A Place Called BOVESPA

Hi everyone! I had another very exciting day on Tuesday (April 1).

That morning Kristin and Keith took me to a place called BOVESPA (Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo). Kristin says it is Brazil's largest stock exchange.

Kristin says BOVESPA is similar to the New York Stock Exchange in New York City. But BOVESPA is for companies doing business in Brazil. Who knew?

I don't really understand how the stock market works so Keith tried to explain it to me. He says when a company wants to get bigger or needs more money, it sells small pieces of the company to people who are interested in helping the company. Those small pieces are called "shares of stock." And the people who buy the stock are called "investors." Sometimes investors decide they want to "trade" their shares to someone else. I think this is similar to trading baseball cards with my friends. Keith agreed it is similar except people use the stock exchange to trade their stocks.

We spent most of our time at BOVESPA on something Kristin called the "trading floor." It is a big room with a wooden floor and LOTS of big television monitors and BIG message boards. I couldn't understand what the boards were saying, but Kristin says they were showing the progress of today's trading.

Kristin says people used to trade their stocks on paper and that the "trading floor" we visited used to be full of men yelling as they bought and sold stocks. But today the "trading floor" is a museum. That's because the trading is now done by computers. Very interesting.

The museum has demonstrations to show how stocks are traded on the computer. Here you can see men showing the museum visitors how the process works.

When they were done, Kristin let me try to trade stock on the computer. I'm not sure I did anything but the colors and the buttons were really cool.

As we were leaving BOVESPA, Kristin pointed out this sign.

I'm not sure why she wanted me to see this sign, but she told me it was really important. Hmm...I wonder what she is up too?!

I am still not sure I understand this stock stuff but BOVESPA was a really cool place to visit.

Later that night after we got back from dinner, there was someone waiting in the hotel lobby that I knew! It was my friend Simon from Washington, DC. Kristin says he is going to work with us for the rest of the time we are in Brazil. How cool is that?

Simon is going to make TV stories so he brought along his camera person, Steve Mort. Steve lives in Florida, and he is very nice.

That's all for now. Bye!

Sao Paulo Update

Hi everyone! I hope all is well in Iowa. Keith and Kristin have been SO busy that I haven't had any computer time. But don't worry, I have had many great adventures this week.

On Monday, we drove around Sao Paulo to look at famous places and to see different neighborhoods. Our first stop was a place Renata called the "Japanese Neighborhood." Kristin says there are more Japanese descendants in Sao Paulo than anywhere else outside of Japan. I had no idea!

Can you see the street lights in the picture above? They look a lot like the lanterns I see in the temples in Asia. Very interesting.

I was so busy looking at the lantern lights that I forgot to ask Kristin to take my photo. Oh well, she probably wouldn't have been able to anyway. She is helping Keith with a video camera. I thought they were making a radio show. Kristin says they are making a radio show but also getting video for a Web site. It is very strange to see Keith with a video camera.

One thing I did see was a McDonald's that served ice cream, but Kristin said we didn't have time to eat ice cream. :(

I noticed a number of interesting paintings on walls and buildings all over Sao Paulo. Kristin says it is "graffiti."
Kristin says it isn't nice to paint things unless you have permission. I think she is right. But it looks like many people in Sao Paulo like to paint anything and everything.

Later we went to a place called Praca de Se... or "Cathedral Square"... in the center of downtown Sao Paulo. Renata says this place is like a "town square" in America. Carlo, our driver, was very worried that someone would try to steal me out of Kristin's bag, so I stayed inside and looked out from a small opening.

The Praca da Se is a really interesting place. There is a large Catholic Church in the square called the "Catedral da Se."
Kristin says the Catholic church is very popular in Brazil. Who knew? But Renata told us that other religions are starting to become more popular. So much so that sometimes preachers from another church will stand in the square and shout their beliefs to the people who walk through the square. That's what this man was doing when we walked by.

There were also many men waiting to shine shoes in the square. Very interesting.

Keith says Brazil's leader, President Lula, used to be a shoe shine boy. Wow! He must have been a smart shoe shine boy. Just as we were leaving the square I noticed someone had set up a place to cut hair. I saw the same type of "salon" when I was in India with Kristin and Amy earlier this year.

Carlo then drove us around town so we could see other interesting places like this colorful shopping street called, Bom Retiro.

Then we stopped at the Museum of Modern Art. Kristin said we didn't have time to actually visit the museum (whew!) but Kristin and Keith did take a lot of photos and video by the museum.

Here's the view from the museum's patio.


Everywhere we went that day I kept seeing these funny looking lime green bubbles on the sidewalk.




I finally asked Kristin what the green bubbles were. She says they are phone booths. Wow, those are the funniest looking phone booths I have ever seen!



