So I finally made it back to Brazil after another 60 day stint in the US and the never ending saga of visa and working in a foreign country continues. I was trying to get caught up on my friends blog because she is much better about updating her blog than I am mine, and she said it best that she hasn't updated her's in so long because things just get into your routine of life and as things happen they don't seem at the time to be 'blog worthy.' I thought that was pretty good so I decided to steal it.....thanks Aimee.
The time back at home was good, but also tough since I was living in a friends condo and had a 2x2 area for my clothes (boxers, socks, etc) and really missed the fact that I couldn't be organized, but also very thankful that I had a place to stay and a job where bosses are understanding given the length of time that I was in the US.
Of course while I was there my not being able to sit still tendencies kicked in and I did a lot of traveling while I was at home. I went to visit my grandparents in Atlanta, and spent a lot of time with them, napping while watching football with my Grandpa, eating chick-fil-a (of course!!!!), and we actually did a cousins night out which was a lot of fun. The 7 am (6 am Chicago time) flight from ATL to ORD was awful, but it was still a great weekend and very lucky to have miles and points from living in a hotel for a year.
I of course had to get my 2011 Vegas trip as well, and I went out to Vegas alone for about 12 hours to have drinks, gamble, and get my fix in. The bonus was that I won $1000 and it paid for my flight, hotel (which I pricelined the day of for $60) Imperial Palace, and taxi fare to/from the airport. I even took the taxi driver to breakfast and the cool thing was he insisted on ordering off the $1 menu, hey even better.
Christmas was awesome and I got a ton of good pictures of the kids, and being JRs first Christmas he was all stoked (like he'll remember) about opening gifts and all the loot he got. Bonus for him and Madeline that they have two single uncles that like to spoil. I of course did a lot of shopping for them and they both got tons of clothes, Madeline got way too much baby gap stuff but she just loves the jeans from there ;)
After Christmas I spent most of the week out with the family, hanging out with the kids, playing, babysitting, and hanging out with friends. I went to NOLA for New Years with some friends from work and my buddy Ed that lives down in Red Stick. We did the whole Bourbon street thing and we had an absolute blast there, ate TONS of seafood, oysters, and we even hit one of the places on Diners, Drive Ins, & Dives from the food network that Dad and I saw while watching TV one night.
All in all the trip home was great. Got to see a lot of family and friends, and we also had a great time at finally a guys weekend. Well the first two nights were guys weekend nights, the third weekend was guys, dogs, a couple girls, and toddler. It was an interesting but still a fun night.
Life here has pretty much resumed to normal. I've manged to lose about half of the weight I gained when I was in the US eating and drinking during the Holiday's, finally back in the gym (which I was without when I was home), and back into the swing of things (literally) on the golf course. I've been able to play and practice the past 3 weeks that I've been here and the weather has been amazing (80s and sunny) every time we've played. I decided after trying out for another tackle football team that I am not going to play tackle this year. When I was practicing with the team all I could think was dreading the 2 hour drive back home, and also about playing golf the next day. I am going to continue playing flag football this year, but just couldn't commit on tackle. On the drive home it just reassured me that I was making the right decision and not to take more of a pounding on my body and lose time at home with my friends and gives me more time to focus on other things. I really want to get back into going to church, and now that my portuguese has improved vastly from when I arrived, I am going to check out some Presbyterian churches in the area and see if there are any that I like.
I still don't have any cable or WiFi in my apartment so that is really starting to get old. I am about 1 week away from signing up two different companies (one for cable and one for WiFi) so that I can have some resemblance of connectivity to the outside world, and with not having anything during the upcoming Carnival will be very tough since I am going to stick around Campinas this year and play a LOT of golf during my days off. Without connectivity I've had more time to study and I finally passed my CIA exam before Thanksgiving and I am currently working on my CFE certification as well. My boss was just down in Brazil last week and he talked to me about APICS certifications and I think I may look at that which means I need to buckle down again and get my other certification done because APICS is 5 months (one weekend a month) and then studying and exams in between for all 5 parts.
This past weekend we had our annual Abacaxi Bowl (Pineapple bowl) and the Cougars took home the hardware again this year for a 3 peat!!!! It was a long but awesome day capped off by eating a whole cow at a local restaurant (not literally but we ate a ton!), and couple of beers with some friends. Yesterday we had the first annual Super Bowl scramble and my team came in 3rd at -3 under par, but -6 was the winning score. Again, another awesome day with great weather, great friends, and an awesome BBQ in the afternoon. Since I had 2 5:30 am wake-up calls I was not able to watch the Super Bowl last night, but from everything that I read, I didn't miss too much and heard the commercials weren't too great either.
That's all I've got time for today but once I get back to the internet world it will be easier to update on a more consistent basis.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Rough week
It's been a rough week. I've been studying a lot for an upcoming test for work and it's no easy feat when it's 80+ degrees outside, sunny and I'd rather be running or laying by the pool. I also got my first text message breakup this week. I've now been broken up with in person, email, phone, and now text. I am going to tell the next girl to please just change her relationship status on FB and I'll find out on her FB wall. After that I'll open a twitter account and be broken up with over twitter.
We also lost our flag championship game yesterday so it made the 6 hours in the car all that much more painful and a waste of a beautiful Saturday.
Busy week coming up starting tomorrow and then I've got Business on Rails in Sao Paulo on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then back home to pack and head back to the US on Thursday.
Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner so I am excited to spend it with the family and enjoy the time with Madeline and JR's first Christmas!
Hope everyone is safe and warm back home.
Cheers
Adam
We also lost our flag championship game yesterday so it made the 6 hours in the car all that much more painful and a waste of a beautiful Saturday.
Busy week coming up starting tomorrow and then I've got Business on Rails in Sao Paulo on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then back home to pack and head back to the US on Thursday.
Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner so I am excited to spend it with the family and enjoy the time with Madeline and JR's first Christmas!
Hope everyone is safe and warm back home.
Cheers
Adam
Friday, October 21, 2011
First 'Official' Visa Coming to an End
So my first visa is coming to an end in about 3 weeks and I can't believe that I've already been here on this visa for a full year. This year has really flown by and it's tough to think about leaving for an extended period of time, but Brazil makes it really difficult for you to stay in the country and contribute to their economy. The US on the other hand has only rejected less than 5% of all visa's for Brazilian's so welcoming foreign spending has never been more popular and I can attest to that as the flights have all been full when traveling to/from Brazil to the US and vice versa. New shoes, iPads, clothes, and electronics are still the rage even given the recent increase in the dollar vs the real (or the real weakening vs the dollar). In September 2011 the real lost 25% against the dollar and marked one of the largest swings in currency volatility in a given month. Good for me (I am still paid in dollars) bad for Brazilians (unless you hedged). Little tangent there but oh well....
I finally got the vistoria for my new apartment so I'll be working on that this weekend if I have time. I've got to take pictures of several things that were of course noted as 'new' in the apartment. Sony Bravia 46 inch 'new' TV although it was manufactured and bought in 2009, a 'new' table and 6 chairs but the chairs mysteriously showed up with foot pads to prevent scratching on the floor (false) and also with scratch marks on the chairs (again false). Other than that I think most of the things are in order, but I'll be taking pictures non-the less so and showing to the company paint marks and other issues so I am not liable again when I move out.
Went to Cirque du Soliel this week with Kelly and we saw Varekai in Sao Paulo. The law firm that represents us in Brazil was having a client night so the tickets were free so we headed to Sao Paulo for the night and the show was really good, but glad I got the tickets free and didn't pay the going R$400 per ticket. I think some of the shows in Vegas are better.
Tonight we are going to see Seu Jorge at an event near Campinas, tomorrow a churrasco (Brazilian word for BBQ) and on Sunday it's our last regular season tackle football game. It's either win or go home so it's a must win situation for both teams. It's a home game so we have that going for us, but both teams are 2-2 and in the same division so I am sure we'll both come out fighting for a chance to get into the playoffs.
Pray for a good last few weeks of 2011 here in Brazil (I am going to REALLY miss the hot weather) and also that my temporary visa gets approved in January 2012 so I can return to Brazil while my work permit is being reviewed and processed by the Brazilian consulate.
Cheers
I finally got the vistoria for my new apartment so I'll be working on that this weekend if I have time. I've got to take pictures of several things that were of course noted as 'new' in the apartment. Sony Bravia 46 inch 'new' TV although it was manufactured and bought in 2009, a 'new' table and 6 chairs but the chairs mysteriously showed up with foot pads to prevent scratching on the floor (false) and also with scratch marks on the chairs (again false). Other than that I think most of the things are in order, but I'll be taking pictures non-the less so and showing to the company paint marks and other issues so I am not liable again when I move out.
Went to Cirque du Soliel this week with Kelly and we saw Varekai in Sao Paulo. The law firm that represents us in Brazil was having a client night so the tickets were free so we headed to Sao Paulo for the night and the show was really good, but glad I got the tickets free and didn't pay the going R$400 per ticket. I think some of the shows in Vegas are better.
Tonight we are going to see Seu Jorge at an event near Campinas, tomorrow a churrasco (Brazilian word for BBQ) and on Sunday it's our last regular season tackle football game. It's either win or go home so it's a must win situation for both teams. It's a home game so we have that going for us, but both teams are 2-2 and in the same division so I am sure we'll both come out fighting for a chance to get into the playoffs.
Pray for a good last few weeks of 2011 here in Brazil (I am going to REALLY miss the hot weather) and also that my temporary visa gets approved in January 2012 so I can return to Brazil while my work permit is being reviewed and processed by the Brazilian consulate.
Cheers
Monday, October 10, 2011
Frustrated as the battle rages on
I finally have access to internet so figured I'd take some time and update the blog for all of my 4 followers and family members. My company in Brazil changed the upcoming Holiday on Wednesday to today so I am off today while everyone else is working and of course the golf course is closed today so I am taking time to do some email cleanup, photo editing, blog updating, music and book downloading at Starbucks, invites on Facebook for the Expats and English speakers group, and then lunch with the lady friend. Afterwards I am heading to the gym and then I'll head home to relax for a bit and then I am determined to find a bar for the Bears MNF game tonight vs Detroit.
I finally moved into my new apartment in Campinas and the battle with the apartment rental company is continuing to rage on. I think I need another day to update everyone on what's going on but I'll do my best to give you all a clue as to how things work here in Brazil when renting an apartment. When you move into an apartment here you have what's called a vistoria (no direct translation into English) but it's basically a visit from a company and they note in an entire list and photos what's inside your apartment and document with photos. If you disagree with anything then you MUST note this in your move in vistoria (I equate this with a walkthru in the states).
When I moved out of my old apartment I wasn't aware that I would be screwed over as bad as I was on the vistoria and I am currently in the hole over R$1,500 for painting and three (3) cleanings on my old apartment. I'll backup a little and say that my new apartment contract was signed and we were told that it would be ready on August 1 (which it was not hence the multiple cleanings). As I thought I was moving out in the beginning of August I had the apt painted, and deep cleaned to prepare for the vistoria which was not signed off on due to multiple items.
After weeks (literally no exaggeration) of waiting and being delayed in moving to my new apartment it finally happened a few weeks ago. It's been slow going and I bought a lot of things from the states when I was there last week but it still has aways to go. Need to buy some curtains, black out shades for the bedroom and some things for the wall but I think most of that will wait until I get back in January from my trip to the US. Still waiting on the move in vistoria for this apartment but I've documented a lot already because the painting and things within this apartment was just poorly done. I am the first person to live there and the paint was done very poorly, they installed a mirror in the bathroom crooked, and lots of marks on the walls from things being installed by guys with dirty hands and leaving marks on the walls. One thing you need to understand is that if any of these things were done (or not done in my previous apartment) you don't get the sign off from this vistoria company and you have to continue to pay on the apartment until things are up to their standards. So you would think that things when moving into a brand new apartment would be the same, but they are not. I have been told that if I have any problems with the apartment (paint, mirrors, other things) they are my responsibility and I must note them on the vistoria (such a crock!!!).
