agora eu sou são paulo - now i am são paulo

so just completed my first 24 hours in my new home city...and so far so good

big thanks to maria who helped to make sure i actually got to the airport and on the flight :)

a driver took me from the airport to my hotel/apartment where i will stay for the first month courtesy of the bank...marcio jappe stopped by to catch up and today after a nice sleep in and relaxing afternoon i went for a wander and managed to find the office which is a 30 minute walk from where i am staying

on the way i realised that avenida paulista will provide me with a lot of entertainment as i saw both elvis presley and baywatch-babe impersonators, not to mention many animated discussions along the way

when i got the office i thought i would just drop in to say hi to the people from expat centre and my new team....even though they weren't expecting me i got a really nice welcome and already starting to try and chat with them in portuguese - and i think they will be great teachers. coincidentally it was the friday in the month when the bank provides birthday cakes for all of those who had their birthday that month - slightly different to the dutch style where you have to bring your own cake and normally only more senior people end up getting gifts ;) it was such a nice atmosphere with everyone stopping work and singing loudly and proudly for the birthday boys and girls :)

i will start work on monday