Macacos!

Macacos, loves, r MONKEYS!!! Instead of squirrels scurryin thru the trees, Brasil's got li'l monkeys. Spotted a couple while walking to the hospital the other day. Look at'em!

Available for booking... ;-)

As most of u know, I love takin pics & smiling 4 the camera ~ I'm admittedly addicted to the *click & flash*. But photography is just so so beautiful & inspiring, & the perfect picture is just as much about the model talent as it is about the talent behind the lens. I'm def not a model, but miss JBK makes me look more like one than ever. & now I get to show off a li'l bit haha ;-)

So, w/ R.A.G as "model"...

JBK Photography Presents: R.A.G Hits Beach

^ Right here on left = my favorite of me. Thank u, J, for this!

But this is my favorite, hands down, by urs truly:

"Cyril"


Sans photoshop skills (& it's so terrible I don't know how to use it yet),
this is exactly why I love photography!

Location: Guarajá Beach - SP, Brasil
Photos: JBK & R.A.G studios
Wardrobe: Suitcase Shoppe

(click here 4 last post feat. Guarajá day trip video ;-)

Mem day weekend ~ Operation hit beach!!! (Guarajá)

Mem day weekend finally hit loves! & as y'all know, that directly translates into hit beach if u've got access to one!!! Mem day obviously doesn't exist this far south, but I think we celebrated in good form nonetheless. Friday night we hit up Paulista Grill, an all-u-can-eat Brazilian BBQ... if ur mouth isn't watering @ the thought, it should be. Alana used her P.ton (look @ Princeton actually bein good for something) connects to touch base w/ some friendly locals - they came out to show us a good time.

All-U-Can-Eat Starters

P.ton-connect Lucas (in the middle) met us @ Paulista where we chatted it up over the eats, then 2gether we headed out to Canta De Ema, a Brazilian dance club (where they dance brazilian ;-) to live "forro" musica. Lucas taught me how to dance forro too ~ people should dance like that more often in the states; the connxn was dope.

The mem day weekend was topped off w/ our day trip to Guarujá (Gwarazha)... by far the most beautiful beach I have seen in life to date (sans a sunset, but holding all else equal - Brazilian coasts face East... ::SMH:: missed opportunity if u ask me, Portugal). The fellas surfed, we all played a li'l futbol... sipped on Caipirinhas... yeah. I'll let the vid speak 4 itself tho: Gorgeous Guarujaaa...



After driving back into the city, had to close out the night @ an all-u-can-eat Sushi spot. ALL-U-CAN-EAT SUSHI!!! $15. Absolutely nuts & absolutely worth the extra cokes w/ lime I bought to go w/. Note to self...from here on out, when ordering coca cola, order that lime.

What else... there'll be more, but 4 now: beautiful people, beautiful beaches, 'licious food... welcome to Brasiiiiil.

After-hour eats & drinks (feat. Caipirinha)

Finally found some time for a mid-week evening out to eat... the food was hella hella good, & got to taste test the Caipirinha, Brasil's "national cocktail" lol - it's true: 2 tsp granulated suger, 1 Lime (or other fruit of choice) sliced, diced, chopped or whatever, & 2.5 oz Cachaca - the most popular distilled alcoholic beverage in Brasil. Recipe (authenticity-confirmed) courtesy of Drinks Free iPhone App ;-)

"Soooo Exotic"... lmao.

Catching up w/ The Rache, aka R.A.G

What's good loveys!?! Been in Brazil for 9 amazing days, & just now coming up w/ the bright idea to set up shop in blog world. I've been taking maaaaad pics & shootin crazy footage so that I can capture as much of the experience here as I can & share it w/ friends & fam back home... but I finally realized that uploading pics to facebook or writing email updates just wouldn't be enough, & in 2009 it'd be a shame to not take advantage of the net in all of its glory, and relate to the world from a place where pics, vid & prose can interface... So voila! Here I am. Olá ;-) This intro may be a lil long so bear w/, but much has happened & a li'l background is always importante in the long run - lemme bring u up to date:

I'm in Brasiiiiil! as I like to say... b/c it sounds "sooo exotic." Fernanda would lhao if she read that. But I digress, & that'll be the end of inside jokes that none of u will get, promise. So again... Brasiiiiil is FABULOUS (also one of Fernanda's favorite english words which just so happens to be MINE too =D ). We arrived in Sao Paulo late last Sunday night, & Fernanda (Jess & my lovely hostess) & Dra. extraordinaire Cristiane (Christeyanee) were there to scoop the group & welcome us to SP. After gettin to Fernanda's condo em Higienopolis, Jess & I sent out emails word of our safe arrival & hit sheets 4 sleep so we could be awake & receptive @ the hospital in the morning. & btw, the flight over was a-ok folks. Plush 9 seater rows, personal seat back mini viewing screens, an assortment of videos/tv shows to watch @ our leisure... eh, food could always be better, but I was feeling the personal pizza & twix 4 the last meal tho. International travel def has it's perks.

1st day @ Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein (HIAE) was the treatment. We got eats, took the tour, we met our point people, & we hashed out our respective consulting projects.

Meet my student self & my team - Team FOA:

Our job: to consult the hospital on making more efficient their physician feedback system that will standardize certain aspects of physician practice & reduce hospital costs so that HIAE will be better equipped to negotiate reimbursement rates with (particularly international) insurance companies as they embark onto the global frontier that is international medicine.

Team FOA (Feedback Overview All-Stars) can THAT!

What's so dope about this experience, ha, besides just being in Brazil?

• The hospital is top notch - best in S. America hands down (& is more beautiful than any hospital in the U.S. I've seen).
• We're meeting everybody from the CEO to the cafeteria man taking our meal tickets; these folks are hella nice & extremely helpful, transparent & accomodating = the perfect student experience - they are so very good to us!!!
  
• If we turn out consulting reports that are the ish, we get to pitch to the President & CEO (who told me he was born on 127 Commonwealth Ave; Boston, MA when he shook my hand - that's whatsup). Getting to meet w/ the Pres & CEO of one of the best hospitals in the world? Word.
  

We have our work cut out for us, but in a good way. As HIAE is expanding into the global market, they are using our fresh perspectives to critique & challenge their current system. This truly is a privilege & an honor, so all 1st week we had meetings, meetings, meetings to better understand HIAE & Brazilian healthcare culture so that our proposals will be relevant & culturally competent - can't be reckless & naive Americans throwing around ill-informed opinions, dig? Plus we want to give HIAE the best we've got. They're giving us the chance of a lifetime, really - the exposure we're receiving to the international market & hospital management is priceless. Definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity loves. En route to becoming the fabass doc I know I can be ;-)

Tchao!

Sao Paulo skyline (aka highrise heaven) & HIAE