On July 4, I had the least patriotic 4th of July of my life. I woke up, packed my stuff, got some money from the ATM, went to the subway station, bought a ticket at the bus station, and went to Rio. I didn't see any Americans or think about it all that much because it was just another day here.
The trip from SP to Rio is 6 hours or so. I fell asleep in the bus for an hour or so, but mostly just looked at everything outside the window. I read some of Les Mis, but like I said a few posts ago, I don't love to read in moving vehicles. The countryside was nice though. And especially when we got close to Rio. It was sweet! Dutra is the name of the road that leads in, and it winds through some pretty sweet hills. It was beautiful. We arrived in Rio when it was dark. I got to my place around 7 or so.
At the school I did the course at, there is a lady who owns a hostel. I have stayed in a lot of hostels, but never in the shared room. It has always been my own room, except for once earlier on this trip when the owner had to sleep in the top bunk because he couldn't go home, for whatever reason. But I wasn't looking forward to it here. I booked it because it was cheap and really close to the school I attended, and in a nice neighborhood. Most of the people I meet in hostels are dirty, loud, and annoying. I don't mean to sound like a hater, but a lot of them have terrible accents in English, they swear all the time, they drink all the time, they smoke pot all the time, etc. Most don't make any effort to learn the local language. I just don't like 'em!
But now I am one of them, unfortunately. And I wasn't looking forward to it. But when I arrived at this hostel, I was the only one there! It was so nice. My own room, but cheaper than paying for my own room. It was that way for probably half of the time so far. The last week will be packed, but I have ways of avoiding the people that bug me, and it works out fine. :)
I arrived, found that there were the first three Jason Bourne novels there, and just hung out. I had already read the first Bourne novel, but these last two were how I spent my nights for the first two weeks, along with Les Miserables. I don't go out at night, because you can't tell where you are going. Rio is different from SP. SP has nice neighborhoods and not so nice neighborhoods. Rio has it all mixed together. So you could be on a nice street and all of a sudden be walking into a bad area. And not just bad, but really bad! So I have just been reading at night, and that has made it probably the most productive summer I have ever had.
Other than these dumb birds that flap their wings right next to the window, and mosquitos, it was a nice night. There are more mosquitos here in Rio in the 70 degree weather than there were on the Amazon in 90 degrees. Annoying.
I woke up, went to church, and met a professional football player from the Congo. We were in class together and he pulled out a New Testament in French, and I said: tu parles français? And we talked for a little. And it turns out that he plays for Botafogo here in Rio. Botafogo is the neighborhood where I live and the name of one of Rio's teams. He has been here for two years and is on loan to Botafogo. What a sweet deal, eh? It was great talking to him.
In that same class, the teacher quoted a song by a Brazilian group from the 80s called Legião Urbana. I thought it was pretty funny, because she is like 50 and I just wouldn't have expected it in class. But I guess 25 years ago or so was her prime. I have the song on my iPod, which made it easy to recognize. Church was nice and it is very close to where I live. It has been pretty sweet, everywhere I have lived down here has been within walking distance from the church.
On the way to church, I looked up a street and saw the Cristo Redentor. That was a pretty sweet way of seeing it for the first time. After church, I walked over the beach here in Botafogo because I knew that the Pão de Açucar was visible from there. I saw it and I loved it. You know, it's the curved hill in the picture at the top of this page, the one where James Bond was going to on the cable car and Jaws chased him. I came back later in the day, and walked on the beach, and read right across the bay from Pão de Açucar. And I have been saying all summer, oh I'm not much of a beach person. I have been every weekend. :) But not in the sense of going and laying out on the beach. Just walking by, sitting and reading, and so forth. I was at the Botafogo beach and walked near the Flamengo beach. I saw some dudes fishing, and that was great because one guy caught an eel. In order to kill it, he grabbed the fishing line, swung it up over his head, and slammed the eel on the ground three times. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And then he just threw it in the water! It was pretty funny.
That was it for the trip from SP to Rio. I will be writing more later about Rio.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Clinternships
Someone asked me in an email what I was doing on my internships, and that it would be nice to hear about that as well as the things that happen travelling, etc. I talked about my internship in São Paulo a little bit ago, but I didn't go into great detail. I won't really here either, but I will talk a little more about what I have been doing.
