A Farewell to Sao Paulo

On our last day in Sao Paulo we woke up and Laura and I had to start packing. The packing was fairly easy because we just had to put everything in a suitcase and I was not worried about the weight limit at all.

Paula was supposed to pick me up around 12:45 in order to go to lunch. Paula is Japanese and I really wanted to have some Japanese food with her (especially because she would be able to help me and my lack of Portuguese skills order). While I was walking down my hall before going to lunch I ran into Miguel and Chema (more like the door to their room was open and I waved) and they said they were going to lunch with their buddies and wanted to know if we wanted to join. We said that could possibly work but we wanted to see where Paula wanted to take us. Long story short, all the interns (sans Jessica who had left early that morning) ended up at a sushi restaurant chosen by Chema’s buddy. The food was pretty good, although expensive, but there were points for flair considering the sushi was served in a boat. The worst part about lunch was the fact that we had to start to say goodbye to people. Frankie had to leave before eating lunch to catch his flight back to South Africa (we assume he made it but he cut it very close) so that was a sad parting considering he lives all the way in South Africa and the chances of seeing someone we saw every day for a  month again was very small. While we were all wiping away the tears Laura had the idea to share our pits and peaks for the past month. This was so great because it turned into a long list of peaks, making us laugh and smile and remember all the good times that made Sao Paulo so hard to leave.

Tearful goodbyes at sushi

After arriving back at Transamerica and saying goodbye to Paula for the last time we headed back to our rooms to finish up the packing and then met up in Laura’s room to listen to sappy goodbye music and talk about how much we were going to miss each other. Gabriela and her boyfriend Demetri showed up around 5 to take us to the airport, but not before showing us how to make brigaderos, the bonbon of Brazil. Because the microwaves in our rooms just wouldn’t do for crafting Brazilian delicacies, Gabriela secured us special access to the Transamerica kitchen. We didn’t have time to roll the candies into balls so with five spoons we ate the chocolate concoction.

And then, just as suddenly as it started, it was over. We checked out at the same desk we checked in at, loaded our bags into the car, said goodbyes to Erik and Johanna, and drove towards the international airport with Gabriela and Demetri, two resources we did not come to Sao Paulo with. The people we met and bonded with in Sao Paulo (and Rio) is what made the departure so rough. I know Danny felt the same way and we had to share overly emotional texts about the trials of saying farewell to really the only people we knew in Brazil.

Once we arrived at the airport we checked into our flights and it came time to say goodbye to Gabriela, someone who had acted as another buddy for me. On the way to meet Laura and Gabriela at their check-in desk, Demetri warned me to not cry because it would make Gabriela cry and she was already crying this morning. If you have ever met me (and you probably have if you are reading my blog), you know how this ended- I started crying too. Gabriela gave us each gifts and I opened it right away (Brazilian etiquette) to reveal a beautiful Brazilian futebol jersey and some playing cards with pictures of Sao Paulo on it. But the material gifts were not as good as the card, displaying a beautiful and perfectly applicable quote- “The value of things is not in the time they last, but the intensity with which they occur. That is why there are unforgettable moments, inexplicable things, and unique people.”

After saying goodbye I was sobbing but continued on through the airport, probably causing people wonder what tragic crime the little blonde girl was victim of. Like most women, I decided to fill the gaping hole I felt with material possessions and headed to the duty free gift shop to buy last minute souvenirs. After buying my last pao de queijo, using the last of my phone credit to text Danny and call my mother, and drying my tears, I boarded the plane, heard flight attendants talk in perfect English, and knew I was on my way home.

Dancing til the World Ends

After a happy hour on Friday night and saying goodbye to my team the interns headed back to the hotel to get ready before heading to Café de la Musique for the second night in a row. Although the girls got in for free the guys had to pay a hefty fee, but it was nice because we were all together, including Gabriela, Laura’s buddy. Not only was Laura’s buddy there but we had a few other buddies come out to dance with us until the wee hours of the morning. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Rio Video

Check out the video I took while in Rio July 8-10. (Note: don't watch if you get motion sick because this was before I mastered the slow panoramic sweep shot.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr2kWmHXN-Q

Christmas in July

When I was traveling Europe I decided that I needed to have a collection of some sort. After contemplating many different ideas I settled on Christmas ornaments. I figured you really get to look at them once a year, they are on display in your home, they are portable, and most of the time they are beautiful, and I love to buy beautiful things. The problem with collecting Christmas ornaments is the fact that it is hard to find them from January-October. Some of the places I’ve visited I don’t have ornaments from for this very reason, but considering I lived in Brazil for a month I thought it was necessary to represent it on my tree.

