Sunday - Dinner with the family (Jantar com a família)

At home Sunday is the most common time for some or all of our family plus partners to appear for a Sunday meal - most often a roast or a barbecue. And so it was this Sunday, with my new Brazil 14 family.  But I am getting ahead of myself...

On Sunday morning Radhesh had arranged, with the support of his clients/colleagues in the Tourism Department, a trip to a local farm.  There was a little bit of a mix-up on start times and they arrived for us slightly early, so we got away just around 10:30. After around 20 minutes or so we arrived at the location, a lovely setting by a large lake, with a purpose built restaurant and sheltered area (which we needed later).

The excited tourists spilling off the bus in search of new sights and experiences

After settling into our allocated area the first event was a boat ride round the lake - it seemed pretty large and we didn't actually go to the far end, looping around when we came across a very high viaduct/road that had been built across it.

I felt suitably honoured that they had built my monogram into the bridge

Returning to the restaurant, local residents ahead

After the boat ride there was a short interlude then we were allocated our passes for the horse ride.

Oh no, another bunch of tourists, hope I don't get that large gringo with the specs...

...darn it, lucked out again! 

The promised ride of 20 minutes turned out to be 5 minutes of preparation, 10 minutes of a gentle amble round the back of the block, and a couple of minutes dismounting at the end.  But it was enjoyable anyway, for me if not for the horse.

For the first time I saw some wild-life that persuaded me I was not in NZ - a humming-bird, a beautiful little thing but far too fast for me to catch in a photo, and a monkey. Someone thought they were a type of marmoset.

Whilst we were off horsing around and monkeying about some of the rest of the team braved the lake for a swim - they commented that the water seemed warmer than the pool at the country club.

The swimming team

Around this time lunch was called and we enjoyed another great selection of meat, salads, meat, fruit, meat, vegetables and did I mention meat?  We also had a selection of desserts, each of which it seemed tried to outdo its predecessor in the amount of sugar it contained. Coffee is served in tiny little cups - usually there is a pump pot full of it and you help yourself, so it is not an economy measure - in fact they have it by the door in most restaurants so even passers-by could help themselves!  Lunch was accompanied by a heavy downpour so it was as well we were under shelter.

 We assembled for a photograph before three of us were given the chance for another horse ride.   After that it was time to get on the bus and return to the hotel.

 Back at the hotel we had a couple of hours to do whatever before we headed out to a pot luck dinner at Larissa's father's house, where everyone was to bring along something related to their home country. I used the time to catch up on some zzzzs, have a shower, and do some washing.

We assembled downstairs with our plastic bags full of goodies and away we went in the taxi for about 20 minutes, a long ride across town.  The venue was in a walled and gated private housing estate, with sections looking like they were at least half an acre each, if not more.

Starting to gather at the house

We met Larissa's father and step-mother - I was very interested to hear they had been in NZ for a holiday at the beginning of this year and her father and I chatted about their trip. We also met the two Labrador dogs - a mother and daughter who took us all in their stride. The neighbours also came over so we met them too.  Once everyone had arrived we all got stuck into the various preparation activities. It was good fun and it was like a large (very large) family gathering.

Food preparation at work and hoover in position under the table in case of crumbs

Time to relax with an antipasto and a caipirinha

The main buffet

Desserts and cheeseboard and kiwifruit - my offering

View back to the party across the pool from the pool room (so to speak)

Party over, waiting for the taxis

It was a great evening and after dinner there was dancing for those so inclined (most of the party), and pool for me and a couple of others.  Much to my surprise (and no doubt to those of my friends with whom I play pool from time to time) I won a few games - I was on form!

Sadly it was soon time to pack up and head home.  We all agreed Larissa's parents had been very kind (and brave) to open their lovely home to us and we all had a great time there.

#ibmcsc brazil

Saturday Shopping (compras)

This morning Larissa had offered to show us the main places to shop in downtown Uberlândia. We met up with her in the Praca Tubal Viela, a very pleasant square in the centre of the city with a fancy musical fountain.

Once we met up she gave us a run-down on the various places to go.  We agreed to meet up around noon at the central market where there were bar/restaurants as well as local craft stalls and live Samba dancing later.

