If You Can See Your Feet Its A Good Ride.

I am trying to take every opportunity I can.  Today I completed Day 1 of 2 at a conference called USP iTec 2012. It is a conference regarding innovation in Brazil at a the University of Sao Paulo Campus.  Today was pretty good although it is all in Portuguese and my Portuguese is not nearly good enough to understand what is being said although I did take my recorder with me and will translate it all next week.  Tomorrow however there is one session in English so I will be there front row, you can count on it.  The day ended at 530 and we discussed for a good ten minutes whether or not to take the train home now during rush hour or wait the two hours around campus or the local restaurant to wait out the rush hour... It was getting dark and we were all tired so we decided to take a chance with the rush hour train.  Everything was fine until we got to our transfer stop... The biggest station in the metro line.  We were sitting at the back of the car and as we were approaching our stop people were squeezing together   at the front set of doors to get off... We thought that was pretty weird as the car was pretty empty and there were three other sets of doors to leave through.  We thought nothing of it until someone sitting farther behind us got up and moved to the front.  Immediately we knew we should do the same thing even if we did not know why.  We moved to the front and glad we did because before the train even stopped, huge muscle men were banging against the doors, people were fighting to get in and the doors had yet to open. I saw the anger and the whites of their eyes and I had no idea what to think. When they did, these men busted onto the train and moved forward sending us forward and out of the train.  I was in complete shock 1/ what if there was an elderly person, a child or a pregnant woman or child  and they were trampled? 2/ the train did not even leave for another five minutes after everyone got on, there was no need to be pushing! Later I did learn that getting a seat on the train is the most important thing for the people if they are travelling from the first to the last stop.  If they cannot get a seat, they prefer to wait for the next train as standing for over an hour is not something they want to do so for these men not willing to wait for the next train, fighting to get a seat is what you have to do.  Our transfer train contained more people than our first but I could still see my feet so my friends told me it was a good rush hour ride.

One Week in Santo Andre

Well I am one week into my new city... It is very different but nice, for my Peterborough folks its like moving from Lakefield to Pickering, and my Lucknow crew like moving from Wingham to London, but then add onto the fact there are a zillion more people here and my Portuguese is still not so good... I have not done too much exploring with setting up my things at the university but I will start soon! I really like the University though, the campus is small in area but contains 4 tours all minimum eight floors high with the top floor on every one open to sit in the sun and do work.  My office is on the 7th floor with a decent view although I have learned to stay away from the middle elevator as that one makes a funny noise when it makes its way down... The BEST PART I discovered dancing classes at the university everyday at 430 and I will definitely be there everyday!
Tonight my dream comes true!! I am going to see a soccer game! Its going to be intense but I am stoked!!

Moving Cities.

I have moved cities! I am now in Santo Andre. Imagine Sao Paulo is Toronto and Santo Andre is Mississauga. They are pretty much attached to each other but are technically different cities.  I am in the 'Greater Sao Paulo Area'.  Moving cities means I am two months into my six month stay. I still have awhile here but man, time is flying by!  I am staying in a house with seven other girls, and my room has three plus me.  I am the youngest in the house, and only a few speak a English so I am hoping my Portuguese skills will kick up a few notches while I am here! The university in Santo Andre is very different compared to that of Botucatu.  Here, the university is only six years old and is three tall towers, a big difference compared to the greenhouses, individual departmental buildings, and trees at my last university.  But on the bright side, I have to walk through a grocery store parking lot to get to and from school so I'll never go hungry!! Another plus, Santo Andre is only 40 mins from the ocean so off I go tomorrow for the first of many trips!!

Adventures in Sao Paulo!

Last weekend was pretty cool! I spent four days in Sao Paulo City! The biggest city in South American and it was beautiful. I stayed with my friend Andressa who I met at Trent in my Molecular Biology class, who is originally from Sao Paulo.  She was home for two weeks visiting her family while on summer vacation and I could not be more thankful to her and her family for taking some time to host me.  I carpooled into the city, where we met and she gave me a driving tour of Sao Paulo seeing the Cathedral, a prestigious law school, museums, statues, and theatre halls.  We did a little bit of shopping where I bought my first (of hopefully many!) brazilian shoes! Andressa took me to her favourite pizzeria for supper where the pizzas were cooked in a stone fire overlooking the city lights of Sao Paulo.  During the weekend we went to pubs, clubs, ate many Brazilian desserts, visited a temple and learned delicious recipes from Andressa's mother.  A highlight of the weekend included a traditional Brazilian BBQ with all the fixings prepared by her dad where he gave me one of his secrets in cooking the melt in your mouth meat.  I could not have asked for a better weekend and it was a true honour to meet her family and friends.