Throughout July I kept my eyes open for anything that would substitute for a Christmas ornament, even playing with the idea of using my Deloitte security badge as one. I mentioned this to my buddy and asked if she had any ideas but she thought there were no ornaments in Brazil to be found. My last day I went to the Havaiana store in the mall and bought a keychain, thinking maybe I could fasten this into some sort of ornament.

Friday night at the Deloitte happy hour Paula came in with a  box and said that she got something for me. I said, “You didn’t have to do that!” because she had really already given me so much. “I didn’t have to buy it,” she said. I opened the box and inside was an ornament from her tree. I was so touched I started crying. Laura commented that this was the best ornament possible because it really embodied what our stay there was about: the people. I cannot wait for December when Paula’s ornament will adorn my tree and to think back on all the people that I left in Brazil.

Hello Goodbye

With 30 hours left in Brasil I have compiled a list of things I will miss and a list of things I missed about the US.

Tchau Brasil...

1. Fresh fruits and juices
2. Maids that clean my hotel room and the rest of the Transamerica staff
3. Steakhouses and food
4. My buddies
5. Being able to nap before going out because the clubs don't get crowded until 1 am
6. Money with jaguars and parrots on it
7. Not tipping

Hello America...

1. Drinking water from the tap and not paying for it at every restaurant
2. More than two TV channels in English
3. Strong internet
4. Texting on a qwerty keyboard
5. Knowing how to dial phone numbers
6. Being able to communicate with everyone and speaking English

The Vegetarian's Nightmare

My Brazilian Family

Tuesday night we decided to go big before we go home and headed to Fogo de Chao, which everyone calls the best Brazilian Steakhouse in Sao Paulo. Now, I had been there twice before at this point, but Tuesday night was special because it was all five of the American interns and Frankie from South Africa. This allowed for good conversation and we closed the place down, making sure we got the most out of the all-you-can-eat meat and salad bar.

One of the reasons that it was so fun going was because the meat became the subject of a lot of the conversation. We could all get slices of meat and compare which ones we thought were the best, ensuring that we got second, thirds, and fourths when they came around the next time. The six of us also dressed up in some of our finest. When you are paying that much to eat, why not amp it up a bit? (Aunt Pat, if you are reading this, I wore that black dress you gave me in Maui). Not to mention, a dress is like a man, it likes to go out every once and a while with a beautiful lady (Meet Me in St. Louis).

In conclusion, we laughed until we cried, ate at least a whole cow, and spent double our per diem. There are worse things to do.

The Beautiful Game

Last night I dusted off my shin guards and played soccer, or as the locals called it, futebol, last night with the other interns and people from Deloitte.

Laura’s buddy decided that we had to live like Brazilians and organized a game of soccer last night from 10:30-11:30 pm at a local sports center. We had to pay to rent out the field for an hour but I think the R$25 I paid was worth it if only to tell my children that I once played futebol in Sao Paulo with Brazilian colleagues.

The teams were people wearing colored clothing vs people wearing either yellow (color of the Brazil jersey which is common apparel for a friendly game) or white. Johanna and I played defense (complete with sacrifice of body parts in order to protect the goal) the whole time on a team with Erik, while Frankie, Miguel, and Chema were on the other team. There were some funny things about playing with the Brazilians, the primary one being that they would often yell things and we had no idea what they were saying because it was in Portuguese. Obvious displays of the language problem came when balls were passed to unsuspecting people because they didn’t understand what was called. The Brazilians were also so nice when they played with us, often saying “sorry” when they were in our way, although it was pretty obvious that I was the one that was lost, not them (although my defensive strategy included just getting in the other team’s way; it worked fairly well). I swear, the way some of them played soccer you would suspect they came out of the womb with cleats on. Seriously, they played beautifully.

After the hour game ended in a tie, we headed back to the hotel to clean up before going out with Jessica’s buddy Bruno. Bruno got us on the list for the best techno club in Sao Paulo, and I had a pretty big smile on my face when the bouncer handed me a VIP card on the way in. We danced for a while but then headed home around 3 (which is very early here) because we have more festivities planned for tonight and tomorrow.