyone was looking at me. Oh ya… I was just speaking a foreign language in front of everybody :P I hadn’t really occurred to me that that was weird, but I guess it is. Just something I noticed…

I have some more “Things I noticed” as well (I started writing them down) but since this post is fairly long, maybe I’ll save them for next time ;)

Tchau!

Thursday, May 25, 2006

Rainy Days

Wed, May 24


It has been raining for three days in Sao Paulo. Not hard, but enough to make the city a bit gloomy. I spent loooong days at the office on Monday and Tuesday, like… 12 hour days. So today I decided I could come home early. Yesterday was somewhat productive, today more so. I worked on the VP job descriptions like Diogo asked me to and I sent out some important e-mails. There was hardly anyone at the office all morning, so it was really quiet, but in the afternoon there were more people to talk to. I had an infrastructure meeting. I want to structure the “taskforce” like a project to give the new members a taste of project management. However, office infrastructure doesn’t make for the best project. Some parts are ok, like researching best case practices and such. But others are too basic, like “Get a clock”. So it kinda worked, I guess. I hope they got the idea. I’ll work with them some more on it.

After feeling a little stuck in the office, today was a nice change. Not only did I come home early, I also made some plans. I talked to Fuspa and he said he would take me around downtown sometime, or perhaps around liberdade (the Japanese community). Then Tiaia and Renata said we could go to some museums next week, and maybe go see the DaVinci Code, which apparently would be in english with subtitles. Then on the way home Koge invited me to his house for Japanese dinner on Saturday after the general meeting. So I will finally be getting out and about and start enjoying what Sao Paulo has to offer! Also, I took the bus with Renata to Sé metro station, which is not the one I usually take. And it’s right down town by the cathedral and Renata’s school! So now I know how to get there on my own and I can go exploring without having to worry about buses. The only problem is needing a bus to get to USP, but I could probably find one if I needed to, or just go downtown on the weekends. I’m starting to feel a little more confident again. And Fuspa said to me this morning “I have never heard you speak Portuguese” so I tried to say some things. At first I couldn’t think of much, but once I got going I could actually say quite a few things (very simple things). Granted, they aren’t all the most useful things to say, but it’s a start.

Here’s some examples: (note, I’m sure the spelling will be horribly wrong because I am learning verbally)

Eu gosto quixou [I like cheese]

Eu vou a LC [I’m going to the LC]

Vamos! [Let’s go!]

Eu quiero agua [I would like some water]

Ondé está o metro? [Where is the subway?]

Nos gostamos frango [We like chicken]

Eu não quiero ir [I don’t want to go]

…. And of course…

Eu não falo português!! [I don’t speak Portuguese!!]

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

CONADE and the shock

From last Wednesday to this Sunday, I was at CONADE, the Brazilian national AIESEC conference. It was there, that culture shock finally hit me, and it hit me hard.

Rita and I left at 4:00 am on Wed morning and took a cab to the subway station where we were meeting everyone. After a long bus ride we made it to Caraguatatuba, where the conference was being held. It was really nice to see the countryside for the first time. There were hills covered in trees, farms, cows (vacas!) and it was very beautiful. The view on the drive into the city was amazing. I could see the water and the city all surrounded by trees. It was really nice to see the water as well. I keep looking out over Sao Paulo half expected to see the ocean in the distance, but instead I only see city. Seeing the water was a special treat, and I didn’t realize how much I longed to see it.

When we were almost to the… I guess you could call it a resort, the bus broke down. We had to wait about half an hour, but then it was working again. The result, however, was that we missed most of opening plenary and had to run onto the stage to do our dance as soon as we got there. Haha, good thing “U” is near the end or we would have missed it entirely.


CEEDers!

The first day was corporate responsibility day. They had a bunch of guest speakers to give a talk, but it was in portuguese, so Rita, Sue and I escaped and did some exploring around the place. There was a pool and soccer fields and tennis courts and palm trees everywhere. The rooms were in these odd little round structures. I have never skipped a track before, but I wouldn’t have learned anything. Later we went to presentations by some companies about social responsibility. Two were in English, so I picked one of those. The presentation wasn’t the best, but I did learn about the concept, which honestly I didn’t know much about before. Then we went and got dressed up for the banquet. At Canadian conferences we always have the banquet on the last day. Here it’s on the first. Part of it was a “cocktail party” so they had these free drinks. I tried this one that was passion fruit and cachaca. It was really good…. And really strong!! I had two and I was a bit wobbly. Haha, but not enough to stop the AIESEC dancing!!

@USP looking good!

Ooo ahh oo ahh ahh Victoria!

Thursday was good and bad. The Work Abroad track in the morning was rather boring, and I can’t say I got much out of it. We painted pictures and meditated. To me, that’s not the most efficient use of a conference, but whatever. A lot of the main tracks were in Portuguese, so I had to follow along with the English powerpoints or have someone translate for me. Some of the members were really good about helping me. Jorge, Maira, Renata, Tiaia, Koge and Rubens all translated for me. I really appreciated it, especially on this day because the speakers were talking about social entrepreneurship and it was really amazing to hear their stories. Although I could follow along, I found it a bit frustrating that I couldn’t contribute. I was kind of stuck just listening. After the speakers we had a world café, which was awesome. I helped J-Max, from Quebec, to talk to the new members about volunteering and NGOs. I finally felt like I was able to contribute something, and I really liked that. In the evening we had a soccer tournament. I said I would play for team USP, so I headed off to the soccer field. When it came time to actually play, I didn’t get to. I was a bit disappointed, because I had been looking forward to it. Granted, it was all guys playing and they were really intense, but still. Later they asked me to play in a girls game, so I said I would love to. We couldn’t get enough girls from USP, so I played with a team of girls from Recife, which is in the north east of brazil. Amazingly enough, I scored the first goal! Haha, kind of a fluke, but I’ll take it. After the soccer, it was a costume party. Lots of people were dressed up in crazy outfits, so it was pretty funny. But during that party, there were very few people dancing. Instead, the were all outside either playing or watching Johnny Cash Mo!! Hahahaha. It was hilarious. Rita, Sue, Igor and I taught everyone how to play and they LOVED it! It was a huge hit. Even the next day, people were asking me how to play it. So there we were, at a national conference in Brazil playing Johnny Cash Mo. Pricesless.

Friday was very hard. At this point had had been dealing decently well with the Portuguese. Getting by at least. But after a while, it starts to build up. All the tracks were together on Friday, and they were all in Portuguese. We did break into smaller groups a few times and did some worksheets in English, but much of the day was sitting in the plenary listening to the externals. And it started to get to me. I read the powerpoints, so I had a general idea of what they were talking about, but I find it very taxing to sit and listen to another language and not understand. Even though I know it’s Portuguese, my brain is trying so hard to hear familiar words and make sense of it. I hear words and it doesn’t make any sense and it can be frustrating and mentally exhausting. I think I might have gone mad if it wasn’t for Igor. We ended up playing tic-tak-toe during the session.

