Final Exams

Hi Everyone,

Our LEAP program is finishing!!!
I don't know if I am happy because this suffer is over or because the summer is just arriving.
I am sorry, too, since I like very much coming to the university, having class and chating with the students. The important thing, however, is that the life have to continue and this step is over.
I would like to thank the instructors for this time where I have learned so much and have improved my languages skills to a level that I could not imagine one year ago. I was organizing my stuff yesterday and I found my first essay from the Leap III. It was incredible!!! How could I improve my English so well in just six months???
Of course it represents a lot of hard working and hours studing at the library and at home. It shows, also, that dedication and desire are fundamental for the learning process. However, it shows that the Leap program is very well design and have a strong pedagogy.

Thank you Scott, Pam and Dr. Sengupta, and all classmates from the LEAP IV.


Carlos

Hello Leap students,

Last week some students asked me what I usually do at weekends, so I decided to show some pictures of my Brazilians friends at my home last Sunday.

I have an amazing group of friends that I met here in Calgary. All of them arrived in Canada at the same time as me (around one year) and the majority are here to work at oil and gas companies. Some are young couples without kids and other are older with two or three kids, but all like to be toghether to party and talk (in portuguese, sorry Scott!!!). Our prefered food is barbeque, which I like to prepare, but we like very much Feijoada (a brazilian dish made with black beans and pork) and pasta. Of course, our prefered drink is Caipirinha (prepared with green lime and cachaca, which is an alcoholic spirit made from sugar cane).
Last sunday, I prepared a delicious pork and beef berbeque. The pork was prepared with back ribs seasoned with lime, garlic, black pepper and salt and it takes around 2 hours to be ready. The beef berbeque was prepared with Top Sirlon seasoned only with coarse marine salt and it takes 15 to 20 minutes to be ready. To accompany the berbecue we normally have rice, beens, salad and manioc (cassava) flour.
I started preparing the berbeque at 10:00 am. My friends started to arrive at 12:30 and around 8:00 pm we were yet having fun.
Next weekend we will meet at another friend's home to another Brazilian party, but probably we will have Feijoada. It will be great!

Alcohol used as fuel in cars in Brazil

Since the begining of the week when we started to study the different types of energy, many students have asked me about the use of alcohol as a fuel in

Brazil, so I decided to explain how it works.

First, the sugar cane is planted and harvested (see the pictures), then the sugar cane is carried to the industry, where it is smashed. The resulting juice is fermented which transform it sugar contents in alcohol (ethanol). The alcohol is distilled to separate it from the water and other contaminants.

The resulting alcohol is then sent to the gas stations. As is possible to see, the Brazilians gas stations, have both pump: one for gas and one for alcohol. The new Brazilians cars are able to burn both fuels at any porpotion because of the technology caled flex-fuel, but since 1985 there were produced cars that could burn only alcohol. For example, I bought my first alcohol car in 1991, it was an Fiat Uno and it worked exactly as a gas car. The biggest advantage in buying an alcohol car is that the alcohol is less expensive and I could save a lot of money. One other interesting characterist is that the fumes (the exausting gases) smell very well!!!

The actual fleet of alcohol or flex fuel cars in Brazil is bigger than 5 million cars and almost half of fuel consuption in big cities, like Sao Paulo, is composed by alcohol.

It saves money for the population and saves carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

It is a great idea to develop this technology around the world.

Some information about the Brazilian History


Brazil was a totally dependent colony of Portugal since the discovery in 1500, but in 1806 the King of Portugal, Joao VI, was worried about the possibility of Napoleon invading Portugal, so he decided to move with all family to Brazil. In 1808 Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil at that time became the capital of all Portuguese Kingdom. Pedro IV, the first alive son of Joao VI, was nominated the regent of Brazil in 1808. When the real family returned to Portugal in 1820, Pedro decided to stay in Brazil, against the desire of his father. In September 7, 1822, Joao VI ordered to his son, Pedro IV, to return to Portugal or his status of regent would be rescinded. He decided to stay and proclaimed the independence of Brazil from Portugal. He self proclaimed as Emperor Pedro I. The status of monarchy, however, did not last for long. In 1889 the monarchy was vanished and Brazil has become a republic.
The fact that is important to understand the Brazilian history is there were no significant wars or battles. Except for a couple of battles to expulse European invaders that tried to settle at the North West cost and a battle against Spanish invaders at the South, our history is peaceful. There were no battles against the Indians at the time of the colonization. There was no revolution when the country becomes independent from Portugal, and there was no conflict to turn into a republic. Actually, the fact that Brazil is not a developed country is because of that. Without fighting for their rights and liberty, the Brazilians have become impassive. They are there just waiting for a better future.