Last week I wrote a novel to the company outlining this entire process to the company and I am still waiting to hear back from them on what if anything they are going to do. Calls, emails, and txt messages are now going unattended so I am left wondering when I might receive the vistoria for my new apartment.
Anyway, I digress on this subject and on to some things more pleasant.
I got to spend a weekend in the states with the kids and my family so that was nice. I spent a few hours doing some shopping for some new sports/workout gear, then hung out with Madeline and JR on Thursday and I took care of JR during the day on Friday and we went to IKEA and then to Starbucks to hang out and have a coffee (me not him). I got back to Brazil this past Tuesday and will be here through October and I'll be leaving on November 10 to return to the states for an extended stay until I get my new visa in early 2012.
Checked my calendar this week and I'll be in the office a grand total of three full weeks as I will be at home for Thanksgiving, going to Atlanta for a long weekend to see my family there, and then be off for Christmas. Kelly and I are working on a visa for her to come to the US and visit and meet the family, go shopping, hang out in Chicago, and possibly do a quick trip for New Years somewhere.
Okay, I'm off to get some other things done, get some lunch with Kelly, and then off to the gym at some point this afternoon.
Hope all is well back in the states.
Cheers
Adam
I finally moved into my new apartment in Campinas and the battle with the apartment rental company is continuing to rage on. I think I need another day to update everyone on what's going on but I'll do my best to give you all a clue as to how things work here in Brazil when renting an apartment. When you move into an apartment here you have what's called a vistoria (no direct translation into English) but it's basically a visit from a company and they note in an entire list and photos what's inside your apartment and document with photos. If you disagree with anything then you MUST note this in your move in vistoria (I equate this with a walkthru in the states).
When I moved out of my old apartment I wasn't aware that I would be screwed over as bad as I was on the vistoria and I am currently in the hole over R$1,500 for painting and three (3) cleanings on my old apartment. I'll backup a little and say that my new apartment contract was signed and we were told that it would be ready on August 1 (which it was not hence the multiple cleanings). As I thought I was moving out in the beginning of August I had the apt painted, and deep cleaned to prepare for the vistoria which was not signed off on due to multiple items.
After weeks (literally no exaggeration) of waiting and being delayed in moving to my new apartment it finally happened a few weeks ago. It's been slow going and I bought a lot of things from the states when I was there last week but it still has aways to go. Need to buy some curtains, black out shades for the bedroom and some things for the wall but I think most of that will wait until I get back in January from my trip to the US. Still waiting on the move in vistoria for this apartment but I've documented a lot already because the painting and things within this apartment was just poorly done. I am the first person to live there and the paint was done very poorly, they installed a mirror in the bathroom crooked, and lots of marks on the walls from things being installed by guys with dirty hands and leaving marks on the walls. One thing you need to understand is that if any of these things were done (or not done in my previous apartment) you don't get the sign off from this vistoria company and you have to continue to pay on the apartment until things are up to their standards. So you would think that things when moving into a brand new apartment would be the same, but they are not. I have been told that if I have any problems with the apartment (paint, mirrors, other things) they are my responsibility and I must note them on the vistoria (such a crock!!!).
Last week I wrote a novel to the company outlining this entire process to the company and I am still waiting to hear back from them on what if anything they are going to do. Calls, emails, and txt messages are now going unattended so I am left wondering when I might receive the vistoria for my new apartment.
Anyway, I digress on this subject and on to some things more pleasant.
I got to spend a weekend in the states with the kids and my family so that was nice. I spent a few hours doing some shopping for some new sports/workout gear, then hung out with Madeline and JR on Thursday and I took care of JR during the day on Friday and we went to IKEA and then to Starbucks to hang out and have a coffee (me not him). I got back to Brazil this past Tuesday and will be here through October and I'll be leaving on November 10 to return to the states for an extended stay until I get my new visa in early 2012.
Checked my calendar this week and I'll be in the office a grand total of three full weeks as I will be at home for Thanksgiving, going to Atlanta for a long weekend to see my family there, and then be off for Christmas. Kelly and I are working on a visa for her to come to the US and visit and meet the family, go shopping, hang out in Chicago, and possibly do a quick trip for New Years somewhere.
Okay, I'm off to get some other things done, get some lunch with Kelly, and then off to the gym at some point this afternoon.
Hope all is well back in the states.
Cheers
Adam
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Almost 2 months...
So there weren't any more posts since my last game but below are some links to two articles and a link for some pictures from our last game. I scored our first TD(#88) and there are a few pictures of me in the 100+ or so on the link. My team lost the game on a 40 yard field goal and I think we were all amazed that the guy actually made it.
Fantasy football draft from Brazil is tonight so we'll see how things shape up with that.
Lot's more to update on (new apartment situation, new lady friend I am seeing) but time to get dinner and then get ready for the draft.
Pictures - https://picasaweb.google.com/103257822180957512851/CorupaBuffalos17X14PalmeirasLocomotives#
Article - http://www.avanteesportes.com/futebol-americano-corupa-buffalos-descarrila-palmeiras-locomotives.html
Article - http://www.touchdown.net/site/noticias.php?id=249
Hope everyone is doing well back home.
Adam
Fantasy football draft from Brazil is tonight so we'll see how things shape up with that.
Lot's more to update on (new apartment situation, new lady friend I am seeing) but time to get dinner and then get ready for the draft.
Pictures - https://picasaweb.google.com/103257822180957512851/CorupaBuffalos17X14PalmeirasLocomotives#
Article - http://www.avanteesportes.com/futebol-americano-corupa-buffalos-descarrila-palmeiras-locomotives.html
Article - http://www.touchdown.net/site/noticias.php?id=249
Hope everyone is doing well back home.
Adam
Monday, July 11, 2011
Palmeiras Locomotive's Game 1
Our first tackle game was this past weekend and we won 18-0. I scored a touchdown in the 3rd quarter and hauled in 5-6 catches during the game and was credited with two tackles on special teams.
If you want to see some photos you can go to www.sorocabaesportes.com and check out the link for Futebol Americano. I am #88. There is also a short video of the TD catch on YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um-69QA16c
Next game is August 27th in Sorocaba but more posts to come before then.
Cheers
If you want to see some photos you can go to www.sorocabaesportes.com and check out the link for Futebol Americano. I am #88. There is also a short video of the TD catch on YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um-69QA16c
Next game is August 27th in Sorocaba but more posts to come before then.
Cheers
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Finalmente um noite com nada para fazer...
So I finally have one night with nothing to do other than just relax and get some dinner and actually watch a little TV. Can't believe it's been since April since I've updated my blog but it seems like every time I start typing something it seems like I can't find anything to say but you'd think after 3 months it would be a lot easier. So since the last time I posted I became an uncle again and JR was born at the beginning of May and just like Madeline I am watching him grow up in the photos and videos that my sister and George send my way. Madeline is getting so big and so active it's been hilarious to watch her movies about riding her motorcycle, and playing in the water this summer.
The past few months in Brazil have been pretty crazy and working quite a bit during the week and on the weekends. When I returned to Brazil in May I was offered a job within the Brazilian company and I accepted the offer to stay down here for another 2-3 years. I was originally going to be working within the finance group of the company here but since then things have changed again and I've taken a job in the materials group managing imported products and assisting with inventories and demand planning. Right now I'm still doing my other job as well hence all of the work but I seem to be finding a nice balance until my replacement arrives later in August and then I train her for what I do on a weekly and monthly basis.
Outside of work I've still been working out but I started to play more golf on the weekends and I was also picked up by an American football team here in Brazil and we start out season this Saturday. I am also playing on the flag football team and we won our 4th game last weekend 24-18 and are now 4-0 and in 1st place in our division. This weekend is our first all pad tackle game and I am starting at TE and slot receiver and possibly playing some DE as well. Probably right now would be a good time to start praying that I don't kill anyone, or anyone kills me in the game this weekend. Brazilians are small but man they love when they get a chance to hit an American at their game.
I guess the last update is that I just closed on a new apartment today and I am set to move in when I come back from my trip in the US later this month. It's Madeline's 2nd birthday already and JR is being baptized on the same day so it's going to be a full day with lots of parties and gifts for the little ones. Anyway, the new apartment is great! It's a lot bigger than the one I am in now and it's in a brand new building but in the same area that I live in now. The owner is going to have me buy a few things for the place but 90% of the things the owner is going to buy and furnish with what I want so that has been some great news this week. He's going to put in AC as well and I'll buy things in exchange for the living room (sofa, table, chair, area rug, lamp etc). Got lots of shopping to do and quite a things to pick out before I move in a few weeks.
I'll do my best to keep on top of the blog over the next couple of months and defintley won't let it be 3 months again. Pray for safe travels in a couple of weeks for me and also pray for a safe game this coming weekend.
Cheers
The past few months in Brazil have been pretty crazy and working quite a bit during the week and on the weekends. When I returned to Brazil in May I was offered a job within the Brazilian company and I accepted the offer to stay down here for another 2-3 years. I was originally going to be working within the finance group of the company here but since then things have changed again and I've taken a job in the materials group managing imported products and assisting with inventories and demand planning. Right now I'm still doing my other job as well hence all of the work but I seem to be finding a nice balance until my replacement arrives later in August and then I train her for what I do on a weekly and monthly basis.
Outside of work I've still been working out but I started to play more golf on the weekends and I was also picked up by an American football team here in Brazil and we start out season this Saturday. I am also playing on the flag football team and we won our 4th game last weekend 24-18 and are now 4-0 and in 1st place in our division. This weekend is our first all pad tackle game and I am starting at TE and slot receiver and possibly playing some DE as well. Probably right now would be a good time to start praying that I don't kill anyone, or anyone kills me in the game this weekend. Brazilians are small but man they love when they get a chance to hit an American at their game.
I guess the last update is that I just closed on a new apartment today and I am set to move in when I come back from my trip in the US later this month. It's Madeline's 2nd birthday already and JR is being baptized on the same day so it's going to be a full day with lots of parties and gifts for the little ones. Anyway, the new apartment is great! It's a lot bigger than the one I am in now and it's in a brand new building but in the same area that I live in now. The owner is going to have me buy a few things for the place but 90% of the things the owner is going to buy and furnish with what I want so that has been some great news this week. He's going to put in AC as well and I'll buy things in exchange for the living room (sofa, table, chair, area rug, lamp etc). Got lots of shopping to do and quite a things to pick out before I move in a few weeks.
I'll do my best to keep on top of the blog over the next couple of months and defintley won't let it be 3 months again. Pray for safe travels in a couple of weeks for me and also pray for a safe game this coming weekend.
Cheers
Friday, April 8, 2011
One year and counting
I just passed one year in Brazil and the time here has flown by. Looking back on the past year I started out here thinking I would be lucky to last a year here given that I thought the time for my job would be in the 9-12 month range, and yesterday I emailed off to the visa company to start the process of a visa renewal and obtaining a visa for another two years (to be on the safe side). Also, prayers on this subject are always welcome too knowing the pains that I had to go through to get my current visa.
The admin that works on our floor told me that they just got the increased rent amount on my apartment and while it was only R$200 more per month I was surprised that on a 30 month contract you can just up and raise the rates because I've been here for 12 months. The only things that have been added by me are a pressure cooker, floor drying rack, and some new glasses, all of which have been paid for by me and not the owner of my apartment. I chalked it up to another learning experience for my life in Brazil and another difference in culture between life in the United States and life here in Brazil.
