AltSci Brasil

Sunday was so different than any other day. Bicycles were abundant, most shops were closed, and São Bento Metro station was closed. But that isn't close to all. I went to a samba party in República and afterward (I was more tired than I have ever been) we went to a Carnaval preview party in Anhangabau by Vai Vai. It was so incredibly packed that I could hardly believe it. It filled the street for a block and a half. It was at the bottom of a large hill, so you could hear and see it for blocks despite the buildings.

Carnaval is not universally loved however. It is mainly a thing for lovers of samba and lovers of big crowded parties. Who doesn't like samba? Many paulistas (people from São Paulo) have specific musical tastes, like anywhere. Some people just don't like big crowds. I can sympathize, I don't like crowded dance floors any more than they do.

I'm thinking about going to the beach next week. That probably means Rio de Janeiro or Florinopolis. It will be a pretty big diversion but I'm not getting a lot done in São Paulo.

Javantea out.

Customs in Brasil is way easy. They confused me for a moment speaking too quickly but switched to English when I failed to respond. They weren't impressed by my clif bars. The bus to Paulista is hourly and 30 real. A cab would have been sixty in comparison. The bus would have held my bike, I'm regretting leaving it in Seattle now.

It's warm and wet in São Paulo now and the forecast is wet too. I need a plastic bag to put my stuff in because my bag isn't waterproof.

I'm glad to be back, but I must say that I'm wondering why I'm here. To learn, to make friends and to improve my life by using my vacation wisely.

I forgot: headphones, headset, toothpaste. I planned to get towel, sunscreen, and razor here. I'm pretty smelly right now, so I regret not buying a cheezy towel in New York.

The bus took the 5 of us to República, then to Augusta, then to MASP. I got off at MASP at midnight and walked directly to the hostel. There aren't very many people at Paulista, but tons in Augusta. That makes some sense, but it was different last year in November.

Order of business: buy towel, shower, get food, sleep, hack.

Surprising to me is that during the trip I read an incredibly technical math/physics textbook on the plane and was able to understand a few sections. What does the math look like that I'm learning? α|a> No the pipe and greater than are not operators. α is a complex number and |a> is a complex vector. The scalar product (multiplication) of two of these vectors looks like this <b|a>. Yeah, it's not that difficult, just way too abstract for the weak physicist.

Don't forget to visit AI3.

Javantea out.

I'm headed back to São Paulo, Brasil for a month starting on January 16, 2013. See you there! If you're reading this, please visit my new website AI3 Javantea out.

I want to go back to Brasil next month for H2HC which is a simultaneous bilingual security conference. I've heard good things. It seems unlikely that I'll make it. I have a lot to do this fall and that would eat a month. It seems more reasonable for me to spend a month in January. You know what that means.

A month in Brasil! I am looking forward to it so much. I'm listening to Brazilian Portuguese everyday and I hope to learn enough to understand when I listen to a fast conversation. How do you do that? It's difficult. My plan is to immerse myself before I go. I'm going to read 1 paragraph per day and I'm going to listen to 2 hours of Brazilian Portuguese per day. That might not sound like a lot, but when you're working and your brain feels like it's stretching to soak up more information, 3 hours is going to be really difficult.