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!!]