March 2, 2011

Walked the three blocks to work this morning and saw some green PARROTS flying about in the trees overhead. This is a tropical place and it must be the rainy season now, for it has rained ever since I arrived. My new umbrella is nice and big but…it takes a lot of practice to manoeuvre the crowded sidewalk with a wide umbrella. I think it is a learned skill, I didn’t acquire yet. A group of us from the office went to lunch at a buffet restaurant. Yum, so many good and different things there, I love the food here. Tonight I ate at the hotel restaurant, language barriers is annoying sometimes. I ordered what I thought the waiter understood was bread to go with the soup I ordered. Got a big plate of cheese, just what I want to avoid. Oh well soup was good but enough for 3 people.

The restaurant isn’t very busy so later on I went back and sat down there to surf the web. My room has terrible internet wireless.  I got a conference call from Susan and her sister Louise. Three way call but costs nothing. Great to talk to them and my buddy Frank at the bar didn’t mind one bit.

Marble is everywhere, where we use wood they use marble. My table top in my room is marble, the window sills, the door trim, all counter tops, floor tiles, you name it its marble. The climate her is certainly a lot less humid than in Macae, (my clothes actually are dry). It is also not as hot, the temperature is just right, my feet still aren’t cold.

I get the weekend off and also all the carnival time off. I’m on vacation till Wednesday or Thursday. Then I go to visit a school near Sao Paulo. Now my schedule is changed again, I get to go home the 12^th as originally planned, we finished everything here fast.