Orange Juice & Cheese Bread

The walk this morning was really fun. We walked around the city and through some nice parks. Then, we went into a little cafe and had some breakfast and cheese bread. In Brazil, their parks aren't like ours. Ours are more just grassy open space, but theirs are more natural, and have nice walkways through the trees and such. The Brazilians claim that a guy from Brazil invented the first airplane, and in one of the parks was his first airplane. I don't know which one came first, apparently he flew his around the eiffel tower. The walk really helped me bond with Ana and Marcelo more. We didn't really talk much about Brazil's products like coffee but talked more about some differences between Brazil and the U.S. I am kindof helping Ana with english because she teaches english and I am helping her with some things that we say that she didn't know, such as toasted french bread with egg and stuff is french toast, she doesn't know stuff like that, just small stuff. I feel really pretty comfortable with them now! My Portuguese skills are nada! I'm not sure all who I'm going to buy Havaianas for lots of friends and family, I hope I get all the right sizes!

Puerto Rican Oops!

I feel sorry for the kids who haven't gotten their suitcases yet. John's was delivered to Bruce and Maria's house yesterday so hopefully he should be able to get it today. Gen is really worried about her suitcase, she had a bunch of really nice designer clothes in it that were worth a lot of money so she is worried that if it gets lost all her nice clothes will be gone. Hopefully hers will get here soon. We don't know if Lane's will ever come, we looked more closely at her paperwork and the printout that the Delta Baggage people handed her was for some random other person, like Larson Smith or something that is supposed to be at some nice resort in Puerto Rico. Hopefully they just gave her the wrong slip, but otherwise her bag might have gotten shipped to Puerto Rico instead of Sao Paulo. Hopefully that won't happen, but if it does, I hope that they can get it all sorted out! I don't know what they're going to do if Lane's bag is in Puerto Rico, I guess it's a nice chance to get some new clothes!
The family all loved their gifts! It is funny, Auguste (I think that's how you spell Ze's brother's name) is really like him. The puzzles where you try to get the small silver balls through the maze and into the correct spot that we gave both of them, aparently last night the whole time we were bowlling he was trying to finish the puzzle!  I gave both of the other presents to the family. They really liked them and put them in a display case with all sorts of other things from other countries. 

The tour was nice, it wasn't really informational, it was more just a walking tour so we could see the city. I'll have to ask about those questions, how many people, main source of business, etc.

Each day I am a little more comfortable with the family and the house. I am kindof starting to learn the ways of their household and how to kindof live like they do and fit in! I have had some nice discussions with Ana. Marcelo doesn't really speak any English but he is nice and I have tried to talk to him a little bit. I have a book on Brazil but I haven't really had any time to look at it, I've been really busy!
On the calling card, I was dialing the same number you dial with their phone to get out of the country, but I guess once you are in the calling card you dont have to dial all that, just the long distance number. 
On the city tour we walked through downtown and walked through some local markets and saw where most people who live here shop. Then we walked to the big city park and had lunch and chilled for a while, then walked around the park some more. It was fun, we found an empty swimming pool and we all would start at the shallow end and run to the deep end and then try and climb out. We walked down to a nice lake and saw this strange bird who swam underwater and stuck its head out of the water. I have a picture and it could totally be the lochness monster! We saw a peacock and took pictures of some nice trees and flowers. You know how I like to take thos super close-up ones almost in the flower, I have taken A LOT of those. From there, we walked to a famous house that is kindof modern and rich, and hung out and played some games in the shade on the porch. Then, we walked back to the entrance and the parents picked us up there. We drove back to Quiririm and we are going to swim some and get some ice cream and drive back. We are all meeting for pizza tonight. Tomorrow, we are going to go shopping, hopefully be able to meet up with some other people, and then I believe that we are going to head for their beach apartment. I hope that we can get some fake shopping in. You may be asking what fake shopping is. Well, I will tell you. Fake shopping is when you buy knockoff stuff that is a look alike of designer fashions or expensive stuff. Personally, I want to go fake sunglasses shopping, but hopefully find some fake Diesel (a designer brand like American Eagle, but the stuff is like a 300 bucks for a pair of jeans) while we're at it. I hope that I can email from their beach house, but we'll see about that! More to come soon...