I headed off down one of the main shopping streets, managing to find and buy what I needed despite my lack of Portuguese and a lack of English from the shop assistants - from time to time I resorted to my phrase book but generally we got by with sign language in a good humoured way.  I don''t think Uberlândia gets a lot of English-speaking visitors yet. I returned to the square and thought I followed Larissa's directions to the central market but after calling her a couple of times with my location we agreed I wasn't anywhere near where I should be.  Eventually I saw a sign for the market and made it to a landmark where Larissa was able to come and guide me to where I should have been.  After browsing the stalls I settled down with the others for a very welcome very cold beer and then we had some lunch - a selection from the buffet and it included a caipirinha. Some of the others wanted to head back to the hotel so we piled into a taxi and by the time I got back I was well and truly ready for a good snooze.

Around 4 a couple of us were refreshed and ready for the next shopping trip, to the mall to buy some supplies for a "pot luck" dinner we are having tomorrow night at Larissa's father's home. I also decided I wanted to get a pair of Brazilian men's shoes - I'd been told they are very good.  Spotting some suitable ones in a shop window I went in and tried to demonstrate that I needed them to measure my feet as I didn't know what size I was in Brazilian shoe sizes.  This didn't seem to register so we agreed I'd try on a pair.  They were 38s and far too small so a 39 was brought, then a 40 and so on until we found my size - 42.  The shop assistant thought the whole thing hilarious and we had good fun finding the right size!

Suitably shod I then went down to the supermarket, where I ran into another of the team on the same mission, looking for suitable things we could use to make up something for the pot-luck.  I couldn't get what I wanted to do some of the things I was thinking on (OK, I confess, suggested by my wife in response to a cry for help) so I reverted to an old favourite - a cheeseboard, with kiwifruit as the centrepiece and therefore reflecting my country (whilst the kiwifruit are imported, I am not sure they are NZ ones, but hopefully the difference won't be noticed).

Fortunately there were plenty of cabs waiting at the entrance as I was now fully shopped out and ready to melt down.  The temperature for most of the day was in the high 20s (Celsius), as it has been for much of the time we've been here. So back to the hotel and cool off in the aircon.

Around 8 some of us gathered in the lobby to decide where to go for dinner.  A sushi restaurant was suggested so we piled into a couple of cabs and headed downtown. Once there we were ushered into a private room with a sunken pit for our legs so we effectively sat on the floor (on cushions, thank goodness!). We had their version of all you can eat with sashimi, sushi, and various cooked dishes.  It was all very good but the second plate of sashimi plus some other dishes weren't attacked with the same gusto as the earlier dishes.  We soon ran out of steam and slowed down. Eventually we did justice to most of it (although we passed on the ice cream and caramel sauce) and I think everyone enjoyed the meal.  After a long wait for our taxis (our original order got lost) they turned up, we turned for the hotel and soon I'll turn in.

#ibmcsc brazil

Work Day Fifteen - End of Week 3 - Successes and Disappointments (Sucessos e decepções)

End of the third week with one more to go!  This morning we worked through the master presentation which includes the bulk of the material we've generated over the last 10 or so days and finalised the remaining changes we think are required.

We then, for the first time, reviewed in detail the end to end presentation we've built to deliver to two special interest groups - potential funders and the NGOs - which summarizes much of the 80-odd slides in the master deck into 15 or so slides - no mean feat!

After that we reverted back into working on our individual components for the rest of the morning, taking a slightly later lunch break than normal.

In the afternoon we had a key meeting arranged with the Secretary of the Social Development and Work function in the Uberlândia Council.  Here, that's a council function as well as that of the Federal Government's - I am not quite sure yet how they split it - and the Secretary is an elected position, halfway between what we would recognise in NZ as a Chairman of a particular Council Committee and the salaried council servant in charge of a particular department. The meeting started off being scheduled for 2pm, was moved to 3, then got pushed to 3:30.  We arrived at the council building around 3:15, where Karen met up with one of her fellow workers before we moved upstairs to wait for the Secretary.  When we got up to the top floor Gustav, one of our interpreters, was there and we'd brought the others with us so it was time for a team photo with all the interpreters (as they worked different shifts we hadn't all been together at once before, but now the exams are over they can be more flexible).

