The past few days have been somewhat mundane, as the middle of the week usually is. Tuesday, however, I was finally able to present my report to the company. It's titled "Telemedicine Review: Telemedicine in remote tropical and equatorial regions." Sounds fascinating, right? Well Professor Sabbatini, Rodrigo, Alex, and I gathered in the conference room, where I presented my slideshow and lecture using an online webapp called DimDim. This way, the remote members of Edumed dispersed all throughout Brazil would be able to connect and listen in. Unfortunately, we didn't have any remote listeners. My lecture was recorded, however, to be uploaded to a Moodle module that I would have to manage later. Overall, my presentation went well, and Professor Sabbatini gave me valuable feedback at the end.
Rodrigo went next, presenting his telemedicine software system called MeET. While I had presented in English, Rodrigo made his presentation in Portuguese, and I had to concentrate to follow along. Being able to read the slides while listening to him explaining them certainly helped. Later, Rodrigo told me that he was speaking very slowly in his presentation so that I would understand better. I still thought it was a pretty good clip.
It turned out, though, that in the process of recording Rodrigo's presentation, mine was erased, so I was forced to repeat my lecture the following day, to no live audience. Desperate for some sort of pressure to keep me focused while presenting, I asked my mother to join in via DimDim. She did, and though it was still difficult speaking without any immediate feedback from the faces of my audience, I pulled through. If you're interested, you can watch the video of my lecture, with slides and audio, here.
Also on Wednesday was the thrilling 2-0 upset of the Spanish international squad by a brave and, at times, lucky United States selection. I was able to watch most of the second half, including the sealing goal in the 74th minute. A lifelong naysayer of the United States soccer program, I must admit that the squad that defeated Spain Wednesday truly impressed at times, showing great courage in playing gritty defense, and capitalising on the few opportunities that befell them. The team faces Brazil in the final of the Confederations Cup on Sunday, which I'm sure will be very interesting to watch from here.
The rest of Wednesday was quiet, as I went home on the bus, watched a movie, and skyped with friends and family, as usual. Thursday, however, was more eventful. After beginning the next phase of my project - writing a paper based on my report - I went to the movies with Rodrigo to see Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. While I by no means call it a great movie, Transformers 2 was sufficiently entertaining to garner better than the 21% it sits at on Rotten Tomatoes. I know I got what I expected out of the film: cool CGI of big robots fighting each other, massive explosions, a saturday-morning-cartoon worthy plotline, enough Shia LaBeouf to make me sick for days, and plenty of suggestive shots of Megan Fox involving cars and other things that go fast.
After the movie, we ate dinner in the shopping mall's food court, and I got my first taste of Brazilian Chinese food, although it was Chinese fast food, which is probably more American than Chinese in the first place. The food was okay: the flavors were a little off and the sauces a little too thick at times and a little too runny in other instances. But it certainly did stave off the longing I had for some sort of Chinese cuisine. One can only eat so many meals of beans and rice, after all.
I didn't get home until about 11:30, and when I arrived, the guys were getting ready to go out to a party at UNICAMP. Of course, I couldn't resist tagging along, so around midnight we headed off to a Festa Junina. Rodrigo told me that June parties are usually quite tame, and this one certainly fit that description. Most people were standing around and talking, drinking hot wine and cold beers, and eating assorted cakes. There was some traditional dancing going, but I wasn't too keen on trying my hand (or my feet rather) at it. We stuck around for a while before walking home and eating a late snack.
Today has been pretty quiet at work. I don't think I'll be doing much this evening, either, but I am looking forward to tomorrow night. Rodrigo has invited me to a friend's house for their monthly game of poker. I have to go grocery shopping tomorrow morning, but I'm excited to meet some more of his friends, as well as his girlfriend, who is arriving from Sao Paulo tonight. Hope the week has been treating you well!
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