Lost in Translation

Between our limited Portuguese and the limited English of some of our new Brazilian friends, we've experienced quite a few linguistic faux pas in the last two weeks. One of my experiences involves my job title – Program Coordinator at the George Bush (o pai) Presidential Library Foundation. Evidently, "program coordinator" means something drastically different here. In Brazil, there are "program girls," an occupation that is illegal in the majority of the U.S. (except maybe in Las Vegas), and the "program coordinator" is the person who coordinates the activities of the program girls. There have been a few surprised expressions and follow-up questions regarding what "programs" I coordinate. Thankfully, the bio in our printed brochure goes into a bit more detail regarding my job description! We've had numerous other minor miscommunications, and we're keeping a journal of the ones that aren't necessarily appropriate for blog posting.

This weekend has been very relaxing, and I've had a chance to catch up on a bit of sleep. After a dinner of pizza and vinho with my family on Friday evening, I was able to sleep in on Saturday morning. I fixed my own breakfast, wandered downstairs, and managed to find the gym on my own. My family lives on the 19th floor of an apartment building, and the complex has beautiful landscaping, a swimming pool, and even a pond with turtles. It's been interesting to see that most of the places we've visited (schools, apartment complexes, etc.) are gated and have security guards around the clock. At this apartment complex, the guards even open the car door and look in the trunk before allowing entry through the gate.

After a good workout in the gym, we had a traditional Brazilian lunch of feijoada (black beans and rice) that my family typically eats on Wednesdays and Saturdays. And then I had a few hours of rest before joining the rest of the group at a pizza party with the Liberdade Rotary Club and then a techno balada. It's very common here for parties to last until the morning hours, and then people sleep until noon, have lunch in the mid-afternoon, and then have dinner sometime between 9 and 11 pm. It may be tough to switch back to my 8 am work schedule in a couple of weeks!