Friday night I went to Happy Hour with 2 guys from the audit team. It was a nice way to unwind after a long week. Plus we talked about grad school and such and it's always nice to hear other peoples opinions. I also learned the history of Sao Paulo soccer. Way more then I probably ever wanted to know but later in the weekend when I got my jersey, the stuff they put on it made sense. Also, they were playing some killer videos on the screen in the bar including Bye Bye Bye by N'Sync and Mmm Bob by Hanson. Classic.
When I got back to the hotel I ran into my "hotel friend". I call him that b/c I see him all the time in the hotel. At one point we finally introduced ourselves. When he introduced himself, he said "Hi, I'm Milton. I'm an investment banker from California." I replied, "Hi, I'm Emel. I'm a supermodel from Australia." Ok, I didn't really say that but I wanted to because to me Investment Banker is just a made up profession that people use to make it sound like they make a lot of money. It probably didn't help Milton's cause that he's the second investment banker from California that I've met. But he is nice enough and we talked for a while in the hotel lobby on Friday night. And just to make things more exciting, I made up all the facts about my life. I have a pretty good imagination if I do say so myself.
Saturday was rainy so I spent most of the day inside. You don't realize how much the long hours you put in takes out of you until you actually have time to breathe. I think I took 3 naps on Saturday and still fell asleep with no problems at night. One of the guys from my audit team picked me up that night and took me to the area that is comparable to the Michigan Avenue of Chicago except that it's more in the shape of a square then a long street. We walked around for a while and window shopped. Then we went to a restaurant called Ritz where I indulged in one of the most delicous ice cream sundaes I've ever had. I ended up going for a run when I got back to the hotel to make up for it but since it had been raining and the air was cool, that was actually quite enjoyable as well.
Sunday morning, Junior, the guy that drove me from the airport to my hotel when I arrived picked me up at 10 am and took me on a little tour of the coast. We drove to a city called Santos which has a great outlook to take pictures from. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy day so the pictures didn't turn out as great as I hoped but at least I have something to remember the trip by. We then went to Sao Vicente and drove through their downtown area until we got to the ferry. We took the ferry across a little channel of water to the city of Guaruja. We had lunch there and walked up and down the beach a little bit. The whole trip took about 7 hours and the time flew by! While the beaches were lovely and the people were fun to watch, I have to say that my favorite part was when we were walking above the beach and Junior held my camera for me. Apparently people are less likely to try and grab it from him then me which makes sense. Sometimes I wish I needed a bodyguard in Midland...and by sometimes, I mean all the time.
A realization that I had in my little beach excursion is that Brazilians are human after all. I decided that Sao Paulo is like New York in The Devil Wears Prada where the people are super skinny to fit in with the fast times of city life. But then when you travel to the smaller towns like the beach towns we went to, you see that not everyone looks like a swimsuit ad. Now, I can't speak for Rio itself, but not every beach in Brazil is a topless one. And really, I noticed that women kept their tops on but wore skimpy little bottoms. I took a picture. Unfortunately it's not of the most flattering woman but in a way if proves both points I made in this paragraph. I'll be sure to post that when I get back.
Monday, one of the guys came to pick me up in the afternoon to take me shopping. After almost 6 hours, I'm almost finished with all my souvenier shopping! I got the jersey I wanted (with my last name on the back!) and some brand new Havaianas. I also got a sweatshirt to remember the trip by. I also got to try this delicious Argentinian cookie called something that sounds like "alphahora". Good things were happening on Monday! Not to mention that I got a free holiday by being on this audit!
Things to look forward to this week: We're hopefully still planning on going to a steakhouse/bbq. And we're going to a soccer/futebol game tomorrow of Brazil vs. some other Latin American country! I can't remember which one at the moment. I hope everyone had a great weekend!
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