Day 151

No big trips to document; hopefully I'll have something for you next weekend, I'm supposed to do something with Jackie and Rafael. Big news this week is, I think we have a winner for the manufacturing controller position. This guy started last week, and as long as we can keep him (need prayers here, please!), we should be all set. He kicks my butt in Excel, and understands enough about product costing to pick up on the standard costing concept quickly. Not that it matters, but I also think he happens to be a very cool guy that will get along well with everyone. Very, very exciting. My plan is to be back home before the annual beach trip (mid-June).

So, between that happy news and booking my next visit home (and Cheryl's next trip to Brazil - she's flying back with me and staying for a week), spirits are high. My mental state has shifted to something more along the lines of "ok, what all do I need to see before I leave?!?" which is a lot more pleasant than being homesick.  After the next two weeks work should be a lot easier too - can assign more of the work to the new kid, and stop working on the weekends! Plus, Julia's Flat Stanley should be arriving soon, which will require some great location shots! Should make for a better blog ;)

Random pics I took while waiting for Stephen to pick me up one morning (bless him for letting me escape driving most days): the first is an example of why you can tell at first glance I'm not Brazilian, and the second is my apartment building.

Some fun stuff from the mall:

In case you can't see, this shirt says "I got swag every damn day & night." I genuinely hope whoever is buying this doesn't know English and has no clue what it means. And yet at the same time I feel myself a little tempted to buy it. 

I DID buy myself this little prize on clearance at Extra last weekend. Translation: "Beer & grilled meat & chicks & soccer with friends" LOL!!!

What do you do when your hamburgers suck too much to do well in the US? Open in places that don't know better!

I bought myself another pair of Havaianas... I may have a problem. Thank goodness they're pretty inexpensive because I anticipate having quite a collection by the time I come home. Newest pair is on the left. 

Last Sunday I went to get a foot massage and it was divine. For $R99 (less than $40 with current exchange rate), I got an hour foot massage that included amazing electric sanding (my feet have never been so soft!), steam treatment, and awesome pressure point massage. Did I mention it was divine?

This is the same trip as the foot massage. I thought I would get something lighter to eat so I got a "toasted" potato (it was a baked potato). Except light, it was not.

Forgot to share this one before too: when Patrick was here we went to a churrascaria close to the plant and I finally tried chicken hearts (because I'll try anything once). They were a little rubbery for my taste.

Last night I googled "best sushi in sao jose dos campos" in Portugues and Edo Sushi popped up. I'm all ready to go for a drive and turns out it's in walking distance of the apartment! It's the most I've spent here on sushi - almost twice as much as normal, actually, which is still only $40 with the current weak Real. I hestitate to say this because of the negative connotations that come along with it, but it was buffet - not like a Chinese buffet we have at home or anything. Next time (there will definitely be a next time) I'll take a picture of the "buffet" and you'll get it. I don't hesitate to say this is the best sushi I've had. It was awesome. And the walk back helped me digest ;)

This morning I walked to the padaria to get coffee & breakfast & some food for breakfast for the week (turns out the Herbal Life they have down here upsets my tummy). They were having a little classic car show at the park down the street - not a bad little detour!

Day 144... Catching up!!!

So, let me apologize to the few people who have been complaining about my slackness here. This truth of the matter is, I've started missing the fam a bit too much and it's putting a damper on my adventures. Having a rough go of it at work too and my support system being 4500 miles away is a tough one. But I'm going to try to hang in there and do better about enjoying myself! Which means more blogging!

So, let's see: I went home for 2 weeks during the holidays which was awesome! Before that, I spent a day in Sao Paulo with Jackie & hubby and we went to Liberdade, the Japenese neighborhood, and to the Havaiana store. Both were fun; in Liberdade they had an outdoor market and the food was spectacular. I also enjoyed going into the stores, they had some weird food stuff. The flagship Havaiana store was beautiful and I'm not going to reveal how much money I spent there. Rest assured it was a lot!

I've just been laying low for the most part since I got back... I keep wanting to go to the beach but everybody says it's soooo crowded right now. Not so sure I'd enjoy that. So, I've been getting my nails done every weekend (it's super cheap here), and tomorrow I'm going to get a foot massage (also less than 1/2 as much as at home). Other than that, work work work. 

It's hot as hades here right now, and most days there are afternoon/evening thunderstorms that are the likes of which I've never experienced. I enjoy a good storm, but these are almost too much for me! But, after a storm, it instantly cools down about 20 degrees, and I'm all for that!

