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I walked into the Padaria trying to hunt down some primo corn juice, or suco de milho. I have come to love all things corn as a dessert: corn juice, corn popsicles, corn ice cream, corn liqueur, which coincidentally, you can put on ice cream – it’s all delicious.

The local corn store was closed – after all it was 4:00pm, who wants corn juice then – but we’re leaving for the U.S.A. in a few days, and I needed a fix before we left, as we won’t be returning to Brazil for a few months. Padaria’s aren’t known for selling corn juice, but I decided to give it a shot. 

I walked up to the counter, “Tem suco dje milho?”

“Que?” 

“Tem suco dje milho?” I said, louder. 

“Que?!” The woman replied again. 

I composed myself, took a breath, and said once more, slowly and louder, using my finger as a conducting baton to denote the words and syllables: “TEM… SU-CO… DJE… MI-LHO!”

“Ahh, suco DE milho. Nao tem.” 

I feel like I’ve been here before. In my first week in Indaiatuba I was given roasted corn when I ordered suco de milho, even though I pointed to the menu item simultaneously as I spoke.

In Brazilian Portuguese, and more specifically Paulista Portuguese, ‘de’ is pronounced with more of a ‘G / J’ sound, with ‘de’ sounding more like ‘jhay’ versus ‘day’. I pronounced it the Paulista way, and, for some reason, this Paulista did not. 

I walked outside, dejected once again, and got into the car where my wife was waiting. “All that for no juice?” She laughed and said she was glad that I was going through exactly what she went through when she was first in the US. 

***** 

It’s been about nine months since we’ve been out of the country, and the longest I’ve been consecutively gone. We’re going back home to visit friends, family, and so I can go on my annual fishing trip with my father. We are very excited to be going back to the US, but for me it feels different than the other times returning from extended travel.

My two other extended trips outside the U.S. were in 2008, while I studied in Beijing, China, and in 2017, when I traveled across Southeast Asia (SEA). Both of those trips were life-changing, as this trip has been, but as I neared the end of those travels, I felt a strong pull home. There was a gap in my life, even traveling.

I think what’s changed is, without sounding like a Hallmark card, that I no longer have a gap, thanks to my wife. Before leaving the U.S., a good friend with a similar story to mine, shared that he was jealous that I was traveling with my wife, as he wasn’t able to share memories about his travels as he primarily had done solo. It’s an interesting realization you have when you get back from life-changing travels, but few people really care to hear your stories, and that’s obviously different than sharing in a specific memory. Looking back on my travels through SEA, I’ve forgotten a lot, but the parts I remember most are the two weeks when my best friend joined me in Vietnam – he even reminded me about events that I had forgotten a few weeks ago!

I’m grateful I have all of these stories to share with my wife. Every day, we make a joke about some event that’s happened in the last nine months, and I’m sure that will continue for the rest of our lives. 

This trip has, as I feel most trips ultimately do, turned into something different than what I originally intended. While we set off to travel and experience new countries, foods, and cultures, I would say one of, if not the most rewarding aspects of this journey has been my time in Indaiatuba, Brazil, spending time with my wife’s family and building a relationship with them.

Whether running in the park on “frigid” mornings with my sister-in-law, or eating some combination of beans, rice, and collard greens that my mother-in-law makes daily, and sharing fofaca with her, it’s been very meaningful. 

That being said, I would not trade my time or experiences in Peru, Colombia, Ireland, or really any country for that matter, and need to do a better job at documenting those journeys, mainly for myself, and secondarily for my eight loyal readers. 

Also, and this may be surprising for some people that I hold this belief, is that fundamentally I think that being born in the US is one of the greatest opportunities that one can have. This is not derived from one experience, nor is it saying that any culture is better or worse than another, but it’s an opinion based on an amalgamation of experiences, observations, and most importantly, conversations where you learn about the realities of the countries that you visit.  I find that when I travel, and of course I’m talking about non-luxury traveling, you start to see that most things people complain about in the US (you can insert many countries here), are non-issues, or that the naivety that people hold is simply overwhelming. 

An example that comes to mind is a conversation we had with a couple on the train while traveling to Aguas Calientes, a purpose-built town that sits right outside of Machu Picchu. The man was from Pittsburgh, and the woman Chinese, and both were currently living in the People’s Republic of China. I can’t remember the exact conversation, or how it came up, but I was talking about my time in Laos, and how Peru’s lack of infrastructure reminded me of the country, and primarily the challenges with healthcare the population must has to live with. 

I brought up someone getting seriously injured or sick in certain areas, and the woman interjected, “What happens? Do they have helicopters that come and take them to the hospital?” 

“They die.” I replied. Now, this may sound a little dramatic, but in reality it’s not, and I was surprised someone from the PRC, a few decades removed from The Great Leap Forward would fall to grasp that. 

I digress, this is supposed to a happy blog. 