Speaking of rentals, if you follow this blog still you probably know that I still own my home in Oswego, IL and have had the same tenants in that house for the past three years. The couple that moved in there (who are consequently now divorced but the wife has stayed) are leaving this month so it was an added level of stress because while I was losing at least 50% of my mortgage and HOA costs per month, it was better than zero. This coupled with the girl who sublet my apartment in Chicago informed me that she would be moving out of the apartment a month before I arrived home and a month before the lease expired didn't help matters. It has been an a huge blessing to have the parents and friends that I do because not only I am fully moved out of my apartment in the city, with movers fully paid, and everything locked up in storage, but I rented my house in what I think has to be a record three days by listing it on Craigslist and enlisting the help of one of my friends wives to show the house for me. Not only did the house rent but I found someone that wants to pay cash up front for the entire year and she could turn into a long term renter, or someone that wants to buy the house if/when the market recovers. Now the tasks shift to hiring the help to get my house back in order once my current renter moves out of the house (which going back to my house I am convinced that there is a curse on the house because two married couples that lived there are now divorced and the woman moving in is also going through a divorce.......just weird). I have already hired a painter to help me paint the entire inside of the house, hired a cleaning crew to come in and do a 'move out' cleaning, and also a carpet cleaning crew to follow the cleaners and clean and protect the carpet in the upstairs of the home so I am on a roll.
I filed my US taxes this past week which was no easy feat being 5000 miles away. The fact that I've done them the past three years online and can import a lot of my data automatically really helps so it wasn't too bad, but getting in touch with my tax adviser given the time difference and with Portuguese classes, working out etc, proved to be the biggest challenge but alas it is done and the refunds are on the way. Now comes the fun part of figuring out what I am going to buy and then where to put the rest of the money for it to grow to help with Adam's New Car Fund for when I return to the states. I already bought 2 iPad 2's and have sold my original iPad to a guy I work with here in Brazil. I am going to bring the other 2 back (one for me and one to sell in Brazil at an awesomely high price and make a nice profit). I've also been hit up to bring people back laptops etc but this trip will be low key for presents etc just because I won't be at home for very long and that is not the focus of why I am coming back. I think the next purchase will be of course for Madeline as I am sure she is in dire need of some new Pumas or Nike's (she will get to pick) and then a lot of things for my nephew who will hopefully be arriving while I am back in the states for this quick trip.
Things down in Brazil are busy as usual. March was an absolutley crazy month and it started at the end of February when my boss and President came into town which kicked off three big projects that I spent most of March working on so that I could have wrapped up and presented to them. We had a visit from the Internal Audit staff during March as well which culminated into a great weekend in Rio de Janeiro, sitting on the beach, getting some sun, and just relaxing. We hit a Samba bar on Saturday night and took some hilarious pictures which I will have to post here and get up on Facebook as well. I also cannot forget to mention Carnival which was one of the coolest experiences I have ever seen. Canival started on a Friday night and went through Tuesday with street bloco's, parades, bands, beaches, and of course the Sambodromo. This is really a whole other post in and of itself so I will have to carve out more time to talk about this experience but it was one of the best trips I've ever taken and well worth the money spent. I would highly recommend that anyone looking for a once in a lifetime experience check this out and you CANNOT miss the Sambodromo. I would also highly recommend that if you're looking to go to Rio that you stay on Ipanema beach and not Copacabana. I've stayed on Copa twice now and Ipanema was much cooler, lots of people, and a lot more things to do. Copa has the street fairs and lots of vendors, but you can always go for a walk or a run up the beach to check it all out.
I think that's about it for now. I have to put the finishing touches on a presentation I'm giving this afternoon to the technical staff here in Brazil (it's about finishing railroad axles in Brazil vs the United States, yes exciting stuff as you can imagine). Funny how things change as your career changes. A few years ago I thought I'd stay in audit for quite a long time now I am about to do a presentation in Portuguese about railway axles, who woulda thought.
I hope everyone is well back in the states. I miss you all very much and can't wait to catch up.
Cheers
Adam
The admin that works on our floor told me that they just got the increased rent amount on my apartment and while it was only R$200 more per month I was surprised that on a 30 month contract you can just up and raise the rates because I've been here for 12 months. The only things that have been added by me are a pressure cooker, floor drying rack, and some new glasses, all of which have been paid for by me and not the owner of my apartment. I chalked it up to another learning experience for my life in Brazil and another difference in culture between life in the United States and life here in Brazil.
Speaking of rentals, if you follow this blog still you probably know that I still own my home in Oswego, IL and have had the same tenants in that house for the past three years. The couple that moved in there (who are consequently now divorced but the wife has stayed) are leaving this month so it was an added level of stress because while I was losing at least 50% of my mortgage and HOA costs per month, it was better than zero. This coupled with the girl who sublet my apartment in Chicago informed me that she would be moving out of the apartment a month before I arrived home and a month before the lease expired didn't help matters. It has been an a huge blessing to have the parents and friends that I do because not only I am fully moved out of my apartment in the city, with movers fully paid, and everything locked up in storage, but I rented my house in what I think has to be a record three days by listing it on Craigslist and enlisting the help of one of my friends wives to show the house for me. Not only did the house rent but I found someone that wants to pay cash up front for the entire year and she could turn into a long term renter, or someone that wants to buy the house if/when the market recovers. Now the tasks shift to hiring the help to get my house back in order once my current renter moves out of the house (which going back to my house I am convinced that there is a curse on the house because two married couples that lived there are now divorced and the woman moving in is also going through a divorce.......just weird). I have already hired a painter to help me paint the entire inside of the house, hired a cleaning crew to come in and do a 'move out' cleaning, and also a carpet cleaning crew to follow the cleaners and clean and protect the carpet in the upstairs of the home so I am on a roll.
I filed my US taxes this past week which was no easy feat being 5000 miles away. The fact that I've done them the past three years online and can import a lot of my data automatically really helps so it wasn't too bad, but getting in touch with my tax adviser given the time difference and with Portuguese classes, working out etc, proved to be the biggest challenge but alas it is done and the refunds are on the way. Now comes the fun part of figuring out what I am going to buy and then where to put the rest of the money for it to grow to help with Adam's New Car Fund for when I return to the states. I already bought 2 iPad 2's and have sold my original iPad to a guy I work with here in Brazil. I am going to bring the other 2 back (one for me and one to sell in Brazil at an awesomely high price and make a nice profit). I've also been hit up to bring people back laptops etc but this trip will be low key for presents etc just because I won't be at home for very long and that is not the focus of why I am coming back. I think the next purchase will be of course for Madeline as I am sure she is in dire need of some new Pumas or Nike's (she will get to pick) and then a lot of things for my nephew who will hopefully be arriving while I am back in the states for this quick trip.
Things down in Brazil are busy as usual. March was an absolutley crazy month and it started at the end of February when my boss and President came into town which kicked off three big projects that I spent most of March working on so that I could have wrapped up and presented to them. We had a visit from the Internal Audit staff during March as well which culminated into a great weekend in Rio de Janeiro, sitting on the beach, getting some sun, and just relaxing. We hit a Samba bar on Saturday night and took some hilarious pictures which I will have to post here and get up on Facebook as well. I also cannot forget to mention Carnival which was one of the coolest experiences I have ever seen. Canival started on a Friday night and went through Tuesday with street bloco's, parades, bands, beaches, and of course the Sambodromo. This is really a whole other post in and of itself so I will have to carve out more time to talk about this experience but it was one of the best trips I've ever taken and well worth the money spent. I would highly recommend that anyone looking for a once in a lifetime experience check this out and you CANNOT miss the Sambodromo. I would also highly recommend that if you're looking to go to Rio that you stay on Ipanema beach and not Copacabana. I've stayed on Copa twice now and Ipanema was much cooler, lots of people, and a lot more things to do. Copa has the street fairs and lots of vendors, but you can always go for a walk or a run up the beach to check it all out.
I think that's about it for now. I have to put the finishing touches on a presentation I'm giving this afternoon to the technical staff here in Brazil (it's about finishing railroad axles in Brazil vs the United States, yes exciting stuff as you can imagine). Funny how things change as your career changes. A few years ago I thought I'd stay in audit for quite a long time now I am about to do a presentation in Portuguese about railway axles, who woulda thought.
I hope everyone is well back in the states. I miss you all very much and can't wait to catch up.
Cheers
Adam
Monday, January 31, 2011
Random long posting (past)...
So apparently it's been almost 2 months since my last post and a ton has gone on since then so hence the title of random long posting about what's been happening.
During the last stint in Brazil (5-6 weeks) on my new visa I needed to register with the Federal Police in Campinas where I live in order to get an alien resident card, alien resident number etc. Well I paid all the fees, had all the paperwork, photos etc and I went to register, only to have my application rejected once I arrived at the station. Needless to say I was not thrilled and when I questioned as to why it was rejected the woman told me that I needed the original application for my visa from the consulate in Chicago. Keep in mind that I already had the visa in my passport, so I am not equating this to bringing your resume to work everyday after you've gotten the job. The application is the means and the visa is the end, so why do you need both? It's like how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? The world will never know, so another question asked another non-answer from the Brazilian government.
The woman at the police station did tell me that on my way out of the country I needed to pay a fine otherwise I could have issues entering country when I returned. So I get to the airport 11 hours before my flight only to find out that that I cannot pay the fine because it's triggered when you return to the country yet the 15 calls we made to the police and to the airport that day all told me to pay the fine when I leave. Needless to say it was not the best start to a Holiday vacation and return trip home.
I arrived back in the cold snowy Chicago to my mom and Big Rick wearing reindeer headgear in the car to pick me up and that really helped start to get me in the Holiday spirit because something about sweating, not wearing a shirt, and wearing shorts and flip flops more than half the time doesn't put me in the Christmas mood. After the picked me up we headed to my apartment in Chicago to unpack and repack and pick up packages, mail, etc that had been waiting for me and then finally got back on the road and headed to Sullivans for a late lunch, and man was it good!
I spent the next week or so in the burbs with my family having Christmas, spending lots of time with my sister and my niece, taking her to McDonalds, playing on the floor, going to Meijer to let her look at the fish, etc. Basically anything to keep a 2 year old entertained which involved lots of playing with babies. I headed back downtown on Monday or Tuesday after Christmas to host a party for the Iowa v Missouri game with some college friends and their wives, gfs, etc. Not too much of the game was watched but it turned out well because Iowa won in the 4th quarter and it was great to see all of my friends since I didn't get to see too many of them while I was at home due to the Holiday's families, travel, etc.
After Christmas I decided to meet one of my friends from Brazil (he is from AZ) in Las Vegas for New Years eve and so I booked a couple of free tickets that I had on SW and American Airlines and headed out to Vegas on New Years eve for a couple of days. Got there in the afternoon in Vegas and met a few people on the plane that offered to give me a ride to my hotel so I didn't have to wait in line for a cab at the airport. All in all it was a great weekend, spent a lot of time watching the football games at the MGM sportsbook, got to see my first UFC fight in Vegas and the tickets were given to us by a guy that played Santa Claus for Dana White (President of the UFC) so we were in the 11th row with $400 tickets that cost us $75. I felt a little bad for the guy that sold us the tickets bc he was supposed to go with his son but he couldn't make it and he admitted that he was an addict for video poker and had recently gotten a royal flush on a machine and won about $3,000. Granted he probably has spent 10x that in his life gambling but who knows. He seemed like a really good person, just felt bad that he was alone during the holiday's. So after the fight my buddy and I got some food and then started to do a little gambling at the roulette wheel at Tropicana. It wasn't too busy so it was a good time there and I managed to dig out of my hole and was only down about $200 at that point. I decided to head to a poker room at the MGM with my buddy and after a couple of drinks, what I thought had flopped 8, 9, J (I am holding a 10 & Q thinking I flopped the straight) i started to increase my bets only to have the dealer tell me what I thought was a 9 was a 6. I pretty much decided that was it for my night told everyone Happy 2011 and started to leave. Well on my way out I have to pass the roulette wheel and as any of my friends will tell you that have been in Vegas with me, it's a point of weakness. So I head over to a table ($25 min) and started to bet $100 per spin on colors letting it ride for the first 4 spins. So after about 10 min (if that) I am up $800 as I am betting so much on each spin. I started to go nuts, cashed in to $500 chips and kept playing until what I thought was about 4:30 or 5 am. I look down at my watch and see that it is 8:30 in the morning and my flight is in just over 2 hours. I head to the cashier, book it back to the hotel, sleep for an hour, get up, pack, and get to the airport. When I arrive at the airport I desperately need food and the only thing I see (sorry Dad) is Burger King. At this point I reach into my wallet and am looking at this wad of bills wondering if I did a drug deal in the middle of the night because when I am done counting I have 19 $100 bills in my wallet and no receipt for an ATM. As the memory comes back and lack of sleep wears off, I realize that I won big, FINALLY, at the roulette wheel and made some decent money this time in Vegas, so I treated myself to some Chinese for dinner and a taxi ride home instead of taking the el.
