I'm going to Sao Paulo with Menerio (Osvandir). I'm very excited. We leave at 2:00 am tomorrow morning. So I'll catch everyone up with this weedend later.

I went to a capoeira batizdo this weedend. If you don't know what that is, I'll explain it later. I'm in a bit of a hurry right now.

Brazilians listen to American Music

I wasn't expeting this, but I guess it's pretty common for radio stations in other coutries to play american pop music. The pop station in Jau' plays the exact same pop music as you would hear in New York, even the raspy announcer dude is the same person: "The - number - one - hit - music - station!". They have some other stations that play lots madonna and 80's hits... American classic rock & roll... American pump up & work out at the gym (nickelback, lincin Park, etc. They've also got plenty of Brazilian ststions, but I was suprised that the radio was so similar. The video above is a popular local band that plays a bunch of american pop hits. They were very good musicians, even if you can't tell from the video.

Brazilian Pizza

One thing that the Brazilians didn't get right is pizza. Maybe this is just one pizza parlor, but this pizza was soft... impossible to eat with your hands. In fact, it eats like a casserole. I just didn't like it. Maybe I can find a NYC style slice in Sao Paulo when I'm there.

Skype

Instructions for people who want to call & talk to me --- Go to
http://www.skype.com

Buy a microphone for your computer. Download and install the program. My username is kevin.m.pritchard

It's pretty easy. E-mail me at kevin.m.pritchard@gmail.com to set up a time. No prank calls please.

Thanksgiving Divorce

Eddie in Dallas calls his son in New York just before Thanksgiving and tells him, 'I am sorry to tell you but your mother and I are getting a divorce. I just cannot take any more of her moaning. We can't stand the sight of each other any more.' I am telling you first, Eddie, because you are the eldest, please tell your sister.

When Eddie calls his sister Julie, she says: 'No way are they getting divorced, I will go over and see them for Thanksgiving.'

Julie phones here parents and tells them both 'You must NOT get divorced. Promise you won't do anything until I get over there. I'm calling Eddie, and we'll both be there with you tomorrow. Until then, don't take any action, please listen to me', and hangs up.

The father puts down the phone and turns to his wife and says. 'Good news' he says, 'Eddie and Julie are coming for Thanksgiving and they are both paying their own way.'

Julie and Eddie must not have been in Brazil at the time!

Happy Thanksgiving Folks.

Love,

Kevin

Nothing too interesting today. Here are some more pictures of some coutryside. There's also a picture of me at a tree nursery. I'll talk a little more about that later.

800 Billion

What? Can I see the bill please?

Jau' Serve 2

It's not as big as Wegmans, but I mentioned before that this grocery store is NICE... what I'm saying is that this place has marble floors, and it's a grocery store. They've got a decent wine section, although I've seen better. Check out the spice (tempura) section, the middle picture. The spices stretch as far as the eye can see, in the picture. Bulk spices, good prices. Check out the top picture. They're giving away a car for Christmas.

Hooligans

I'm remebering a funny conversation I had w/ my friends in NYC the night before I left for Brazil. It was about British Hooligans. These are 20-something men from the British Isles who like to go to other countries get drunk and get into fights. They're everwhere... not just in Europe. I distintly remember a group of three chums from across the atlantic in the customs line at the airport in Sau Paulo. They were clearly the most animated group in line, and all three of them had the maximum allowance (three handles) of duty free vodka in hand... Cheers mates.

Here are some shots of the Jau downtown commerce area. The guy on the top right is my gracious host Tiago. There's a lot of open store fronts, and a lot of automobiles. It's a nice little city with a lot of hustle n' bustle, and the weather couldn't be better.

Futebol Saturday #2

I did the USA good yesterday. I scored 3 goals and 2 assists at the saturday soccer game yesterday. Nevermind the fact that people were getting tired when I was subbed in.

Pingu

The Brazilians have Pingu, a strong liquor made from sugar cane. It's not bad,though I'm not a big liquor guy. The dude next to me is all about the Pingu though. He was at the Pingu cask (between us) quite a bit last night.