This was the day I truly felt what I would call culture shock. It had been building up during the days before, but on Friday it finally got through. We talked a lot about culture shock at CIL training, and I thought I would be able to handle it. At least I am able to recognize that that’s what I am feeling. At CIL, they warned us against blogging during culture shock, because you can be overly negative and give people the wrong impression. However, I recognize that I am experiencing culture shock, and I think writing about it will help me a lot.

Having most of the sessions in portuguese was mentally straining. But I could read the powerpoints and at least follow along a little bit. What was the hardest was the social activities and intstructions. Whenever the facis told us where to go next, I had to turn to somebody and ask them “what are we doing now?” “where are we going?”. I felt very helpless and dependant on others. Especially on the weekend, when I switched tracks, I had to rely completely on Diogo to tell me where to go and what to do. During the breaks, I found it very awkward. Normally, if I don’t have anyone to talk to, I would just wander over to a group of people I know and join in. But here, everyone was speaking in Portuguese. I could hover around and pretend to listen, but I felt very isolated. I hate to ask people to speak English, especially when I am joining the conversation late and when I know that some of the members struggle with English. So I ended up “floating” a lot. The members did try to help me out. They would come talk to me and say hi, and Jorge was really good about including me. He would stop everyone and say “Hey, Jess is floating again. Speak English!” Haha, so I appreciated that, but I still felt like such a burden. Sometimes we would have a session or a conversation in English, and it would be great, I would be able to contribute and understand and learn, and then I would be hearing Portuguese and be completely cut off and isolated. It’s hard, because I totally understand that the sessions need to be in Portuguese. We were learning about some very in depth concepts and while most of the AIESECers speak English, it is very hard for them to understand complex concepts in English. It’s just unfortunate for me. And after a while, it really got to me.

LC meeting

That night we had global village. It was good, but I think I would have enjoyed it more were I not so exhausted from the day. We set up the Canada booth with pins, a flag, maple syrup, Canadian Club, and some postcards. After about an hour of telling people about Canada (how cold is it? Are you from the French part? What is maple syrup?) I escaped for a little while to look at the other booths. There were booths from all the internationals plus each of the regions of brazil. Igor told me about the different foods and drinks from brazil, and got me to try a weird seed which actually wasn’t bad, if a little hard to eat. I went back to the Canada booth to find that it had been populated by USP members who were teaching others what I had taught them about Canada! I thought that was kinda cool, actually. I ended up going to bed early (well… relatively) that night because I was soooo tired I honestly thought I might fall over.

mmmm ... maple syrup

Saturday was the best day of the conference. Instead of going to the work abroad track, Diogo asked me to attend the leadership role track to better understand the reality of the LCs in Brazil and where USP fits in. Of course, this meant that more of the information was in Portuguese, but I managed to learn a lot. We broke up into groups to discuss the areas where AIESEC brazil is the weakest with the intent of discussing solutions and creating a library of good case practices. Diogo told me to go to the Talent Management group and ask for them to do it in English. So, I did. The faci asked everyone if they were ok with speaking in English, and a couple people objected, saying they preferred Portuguese. Livia, from Curitiba, rescued me though, and said that I needed English and she thought I would be able to contribute a lot. I was really grateful, because I did learn a LOT from that session, and did give some input of my own. I had some really good discussions with a few people about managing human resources and I felt very empowered for the first time at the conference. Unfortunately, after the break, someone stopped me to ask me some questions about Canada, which was cool but caused me to be a little late for the next round of discussions. And they had already started in Portuguese. I was, once again, left floating. Later I went to some workshops. One was in English and the other Rubens translated for me. I did manage to learn a lot on Saturday though, about AIESEC in Brazil, about USP, about implementing structures and other things. That night everyone had free tequila! We did some AIESEC dances and I talked to people and hung out.

Sunday was not quite as good. I got up early and packed and went to opening plenary, and there were hardly any people there. Too much free tequila ;) So we had to wait around for everyone. Then we started to sessions. I went to the leadership track again, but I lost Diogo in the crowd so I had to just read the powerpoints and ask random people to translate the instructions for me. I still felt somewhat isolated, esoecially since I was the ONLY person in both the leadership role and taking responsibility tracks that didn’t speak Portuguese. At one point on Sunday the Chair was trying to explain something in English and he turned to me in front of everybody and said “I’m sorry do you mind if I say this in Portuguese?” I said it was fine. I did, however, have a really good conversation with Mao, one of the trainees from Curitiba, about the city. He started telling me all about the recyling programs that they have there and how it is a world leader in standard of living. He is from Columbia and I could tell that he was really impressed with the city and the programs there.

Closing plenary was a bit rushed, and we had to leave a bit early to catch our bus back because the people from Salvador had to catch their plane. The ride back was fairly uneventful. I was hoping to sleep but of course didn’t. I talked to Jorge and Fuspa about lots of things, from video games to languages. Over the weekend I did get to know most of the new members better, which is really nice. I’m feeling more comfortable with them now.

Today I was back at the office. It felt weird to be back in Sao Paulo. Familiar yet not. I managed to get sick today with a cold, so I haven’t been feeling well. I had two naps at the office because I was so tired. I did manage to get some stuff done, and I had several meetings with Diogo to discuss plans for the coming weeks. I think he has a knack for making this more complicated than they really are though. He makes it sound like what I have to do is really intense. I’m going to see how it goes and do what I can. Diogo has a very different focus than I do, so sometimes our initiatives don’t match, though I think we understand each others perspective. Today I also went to the university cafeteria, where you can get a whole meal for R$1.90. Crazy, neh? And then we went to the anthropology department and looked into some seminars being offered. Diogo was really trying to help me, but of course the seminars are almost all in Portuguese. Today I still felt really dependant.

Culture shock is a process though, and if I work through it I should be fine. The limitations will not disappear, but I have to learn to adapt and to get around them as best I can. The initial “OMG I’m in Brazil” has finally worn off, but that means soon I will be ready to start to have a deeper understanding of Sao Paulo and the people here, at least I hope so.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

New Understanding

Well, I have to write about my weekend... but some rather important things have been happening.

I went all weekend without knowing, but apparently there has been some gang and police violence over the past few days here in Sao Paulo. Over 90 people are dead, mostly policemen and yesterday the buses were shut down. Some buses were torched and a lot of stores were closed. I have not witnessed or been affected by any of this, but it certainly makes you stop and think. Everyone has been telling me this is very unusual for Brazil, and I believe them. Yet it's happening here in Sao Paulo. I will be careful. Some things with CONADE are a little up in the air, but hopefully everything will work out alright.

Ok, here's what I've been up to, amidst all this.