Kristin says many people in Brazil cannot afford cell phones so they use these pay phones to call people. Renata says people who use the pay phones buy a special card with minutes on it. Kristin says this is like the prepaid phone cards we can buy in the US. Here I am by one of the phones.

That's all for now.

Greetings from Sao Paulo, Brazil!

Greetings from Brazil!

Keith, Kristin, and I arrived yesterday with no problems. Did you read that last sentence closely? We had NO problems getting to Brazil. I guess King Tut wasn't mad at Kristin yesterday. :)

Since we took a direct flight, we didn't have to change airports. The flight left Chicago around 9:30pm on Saturday and we landed in Sao Paulo just after 10:00am on Sunday. Since it was an overnight flight, I slept most of the way.

A journalist named Renata and our driver, Carlo, met us at the airport. They are both very nice! Renata is helping Kristin and Keith during the trip. Kristin calls her our "fixer." Now I remember...Kristin and Keith have had "fixers" help them on our other trips too.

Renata and Carlo immediately took us to the hotel so we could check-in. We are staying at a Marriott in what Renata calls "the nice part of town." Kristin's room is like a mini-apartment. Smaller than the room we had in Seoul, South Korea last fall...but still nice.

Kristin's room has a small kitchen and a dishwasher!

Isn't that the strangest dishwasher you have ever seen? I asked Kristin if we could use it because I think it would be fun to watch. But Kristin said we will likely eat out most of the trip. :(
Kristin's room also has a balcony that overlooks part of Sao Paulo.

Kristin says Sao Paulo is the largest city in Brazil and all of South America. More than 10 million people live here. I had NO idea! (Note...Kristin is helping me find links for my messages like she did for China and India, so don't forget to click on the colored words if you want to learn more about Sao Paulo).

It was raining when we landed but the sun came out later in the day. The temperature is nice and warm (in the 70's). MUCH warmer than Iowa. I like Sao Paulo already! Here are a few more photos from Kristin's balcony.



When we first met Renata, I could hear her on the phone talking in a language that sounded a little bit like the Spanish I hear in Iowa. Kristin says people in Brazil so speak Spanish, but many also speak Portuguese. Kristin agrees both languages sound similar, but she tells me they are different. I am going to have to believe her on that since I can't understand anything Renata is saying when she talks in Portuguese. Here I am with Renata and Keith.

Kristin, Keith, and Renata spent most of yesterday working on making appointments and checking on things for our stay in Brazil. We didn't get to go out and do much since they were busy working. But we did stop at a local convenience store to buy water. We also had to buy diet coke for Kristin. And guess what? They have diet coke (or coke light as they call it here) with lime flavor...Kristin's favorite! You should have seen how happy Kristin was when we found this bottle at the store.

It is kind of hard to see in the photo above, but the bottle actually says it is coke light with "lemon." I thought Kristin was wrong when she said the diet coke had lime flavor since the bottle says "lemon." That's when she told me that people in Brazil call limes "lemons" and the yellow lemons we have in the United States are "limes." Are you confused? I sure am! Kristin swears her drink tastes like lime...even though it says lemon on the bottle. Strange!

That's all for now. Tomorrow Kristin says we will get to visit different places in Sao Paulo. Plus, she says later this week someone I know is going to meet us here. WOW! I wonder who that could be?!
More later....

My Next Adventure....Brazil!

Hi everyone! I am SO excited. I am getting ready for another grand adventure.

My friends Keith and Kristin are going to Brazil to make another radio program and they've invited me along. How cool is that? See if you can find Brazil on the map.

I've known about the trip to Brazil since Sunday. The Easter Bunny left plane tickets at Kristin's house. But Kristin asked me to keep it a secret until her visa was approved. (Kristin told me it was NOT easy to get her visa and the special permission I need to travel). Man...it is really hard to keep a secret this long!

Kristin and Keith's visas arrived yesterday. Whew...that was close! We are leaving tomorrow! Here I am making sure my special place in Kristin's bag is ready for the trip.

Well I guess I had better get back to packing. Kristin says we are driving to Chicago and will fly from there to a city in Brazil named Sao Paulo. And guess what? We don't have to change planes! It is a direct flight. I know Keith and Kristin will be busy working in Brazil (and that means Kristin's computer will be busy), so I will update you when I can.

Bye for now!

My Newest Fan

Hi everyone. I want to introduce you to my newest friends.

This is Aseem and his daughter Kriti. They live in Noida, just outside of Delhi, India.

Aseem and his wife, Ekta, helped Kristin and Amy while we were visiting India. Kristin and Amy met Aseem because he is friends with a man named Ammit. Amit works with Kristin's husband, Eugene in Muscatine. How cool is that?! When Amit heard that Kristin was going to India, he called his friend Aseem to see if he could help her. And Kristin says Aseem and Etka were a big help. They found us our car and driver and they gave Kristin and Amy tips of places to see and visit while in India.

