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

The drive

Went to the mountains this weekend to get away and relax. Pretty funny to me that Brazilians, who can be warm pretty much all year long, actually pay (quite a bit) of money to go out of town to be cold. I cannot tell you how many people were taking pictures next to the giant temperature sign at night when it reached 7 degrees C on Friday night and 5 degrees C last night. It was pretty funny. I was in a North Face shell and everyone else I saw was in hat, gloves, and parkas running for hot chocolate and coffee.

Anyway, on the drive home today there were tons of police cars, roadside assistance trucks and about 20 cars all stopped as traffic came to a crawl for about 500m (just over 1/4 of a mile). Thought there was a big accident, NOPE, turned out that a beer truck had turned over on the highway and all the cars were stopped to pick up free Skol. I about died laughing. I guess those 40 or so people are well stocked for the game tomorrow.

Three more days until I head home and see friends and family. Getting excited, but also a little stressed with all the work and traveling I have to do when I get home. Off to relieve some stress by running 8k and then figuring out what to do for dinner in between loads of laundry. An exciting Sunday night!

Cheers

Adam

My luck continues.....

So my luck with rental cars while traveling for business continues. For those that don't know when I used to travel to Philly every week for work I would have to rent a car, and during that time I came close to totaling one of my rental cars. Let me tell you, you think dealing with a rental agency is bad when you have to just rent a car, try wrecking one and telling them you don't have insurance with their company but are covered by your company. Another side note here, most company policies DO NOT cover loss of rental income for the rental company if you wreck one of their cars (ie the income they lose while the car is being fixed). I was told of course after the fact that the simple $5 per day coverage would have negated the $1k bill my company got for loss of rental income. So next time you rent a car it might be wise to ask about simple loss of income coverate for a rental car, in my opinion worth the $5 per day.

I was at the foundry this week for work finishing up some things before I head back to the states next Wednesday and I have been noticing that one of the tires on my car has been low on air. I stopped to get gas, had the car washed real fast (free with gas) and then put air in my tires. As I am heading back to Campinas (where I live) I went through the toll and as I am shifting into fifth bear, BOOM, hubcap goes flying off the tire out in front of the car, I hit the hubcap in mid air on the left side of my car and then of course the car is lobsided as my front passenger tire has gone flat. Only by God's grace was a Sao Paulo roadside assistance guy driving behind me and saw this awesome spectacle and pulled over to assist me in changing the tire. Thank God I had a full size spare in the trunk as well so I was able to drive normal speed to make it home. I am currently having the spare tire fixed as I am supposed to travel out of town this weekend to the mountains so hoping that it will be fixed in time.

On top of all of this, I got home last night to check emails, FB, etc before going for a run and my computer wouldn't load my profile and connect to my network for work. AWESOME! Let's just say yesterday was an extremely long and I am ready for the weekend. The office is supposed to close at 10 am today for the Brazil match at 11 am but I am going to be here all day before heading out for the weekend.

Bom fim de semana.

Adam

Copa do Mundo 2010!!!

I realize that it's been over a month since my last post so I will do my best to give all the updates possible. I do have a long story to share about a weekend adventure last weekend to the beach, but I had to let the week pass before I was able to post about it because I was so annoyed at the time. I digress......it's Saturday afternoon now and I finally got a chance to catch up on some sleep and am getting ready to head out into the city and take some pictures of everything they have setup for the Copa do Mundo 2010 (World Cup 2010). The closest thing it reminds me of is the 4th of July decorations or Christmas decorations in Chicago. The whole city is decked out in yellow and green and they have setup some huge tents and big screen TV is in the city circle where they will be showing the Brazil games for the next month. Not sure what my plans are for Tuesday's game yet so I still need to figure that out. The bars around here of course take advantage of the games and its costing guys between R$70 and R$120 just to get in to watch somewhere. That doesn't include any food or drinks so it's a pretty steep charge to watch 3 hours or so of TV. First things first though, the US v England game is today so I am going to head out and watch that. Being one of the few gringos in Campinas has it's advantages because no one will really be out watching this game so I will have my choice of where to go. (quick side note here it's now Thursday morning when I am finishing this post) as I have been side tracked by a visit from the boss and am finally getting back into my routine.

Weekend was good and as I mentioned I watched the game with some friends on Saturday and then Sunday I came down with some 24 hr bug. I spent most of the day in bed resting and did some work off and on and made it to the store real fast to pick up some food, water, gatorade etc. My boss from the US was in town this week and Monday we were in SP for meetings and a dinner with a customer and man that was a long day. We went to one of the original Fogo de Chao's for dinner in SP and the dinner went until just after midnight then I had an hour or so drive home to my apartment, finally went to bed at 2 am and was up at 6 am work for since we have different hours for the World Cup. Tuesday we worked from 7 am until 1 pm and then went left work to watch the game. We have to make up the hours during the next couple of weeks and the next World Cup game is at 11 am and the hours that day are 5 am until 10 am. Office closes at 10 am for the game and then we come back the next day.