Saturday May 13:
Saturday was fairly quiet. I slept in a little and then went for a walk around the neighbourhood. We took a drive around the city because we had to pick up Tatiana's car. The picture of the neighbourhood in the previous post was from my walk on Saturday (ok, so I cheated with the pictures). In the evening, I went with Iza's parents to a birthday party. Wow! It was at a MANSION of a house, absolutely amazing, with a pool and everything. They had pizza being freshly made all night for dinner. I wanted to try them all but I couldnt because I got too full. I must have eaten 10-12 pieces!! But OMG it was soooo good!! I also talked to a few people at the party and learned some new words. But the best part was the banana pizza... oh yaaaaaaa.....

Sunday May 14:
Sunday was Mother's Day, so I e-mailed my Mom and then we went to Iza's gradmothers house. Guess what I did there? Eat more! Ahhh, they had a huge lunch and I wanted to try everything! It was sooo good! And they had a million desserts too! I think I gained a hundred pounds this weekend!! Then we went to their aunts house for dinner, and ate more! haha.

Monday May 15:
Today Rita came. I got to sleep in a little, then I took the metro [subway] to Tiete to catch a bus to the airport. I coun't find the bus (I didn't know yet that some were not running beause of the violence) so I took a taxi to the airport. There, I met up with Igor (from @ USP) and we talked for a while as we waited for Rita to arrive. We found her and headed out to the car (finding it was tricky ;) ) Then we headed back into Sao Paulo (the airport is outside the city). Igor dropped us off at Tiete and then we took the subway to Jardim Sao Paulo, near Iza's house. Then... we walked :P Rita hates me for this, haha. We carried the luggage up the hill for 20 min to the house. But we made it. There, Tatiana called and told us about the trouble with this buses. At this point, we were told it was a strike. So we decided to stay in the area around the house for the day. We went for a walk and bought some snacks at the bakery. Woo, I ordered food! ...well kinda... it's a start. Then we went home and had naps and then had dinner. Then we found out more about what had happened that day and over the weekend. I'm still trying to figure it out. Watching the news in portuguese doesnt help much.

Not as much detail today because I'm at the office and I don't want to hog the computer. However, I felt this was important. But I am safe and being careful. And hopefully the coneference will go as planned.

Independance

Ahhh, the sweet smell of… independence! Whoo hoo! I just came all the way from USP home all by myself! Well almost. Truthfully, Maira rode the bus with me, but I asked her if the stop was just around the corner and she said yes, so I would have found it fine on my own. Then I rode the subway and walked back without even needing my map. Ok, I’m seriously proud of myself considering I was only taught how to do it once and I wasn’t sure I would EVER be able to get around on my own in this big city. Granted, I can only go to one place, but hey, it’s a start. And getting home is a very good thing to be able to do. Ok, that’s enough self praise for today ;)


Wed May 10:

Another fairly relaxed day, actually. After Monday I thought I would be worked to the bone within a week, but the last two days have been much slower. I got to the school and guess what, my name was still scratched out. But! Luckily I had seen Rubens on my way in, so I went back and found him and asked him to get the key for me. He also talked to the guy at the desk, who told him that Diogo couldn’t just add names but had to submit a whole new sheet of names. So I got into the office and hopped on the computer, uploaded yesterday’s blog, read other blogs and sent of my Canada presentation. The morning was sooo dead. I got there at 7:30 and aside from a few people coming in and out quickly, there was nobody there until almost noon. I did some reading, but I wanted people to come! Then Diogo showed up and I told him about the name sheet and we headed off to Japanese lunch! We went all the way to the Japanese area of the city, which was a 40 minute drive. I don’t know how he could afford that much time, but then again I read that Brazilians often take long leisurely lunches, and I had nothing to do anyways. I told him a lot about how we do things in Victoria, and he was surprised that we have no selections and applications and intense new member training. But I don’t think Victoria is unusual amongst Canadian LCs. After we got back, it was time to head home, because I promised Iza’s Mom that I would be home for dinner tonight. Diogo scared me because he said there was a meeting tonight and I was so sure there wasn’t! But he was mistaken, whew. Tomorrow and Friday I won’t be home for dinner. Tomorrow is the general meeting and I’ll be doing my presentation. Diogo asked me to keep it to 20 minutes. I’ll try! But the final product is 83 slides of Canadian goodness!

OMG what’s this? A short post? Well it’s only one day. And it’s nothing too too exciting. I’m just writing to kill time before dinner. Hmmmm… what to chose for today’s picture…? The AIESEC office! I should have taken a picture in the Japanese community, but I hate snapping photos when I’m out because I feel like such a tourist. But I will try to do better ;)



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Thursday May 11:

This morning I met up with Thays (pronounced Tayeece), my buddy, and we went for a campus tour. We headed over to ETA, which is Iza’s building and Thays’ former building (since she already has a degree and is on her second). She showed me where the cheap cafeteria is and then we caught the internal campus bus, which is not only free but very brightly coloured :P . So we took the bus around campus and Thays told me what the building were and I was the tourist taking pictures. Not the greatest pictures, mind you, since they were out the bus window. There are so many traffic circles at USP it’s crazy. I don’t think there is a single light, only round-a-bouts. We went almost the whole way around, and the stopped at the athletic centre. It’s quite the facility! With tennis courts and basketball courts and soccer (futebol) fields and such. We had a snack there and then walked back to FEA, the faculty where the LC is.

In the afternoon, the “oldies” had our workshop on the new LC structure. Basically Diogo explained it to us and I think I finally understand. Structure and stuff like this isn’t my specialty. I find that usually I just do what seems necessary and what works and I end up doing whatever structure there was supposed to be. This is a lot of theoretical stuff, and now that I understand it, it is a very interesting concept. But making concepts into reality is the harder part, and making this work in @ USP will be a challenge. This is a brand new structure that is pretty much untested. We are to have another workshop on implementation soon, after CONADE I guess. Another interesting note, Diogo analysed the structure by looking at who the members were accountable too, so the bottom up, whereas I looked at it as the responsibilities of the leaders, from the top down. He mentioned this different perspective in our meeting too, on Monday, saying while his focus when he was VPPD (VPMD) was to get the most out of the members for AIESEC, my focus was always to get the most out of AIESEC for the members. I don’t see this difference of perspective as a problem, but it is definitely something I hadn’t really thought about before.

In the evening was the general meeting. Turnout wasn’t as good as it could have been, but I was told it was pretty good. I was supposed to do my Canada Presentation so I brought my laptop and my maple candies. However, there was so much other stuff to cover, like CONADE and learning circles, that we ran out of time. So I’ll do it at the meeting after CONADE. I’d rather wait and do a good job than do a rush job anyways, since I spent so long making a good presentation.

Then I went home entirely on my own, and at night! And it was fine.