Karen and associate

With our interpreters - Izadore, Gustav and Mariana

We had time (plenty as it turned out!) to look around the building which in fact is in two large blocks joined by short walkways.  The roof line was particularly interesting as it is in corrugations of tiles - in NZ corrugated iron is a favourite roofing material but I don't think I've seen corrugated tiles before. Also of interest was that the ends of the corrugations are open to the outside, so that the temperature inside will be influenced very strongly by that outside.  We thought this might be a way of keeping the block cool, with the cooler air coming in from below and exiting through the roofline. The centre is like an atrium with a very large empty internal space and the offices built around the edge. Quite an interesting building.

Corrugated tiled roof

Internal atrium

Roofline open to the outside

Entrance to Secretary's office

Unfortunately the Secretary was delayed at a prior meeting (I gather this quite often happens) and he arrived back around 4:45 and had to see someone else (his 3pm meeting) first.  However I think it was around 5 we were ushered into his office, having accepted a 15 minute meeting now against the option of a longer meeting next week.  We had a good discussion and in fact he gave us longer than planned, delaying his next meeting (with the Mayor) by a few minutes whilst he finished off our questions.  He was very interested in what we were doing and after he left one of his assistants interviewed us about what we were doing and how we were enjoying Uberlândia and so forth.  I believe that may go into the internal journal.

In the Secretary's office, he is second right, listening to Laerte translating for us

 After that we returned to the ONG CASA office to review the stakeholders presentation with Laerte.  There he gave us the disappointing news that the presentation to the business association was not going to happen as the Mayor was attending the association meeting for another reason so they had to bump us.  He also warned us that the planning for the meeting on Tuesday was behind schedule so the invites would only go out over the weekend.  We discussed the value of a short notice and acceptance period, meaning many might not attend, versus delaying it a week or two.  He's going to discuss that as part of a SEDE team meeting on Saturday but I fear we may lose that one too.  On the positive side he seemed to like what we've done and it will be of use to him in the further promotion and development of SEDE even if we aren't here to do it.

Another latish evening, getting back to the hotel at 7:50 in time for a very quick change to assemble for an 8pm dinner group.  We went to a Mexican restaurant in the city. The chef was introduced to us after we'd placed our orders - he was a real Mexican so I think they wanted to impress us we were getting the genuine article. The food was good when it arrived but the service, particularly the bar service, seemed a bit slow.  Half of the group still hadn't had their drinks by the time the food was served.  Fortunately the beer drinkers were well looked after and fresh bottles appeared in an instant.  I tried one that had been recommended but was quite hard to find - Devassa.  It was good. It had a great "politically incorrect" icon on its label and the top of the cap. You'll see what I mean.  Kiwi readers should understand the irony of this against our advertising code.  

After a good meal some of the party went on to a bar/night-club called London which actually looked (and sounded) pretty good but I decided to be boringly sensible and returned to the hotel with another team member who also wanted an early night.

And that was our day!

#ibmcsc brazil

Work Day Fourteen - All work and no play (Todo o trabalho e nenhum jogo)

And about time too I can hear some people say!   He's surely having far too much fun in between the work.

We didn't do that much more work than normal today but there was a distinct lack of interest in going out for a meal and a drink tonight - perhaps something to do with some of the team (not me) being out late last night practising their dancing moves.

Chi's laptop is still with the IBM technician so Karen very kindly lent Chi her own laptop.  The day was spent in working on our deliverables and overall we have made good progress.  I'd say the main document is now around 90% complete.  We had a good review of it with Laerte this afternoon, following which we made some updates and sent him a copy for more in-depth review.  He seemed pretty happy with it after our walk-through.

We've started work on a much reduced and more targeted presentation which Laerte has asked that we give to two groups - a business association on Monday (possible funders) and a meeting of people interested in the third sector on Tuesday (possible customers).  The third sector is the the voluntary or community sector (also known as the non-profit sector) as opposed to the public (government) and private (business) sectors, and covers all the NGOs with whom most of the larger team is working.

Laerte gave us a copy of the advertising poster for the latter meeting today.

