Oi do Brasil!

My first venture into the blogosphere comes from Sao Paulo, Brazil. I am down here on business visiting and working with the company that handles our Latin American business. Not that anyone cares in particular, but I thought I'd give an abbreviated "play-by-play" (as Andrea likes to say).

Wednesday, April 23: A guy I work with, Mont, is going to Brazil with me and picks me up around 11:00 in the morning. I'm tired already and haven't gotten on a plane yet. In an attempt to ensure that I sleep on my overnight flight from Atlanta to Sao Paulo, I watched two different sporting events after packing my luggage and finally turned off the TV around 2:30 am. (A parenthetical side note - I was only planning on watching the Liverpool game but it ended up leaving such a bad taste in my mouth that I knew I wouldn't sleep and watched the 2nd game of the Spurs/Suns series. I'm certainly glad that game went in my favor or I may not have slept at all.) Anyway, I'm excited but not overly so as we need to pick up our passports before heading to the airport and our trip has already been delayed by a few days because of visa problems. I'd resolved not to wet my pants until actually setting foot in Brazil. Needless to say, Mont and I got our passports without any trouble, ate food designed not to give us gas at Crown Burger, and hopped on a plane to Atlanta. I'm not really a nervous traveler but I was happy to see that we were joined on our flights by 11 missionaries headed to the MTC in Brazil.

Thursday, April 24: Our flight headed for Brazil was originally scheduled to leave about an hour after arriving in Atlanta. For those of you that have never been to Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport, it is huge and if you have flights arriving and leaving from different terminals it can be quite a trial. Our flight was delayed and nobody informed us, so we ended up running across creating only to find out we could have caught a cab into town, had dinner, and still had time to spare for our flight. The lesson here, as always, nobody at the airport cares about you, unless you're traveling with families or friends.

When I finally got on the plane and found my seat I had to immediately email my travel agent and tell her thanks for getting me the most awesome seat possible in Coach. I had a bulkhead seat with enough space to stretch out my legs completely. It was as if I had lucked into a first-class space at coach prices. I popped some Tylenol PM and waited for sleep to envelop me. Unfortunately, at 3:30 am sleep still hadn't come and I resolved to put on my headlamp (with a nod to Margaret) and read my book for a few hours. Apparently that was all my body needed, a book and it had had enough, I was out before getting through the first chapter and could remember so little that I reread from the start later. Before I knew it we were being asked to raise our seatbacks and store our tray tables for our approach into Sao Paulo.

For those of you still reading, I didn't wet my pants when I landed or when we got off the plane. We got our luggage, went through customs, and met our driver. For the first time in my life one of the guys waiting in arrivals had my name on a sign, I can't deny it, it was very heady. The drive through Sao Paulo took about an hour and then the wait to check into our rooms (I forgot to request early check-in) took another hour and a half. We finally got to our rooms, showered and were ready for the day by about 12:30 local time. I managed to take a few pictures from my hotel room and have posted the best below. For those with Google Earth or even Google Maps here's the address of the hotel, Rua João Cachoeira 107, Itaim Bibi, São Paulo – SP, 04535.
One thing that I have to say before the speed of the posting picks up considerably, is that Sao Paulo is incredibly huge. They don't know for sure, but it is estimated that the number of residents in the city proper are around 12 million and the greater Sao Paulo areas contains about 21 million people. We are fortunate enough to be in a really nice neighborhood close to the office and safe to walk around in.

On Thursday, after having slept for perhaps 8 hours in the previous 48, we worked until 8:30 pm at the office and then went out to dinner until almost 11:00 pm. I was spent, Mont was having trouble getting his eyes to focus, and we finally rolled into the hotel around 11:30 pm.


Friday, April 25: For the sake of speed, we had meetings all day long from 9:00 am until almost 8:00 pm. I couldn't believe that anyone wanted to work that late on a Friday night, nor could I believe that they wanted to go out to dinner afterwards. We ate like kings (we have been eating like kings since we've got here but I'll save that for another post).

Saturday, April 26: One of the nice things about working at MarketStar is that most of the people that I work with share my beliefs. Mont and I got up early on Saturday morning and took a cab to the temple in Sao Paulo. My dad and I went 9 years ago to a session in the Sao Paulo temple and I was glad to get to go again.
A quick funny story from the temple, Mont doesn't speak Portuguese and requested a translator. He got a little headset thing to wear that simulcast the session in English. At one point he could no longer wear the headset over his head so switched to wearing it DJ style. I thought I was going to lose it a few times as I glanced over at him and saw him spinning it like he was in the club. Perhaps you had to be there but you can imagine it.

We raced back to the hotel to change our clothes so we could go out to lunch. We went to a "feijõada" with a couple of the guys and their wives at a place called Figueiro (the Fig Tree). I'll have to do a separate post for food as that restaurant deserves at least two paragraphs and pictures all by itself. To let you know how much food I ate, I didn't eat again until Sunday at lunch.

Saturday night Mont and I took a walk to scope out the church building where we were planning on going on Sunday. It was a nice change of pace.

Sunday, April 27: Sunday morning we got up and took a walk in our suits to church only to find out that the church was being remodeled. Unfortunately, I didn't bring the address or directions to any other church buildings so we walked all the way back to our hotel in our suits and the sun.

The day involved a lot of laying around the hotel room with only an interruption for lunch at a local bar and a walk in the evening. I forgot how much they love soccer here, yesterday afternoon the streets and bars were full of people excited about the local championship. It was very nice to experience that again.

Monday, April 28: Nothing to say so far, we're working and meeting all day but for those of you that are curious here are my GPS coordinates for the post (S 23° 35.2972’ W 46° 40.5084’).