At my internship in São Paulo, I worked almost exclusively with international trade. Most of the world's countries are members of the World Trade Organization and these countries have adopted WTO regulations into their own legal systems. So the WTO regulations are uniform pretty much for all of the members. One of the things I worked the most on was antidumping regulations. Before my first meeting about this on my first day, I said: yeah, I know what dumping is, its when you throw trash in a garbage dump. I was glad that I looked it up beforehand. It wasn't what I thought it was. Remember how I mentioned that I am going to be doing a master's in international political economy? I don't know how I got accepted for a program with economy in the title when I never took an undergrad class in economics.
Anyway, dumping has nothing to do with trash. It is when a company from one country sells a product in a different country for a lower price than it sells it in its own country. So if China sells magnets in Brazil for ten cents apiece and sells them in China for $1, it is considered unfair and Brazil can take measures to fix that by placing a fee on the companies that do that. Each country has the regulations, but they are not exactly the same. Some of the procedures are different, but the essence is the same. These regulations are antidumping regulations. I did a lot of work on researching US law, investigations in the US, Pakistan, Brazil, and so forth. I think that international trade is very interesting. It is also unfair, according to the WTO accords, for a government to provide a subsidy for a certain product. China does this a lot, and so Brazil can slap a little tariff on the applicable importers Chinese steel or whatever it is to make up for the help the companies in China have received. It is one of the most international factors of domestic law, because without a foreign party, you can't have international trade law! I worked on a few other things, but that was 98% of my internship there.
Now I am in Rio de Janeiro to take a two-week course on doing business in Brazil and a two-week internship with an affiliate of an American law firm. I guess that I will talk about these things later, but I finished the course and now have finished one week of my internship. At my new internship, I have worked on a few different things. The American firm whose affiliate I work for is big on oil and gas, so a lot of the stuff we do there is based on that. I helped create a presentation on working with Petrobras, the government oil company here in Brazil. I didn't know this before, but the government actually only owns half. Individual investors own the other half. I helped create a presentation for clients on trade secrets in the U.S. Trade secrets are formulas, recipes, etc. that are not patented. This is the gist of trade secrets: you can't work for Coke, take the recipe to Pepsi, and create the Coke using the recipe. If Pepsi takes a bottle of Coke, figures out on its own how to make it, and then makes Coke, no problem. Then I worked on a presentation on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits American companies, individuals, or subsidiaries from making bribes for obtaining work benefits. It has all been very interesting.
This week I also sat in on a meeting with with a company that is hiring a guy to help get contracts. Instead of paying him, they are giving him a percentage of the company. All of these things have to be worked out in the contract of course, and the meeting was a little over my head because I do not have a strong background in finance or securities. But a few days later, I was able to advise a lawyer in my firm about a contract. That was kind of fun. He asked me if we should put a specific provision in or leave it out. I thought it was pretty important, so I said, you gotta put that in baby!
So, that is what I have been doing. I think the last week will be more of the same. Then I travel for a week and a few days, and then head to WA for a family reunion. Now I will write about Rio.
At my internship in São Paulo, I worked almost exclusively with international trade. Most of the world's countries are members of the World Trade Organization and these countries have adopted WTO regulations into their own legal systems. So the WTO regulations are uniform pretty much for all of the members. One of the things I worked the most on was antidumping regulations. Before my first meeting about this on my first day, I said: yeah, I know what dumping is, its when you throw trash in a garbage dump. I was glad that I looked it up beforehand. It wasn't what I thought it was. Remember how I mentioned that I am going to be doing a master's in international political economy? I don't know how I got accepted for a program with economy in the title when I never took an undergrad class in economics.
Anyway, dumping has nothing to do with trash. It is when a company from one country sells a product in a different country for a lower price than it sells it in its own country. So if China sells magnets in Brazil for ten cents apiece and sells them in China for $1, it is considered unfair and Brazil can take measures to fix that by placing a fee on the companies that do that. Each country has the regulations, but they are not exactly the same. Some of the procedures are different, but the essence is the same. These regulations are antidumping regulations. I did a lot of work on researching US law, investigations in the US, Pakistan, Brazil, and so forth. I think that international trade is very interesting. It is also unfair, according to the WTO accords, for a government to provide a subsidy for a certain product. China does this a lot, and so Brazil can slap a little tariff on the applicable importers Chinese steel or whatever it is to make up for the help the companies in China have received. It is one of the most international factors of domestic law, because without a foreign party, you can't have international trade law! I worked on a few other things, but that was 98% of my internship there.