I spent a week in the Chicago office working there, and then one last weekend in the burbs with my family where we all went out for dinner and then spent another night with Madeline and my family out in the burbs. I got to see my old volleyball coach and friend and her kids which are now approaching teenage age (she had her first when I was in high school) so immediately felt very old.
Heading back to Brazil was very nerve racking for me and again I appreciate all of the prayers and thoughts as I was traveling back here and wondering if I would get in or be sent packing to catch another flight back to the states. I was advised by the attorneys to enter into Rio because they can be somewhat more lax on letting you back and in as I stood in line I was extremely nervous and when I got to the counter the girl told me I needed to talk to the Federal Police so I was placed into a small room with them where I had to answer questions as to why I had not registered etc, and they finally decided to have me pay a fine and I was on my way. All of my bags made it through fine as well (also nervous about that due to how much I was bringing in). After that I met the driver that was taking my bags for me to Campinas (the baggage limits are really high in Brazil and I had to catch another flight to Campinas from Rio so my bags were driven there and met me there at night). All said and done it was 25 hours to get back which normally takes half that.
That's about it for now, the next post will be updates for the past few weeks in Brazil and the adventure of finally registering with the Federal police.
During the last stint in Brazil (5-6 weeks) on my new visa I needed to register with the Federal Police in Campinas where I live in order to get an alien resident card, alien resident number etc. Well I paid all the fees, had all the paperwork, photos etc and I went to register, only to have my application rejected once I arrived at the station. Needless to say I was not thrilled and when I questioned as to why it was rejected the woman told me that I needed the original application for my visa from the consulate in Chicago. Keep in mind that I already had the visa in my passport, so I am not equating this to bringing your resume to work everyday after you've gotten the job. The application is the means and the visa is the end, so why do you need both? It's like how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop? The world will never know, so another question asked another non-answer from the Brazilian government.
The woman at the police station did tell me that on my way out of the country I needed to pay a fine otherwise I could have issues entering country when I returned. So I get to the airport 11 hours before my flight only to find out that that I cannot pay the fine because it's triggered when you return to the country yet the 15 calls we made to the police and to the airport that day all told me to pay the fine when I leave. Needless to say it was not the best start to a Holiday vacation and return trip home.
I arrived back in the cold snowy Chicago to my mom and Big Rick wearing reindeer headgear in the car to pick me up and that really helped start to get me in the Holiday spirit because something about sweating, not wearing a shirt, and wearing shorts and flip flops more than half the time doesn't put me in the Christmas mood. After the picked me up we headed to my apartment in Chicago to unpack and repack and pick up packages, mail, etc that had been waiting for me and then finally got back on the road and headed to Sullivans for a late lunch, and man was it good!
I spent the next week or so in the burbs with my family having Christmas, spending lots of time with my sister and my niece, taking her to McDonalds, playing on the floor, going to Meijer to let her look at the fish, etc. Basically anything to keep a 2 year old entertained which involved lots of playing with babies. I headed back downtown on Monday or Tuesday after Christmas to host a party for the Iowa v Missouri game with some college friends and their wives, gfs, etc. Not too much of the game was watched but it turned out well because Iowa won in the 4th quarter and it was great to see all of my friends since I didn't get to see too many of them while I was at home due to the Holiday's families, travel, etc.
After Christmas I decided to meet one of my friends from Brazil (he is from AZ) in Las Vegas for New Years eve and so I booked a couple of free tickets that I had on SW and American Airlines and headed out to Vegas on New Years eve for a couple of days. Got there in the afternoon in Vegas and met a few people on the plane that offered to give me a ride to my hotel so I didn't have to wait in line for a cab at the airport. All in all it was a great weekend, spent a lot of time watching the football games at the MGM sportsbook, got to see my first UFC fight in Vegas and the tickets were given to us by a guy that played Santa Claus for Dana White (President of the UFC) so we were in the 11th row with $400 tickets that cost us $75. I felt a little bad for the guy that sold us the tickets bc he was supposed to go with his son but he couldn't make it and he admitted that he was an addict for video poker and had recently gotten a royal flush on a machine and won about $3,000. Granted he probably has spent 10x that in his life gambling but who knows. He seemed like a really good person, just felt bad that he was alone during the holiday's. So after the fight my buddy and I got some food and then started to do a little gambling at the roulette wheel at Tropicana. It wasn't too busy so it was a good time there and I managed to dig out of my hole and was only down about $200 at that point. I decided to head to a poker room at the MGM with my buddy and after a couple of drinks, what I thought had flopped 8, 9, J (I am holding a 10 & Q thinking I flopped the straight) i started to increase my bets only to have the dealer tell me what I thought was a 9 was a 6. I pretty much decided that was it for my night told everyone Happy 2011 and started to leave. Well on my way out I have to pass the roulette wheel and as any of my friends will tell you that have been in Vegas with me, it's a point of weakness. So I head over to a table ($25 min) and started to bet $100 per spin on colors letting it ride for the first 4 spins. So after about 10 min (if that) I am up $800 as I am betting so much on each spin. I started to go nuts, cashed in to $500 chips and kept playing until what I thought was about 4:30 or 5 am. I look down at my watch and see that it is 8:30 in the morning and my flight is in just over 2 hours. I head to the cashier, book it back to the hotel, sleep for an hour, get up, pack, and get to the airport. When I arrive at the airport I desperately need food and the only thing I see (sorry Dad) is Burger King. At this point I reach into my wallet and am looking at this wad of bills wondering if I did a drug deal in the middle of the night because when I am done counting I have 19 $100 bills in my wallet and no receipt for an ATM. As the memory comes back and lack of sleep wears off, I realize that I won big, FINALLY, at the roulette wheel and made some decent money this time in Vegas, so I treated myself to some Chinese for dinner and a taxi ride home instead of taking the el.
I spent a week in the Chicago office working there, and then one last weekend in the burbs with my family where we all went out for dinner and then spent another night with Madeline and my family out in the burbs. I got to see my old volleyball coach and friend and her kids which are now approaching teenage age (she had her first when I was in high school) so immediately felt very old.
Heading back to Brazil was very nerve racking for me and again I appreciate all of the prayers and thoughts as I was traveling back here and wondering if I would get in or be sent packing to catch another flight back to the states. I was advised by the attorneys to enter into Rio because they can be somewhat more lax on letting you back and in as I stood in line I was extremely nervous and when I got to the counter the girl told me I needed to talk to the Federal Police so I was placed into a small room with them where I had to answer questions as to why I had not registered etc, and they finally decided to have me pay a fine and I was on my way. All of my bags made it through fine as well (also nervous about that due to how much I was bringing in). After that I met the driver that was taking my bags for me to Campinas (the baggage limits are really high in Brazil and I had to catch another flight to Campinas from Rio so my bags were driven there and met me there at night). All said and done it was 25 hours to get back which normally takes half that.
That's about it for now, the next post will be updates for the past few weeks in Brazil and the adventure of finally registering with the Federal police.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Not related to Brazil...but Iowa
So I had to post this because it made me somewhat angry.
An article came out yesterday on ESPN that Iowa's top receiver got busted for keeping a 'drug house' on campus and was not arrested and suspended from the team before it's Bowl game on December 28. While there is absolutley no way to condone this type of behavior I am glad he received NO special treatment for being a football player, but at the same time what is wrong with kids these days. My God that statement made me feel old, but my sister and I were so privileged to have parents pay for our education I just can't imagine when 100+k 4 year education and a shot at millions in the NFL didn't become enough. I think I'll run a pot house with some cocaine and prescription drugs on the side.
I've got a couple of cousins in college right now and one of them wants to go into business and I have tried to instill in him the need for foreign languages. We'll see if he listens, and if he reads this, get your butt into a foreign language (NOT SPANISH) next semester.
An article came out yesterday on ESPN that Iowa's top receiver got busted for keeping a 'drug house' on campus and was not arrested and suspended from the team before it's Bowl game on December 28. While there is absolutley no way to condone this type of behavior I am glad he received NO special treatment for being a football player, but at the same time what is wrong with kids these days. My God that statement made me feel old, but my sister and I were so privileged to have parents pay for our education I just can't imagine when 100+k 4 year education and a shot at millions in the NFL didn't become enough. I think I'll run a pot house with some cocaine and prescription drugs on the side.
I've got a couple of cousins in college right now and one of them wants to go into business and I have tried to instill in him the need for foreign languages. We'll see if he listens, and if he reads this, get your butt into a foreign language (NOT SPANISH) next semester.
Updates and I'm spoiled
So as some of you (if you're still actually reading this blog) may know I had some visa issues in Brazil and recently returned about two weeks ago to continue my job, work, and resume living down here. I didn't do any updates in the states because well I figured no one wanted to read that I rode the bus, took the el, worked, and then went home everyday. It was a nice time at home and it was great to see my family but also tough not knowing when the visa was going to be approved and my return was a big ?
For those that don't know I was issued two visas to be in Brazil and they were work visas with 180 day expiration and only a 90 day duration at one time in the country. This new visa is a Vitem V work/residence visa in Brazil and will allow me to stay in Brazil for up to 12 months without leaving (if I so choose). This new visa took 4.5 months to work it's way through the system and be approved by the ministry of labor in Brazil and then be issued by the consulate in Chicago. When I received work that the visa was approved and at the Chicago consulate I went to the consulate to pick-up my visa. Upon arrival (on a Wednesday) I brought my paperwork, photos, passport etc for the visa to be issued to me that day. The conversation went something like this:
Woman: Can I help you?
Me: Yes, I'm here to pick up my new visa for Brazil
Woman: Did you apply for your visa?
Me: Yes, it's here ready to be picked up.
Woman: Did you apply for your visa?
Me: Yes, I received word that the MOL in Brazil approved my visa and I'm here to pick it up
Woman: Yes, but did you apply for the visa here
Me: Why would I need to apply for it here when it was approved by Brazil and been applied for 4.5 months ago?
Woman: You need to come back on Friday to apply for your visa
Me: Why can't I come back tomorrow?
Woman: It's a holiday we are closed
Me: There's no holiday in Brazil tomorrow
Woman: It's veterans day
Me: That's an American holiday
Woman: Yes I know we take both holidays, Brazilian and American
Me: (sarcastic laugh) Can I have an application to work here?
Woman: Come back on Friday
So that's how my initial encounter with the consulate went. I went back on Friday and it took over 5 hours to issue the applications because I had to make 2 trips to the post office (Consulate ONLY accepts postal money orders) and I had to go back because they told me the wrong amount on the money order. I made the application with them and the girl said I can't process this because you don't have a return itinerary. (note this is now one of those times where you become so frustrated that even as a 31 year old man I wanted to either punch something very hard or cry) I said this is a work residence visa where I don't need to leave the country for 12 months if I don't want to and I can't book a flight 12 months out (also it's worth mentioning that the woman on Wednesday did NOT mention that I needed a return flight because she knew this was not a tourist visa). So luckily I had a flight for Christmas already which means I had to leave AGAIN, go to a kinkos and print and bring back my flight for Christmas.