Party Dinner

I think I mentioned before that food in Brazil is cheap. It's not uncommon for people to throw large dinner parties with friends and coworkers. I went to such a party last night. Here's a couple of pics displaying the size of the dinner, and the awesome rotisserie grill pit that Edwardo the host has. Edwardo is a very cool dude. He's one of the nicest people I've ever met. Edwardo & family are in the top center.

From bottom center moving counter-clockwise: Corn Flan, Corn Cake, Corn Flan #2 packaged in Corn Husk, Corn Flan #2 outside of Husk.

Corn Cake.

Hmmm... Corn

Brazilians like their corned deserts. They have corn cake, several types of corn pudding of flan consistency, corn ice cream, and corn milkshakes. Some of these deserts are featured above.

Look, they have National Geographic Brazil.

High School Musical in an International Sensation

You guys better get with the program. High School Musical is everywhere. I was at the mall/Movie theatre this afternoon and saw this poster. Aside from the cools movies, Jau' has a nice, but small mall.

Churrasco (Shoo-Haas-Koe)

Today we had churrasco, or Brazilian BBQ. It's pretty much the same as an american BBQ. We had steak and sausages. We also grilled some bananas, which actually was really good. Just put a banana on the grill, peel and all. When its done, cut and eat the banana (not the peal). It tastes like banana bread. Very good. The guys in this picture are some guys from the gym that Tiago (and now me as well) goes to. We had a lot of fun. My portuguese is getting better, and I'm able to converse pretty well. I often run into words that I don't know though. Usually we can all figure out what I'm trying to say, but sometimes we just have to forget a line of conversation due to the language barrier.

Sugar Cane is the Sweetest Natural Resource

You may know already, but suger cane is Brazil's best natural resource. The region around Jau has lots of sugar cane, because it has a very sunny and a very predictable climate. Sugar cane is great for sugar of course. I've even had a drink called garrapa, where the juice is crushed/squeezed out of sugar cane stalks and combined with some lime and pineapple. It's really good. But, the other great thing about sugar cane is that is is easily converted to ethanol. The areas around Jau' have lots of ethanol plants. Ethanol in Brazil is half the price of gasoline, about $1.50 per gallon. All of the cars here are flex fuel too. It all adds up to 0-carbon emissions, since the sugar cane gets it's carbon from our atmosphere.

Jau' Serve

Jau' Serve is the best grocery store in Jau', and I dare say... the world? I know, being from Rochester, this is blasphemy. Wegman's is this king in America. Jau' Serve is smaller than a wegmans store, but it's really, really nice. I will do another segment on Jau Serve the next time I visit. This time, my mission was brazilian candy and listerine to mute the effects. But, they had an awesome bulk spice section among others. Tiago and I weren't there for long before we got a call from a friend and we had to go.

Here's a pic of me at the beer section. This is one of my biggest complaints about Brazil. The beer here is fine, but it doesn't light a candle to the fine German imported beer I'm used to buying. They had a couble of German beers there, but imports just aren't that common because of ridiculous import taxes. On electronics, the tarrif is 70%. I'm guessing there's a similar tarrif on beer, because a mini keg of Heineken/Warsteiner was $40. The same keg would be ~$18 in America.

Some Interesting Things that I've Noticed #1

A couple of things that I've noted so far. The most common cars here are volkwagons and chevys. They also have some fords, and I've seen some fiats too.

It's also much more common, from what I've seen, for adults to wear braces on their teeth.

My First Encounter w/ Brazilian Poverty

I went with Tiago this afternoon to pick up some potatoes from a city about 200km from Jau'. The city that we visited was very poor... Sao Joao da Bao Vista. The potato farm was one of those stories that you hear about where the workers get paid zilch and there's a company store that they get to buy their lunch at. Kids that should be in school were there working long days.

This seems to be a recreational waterfall for Brazilians.