The title reads (thanks to Google Translate - what a great tool - why didn't we have that when I was struggling through second form French)

We change the way we think about changing the world.  We will participate in the second round of formation and development for the third-sector.

The red arrow saying Palestras (lectures) is pointing straight at a blue box (very appropriate) which says 

Special participation. A team of international consultants from the global firm IBM.  

So we are a headline act!  Our 15  minutes of fame is about to happen - mind you, shared amongst the four of us that's only 3m 45s each.  Still, better than nothing.

After we saw that I'd say there was a more focused atmosphere in the room - we have an immovable deadline.

Karen took us home a bit early as she had an appointment to go to so we arrived back at the hotel at the same time as some of the others.  At the time everyone seemed interested in going out around the usual time of 8 but when the hour arrived people had gradually decided they were too tired or had too much work to make the time. In the end three of us went across the road to the Pizzeria which was doing "all you can eat" pizza and pasta for R$18, or around NZ$11-12.  And it was good too - a little more like the pizza we are used to in NZ except they don't use tomato sauce. Lots of nice fillings and some good dessert pizzas to finish - a delicious banana one and one covered in chocolate sprinkles. When we got there around 8:30 it was fairly quiet but by the time we left an hour or so later it was filling up - lots of large family groups with young children.

Before dinner I had time to catch up with my wife on Skype on what was happening at home so that was another plus for the day.

#ibmcsc brazil

Work Day Thirteen - Unlucky for some (azar para alguns)

When we got to the office this morning Chi said she'd been having problems with her laptop.  She thought it might be due to low power so she borrowed a transformer and plugged it in, then booted up.  After whirring and clunking for much longer than normal the blue screen of death appeared.  Several attempts were made to get past this but all failed miserably. So much for having four highly experienced IT professionals in the team!  In fairness to myself and my fellow professionals we deal as infrequently with laptop issues (and as unsuccessfully as you can see) as most other people.

After a number of calls for help to various people Chi was able to get hold of the local IBM Branch Manager in Uberlândia, Mauro Holtz, and he was very helpful.  He advised that they did have a technician at the branch but they weren't around just now, however she should drop her laptop in and the technician will have a look at it later. So in the afternoon she went round to IBM Uberlândia and did that. Tomorrow we'll find out if we remain one laptop down, but we hope not.  It will make a difference to our productivity, quite apart from the traumatic effect on Chi of being "cut off" from all the usual tools and files we carry around with us.

IBM Uberlândia

Mariana arrived in with good news from her exam, she felt it had gone well. She missed out on lunch with us today as she is now catching up with her life following long periods of study. When Izadore arrived in the afternoon she brought us some sweet treats.

Izadore explaining to Michael what the sweets are

On the left is a sweet and chewy fudge, on the right a nutty fudge, both excellent!

Amped up with our sugar fix, we got stuck into completing some of the documentation we will leave behind us, and have got 80 or so pages together now and reasonably complete.  We have a couple of other presentations to get ready for Monday - substantially based on what we have already done but with enough tweaking required to tailor it for the expected audience as to require a reasonable amount of work. Tomorrow we hope to go through the material with Laerte who wasn't able to make it in to see us today.

The bad luck didn't stop at Chi's laptop unfortunately.  It was a fairly busy afternoon so I wasn't able to check the America's Cup site until I got back to the hotel and how disappointing was that result!  Not that I suspect anyone here is aware of it or cares about it.  I was very sorry to see it, but it would seem Oracle Team USA are rightful winners. Grumble, grumble.

After a very good ham omelette and a consoling bottle of Brahma with a couple of the others at what has become our "local", I've been busy catching up on a little backlog of non-Brazil email. And that's my day!

#ibmcsc brazil

Work Day Twelve - Debates and Decisions (debates e decisões)

Another day of fairly full-on work on our deliverables. Enlightened late in the day when Laerte called in to review some of them with us.  It was a good discussion and I think we all took something away from it.