Friday May 12:

One week in Brazil! Crazy. I have learned SOOOO much in this short time. This morning I met Ju Japa (the Japanese Julianna) on the bus ride in to USP. We stopped off at the bank to get money for CONADE and then she gave me another little tour of some areas I hadn’t seen the day before. Then we headed over to the LC (it’s starting to seem normal to call it that :P ). I still can’t get the key, so Ju Japa got it instead. I checked my e-mail and did some general stuff. Several members came and asked “Where’s Koge?” because the money for CONADE was due today. So I was the bank until he arrived, collecting the money and double checking everyone names. My pronunciation is terrible though, and one who gave a chuckle was Patrick. I said it like I would my own name, and he though that was funny. He says it very differently, like Patreeky.

Then Koge gave me a portuguese lesson. I practiced some verbs. He made me a worksheet and on the first one, I got more than half wrong…. But then on the second sheet I only got one wrong. Woo! Then one of the members started putting post it’s with the portuguese name on items around the office. Pretty soon everyone who was there was putting up stickies :P The office is covered! But it’s cool! And they loved it. They were writing things like “cool guy” and putting it on themselves.

Then I had a learning circles meeting. These are in preparation for multiple PBoXes (Projects Based on Exchange) that Diogo is planning. Knowing next to nothing about PboXes, this is a learning experience for me too. I couldn’t help too much with the project planning because I don’t know the reality of Sao Paulo, but I could help with the practicality aspects as an AIESEC project. There were some really good ideas thrown out, but sometimes the members got carried away and starting making plans that were not really feasible. So I hope I helped. Sometimes they switched to Portuguese, if they had something they didn’t know how to say in English. But then, sometimes they forgot to switch back, so I was a little lost in the conversation. I hate asking them to switch though, because I don’t want to be a hindrance.

After that meeting, I had my own meeting as team leader of the infrastructure task force (ooooh, doesn’t that sound cool!). We did a little icebreaker and then some brainstorming and them made an action plan. I tried to structure the meeting like a proper AIESEC meeting to help the new members get an idea of how it should be. They seem excited about the ideas we came up with, so I think this will go well. Then I wrote out all the output and sent it to everyone.

Then some other people showed up, one of which was Renato. Since he dances professionally, we tasked him with coming up with our opening plenary dance. And today we got to start learning it. Wow. It’s quite the dance. Not like a typical @ dance. It’s tricky! It look us an hour and a half to master 1 minute of dance. Good thing that’s all we need to know! But it’s also very cool. Now we just need to teach the other members. It was cool though, there was about eight of us dancing around the LC. :P We are gonna knock-em dead at CONADE!!

After that, I hung around for a little while and then headed home, taking the bus with Koge. After I got home, we watched a brazilian soap opera (I had no clue what was going on…) and then ordered pizza. Pizza in Brazil is VERY different! And apparently Sao Paulo pizza is the best in the world, or so I’m told ;) I dunno about that, it was a little too much for me. One was covered in brazilian white cheese, but it was TOO cheesey, yes even for me! Like your mouth is glued closed cheesy. And the other pizza was covered in tomatoes. I tried it, I really did. And I truly just do not like tomatoes.

I’m so excited for the conference, and for Rita coming!! I have so much to show her and tell her! It’s gonna be great J And on Monday I don’t have to get up at 6:00 am! But on Wednesday we have to MEET at 6:00 am which means leaving the house at 5:00 and getting up maybe 4:30. Wish me luck >_<

This weekend looks to be fairly mellow. It’ll be nice the sleep in and maybe wander around the city a bit or something.

Things I noticed: Brazilians don’t seem to have answering machines. The phone just rings and rings… and they are never in a hurry to answer it either, haha. The phone will ring a couple times before they even acknowledge it, and then they wander over and answer.



my neighbourhood

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Work!

Another update written back at Iza’s that I will upload tomorrow. I don’t like writing in my blog at the office because the computers are in great demand and I feel like I should be doing more crucial things.

Sunday was quite quiet, as I mentioned before. Iza and I watched a movie in the evening and I just did some more work on my computer.

Monday, however, was nuts.

First Day in the office:

I went with Iza to USP, which meant getting up at 6:00 am to leave at 6:45. Paulo, her brother drove us for 40 minutes to the bus stop, then we waited for the bus (the one that says C. Universidade) and took that for another 20 minutes to USP. Iza showed me which stop to get off at and how to get to the AIESEC office, which they call the LC. In Victoria, the LC refers to the people. We, the members are the LC. But here, the LC is the office. I guess it is because the words local committee don’t mean as much to them, so they adapted their own meeting. But I’m getting used to saying I’m going to the LC :P. Anyways, we made it to the LC and Iza got they key and then headed off to class. So I was on my own in the office for a little while. I uploaded what I wrote on Sunday, put up my flag and checked my e-mail etc. Eventually some other members showed up and I talked to them a little. Around noon Diogo came and it was time for our meeting. The office was busy, so we headed to the café nearby for tea (strawberry vanilla mmmm…..) and coffee. He asked me what kind of AIESEC work I liked to do, and then gave me a detailed history of AIESEC USP and all the problems they have had over the past couple of years. That was good because knowing the history helps me to understand the current reality. Right now @ USP has no EB and a few “experienced” members are helping Diogo do everything. After that, he explained to me what he wants the LC to be. He wants to implement a new LC structure based on projects and in line with @ 2010. This is both exciting and intimidating. If we get it going, I think it could work really well, but getting it set up will be a challenge. But that is a plan that will be gradually implemented through the next months. Additionally, he asked me to start a list of things I’d like to do while I am here. So after we got to the office I started working on that. Then he asked me if I wanted to lead the “infrastructure task force” which basically means make the office fun and useable. So I will be leading a group to make a calendar for the wall, put up AIESEC information, and some fun stuff too. Also, it means organizing the new computer that’s coming and dealing with all the files. I’m really looking forward to it! I’m gonna make the office an AIESEC paradise! ….. or something like that :P Diogo also asked me to stay for a meeting that evening. It was Diogo, Me and Isabell from Columbia who is also helping out, the members who have been the effective though not official EB and the former LCPs. We talked about a million things, such as some major problems USP is having, about CONADE and also what I was to do for the next few months. We all agreed that USP lacks a LC culture and hardly has any social events. So it will be my job to create this. I think CONADE will really help, because conferences help to create LC history and culture. And decorating the office will help too, and I have some social activities planned. And during the meeting Diogo said I had an accent because I said “aboot”. I swear I didn’t!! I’ll have to watch myself more closely… It was after 10:00 pm by the time the meeting was over (good thing I like meetings, eh?). Koba dropped Koge and I off at the subway and then he rode the subway with me to my stop, where Iza’s Dad came to pick me up. I was extremely tired by the time I was back at around 11:30, but I also had so many things going through my head that I couldn’t sleep at all!!

