Cheguei

Finally a chance to write. I'm here! I arrived safely... both of my flights were delayed for technical problems while everyone was seated on the plane, so the trip ended up being about 20 hours. But Davi and Julia were waiting for me at the airport which made everything better. And all 1,000 pounds of my luggage arrived safe and sound as well.
Ah, so much to explain! I'll start with...
Sao Paulo: I'll be there tomorrow to work out some problems with my visa. From the plane it's the biggest thing I've ever seen. A complete monstrosity. Can't wait.
Sao Jose dos Campos: Is pretty big and spread out. It's an interesting fusion of industry mixed with sub-tropical Southern Brazil-- picture lots of buildings with bright green grass in the background. I've only been downtown a little bit. It's not exactly a party city (BsAs, Sao Paulo, Madison) but I still like it. I have quite a while to get to know it.
ITA: A Brazilian public engineering school... I stayed in the dorms for my first couple nights. It's in the middle of a military base so one needs a special ID to enter/exit. It's nice because it's located in the center of the city-- their dorms are pretty cool too and there's also a pool and a place to BBQ (of course, we are in Brazil!)
AIESEC @ ITA: So far my Brazilian AIESEC hosts have been amazing. So far most of them are guys in their early 20s who attend ITA (except for Julia!)... Davi, Julia and Marcelo are spending their summer break in the dorms to take care of us trainees, so you can imagine that they're pretty awesome/sweet. So far I've met other trainees from: Nigeria, Spain, Venezuela and Peru, hopefully going out with them later tonight.
My Brazilian family: On my third day here Marcelo and I drove over to Vista Verhde, a neighborhood about 10 min/car outside of downtown to meet my Brazilian host family. They kick serious ass, Davi totally hooked me up. I have a Brazilian Dad, Mom, brother (Ricardo- 25) and sister (Regiane- 20). The parents speak a tiny bit of English-- Ricardo speaks Spanish and a little English and Regiane speaks English. I think Regiane is the only person I've ever met that actually adores the English language (so cute). So I'm practicing English with her quite a bit but otherwise conversing in Portuguese with everyone else... it's nice to have Regiane around if I ever get really stuck trying to explain something.
This family is so nice. They keep repeating that the house is now "my home" ("e sua casa")and that I'm completely welcome to everything ("fica a vondade"). We also have a live-in maid, Marta, who is also part of the family. She's been living with them for 25 years and is now Regiane's Godmother. Marta is now taking night school and eventually will enroll in nursing classes.
The day after I met my family and saw the house they invited everyone to their country house for a churrasco (Brazilian BBQ) (everyone= 10+ friends from AIESEC). The house is about 15 min outside of the Sao Jose, overlooking rolling hills and complete with a pool, futebol area, open space for eating. Everyone seems to enjoy drinking a lot-- both my host dad and sister got thrown in the pool, clothes and all. Imagine me on my fourth day in Brazil, attending my first churrasco with Brazilian friends, swimming and drinking caiparinha. Yeah. I like it here.
My job: I've visited the site twice but haven't yet met my boss because she's still on vacation. The office is in an big, open part of an older government building (looks like a run-down mansion)... there's lots of light and windows. It looks like the work situation will be great. It's super interesting. They don't actually perform the surgery at the site but in a hospital about 5 hrs away, so where I'll be working is for administration and rehabilitation. It consists of some work areas and then examination rooms and also play rooms for the kids. Everything is really well thought-out-- example: when a baby is born with a cleft-lip, the President of AAFLAP (my boss) visits the mother in the hospital to begin counseling/talking about rehab. A lot of babies with cleft lips/palates have trouble breathing, swallowing, speaking, etc. I start work this Monday and have lots of literature about the org to read in the mean time.
Portuguese: it's everywhere. I'm in heaven.
I am having some minor complications: visa issues, cell phone. For the most part everything is going absolutely great. It's so awesome here. So far, Manfred was right ;)

No joke: I live on Elvis Presley Street.


Entrance to the house.

Maria (Venezuela), Ines (Spain), Marcelo (AIESEC @ ITA). More to come. Promise.