Earlier in the day we had our first compilation of the main components of the major presentation and this led to some long discussions as we worked through the different perspectives and expectations we all had of what we were doing. We got to the point at lunch time of having viewed everything and realised we had to revisit the audience and what we had to deliver, so we went to lunch instead.  Our excuse was that our translator, Mariana, had to get away for a final exam this afternoon so we had to have lunch in time for her to do that.  We went to our local Kilo Restaurant and as usual they had a good selection of salads, vegetables, and various meats and made dishes.  Here's the team heading for lunch.

Gone to lunch

On the way there I completed my compilation of rubbish stands.  I am not sure what they call them locally but most houses have a stand outside where they put their rubbish (usually in supermarket or large plastic bags) and the collectors collect them from there - fairly frequently like every day or two I'd say. The stand is up high, presumably to keep them out of reach of animals, and varies according to the house which owns them. I am sure Brazilians would be equally fascinated by our wheelie bins, particularly the various types we have.  They do teach recycling in the schools and certainly you can find bins for rubbish and recycling in many places but I am told the adults are not much good at it yet.

Here's a selection of rubbish stands:

The "Robust"

The "Artistic"

The "Basic"

The "Altar"

The "Substantial"

The "Middle of the Road" Literally. On the median strip.

So after wishing Mariana all the best for her exam we returned to the office and had a good discussion on audience and content for the deliverable. We then broke off into various workgroups to work our way through the changes required.  We'd just finished when Laerte arrived some time after five and we adjourned to his office to go through some material with him.

Izadora (our afternoon translator), Michael, Cecilia and Laerte

After a couple of hours it was time to head home. After Laerte dropped us off at the hotel we connected with a few of the others down the road at a barbecue place where they did serve up some very tasty meat of various forms.  Oh, and some manioc and chopped up tomatoes and peppers.  And does garlic sauce count as a vegetable for my 5+ a day?

#ibmcsc brazil

Work Day Eleven - heads down, tails up (cabeça para baixo, rabos-se)

Back into work with a vengeance - two weeks left in theory but in practice we need to have everything pretty well complete by the end of this week, as we have presentations to interest groups on Monday and Tuesday next week.  No trips planned for this coming weekend, we might need the time.

The day was largely spent individually, working through the various components of the presentations we've agreed to do. From time to time we'd break off for a discussion on some finer point but for much of the day the only noise was keyboards being tapped and Karen on the phone.

Around 4:30 Laerte called in, apologising he could only stay for thirty minutes (as often happens this turned into an hour which was good for us).  We walked him through our early versions of the deliverables and had a pretty good discussion with him about them.  He's coming back tomorrow to finish off as he really did have to leave before we were fully done.

We headed home around 6:30, which is early for us but we wanted to try and get dinner in before the team meeting at 8.  Some people like going out after but I have to say I've found going to bed on a full stomach a good way of not sleeping well. So we had some food across the way and got back just after 8 to find everyone waiting for us - most unusual, we've come to expect things to start 10-15 minutes later than the agreed time!  However we weren't last.

We all had a good discussion on our various projects and also the activities of next week, when we do our final presentations and have other meetings and activities.  Sad to think we are rushing towards the end but there you are.

And that was that for the day - and be forewarned, the next few are probably going to be similar!

#ibmcsc brazil

Hey hey it's the weekend - fim de semana...

...and we are off to a pool party!  Our great organiser Sylvie, who can speak Portuguese, had arranged reservations at a hot springs resort at Rio Quente, a small town about 200 km north of Uberlândia (and slightly less than half-way to Brasilia, the capital) in an area of hot springs known as Caldas Novas, and in another state called Goiás.  Sylvie also managed to find a mini-bus able to take 17 of us there and back again. So at 8:30 we were all downstairs and reasonably well organised when the bus arrived and we loaded up.  There was the odd dash back to the room by some who had forgotten some essential item but we made it away in reasonably good time.

The drive up was very pleasant and we saw a lot of the Cerrado on the way.  After around an hour and a half we pulled off the road at a gas station which had a small cafe and shop attached where we were able to freshen up and buy some supplies.  One of the residents was wandering around with a rabbit (no, I don't know why) which quickly became a photo-prop!

The Cerrado and hills in the distance

Our mini-bus and the cafe

Hajira and Xuemei with a local publicity-seeking rabbit

After another hour and a half or so we arrived at our resort hotel.

