o que estamos fazendo aqui?

Its probably time for me to write, probably past time, actually. Here is a question and answer session that I held with myself, hopefully this helps out some?

What are you (two) doing down in Brasilia, Brazil?
Well, I think some(all) of you know that my company was able to land a project down here and I was given the task of bringing the project to fruition. The process went something like this:

Manager -> Entire consulting team: We have an opportunity in Brazil for 6 months let me know if you are interested. 

Brett -> Natalie: Want to move to Brazil for 6 months?

Natlie->Brett: YES! but we need to bring the dogs

Brett -> Manager: I'm interested but I would need to bring my wife.

Manager -> Brett: We are going with someone else

Brett -> Natalie: We didn't get it.

Fast forward almost 2 months.

Manger -> Brett: Are you still interested?

Brett -> Manager: Yes but I will be bringing my wife.

Manger -> Brett: OK.

And there you have it, we packed up and headed to Brazil. You can read about our trip on our other posts. (Start here)

So what exactly is it that you are working on?
I'll try my best to explain. I'm working with another consulting company who helped my company land the deal. As an additional duty for the other consulting company they are helping translate the Portuguese to English for me, which is nice.

We (my company and the other consulting company) are working with the organization that regulates telecommunications in Brazil. The reason the contract came about is because Brazil will be hosting the World Cup next summer (hence the World Cup banner at the top) and FIFA has asked Brazil to meet certain requirements. Some of these requirements are telecommunication based.

Just answer the question! What are you working on?

My job will be to help our customer implement a risk management and network monitoring solution. 

What??

Essentially FIFA wants Brazil to be able to anticipate problems in their telecommunications networks and then when a problem happens, have a resolute way to deal with it. 

Okay, I think I get it... so, how's it going so far?

Good question... since I've been down here, its been rough from a project perspective. The week before we arrived our project went on hold. The primary competitor and the people we beat out to win the contract have essentially sued (my lack of legal knowledge of the Brazilian goverment is going to hinder me here) stating that we cheated? to win the project. This has put a complete stop in communications with our customer and we are really unable to move forward. 

At first we heard the project would resume April 29th, but as of Monday we have heard a decision may come May 29th. The information we got did not sound too enthusiastic about the results... I am hoping that we get a decision soon because we were hoping to have a Proof of Concept (POC) system up for the Confederations Cup. As an asside the Confederations Cup is a small 8 team tournament that takes place the year before the World Cup. It is essentially the "dry run". The first game is June 15th. 

Thankfully this has absolutely nothing to do with me and is a complete legal matter. In fact, the work I have done for this project has received some high praises from my management. 

That sounds like good and bad news all mixed up. Are there any issues if the POC doesn't get completed by the Confederations Cup?

Another good question. I'm not sure. From what I have gathered the focus is really on the World Cup so as long as we can meet the project requirements in time for that, then we should be OK. I secretely dream that this legal dispute lasts for such a long time that it forces FIFA to move the World Cup to the USA. The USA is always the back up country incase something should happen to the host country. I certainly will not do anything to cause this, however.

OK, enough about work, what are your impressions of Brazil?

First impressions, the weather is perfect, every day the same, every day the right temperature. I guess they have a rainy season, but I think we will miss that. Also, Portuguese is very tough and most people don't speak English (which is not surprising). Natalie is doing a much better job of learning than I am. 

How's the traffic?

Actually not bad, we have a rental car and I drive to and from work every day. I would say 90% of traffic are cars, the other 10% being busses and work trucks, etc. Of those cars about 80% are compact cars. There are almost zero SUVs or trucks. There are both aggressive and non aggressive drivers here. I have found if you have confidence in your driving and don't hesitate you can get by just fine.

How's the food?

Decent actually. We have a grocery store right by us and have found a Walmart (mostly food focused) that we shop at. When we go out we usually go to a buffet which is perfect for us because we don't have to order off a menu. I miss breakfast food and mexican food the most. Also, they don't have peanut butter?

How's the apartment?

I think its fine. We have just enough space for everyone. We both wish the pool was opened but that doesn't seem like its going to happen before we move out. We will both be glad when the dogs can just run around outside with out us having to take them up and down the elevator. 

What do you do for fun?

Read Natalie's posts! We are still working on some of that though. Its not exactly a vacation as I'm working full time (actually around 50 hours a week) so weekends are very similar to being back home, they are used as a time to recover from the previous week and prepare for the coming week. After the Confederations Cup is over and we have moved into our new, more permanent, place we will be looking to visit other cities.

Well, I want to thank you for your time, maybe your next post won't be in another 5 weeks.

You are welcome, happy to answer these questions. I make no promises on my next post...

If you have any other questions, feel free to leave them in the comments!