Week one recap

As someone who is always attached to my iphone and obsessed with my apps, it has been a very strange and sometimes lonely experience this week not having data service or internet.  I only had a handful of english channels to choose from on the TV, However, this was entirely user error as I had not been able to figure out how to convert American programming back into english.  Once I stumbled upon the correct buttons to accomplish this (not until thursday! - that is 3 days of watching nothing but bloomberg news, BBC, and E!) I literally stood up and cheered every time I found a new channel I could convert to english!!!

Since this week has been a random mix of events and experiences here is a random list to highlight a few:
1) Taxi drivers that speak a little english are a lot of fun to talk to - they are trying to practice their english in preparation for World Cup visitors so they are willing to let you practice your Portuguese as well.
2) This city is so big and complicated, I've even had a taxi driver using his GPS and a paper map at the same time to find my destination.
3) Even if a Brazilian doesn't speak english, if you tell them you are American they often respond by saying "Obama!" and giving a thumbs up!
4) In the grocery store, despite the initial excitement of seeing brands you recognize, you quickly realize the portion is much smaller while the price is much higher than what you are used to.
5) As in all other travels abroad, if you get too overwhelmed and need a break, find a Starbucks!  Free wifi and cafe mocha in Portuguese is still cafe mocha!
6) Google translate app is my new best friend, if only I had data service and could use it anywhere.
7) Sao Paulo is a vibrant, unique city but if I had to try to describe it in terms of others cities, I would say its like a Miami-esque version of New York, but spread out and huge like London.
8) My flat overlooks the landing path for the domestic airport so even when I'm home I can't get away from planes.   :) (this is actually really cool, reminds me of San Diego where the planes come in so close to the city buildings it looks like you're going to land on them).

Though language is going to continue to be a struggle, I am REALLY excited and think I will LOVE it here.  Can't wait to get out and do some tourist-y things!

Classic Brazilian Welcome

After a 10 hour flight in coach (middle seat), I arrived to a rainy Sao Paulo.  Didn't think much of it until I quickly learned that rain (just like in Atlanta) makes traffic worse, only much much worse here.  It was over 3 hours before I arrived at my apartment ("Post Sao Paulo"), it was a rough ride,  jerky stop and go driving that made me motion sick and annoying music (not Brazilian music by the way some kind of early 90's American soul music cover band).   Despite the ride, I was just SO THANKFUL to be able to finally stand on my own two feet and walk around.  A WONDERFUL lady named Daniela was at the apartment to greet me and basically spend the day helping me out.  She was AMAZING, seriously could not have survived the day without her.  I stopped into the office for a little bit to meet everyone and take care of some administrative stuff but then left to go home and get some sleep (since I didn't sleep well on the flight and still felt sick).   Still too overwhelmed to get into any of the details yet so for now I'll leave you with -

 Lessons learned from Day 1:
1)When people say traffic is horrendous in Sao Paulo, what they really mean is traffic is truly indescribable, a word doesn't exist to convey the horror of it.
2)Learning how to say "excuse me do you speak english" was a complete waste of time since 98% of the time the answer is "no speak english" or just a stare.
3)I am convinced I will be fluent in Portuguese before I leave because there is no way to survive without learning it.
4)You will be the joke of the day if you ask why you have a washing machine and not a dryer.  Seriously, I think every one in the entire office was told the story.
5) Delta people are nice everywhere!  Everyone in the office here is sooo friendly, they are mostly sales people.  One could argue they are nicer than finance :)

I miss Atlanta already, definitely looking forward to going home next weekend :)  I have already developed a new found appreciation for all things American!

Countdown to Departure - 2 days

So I finally nailed down a few details of the impending 6 month move to Sao Paulo.  Of which most importantly was that my departure date is in 2 DAYS!!   The rest of the family will wait till after thanksgiving to move down.  We will be living in Moema, a neighborhood close to the office. (And also conveniently close to the main park in the city!)  I'm still only on lesson 4 of Pimsleur's conversational Portuguese so I suppose I will be pointing a lot and drawing pictures to communicate when I can't find an English speaker.

I haven't packed a single thing, in fact my luggage is currently still residing in the attic.  My goal for the next 24 hours is to make an extensive list of all the things I will need to take with me with the hopes that I can get everything packed on Saturday (while watching college football of course).   Unfortunately this means we will not be attending the wedding of Lawdog and Callie, which I'm sure will be both beautiful and a lot of fun! (Shout out to the rest of the FPS crew that will be attending, I hope you behave yourselves! And if you don't I better be copied on the evidence that circulates next week.)

Wish me good luck - I seriously need all I can get!

Oh and here's an article I will be referencing this weekend- packing tips from Deltalina.