Given we’re over the halfway point of our travels, let’s check in on the goals I set out with:

Language Goal: Learning a Foundation of Portuguese 

Hands down, learning Portuguese has been a roller coaster of emotions. There have been days where I think “Hey, I’m really getting this,” and other days where I feel like it’s never going to happen. 

On the whole, and especially in the last two weeks, I feel pretty good about my progress. Letting go of any notion of a specific “x” progress by a date has been beneficial, at least mentally, as this is a lifelong learning process, even if I get to “conversational fluency” in two or three years. That being said, I do feel like I’ll reach B1-esque by the end of the year, maybe not across the board, but I feel very confident about spoken production.

One of the hallmarks of ‘understanding a language’ is comedic timing, and those who know me understand that, at least I think I’m funny, regardless of whether I am or not, and I like to tell jokes. 

It’s important that I make people laugh, and I try daily with my in-laws, and most of the time I’m left with a delayed, soft laugh from them as I stumble over a joke. 

There are some shining moments, though. 

The other night we were watching a movie, and when a scene came up referencing a dishwasher, I immediately exclaimed “Sou eu!” (“It’s me!”) as most days I wash the dishes. Marilia’s parents burst into laughther, and while it was a very simple phrase, it felt good.

I do feel as though I am understanding the language to a decent level. My language production is pretty good, albeit simple. I’m able to share short stories about when I smuggled fruit through customs in Brazil, talk at length (though not fluidly) about what we did in Peru, and have opinions on topics, the future, and more. I believe I mainly need to build a stronger vocabulary, which comes with focus. Conjugations, on the other hand, seemingly will take a long time!

My reading and writing is fine, it’s better than I would have expected, but I simply need to practice more.

Listening still remains elusive, but I will get there, at some point. 

Health: Solidify Better Health Habits & Lose Weight

I feel pretty great at this point in my life.  It’s been difficult to have a specific routine traveling, but I try my best to always remain active. 

For the first two months, I was in the gym lifting four or five days a week. Once we hit the road, it was much harder to lift, and so I would TRX at home most days of the week, which in Brazilian heat and humidity, is an incredible workout.

When we’re in Indaiatuba, I try running two to three times a week with my sister-in-law, which has been a wonderful experience (minus a bit of Plantar Fasciitis). I’ve gotten up to 4.5 miles without stopping, which is something I never thought I’d be able to do given past injuries. As we run, she practices her English and I practice my Portuguese, which is an added plus. 

When we’re on the road, I try to prioritize staying active, whether it’s running through Porto, walking at least 10,000 steps (which in most of Europe was closer to 20,000), cycling, or hiking in the Andes.

All in all, it’s been pretty great, and the only difficulty was in Ireland, as it rained every day. Between that and the Guinness, I put on about 10lbs in two weeks (after losing 10 lbs the first four months). 

All in all, today I’m about 8-10 lbs less than when we started this journey. I would like to have lost more, but as I told my friend, “In 20 years, you’re not going to be upset that you ate that extra slice of cheesecake in San Sebastian, while road-tripping through Spain.” 

Ultimately, I feel very healthy right now. I’m able to run over four miles at a time, and every other day I do between 100-200 pushups – not at one go, obviously. From a cardio perspective, I’m doing pretty good.

I’m becoming happier with my health, even though I need to become healthier – always – but like language, it’s a journey, and it doesn’t stop. 

Technical: Build Apps and Keep Up

The world has been moving extremely fast since we left, and I can honestly say that if the tech space wasn’t moving at the speed it is, we would likely not be coming back after a year.

With that said, I’ve been doing a good job keeping up with current technology through news, conversations with friends, and hands-on work.

In the last nine months, I’ve dabbled in Python and JavaScript, built several apps, some with API’s (though to varying degrees and with bugs), and have continued my exploration across several LLMs.

I’ve also learned a lot about sniffing out BS in the market this year, which there has been a ton.

Financial:  Not ‘Spend’ any Money

Like my language journey, this year has been a rollercoaster, and doing this type of trip can test your fortitude, but it’s great preparation for retirement.

I made the wise financial decision to do my first digital and financial detox traveling through Colombia in February, and if you were paying attention at all, you will remember that February through May was a wee bit rocky. 

I have to admit, I let it affect me negatively, and for a few weeks, I was glued to the news while in Europe. But, like everything else in life, it, too, did pass. 

This year, I’ve learned a lot about myself in the markets. I’ve learned to have more conviction in myself, listen only to select voices, and to listen to the old adage of time in the market vs timing the market.  I had sold some of our portfolio in the rebound in May, because I was so sure it was a dead cat bounce, but that didn’t prove to be true. 

That being said, we’re within the parameters I set for this year, and I’m happy with that. While I love luck and blue skies, I am looking at this year, especially the last nine months, as one of learning that will help me perform better over the next 20 years. 

***** 

So, there you have it. In two days, we’ll be touching down in the U.S. We’ll see friends, family, and visit some parks. We’re very excited, but we will miss Brazil over the next two months. 

Now, I’m going to try to get some suco de milho! 

See you soon, America.