On Sunday, I was playing Brazilian style football. I git pegged in the chest. I also embarrassed myself and my nation.

Here's some nice Brazilian countryside. Tiago and I were out for a drive on Saturday.

An assortment of shoes from Aideen: Calcados Femininos.

The youngest son Bruno and his girlfriend. Bruno has the best english in the family. He's also a good guitar player and singer.

Tiago is the oldest of two sons. Angelica is his girlfriend. I've been hanging out with these two quite a bit.

Osvandir and Angela, the father and mother of my host family. They are very nice and very hard working. Osvondir only had 4-years of schooling when he started working at age 7. He has built some very nice family businesses and now he lives well (he still works very long hours though). Angela is also a major player in managing the family business. They are both great cooks. Osvandir has a band, where he is the singer. He's also a samba master! haha! They are both very nice, and they are really making me feel welcome in their home.

My First Several Days in Brazil

Sorry for not posting sooner. I've been very busy. I think I'll need to play a little catch up.

I started out by catching a train to Penn Station in NYC... uneventful. I had a last night in America with my friends. We watched the Elementary School Musical episode of South Park. It was hilarious. You should all check it out if you have the time.

Friday morning, I flew out of JFK airport heading for Sao Paulo. I sat next to a very nice Paulistana, very cute. She is a bit of a world traveller who has done similar exchanges in english speaking countries. She told me that before long, I would start having weird dreams. She couldn't have been more right.

I arrived in Sao Paulo. No problems with customs or anything. The line for $$$ exchange was a long wait. Tiago, the oldest son and Osvandir, the father of my host family picked me up at the airport. Osvandir is a big joker and a samba master. On the drive back to Jau', the city where my host family lives, we stopped at what I can only describe as a food bar. You stand at a bar and get served Brazilian fast food. It was good.

I'm very impressed with the infrastructure in Brazil. I was expecting the roads to be not all that great, but the highway from Sau Paulo to Jau could have been the NYS Thruway. It was a very nice highway. All of the city roads are good to. I notice that stop signs are treated as yield signs. Jau and surrounding the areas remind me a lot of Southern California. I guess Sao Paulo province is more developed that other regions in Brazil. The southeast is the most developed region.

When we got to Jau', we saw some idiots racing motorcycles past us on the highway. They weren't going SUPER fast. Instead, they were riding in a superman position, with hands on the handlebars, stomachs on the seats, and legs extended out behind the bike. Tiago told me that one of these morons dies every week. They race every night, and a lot on the weekends.

Saturday was the first time I got to see Brazil in the daylight. Brazil is a very beautiful country. Saturday morning, I helped out with the shoe factory a little bit. My host family has a couple of small family businesses. They've got a potato, onion, and garlic produce business; and they have a shoe factory (women's shoes of mostly, of course). I've posted a picture of some of the shoes they are very nice shoes :)

Anyway, Tiago is closing the shoe factory for the time being. Business is slow with the american recession. He'll rent the building out for a year and see how things are next year.

Saturday, I ate lunch with my host family. They are such nice people! Soooo hospitable. The food in Brazil is great. Everything is fresh, lots of fruits: mangos, pineapples, etc. The food is cheap too. After lunch, we had a bit of a siesta. After that, a bunch of friends and employees came over for an afternoon game of futbol (soccer). I played with them for a while and embarrassed myself and america. I also got a nice ball in the chest. Check out the picture. The sun is very strong. I should have no problem getting a tan here.

Saturday night, Tiago and I went over to Angelica's apartment (Angelica is Tiago's girlfriend). We had dinner with Angelica and some of her friends.

Sunday, Tiago, Angelica, and I did a lot of sightseeing. I've got pictures of some of the places we went. Sunday night, Tiago and I made a late night poatao delivery to the supermarket. 3,000kg of batatas. That brings me to this morning. Sorry for not posting sooner, but my friends here have been keeping me busy. It's a good thing.

Check out some of the pictures. I'll try to post pictures and commentary regularly now.

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