Exam to Swim

Well, now it's good night from me and good afternoon/night to you! Wow! I didn't even think that it was possible for you to get up that late!  I hope that my body gets adjusted soon because this morning I had a chance to sleep in but I won't have that tomorrow. Also, it can get to be kindof a downer just laying there with nothing to do. Right now, I think that it's time for dinner, but I'm not hungry because it feel's like I've had so many afternoon snacks! The food was very good, there were some different things, that could describe it all right, succulent sensations for the taste buds! We didn't play any games really, we mainly swam and then hung out back at the place we were all meeting. It felt good to be with my delegation, now I know how Ze must have felt when he was at our house, you know how they all wanted to be with their delegation, that's how I feel! It was also nice to see the Brazilians and kindof "re-meet" them all over again, you know how hard it is after 6 months. The country club we were at was very nice! There were some different things about it though. There were all these hut-like things for a really far ways and in each one there was a kitchen for parties and stuff like ours. There were also tennis courts, golf course, and a small soccer field. Before we could get into the pool, we had to get this strange exam-thing to make sure that we didn't have some disease that would spread by water. It was quite an adventure to figure all of that out! First, we went to the lady that gives the exam, but she said we had to pay, so then we went to the front where you pay but we couldn't communicate to the people because all we could speak was english, so then we walked back to our place and got the Brazilians and they knew what to do. It took almost 45 minutes to figure this all out! Once we got through that it was easy, just swim! The sightseeing tour isn't until tomorrow, but I'll have to tell you all about it! I'm really excited to see all around the city we haven't really seen any of. Don't worry on the picture standpoint, you know I'll take millions! Yeah, the mini-camp is at a different place then their weekend house. They have that, but they also have Marcelo's parents' farm, and that is where we are doing the mini-camp. The medical papers were in the missing suitcase, but I gave them to her today when I got it. We drove into their apartment complex and the tenant told them that it had been dropped of in the office, so Marcelo went down to get it. It is very nice to have all of my things finally! I noticed that I have forgotten some things, but none of them are a real problem. I forgot the cable that connects to my computer, but there is plenty of room on the memory card so unless I can maybe borrow Ze's, no pictures for now, but I guess that keeps the suspense going, right!? I showed her the epipen and where it is and how to use it, just in case. Well, that's all for now, more to come!

Apartment

heir apartment is midsize but it is nice. when you walk in, on your right is a sitting room and on your left is kindof the dining room, but we don't eat there. Then through a door on your left is the kitchen, which is pretty nice, and then through a door on the other side of the kitchen is the laundry room. On the right side of the kitchen through a door is the tv room, then back out into the hallway on the right is the office where i can email from if i plug in my computer, on the right is the bathroom, and then a little further is ze and his brother's room. Then at the end of the hall is the parent's room, and on the left side is my room. Thier weekend house has a gate, and when you walk in there is a porch, and then when you go in the house is a sitting room and kitchen, then down the hall there is the bathroom and two bedrooms. behind there house there is a pool and kindof another porch and grill and bathroom over there. On the side of the house is a garden, it's nice! I can't wait to see their beach house. My room is comfortable, but I miss my nice bed! Hopefully our bags will come soon! I'm running out of clothes!

Square Pizza

So far I know that for the family weekend I will be staying at their beach apartment. I don't remember the songs I played on Guitar Hero, but it was on Guitar Hero Aerosmith, and I rocked two of them, but the other one I FAILED!!!

For breakfast I got their version of frosted flakes and chocolate puffs. Their milk comes in bottles, but big ones! It's interesting the differences between them and us. Dinner was very yummy-pizza with stuffed crust. Guess what? Their pizza, at least the one they got was square!!! How cool is that! Well, I guess it's not actually that cool but whatevs.  I think I figured out the calling card, I looked it up and instead of dialing 01117203239143, it is 00217203239143 or 0012 blah blah blah. I have it written down, correctly I hope!  19 and a half more days until I go the inaguration, so that means 25 days until I am back at home in Denver. I'll fill you in more on what I'm doing today after I get home. Well, I have to go to our welcome party and bbq!

Shopping Carts

In case you were wondering what I did after I wrote you earlier, I took a nice long nap at their weekend house. Apparently they have their apartment, their weekend house, and another apartment on the beach! I slept for about two hours and then enjoyed some cheese bread and a Coke. We played the universal equalizer-Guitar Hero. After pretending to be mega-rock-stars for about twenty minutes, we headed back to São Jose dos Campos. The drive is quite nice actually, lots of pretty scenery, all of it a vibrant green of course. We pulled off the highway to go the supermarket, but I'm not entirely sure I could even call it a supermarket! It has its own parking garage with moving walkway escalator things that you bring up and down levels with your cart! It had everything from tires to TV's to yoghurt. Ana (Ze's Mom) let me pick out some cereals and juices that I would like to eat in the mornings. We checked out of the hectic shopping center and pulled back onto the highway in their FIAT. Now we're back at their apartment and the parents are putting away groceries, Augusto (I think that's how you spell his brother's name!) is watching TV, Ze just got out of the shower, and I'm emailing you! Well, I'm off to dinner I think! I'm not sure if today has just been different or if this is how they usually are, but we had lunch at 3, and now dinner at 9:30!
I just had to log on and say hello! I hope that I can get the calling card situation figured out soon!