Hotel

The rooms were really apartments with 3 or 4 to an apartment - I shared with 3 others in a two story apartment - we had the room with the balcony on the left and the room above it.  In the morning the whole thing was very warm but the upper mezzanine room was very warm indeed.  I had a lower room which was more than warm enough, even the sheet was too much!

Our apartment block

We checked out the view from the front of our block and then went and had lunch, as it was well past 1.

View to the hills and overlooking the hotel pool

After lunch we got ready for the water park - Hot Park it was called - and checked out the map before catching the regular free shuttle bus to the park

Hot Park and Resort Map

From here on this blog is photo free until I get to the return journey, as I decided water and cameras don't mix too well.

The bus quickly took us to the park and we had a wander round (all 17 of us) until we found a spot that looked like a good gathering place.  7 of us then decided we'd hit the main attraction first, the giant water slide.  It was a bit like one of those maze puzzles - we could see it (it towered above the park), but we couldn't find a way to it.  Eventually we gave in and someone who could speak Portuguese asked someone for directions.  We were walking on very hot rough concrete in bare feet so we were pretty glad to finally be climbing the tower to the entrance, which was the mouth of a very large piranha.  Passing through this portal we slid down (feet first on our backs as instructed) and went through a series of twists, turns and steep drops until we shot out at the other end into a pool of water.  Great fun and certainly the tallest and most exciting water slide I've ever been on. We did it a couple of times (it was a long walk and a steep climb each time) and then went in search of the next ride.

This was the half-pipe - a two person inflatable raft dropped onto a near vertical wall which then sloped down and up into a similar wall on the other side.  The first time I was in the back and we almost made it to the top of the other side, and that was fun enough. The second time I was in the front and that was truly heart-stopping because when you started off and went over the edge it looked like you were just going to plummet to the foot of the slide, especially as the first 3 metres was effectively free fall.

We sampled a number of other rides - slides with/without tubes and various other options - and had a great time.  I was exhausted!  At least I made up for my last two weeks of relative physical inactivity.

After relaxing a bit at the gathering place we all then set off to the next attractions which were the hot pools themselves. There is a tier of pools starting with the one the springs come into and these then cascade down thorough a range of cooler pools.  All the pools (which were quite large) had a bar conveniently built into them and both pools and bars were very busy. When we checked in at the hotel we were given a tag with a chip in it. As well as opening the door to the apartment the chip could be used instead of money - you just handed over your tag and the cost was charged to that. We sampled our way through bars and pools, or pools and bars if you prefer, to the top level over the next few hours, arriving at the top around 11pm. Some of the group took off shortly after that and around midnight or so I decided it was time for me to leave the party - I could see it was going to last far longer than I could - and head home.  No-one else was ready to go so I headed off by myself.

I followed the signs to the buses and found two there. I checked out which one was leaving next with one of the drivers and got on. The driver got on, along with a few other passengers and away we went.  The route wasn't the same as the bus we'd taken there and eventually we got to a large hotel where everyone else got off. The driver turned and looked at me and I thought, hmmm! After I indicated I didn't understand what he said to me he indicated we should go into the hotel. There they checked my tag and worked out which hotel I should be at. I then had a chat with the chief receptionist in English who very politely pointed out that I had got the wrong bus, but the bus that I was on would go out of its way to drop me back to my hotel.  And next time could I please make sure I got on the right bus.  Fair comment! When the driver and I got back on the bus there were maybe half a dozen other passengers waiting on it but when the driver explained what he was about to do they all got off.  I can only imagine what he said!  So I had a solo bus ride home to my hotel, and thankfully crawled into bed.

The next morning I was somewhat cheered up when I found out I wasn't the only bus challenged person in the team - the earlier group to leave had done exactly the same thing only when they got found out they were dropped back to the correct bus stop rather than taken home!  I have to give the  resort 10 out of 10 for looking after its customers.

Checkout the next morning took a long time so by the time we were through those who had thought about going back to the park went off the idea and stayed around the hotel pool.  I went off with a small group for a wander round the town.