Things I noticed: The office way pretty busy all afternoon. The morning was quite dead. Whoever comes in has to go around to everyone who is already there and greet them with a handshake (for two guys) or a kiss. It seems one a day is adequate though, because if a person leaves and comes back, they only greet the people who came while they were gone.


Tuesday May 9:

Today was weird, though a little less crazy. I slept in because I had so much trouble falling asleep, so I had to get ready really fast. Then Iza’s sister dropped us off at a different bus stop, though we took the same bus. I got to FEA (that is the faculty where the office is – Finances, Economics and Administration) around 8:00 and went to get the key. They guy who was at the desk didn’t speak English, and he was asking me for the room number. I told him it was the @ office, but he said he needed the number. So I went upstairs and got the room # (203, by the way) and came back down. The he looked for my name on the list of people he is allowed to give the key to. Diogo and I had asked them yesterday to add my name to the list. And my name was there…. But it had been scratched out! I don’t know why. So the guy wouldn’t give me the key! So I had to sit and wait for the first AIESECer to show up. I was there at 8:00 am, guess when Diogo came? … 10:40. So I sat there for almost 3 hours. Uhhhhh. I couldn’t really call anybody because the reason they were not at the office was because they were in class. I could have gone for a walk or something, but I still don’t know the campus very well and I didn’t want to get lost. So I sat there and listened to my MP3 player. And had a nap :P . Diogo was very surprised when he arrived, and could get no good explanation as too why my name had been removed. I hope it is there tomorrow. So I was a little behind schedule, to say the least. All the stuff I was going to do that morning got pushed back. I still did some research and talked to members and organized my first team meeting. Koge had told be the day before on the subway that he would teach me some Portuguese today and had asked me to try and read something before hand. So I set about translating something I found in the office. I actually didn’t do too badly, but I definitely needed help. Then I had to leave a little earlier, because Iza was going to teach me how to get home. So I left at 3:00 and met her at the bus stop. We took the bus for around 40 minutes, then got on the subway. We rode for two stops and then had to switch lines. Then another 20 minutes on the subway and we were at out station, Jardim Sao Paulo. Then she made me a map and I had to lead her home. It’s actually not that hard and I think I will be able to do it by myself tomorrow. The hardest part is making sure I get off the bus at the right time. But I was watching for landmarks so I think I can spot it. We had a snack when we got in, and now I’m here writing. So other than being locked out of the office, today was much more mellow. Of course, I was so tired from Monday that I didn’t have the energy to do much :P . Tonight I will hopefully finish my Canada presentation because they want me to do it at the general meeting on Thursday. Ahhh, not much time but I think I will make it. I’m still trying to think of a Canadian activity to do.

Things I noticed: Even though he couldn’t give me the key, and couldn’t really communicate with me, the guy at the desk made every effort to try and help me. He asked everyone who came in if they were from AIESEC and he found someone who spoke English to tell me that he couldn’t give me the key (even though I had kinda figured that out). And then the guy who spoke English tried to help me too. Everyone is very friendly.


Other notes:

In the office (the LC) I put up my flag and today we found a brazilian flag to put up to. The new members really like it. I also put up on the wall two big pieces of paper. One is a mindmap of what USP and Sao Paulo are famous for. I’m hoping to use to it create an LC cheer, since they don’t have them in Brazil like we do in Canada. The other paper asks the members to write me a phrase in English and Portuguese. The members were having a great time with both of them, coming up with crazy things USP is famous for, like producing nine of the country’s presidents, and writing me phrases like “I want another beer!” and “teach me how to make caipirinha”. I’m glad they like them.

I also tried some more brazilian food! For dinner on Sunday we had a munch of different breads and meats. For lunch on Monday, Diogo took me to a hot dog place near the office. I ordered a traditional hotdog… but it certainly wasn’t what I would consider a hot dog. The guy started with a bun.. ok good. Then added a weiner… ok good. Then added ketchup and mustard…ok fine. The he added onions…ok fine. Then he added corn… wha?? Then he added mashed potatoes… eh? Yes, corn and mashed potatoes (Colin this it a hotdog you would love ;) ) It was very weird, but also very good! For dinner I had a pastei, which is a deep fried pastry and you can order many different things inside. I had a cheese one, and it was really good. And apparently I am being taking on a “gastromic tour” of Sao Paulo, starting tomorrow with Japanese food. Haha, I hope this turns out ok. But one on the list they started creating is an Itatian restaurant, so that should be very good! I also learned that Sao Paulo is made up mostly of Italians (as in Italian background). Interesting, I though they looked Italian but I thought I just didn’t know how to recognize Portuguese :P

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Break

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Ok, I was away from the computer for a little while, but now I am back. I had my nails done… wooo! There’s a lady who came to the house to do Iza’s Mom’s and they asked if I wanted mine done too. Haha, I just got a very neutral colour. Then I went with Iza’s Dad to the Supermarket. It definetly is a SUPERmarket because not only do they have food, but TVs and stereos and DVDs and appliances and everything! Iza’s Dad is really nice and he told me what all the food was called in Portuguese. Though I can’t remember all of them :P They had some food I had never seen before. After we got back we had dinner, which was soup (I think pea soup) and tuna bread. For desert it was white cheese with guava, and it was quite good! Very different but good. And I tried some Portuguese port wine, which is thicker and sweeter than regular wine. I only had a taste, but I was quite good too.

Other things, I noticed: The air in Sao Paulo is very dry, at least compared to Nanaimo/Victoria. My lips are always drying out and I am thirsty a lot more often. Which is a shame because there are so many water fountains around the campus but I’m trying not to drink from them! I think I did have a little bit of water by accident, but not much (ahh, icecubes).

Emergency vehicles turn on their flashing lights when they are going somewhere, but none of the cars get out of the way! They just keep driving like normal as the police car or ambulance swerves around them. Odd, to me at least.

I was trying to figure out why the houses look different. One is that they all have gates. I don’t think I’ve seen a house without one (I’ll take a picture sometime soon). But the other thing, and I think the more important thing, is there is no yard. Off the road is the driveway and then the house, so the house is very close to the road, and I think this is what makes them look odd to me. And it also makes the road look narrower, though I don’t think it really is.

When we got back from the subway today, there was a turtle in the driveway! Iza told me this was not unusual, but I thought it was pretty cool! So what’s today’s picture? The turtle!! And it was pretty big too!!


Turtle says: Happy Birthday Dad!!!


Also, sorry these posts are ridiculously long. If they are too long or boring just let me know and I will make them shorter. Obrigada [thanks]


Monday, May 08, 2006

.... Hello Brazil!!

