The new office

We moved from Paulista Ave back in January to our new office in Itaim but we just recently had the beautiful wall art installed.  It has added so much life to the office. I think it looks amazing, especially the entrance!  And I like that I have one right next to my office :)  The two conference rooms are named after the American and Brazilian aviation pioneers, the Wright brothers and Santos Dumont.



If you look closely...that's me!




Beautiful sunset after a very rainy day last week; I'm going to miss my balcony.



Mingled with DL's master sommelier Andrea at an HVC event  (there's also a story on Deltanet about her SAO visit) She was very nice and spoke Portuguese to the customers! I was very impressed.


Just a couple more days and I will be saying my goodbyes.....

More Pictures! ...at least

Maybe this blog should be re-titled, "Sao Paulo through a few random photos" ....sorry it's been a busy few weeks :)

so here we go -
 Visit to Guaruja during Carnival weekend, and yes, it was so crowded we literally could not see the ocean from our chairs!  But it was still a lot of fun, great energy!



I'm worried Liam makes friends a little too easily! The people here LOVE him :)

Once I recovered from the sunburn from the Guaruja visit, we were anxious to make it back out to the beaches again, this time to Santos. This was a more relaxing day, and you can't beat ordering fresh fried food just steps from your chair, it was awesome.



We drove up to one of the peaks so we could see the views of the beach.



No post is complete without food, and when we ordered delivery pizza we were impressed with what we got (though this wasn't exactly your average papa john's delivery bill either!) 

Our most exciting find recently though was Dixie's - an american style bbq joint!!!!!   Wow, that was unexpectedly amazing.  And though there were a few unusual things on the menu for a bbq joint, they still nailed it with the important stuff like ribs, pulled pork, and the sauces.  They are even adding brunswick stew to the menu by our suggestion! 

I literally devoured this within minutes.

FYI - On the subject of food, we are back in atlanta over the weekend and we've already made a list of our must haves.  Thought you might think it's interesting, though somewhat predictable :)    Chickfila breakfast, Tin Drum, Subway, and La Parilla Mexican!

Photo Dump!

I am very behind in posting so I am going to let the pictures do the talking so I can get caught up, so here we go!

Moving out of the DL office on Avenida Paulista (pictures of new office to come once we get the art on the walls!):



snagged the FA one for Marietta but still trying to figure out how to get these home....

Visit to Embraer plant in Sao Jose but unfortunately I wasnt allowed to take pics of the awesome private jets we saw :( 

Awesome dinner at Mocoto (as seen on Bourdain's The Layover - Sao Paulo)

Leave your diet at passport control

If you ever doubted there was reason to visit Sao Paulo (instead of just hitting up the beaches in Rio), the food alone is reason enough!!! Even if you just stop in for a few days....the relentness delicious food meal after meal of all varieties will be enough to have you planning your next visit.  And this is coming from someone who used to be so picky my husband thought I was worse than our toddler!  So let me tempt you with some of my most recent favorites....

New fav comfort food! Beef croquettes with curry and rice.



Under the molten lava cheese is the best lasagna I've ever had!

 

Appetizers shouldn't look so good...who knew cheese bread could be this amazing??

Last but not least, my fav fast food Italian place, a weekly staple for me.



Rainy in Rio

I could liken my experience in Brazil to that of a love/hate relationship....and my rainy weekend in Rio de Janeiro was Brazil hating on me.  I'll spare you the gray/cloudy/rain splattered pictures from most of the weekend and just share a few from our last few hours there when the sun decided to peak out for a few hours.  We did make it up to the Christo, though we had to hang out for quite a while as we waited for clouds to pass so we could get a view of the city, and even the Christo itself.  Having the Christo disappear then reappear over and over had a certain ambiance to it that you wouldn't get to experience on a sunny clear day and just the experience of standing in a cloud was pretty interesting. I must say that despite the clouds and rain, it is still one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen and it will be well worth the effort to try again another weekend.
PS. I tried to include some pics from walking on the beaches but I could not find one that would be work appropriate :) and yes, the stereo types are true.


Sunrise view from the hotel room



Rooftop infinity pool (something I have always wanted to experience and it was awesome!!!!)



FPS Memories

For my fellow unofficial Carly Rae Jepsen fan club members.....

I listen to one of the radio stations that mixes in American music on the way to work each morning and for the past TWO mornings I have heard "Call me maybe"....can't help but smile thinking of the good ol' conference room days. 

