Summary of the past several days

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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 one ´touristy´area from what i can tell, although there arent many tourists here now so i guess im not sure. but i havent done anything touristy like museums just because ive been soo busy! portuguese lessons tuesday, wednesday, and today...so i kind of can speak. but not really. i can understand a lot though, surprisingly. especially if i know what the topic of discussion is. im not sure where i left off at the last journal so im going to just summarize stuff from the past couple days.

so i went to the botanique offices which are in a nice area of town and met fernanda, who i´ll be staying with from saturday on. the streets are all named after countries in europe, the americas, or famous brazilians. i met chef laurent, who is like the bobby flay of brazil. it was interesting though because he is french and was sent here by paul bocuse (!!) when he was 23 and never left. he was talking about how brazilians dont value their own culinary heritage as high class, sort of like american food a decade or two ago. how everyone eats feijoada (a black bean dish with random parts of the pig) with rice and farofa (toasted manioc flour), which is yummy, but its like eating macaroni and cheese or apple pie. not something you order in a fancy restaurant. most people eat brazilian food at home so when they go out, esp. here in SP, they eat sushi, or italian, or french. i went to liberdade the other night, japan town, and ate great sushi, but i havent eaten much brazilian food except when i was in campos. also brazil is extremely regional in terms of food and everything else. so their treatment of food (and lack of knowledge abotu other regions food) is reflected in politics, culture, everything. its an interesting social metaphor, no? i agree, anyway. so then i asked him how i could learn about brazilian food (i meant in the uS) and he said, come to the office on tuesday and read my cookbooks. and fernanda was like, oooh no one is allowed in his office! so on tuesday i went for five hours and read brazilian cookbooks. i think they were all kidn of laughing at me but in a nice way...laurent kept coming in and being like '"ok now you have to read about minas gerais, put down the one on bahia." then with his book, the recipe titles are french with portuguese translation and portuguese recipes. and photos. so i was like, hmm that looks like (insert ingredient here), i recognize that word in french, ok so thats the portugese word. a puzzle! brazilian food is so exotic sounding...baba-de-moça (a coconut sweet), abacaxi (squash that is used to make preserves), efò (a soupy dish with dried and fresh shrimp, coconut milk, and mustard greens)...yeah its awesome. i want to come down here and be his apprentice. also a chef named Alex Atala is "gentrifying" brazilian cuisine, but laurent was teh first and by far the only.

anyway i also had a meeting with eugenio, who works with the environmental area of semco, and we discussed a lot of the environmental and sustainability issues that are plaguing and/or helping brazil. also brazils relation to the kyoto protocol, all that. really interesting but im not going to go into huge detail. the office building was like a loop office building but with really nice landscaping, a reflecting pool...i felt like i was 5 years old going into dads office. oh well. at least everyone here is understanding and (it seems) non judgmental. then i went out for dinner with ricardo and we went to le tartine, a little eclectic french bistro off the paulista (the bank street) and had awesome quiche and chilean wine, a cabernet sauvignon. south american wines are awesome. then we went to another lounge and tried another chilean wine, i think a malbec. recommended areas: valle grande, mendoza (argentina), valle del maipo. brazilian wines right now are like the chiantis exported in the 1970s. lots more recommendations on brazilian music, movies, etc. too many to list here. ricardo has traveled all over south america so we were talking about that, and also about how brazilian mothers are just like italian mothers. figures.

then thursday i had another lesson and then met with caio, who directs the semco foundation. it was really interesting to see their offices and see democratic corporate structure in action. all the tables are in a round open room and separated by little dividers not big enough to make it a cubicle. caio works right next to his assistant and other employees...its completely teamwork. then i was talking to his assistant while we waited for my cab and she was saying how much she loves working there, she has gone up the corporate ladder (which is a misnomer, since its not a fixed hierarchy) and everyone is respectful and cooperative and participates no matter what position they are. incredible. if only the world was run like that...

then last night - annual event for fundaçao estudar, a foundation that provides a few of the top brazilian students with scholarships to study either here in brazil or to do a foreign degree. a lot of harvard, yale, uchicago mbas. they also do career development seminars and networking. so this even was for all teh scholarships winners past and present and a bunch of ceos and presidents of major brazilian companies. it was in an incredible modern hotel designed by ruy ohtake (i think he did stuff in chicago or cleveland, for some reason) called the hotel unique (look it up online for photos). the woman who is the director, elatia, is an american expat. mom and dad - this could be me. shes from michigan, i forget the city but its near warren. and guess who the surprise speaker was...the former brazilian president fernando henrique cardoso! incredible, brilliant man. he gave a great speech or lecture, whatever it would be, on brazil as a past and future country, its problems, its successes, all that. i understand about 70 percent, just not the funny anecdotes. i wont go into a lot of detail here but i can see both why he was so admired as a politician and also why some things were controversial. but i agree with 90% of the 70% i understood (have david figure out that math problem). and i met some really nice students who are both studying and working, most of them spoke english or spanish, and had some great discussions about everything, brazil, politics, the US, business, all that. great connections to have, not just for professional but for friends. and today i had my last portuguese lesson and am on my way to a meeting with GYAN, global youth action network, and later a meeting with elatia. AHHH so busy!

i feel like im seeing real brazil, everyday brazil (at least the part that works) and no touristy stuff. i want to see museums and all that too, but it seems like the experience is more real this way. that i know im not just seeing a façade and thats why im enamored. michigan better let me study here. and even though i cant hardly speak any portuguese, everyone is so kind, and it feels honest. theres not this overwhelming enthusiasm like "ahh, american, we love you!!" but more like hey, youre a foreigner, you love brazil, and we´re happy, because we love it too. and everyone is attentive in stores, unlike italy, where its like, what, you want to buy stuff? let me drink my coffee, leave me alone. here its, hi, youre shopping, or just looking? no problem, here let me get you a coffee and we´ll chat. anyways i have to go buy another metro pass. ive used up my ten-ride pass already!!!

is this enough info for y´alls? i think the travelblog people are gonna be like, what, this is supposed to be a TRAVEL blog, what are you doing?

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