First Day at Work

Roberto, whom I should refer to as Driver/Only Friend, takes me to a small town called Embu. It's Sunday, so there's booths set up along the streets selling all sorts of everything. I'm most interested in the art. These local artists are not too shabby; I consider buying a few times, but hold off, knowing there is plenty of time to scope the entire scene before committing.

We hit up a churrascaria, where servers bring all kinds of tasty meat to your table. There's a small sign that you control to signal that you want more, or no thanks. Turns out the servers ignore this and bring every kind of meat imaginable anyway. I get so full, I barely need any dinner.

On Monday, Laura Prado introduces me to everyone in the office in one fell swoop. Afterwards I realize that I don't recall more than two of their names...and those I already knew from before. I speak a few Portuguese words - sounding not quite as advanced as a two-year old - to my neighbor in the next cube, Bibiana. When I convey how difficult the pronunciation of the language is based on the spelling, I learn an interesting statistic. About 70% of people who speak Portuguese can understand Spanish, but only 40% of people who speak Spanish can understand Portuguese. This does not surprise me. I realize that the definition of Portuguese is the slurring of Spanish and Italian, with half of the words cut short.

As for the baggage disaster, after three days and many, many phone calls, the duffel finally and miraculously finds its way to my room. To my shock, everything seems to be accounted for. I don't care if it's materialistic - I was happy.

Since Driver/Only Friend gets paid to take me around, I use his company to walk around my new neighborhood. The restaurants and bars are all inviting, somehow even when they're empty. Roberto has very good English, but constantly uses the phrase "make confusion," which I decide not to correct. It's like my own inside joke with myself.

By the second day at work, I start to make some real buddies. Thomas is the main Optimizer, who is polite and actually seems to trust my optimization skills. Felipe and I make group plans for dinner the next night. João is very friendly, and I repay him by repeatedly pronouncing his name wrong. Beth becomes my two-time lunch partner. Phil moved here from New York 10 years ago, and it seems strange hearing an American dialect again. Katia goes to a cheap nail salon and says I can come. I get sushi for dinner with Bibiana - my first event without Roberto. Sushi is very common here, because Brazil holds the largest population of Japanese people outside of Japan. I start to learn that people in Brazil are very nice; the cars are not. Don't expect cars to stop. Ever.

Anna Smith IMs me from MV asking if Brazilian waxing here is just called waxing. I say I don't know yet, but that's making it in the blog.