Take a moment to reminisce.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWNaR-rxAic

On a side note - In case you were ever wondering what your name would be if you played for Brazil....
Feel free to share your results in the comments section!

http://www.minimalsworld.net/BrazilName/brazilian.shtml

(thanks to Paulo for sharing the link!) 

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming....

The holiday break in Atlanta was over too quickly (and to be honest I ended up working way more than I had hoped...) but I loved every second of being back home.  We had the unexpected perk of seeing snowfall while up in the blue ridge mountains for a christmas family get-together with my in-laws and we managed to put some mini trees up which seemed to be enough to get Liam in the spirit!

So here we are again, back in Sao Paulo. The weather over the weekend was warm and beautiful so there were crowds everywhere out to enjoy it.  In addition to our usual weekend stops, we made the trip to Liberdade, home to the largest Japanese population outside Japan, to enjoy the street fair (food and crafts) which was crazy crowded but a fun experience.  The food was yummy!

We also strolled the gardens of Parque da Independência which were inspired by the Versailles Gardens  and they were breathtaking!  We definitely plan to revisit this one!

We are hoping the nice weather keeps up while we have vistors in town this week! (always refreshing to have more people to speak English with!)

Home Sweet Home

Today is the day! We leave for Atlanta tonight!  I don't even care how long the flight is, we are all just so anxious to be home for the holidays!  We are going to try to get our tree up in time and Liam still needs to visit Santa!  We have a lot we are trying to squeeze in before the big day!

Atlanta

Feliz Natal!

I was honored to be invited to participate in the Sao Paulo office Amigo Secreto gift exchange.  Though the gift exchange was done entirely in Portuguese and I didn't really get any of the jokes that everyone thought was hilarious, I could tell everyone was having a great time and it was fun to watch at least.  It's similar to how it works back home but the fun twist here is you describe the person you bought for and everyone has to guess who it is.  Let me emphasize here... this is a fun office!   Coincidentally my secret amigo turned out to be Paulo!  He bought me a wonderful book about Brazil (in both English and Portuguese) that is encouraging David and I to want to take some weekend side trips out of the city!

 
Most importantly, this office knows how to EAT for a holiday!  Lunch at Fogo de Chao??....sim por favor!!  The guys from the Rio office also flew in to join us.  Honestly, it all felt more like a family get-together than an office holiday party!  Everyone here is so kind and fun! Makes for a great party!

Everyone was also nice enough to let me participate in the christmas raffle for prizes and guess what....I actually WON something!!!  A weekend trip to the mountains - Campos do Jordao!! So now we have to explore outside the city!  Can't wait!!

Rain, rain, go away....

This was the theme song for the weekend, it rained for 3 days straight.... I'm noticing a trend on my weather center app...the forecast is almost always the same.....80% chance of rain

Team Meeting, Brazilian style

Yay! I found a substitute for our team meeting treats!  I'm not gonna lie, I still miss the Chick-fil-A brownie sundae, but this will at least help hold me over!  ....and it's probably healthier too!  (FYI the pronounciation is Ah-Sigh-EE)

acai com morango

Work Update

A few things about working in the DL Sao Paulo Office:
The office is on Avenida Paulista, the main busines street so there are tons of restaurants within a few minutes walk. We are on the 15th floor with a great view.  I had to learn how to say 15 in portuguese because here you can't push your own button on the elevator, you have to tell the elevator operator what floor you want her to push (and by "operator" I mean she sits on a stool in the elevator and pushes the buttons).  Instead of the Kcup machine we have in the atlanta breakroom they have the Nespresso machine which is awesome!! and has made me a daily coffee drinker again. Seriously, I am buying one for christmas for our house :)  Everyone in the office has been really helpful with my attempting to speak Portuguese.  They correct my pronunciation and help with translating words.  This once led to a 20 minute lesson on helping me say the "ao" sound (one of the toughest for non-native speakers to learn).  I also had my first visit with Gol this past week, I met with the flight profitability team and we discussed how our systems are different.  Pretty fascinating discussion!  I will be visiting with them once a week to talk more in-depth.  So that's some of the highlights!



view from the office



Portuguese homework from one of the girls in the office :)



Tastes of Brazil

Alternate post title - "why Kelly is gaining weight".  In case you don't remember, I'm the one who typically eats a SmartOne at my desk for lunch, so given that the pictures below are of my recent lunches you can understand why I might be putting on a few!  Lunch is the main meal of the day here - people eat big lunches.  I just need to stop eating the big dinner too!


Chicken with catupiry (this cheese is amazing!)



Best chocolate of Brazil

Filet with farofa



Japanese




Por Kilo - as random a meal as you want to make it