Chilean Football Dream

Contribution by Ruthie Schulder

I was psyched to go see Chile (team colo colo) vs. Brazil (team santos) in Santiago, Chile! For some reason that many of us still quite can't figure out, soccer is just not a very big sport here in the US. International friends from the UK, Australia etc who have shown me how the rest of the world views the sport: through obsessed and drunken lenses.

Jose Manuel (our tour guide, not to be confused with our other tour guide, also Jose Manuel) went up to each of us individually to emphasize his seriousness, and the message became clear: this was no joke, and soccer fans are insane. He warned us not to wear anything that would resemble the color blue, which is Brazil's color. Our tickets did not have assigned seats so we made our way to open sections that were separated by fences topped with barbed wire. There were policemen at the back of each section, just in case. We were told not to get too close to the fence because 'hooligans' were on the other side of it. The game began and there was a lot of jumping, chanting, and screaming, and singing. Chile took the lead which was apparently a huge deal since they had not beat Brazil in 13 years. The announcer came over the loudspeaker to insist that all Brazil fans stay seated until all Chile fans left the stadium, the unspoken meaning being 'don't get too close to a Chile fan right now lest you regret it.'

The game was stressful and extremely exciting, and the energy in the stadium was palpable. Jose Manuel almost shed tears of joy when Chile was up 3-1, proclaiming "I never thought I'd see this day!" Chile won 3-2 and the crowd went absolutely bonkers. Victory!!!

I only wish I had painted my face...

Exploring a New Business Culture - Brazil

Contribution written by Suzanna Fry Jones

In May 2009 we set off for our first trip to Brazil for our honeymoon. We spent a week in Rio de Janeiro and a week at a wonderful 10-room hotel in a small fishing village called Picinguaba. We loved everything about our Brazilian experience – Brazilians’ happy demeanor, a relaxed sense of time, chopp (draft beer) in mini cups, a diet full of sweets, loads of fresh fruit and delicious meat, music, parties that don’t get going until 2am and so much more. When we returned to Brazil almost a year later with longer-term plans and goals though, we found ourselves wandering through a different side of the Brazilian culture: business.

In February 2010 my husband, Jeff, and I quit our jobs and left the city we love and call home, San Francisco. Eight months earlier we had made the decision to go to Brazil for 6 months for a little adventure – yes, that’s all it took, a decision, made in a two-hour car ride, plus a little money in our savings account. From the start, our journey was intended to be more than a traveling exploration through another country; we had hopes of advancing our careers and leaping into another realm where we weren’t stuck at our desks all day.

So for six months we lived in São Paulo, attempting to navigate a new business culture, often with wary eyes. While we had expected business in Brazil to move at a different pace, we hadn’t expected many of the other factors that lead the country to rank so poorly on the World Bank’s “Doing Business” report (check out this post on our blog, Rooted Journeys, for more). Social and cultural differences are expected and generally easier to accept and adjust to. When it comes to business, we’ve found it more difficult to adapt.

In general, there are a few things I’ve learned from the experience of uprooting a stable business-life in the states for a more adventurous take on the idea of a “career”:

• Never underestimate the value of trusting those around you, especially in business – when you insert yourself into another culture, you’re automatically more vulnerable being a foreigner, and this is certainly the case in Brazil. But also in Brazil, as they have a history that instigates short-term thinking, finding trustable consultants that aren’t out to get a fast dollar is harder than you might think.
• Figuring out your career passion is hard to do from a desk indoors – I never thought we’d spend so much time on farms in the span of a year.
• “America will always be there” – I didn’t realize how many times I’d say this to myself, as it’s quite comforting.

Many days I wake up thinking Brazil is a totally insane place to try to do business. But every day I am thankful that my computer overlooks the Bay of Picinguaba or I run around a farm in the countryside of São Paulo state. Deep down, I truly believe Brazil is a country with immense potential and even greater opportunities. But that doesn’t mean the day-to-day is always easy. Traveling enables personal growth, and in our often career-focused American lifestyle we should remember that learning about other business cultures can also be incredibly beneficial to one’s knowledge, values and practices.