Today, tomorrow, and Wednesday should be pretty much the same. I am super duper excited about Wednesday night as I fly to Rio and get to spend a few days there seeing old friends.


More to come...

Mouths of Babes

"Heavenly Father, please watch over us, for the space of many days, while our father is away."

--Abigail's prayer offered while Alec is in Brazil for 12 days (I just couldn't get over the "space of many days")

My grandmother (my dad's mother) passed away on Monday. It may sound cliche, but in many ways her death is a blessing. She was 94. And although she stayed healthy for a long time both mentally and physically, she has had to deal with many physical difficulties of age in recent years. She was an amazing woman--definitely someone to strive to emulate in many ways--so it is sad to see her go. Yet, I am also so happy thinking of the reunion between she and my grandpa who preceded her in death 14 years ago.

Some of the things I love/remember about my Grandma Larson are:

• sleepovers at her home with the other girl cousins close to my own age
• picnics in her backyard
• her beautiful violin playing
• lemon bars
• reading books with her on her living room sofa
• playing Scrabble and Uncle Wiggly
• her amazing collection of fancy dress-ups (long gloves, ornate clip-on earrings, fancy hats)
• she always stuck to the positive points when talking about someone or something
• and of course, the annual Santa Claus party

Ann Clayson Larson 1913 ~ 2008 Ann Clayson Larson, 94, our beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, passed away Monday, 14 April 2008 in Murray, Utah due to complications following a stroke. She was born 9 December 1913 at the family home in American Fork, Utah, the ninth of ten children born to Eli James and Ann Elizabeth Hawkins Clayson. Not expected to live long after birth, Ann often said that she had years of "borrowed time." Ann grew up in American Fork, graduating from American Fork High School in 1931. Beginning at a young age she studied piano and violin. Ann was a violin student of Leroy Robertson while attending Brigham Young University. Graduating in 1936 with a "Normal" diploma which allowed her to teach school, she later returned to BYU earning a BA degree in music and English. Ann served an LDS mission in the Eastern States from 1936-1938 and participated in the first Hill Cumorah Pageant. It was on her mission that she met her future husband, John Farr Larson, also an Eastern States missionary. They were married 26 June 1939 in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. They celebrated over 55 choice years together before his passing in 1994. Ann exuded a dignity and refinement on all occasions. Her proudest achievements were raising her five children, helping her husband through law school, and supporting him in his distinguished law career and as a juvenile court judge. She did this while running a model home and teaching young piano and violin students. Ann's love of music enriched the lives of hundreds around her. She was a violinist in the string ensemble Harmony Strings, which performed at various church and civic functions. She was also a member and officer in both the Alethian and Opera clubs and served as a church pianist until her passing. Ann was devoted to the Savior and His eternal plan. She gave a lifetime of devoted LDS Church service including serving on the YWMIA General Board, as a stake Relief Society counselor, and ward Relief Society president. She applied her gift with words in writing Relief Society lessons for the LDS church that were used for over 10 years. She was a hostess for 17 years at the LDS Church Office Building in Salt Lake City and served as a member of the Board of Directors of the BYU Alumni Association. Ann had a rare ability to make everyone feel important and loved. One of the great treasures of her family were the individual birthday cards she sent each year to her posterity. Each card contained a long handwritten note, expressing love to them and thanking them for all they did to help others and make the world a better place. This was a challenging feat considering her posterity now numbers over 100. Ann is survived by her five children, sons: J. Bruce Larson (Rosalie), Sandy; J. Craig Larson (Gail), Salt Lake; daughters: Ann Bailey (John), North Logan; Elizabeth Kennington (Dean), Sandy; Hatty Brown (Terry), Centerville; 56 grandchildren and 62 great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, parents, and nine brothers and sisters; a daughter-in-law Toni Larson, a step-grandson Trey Stocking, a great-grandson Benjamin Hendricks and a step-great-grandson Austin Moore. The family wishes to thank the staff at Brighton Gardens, where Ann lived the last five years, for their kindness and care and the medical staff at Intermountain Medical Center for their compassionate care of Ann during her final days. Funeral services will be held Sat., 19 April 2008 at 1 p.m. at the Salt Lake Olympus Stake Center, 2675 E. 4430 S. (45th S), Holladay. Friends may call from 6-8 p.m. Friday, 18 April 2008 at Larkin Mortuary, 260 East South Temple, Salt Lake City and Sat. 11:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. at the church prior to services. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the LDS Perpetual Education Fund.

Mouths of Babes

As I sit at the computer, Owen is composing a song on the piano. He just told me it is called, "Monsters, Come to Jesus."

Mouths of Babes

Abigail: "Mom, I think I have a cold."

Owen: "Mom, I think I have a hot!"

iFLY

A couple of weeks ago Alec's new team of co-workers went on an indoor skydiving adventure at a new place here in Ogden called iFLY. The gym we go to is in the same building, so the kids and I stopped by on our way to the gym to watch Alec and snap a few photos. Alec said it was super fun and the kids LOVED watching Alec fly.

Once

Alec and I are pretty regular watchers of the film critics, Ebert and Roeper. When they first reviewed the movie Once Alec was intrigued. Then at the end of 2007, both Ebert and Roeper listed Once as one of their top 10 movies of the year. So we watched it and L O V E D it!

{Disclaimer: We honestly didn't know it was rated R when we watched it, and found out just tonight that it was. So if you're opposed, now you know. And not to justify it or anything, but it is rated R for some F-bombs and that is it.}

Anyway, I don't want to ruin anything for anyone who may be interested in seeing this film, so I won't say too much about it, other than I really, really liked it and so did Alec. It is only about an hour and half long, and if you can't understand what they are saying with the thick Irish accents at the beginning, don't give up, it gets better. If for nothing else, you should see it for the music. And also so you can discuss the story with me.