Now I am in Rio de Janeiro to take a two-week course on doing business in Brazil and a two-week internship with an affiliate of an American law firm. I guess that I will talk about these things later, but I finished the course and now have finished one week of my internship. At my new internship, I have worked on a few different things. The American firm whose affiliate I work for is big on oil and gas, so a lot of the stuff we do there is based on that. I helped create a presentation on working with Petrobras, the government oil company here in Brazil. I didn't know this before, but the government actually only owns half. Individual investors own the other half. I helped create a presentation for clients on trade secrets in the U.S. Trade secrets are formulas, recipes, etc. that are not patented. This is the gist of trade secrets: you can't work for Coke, take the recipe to Pepsi, and create the Coke using the recipe. If Pepsi takes a bottle of Coke, figures out on its own how to make it, and then makes Coke, no problem. Then I worked on a presentation on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits American companies, individuals, or subsidiaries from making bribes for obtaining work benefits. It has all been very interesting.
This week I also sat in on a meeting with with a company that is hiring a guy to help get contracts. Instead of paying him, they are giving him a percentage of the company. All of these things have to be worked out in the contract of course, and the meeting was a little over my head because I do not have a strong background in finance or securities. But a few days later, I was able to advise a lawyer in my firm about a contract. That was kind of fun. He asked me if we should put a specific provision in or leave it out. I thought it was pretty important, so I said, you gotta put that in baby!
So, that is what I have been doing. I think the last week will be more of the same. Then I travel for a week and a few days, and then head to WA for a family reunion. Now I will write about Rio.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
A Few More Things from São Paulo
Before I get to my posts about Rio, I forgot about some fun things in São Paulo.
A few weeks ago, I went to a soccer game at the stadium called Morumbi. A guy from work invited me to go with him, his brother, and some friends. It was on a Thursday night, and it started at 10 pm. They tell me that the games start late, because the soap operas (novelas) are on earlier in the evening and the networks don't want to lose out on showing those. So it was a late starter. This was an important game because it was the quarterfinals of the Liberators Cup, the soccer tournament that pits the best teams of South America against each other. It was São Paulo FC (one of four teams in São Paulo) and Cruzeiro (from Minas Gerais, in the state of Belo Horizonte). I was pretty excited about going. I love sports and I have grown to really enjoy soccer over the past few years. When people invite me to go out on the weekends, I usually wiggle out because I hate bars and I don't drink. But with this, even though lots of people were drunk, it was great because I knew that even if the fans were drunk or annoying, I could just enjoy the game.
The system for these games is interesting, but it makes sense. The teams play two games, one in each team's stadium. However, they treat the two separate games as if they were halves of one game. So you could tie the first game, and end in a tie, and then play the second half. And also, goals you score on the road are worth more than goals you score in your own stadium. That is to encourage teams to attack the goal, instead of playing conservatively in the other team's stadium in order to get back to their own stadium and then try to score. Cruzerio was up 2-1 after the first game, and so São Paulo definitely had to score in this second game. If it ended 0-0, Cruzeiro wins. If São Paulo wins 1-0, São Paulo advances. Even though the total would be two goals for each team, São Paulo scored a goal at Cruzeiro and that is worth more. So São Paulo had to score more than Cruzeiro. But even if São Paulo scored two and Cruzeiro scored one, they would then be tied with everything added up and it would go to penalty kicks.
The atmosphere was electric. We got there early, and you have to because the traffic in the city is so bad. Just think what it is like on game night. There is no alcohol sold in the stadium, so millions of vendors sell it outside. You can drink before you go in, obviously, so people do that. There are tons of food vendors too, including lots of hot dog stands built into the back of a car. I thought that was pretty funny. It was when we were at that stand that a group of Cruzeiro fans walked by. The two teams are not bad rivals, but it was still interesting to see the groups of fans meet up.
It takes a while to get into the stadium, because police do a little pat-down on every single person entering the stadium. We made it through and got to our seats. It was a pretty packed place. It holds 50,000 or so, and it was like 98% São Paulo fans. This stadium is where the first game of the 2014 World Cup will be played. At the beginning of both halves, lots of the fans light up these flares. I thought it was interesting that you get patted down before you come in, but you can bring in flares! Why can't someone bring in a stick of dynamite instead? I don't know, but it was pretty cool to see all these flares and this smoke descend on the stadium.
São Paulo had lots of opportunities, but did not take advantage. At halftime, it was 0-0, and a player from São Paulo had just been kicked out. That meant that São Paulo was playing with 10 the rest of the time, and Cruzeiro was at full strength with 11. The crowd seemed nervous, because they knew that their team had to score a goal, and more than Cruzeiro in any case.
