My dad arrived in São Paulo today!! I picked him up at the airport at 7 am…ok, closer to 7:20 because American Airlines lied about the arrival time, so I was wandering around the airport waiting for his flight to officially land when my cell phone rang. He’s like, “Um, Adri?” Apparently my dad, on very little sleep and with no knowledge of Portuguese, figured out how to buy a phone card and use a Brazilian public telephone - a skill which I still lack, after spending aggregate over a year in this country. Anyway we found each other and [View Full Entry]

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This post is going to be divided into a few separate parts. First, a recap of the workshop Lisa and Maia facilitated with Café Igaraí (for which I translated). Second, relating a thought-provoking conversation with Silvia from last night about her vision for fostering change in the region. Third, a mini current events recap which will continue unfolding as I learn more. The amazing Lisa and Maia worked late into yesterday evening and awoke early this morning to plan a wonderful workshop for Café Igaraí. Their three goals were: 1) create stationery [View Full Entry]

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Today Lisa and Maia facilitated a workshop at Café Igaraí. I wrote about it last time, but Café Igaraí is a group of women artisans in the town of Igaraí, a few miles from the Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza, about 1000 people. Some of the women who work and live on the farm also take part in the group: Rita, Rosangela, Roberta, and others who I don’t necessarily remember. Claudia, who used to manage the farm, co-founded the group with Silvia, a friend Tomás and the designer Renato Embroísi. Here is the story as Silvia told it to me. Embroidery, crochet, [View Full Entry]

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Today I arrived at Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza, an organic coffee plantation owned by Marcos and Silvia Croce. The Croces converted the farm to organic nearly six years ago after they retained ownership of the property from Silvia’s family. Today, the farm welcomes visitors from all over Brasil and abroad, serves as a teaching site for organic and natural (definitions forthcoming!) agriculture and sells fantastic coffee through the Metropolis label in Chicago. www.fafbrasil.com (I think the site is in English too). Already at the farm are Lisa and Maia, two students from the [View Full Entry]

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Dear Readers (Friends, family, randoms!) This is my fifth trip to Brasil. The first was in summer of 2005. I was in Chicago doing research for a sustainable development project located in the interior of São Paulo and became so enamored with the vision that I bought a ticket to Brasil. Armed with emails and phone numbers, and not much else (including any knowledge of Portuguese), I arrived in São Paulo. Juca, a landscape architect with brilliant ideas and the kindest heart imaginable, greeted me at the airport. Three days out in the countryside, then another eight in São Paulo city, [View Full Entry]

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so i left off on thursday but didn't go into much detail about what had gone on that day specifically. i feel like i'm summarizing the last several days each time i write, but i don't write about the present. so here's the last couple days, again! i went to the GYAN office on thursday and met barbara and jefferson, two people who work there. barbara is my age and jefferson is a little older, i think mid-20s. they were telling me all about GYAN/TakingITGlobal TakingITGlobal and some of the projects and events they have sponsored/hosted. jefferson is [View Full Entry]

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I am really bad with keeping up with this journal. Although I havent gotten home until midnight the past three nights and had to get up around 7 so i guess its excusable, no? Lets see...Sao Paulo itself is huge, a bit overwhelming, but in a good way. Im not really sure how to describe it because there are so many different areas. one good thing about having to cruise around in taxis is that i get to see all these neighborhoods that i wouldnt otherwise see. like all these offices are in business-y areas, not touristy areas. there isnt really [View Full Entry]

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check out the photos on the previous entry. those from liberdade are from after-sushi tonight. liberdade is the japantown of sao paulo. its full of good japanese restaurants, homeless people, cops, and trash flooding into the streets. check out the moon - its a half moon but by half i mean the bottom half. weird. earlier today i got to meet laurent, the chef involved in botanique and also one of (if not THE) best chef in brazil. he is to brazilian cuisine what bobby flay is to american southwestern, except more, because he's the only chef in brazil that places [View Full Entry]

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so: i'm going to see if the photos upload. finally. also note: i deleted previous entries since i inadvertently included some things that shouldn't be public information. and there's no way to limit my blog to only my subscribers (people on my email list). my bad. mom, i'm getting some sleep! hopefully the punto tim store will be open tomorrow so i can get a sim card. i want to see dollhouse when i come back, will it still be playing? will you send me an email about whats new at home? gotta go study my portugese. [View Full Entry]

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long entry made short - im exhausted. sao paulo is exhausting. i took the metro all over today and had fun walking around the paulista, where all the banks and shopping malls are. then i tried to go to the huge central park which i cant remember how to spell, got about halfway there and decided it was too difficult, so i took the bus up to praca da se, which is a piazza with a huge cathedral and a bunch of homeless people laying around, so then i jumped on the metro back to vila madalena, where joes house is, [View Full Entry]

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