Work Day Eighteen - At last we get a chance to strut our stuff (Finalmente temos a chance de suportar nosso material)

But before we get into that...

We had a lower pressure morning for once, with Karen picking us up at noon so we could catch up on a few things.

First off was a less-rushed breakfast - there's a good selection of rolls and fillings, juices and fruits and an abundance of cakes of all sorts. Hot food is consistently scrambled eggs (known here as eggs mexican) and sliced sausage (frankfurter style) in tomato sauce.  Usually I've been having fresh squeezed orange juice, fruit (papaya, melon and strawberries for preference), and a couple of very nice small fresh rolls with cheese and meat. And green tea - there is no black tea but several choices of Matte, which I have tried but prefer the green tea.

Here's the spread (no, not my ever-growing stomach).

The fruit, juice, meat and cheese section

Cakes and rolls section

Then I caught up with my email, some work for our deliverables and some past overdue blogs (and thanks to my huge reader community for wondering why I hadn't posted for a couple of days. Well, at least one of you!)

At 12 Karen collected us and dropped us off at the kilo restaurant round the corner from the office - I think I could get used to this lifestyle...

When we finally got stuck into our work, we went through what we had to do and then broke for a small presentation to Karen and the translators, Mariana and Izadore, of some small gifts we'd brought with us to say thanks for all the help they have given us.  Karen has been amazing, ferrying us round town at all hours, keeping us supplied with drinks and nibbles and generally making life much easier for us.  Mariana and Izadore have complemented each other very well, with Mariana doing a tremendous job in "live" translation and Izadore working on translating the written word, of which there are lots! Afterwards we celebrated with some lethal varieties of chocolate mousse and cakes from MousseCake.  I've decided that when I get back I will open a kilo restaurant with a MousseCake beside it - an unbeatable combination!

The SEDE team outside the office

Our 4pm meeting with Laerte and our company representatives was cancelled due to flight issues so we worked on until around 6 when Karen took us back to our hotel for a short break before we had to go out for a 7pm presentation.  Concerned that we might fade away before we could get to our proper dinner later, she made us a big bowl of Brazilian soup which was fill of vegetables, pasta and meat. We demolished this at the hotel before venturing out again.  It was delicious! Meaty, substantial and very tasty.  I wasn't going to have three helpings but...

Karen came back for us around 6:45 to take us to our next port of call.

Our previous attempts to present our findings to a wider public had not taken place.  Laerte thought it would be a good idea if he arranged for us to address his MBA class on the practical use of some of the methods and techniques we used and which they are being taught.  So, after an introduction to SEDE from Laerte, Michael and I finally got to present to a wider audience some of our findings.  It was an interesting experience as Izadore had translated the presentation into Portuguese (and therefore I needed a copy in English of the presentation to remind me what was being said) and Mariana translated what we said into Portuguese as we went, but of course we had to remember to pause from time to let her speak.  Towards the end Laerte took over and gave her a rest but she did a tremendous job for a young undergraduate, particularly so as much of it was technical and not "normal" speech.

Michael and the class

Mariana wondering what am I about to say to test her translation skills

Laerte thinking the same...

Team with Marcel, the lecturer, at the left

Overall reception seemed to be positive and the lecturer, Marcel, thought we had provided good food for thought for his class. But will we be invited back?

Laerte had another class immediately afterwards so Karen, who had very kindly stayed in the class with us (and took most of the photos above), took us back to the hotel. There was talk of going out clubbing and dancing but I forswore such idle pursuits in favour of giving you, dear reader, an update of our life in Uberlândia.

I am not quite sure when I will be able to blog next - we have a fairly action packed couple of days and then I am away at 6:30 am local time on Saturday to the airport to start my 30+ hours journey home.  I'll be in touch!

#ibmcsc brazil