Hello from Brazil! I haven’t had too much time on the computer, but here’s what has happened so far. It’s gonna be long :P so I’ll try to break it up into sections:

Flights:

My flights were fine. Long, of course. It was really nice to be able to sit with Susan on the flight from Toronto to Sao Paulo. We talked about a lot of stuff and compare what we had brought. We both went to the Duty Free in Toronto and bought some Canadian booze. It turns out you buy it at the store and then they give it to you after you’ve gone through the gate and are about the board the plane. Sue and I were both very pleasantly surprised that they served us dinner! Which was good because I was a bit hungry. Not that I had eaten all my snacks or anything, but a hot meal (even airplane meals) are just better. Plus, international flights have free drinks! So Sue and I each had some wine to help us sleep. It worked for her, not for me. After we talked for an hour or two Sue fell asleep for about 5 hours. I tried really hard, but I just couldn’t. I ended up watching the horrible airplane TV show and movies. Well the first movie was Narnia, but I missed most of it because of dinner. The second movie was some old murder mystery from 1993 with Woody Allen. It was pretty bad…. But whatever. When the sun finally rose I was eager to look outside. There wasn’t much to see, just expanses of farmland. It could have been Saskatchewan :P We got breakfast around 8:30 in the morning, which was pretty good. Then, we started spotting some cities outside. The first few were quite small, but after a while we saw a larger one. ‘I wonder if that is Sao Paulo’ I said. It looked a decent sized city, and I could tell we were starting to descend a little. About two minutes later, we saw a BIG BIG city. This city went as far as we could see, had several clusters of skyscrapers and was just overall huge! THIS was Sao Paulo.

Things I noticed: There was a fair amount of English at the airport and most of the people who worked there spoke some English. The airport looked pretty much like any other airport.

Arrival:

Susan and I got off the plane and followed the crowd towards the exit. We had to have our passports inspected by an official, then we picked up out luggage and headed for customs… which ended up being just walking through a doorway. Then we turned the corner and I saw a whole group of hands go up, waving to me! My AIESECers!!! There was around eight of them and they introduced themselves and greeted me with the Brazilian kiss of the cheek. I was feeling a little overwhelmed and didn’t know quite what to say! They gave me a bottle of Cachaca, limes (which they called lemons) and sugar, all the ingredients for Caipirinha. Plus a box of Brigadeiro chocolates and a bracelet of brazilan flags!! Then Thays, my buddy, helped me find the bank machines and one that would work with my card. So I got a few hundred reais and then we headed out to the cars. They asked me where I wanted to go, but I really didn’t know! So they decided something and we split into two groups. I went in Rubens car and we headed downtown

Things I noticed: They told me it was “cold” but I was fine in my t-shirt. In Sao Paulo, the small compact car rules. There are very few trucks or SUVs, and most of the cars are not kinds I have heard of. They are similar to, say, a Toyota Camry of a Ford Focus kind of thing, but some if the manufacturers I have never heard of. Also, I have been in five cars now, and they are all standard. Automatics are very uncommon. The gas stations are interesting too, because the sign reads Gas: 2,34 Alcohol: 1,65. Driving is crazier than in Canada, but not as crazy as in Egypt. They honk sometimes but not all the time. Lane markings are more recommendations then rules and the motorcyclists just race between the cars, especially when traffic is backed up. Getting anywhere takes a very long time and people will sometimes try to sell you things at a red light. On the way downtown from the airport we also saw the flavelas, or shantytowns, that surround the city. In one spot, underneath a highway overpass, was a group of little shacks.

The Market:

We went to the downtown area and stopped first at a huge market. Apparently it used to be an abandoned building that was rebuilt. We left my suitcases in the cars, which they told me was very safe, and it was. We looked around for a while and then went to one of the food places and I had my first Brazilian food! It was dried meat and onions and cheese in a fried pastry, and it was really good! And I had a brazilian softdrink with it. All this would have cost probably $6-7 in Canada, but cost only R6, which is like $3. And they told me that was expensive!! The Brazilians really love their meat (sorry Metta). Some of the sandwiches the others had were just a bun with literally two inches of meat stuffed in it! I also had coconut water, which is, amazingly, the water from inside a coconut. It’s sweet and fruity.

Things I noticed: They have so many different kinds of fruit at the market! And mountains of different kinds of cheese. They also have a lot of hanging meat, which they told me surprises most foreigners.

Downtown:

We then headed downtown. Parking in Sao Paulo is very different. They have the bottom floors of buildings which are just empty and you pull right in off the street, after the people who work there flag you in, and park like you would on the ferry. But then when you come back, you might be boxed it, so you have to leave your keys there and they move the cars out of the way so you can get out. So we parked in one of these (there was only one car of us now, the other had gone to drop my stuff off). We walked down a street full of little stalls, not unlike the market in Victoria, except a lot of these vendors were did not have permits, I was told. We went to a large Jesuit church which was where Sao Paulo was founded. Rubens is really interested in the history of Sao Paulo and he knew a lot about it. The church is now half church, half museum, so they had some displays. One of them was the femur of a priest who used to preach there. I had told them, when they asked me what I studied in anthropology, that I had studied bone, so they made sure I saw it, and I told them it was a left femur ;) Then we headed over to a huge cathedral, which had spectacular gothic architecture. It was much more ornate than the Jesuit church, which makes sense. We then went to Renata’s school, which is part of USP (University of Sao Paulo, pronounced uspee) but was build much earlier as a monastery before becoming a school and is therefore downtown instead on the campus. She showed us her classroom, which was well over a hundred years old and had these ancient wooden desks with tablets to write on that had graffiti from years and years of use. I couldn’t imagine having classes in there, it was so cool! And she has all her classes there, she doesn’t move around. We had a look around the rest of the building and she told me a lot of the history, like how one of the paintings was shot and how it might be haunted. She also told me that on the school grounds, the police and military are not allowed to enter. So the school has been the site of many rebellions and protests. Much of the art outside was stolen from other places by the students, but the police can’t come take it back!! After the school, we went to the stock market, which has an observation deck. It was odd to watch the people yelling and screaming and waving their hands around. I had not idea what they were doing, so Rubens explained it to me. Also, there were only men in the stock market. Then we went up the cities tallest skyscraper which also has an observation deck. If you go up Mt. Doug in Victoria, you see the city, some farms, the ocean, the mountains. Here, it was only city for as far as the eye could see! HUGE!! And this from 37 or so stories up! The city goes on forever. I asked Rubens how long it takes to drive from one end of the city to the other and he told me 2 – 2.5 hours. So you can easily drive from Victoria to Nanaimo faster than across Sao Paulo. After the skyscraper it was time to head out of downtown.

Things I noticed: There are a LOT of people walking around downtown. The sidewalks are always packed. Also, there are crosswalks but the cars don’t actually stop, so you have to wait for a break in traffic to cross. A lot of the buildings downtown are really rundown. Rubens told me that, rather like Nanaimo, the downtown core had become really ugly and there is a campaign going on to fix it up. They had a new theatre (haha, like the port theatre) and some other nice new buildings. The sidewalk is not flat, especially downtown, so you have to watch where you are going. I tripped a few times already :P Another thing I noticed was that I was really stupid to have packed my camera in my luggage so I couldn’t take any pictures! But I’m sure I will be downtown again, and I’ll take pictures then.