Tuesday was pretty crazy for the game, but it was awesome to see how the whole country shuts down during the games. There is NO ONE on the streets because everyone is inside watching the games at either a bar or their homes.

So the past month has been good but very busy. I have been mainly working out of my main office which is about 20 km from my apartment, but I was at the foundry for two weeks in a row and I think I will be heading there again next week for a couple of days to make sure I have everything wrapped up before I head back to the states. I was finally able to do some traveling to some of the beaches here and I went with a friend to Ubatuba, Sao Sebastiao, Ihlabelha (island off the coast), Maresias, and Juhquey. I know I misspelled some of the places, but if you look at the map of SP state if you find Ihlabehla you can easily find the other beaches. We hit so many because they are in a row and we started at Ubatuba on Friday night and then spent the rest of the weekend driving down the coast. The main reason was to go Kiteboarding but when we called on Saturday morning there was no wind, and when we showed up on Saturday afternoon there was too much wind. It turned out to be an extremely long weekend of driving for me and I spent close to 17 hours driving over the course of three days. For those that really know me, know that I LOVE driving so it was a lot of fun for me (hopefully you detected the sarcasm here).

The past couple of weekends have been spent in Campinas relaxing and I think the last weekend before I head back to the states I am going to head to Monte Verde and spend the weekend there. It's about 3 hours from Campinas in the mountains and it's supposed to be beautiful and cold. Great food, great wine, great place to hike and take some pictures so I am looking forward to it.

I did finally get my camera (thanks again Kurt) and I have about 100 pictures that I need to edit and upload. I will be spending some time at the beach over vacation and I plan on working on editing and uploading some pictures of the places I've been, Wold Cup pictures, pictures of my apartment, and Monte Verde. I know everyone is looking for pictures but my computer here doesn't have editing software nor do I have an SD card reader on my laptop. I have one at home and will be uploading them once I return to the states.

I hope everyone at home is doing well, I miss you all and will see you in a couple of weeks!

Tchau

Adam

Happy Cinco De Mayo (late) and they were naked......

I decided to go with one of those catchy tag lines in the title so it makes you want to read more, but in reality there is also a true story behind that. It seems that each time I go running in the city I live in there is always some sort of adventure that happens, and that's part of what keeps me running 5 or 6 times per week, that and I don't want to come home muito gordo. So on my running adventure this week I left Tuesday night around 9 pm after I had Portuguese classes and headed out on my normal route. I came to the area where the 'working ladies or men (sometimes you can't tell until they turn around)' usually hang out on the weekends and there were a couple that decided to head out on a Tuesday night to make some extra money. Anyway, as I am running up the hill I am noticing that it doesn't look like they are wearing any clothes and as I get closer, what do I see, but not two 'women' not wearing any clothes standing on the corner. Now unfortunately there is a stop light at the top of the hill and of course what happens......I get stopped at the light waiting for the cars (refer to a previous post about stop lights and signs being optional) so there are cars coming from all directions. One of the 'women' decides to start walking toward me, and I of course start to side step the other way. Not much of a climax here, but just another interesting tid bit about how things seem to work in different parts of the world.

Thought I would lead off with that story as I found it pretty funny and so did some of my co-workers. Seems like they all get a kick out of all the things I see and experience since I have been here. Happy Cinco De Mayo (late) as well. They don't celebrate down here so it was just a normal Wednesday for me.

I arrived back in Brazil on Monday after moving up my return date by about a week since I got put on some projects and thought it would be best that I come back down here to make sure they got done by the deadline I was given. Next week my boss from the US and the CFO from our parent company are coming in on Tuesday for some meetings in Sao Paulo and then Wednesday is our monthly operational meeting.

The time at home was great and I got to see a lot of friends and of course my family. Madeline is growing up so fast it's amazing. I had to make sure that I closed up my suitcase because she is becoming very adapt at unpacking things and taking things out of drawers and cabinets that she can reach. She is refusing to crawl from what I have seen and heard but she LOVES to walk. I walked with her in Chicago last Sunday at brunch and she got to pet some dogs along the way which she thought was great. I went to two Cubs games, one on Tuesday with some of my best friends and man was it cold outside, and then one on Friday with another one of my best friends and it was the complete opposite as it was 75 degrees, sunny, and they won. The wind was blowing out at about 25 mph so there must have been 3 or 4 home runs in the game. I got in a round of golf on Saturday and then Sunday it was time to re-pack and head back to Brazil, which was a lot tougher to leave the second time around than I thought. I think being in a routine at home and being in my own apartment and my own bed really set in with me when I was there, but it was also great to come back to Brazil. I have been very thankful that I haven't been too lonely and occupy my time with studying, working out, and have met some people to go to dinner with and go out for drinks with on the weekend.

