Well, it's December here now... The weather is hot and humid, letting loose thick rain storms every couple of days. Occasionally, usually after some heavy rain, a pleasant day will come along, relaxing everyone with a mix of low humidity, decreased temperature, and light trade winds. On these days, the clouds work together to form a high ceiling that holds back the blazing heat of the sun, but allows some rays of light to hit the ground, keeping everything illuminated in a radiant gold tone. At night, the stars ride high in the night sky, scattered as far as the eye can see. In the past few weeks, the moon has become increasingly clear and details of its surface can be observed with the naked eye.
My previous job working as a buyer for an import/export company has concluded since my last post. I worked there for about a month and half before being let go and given 600 reais. My boss had trouble finding distributors for all the products I was finding, making my position useless and there was also the overwhelming language barrier. Communication was always different at that office and I never quite understood why it was so hard- At the hotel here, I wait tables and work with the kitchen staff and there is really no problem. In public, I talk to plenty of people just fine. I think that the big part of the situation was that somehow, I had just ended up with the only group of people in Brazil who never wanted to make an effort to communicate with me. Whatever the case, it was an interesting experience and another thing I can write up on my resume.
Now, with only a little bit of time left, I'm not in a hurry to find work again and plan to spend my last bit of time here, relaxing and hopefully training. All the work I've done here has yielded some good money, but good money in terms of giving me enough to play around with here, but nothing in respect to coming back again. Plane tickets, rent, etc., are just as uncertain as they were three months ago. To really make enough to come back again, I will have to rely on the jewelry trade show in February and the hopeful launch of my personal fitness training operation. For both, I put my faith in God and hope that my hard work will be rewarded.
Since arriving here I have now been an English teacher, A waiter, a janitor, a dish washer, a translator, an import buyer, and a personal trainer... Kenia's personal trainer, but whatever, that's one person right there! I've done all of these jobs here in this foreign place, slowly learning the language as I go along. My Portuguese vocabulary reflects the work I've done.. Plate, fork, knife, spoon, dessert, table, reception, kitchen, bottle, juice, beer, soda, pen, guest, food, pick up, take, pay, taxes, cargo, shipping, percentage, and all kinds of other stuff like that. It's been great. I've put so much hard work in on the ground here and earned a reputation as a diligent employee, something I think is important as I am a representative of the United States here.
Coming home in January is giving me a lot of mixed thoughts. I'll be happy to see my family. To see familiar things. Eat food I missed. Drive my truck. But I will miss here so much. I'll miss Kenia more than anything and I don't know what I'll do without her. I'll miss speaking Portuguese every day. Hearing the music in the air. Smelling the food. Being amidst a society that's so social and raw.
My previous job working as a buyer for an import/export company has concluded since my last post. I worked there for about a month and half before being let go and given 600 reais. My boss had trouble finding distributors for all the products I was finding, making my position useless and there was also the overwhelming language barrier. Communication was always different at that office and I never quite understood why it was so hard- At the hotel here, I wait tables and work with the kitchen staff and there is really no problem. In public, I talk to plenty of people just fine. I think that the big part of the situation was that somehow, I had just ended up with the only group of people in Brazil who never wanted to make an effort to communicate with me. Whatever the case, it was an interesting experience and another thing I can write up on my resume.
Now, with only a little bit of time left, I'm not in a hurry to find work again and plan to spend my last bit of time here, relaxing and hopefully training. All the work I've done here has yielded some good money, but good money in terms of giving me enough to play around with here, but nothing in respect to coming back again. Plane tickets, rent, etc., are just as uncertain as they were three months ago. To really make enough to come back again, I will have to rely on the jewelry trade show in February and the hopeful launch of my personal fitness training operation. For both, I put my faith in God and hope that my hard work will be rewarded.
Since arriving here I have now been an English teacher, A waiter, a janitor, a dish washer, a translator, an import buyer, and a personal trainer... Kenia's personal trainer, but whatever, that's one person right there! I've done all of these jobs here in this foreign place, slowly learning the language as I go along. My Portuguese vocabulary reflects the work I've done.. Plate, fork, knife, spoon, dessert, table, reception, kitchen, bottle, juice, beer, soda, pen, guest, food, pick up, take, pay, taxes, cargo, shipping, percentage, and all kinds of other stuff like that. It's been great. I've put so much hard work in on the ground here and earned a reputation as a diligent employee, something I think is important as I am a representative of the United States here.
Coming home in January is giving me a lot of mixed thoughts. I'll be happy to see my family. To see familiar things. Eat food I missed. Drive my truck. But I will miss here so much. I'll miss Kenia more than anything and I don't know what I'll do without her. I'll miss speaking Portuguese every day. Hearing the music in the air. Smelling the food. Being amidst a society that's so social and raw.
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