last weekend, the other american that was here in ilha finished his internship. there was a big goodbye churrasco (bbq) at his place on saturday. there were about 30 people and food and beer for all. daniel and i made cheddar bacon cheeseburgers, and daniel also made bbq sauce to top em off. id say they were a hit... of course, we made them obnoxiously big and garnished them with onions fried in the left over bacon fat.
one guy at the bbq asked, "ou david, can you teach me how to make hamburgers?" so i showed him the hand motions required to form a patty. :-) it reminded me of my roommate asking me to flip his egg for him. or the astonishment on my roommates faces when i told them i knew how to make brownies. yea...not much culinary or gastronomic tradition here. the best thing goin here culinarily speaking is the fish! very fresh fish. and a lot of variety (similar to the fruit scene here). it comes just about any way you want it: fried, baked, raw, grilled. mmmmmmmm. this raises further questions, however, as to why nearly every meal at my house is based on beef. this fish is just begging (might i say, "dying"?) to make it into the republica pulero* diet!!! but not once have i eaten fish here at the republica.
*a republica is a group of friends who get together to rent a house.....republica pulereo is the name of my republica
so there are a whole lot of foreigners here these days. maybe 10 students doing internships through IAESTE, and an additional constituency of foreign students studying here at UNESP. however, i havent met most of them because ive been spending my time with brazilians.
i was sick most of last week, but i made it to work every day. i went to the hospital on thrusday for a free consultation. the doctor gave me one of the most powerful antibiotics available (for a sore throat and achiness, mind you). wikipedia says it's used for severe, life-threatening infections and infections that are resistant to other antibiotics. he also gave me this nice drug coctail of consisting of an anti-piretic, an analgesic, and some others goodies. that got rid of my sore throat and achiness quite nicely.
just two more weeks of internship left. then ill been heading home!
also, i now know my next destination! i will be leaving for Germany on sept 10 to do a three-month internship in Berlin! the position is at a biomedical engineering company called Biotronik. one of my best friends from RIT, Nick, is currently interning at the same company (he was the connection that set me up with the position...thanks, nick). i will be splitting an apartment with him until november, when we will both be returning to the states....nov 21.
até mais
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Boat trip on the river and beach -- foto update
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
curitiba
on thursday i left at 330pm for curitiba. i arrived there at 6am where i met up with bharbara at the bus station. bharbara's cousin and grandmother picked us up at the bus station.
during the two full days there, bharbara and i visited a lot of the attractions: jardim botanico, mercado municipal, parque tanguá, ópera de arame, and torre panoramica. the family took really good care of me. it seemed like every time i was done eating there was more food ready. haha. also on sunday there was a churrasco and a lot of the family came to the house. in the afternoon we all watched the final. i was the only one rooting for holland which ended sadly for me.
before i left, bharbara's uncle gave me a bottle of wine and her aunt gave me canned hot peppers!
so that's the short version of the weekend. the pictures tell the rest of the story. enjoy!
last nite i left curitiba at 800pm and arrived back in ilha at 1100am today. i went to the lab this afternoon, but there wasnt much activity there.
during the two full days there, bharbara and i visited a lot of the attractions: jardim botanico, mercado municipal, parque tanguá, ópera de arame, and torre panoramica. the family took really good care of me. it seemed like every time i was done eating there was more food ready. haha. also on sunday there was a churrasco and a lot of the family came to the house. in the afternoon we all watched the final. i was the only one rooting for holland which ended sadly for me.
before i left, bharbara's uncle gave me a bottle of wine and her aunt gave me canned hot peppers!
so that's the short version of the weekend. the pictures tell the rest of the story. enjoy!
last nite i left curitiba at 800pm and arrived back in ilha at 1100am today. i went to the lab this afternoon, but there wasnt much activity there.
fotos of curitiba and UNESP
jardim botânico
cultural space at jardim botânico
church in the praça tiradentes
random building
stuff for the churrasco
meat
family in curitiba
university entrance
entrance
sign
inside the campus
inside the campus
the building where i work
the lab where i work
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
first days of work
i went to campus yesterday with felipe, and the professor im doing research with wasnt there... another professor told me he would be back in the afternoon. so i went home and returned after lunch (lunch break is from 12-2).
i met professor vicente and we went to see final project presentations of some of his students. afterwards we got to talk, but it was very brief. he introduced me to the students in the lab then he showed me the projects i will be working on. for the first project i will be gathering stress data from a magnetorheological damper. the second project involves shape memory alloys to improve the stability of a structure.
before he left he also introduced me to bruno who i will be working with. i went with bruno to get 24/7 access to the builing where im working and to get a copy of the key to the lab. we got to talk for a while so he answered some of the questions i had.
today was pretty uneventful. burno and i drilled some holes in this pvc plank for a while. also since work is all in portuguese i learned lots of new words like box cutter, damper, bearing, and yield stress.
friday is a holiday so im leaving tomorrow afternoon for curitiba!
i met professor vicente and we went to see final project presentations of some of his students. afterwards we got to talk, but it was very brief. he introduced me to the students in the lab then he showed me the projects i will be working on. for the first project i will be gathering stress data from a magnetorheological damper. the second project involves shape memory alloys to improve the stability of a structure.
before he left he also introduced me to bruno who i will be working with. i went with bruno to get 24/7 access to the builing where im working and to get a copy of the key to the lab. we got to talk for a while so he answered some of the questions i had.
today was pretty uneventful. burno and i drilled some holes in this pvc plank for a while. also since work is all in portuguese i learned lots of new words like box cutter, damper, bearing, and yield stress.
friday is a holiday so im leaving tomorrow afternoon for curitiba!
