Duas Semanas do Brasil

Well today marks 2 weeks since I've arrived in Brazil.  Things are starting to come together a bit more and with each day that passes it feels more and more like I live here and that I'm not on vacation anymore.  I've spent quite a bit of time in the office the past week and a half (the longest hours I've worked in quite a while) but without TV or Internet at home it's not like I had much better to do.  They assured me these hours were not the norm after I joked about wanting to go back to the U.S. and my old work schedule. I now have a TV, fridge, oven and microwave and the services for TV and Internet have been ordered.  All that is left is the sofa and the table, which are also on their way.  Soon I'll be up and running with everything I need.

The people here have been quite helpful in getting me all set up and keeping me busy outside of the office.  Last Friday a few of them were getting together after work and they arranged for somebody to pick me up and even drop me off at the end of the night.  Sunday I had the pleasure of attending my second Corinthians futebol game, which is quite an experience.  In Brazil, fans don't feel the need to stand for the national anthem while they'd much prefer to bang drums, chant and jump around all game.  The team is much like the Cowboys or Yankees (they have a national following and people either love them or hate them) and has a fan base like the Raiders.  The Corinthians haters in the office say it's a good match for me since I can't read or write Portuguese (yet) and neither can their fans.  My Portuguese is coming along, every day I feel like I can understand more and am learning new words.

I am working on some plans to visit a few other cities in Brazil in the upcoming weeks.  In three weeks there is a huge music festival in Rio that the company is working on getting tickets for me and a few other coworkers.  I've always wanted to go check out all that Rio has to offer and going with a few locals should make it that much better.  The line-up for the first weekend isn't too shabby ..... http://rockinrio.com/rio/line-up/ .  The following week I'm scheduled to head up to Recife, a nice beach town in the Northeast of Brazil, for a work event Thursday and Friday and hope to stay the weekend to really get to enjoy.  Supposedly the beaches up north are to die for so I'm really looking forward to that.

Below is a picture from my office window of the São Paulo landmark Ponte Octávio Frias