View down one of the shopping streets

The group gradually diminished as it got hotter so it was only me and four of the ladies of the party, who were in search of gifts to take home, that were left at the end. Some of the ladies decided the Brazilian version of what we call a jandal - a Havaiana - were ideal and bought them literally by the dozen.  The local shop-keepers were delighted!

Eventually we finished our shopping and wound our way back to the hotel where we joined the pool loungers until our bus came around 3:45.

Pool lounging

Whilst waiting outside the front of the hotel I heard a lot of noise from some nearby trees and went looking to find these two.

Noisy neighbours

On the trip back I was able to capture a view of a large dairy factory There didn't seem to be a lot of cows around and those you see don't look particularly well fed (the grass is fairly brown and seems scarce) but obviously they must collectively produce enough to keep this large plant busy.  I suspect Fonterra is safe enough for a while.

Italac milk factory

 Once back, around 7 I was able to squeeze in a skype session with my wife before heading out to dinner - most of us had skipped lunch and had just had some snacks so were fairly hungry.  The ever-helpful Larissa turned up and suggested a pizza place downtown so around 12 or 13 of us headed there and enjoyed the Brazilian version of pizza - they don't use a tomato base and make up for that by doubling the amount of mozzarella (probably from the factory above) and also turning the edge of the base up so it forms a lip and they can add more topping without it sliding off. They were very good and came in all flavours - for a group like ours it was a flat rate "all you can eat" deal and we gave it a good shot, finishing up with chocolate and strawberry pizza (minus the mozzarella) for dessert.

Then back home to prepare for the morning and climb wearily but happily into bed - a great weekend and all our thanks to Sylvie for organising it for us.

#ibmcsc brazil

Work Day Ten - another day in the office - mais um dia no escritório

After two weeks we are now all well acclimatised and settled in although there seems to be a bit of a cold going round the team - Cecilia was suffering a bit today.

Today was progress review day (only a project manager could get excited by that) and it looks like we are making good progress with no major blockages at this stage.  I know I shouldn't say that because I am tempting the fickle finger of fate to find a fault in our forecast. Or create one!

We managed three interviews, two of which were out of the office in the afternoon.  We decided to split the team for those and Michael and Chi went to them, with Cecilia and I staying at the office.  I made good progress in the afternoon analysing the other interviews and preparing some initial materials from them.

I am very impressed by how the better-off Brazilians are willing to spend time and money to support their less well-off countrymen and women directly, rather than leave it to the government. This seems to apply also to companies and other organisations. I get the impression that it suits the government (federal and local) to provide support indirectly through funding the NGOs, or charities as we would know them in NZ, rather than have the direct beneficiary relationship that we are used to. I am not in a position to say whether this ends up with a better or poorer result but I do see that it probably ends up with a more personal relationship being established.  One of the challenges is there are different NGOs for different causes so any one family group may need help from a multiple of NGOs - pregnant women, babies, children, young adults, old people, as well health and physical and substance abuse related ones (to name only a few causes - I am told there are 338,000 NGOs in Brazil, looking after 1.5 million beneficiaries).

Dinner at the local Chopp (a Chopp is a 250-300ml glass of draught beer with what I would consider a generous head), which came well recommended.  I enjoyed another serving of filet mignon in gorgonzola sauce - it would probably have done two but I struggled through.  Very nice. Some of the others were heading off out to another bar but I decided an early(ish) night wouldn't be a bad idea as we have an early(ish) start tomorrow.

Most of the larger team are having a weekend away at a hot springs resort thanks to Sylvie's organisational skills and mastery of Portuguese. It is about a three hour drive, leaving around 8:30 tomorrow morning.  In Brazilian time that means if we get away around 9 we'll be doing well. That's about as much as I know for now but the hot springs are well-known here, all the locals know where we are going and say it's a great place.  So I won't be blogging for a couple of days (who said thank goodness?) as laptops and hot water shouldn't mix - well, that's my excuse anyway.

STOP PRESS

Just in, some photos of our rapelling excursion last Sunday. Unfortunately (or perhaps just as well) there aren't any of me engaged in derring do but here are a couple to get the flavour.

A view into the abyss - 60 metres down

Joel on his way down - he was the first of the team to descend

#ibmcsc brazil