Cruzeiro scored on an amazing goal in the second half. This player hooked a ball right into the top corner of the net. It was an amazing shot, with some spin on the ball that brought it down into the net. I swear that I heard the ball hit the net because it was so quiet in the stadium. And then a split second later, the cheers of the Cruzeiro fans reached our part of the stadium. São Paulo fans were not happy. Then another São Paulo player got kicked out, or maybe it was before. But that meant 9 against 11. Cruzeiro scored again on a penalty kick. That deflated the stadium, because that meant São Paulo had to score 3 goals and it was not at full capacity because of the ejections.
Cruzeiro won 2-0 and advanced to the next round. As the Cruzeiro players left the field, the fans really went all out to wish them farewell. It turns out that the middle finger means the same thing in Brazil as it does in the US! It took a long time to leave because of traffic, which was blocked up because of lots of cars, narrow streets, and also some dude in the middle of the road who was unconscious, dead, or taking a nap. I didn't talk much with the guys in the second half of the game or after, because I could tell that they were not happy. And I know that sometimes, people just don't want to talk. We got home pretty late and it was nice to only have one work day left in the week because I woke up tired! I watched Cruzeiro last week in the final game against a team from Argentina, and they blew it. They could have won, but lost opportunities and couldn't make it happen.
That week I was also able to eat my first feijoada in Brazil. I had it before many times, but never in Brazil. It was on Wednesday, and that is a traditional day for feijoada in restaurants. My co-worker friend, who is from Belo Horizonte and is a Cruzeiro fan, took me to a place with some others from work. He said that we were going to get "feijoada roots," not the "feijoada light" that the nicer restaurants have. I think the difference, you can probably guess, is that the roots is going back to what the slaves ate, which can get pretty gross. When the slaves in Brazil ate it, it was usually with the scraps from the masters. So it gets pretty creative: ears, feet, etc. Feijoada light just has the normal stuff. I love how roots and light are both English words but used in these Portuguese phrases. For me, this is the best country in the world to find great English/American words and names mixed into the language.
We got the feijoada roots. There were some other suspect things in the meal. On the side, there were a few things that I think were pig feet or something, and they were deep fried. But they still had hair, or whiskers, or whatever they are sticking out. It was pretty gross. My buddy Luiz told me that a joke in relation to eating that stuff is that you have to bring your razor to the meal. I thought that was hilarious. I ate the feijoada, and some of the stuff seemed pretty weird, but it was good and it was great to have my first feijoada in Brazil.
A few weeks ago, I went to a soccer game at the stadium called Morumbi. A guy from work invited me to go with him, his brother, and some friends. It was on a Thursday night, and it started at 10 pm. They tell me that the games start late, because the soap operas (novelas) are on earlier in the evening and the networks don't want to lose out on showing those. So it was a late starter. This was an important game because it was the quarterfinals of the Liberators Cup, the soccer tournament that pits the best teams of South America against each other. It was São Paulo FC (one of four teams in São Paulo) and Cruzeiro (from Minas Gerais, in the state of Belo Horizonte). I was pretty excited about going. I love sports and I have grown to really enjoy soccer over the past few years. When people invite me to go out on the weekends, I usually wiggle out because I hate bars and I don't drink. But with this, even though lots of people were drunk, it was great because I knew that even if the fans were drunk or annoying, I could just enjoy the game.
The system for these games is interesting, but it makes sense. The teams play two games, one in each team's stadium. However, they treat the two separate games as if they were halves of one game. So you could tie the first game, and end in a tie, and then play the second half. And also, goals you score on the road are worth more than goals you score in your own stadium. That is to encourage teams to attack the goal, instead of playing conservatively in the other team's stadium in order to get back to their own stadium and then try to score. Cruzerio was up 2-1 after the first game, and so São Paulo definitely had to score in this second game. If it ended 0-0, Cruzeiro wins. If São Paulo wins 1-0, São Paulo advances. Even though the total would be two goals for each team, São Paulo scored a goal at Cruzeiro and that is worth more. So São Paulo had to score more than Cruzeiro. But even if São Paulo scored two and Cruzeiro scored one, they would then be tied with everything added up and it would go to penalty kicks.
The atmosphere was electric. We got there early, and you have to because the traffic in the city is so bad. Just think what it is like on game night. There is no alcohol sold in the stadium, so millions of vendors sell it outside. You can drink before you go in, obviously, so people do that. There are tons of food vendors too, including lots of hot dog stands built into the back of a car. I thought that was pretty funny. It was when we were at that stand that a group of Cruzeiro fans walked by. The two teams are not bad rivals, but it was still interesting to see the groups of fans meet up.
