First week in Brazil

I took this picture the day I left Ithaca - it's the view outside the living room of my old apartment. It was March 25th!! I know, everyone is tired of seeing that "white stuff", but I figured it would cause quite an impression on folks here! ;)

I didn't take many pictures on my first week here, so I don't have much to show. Come to think of it - what did I do all week? Time flies when you are feeling lost. I spent all week at my brother's place in São Paulo (aka the Concrete Jungle). I was preparing for a national exam, part of the selection process for a job at EMBRAPA. So in theory I was going to be studying hard and reading lots, but let's be honest... I was too tired for that. I did do a lot of reading, but spent a lot of time with my adorable little niece, chatting on the computer, reading emails, reading a book (Life of Pi - I am loving it), and relaxing. And also running around with errands, like renewing my driver's license that was expired since April 2005...


Speaking of my little niece - Rafaela - she was the best part of my week, for sure. She is 7. We had not seen each other for 2 years but that didn't seem to matter. I brought her a children's digital camera and she absolutely loved it. But she loved MY camera even more, plus hers was out of battery, so...

We took lots of pictures. SHE took lots of pictures. She is 7 but knows the camera features better than me. Got worse when I showed her how to make movies with it... Kids these days... they are amazing!

Man, do I look TIRED in this picture or what?


Anyway - first week flew by, with me feeling like a total stranger. I pretended to read lots of scientific articles in Portuguese to prepare for the exam, because the toughest part for me was to remember (and learn new) technical terms in Portuguese, after studying and working in the U.S. for so long.