January 15, 2014

It is still very hot here but we have had a few short showers each day this week. Monday about 1:15 pm it got literally black outside and we had a pretty strong thunderstorm roll through. Most of us were already back from lunch but a few students got wet. It was the first rain the students had experienced here and the storm was stronger than usual. Monday's morning class was the last class for Prof Pedro Mello and then Prof Caron started in the afternoon. He is more of a sociologist and began covering history of Brazil only from a sociological view.

The students continue to enjoy the Portuguese course with Cristina. In the evening the students played two hours of indoor soccer with the Brazilians. We broke up into four teams and rotated teams. Then there was two Brazilian teams and then we mixed teams and the last game Jarrod got to play by himself with the Brazilian and he scored a goal!! He was elated. Jarrod played soccer in high school so he really enjoyed himself. It was good exercise for all. Part way through the evening Nina took a group of American students and Brazilian students outside and she taught them how to play ultimate frisby. If you don't know Nina plays on a national ultimate frisby team and has traveled internationally playing ultimate frisby. She gave the Brazilian students the frisby they used signed by the American students so all in all it was a GREAT evening of exchanging cultures. Tuesday was in the classroom with Prof Caron. I don't think I mentioned anything about the conversion of money. This year there is a Brazilian faculty member who will be traveling to the United States so we have been able to convert our American money to Brazilian Reals just working with him. This has saved the students the bank fees. The conversion rate is the best it has been in a long time. The rate we are getting is 2.25 which is excellent. Cristina taught the students a song as part of her session and they practiced buying clothes at the store. Last night there was a party with the OSU students and University of Missouri students who are here on a 10 day study abroad program at one of the Brazilian student's houses. The students were able to see inside a student residence and dance and socialize with others from the US and Brazil. Today we visited a brand new Hyundai car plant and Coplacana an example of a Brazilian Cooperative. We started the morning at Hyundai. No pictures were allowed but is was pretty amazing to see an extremely modern car plant observing cars being made from start to finish. There were at least 100 robots doing the welding as the cars were being assembled. I believe I remember that the plant hired 2000 employees working three 8 hour shifts. Obviously this facility has made a big impact on the economic viability of Piracicaba. They had 300 acres and had moved an amazing amount of soil for the facility plus the roads and testing area. It appears they have the capabaility to build a largter facility in the future. They are making one type of vehicle at this time and I believe the model was an HB20. You can see a group picture with the first Hyundai vehicle produced in the background signed by the employees who helped assemble it.

From there we went to Coplacana which has several facilities in South America. We watched a video on the company and the students asked great questions. On location they have a supply store, one of the best hospitals in the area, bank, cafetaria, seed and fertilizer sales and equipment for the member farmers. You can see A.J. dressed and ready to clear sugar cane and Sarah exploring in the store. You can also see the prices of dog food and cat food. We ate lunch at Coplacana and returned to the hotel early where the students had some free time to enjoy the small pool or work on their group project topic proposals which are due Friday. They enjoyed having some time to themselves.