It takes a while to get into the stadium, because police do a little pat-down on every single person entering the stadium. We made it through and got to our seats. It was a pretty packed place. It holds 50,000 or so, and it was like 98% São Paulo fans. This stadium is where the first game of the 2014 World Cup will be played. At the beginning of both halves, lots of the fans light up these flares. I thought it was interesting that you get patted down before you come in, but you can bring in flares! Why can't someone bring in a stick of dynamite instead? I don't know, but it was pretty cool to see all these flares and this smoke descend on the stadium.
São Paulo had lots of opportunities, but did not take advantage. At halftime, it was 0-0, and a player from São Paulo had just been kicked out. That meant that São Paulo was playing with 10 the rest of the time, and Cruzeiro was at full strength with 11. The crowd seemed nervous, because they knew that their team had to score a goal, and more than Cruzeiro in any case.
Cruzeiro scored on an amazing goal in the second half. This player hooked a ball right into the top corner of the net. It was an amazing shot, with some spin on the ball that brought it down into the net. I swear that I heard the ball hit the net because it was so quiet in the stadium. And then a split second later, the cheers of the Cruzeiro fans reached our part of the stadium. São Paulo fans were not happy. Then another São Paulo player got kicked out, or maybe it was before. But that meant 9 against 11. Cruzeiro scored again on a penalty kick. That deflated the stadium, because that meant São Paulo had to score 3 goals and it was not at full capacity because of the ejections.
Cruzeiro won 2-0 and advanced to the next round. As the Cruzeiro players left the field, the fans really went all out to wish them farewell. It turns out that the middle finger means the same thing in Brazil as it does in the US! It took a long time to leave because of traffic, which was blocked up because of lots of cars, narrow streets, and also some dude in the middle of the road who was unconscious, dead, or taking a nap. I didn't talk much with the guys in the second half of the game or after, because I could tell that they were not happy. And I know that sometimes, people just don't want to talk. We got home pretty late and it was nice to only have one work day left in the week because I woke up tired! I watched Cruzeiro last week in the final game against a team from Argentina, and they blew it. They could have won, but lost opportunities and couldn't make it happen.
That week I was also able to eat my first feijoada in Brazil. I had it before many times, but never in Brazil. It was on Wednesday, and that is a traditional day for feijoada in restaurants. My co-worker friend, who is from Belo Horizonte and is a Cruzeiro fan, took me to a place with some others from work. He said that we were going to get "feijoada roots," not the "feijoada light" that the nicer restaurants have. I think the difference, you can probably guess, is that the roots is going back to what the slaves ate, which can get pretty gross. When the slaves in Brazil ate it, it was usually with the scraps from the masters. So it gets pretty creative: ears, feet, etc. Feijoada light just has the normal stuff. I love how roots and light are both English words but used in these Portuguese phrases. For me, this is the best country in the world to find great English/American words and names mixed into the language.
We got the feijoada roots. There were some other suspect things in the meal. On the side, there were a few things that I think were pig feet or something, and they were deep fried. But they still had hair, or whiskers, or whatever they are sticking out. It was pretty gross. My buddy Luiz told me that a joke in relation to eating that stuff is that you have to bring your razor to the meal. I thought that was hilarious. I ate the feijoada, and some of the stuff seemed pretty weird, but it was good and it was great to have my first feijoada in Brazil.
Friday, July 17, 2009
São Paulo Continued
During the daylight on the weekends, I saw a lot of cool things. On many weekends, I walked to Parque Ibirapuera. It is a beautiful park with some great things to see. The first weekend, I went to Liberdade, the Japanese neighborhood. I had been hearing about Liberdade since 2004 or 2005 and so it was one of the first things I saw. I was a little disappointed, because I expected it to be more like Chinatown in NYC. Well, it is in lots of ways. Some of the things I bought for my bookshelf, the only two things I guess, were things I saw in Liberdade. I felt ripped off! :) I saw lots of things there I had seen in Chinatown. But I expected Liberdade to be bustling a lot more. But it actually was more than I thought; I was just there too early in the day. Another time I saw more. The only place in the world where there are more Japanese people than Brazil is Japan. So there are Japanese people all over--in my ward, the law firm, around town, and so forth. It is really fascinating.
