Day 1 - Arrival

Day 1

I arrived safely in Sao Paulo at exactly 8:04am Saturday, September 29th. Fortunately for me, I was able to sleep on the plane for six of the nine hours I was en route (those of you who know me know that I rarely sleep on planes regardless of the distance traveled). Within 15 minutes of deplaning, I had my bags in hand and cleared immigration without any real hassle. Shortly after, I spotted my driver, Luiz, waiting at the passenger arrival section of the airport with a paper sign that read “Mr. Onuwa Uzor”. I have always wanted to be that guy that had his name on a sign at the airport. I fly close to 75 segments each year and at least twice a week when I travel for work and because my clients expect me to sort my own transportation; I always see other names but never my own. There’s a proverb says “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul”…my soul was definitely sweetened. Next up?...to have my name on an iPad. Apparently that’s the new thing among limo drivers at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (using the iPad as the name cards/signs). I have lofty goals.

Approximately 45 minutes later, I arrived at my new home at the Marriott Executive Stay Apartments. It’s a small fully furnished corporate suite (1 bedroom, 1 bath and a small kitchen) with a view overlooking part of the city.

I quickly unpacked and decompressed which involved reading 24 hand-written letters from Ms. Webb and Mrs. Daniel’s students from the Atlanta Neighborhood Charter School in Atlanta, GA. I literally laughed the entire time because these eight and nine year old children were tasked with the tall order to give me advice on what to bring/do/see while I was in Brazil. These kids are also very curious as they want to know what the homes look like, if it rains constantly, and if Brazilians speak Portuguese, etc.

Below are some excerpts from my favorite letters:

“What does the writing look like?”
“Do not forget to bring a compass.”
“Don’t forget your close. [I think he meant clothes.]”
“I wanted to know if the mountain ranges were good for ‘handgliding’, but I am not saying you have to ‘handglide’.”
“Be sure to bring your suitcase and a dictionary that speaks English and Portuguese.”

Shortly after the amusing read, I hit the streets (hitting the streets will come back to haunt me in less than 24 hours…see day 2). I had learned from a colleague that stayed in this same location that a park was nearby (Park Ibirapuera) which is the Sao Paulo equivalent of Central Park. The park has a lake, a modern art museum, planetarium, soccer fields and many more attractions. My initial plan was to just walk to the park and plot my running course for my weekday runs in the morning.

However, just in case, I took a pair of soccer cleats and wore soccer shorts underneath my pants… just in case. And as fate would have it, not long after I arrived at the park I saw several pick-up games of Futsal (essentially what we in the US would refer to as indoor soccer being played outdoors) and as one of the teams needed an extra guy…I was the right man for the job. The interaction that ensued quickly alerted me that the next two months in South America will be very long unless I learn Portuguese or a majority of the 194 million people living in Brazil, learn English. Something will have to give. If I had read Tobin’s letter before I left Atlanta, I would have purchased a dictionary that “spoke” both English and Portuguese. Luckily, soccer is one of those team sports where language is not really an obstacle. Once the games starts, everyone is speaking the same language (dribble, pass, shoot, score and defend). For my fellow soccer fans, this is definitely where the football gods dwell. I consider myself a good soccer player, but here I felt like a kid playing among men when in fact I was a man playing with kids (15 – 18 year olds). I was quickly reminded why they call this the beautiful game and was awestruck watching this game that I love. Brazilians playing Brazilians is just very different from any other type of football/soccer I have ever watched.

To end my first day I came home, got cleaned up and started to come up with a game plan for the upcoming week.