Had an interesting experience Monday night. My co-worker Patrick from the US was down for a few days and we went to dinner in SJC. It had already gotten the storm taken care of so it was very nice and we sat outside at a bar/restaurant (and had french fries with calabresa sausage & onions... yummy!). So all of a sudden the whole street goes dark and we see flashing coming from some power lines about a block and a half away. It was so bright it was reflecting off nearby apartment building. Then we started hearing this pulsing electrical humming... and it got louder and louder... and then BAM! the thing blew. It was crazy. The power stayed out for a long time, some signals were still out the next morning when I drove to work. Eek!

I also took Patrick on a nature hike... well really just a path around the Sage plant in Aruja, but it goes far enough away from the plant to be between trees on both sides. Unfortunately I didn't consider all the rain we'd had and parts of the path had us swarmed... I got 2 bites but I'm happy to report I don't have the dengue. We checked out the bananas growing (not ripe yet) and FINALLY I saw one of the lagartos everyone has been telling me around... i didn't get a pic, but i found one online that looks about right... Enjoy! 

Sage gave me this as a Christmas (natal here) gift... the chocolates were a-maz-ing but I took the champagne home for new year's and it wasn't so hot.

D

Pizza-flavored ramen... interesting...

I'm not sure this is the same variety of lagarto, but it's close I think. Eep! If I see another one I'll try to get a pic.

For real it has been crazy hot.

I'm getting used to just. being. sweaty.

See Cheryl they really do have them everywhere! We should have tried by the park!!

Apparently coconuts look like a big bunch of grapes when they're still on the stem.

Yep. Those are chicken feet.

Liberdade with Jackie & Rafa

They were cooking up some good stuff at the market on Liberdade. That one chick doesn't look too happy about it though does she??

Liberdade

And then it monsooned...

I think these are so fun!!

Sao Paulo... random. I bought that bag at the street market, I love it!

Mmmm nothing like some fresh mango juice on a hot day...

In the Havaiana store in Sao Paulo

I bought a LOT of Havaianas.

This is all the stuff I took home for Christmas... under the customs threshold mind you!!!

Days 93-96- Rest of vaca

Weds we got up a little later and went down to the amazing Palace breakfast... yum. We contemplated what to do before we started back to SJC... hang at the pool, go to the beach, go back to Sugar Loaf... and decided just to walk on the beach for a while. I'm pretty sure we would have stayed another day if I hadn't had to be at work Thursday for inventory. So, I did a little shopping, and we went for a walk. Then around lunch time we hit the road. It was another easy drive and we got back to apartment well before dinner. 

The rest of the week we hung out, ate a lot of fruit and other tasty foods, drank a lot of coffee, and enjoyed being around each other. We did go see Mockingjay Part 1 on Friday - it was interesting, at the movies here you select seats when you buy the tickets. A lady sat next to us whose daughter lives in New Jersey, she was nice. Oh, and apparently the marketers here have caught on to Black Friday - there were signs in a lot of store windows, but it wasn't that crowded so I don't think they've been too successful. Isn't it weird they left it in English? Pics below.

Saturday came all too quickly... and it was depressing. I think having Cheryl here was really, really great,  and it just made me wish she was here all the time to share this experience with me. After I took her to the airport (I promised her I wouldn't cry on the drive back for safety reasons, but I did a little anyway) the apartment just seems so sad and lonely. It's good she was here because now she'll be able to relate more when I tell her about stuff, but it made the contrast of not having her here a lot sharper and sadder. It helps that I will be going home for the holidays in 3 weeks but I'm still trying to perk myself up. I just teared up typing this... ugh!

One of the two new hires I was training at the plant resigned while I was on vaca to go somewhere else for money. I'm glad he went ahead & did it - I didn't get to train that much anyway since I've been so busy with the budget, so he has mostly done project work. Not as much of a setback as it would have been if he'd waited a couple more months. So we have to hire another person and make the job more appealing apparently. And now that we've made it through the budget crunch, my focus has to be making sure every day gets me a little closer to going home!!

Yeah, nothing like a speedo view over breakfast. The side view was even better since his belly hung out  from under his shirt but I wasn't quick enough with the camera.

A beach bod is not required to wear a thong in Rio.

Our favorite Palace in the background, and you can see Christo just over it in the distance

At the mall on Friday (before movie)