After the application was done it was almost 11 am and you're thinking okay they are going to issue the visa and I can go, WRONG. Application hours are from 9-11 and pick-up is from 12-1. So I had to leave, take a cab to my office, and then go back at noon to pick-up the visa at the consulate.
All-in-all this was one of the worst experiences I've ever had to deal with, possibly edging out the DMV but that's because I don't have a car in the states anymore and rarely if ever have to go to the DMV.
So now I'm back and I am fully legal, minus needing to register with the federal police which I will take care of before I leave for Christmas and then I am good for another 12 months and will possibly get extended for another 6 months bringing my total stint on/off in Brazil to two years. Work has really picked up the pace down here. I am in what my bosses are calling phase 2 of this position I guess and I am starting to sit in on daily production meetings, forecast meetings, pre-operational meetings, and have been given some additional logistics responsibility for helping the company do their planning for material coming into Brazil from the US. Probably doesn't sound too exciting but it's good to have your days full and makes the days and weeks fly-by that's for sure. I am still taking Portuguese classes 2 days a week for 1.5 hours each so three hours total per week and then of course all of my meetings and things are in Portuguese so it helps with the languages barrier and things are starting to become second nature. I am still having problems with verbs (there are a TON of regular and irregular verbs) and it's tough when you compare to English because English is a much easier language to learn than Portuguese.
I am heading to a gym this weekend to sign-up for a membership, have finally picked out a car for the next year + here (I am now on car # 5 in 7 months) so things are finally starting resemble a real life where things won't be constantly changing. Our company is providing healthy living discounts and reimbursing employees $50 per month for gym memberships, unfortunatley given that everything here is 3-4x more than the states (minus services) it will still cost me $85 out of pocket each month, but it includes the club in Campinas and in Sousas (20 min away) 2 pools, 4 tennis courts, classes, gym, night club, and full service restaurant. Pretty decent deal but being here less than a year is great because you don't have to pay the R$5,000 to join up (US$3,000). If that's the case I'll just keep running and swimming at my apartment building because I am not about to spend that much money on a gym membership.
So as some of you may know I can be and have been somewhat spoiled in my life. That's not to say anything about my work ethic because I've always sought out and achieved my own jobs and success in life, all by the Grace of God, but living here I am starting to get a little worried about moving back to the states in the next year or 18 months. I have hired a maid/cook to clean my apartment and she comes every Monday and cooks, cleans, does the laundry, irons and then leaves a grocery list for the following week based on what I like to eat. She's been great and truly freed up a lot of my time out of work and school for other activities. In addition, included in my rent is a daily service to tidy up the apartment, make the bed, and empty the trash. Well I arrived home yesterday and was wondering why it only took one turn to open my apartment door, walked in an realized that the bed had not been made and the trash emptied and then remembered that it was a holiday in Campinas. I told one of my buddies about this and his response was 'you poor thing.' Ha, precious and classic and then made me realize that I needed to do a lot of thinking and praying about my selfishness and how I am beginning to take things for granted. I guess living alone for the past 3+ years is making me realize that I need to make some slight changes in my attitudes and be a more selfless person.
No serious girlfriend to speak of, I am still focusing on building my relationships with some guys here in Brazil and had a good talk with one of my good friends here the other night. He said that our relationship and with another friend of ours as well has helped him with the relationship with his wife because he never really had a balance before. It was nice to hear that and nice to meet some good friends here that are willing to hang out, talk or help you out if necessary, and he's a golfer so that will be key when I come back in January!
That's about it for now. I've got a couple of other updates that I need to post and of course some pictures, but believe me that is my goal when I am home at Christmas! I will be posting some pictures from my trip to the North East of Brazil and some from our last weekend in Campos do Jordao (mountains of Brazil).
I hope everyone is well back home, you all had a safe and Happy Thanksgiving and are gearing up for the Christmas season.
Cheers
Adam
For those that don't know I was issued two visas to be in Brazil and they were work visas with 180 day expiration and only a 90 day duration at one time in the country. This new visa is a Vitem V work/residence visa in Brazil and will allow me to stay in Brazil for up to 12 months without leaving (if I so choose). This new visa took 4.5 months to work it's way through the system and be approved by the ministry of labor in Brazil and then be issued by the consulate in Chicago. When I received work that the visa was approved and at the Chicago consulate I went to the consulate to pick-up my visa. Upon arrival (on a Wednesday) I brought my paperwork, photos, passport etc for the visa to be issued to me that day. The conversation went something like this:
Woman: Can I help you?
Me: Yes, I'm here to pick up my new visa for Brazil
Woman: Did you apply for your visa?
Me: Yes, it's here ready to be picked up.
Woman: Did you apply for your visa?
Me: Yes, I received word that the MOL in Brazil approved my visa and I'm here to pick it up
Woman: Yes, but did you apply for the visa here
Me: Why would I need to apply for it here when it was approved by Brazil and been applied for 4.5 months ago?
Woman: You need to come back on Friday to apply for your visa
Me: Why can't I come back tomorrow?
Woman: It's a holiday we are closed
Me: There's no holiday in Brazil tomorrow
Woman: It's veterans day
Me: That's an American holiday
Woman: Yes I know we take both holidays, Brazilian and American
Me: (sarcastic laugh) Can I have an application to work here?
Woman: Come back on Friday
So that's how my initial encounter with the consulate went. I went back on Friday and it took over 5 hours to issue the applications because I had to make 2 trips to the post office (Consulate ONLY accepts postal money orders) and I had to go back because they told me the wrong amount on the money order. I made the application with them and the girl said I can't process this because you don't have a return itinerary. (note this is now one of those times where you become so frustrated that even as a 31 year old man I wanted to either punch something very hard or cry) I said this is a work residence visa where I don't need to leave the country for 12 months if I don't want to and I can't book a flight 12 months out (also it's worth mentioning that the woman on Wednesday did NOT mention that I needed a return flight because she knew this was not a tourist visa). So luckily I had a flight for Christmas already which means I had to leave AGAIN, go to a kinkos and print and bring back my flight for Christmas.
After the application was done it was almost 11 am and you're thinking okay they are going to issue the visa and I can go, WRONG. Application hours are from 9-11 and pick-up is from 12-1. So I had to leave, take a cab to my office, and then go back at noon to pick-up the visa at the consulate.
All-in-all this was one of the worst experiences I've ever had to deal with, possibly edging out the DMV but that's because I don't have a car in the states anymore and rarely if ever have to go to the DMV.
So now I'm back and I am fully legal, minus needing to register with the federal police which I will take care of before I leave for Christmas and then I am good for another 12 months and will possibly get extended for another 6 months bringing my total stint on/off in Brazil to two years. Work has really picked up the pace down here. I am in what my bosses are calling phase 2 of this position I guess and I am starting to sit in on daily production meetings, forecast meetings, pre-operational meetings, and have been given some additional logistics responsibility for helping the company do their planning for material coming into Brazil from the US. Probably doesn't sound too exciting but it's good to have your days full and makes the days and weeks fly-by that's for sure. I am still taking Portuguese classes 2 days a week for 1.5 hours each so three hours total per week and then of course all of my meetings and things are in Portuguese so it helps with the languages barrier and things are starting to become second nature. I am still having problems with verbs (there are a TON of regular and irregular verbs) and it's tough when you compare to English because English is a much easier language to learn than Portuguese.
I am heading to a gym this weekend to sign-up for a membership, have finally picked out a car for the next year + here (I am now on car # 5 in 7 months) so things are finally starting resemble a real life where things won't be constantly changing. Our company is providing healthy living discounts and reimbursing employees $50 per month for gym memberships, unfortunatley given that everything here is 3-4x more than the states (minus services) it will still cost me $85 out of pocket each month, but it includes the club in Campinas and in Sousas (20 min away) 2 pools, 4 tennis courts, classes, gym, night club, and full service restaurant. Pretty decent deal but being here less than a year is great because you don't have to pay the R$5,000 to join up (US$3,000). If that's the case I'll just keep running and swimming at my apartment building because I am not about to spend that much money on a gym membership.
So as some of you may know I can be and have been somewhat spoiled in my life. That's not to say anything about my work ethic because I've always sought out and achieved my own jobs and success in life, all by the Grace of God, but living here I am starting to get a little worried about moving back to the states in the next year or 18 months. I have hired a maid/cook to clean my apartment and she comes every Monday and cooks, cleans, does the laundry, irons and then leaves a grocery list for the following week based on what I like to eat. She's been great and truly freed up a lot of my time out of work and school for other activities. In addition, included in my rent is a daily service to tidy up the apartment, make the bed, and empty the trash. Well I arrived home yesterday and was wondering why it only took one turn to open my apartment door, walked in an realized that the bed had not been made and the trash emptied and then remembered that it was a holiday in Campinas. I told one of my buddies about this and his response was 'you poor thing.' Ha, precious and classic and then made me realize that I needed to do a lot of thinking and praying about my selfishness and how I am beginning to take things for granted. I guess living alone for the past 3+ years is making me realize that I need to make some slight changes in my attitudes and be a more selfless person.
No serious girlfriend to speak of, I am still focusing on building my relationships with some guys here in Brazil and had a good talk with one of my good friends here the other night. He said that our relationship and with another friend of ours as well has helped him with the relationship with his wife because he never really had a balance before. It was nice to hear that and nice to meet some good friends here that are willing to hang out, talk or help you out if necessary, and he's a golfer so that will be key when I come back in January!
That's about it for now. I've got a couple of other updates that I need to post and of course some pictures, but believe me that is my goal when I am home at Christmas! I will be posting some pictures from my trip to the North East of Brazil and some from our last weekend in Campos do Jordao (mountains of Brazil).
I hope everyone is well back home, you all had a safe and Happy Thanksgiving and are gearing up for the Christmas season.
Cheers
Adam
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Customary lounge/going home/done checking email post
So back in the lounge at SP, just finished the last of my emails for the day and have about 2 hours before I board to head back home. Mom and Madeline are picking me up at the airport tomorrow and then a quick stop in the city to pick up 2 months worth of mail, check on the place, and drop off a suitcase.
All in all a pretty good and uneventful week. Typical work, workout, class, work.....well do it all over again. Was a long busy day today and haven't even had time to think about coming home but I am starting to get excited now.
Pray for safe travels, no delays with the flights, and that everything goes smoothly with my visa (one reason I am heading home this month).
Cheers
Adam
All in all a pretty good and uneventful week. Typical work, workout, class, work.....well do it all over again. Was a long busy day today and haven't even had time to think about coming home but I am starting to get excited now.
Pray for safe travels, no delays with the flights, and that everything goes smoothly with my visa (one reason I am heading home this month).
Cheers
Adam
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
No Jesus part II yet
iPhone got released in Brazil and before people think about complaining about costs etc in the US about, well anything, the same phone that sells for $300 in the states is US$ 1,500 in Brazil.
Also to give you another comparison a Honda Civic goes for US$35k-$40k, gas is 2x-3x more per gallon than the US and all electronics are at least 3x more expensive than the states. Just a little food for thought.
Also to give you another comparison a Honda Civic goes for US$35k-$40k, gas is 2x-3x more per gallon than the US and all electronics are at least 3x more expensive than the states. Just a little food for thought.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Sao Luis - You need the Jesus (Part I)
So this past weekend was Brazilian Independence day and as in the states it consisted of a long weekend starting on Friday after work until Tuesday (Independence day). Some friends and I decided to book a trip to the Northeast of Brazil and go to Sao Luis, Lencois Maranhenses, and the Preguicas River for 3 days. You might be curious as to the title of this blog entry, but I will get to that shortly.