Portuguese is coming along well and my teacher says I am doing a great job. I had class this morning and then went to the Rua Feda (street fair) bought a couple of DVDs for R$10 and got a pastry and some Guarana zero.

Not too much else going on, but will continue to update as I have more time here. I have a camera on the way and hopefully it will be here next week so keep and eye out for a lot of pics on my picasa album or Facebook if you're friends with me.

Continue to pray for safety and patience for me as I continue to learn a new language and adapt to a new city and culture, and also please continue to pray for my aunt who has begun treatments. There are always good days and bad days, but please continue to lift her up.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there! It's dia de Mae's as well in Brazil tomorrow so all of the restaurants will be packed with families. Could be a McDonald's (helping that stock Ricky Boy) or Subway day tomorrow. Also thinking of going to see Iron Man 2 if it storms like they are predicting.

Tchau for now and as always, feel free to email me if you'd like.

Adam

Adapting and Efficiency

I am currently sitting outside at Starbucks chatting with some friends on FB, having my morning coffee and eating some pao de queijo (bread with cheese and it's awesome!). Some things never fail to disappoint in that I got 12 pieces of this bread for the next few days for R$ 6,20 and at Starbucks one piece is R$ 2,50. So I will be eating breakfast for the next 4 days on what I could afford 1 day at Starbucks. Coffee here is still Starbucks standard, insanely expensive but it's still part of my daily routine, but I did hear that there is a Dunkin Donuts here, but it's too far away for me to stop on the way to work. I can hit Starbucks from my apartment balcony (yeah yeah yeah, pictures.....they're coming!).

It's about 75 degrees right now, not a cloud in the sky and I am going to wind down in a few minutes and head to the pool. A friend is coming in from SP tonight and I think we are going to hit sushi and then go to a pub or club somewhere in Campinas.

More updates to come later but heading home to stock the fridge and hit the pool. Couple quick prayer requests, one for my aunt who is having some health issues right now (pray for strength as treatments are set to begin soon), and safe travels this coming week for me. I leave Tuesday for the states land Wed at noon, then fly out again at 8 pm for St Louis for our Finance conference.

Tchau

Adam

Using my heat?!?!?!

So today at work I was FREEZING! For anyone that knows me knows that I am always hot and for me to be cold, it has to be cold. We actually opened the windows at work today because it was warmer outside than it was in the office and we think that the air conditioning was still on. When I got into my car I actually rolled up the windows and turned the heat on for the drive home. It was pretty suspect looking on the drive home tonight and not to mention we are getting into fall and winter here so it's getting dark earlier, so I opted for an inside workout and then hung out in the sauna for a bit. There is no heat in the apartments or houses here but thankfully I am on the 12th floor of 14 and heat rises so I should be good for the night.

If you don't have Facebook and if you do and aren't friends with me then I will share my sighting of the day here as well. I was driving home from work tonight and saw a man on his bike riding home from what I assume was work. Not an uncommon thing here at all. Side note, bikers and motorcycle riders will pull over on the highway to put on rain suits here that's how many motorcycles and bikes are on the road here. Anyway, as I get closer to this guy I see that he has his baby in one arm and a diaper bag in the other riding his bike. Just another Tuesday here I guess......

It's been kind of a tough week so far. Easter was nice but difficult being away from home on such an important day for me and my family. I realized that this is probably one of the only Easter's (I don't recall if I made it home in college or not) but one of the only Easter's that I've spent away from home. I attended a sunrise service that was rained out and then had a breakfast with some of the members of the church. Everyone has been very welcoming and I am glad that I have found a place to worship.

We've got a big presentation redesign going on right now and has to be done before the 20th for a couple of reasons. First being that is the day of the presentation and second is I am heading home for a couple of weeks. Specific prayer requests is for friendships and meeting some more people to hang out with on weekends. Time at the pool is great, but weekends can get lonely so I am looking to make some more friends and meet more people to go to dinner with or hang out with, and secondly that work continues to go well and we get this project done.

Last big item to report this week is I successfully ordered a pizza on Sunday night (Easter dinner) and had it delivered to my condo with no help from the concierge. I know the bread sticks are what I ordered and pretty sure the pizza was a supreme so I am calling this one a success.

Hope all is well back in the states and I pray to God that the Cubs can rebound from that worst opening day loss in 126 years. Just when I think they can't set any more records over 100 years they find another one to break.

Tchau

Adam