Sunday, 4 July 2010
Saturday, 3 July 2010
sao paulo - presidente prudente - jales - ilha solteira. the final journey.
after campos i returned to sao paulo for a few days. the hostel i stayed at was nice but there was hardly anyone there. but i still met lots of people from brasil and the world, had a really good time, and got to know a different part of the city.
next i took a bus from sao paulo to presidente prudente. it took about 8 hours, but it wasnt so bad because i got to see a lot of the countryside which was really beautiful. i stayed with bharbara who i met through couchsurfing. i stayed with her and her famiy for two nights. i had a nice time with her and her friends. the experience was much more valuable than if i had gone alone, not knowing anything about the city. so i am really grateful for that opportunity.
on thursday i traveled to jales to complete my registration with the federal police. i left at 920am and didnt get there until 6pm because i had to catch two buses and waited about three hours in between. when i arrived in jales i found a hotel with wifi after searching for a while on foot. one night cost $17. the next morning, i got up early to go to the delegacia of the federal police. the stakes were quite high for several reasons: i had already purchased a bus ticket for 330pm to ilha solteira, the delegacia was only going to be open from 800 until 1030am when it would close due to the brasil x holland match, and i still had some tasks to complete before i could get registered. i arrived early and by 830 i left to go round up all the necessary items to complete the process. i took a mototaxi (just a guy with a bike and an extra helmet) and first went to pay the registration fee of about $100 at the banco do brasil. that was fairly straightforward and only took 15 minutes. next i went to a notary to get notarized copies of all the relevant pages of my passport. this cost about $20 and also didnt take long. lastly i went to get 3x4cm fotos. this was also quick, costing $7. i returned to the delegacia around 930. i waited a while then they took my fingerprints and gave me my official id. i left around 1020 and went to a bar to watch the match. the brazilians were angry about the loss at first, but soon after they were happy and brasilian again.
i arrived in ilha solteira around 6pm after a three-hour ride. felipe, at student at unesp, met me at the bus station. oh, this is on friday. iaeste informed me of my housing arrangements on wednesday. anyway, felipe and i went straight to my new home! thats nice to be able to say. being a tourist is tiring. living somewhere is much more pleasant. im even thinking of returning one weekend to visit.
the house is medium-sized and well-used. i think there are four other students that live here although its tough to say because the semester is just ending here and theyve all been coming and going for vacation. last night i went to the house of a friend of felipe. i met lots of people and had fun speaking lots of portuguese and learning lots of new words and expressions.
today i went to watch the argentina x germany match with some of my new friends. in the afternoon, we went to the beach of the rio parana. the surrondings of the city are really beautiful. theres water everywhere you look and watching the sun set along the river at the foot of the hidroelectric dam was great.
i think im going to have an excellent experience here and im ready to start my research on tuesday.
pictures soon....
next i took a bus from sao paulo to presidente prudente. it took about 8 hours, but it wasnt so bad because i got to see a lot of the countryside which was really beautiful. i stayed with bharbara who i met through couchsurfing. i stayed with her and her famiy for two nights. i had a nice time with her and her friends. the experience was much more valuable than if i had gone alone, not knowing anything about the city. so i am really grateful for that opportunity.
on thursday i traveled to jales to complete my registration with the federal police. i left at 920am and didnt get there until 6pm because i had to catch two buses and waited about three hours in between. when i arrived in jales i found a hotel with wifi after searching for a while on foot. one night cost $17. the next morning, i got up early to go to the delegacia of the federal police. the stakes were quite high for several reasons: i had already purchased a bus ticket for 330pm to ilha solteira, the delegacia was only going to be open from 800 until 1030am when it would close due to the brasil x holland match, and i still had some tasks to complete before i could get registered. i arrived early and by 830 i left to go round up all the necessary items to complete the process. i took a mototaxi (just a guy with a bike and an extra helmet) and first went to pay the registration fee of about $100 at the banco do brasil. that was fairly straightforward and only took 15 minutes. next i went to a notary to get notarized copies of all the relevant pages of my passport. this cost about $20 and also didnt take long. lastly i went to get 3x4cm fotos. this was also quick, costing $7. i returned to the delegacia around 930. i waited a while then they took my fingerprints and gave me my official id. i left around 1020 and went to a bar to watch the match. the brazilians were angry about the loss at first, but soon after they were happy and brasilian again.
i arrived in ilha solteira around 6pm after a three-hour ride. felipe, at student at unesp, met me at the bus station. oh, this is on friday. iaeste informed me of my housing arrangements on wednesday. anyway, felipe and i went straight to my new home! thats nice to be able to say. being a tourist is tiring. living somewhere is much more pleasant. im even thinking of returning one weekend to visit.
the house is medium-sized and well-used. i think there are four other students that live here although its tough to say because the semester is just ending here and theyve all been coming and going for vacation. last night i went to the house of a friend of felipe. i met lots of people and had fun speaking lots of portuguese and learning lots of new words and expressions.
today i went to watch the argentina x germany match with some of my new friends. in the afternoon, we went to the beach of the rio parana. the surrondings of the city are really beautiful. theres water everywhere you look and watching the sun set along the river at the foot of the hidroelectric dam was great.
i think im going to have an excellent experience here and im ready to start my research on tuesday.
pictures soon....
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