The trip started at 4 am on Saturday with a not so nice alarm wake-up signifying the beginning of what would be a long but amazing weekend. We had to drive to the Sao Paulo airport for our 7:20 am flight for which we arrive at about 6:30 am. Myself and a friend (Ergys) were able to get checked in via the kiosks while Dan and Claudia had to fight their way through the line. Ergys and I went for breakfast and of course as soon as we are about to order there are 3 couples in front of us that decided to order 1 of everything on the menu which proceeded to of course tick me right off. We then had to get out of line and go to our gate because they were on the final boarding call for our flight and this is not a flight you want to miss because there are no direct flights. As we get on the plane I see Dan sitting in the exit row and think, man he is lucky because I'd love and exit row for this 4+ hour flight. I asked Dan how he got it and he explained his travel philosophy to me. He sits where he wants until someone kicks him out of the seat then he moves to another seat until he gets kicked out. So I decided to try this out and wouldn't you know it, it worked! Exit row for both flights to Sao Luis, I am now not so ticked that I didn't get breakfast.
We land in Sao Luis around 12:30 pm, get a taxi and he takes us to our hotel. We arrive at the hotel a bit before check-in but they are able to accommodate us at the pool to have a couple of beers before we get into our rooms. Since Sao Luis is near the equator the temperature is a steady 30-35 degrees year round and a UV index of 10+ so I spent the first 10 min at the pool slathering myself in SPF 60 so I don't ruin my weekend on the first day by getting too much sun.
After the pool we headed to a recommended restaurant that has comida regional or local food to the region for lunch. Their specialty is fish, shrimp, and annoying locals. We sit down to order some drinks and some food and about 5 min after we sit down, Marcos is strolling over to our table and starts asking if we are all Americans. Now I should have mentioned this before but we are a melting pot of tourists. I of course am the lone American, Dan is Irish (whiter than me), Claudia is Mexican (Dan's girlfriend), and Ergys is Albanian. So you can say that we are a pretty diverse group but we all live together in the United Nations building (our apartment building's given name) and a couple of us share the same Portuguese professor. I digress.....Marcos proceeds to spend the entire lunch with us drinking, telling stories, how many countries he's visited and worked in all while giving me about 20-30 punches in the arm. Ergys has a great picture that I'll post later where I am about 20 min into the meal and already annoyed with this guy. He is of course still a typical guy where he would forget all of the guys' names but remembered Claudia's name (shocking) and called Ergys, Elvis. That was pretty funny.
After lunch we headed to the beach to walk around since we'd been sitting for almost 8 or 9 hours already and it was only about 4 pm in the afternoon. We walked around until we found an outdoor restaurant and headed to the beach for some coco water, swimming, and to watch the sunset. It was pretty cool to be in the ocean so far north and you could see all of the freightliners and cargo ships heading south toward Brazil carrying goods. Interesting to me because the company I work for down here imports lots of goods from the US and it was neat to see them all heading into port in the northern part of the country.
After the sunset and some more pictures, we headed to the Centro Historico (Historical City Center) to walk around and take some more pictures. This was really neat and it had a lot of tourist shops, restaurants, live music etc. Not really a whole lot to do and it didn't seem as if a lot of people lived in this area as it was pretty run down and some places looked abandoned. We found a big outdoor restaurant and decided to get some juice and listen to some music before heading back to the hotel for some rest before dinner. This is where I had my first Jesus.....I had been hearing about this drink (Guarana Jesus) as Guarana is a very popular soda in Brazil, it is supposed to have natural energy and taste like cherries. I love it and once I heard about the Jesus I had to try one. This Jesus drink is only available in this northern state where Sao Luis and Lencois is located so I had to try it and lemme tell you it tastes EXACTLY like liquiod bubbel gum and it's pink. You know when we were kids and you put 25 cents in and got a giant gumball? Yep exactly like that except you drink it. Anyway, the running joke for the weekend became 'You need Jesus' followed by handing someone the Jesus drink, and I decided that whenever I bought a Jesus I had to take a picture of it wherever we were or myself drinking it. We have Jesus in Sao Luis, Jesus on a boat, Jesus on the dunes, Jesus in a bottle, Jesus in the airport etc. It was pretty entertaining.
We headed back to the hotel about 8:30 to get a nap in before dinner. When I woke up for dinner, got a shower and when I was brushing my teeth decided to check out the night view from the balcony. When I stepped outside there was a big crowd of people standing around, one guy sitting, and a car with it's front bumper off. As some people came and went I saw the chalk outline of a motorcycle and a body sitting next to the chalk outline. There was also a chalk outline around the body and realized the guy sitting on the ground was straddling the dead persons body, and this was no joke directly in front of our balcony looking at the street. It was pretty nerve racking to say the least and besides seeing a covered dead body on the way to the airport one day, this was my only other time. We couldn't figure out why they wouldn't cover the body or move it out of the way and this went on for a good 30-40 min.
After we were dressed and ready for dinner we got some recommendations from the front desk, hopped in a cab and we were off. The restaurant had live music, good food, and it was on a lake so it was like everything else, all open air and outside. After dinner we wandered around a little bit and wound up at a couple of more bars with live music, danced and finally called it a night around 4 am.
Lencois Maranhenses - You need Jesus (Part II) to come later this weekend
The trip started at 4 am on Saturday with a not so nice alarm wake-up signifying the beginning of what would be a long but amazing weekend. We had to drive to the Sao Paulo airport for our 7:20 am flight for which we arrive at about 6:30 am. Myself and a friend (Ergys) were able to get checked in via the kiosks while Dan and Claudia had to fight their way through the line. Ergys and I went for breakfast and of course as soon as we are about to order there are 3 couples in front of us that decided to order 1 of everything on the menu which proceeded to of course tick me right off. We then had to get out of line and go to our gate because they were on the final boarding call for our flight and this is not a flight you want to miss because there are no direct flights. As we get on the plane I see Dan sitting in the exit row and think, man he is lucky because I'd love and exit row for this 4+ hour flight. I asked Dan how he got it and he explained his travel philosophy to me. He sits where he wants until someone kicks him out of the seat then he moves to another seat until he gets kicked out. So I decided to try this out and wouldn't you know it, it worked! Exit row for both flights to Sao Luis, I am now not so ticked that I didn't get breakfast.
We land in Sao Luis around 12:30 pm, get a taxi and he takes us to our hotel. We arrive at the hotel a bit before check-in but they are able to accommodate us at the pool to have a couple of beers before we get into our rooms. Since Sao Luis is near the equator the temperature is a steady 30-35 degrees year round and a UV index of 10+ so I spent the first 10 min at the pool slathering myself in SPF 60 so I don't ruin my weekend on the first day by getting too much sun.
After the pool we headed to a recommended restaurant that has comida regional or local food to the region for lunch. Their specialty is fish, shrimp, and annoying locals. We sit down to order some drinks and some food and about 5 min after we sit down, Marcos is strolling over to our table and starts asking if we are all Americans. Now I should have mentioned this before but we are a melting pot of tourists. I of course am the lone American, Dan is Irish (whiter than me), Claudia is Mexican (Dan's girlfriend), and Ergys is Albanian. So you can say that we are a pretty diverse group but we all live together in the United Nations building (our apartment building's given name) and a couple of us share the same Portuguese professor. I digress.....Marcos proceeds to spend the entire lunch with us drinking, telling stories, how many countries he's visited and worked in all while giving me about 20-30 punches in the arm. Ergys has a great picture that I'll post later where I am about 20 min into the meal and already annoyed with this guy. He is of course still a typical guy where he would forget all of the guys' names but remembered Claudia's name (shocking) and called Ergys, Elvis. That was pretty funny.
After lunch we headed to the beach to walk around since we'd been sitting for almost 8 or 9 hours already and it was only about 4 pm in the afternoon. We walked around until we found an outdoor restaurant and headed to the beach for some coco water, swimming, and to watch the sunset. It was pretty cool to be in the ocean so far north and you could see all of the freightliners and cargo ships heading south toward Brazil carrying goods. Interesting to me because the company I work for down here imports lots of goods from the US and it was neat to see them all heading into port in the northern part of the country.
After the sunset and some more pictures, we headed to the Centro Historico (Historical City Center) to walk around and take some more pictures. This was really neat and it had a lot of tourist shops, restaurants, live music etc. Not really a whole lot to do and it didn't seem as if a lot of people lived in this area as it was pretty run down and some places looked abandoned. We found a big outdoor restaurant and decided to get some juice and listen to some music before heading back to the hotel for some rest before dinner. This is where I had my first Jesus.....I had been hearing about this drink (Guarana Jesus) as Guarana is a very popular soda in Brazil, it is supposed to have natural energy and taste like cherries. I love it and once I heard about the Jesus I had to try one. This Jesus drink is only available in this northern state where Sao Luis and Lencois is located so I had to try it and lemme tell you it tastes EXACTLY like liquiod bubbel gum and it's pink. You know when we were kids and you put 25 cents in and got a giant gumball? Yep exactly like that except you drink it. Anyway, the running joke for the weekend became 'You need Jesus' followed by handing someone the Jesus drink, and I decided that whenever I bought a Jesus I had to take a picture of it wherever we were or myself drinking it. We have Jesus in Sao Luis, Jesus on a boat, Jesus on the dunes, Jesus in a bottle, Jesus in the airport etc. It was pretty entertaining.
We headed back to the hotel about 8:30 to get a nap in before dinner. When I woke up for dinner, got a shower and when I was brushing my teeth decided to check out the night view from the balcony. When I stepped outside there was a big crowd of people standing around, one guy sitting, and a car with it's front bumper off. As some people came and went I saw the chalk outline of a motorcycle and a body sitting next to the chalk outline. There was also a chalk outline around the body and realized the guy sitting on the ground was straddling the dead persons body, and this was no joke directly in front of our balcony looking at the street. It was pretty nerve racking to say the least and besides seeing a covered dead body on the way to the airport one day, this was my only other time. We couldn't figure out why they wouldn't cover the body or move it out of the way and this went on for a good 30-40 min.
After we were dressed and ready for dinner we got some recommendations from the front desk, hopped in a cab and we were off. The restaurant had live music, good food, and it was on a lake so it was like everything else, all open air and outside. After dinner we wandered around a little bit and wound up at a couple of more bars with live music, danced and finally called it a night around 4 am.
Lencois Maranhenses - You need Jesus (Part II) to come later this weekend
Friday, September 3, 2010
What is up with the Bears.....
I kind of figured it was coming but I am still disappointed over the lack of excitement for the kickoff of the NFL season next weekend. Being surrounded by avid soccer fans I was trying to prepare myself but I am saddened by my lack of excitement for college and NFL. The Hawkeyes play EIU this weekend which hopefully will not be a repeat of last years near upset by UNI where Iowa had to block two field goals to hold on for the win. Since I am heading out of town this weekend I will not be able to watch the game but am hoping that they will be able to pull out the W without my support from 5,000+ miles south.
My first fantasy football draft has been concluded and next week will be spent doing some additional reasearch to see which guys are injured, starting, sitting, and can be claimed off waivers since I haven't looked at my roster since draft night. I've been very disappointed in this supposed 'high power' offense that the Bears have tried to install by bringing on Mike Martz and you'd think with 3 (2 ex and 1 current) head coaches they would be able to get their act together and win AT LEAST one preseason football game, but going 0-4 does not instill a lot of confidence in me that they will be able to be contenders in the NFC North. We've got an aging defense where this could very well be Urlacher's last year and some needed replacements will need to be made on that side of the ball. The Bears hired Mike Tice to coach the offensive line and I know that sometimes when I've had a few beers I think I can do anything (hit .208 what Milton Bradley was hitting for the Cubs last year or catch a football given that I'm 6'4" tall) but this guy was hired to give Jay Culter 3 seconds to get rid of the football. I am so far not as disappointed in the offense as I am with the offensive line of the Bears. You hire a new guy to come in and coach maybe 10 guys to give your 'QB of the Future' 3 seconds to throw the ball and it's no wonder that you are no longer a head coach somewhere.
Anyway, I am in no way an ESPN analyst but it seems that this is all I have been reading about that and how many players the Cubs are calling up because they've given up on this season (I hope Lou's mom is doing well though).
