letter to Francine

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I really lucked out with my arrangements here in Brasil. I had no idea what to expect and I think I landed a gold mine. This family picked me up from the airport. There are two kids my age (25 and 22) and they are introducing me to all their friends, taking me to parties etc. Whenever Brasil plays in the world cup the whole country shuts down. Nobody works, and nobody goes to school. Afterwards everyone goes to the streets just like you see on whyte ave after the oiler games. Some truck pulls up with a HUGE stereo system and everyone is dancing in the street. There is beer flowing and beautiful brasillian bombshells everywhere. In general, f@#king awesome! You have to be careful of pickpockets though. My "host brother" was on holidays in the north east and he got his wallet stolen, but he said that it was the first time it ever happened to him.

Work is alright. The company does consulting engineering for companies or government who want to build or buy roads. They conduct research or studies on how much traffic there is or whether a toll highway will make enough money.... So far I´ve been doing a lot of field work. Going around the city, taking photos. We had to drive this bus route once to see how long it would take. Things of this nature. Office work is a little difficult because most of the programs like word are in Portuguese. I had the same problem when I was in Germany but they are planning on getting me an english version soon.

One collegue I work with is a good musician, keyboard player. I found out that he´s in to Dave Matthews (not too many people here know who he is). I burned him a copy of the Stand Up cd I brought which I think he appreciated. I let him know that you (Francine) are their biggest fan.

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Photos

Joao and I - Brasil vs. Australia
My first World Cup experience in a football crazy country.