I had no idea of what I should write this time, so I started to read my classmates' blogs. I saw Loreta's blog where she gives a excellent geography and history information about her country.

Because of that, I decided to write about my country, Brazil.
Brazil is located in South America and it takes more than half of the continent. Considering the area, Brazil is the fifty largest country in the world and has the fifty largest population, which is more that 176 million.

The Brazilian history started in 1500 when a Portuguese navigator, called Pedro Alvares Cabral, was the first European to arrive at the South region of the New Continent.
The Portuguese people found that in the new colony there were o lot of trees very similar to one that was found in Africa, from which they extracted a potent red pigment, called Brazil Tree. They decided to name the new colony with the same name as the tree.

Because of the weather, hot and humid, the Portuguese people found in that new territory they could cultivate crops that the Europeans liked but it was impossible to grow there, such as sugar cane, coffee, and cocoa. The Portuguese started to grow these crops, but they needed people to work, so they started to force the indigenous people to work in their farms. It is estimated that there were around 4 million indigenous people living in Brazil at that time and they were very friendly, but their life style of absolutely freedom and total integration with the nature, become incompatible with the job. The Indians preferred the death than the work in farms.
Without works to grow their crops, the Portuguese found a solution. They started to capture slaves in their African colonies. The Africans were strong, hard working and had an immense desire to live, so the Portuguese were able to control them. (I took this information from Historic books it is not my opinion)


Brazil became the largest producer of coffee, sugar and cocoa and other tropical products in the centuries 16, 17 and 18 and provided a wealthy life to all the Portuguese people at that time.

To be continued in the next blog…

Hi,

My plans to today's blog were writing about my marriage and the difficulties that I had in the beginning of my career, but then I thought it would be so boring to you guys to read that I changed my mind. I was looking my Brazilians vacations pictures and I found much more interesting stuff...
I found a picture of my daughter sand boarding in Florianopolis, which is a island in the South of Brazil, and I remmembered how much fun we had there.
Florianopolis is famous in Brazil because of its dunes and it is a popular summer holidays destination. Floripa, which is the popular name of the island, is famous because of the food, too. There I ate the best seafood of my entire life. Shrimp, lobster, crab and fish everything absolutely fresh, probably, captured at the same day as it was prepared. It was in December 2003 and I was with my family and some friends. The restaurant was close to the beach, so we could hear the waves. The wind was bringing the smell and salty taste of the sea. The temperature was about 37°C in a absolute blue sky. The waitress, who was wearing just a biquini, brought us the drinks: caipirinha and beer, which was almost frozen as it is usual in Brazil. After a while, she started to serve us with the food. First the shrimp, served in 6 or 7 different ways, then the lobster and crab and finally the fish. This lunch took almost 3 hours and we were exhausted after all that food and drinks.

I found other beach pictures, such as the two bellow, that I want to write about them next time.

I hope you have enjoyed it.

Bye.

Hi everyone,

This time I am going to write about my family, probably it is not the most interesting topic to read about, but I could not think in something better.
As you know I am married and I have a daughter who is 14 years
old. I met Beth when we were at university, in 1984. We both started in the same university at same time, but she was at a bachelor in chemistry program and I was at the chemical engineering, both evening courses. Both of us lived in the same neighbour so we had to take the same bus and we became friends. We started to date in 1985 and married in 1991. It took 6 years because both of us wanted to finish the university before the wedding. In adition, we were from poor families and we had to work during the day to pay for our studies. It was a hard time. I had to wake up at 5:30 to start to work at 8:00 (remember that I lived in Sao Paulo and in a city with a population bigger than 15 million, it is not easy to go where you want). After a whole day of work, I left the company and went to the university. The classes started at 7:00 pm and finished at 11:00, then I took a bus and arrived home at 12:00. The most difficulty part, however, was at Saturdays because I had classes from 8:00 am until 2:00 pm. I had only the Saturdays evenings and Sundays to do my homework, study and once a while parties and some free time.
The engineering program took me 6 years to finish. I graduated in 1990 and married in 1991, but this is another story that I will write about tomorrow. (I think I have more than 300 words, so lets save something to the next blog...)

Bye