So this post, not too much to do about Brazil. I was at the foundry a couple of days this week working on a project that I am wrapping up today (hopefully) and then went to Sao Paulo for dinner. Somehow my GPS got me lost and I wound up in a bus station parking lot. I really loathe driving in Sao Paulo and it's not the city to get lost in that's for sure. I made it to my destination safely and had a nice dinner at a new restaurant for me. This weekend we have a 4 day weekend since it's Brazil's independence day on Tuesday so the office is closed on Monday as well. Some friends and I are heading to Lencois Maranhenses this weekend so if you don't know where or what Lencois is you MUST google it. The pictures look like nothing I've ever seen and can't wait to head up to the Northeast of Brazil this weekend.
I hope everyone has a great Labor Day, enjoys the last of the summer weather, BBQs, golf, or whatever your plans entail. Also, for those of you still following this blog and that have any interest, I am returning to the states on October 1 for a few weeks to get my new visa and one of my good friends is getting married.
Tchau
Adam
My first fantasy football draft has been concluded and next week will be spent doing some additional reasearch to see which guys are injured, starting, sitting, and can be claimed off waivers since I haven't looked at my roster since draft night. I've been very disappointed in this supposed 'high power' offense that the Bears have tried to install by bringing on Mike Martz and you'd think with 3 (2 ex and 1 current) head coaches they would be able to get their act together and win AT LEAST one preseason football game, but going 0-4 does not instill a lot of confidence in me that they will be able to be contenders in the NFC North. We've got an aging defense where this could very well be Urlacher's last year and some needed replacements will need to be made on that side of the ball. The Bears hired Mike Tice to coach the offensive line and I know that sometimes when I've had a few beers I think I can do anything (hit .208 what Milton Bradley was hitting for the Cubs last year or catch a football given that I'm 6'4" tall) but this guy was hired to give Jay Culter 3 seconds to get rid of the football. I am so far not as disappointed in the offense as I am with the offensive line of the Bears. You hire a new guy to come in and coach maybe 10 guys to give your 'QB of the Future' 3 seconds to throw the ball and it's no wonder that you are no longer a head coach somewhere.
Anyway, I am in no way an ESPN analyst but it seems that this is all I have been reading about that and how many players the Cubs are calling up because they've given up on this season (I hope Lou's mom is doing well though).
So this post, not too much to do about Brazil. I was at the foundry a couple of days this week working on a project that I am wrapping up today (hopefully) and then went to Sao Paulo for dinner. Somehow my GPS got me lost and I wound up in a bus station parking lot. I really loathe driving in Sao Paulo and it's not the city to get lost in that's for sure. I made it to my destination safely and had a nice dinner at a new restaurant for me. This weekend we have a 4 day weekend since it's Brazil's independence day on Tuesday so the office is closed on Monday as well. Some friends and I are heading to Lencois Maranhenses this weekend so if you don't know where or what Lencois is you MUST google it. The pictures look like nothing I've ever seen and can't wait to head up to the Northeast of Brazil this weekend.
I hope everyone has a great Labor Day, enjoys the last of the summer weather, BBQs, golf, or whatever your plans entail. Also, for those of you still following this blog and that have any interest, I am returning to the states on October 1 for a few weeks to get my new visa and one of my good friends is getting married.
Tchau
Adam
Monday, August 30, 2010
Weekend Update
Not too much to report for the weekend. Friday night went out with my expat friends and had a happy hour for a guy that used to work in our building at the front desk as one of our security guards. He got a job at IBM in Brazil and begins working there today so Friday was a celebration for him. Saturday the same group of people minus a few went to the park for our Saturday morning running routine and workout, coco water, juice etc. We all went out for breakfast afterward and then I went to the street fair, bought some fruits, vegetables for the week and then back to my apartment to shower and relax.
Saturday night did a whole lot of nothing. I was supposed to go to Sao Paulo with some friends but they decided to get a hotel room and I didn't want to spend R$100 to get into a club and then another R$200 on a hotel room. We are all traveling together this weekend so I decided to pass and just get some rest.
Sunday went back to the park, ran, lifted (outdoor gym for the volleyball guys to make fun of me) and then went to the supermarket to get food for Deusa to cook this week. Last night I made my way to the foundry for a project that I have due tomorrow and I'll head back to Campinas tomorrow night and possibly a stop over in Sao Paulo for dinner. SP is about 2 hours from the foundry and then another hour or so to Campinas so it's not too far out of the way to stop and get dinner somewhere different.
Weather here was really hot this past weekend, it's been steadily climbing back into the 90s here and it seems as though winter is coming to an end. The humidity hasn't kicked in yet so it's been really dry and lots of forest fires have been flaring up along the sides of the road.
Hope all is well with everyone back at home and see some of you in the next month when I return at the beginning of October.
Tchau
Adam
Saturday night did a whole lot of nothing. I was supposed to go to Sao Paulo with some friends but they decided to get a hotel room and I didn't want to spend R$100 to get into a club and then another R$200 on a hotel room. We are all traveling together this weekend so I decided to pass and just get some rest.
Sunday went back to the park, ran, lifted (outdoor gym for the volleyball guys to make fun of me) and then went to the supermarket to get food for Deusa to cook this week. Last night I made my way to the foundry for a project that I have due tomorrow and I'll head back to Campinas tomorrow night and possibly a stop over in Sao Paulo for dinner. SP is about 2 hours from the foundry and then another hour or so to Campinas so it's not too far out of the way to stop and get dinner somewhere different.
Weather here was really hot this past weekend, it's been steadily climbing back into the 90s here and it seems as though winter is coming to an end. The humidity hasn't kicked in yet so it's been really dry and lots of forest fires have been flaring up along the sides of the road.
Hope all is well with everyone back at home and see some of you in the next month when I return at the beginning of October.
Tchau
Adam
Friday, August 27, 2010
Yesterday was not a good day....
Ever have those days where you wake up and you're just mad or unmotivated and it permeates your whole day? Well, I had one of those yesterday. I don't know why, no good reason for it, I was just unmotivated at work, traffic sucked on the way home (I miss the CTA) and I just in general felt like crap on my run last night. Got home from my run and I hit my head getting into the shower and I just wanted to call it a night.
Today seems to be starting off better with a 6k run this morning before work, got a nice little list of things to get done today and meeting some friends for a happy hour after work and then maybe some poker. More 11k runs this weekend and I think I'll be going back to the Catholic church I visited last week but would like to check out their Saturday service.
I booked my return home for October 1. One of my best friends is getting married in October and the timing is perfect because I need to get my visa renewed and I am hoping that will be taken care of at the same time.
Hope everyone is doing well back home and has a great weekend.
Tchau
Adam
Today seems to be starting off better with a 6k run this morning before work, got a nice little list of things to get done today and meeting some friends for a happy hour after work and then maybe some poker. More 11k runs this weekend and I think I'll be going back to the Catholic church I visited last week but would like to check out their Saturday service.
I booked my return home for October 1. One of my best friends is getting married in October and the timing is perfect because I need to get my visa renewed and I am hoping that will be taken care of at the same time.
Hope everyone is doing well back home and has a great weekend.
Tchau
Adam
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
No real updates
No real updates for this Tuesday morning, just trying to work myself into more of a routine of updating the blog. Yesterday was pretty uneventful, took a rest day from working out since I did a lot this past weekend, my maid made her weekly stop at my apartment so I am replenished with dinners for the next few days. Last nights meal was chicken with onions, broccoli, rice, beans, and salad. I started to prep for my first fantasy football draft and get the teams ready for our draft on Wednesday night of this week and posted some videos of Madeline on Facebook. Monday night football is on TV down here since I get ESPN so it's been pretty cool to be able to get some American sports as well.
Think that's pretty much about it. I did read an article on CNN last night about Trader Joe's and they mentioned some Thai lime and chili cashews, so anyone that lives near a Trader Joe's and feels like sending me a care packaged those sound amazing. I have also been wanting to make my own coffee so if you'd like to pick me up a french press (shipping an actual coffee maker would be too expensive) then feel free to put one in with the cashews :) My friends told me this weekend that I am keeping the Starbucks open across the street from our apartment. Thought it might be time to start making my own coffee again.
Think that's pretty much about it. I did read an article on CNN last night about Trader Joe's and they mentioned some Thai lime and chili cashews, so anyone that lives near a Trader Joe's and feels like sending me a care packaged those sound amazing. I have also been wanting to make my own coffee so if you'd like to pick me up a french press (shipping an actual coffee maker would be too expensive) then feel free to put one in with the cashews :) My friends told me this weekend that I am keeping the Starbucks open across the street from our apartment. Thought it might be time to start making my own coffee again.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Weekend Update & Corrections
So at the request of my niece I was asked to make a couple of corrections to my previous blog entry. It was actually her uncle who while jumping up and down in the ocean accidentally dropped her in a wave but with his cat like reflexes was able to scoop her back up in an amazing .25 seconds, but alas she still started to belt out an awful cry but it was only because she was scared not due to injury. I was also informed that her daddy at a busy weekend putting up her new playhouse and she loves it. Sarah sent out a couple of videos which I will post on Facebook tonight.
This weekend was an extremely busy one for me. Saturday ran 11k with some friends in my building, had our standard coco water after the run, then we went out to a cafe to plan our upcoming trip in the beginning of September. We are heading to the Northeast of Brazil to Sao Luis and Lencois Maranhenses (if you get time to google it do so and you will be amazed at the pictures). After that we headed out for a couple of beers and then went go karting with another group of people. I think by the time I finally arrived home it was about 8 or 9 pm and was just wiped. Sunday we went to the park again and got in about 6k and then had a quick workout in the gym, coco water, and then I headed to my first church service in Portuguese. It was actually what I could understand a nice service and good worship. I am going to go back on Saturday night or Sunday morning this week again and this weeks task in my class will be to translate and study the bulletin so I can understand more of the readings and worship.
Sunday afternoon was another trip to the super market to get more food and utensils for the lady to cook and clean with, went to an Arabian restaurant yesterday for lunch with some other friends and he actually had tickets to the futebol game yesterday afternoon so I experienced my first futebol game live. I cannot even express how many bad words I heard from kids and parents alike. It was a pretty interesting experience. If we used that language even in the bleachers at Wrigley we'd be asked to leave. Last night a friend in my building had his brother and a friend in town from the states and he hosted a Churrasco in the party room so we had some great meat, cheese, and other food. All in all it was a great weekend and one where you feel like you need a weekend from your weekend, but great to have friends and other things to do and people to hang out with and build new friendships.
Hope this entry puts me back in the good graces with Madeline and gives everyone an update on the weekend.
Tchau
Adam
This weekend was an extremely busy one for me. Saturday ran 11k with some friends in my building, had our standard coco water after the run, then we went out to a cafe to plan our upcoming trip in the beginning of September. We are heading to the Northeast of Brazil to Sao Luis and Lencois Maranhenses (if you get time to google it do so and you will be amazed at the pictures). After that we headed out for a couple of beers and then went go karting with another group of people. I think by the time I finally arrived home it was about 8 or 9 pm and was just wiped. Sunday we went to the park again and got in about 6k and then had a quick workout in the gym, coco water, and then I headed to my first church service in Portuguese. It was actually what I could understand a nice service and good worship. I am going to go back on Saturday night or Sunday morning this week again and this weeks task in my class will be to translate and study the bulletin so I can understand more of the readings and worship.
Sunday afternoon was another trip to the super market to get more food and utensils for the lady to cook and clean with, went to an Arabian restaurant yesterday for lunch with some other friends and he actually had tickets to the futebol game yesterday afternoon so I experienced my first futebol game live. I cannot even express how many bad words I heard from kids and parents alike. It was a pretty interesting experience. If we used that language even in the bleachers at Wrigley we'd be asked to leave. Last night a friend in my building had his brother and a friend in town from the states and he hosted a Churrasco in the party room so we had some great meat, cheese, and other food. All in all it was a great weekend and one where you feel like you need a weekend from your weekend, but great to have friends and other things to do and people to hang out with and build new friendships.