USP:

After downtown we headed to the university, which is quite far! It was nice to drive around and look at the city though. We arrived at the university, which us set up rather like UBC. It’s a huge area like it’s own city with buildings all over. Each faculty has a building or two and there are some nice gardens. The first place they took me? The archaeology museum! :P Haha, which was actually really cool! It was focused on the Brazilian aboriginals and it was interesting to see how many similarities there were with Canadian aboriginals. The basketwork was similar and some of the tools as well. After the museum, we headed over to the AIESEC office, which I was really looking forward to seeing. I had been told that there is almost always people there, and it was true. The office is HUGE! Like 6 or 7 time the size of our office in Victoria, and Diogo, the LCP, apologized that there were only three computers and said we would be getting more soon. Ha! Considering AIESEC Victoria’s closet and lone computer, it was amazing! There’s tables and desks and out the windows (yes windows too!) there are palm trees! There were several members there that I got to meet. The only downside about the office is it is very plain and there is nothing on the walls. I think a nice Canadian flag will look great! The office is where I had my first, I dunno… negative culture shock? The others had spoken in Portuguese before, but because they were showing me around, most of it was English. In the office, people were doing work and they were all speaking portugese. I mean I understand that it’s easiest for them, but I felt a little out of place not being able to understand anything. So I hopped onto one of the computers and posted on the @ Vic blog and checked my e-mail. The computers were against me too! All the windows buttons are in portugese :P. I just had to work from memory, which was fine. The keyboards are awkward though, because they have the accents on them which means some of the buttons are in different places. If you see me doing a ~ instead of a ‘ it’s because those two are backwards and I have to make a point of doing the apostrophe. Eventually I just butted into the conversation and they kind of realized that I was being left out and started using some English. We also joked that I have to use the AIESEC hand sign for “speak more slowly” for “speak ENGLISH!”. Occasionally they would switch back without realizing it and then laugh and go back to English. People stayed in the office until very late, and then some of them went to class! At 7:30 pm! Odd. Diogo then said he would drive me to Izabella’s where I would be staying. I asked him lots of questions on the way and he asked many of me. We are going to have a meeting on Monday to go over what I am to do.

Things I noticed: The main university campus is a lot more modern than the law school downtown. Some of the buildings are very new. Also, the washrooms have strange flushes, just in case you wanted to know ;)

Home: Diogo and I stopped off at a “shopping” (they are called shopping centres but most people call them shoppings, he told me) which looked like a Canadian mall, and went to the food court. They had lots of different food, but I opted for a brazilian buffet. After more driving (everything is far away), we got to Isabella’s house. Her house is in the north end of the city and USP is in the east (I think). I met her and her parents and sister, Tatianna. She also has a brother, Paulo, who I met the next day. They welcomed me and asked me some questions. The parents speak some English and the kids all speak it quite well. They have had international students before and, amazingly enough, Izabella’s parents have been to Victoria before! The even have a little plate with a picture on the parliament buildings on the counter. And Paulo (and perhaps Tatianna) has been to Egypt. Their house is very nice, almost like a Victorian house (not as in from Victoria but from the Victoria era) because they have a lot of heavy furniture and picture of the walls. My room is the TV downstairs which has an extra bed. That’s where I am right now, writing on my laptop. When I arrived they were just finishing dinner, pizza in a round box! We talked for a while and then I headed to bed. I was just a little tired, having not slept for a good 35-40 hours!

Things I noticed: When I first entered, the first thing I did was take off my shoes, and Izabella gave me an odd look. I also thought it was weird that there were no other shoes. I guess at Iza’s house you wear your shoes indoors, because they all had sandals on inside. Another interesting thing, Iza’s house has a lady who comes to clean and does all the laundry too.

So that was Day 1! Pretty amazing, eh? Here’s Day 2:

Morning:

I got up and had a shower and joined the rest of the family for breakfast. Breakfast was tea (herbal), milk, a banana and yogurt. So a nice big breakfast. The milk tasted different than Canadian milk, I’m not sure why, and I found it very amusing that it’s called “Bom Gosto” which I was told means “Tastes Good”. After breakfast Iza’s parents left to go to the beach for the weekend. I was to go to a barbeque at 2:00. Ha! Pei-tien wasn’t kidding about being late! I got a ride with Tatianna, Iza’s sister, and her boyfriend.

Things I noticed: almost everyone has a cell phone, which they call mobiles. Most of the cars are very nice and quite new as well.

BBQ:

I arrived at 4:00 for the 2:00 barbeque and I was the first one there! The next person arrived an hour later an most people didn’t come until 7:00!! I know AIESECers and always late but that was crazy! Since I was there early, Marcelo, who was hosting the BBQ, played some brazilian music for me and taught me how to samba! It’s actually not that hard. After Koge arrived, we talked about some AIESEC stuff. I learned a lot about AIESEC USP yesterday, more to come later. For dinner we had these things that were like sausages but not sausages. They were really tasty! You eat them with bread. And we had some caipirinha as well. There were a lot of new members there and some other internationals. There was a group from Columbia, one from Sweden, I think, Alexandra the trainee from Switzerland, a guy from Germany and probably a few others. Apparently the house we were at is the USP AIESEC house. The first LCP still lives there, as have several AIESECers over the past few years. They have signed flags up on the walls from past trainees.

Things I noticed: In Brazil you don’t have “your” drink, there is only “a” drink. People share everything!

AIESEC USP:

I learned a lot about AIESEC USP from the people I spoke to at the BBQ yesterday. AIESEC USP has only been around for 5 or 6 years. At first it was going very well, but then after a couple years, they were down to a very few members. Right now they have only 4 or 5 experienced members, and some of those “experienced” members, like Koge, have only been in AIESEC for 6 months. Some haven’t even been to a conference before. So basically, what @USP (@=AIESEC for you non-AIESECers reading this) lacks is experience. So my two years in AIESEC is going to help me a lot. A lot of them just need to know exactly what AIESEC is all about. And they are very eager to learn. I was already talking about AIESEC dances and they wanted me to teach them right now! The conference will be a great experience, so I’m glad we are the fourth largest delegation at 23!! (with hopefully more to register soon). It will be a great way for the members to realize what AIESEC is and to connect with AIESEC nationally and internationally. I talked to Koge, who is the head delegate, about the plans for CONADE. Since we have such a big delegation, he wants to have a really exciting opening plenary roll call to prove to both @Brazil and to ourselves that we are here to make an impact! So I told him I would try to think of something. Koge is also getting some t-shirts made and I really like the concept. (not telling yet!) @USP is also project based, so I will have to learn exactly how that works. And I think the first part of my job will be to talk to the new members and share my experiences and tell how @ works and how to do @ work. Which is fine with me!

