 What is your name? My name is Matheus I'm from Brazil and it sometimes sounds weird and people say Mateus or Mathias or Matus So my name is Matheus but here I would say Mateus or Math if it's easier And what brings you from Brazil to Lombon? Well, Lombon was a business choice actually I came to the states to get my masters in Kentucky And then I met my business partner in grad school and he was from Colorado He's from Colorado and we decided to move here Lombon was a more of a business decision, I wrote it in a personal decision But I'm glad I came because I liked it I think it's not a big city, Danvers is right there, it's like 30 minutes or something And it's very diverse and a lot of cultural options and artistic options And there's a creative district or something, creative conferences Yeah, I'm really excited to be here I think one of the biggest cultural differences between Brazil and US There's quite a few actually and I'm still figuring that out But I would say relationships are different, tends to be different I have an introvert so I'm not your usual Brazilian person I would say, like party on time and blah blah But even though I think it's different, I think things tend to be less personal I'm not saying that's bad or wrong, it's just different, it's less personal I like it more How many siblings do you have? I have one sibling, one brother He's eight years older than me, he plays guitar, he sings All my family, my siblings, my cousins are everything, they're in Brazil So yeah, but I am the youngest in the big extent family I'm the youngest of 13 cousins So I have cousins, they're 52 or 40 something Because I came really late to the party, so I just was like, they have this one So that's kind of weird My first piano teacher was my cousin and she was like, I don't know, 30 something, 35 And I was 11 And what do you do with Longmont? I work at Longmont, I'm a music director, my instrument is piano And I'm a music director in a church called St. Stephen's Episcopal Church Also I work for the Archdiocese of Denver and I have a business, I'm a business owner And I have a music school, yeah, those are the main things that I do in Longmont What made you want to learn the piano? I started to learn the piano, I was in the church, I was a church boy for a very long time And I started learning drums because I needed somebody to play, they didn't have anybody They started training me, so I just kind of learned, like, in the practice because I needed to So I didn't want to take lessons and everything, so everything kind of overlapped And then after I started playing the church, I figured out I needed some lessons And then they needed the keys, not the key players So I went to, I started taking lessons and then I moved from keyboard to piano And then all my practice was a church pretty much And then that's, things were kind of working out at the time And I decided to go to college for music education and then I moved, I moved quite a bit And then I moved to another town, another city actually, it's a big city in Brazil I named São Paulo to try to make a living out of it And then I got a job in a company at Yamaha, the music Yamaha I was not working with performance but I worked with music education and the worship market And business development and I grew a lot there and everything Yeah, I traveled to a few places, Japan, Australia, that was pretty cool I have good memories for that job And I'm still friends with a lot of people there A lot of co-workers and previous managers, yeah, it was a good thing That's how I started, I started with a church, yeah, because I need somebody Do you have a favorite restaurant in Longmont? In Longmont, I've tried an Indian restaurant, I forgot the name, right on Main Street And I like it, really good food And also I went, some other day, I went to a Japanese restaurant And I really like Japanese food here too I think like now that stuff are getting back to normal People were feeling less anxious about COVID and everything Now I'm getting to experience different places in Longmont I like restaurants, I like to go out and eat Brazilian food in Longmont, I've never tried it here But I heard there is a steakhouse for colleagues, I think I'm not sure if Longmont has something specific about this But I've never tried it, looking forward to it Do you have a favorite Brazilian dish? It's not Brazilian per se, it's really common there Like pasta, lasagna, I really like this kind of food Coixinha, coixinha is really good, coixinha is something like I think it's from Brazil, like originally It's something like this shape, like a tear, tear drop Like this shape, and you stuffed with chicken But the seasons are really good, chicken or meat Or vegetables, I like that What kind of dog do you have? Back in Brazil I have a Neaza, I don't know how to say that Neaza is a small dog, and we used to have a boxer too His name was Bruce Dickinson But he's not with us anymore, unfortunately But, yeah, I like dogs in general The place I live with now, I live in now They have a golden