Hope this entry puts me back in the good graces with Madeline and gives everyone an update on the weekend.
Tchau
Adam
Friday, August 20, 2010
Finalmente
So I am finally back to the blogging world with a new post before the weekend hits. So far, for me anyway, it's been a very mild winter compared to the single digits, snow (neve in Portuguese), and blistering wind that hits you in Chicago at the turn of every corner. In Brazil I've experienced winter days climbing into the mid 80s although most days consist of days in the 60s and 70s, absolutely nothing to complain about. I have spent the past few weeks getting back into the groove of returning to my life in Brazil after spending just under a month in the US for the 4th of July, family vacation, and most importantly my nieces first birthday.
I arrived back in the states on July 2 and spent that day with my mom, sister, and niece relaxing having lunch and then heading to the dentist. Not a clue why I planned a trip to the dentist the DAY I arrived back at home, but got a good report from him and don't have to return until October or December when I am back in the states next. The 4th of July was a great time and I got to see all of my friends, had a giant 4th of of July BBQ complete with American beer and food from Brazil. The night was topped off with the annual human pyramid and glad to say that no injuries were reported and everyone had a great time. I got in 36 holes of golf over that weekend and then returned to work in Chicago on Tuesday. I spent the next 4 days in the Chicago office working from there, catching up with friends over dinners and drinks, and then left on Saturday the 10th for Florida.
I spent the next week in Tampa Florida with my family and managed to get in 72 holes of golf despite slicing my foot open on day 1 in the ocean and having to make a quick stop at the emergency room to get 5 stitches put in one of my toes. It was however the fastest visit to the ER that I've ever had and one of my nurses said if I had come the day before I would have been there for 4 hours. They had one stroke, one heart attack, a car accident, and one renal failure but I guess it comes with the territory of having a hospital in a place where the average age is 70+ years old. All in all it was a great vacation but not too much to report other than relaxing with my family, a few dinners out, walks on the beach with my niece, playing with her in the water (although her mom dropped her off her shoulders face down into a wave in the ocean, way to go Sarah) then it was uncle Adam to the rescue ;)
The last day was spent with the adult kids where my sister, George, and myself spent about 10 hours on the beach hanging out, having beers, and braving the afternoon storm in the ocean because it was warmer and the past 25 years of experience proved correct in that the storm only lasted for about 20 min and then the sun came back out. We returned to Chicago on Saturday and then on Sunday I headed to Philadelphia for a week of work at my old division, caught up with more friends, and got in a round of golf with the co-owner of the company in Philly. Spent the last weekend with my best friend John at his lake house relaxing, boating, and catching some sun. Returned to Chicago on Sunday morning and had Madeline's first birthday party and man did that kid rake it in again. She got of course lots of money, tons of clothes, a sand box from her polish uncle and other grandma, and then a play house from uncle (tio) Adam and her grandparents. Last report has it that George has not yet setup the playhouse so he better get on that so she can play outside before it turns too cold.
I returned to Brazil at the end of July and spent a 4 hour delay in the Miami airport while they repaired one of the doors that had broken on landing. Of course had to deal with all of the angry people etc, but hey if need to get a new plane or take all night to fix a door be my guest. That is one of the last things that you need to have break when your 30,000+ feet in the air. Finally got an upgrade into first class for my return trip but was only able to get about 3 hours of sleep so it made for a long day when I finally got back to my apartment. My bags arrived with no issues, and the one loaded with all presents and gifts made it through customs with no issues.
So far I've settled back in well, started with classes again for Portuguese and kept up with my running routine of 15-20k on the weekends and then shorter runs 7-8k during the week nights. I still haven't joined a gym and I think I am going to hold off since they are so expensive and even the coldest day here in the 50s is like running outside in Chicago on a fall or spring day so nothing close to what I've had to deal with in the states. I had a new maid start when I came back and she comes every Monday morning at 7:30 am to cook, clean, iron clothes and do the laundry. She's been great so far, an amazing attention to detail, cooks good food so no complaints so far. Funny to me that things here still seem opposite. You'll go to McDonalds and spend R$20 for one person (US$12) or spend R$50,000 (US$29,000) for a car that will cost you US$16,000 in the US (Honda Civic for example) but to have a maid come to my house for close to 12 hours costs me $28 per day. Services here are so cheap compared to goods, but it gives me a real appreciation for my job and the living that I make.
Not too much else to report as of right now. I am continuing to meet new people that are new to the area, a girl that went to Iowa and graduated from a different school in the college just moved here to live with her Fiance and she recently created a group called on a site called Meet Up for English speakers and expats living in Campinas. There are 5 new teachers here from the US who are taking Portuguese at my school, there was a new guy that moved into our building that I met and a bunch of us went to the American School last weekend for the pancake breakfast to get some American food and the school was opening a new gym for the kids. A group of us is planning a trip to the Northeast of Brazil in September over the US Labor Day (Brazilian Independence day) so that is going to be a lot of fun. We are heading to Sao Luis and then to a national park that has natural clear ponds and sand dunes and you can only enter the park on foot or in a 4x4 vehicle so we are going to look at renting jeeps or dune buggies to drive around the park.
I returned to the English speaking church this past Sunday and worshiped there but have really been struggling to get things out of the services. The church is only 20 people if that and there is only one or two couples (of course) that are relatively close to my age. Everyone there is extremely nice so I am going to continue to go back on Sunday's but praying that I start to get more out of the service so it doesn't just feel like I am going to go to church. I always (well not always) went in the past because I felt a connection and I am just not getting the same experience here. I am hoping that once the Portuguese language for me comes farther along I can find a larger church and get more involved with a community.
Things are still progressing slowly with my application for a visa in Brazil so please keep that in your prayers. My 180+ days is coming to an end in October and without this visa I will not be able to return to the country which means no job so I am hoping that things progress in a more timely manner and I can get it approved so it's ready to be picked up at the consulate in Chicago when I return in October. I spoke with my aunt this week and she was having a good week but still continuing to struggle with cancer. Please continue to pray for her and the treatments.
I hope all is well with everyone back home. I miss you all very much, stay in touch via email, Facebook, and I have my US cell phone on here in Brazil so don't be afraid to pick up the phone and give me a call.
Tchau
Adam
I arrived back in the states on July 2 and spent that day with my mom, sister, and niece relaxing having lunch and then heading to the dentist. Not a clue why I planned a trip to the dentist the DAY I arrived back at home, but got a good report from him and don't have to return until October or December when I am back in the states next. The 4th of July was a great time and I got to see all of my friends, had a giant 4th of of July BBQ complete with American beer and food from Brazil. The night was topped off with the annual human pyramid and glad to say that no injuries were reported and everyone had a great time. I got in 36 holes of golf over that weekend and then returned to work in Chicago on Tuesday. I spent the next 4 days in the Chicago office working from there, catching up with friends over dinners and drinks, and then left on Saturday the 10th for Florida.
I spent the next week in Tampa Florida with my family and managed to get in 72 holes of golf despite slicing my foot open on day 1 in the ocean and having to make a quick stop at the emergency room to get 5 stitches put in one of my toes. It was however the fastest visit to the ER that I've ever had and one of my nurses said if I had come the day before I would have been there for 4 hours. They had one stroke, one heart attack, a car accident, and one renal failure but I guess it comes with the territory of having a hospital in a place where the average age is 70+ years old. All in all it was a great vacation but not too much to report other than relaxing with my family, a few dinners out, walks on the beach with my niece, playing with her in the water (although her mom dropped her off her shoulders face down into a wave in the ocean, way to go Sarah) then it was uncle Adam to the rescue ;)
The last day was spent with the adult kids where my sister, George, and myself spent about 10 hours on the beach hanging out, having beers, and braving the afternoon storm in the ocean because it was warmer and the past 25 years of experience proved correct in that the storm only lasted for about 20 min and then the sun came back out. We returned to Chicago on Saturday and then on Sunday I headed to Philadelphia for a week of work at my old division, caught up with more friends, and got in a round of golf with the co-owner of the company in Philly. Spent the last weekend with my best friend John at his lake house relaxing, boating, and catching some sun. Returned to Chicago on Sunday morning and had Madeline's first birthday party and man did that kid rake it in again. She got of course lots of money, tons of clothes, a sand box from her polish uncle and other grandma, and then a play house from uncle (tio) Adam and her grandparents. Last report has it that George has not yet setup the playhouse so he better get on that so she can play outside before it turns too cold.
I returned to Brazil at the end of July and spent a 4 hour delay in the Miami airport while they repaired one of the doors that had broken on landing. Of course had to deal with all of the angry people etc, but hey if need to get a new plane or take all night to fix a door be my guest. That is one of the last things that you need to have break when your 30,000+ feet in the air. Finally got an upgrade into first class for my return trip but was only able to get about 3 hours of sleep so it made for a long day when I finally got back to my apartment. My bags arrived with no issues, and the one loaded with all presents and gifts made it through customs with no issues.
So far I've settled back in well, started with classes again for Portuguese and kept up with my running routine of 15-20k on the weekends and then shorter runs 7-8k during the week nights. I still haven't joined a gym and I think I am going to hold off since they are so expensive and even the coldest day here in the 50s is like running outside in Chicago on a fall or spring day so nothing close to what I've had to deal with in the states. I had a new maid start when I came back and she comes every Monday morning at 7:30 am to cook, clean, iron clothes and do the laundry. She's been great so far, an amazing attention to detail, cooks good food so no complaints so far. Funny to me that things here still seem opposite. You'll go to McDonalds and spend R$20 for one person (US$12) or spend R$50,000 (US$29,000) for a car that will cost you US$16,000 in the US (Honda Civic for example) but to have a maid come to my house for close to 12 hours costs me $28 per day. Services here are so cheap compared to goods, but it gives me a real appreciation for my job and the living that I make.
Not too much else to report as of right now. I am continuing to meet new people that are new to the area, a girl that went to Iowa and graduated from a different school in the college just moved here to live with her Fiance and she recently created a group called on a site called Meet Up for English speakers and expats living in Campinas. There are 5 new teachers here from the US who are taking Portuguese at my school, there was a new guy that moved into our building that I met and a bunch of us went to the American School last weekend for the pancake breakfast to get some American food and the school was opening a new gym for the kids. A group of us is planning a trip to the Northeast of Brazil in September over the US Labor Day (Brazilian Independence day) so that is going to be a lot of fun. We are heading to Sao Luis and then to a national park that has natural clear ponds and sand dunes and you can only enter the park on foot or in a 4x4 vehicle so we are going to look at renting jeeps or dune buggies to drive around the park.
I returned to the English speaking church this past Sunday and worshiped there but have really been struggling to get things out of the services. The church is only 20 people if that and there is only one or two couples (of course) that are relatively close to my age. Everyone there is extremely nice so I am going to continue to go back on Sunday's but praying that I start to get more out of the service so it doesn't just feel like I am going to go to church. I always (well not always) went in the past because I felt a connection and I am just not getting the same experience here. I am hoping that once the Portuguese language for me comes farther along I can find a larger church and get more involved with a community.
Things are still progressing slowly with my application for a visa in Brazil so please keep that in your prayers. My 180+ days is coming to an end in October and without this visa I will not be able to return to the country which means no job so I am hoping that things progress in a more timely manner and I can get it approved so it's ready to be picked up at the consulate in Chicago when I return in October. I spoke with my aunt this week and she was having a good week but still continuing to struggle with cancer. Please continue to pray for her and the treatments.
I hope all is well with everyone back home. I miss you all very much, stay in touch via email, Facebook, and I have my US cell phone on here in Brazil so don't be afraid to pick up the phone and give me a call.
Tchau
Adam
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