18 years ago, on a Monday night, I was out at a club in Champaign, Illinois, nearby where I went to college. At one point during the evening, I bumped into someone who for a minute looked like my roommate at the time, but it wasn’t. At any rate, I said, “Hello, how are you?” His response, in a thick Portuguese accent was, “I went to McDonald’s.” I said, “Excuse me??” He repeated, “I waynt to make doane ahlds”. After some initial language barriers, Claudio and I became fast friends. He eventually (with my help, LOL) learned English and even got his PhD. He loved Oreo (that’s them on the left in 1990), and even taught him how to speak Portuguese. The first time I ever went to Brazil, it was to see Claudio and meet his family, and I’ve loved the country ever since. Claudio and I even lived together in Washington DC for a while. We’ve been through a lot over the years and I was thrilled recently to learn that he’s moving to California with his partner Ryan! He took a job teaching at a university about 45 minutes north of here. This morning he flew in from South America and drove up to check out his new house. Tonight we had a great dinner and caught up on old times. By the way, he will deny the McDonald’s story, and swear he spoke perfect English when he moved to the States from Brazil in 1990, but I know better. GLY Claudio!
After seeing the car he rented, I almost made him park on the next block over!
He liked this car better (parked in front of Dom DeLuise’s son’s house)
Aww thats nice! Oh my gosh what a stud! Lol he grew up so much from that photo! And he got buff as well! ;D Haa , its great that you’re still friends with him! Awesome!
BTW were you having pasta with coke?! Omgosh , I love it when its with coke :0
@Loltothepower - Thanks Jin Actually, it’s a Chinese Chicken Salad with Diet Coke, but yeah, I eat pasta with Diet Coke too Check your email.
It is nice to have close friends visiting from oversea! Btw, I also prefer the yellow sports car over the rental car, hehe.
Great fun!
cool ~~ :) yeah awesome story
Hahah “I went to Mcdonald’s” is a hilarious response to “hello, how are you.” What was he really trying to say? lol
How cute! Nice pics btw!
@stevew918 - I still think the color is hideous :) @qccan - Always! @pukemeister - Yep, I’m training for a pie eating contest. @aizzat - Thanks! @Rm2046 - I don’t know…but I’ll tease him about it for the rest of our lives! @Dezinerdreams - Who’s cute?
I like Dom’s car better too.
Funny story!
hohohoho i gotta brush up my english and try not to speak manglish(malaysia english) with you next time =)
@Roninism - Bought with Canonball Run money no doubt! @christao408 - Thanks :) @lcfu - Manglish is better than Spanglish :)
:) I’m happy for ya! You guys can see each other more often! :P He looks so young in that picture! You should take the same picture of him now with the dog and do a before and after ^^
Well, that’s kind of what the last picture is The first picture was taken in 1990, and my dog died in 1997. The last picture was taken this year
18 years ago, on a Monday night, I was out at a club in Champaign, Illinois, nearby where I went to college. At one point during the evening, I bumped into someone who for a minute looked like my roommate at the time, but it wasn’t. At any rate, I said, “Hello, how are you?” His response, in a thick Portuguese accent was, “I went to McDonald’s.” I said, “Excuse me??” He repeated, “I waynt to make doane ahlds”. After some initial language barriers, Claudio and I became fast friends. He eventually (with my help, LOL) learned English and even got his PhD. He loved Oreo (that’s them on the left in 1990), and even taught him how to speak Portuguese. The first time I ever went to Brazil, it was to see Claudio and meet his family, and I’ve loved the country ever since. Claudio and I even lived together in Washington DC for a while. We’ve been through a lot over the years and I was thrilled recently to learn that he’s moving to California with his partner Ryan! He took a job teaching at a university about 45 minutes north of here. This morning he flew in from South America and drove up to check out his new house. Tonight we had a great dinner and caught up on old times. By the way, he will deny the McDonald’s story, and swear he spoke perfect English when he moved to the States from Brazil in 1990, but I know better. GLY Claudio! 
Comments (15)
Aww thats nice! Oh my gosh what a stud! Lol he grew up so much from that photo! And he got buff as well! ;D Haa , its great that you’re still friends with him! Awesome!
BTW were you having pasta with coke?! Omgosh , I love it when its with coke :0
@Loltothepower - Thanks Jin
Actually, it’s a Chinese Chicken Salad with Diet Coke, but yeah, I eat pasta with Diet Coke too 
Check your email.
It is nice to have close friends visiting from oversea! Btw, I also prefer the yellow sports car over the rental car, hehe.
Great fun!
cool ~~ :) yeah awesome story
Hahah “I went to Mcdonald’s” is a hilarious response to “hello, how are you.” What was he really trying to say? lol
How cute! Nice pics btw!
@stevew918 - I still think the color is hideous :)
@qccan - Always!
@pukemeister - Yep, I’m training for a pie eating contest.
@aizzat - Thanks!
@Rm2046 - I don’t know…but I’ll tease him about it for the rest of our lives!
@Dezinerdreams - Who’s cute?
I like Dom’s car better too.
Funny story!
hohohoho i gotta brush up my english and try not to speak manglish(malaysia english) with you next time =)
@Roninism - Bought with Canonball Run money no doubt!
@christao408 - Thanks :)
@lcfu - Manglish is better than Spanglish :)
:) I’m happy for ya! You guys can see each other more often! :P He looks so young in that picture! You should take the same picture of him now with the dog and do a before and after ^^
Well, that’s kind of what the last picture is
The first picture was taken in 1990, and my dog died in 1997. The last picture was taken this year 
I like ur ride.