On one of our last nights in India, Aseem and Ekta invited us to their house for dinner. That's when I got to meet Kriti. She is REALLY nice. Actually....everyone in Aseem's house is really nice!

Here I am with Kriti and Ekta.

Kriti liked me SO much that Aseem asked Kristin to send him a photo of me so Kriti could have my picture. How cool is that?!

During our visit we ate lots of great Indian food. We also got to meet Aseem's mom and dad. Here's a photo of Kristin and Amy with Aseem, Ekta, and Kriti.

And this is a photo of Aseem, Ekta, Kriti, and Aseem's parents.

I think it is really nice that Aseem's family invited us over to their house while we were in India. I am really glad they were able to help Kristin and Amy. BIG THANKS! Kristin says I also need to thank Eugene's friend Amit. THANKS AMIT!

This is my final post from my big India adventure. I hope you had fun reading about my trip.

Until my next adventure...bye!

The Contrasts in Gurgaon

During our last few days in India, Kristin and Amy twice drove through a city named Gurgaon. It is a suburb of Delhi. It isn't very far from Delhi but it sure looks VERY different.

Gurgaon is full of shopping malls like the ones we have in the United States. It also has lots of really cool looking buildings.

Kristin says she wanted to see Gurgaon because of the modern buildings. Kristin says India is growing FAST and Gurgaon is a good example of how India is growing. Kristin also says there are many BIG American companies like Microsoft with offices in Gurgaon.

Kristin wasn't kidding when she said Gurgaon is growing fast. Everywhere I looked I could see construction cranes, construction workers, and partially finished sky scrapers.

Here you can see workers with bright yellow hats working on one of the many buildings under construction.
All of the really tall buildings looked very new and modern in Gurgaon. But everything didn't look new. I still saw old cars, trucks, and even tractors on the streets in front of the new buildings.
During both of our trips to Gurgaon, Kristin and Amy had a very hard time taking photos. That's because there were security guards everywhere! I wanted to show you pictures of the inside of one of the malls but the security guards wouldn't let Kristin and Amy take photos. :(

So Kristin and Amy decided to have our driver drive up and down the main streets of Gurgaon. He would stop when Kristin or Amy asked him to and then they would put down the car windows and snap as many photos as they could before they would attract guards.

It was really interesting to see how the buildings were being constructed. Some had very modern looking materials like steel beams. But some buildings were using what looked like big sticks as support. Kristin said the sticks looked like bamboo. And while I saw lots of modern looking construction equipment like cranes and concrete trucks...

...I also saw people working in small, crowded shops like this person who was welding what looked like a small motor.

I also noticed at some construction sites that the workers didn't have modern tools. Here you can see women using their heads to carry baskets of rocks.

At another building site this man was one of a team of workers using their heads to carry baskets of sand.

Here you can see a team of men working together to move large metal poles from the ground to the top of a building being constructed. Very interesting.


After Kristin and Amy had taken photos on the main streets of Gurgaon, our driver took us down some smaller streets until we reached a new road under construction. You could see many of the modern and new buildings from this street. But I noticed there were several tents (or poles covered with tarps) along the road.

Kristin said many of the construction workers live in these tents. I had no idea! Kristin reminded me that many people in India are very poor and cannot afford to live in a real home like I do in Iowa. This makes me sad.

Here are a couple of other interesting things I saw on the roads in and around Gurgaon. A few times I would see a single chair sitting in front of a tree with a mirror on it along the side of the road. Kristin says it is a roadside barber shop. Wow! This sure doesn't look like the place where I get my hair cut.
I also saw many different animals along the side of the road IN THE CITY. I think it is strange these animals don't live on a farm. They were just roaming along the streets. Here are some piglets...some of them were so small that they could barely open their eyes!

At one point when we were driving down one of the roads under construction, we came across an entire herd of cows. I was actually a little scared when I saw all of these horns headed toward the car (shh...don't tell Kristin but I hid in her purse while she took this photo).

And I stayed in her purse as she was taking photos of the bulls like this one as they got REALLY close to the car.
This baby calf could barely stand when I saw it. It didn't scare me like the big bulls!

I finally asked Kristin why I kept seeing so many cows in India. She says a majority of the people who live in India are Hindu. Hindu is the third largest religion in the world (Christianity is the first and Islam is the second largest). I had NO idea! Anyway, cows are very important in the Hindu religion. Kristin says they are so important that many Hindus do not eat beef. Who knew?

Finally, I saved the best for last. Yes...I saw another camel! I love camels! Maybe someday I will actually get to ride one.

That's all from Gurgaon. Bye for now....