Things I noticed: @USP has a pretty good alumni base. Almost all the former LCPs (all 4 or 5 of them) are still around and still help out with @ work when they can, so they do have that resource that we don’t have in Victoria. Some of the former VPs and around too.

Balada Japa:

At the BBQ, Ju Japa (The Japanese Julianna) convinced me to go with her, Koba and Victor to a Balada Japa, which is a Japanese club, after the BBQ. Of course, there were mostly Japanese people there, so I guess I was an honorary Japanese, Actually, I was told that I know more Japanese than a lot of the Japanese Brazilians! And I don’t know much! The club was at a big house and the music was WAY better than in Canada! They played actual music and not just boom boom boom boom. And they played some old stuff, like the Beach Boys! (a dance version, granted) It was fun. And when you are hungry and need a snack, what do you get? Meat on a stick of course! And it tastes so good! Once we got tired, Victor drove me home.

Things I noticed: When dancing, everyone sings along to the music, and when I say sing, I mean yell! Sometimes the DJ would stop the music and the song would keep going with everyone singing. They sung in English, in Spanish, in Portuguese and made up words when they didn’t know them. I dunno.. but there is something very amusing about watching a bunch of guys singing “Let me be your sunshine” at the top of their lungs!

Some of my AIESECers!!

Ok, there’s Day 2. And it’s now Day 3. Not too much happening today. I slept in (nice…..) and had breakfast and wrote this (hey, it took a while!) They have internet at Iza’s house, but not wireless so I think I will just save this on my memory stick and upload it tomorrow at the office. Tomorrow I have my meeting with Diogo and I get to learn all about where everything is in the office, where the keys are and other very useful things to know!

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Goodbye Canada...

I've been putting off writing in here today, but I should. I'm flying tomorrow. I have to leave the house at 8:30 am and I will arrive in Sao Paulo at 10:00 am the next day. As excited as I am, I can't help but feel a little sad as well.

Tonight after the ball game all the girls and I went to Fast Eddies to hang out. We just talked for several hours, about ball, about life, about crazy stuff we've done, whatever. It's really such a great bunch of girls and I'm gonna miss them this season. A few of them I have played with for a lot of years. We exchamged e-mails and MSN, so I will be able to follow along with the season and how they are doing, but it won't be the same. I realize that I can't have it all, obviously. And I'm still super excited about Brazil, but I think I can feel a little sad about leaving as well. I will miss my team, my family, my friends and my AIESECers.

I got an e-mail this morning saying that I will be staying with a new USP member named Isabella. I'm glad to know that things are ready for me when I arrive, and Marthy told me that there's a barbeque on Friday night.

Even though I'm flying tomorrow, it doesn't quite seem real yet. I don't think it will hit me until I get there that I will be living in another country for 4 months. I just hope that when it does hit me, it won't be in a negative way. But I'm a pretty adaptable person, I think, so I should be fine. I've been away from home before, though not this far. But I won't be alone, and I have so many new friends to meet and spend time with. Honestly, I'll probably be too busy to be homesick.

And I'm not gonna sleep tonight either am I....

And so I'll arrive, wearing my red AIESEC Victotia t-shirt, full of excitment and anticipation.

Next post - from Brazil!!

Taken today with my webcam
Will I be different when I come back?

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Captain's Log: Supplimental

Ok, so I woke up this morning and I can't lift my head up. That's great..... it's worse than I thought. I might have to make a trip to the physio after all....

*Bonus points for anyone who gets the title reference*

Everything looking up... except me!

Ouch. I played ball again tonight... and we won... but I managed to pull a muscle on my left shoulder. It's one that I've damaged several time before... ironically enough by playing softball. It's not too bad, at least. The first time I did it I couldn't hold my head up for a week, missed school and had to go to three weeks of phisiotherapy. This isn't as serious, but still unfotunate because I can't hold my head quite upright >_<. I just hope it heals before thursday because flying with a head that doesn't stay up doesn't sound like much fun. I guess I'm on a roll, eh? Lost my voice at CIL training and now hurt my neck before I fly :P Ahhh, well. I'll live, even if uncomfortably.

In other news, I set up my webcam tonight and it works. So that's cool. I also talked to my Brazil buddy! Her name is Thays and she seems very nice. I don't think my accomodation is figured out yet, but she told me not to worry. I'm not worried yet, but consodering I need accomodation for friday, I hope they get it sorted out soon. I'll start worrying on Wednesday ;P

Today I also cleaned out my purse, my wallet, my flash drive etc... I also registered with the Canadian embassy in Brazil. You can do it online and it's recommended for people staying abroad for more than three months. It's an online application but you have to go to the embassy (or in my case the consolate) and activate it when you get there. So I have to remember to do that. I'm not sure if the other girls have done this already...or if they will need to. I also made myself a table of addresses and phone numbers in Brazil just in case anything happens. I have all the info for the AIESEC office and a couple of personal numbers just in case. I should probably add the consolate number and address as well.

So now I am to curl up in bed with an ice-pack on my shoulder and my portugese book. Tomorrow is my last appointment, lunch with my old piano teacher and hopefully another trip to my highschool. And of course general "stuff".

So close... and I admit the "worry" is beginning to set in.

Monday, May 01, 2006

Steps Closer

Haven't been up to anything too exciting the last couple days. I went to my highschool and visited my old teachers. I deleted a whole bunch of crap from my computer and copied a bunch of CD overt to put on my MP3 player. I started packing (1.5 suitcases full right now) and did some more odds and ends shopping. I have more appointments this week (it never ends!!!).

I can't believe in less than a week I'll be in Brazil. It seems so surreal, really. I'm feeling pretty confident. I just hope I can make the impact I want to. AIESEC in Brazil has more structure than AIESEC Canada, at least AIESEC Victoria, so I hope I don't come off as knowing nothing because I don't know how their system works. Like for conferences, every LC has a Head Delegate who organizes everything. And they have working group teams and such as well. I think I will learn a lot from them.

And amazingly I know all this stuff because I got an e-mail today from the LCP, Diogo, and I could read most of it! I was so proud of myself, haha. I had to get Jorge to help with a few spots over MSN, but for the most part I understood. Not that I knew all the words... not even close. But I knew enough words and recognized enough others because they were either similar to english or french that I could figure it out. Of course, knowledge of the subject matter always helps, and the fect that it was all about AIESEC stuff gave me an advantage. So my reading comprehension is passable, but speaking and writing and still non-existant.

Tonight I went and played softball again. It was nice. My coach was telling me I should cancel my trip and stay and play, but I told him no such luck. As much as I love playing ball, this is a no-miss opportunity I won't be missing out on.

Less than a week and I'll be in Brazil! Crazy!