On the topic of uncomfortable situations, putting myself in a foreign counties that does not speak English was a recipe for disaster. Most situations I walk into in Brazil, I have a preset list of phases in my head of what to say in Portuguese. Currently my batting average is about .333 on using these phrases flawlessly and having both parties understand. One particular situation where it did not end up it did not work out the way I planned was when I went to the TIM cellular store to recharge my phone so I could finally make calls to the United States. To provide a little exposition, walking into the store I knew my basic sentence structure from the Survival Portuguese class we took and the verb 'to recharge' and 'to activate'. I sat down and confidentially released, “Oi! Todo bem? Eu gosteria de recharragar meu cellular” or “Hi, how's it going? I would like to recharge my phone”. What ensued next was my downfall. The kind women began speaking very quickly and showed no signs of stopping. She pointed to policies of TIM on the mat sitting on the counter between us. After she long winded speech, easily in excess of 150 seconds. I had to look her in the eyes and admit defeat with, “Desculpe, no falo bem portugues. Sorry, I do not speak Portuguese well”. She then looked just as defeated as I was knowing she speech was useless. She tried to explain it in more simple terms but it only increased my embarrassment. Fortunately, Jeremy, another Associate, walked in at this moment, saw us struggling, and replied to me in English that the computers do not working correctly and that I saw come in tomorrow. This event happened a week ago. I still haven't returned.

Tuesday we went to a solar company in Campinas, Sao Paulo called CPFL. When we arrive the difference was clear in regards to our excursion to the historical downtown of Sao Paulo. When we first arrived to the historical downtown, coming out of the subway station, we were immediately greeted by beggars. From the sheer commotion and the beggars constantly interrupting us, we had to move to a different location to begin our tour as we could hear our guides. The guide constantly emphasized that the way this downtown was built was periodically building would be demolished then rebuilt. This gave the city an interest landscape of modern or refurbished buildings next to dilapidated ones. When we went to the top of the tallest building in South America in the 1920s (26 floors) and could see the city, this distinction was even more apparent. Another interesting aspect about the city was its lack of building codes. Some of the tallest buildings were windowless parking garages that tarnished the landscape.

In contrast was the CPFL Energia building. Stepping off of the bus I felt I was in Silicon Valley. CPFL had a huge building, complete was a small museum inside. It had a modern open style with many hallways exposed to the outdoors. The land surrounding the building was large fields. Clearly the socio-economic status of the two areas is apparent.

Furthermore, the difference is also apparent on Paulista Avenue. Walking to the avenue, one would find homeless people sleeping  on the streets. Each building would have a double steel fence around their driveway and fence around their house. Once on the avenue the streets are populated with middle class people shopping at the many store lining its streets. And if one were to look up, they would see the wealthiest class flying overhead. These people commute to work and travel to buildings solely in helicopters to avoid the traffic. Most skyscrapers have helipads to support them. These aspects show the distinct classes Sao Paulo is divided into.

Tomorrow will mark a week since boarding our flight to São Paulo. Since my arrival I have learned a lot about the culture and the differences between my home and here. In terms of renewable energy, São Paulo differs from the United States with its natural urban scenery, transportation choices, abundance of trash cans, price and choice of fuel, and home design.

The first visual aspect of the city that caught my eye was the shade. The entire city seemed to be in the shade as the streets were lined with a thick canopy of forest quality trees. From above, the city seems to be a forest with skyscrapers erupting out of it. This choice not only improves the beauty and natural sense of the city, but helps reflect sun otherwise adsorbed by asphalt lowering the temperature of the city. 

In São Paulo on most streets have numerous trash cans the help alleviate littering. These are emptied regularly.

My other first impression of the hostel was the openness of its design. In all places except the bedrooms were open to the environment. This allowed the breezes to cool the building without the need of energy intensive appliances such as air conditioning machines and fans. The climate of very little rain and warm days but cold nights also greatly helped this design.

Furthermore the greatness difference in energy conservation between Brazil and the United States was in the hotel. A room key was required to use the light so once someone left, power was shut off to the room. This saved countless amounts of electricity by removing the parasitic drain of off appliances while also cutting power to lights left on and AC units if the guests are not present.

Out of home design, Brazilian's choice of transportation was also much more energy efficient than drivers in the States. First, mopeds and motorcycles account for a large portion (about 40%) of the civilian modes of transportation. Moped and small engined motorcycles achieve very high MPG (>70) thus making them very efficient for travel. Second almost all cars driven on Brazilian streets are subcompact hatchbacks with small (<2L) engines. An example:

Also instead of using gas guzzling pickup trucks, Brazilians used Volkwagen Type 2s as the primary mode of transporting large items. Type 2s have a tiny 50HP engine that makes them extremely efficient.

A Volkswagen Type 2

Overall nearly all vehicles driven on the roads are much more efficient than vehicles in the United States. The downside to Brazil's transportation is that many people drive. The cities are littered with parking garages and the streets are clogged with cars. The further the problem, since traffic is abundant, the wealthy commute by helicopter with is extremely inefficient mode of transportation and very poor for the environmental.

The last aspect of Brazil that aids its renewable automotive field is its use of ethanol. Ethanol is cheaper than gasoline and available at all gas stations. This leads to financial incentives to people to buy cars that run of ethanol.

PRE-ARRIVAL BLOG:
         Before I land in Sao Paulo I am constantly wondering what awaits me. Currently my knowledge of Brazil stems from the cultural points in my high school Spanish class, the brief information about the pre-departure meeting, and current events. In high school we discussed briefly (as Brazil does not pretain too much to the Spanish language) the cultural aspects of Brazil. Main points were the popularity of Samba dancing and soccer. I have heard that Brazilians are laid back and very easy going. From the current events I have heard that there is a raising middle class that are protest the government. The coastline is very developed but inland is very rural. Poverty and crime still plague Brazil more so than other developed countries.
          One of the most exciting and intimidating parts of my trip is the culture shock. I have not left the North American continent and have never felt culture shock before. I imagine at first I will be very enthusiastic about the language barrier and cultural change, but feel a couple days in I may become frustrated with my lack of communication with the Brazilian citizens.
          Overall though I am very excited to experience new culture. I firmly believe that new cultures opens one's eyes to different lifestyles, soceities, problems, and ways to solve problems. I am most interested in seeing the modes of transportation most common used, the different eating schedules and food, and what Brazilians do for fun/hobbies.