Oraganized Chaos

The first plane, going from Denver to Atlanta was scheduled to depart at approximately 1:13. As we were all getting snacks and shopping for entertainment for the plane ride, our watches spun past 1:13 with great speed. Finally at around two, the plane arrived and quickly loaded and departed again. You would think that was enough time to load all of the plane's luggage, right? As that Airbus A320 sped across America at 500 miles an hour, some of us chose to listen to music, some do homework, and some play games on the high-tech plane gadgets we were provided, and probably not supposed to be trusted with. Each person had their individual touch screen that had the hottest music, movies, TV shows, HBO, games, and a moving flight map with information about temperature, speed, headwind, and the like. Unfortunatly, on this flight, the movies and games were NOT complimentary, so most of us just settled getting their nose to the grindstone and doing some homework. If anybody else in this delegation thinks like me (I'm assuming that is not true, or if it is, very few others), then they would plan to do the more tedius homework, such as Economics reading (even though I'm a complete nerd and LOVE that stuff) on the short flights, and save the fun for the longer ones. While enjoying our CranApple juice, we worked hard for what we thought would be a two hour plane ride. As we were watching our watches, the time between planes was decreasing rapidly. Finally, after making three 15 minute loops somewhere in the air over Kansas, we continued our flight and finally landed. Oh, and I don't suppose I mentioned that my bag wouldn't fit in the overhead bin so I had to have them stuff it in a coat closet?!?!
That must have been quite a sight, nine people running down the Breezeway, down the escalator, down 3000 feet of straight hallway, up an escalator, and squeezing through the crack in the door as they were closing up the airplane for takeoff. Luckily, this flight was very empty, and I had been fortunate enough to be seated right next to an elderly gentleman who could have used some hair and a weight loss pill, sleeping. I puttered down the aisle looking for an empty seat, and I found an empty row, yes, an entire empty row. It was almost as good as Christmas! Sadly, it was one of the small two-seater rows on the sides of our Boeing 777, but still, entire row. I still envy those lucky people who managed to scrounge up an entire three-seater row for themselves. After enjoying two movies and an episode of 30 Rock, I attempted at sleep, but it was not in my grasp. I watched an episode of The Office and listened to the entire Viva la Vida album by Coldplay twice, I tried at sleep again. You have no idea how many strange positions there are to contort into with two empty seats, but none of them seemed suitable. Finally after rummaging around with earplugs and one of those night mask things old people wear, I grabbed my backpack and put it on one of the seats, put a pillow on there, and layed down. You might be wondering how I layed down with only two seats, one of them taken up by a backpack. Well, at this point I wanted to try to get some sleep but didn't really care what other people thought, so what I did was this-imagine this image: head on pillow on backpack on seat, butt on other seat, feet going up wall to ceiling, if that isn't a strange position to sleep in, tell me what is! About twenty minutes after I had fallen asleep, the cabin lights turned on and we were woken to a plane full of dreary eyes and strange sleeping positions. After we all discussed how we had slept, we were bombarded with flight attendants handing us steaming coissants, jelly, orange juice, and bananas. We snarfed down our food and found something to occupy us with for the remainder of the flight. Nothing else of great excitement happened until we were through that thing that I forget what's called other than customs.
It was kindof DejaVu because I was seeing some of the same things I had seen during my previous visit to Brazil in February. We walked happiily to baggage claim and waited. We watched hundreds of other passengers pick up their bags but we had no luck. Just as we were about to push Gen into the baggage chute when she wasn't looking, I had an idea. I walked over to Bruce and asked him if he could go over to the Baggage Customer Service people with my baggage slip I had saved from check-in and had them scan it. They scanned it and handed us all forms. We found out after we filled out all the forms that the bags would be delivered to each of our individual houses sometime in the next couple days. Some dope loading all of the bags into the plane managed to leave our bags in Denver. Hopefully, they will be on the next flight to Atlanta and then to Brazil. Something similar happened in February, I am just wondering if our bags will beet the same fate. Somebody's bag then was delivered two days late, wrapped in about two miles of saran wrap, I guess we'll just have to see about ours.
After that it was smooth sailin'. We walked through customs without our bags and met the patient Brazillians on the other side. They had been waiting there for three hours! Bruce didn't find the time to call and tell them about our little snafoo. We were greeted with hundreds of hugs and handshakes. We all met for some delicous food, breakfast, lunch, brunch, something like that. We snacked on Guarana and Cheese bread for about 20 minutes, and then split up and went to all our seperate houses to get settled in. Ze's house is about 30 minutes from the airport, so we drove that and then I got the complete tour. He lives in an apartment building, but it is a pretty nice apartment. I have my own bedroom and bathroom, and I got to meet his little brother and cousin. I had some alone time to take a shower and change clothes, and then we headed out for some real lunch. We drove about 30 minutes to Tiriquim, a small village near Sao Jose. I enjoyed a four cheese ravioli bake and Guarana while others had other various Italian dishes, this small restaurant is owned by their cousins and is famous in the area. After lunch, we headed to look around town, and we were driven to Ze's family's weekend house. It is very nice, and they have internet there! I tried to log on with my laptop, but it didn't work so now I am talking to you all on their laptop. To my relief, they told me that they have internet in their apartment, I just hadn't gotten to that yet. So, until then, I'll be working on figuring out the internet on my laptop and the stupid calling card!