Near Liberdade, there are some beautiful cathedrals. I checked those out a few times, went to a few plazas, looked at some bookstores, and so forth on the weekends. It was always really nice. My favorite place was the Museu do Ipiranga. The actual museum is a beautiful building and, unfortunately, I never got to go in because it was on strike the whole month. It is run by the University of São Paulo and a lot of the school's employees have been on strike. But the museum's grounds are amazing. You feel like you are at the Palace of Versailles or something. Maybe not that much, but still very nice! Once I saw a parrot there too. That is the great thing about São Paulo and Rio. You see all these great birds all over, and you don't even have to go looking for them. But this museum is next to a big park where there is a big monument to Brazilian independence and a tomb where Pedro I, I think, is buried.
I had some great meals in São Paulo. When this American lawyer was in town, we went to this steakhouse. It was the rodizio style, like many of you have seen, where they bring the meat to you. This place was really nice and really expensive, and so you know I was eating as much as I could. It was great. We ate late and that caused me to not sleep so well. Especially because I was thirsty from all the meat, and had to wake up early in the morning. This guy from work gave me rides, and Tuesdays were his day to not drive during 7 to 10 am. Each day of the week, certain people can't drive during peak hours. If your license plate ends in 0 or 1, for example, you can't drive between 7 am and 10 am or 5 pm and 8 pm on Monday. It is because of the traffic. But the food was worth it.
I really enjoyed the internship. I learned a lot, met some great people, and feel like I have a better idea of my interests.
One weekend, Matt from my ward in NYC came for business. He is in the bishopric of my ward. It was great to see him because he is a cool guy, and it was fun to do some stuff with him. We went to the temple and ate a ton of pizza on Friday night, and then went all around the city on Saturday. I was really touched by his generosity. He bought me a few meals and I wasn't expecting it. I am always on a super budget here, so the meals fill me up but are never all that good. So for him to pay for some meals was so great and I was very thankful for that. I told him my mom would be so happy, but I forgot to tell her. I hope she reads it here. :) We went all over, saw the museum of art, some other stuff, and had a lot of fun.
Other than that, there really isn't much else to report from São Paulo. I left two weeks ago tomorrow, and came to Rio. I really liked São Paulo, but I am glad I went there before here because Rio really is quite amazing. But São Paulo was great and I am glad I had some good experiences there. Next time I will finally get caught up with this blog.
Near Liberdade, there are some beautiful cathedrals. I checked those out a few times, went to a few plazas, looked at some bookstores, and so forth on the weekends. It was always really nice. My favorite place was the Museu do Ipiranga. The actual museum is a beautiful building and, unfortunately, I never got to go in because it was on strike the whole month. It is run by the University of São Paulo and a lot of the school's employees have been on strike. But the museum's grounds are amazing. You feel like you are at the Palace of Versailles or something. Maybe not that much, but still very nice! Once I saw a parrot there too. That is the great thing about São Paulo and Rio. You see all these great birds all over, and you don't even have to go looking for them. But this museum is next to a big park where there is a big monument to Brazilian independence and a tomb where Pedro I, I think, is buried.
I had some great meals in São Paulo. When this American lawyer was in town, we went to this steakhouse. It was the rodizio style, like many of you have seen, where they bring the meat to you. This place was really nice and really expensive, and so you know I was eating as much as I could. It was great. We ate late and that caused me to not sleep so well. Especially because I was thirsty from all the meat, and had to wake up early in the morning. This guy from work gave me rides, and Tuesdays were his day to not drive during 7 to 10 am. Each day of the week, certain people can't drive during peak hours. If your license plate ends in 0 or 1, for example, you can't drive between 7 am and 10 am or 5 pm and 8 pm on Monday. It is because of the traffic. But the food was worth it.
I really enjoyed the internship. I learned a lot, met some great people, and feel like I have a better idea of my interests.
One weekend, Matt from my ward in NYC came for business. He is in the bishopric of my ward. It was great to see him because he is a cool guy, and it was fun to do some stuff with him. We went to the temple and ate a ton of pizza on Friday night, and then went all around the city on Saturday. I was really touched by his generosity. He bought me a few meals and I wasn't expecting it. I am always on a super budget here, so the meals fill me up but are never all that good. So for him to pay for some meals was so great and I was very thankful for that. I told him my mom would be so happy, but I forgot to tell her. I hope she reads it here. :) We went all over, saw the museum of art, some other stuff, and had a lot of fun.
Other than that, there really isn't much else to report from São Paulo. I left two weeks ago tomorrow, and came to Rio. I really liked São Paulo, but I am glad I went there before here because Rio really is quite amazing. But São Paulo was great and I am glad I had some good experiences there. Next time I will finally get caught up with this blog.
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