retriever, and also another small puppy Like my dream job was to have I was dreaming about having a place for dogs I'm not sure how was that, definitely my mind at the time But I think it would be something like an NGO Focus on provide care for a bin and dog or something like that And I still have that in my mind somewhere So at some point it's gonna happen, because I like that What was your experience like going through the pandemic? The pandemic, I was in the United States I got here in 2019, like six months later To paint that pandemic head I remember it was such a mysterious thing I remember my professors and bosses and directors were saying Hey, we're gonna have a meeting next couple of weeks To decide whether we're having classes or lessons Because NBA, NFL, they just canceled everything And they deal with a big amount of money So this thing is like something real This COVID thing, blah, blah So everyone was walking on eggshells And I was here, so I was walking on eggshells Like twice as much, I feel like Because I had just gotten here like six months before the pandemic hit But it turns out that it was a good time for me It was a really good time for me to settle myself And have some structure, because I didn't have some structure for quite a while Yeah, so it was a good time for me Do you play any sports? I don't play any sports, zero Brazil is so big in soccer, if you don't know about Brazil Brazil's number one soccer bubble What would you say is your favorite thing to do in Long Island? Favorite thing to do, I think I'm still figuring it out I like to go out and eat So I think restaurants, it's my top priority for sure So I would say that Would you rather go in the future or the past? Future, I think no matter what happens Future is always exciting It's always something that nobody can control Nobody can control it anyways So it's exciting because there are room for opportunities And you can just try stuff and do it So future for sure You mentioned that you had that experience of being an outsider What were some of those experiences that you had? I think just in general, like I'm the youngest of a big family I was raised Baptist in a Catholic country Now Brazil have more of a juggles But back then, 30 years ago, I'm 31 30 years ago, people weren't Catholic So my family came from all over the place, over the world I'm 31 and I'm married So I play piano in Brazil What? And I don't like soccer So I feel I'm just... And it doesn't feel necessarily bad It just feels different It feels like I can see the word different, I think I've been learning about myself trying to embrace this Instead of fighting against it What would you say is something that you're most proud of? What's proud of? I guess embracing changes And trying to create projects Like, I didn't need to come to the United States I had a job, everything was good, it was settled And then I was like, huh, there is... I came here, I came here for a summer camp in 2014 And then I mentioned about the master And I had no idea I had a master's degree But five years later, I tried to apply And the world is so big, I was like, dude, this is not going to happen It may happen, but it may not happen And it happened, and I got the letter of acceptance And it's a confirmation letter, I don't know how it's called And I was like, well, now I have a big project in front of me I can stay here knowing that I could have gone Or I can look five years from now in my history And say, hey, I just embraced some change I embraced some change and came to the United States So I'm here And the same happened from Kentucky to Colorado And who knows where else? I like to read, I like reading I like hangout with people I'm more of a hangout for three hours with three people guy And then go to a party and stay for a whole night Loud music, I don't like loud music at all I think it's so weird So in the party, you know, I may go to the party sometime Of course, but I'll be the chill guy on the side So I like that, I like connection So I like to hang out with people I like, you know, go over some coffee or some drink Or eat, I like that Just, you know, get people together and cook some meal I used to do that with my friends back in high school That was so nice because we were such a weird group of people A bunch of nerds And one of our favorite things was Get together to eat And then they came up with some different stuff to cook And everything And I don't cook, so I just like to eat So that was a good combination But yeah, I would say that More like introverted stuff More like low-key stuff Than go wild I like wild stuff, too You know what I'm saying? It's not my default mode I do that to have experiences To have fun, to have different memories To expose myself to different situations But I'm definitely more low-key kind of person In my free time What's something you like from Brazil That you wish existed here? I guess a taste of food That's the top one thing I would say That exists here that you wish Brazil had? Hmm, that's a good one I guess The entertainment here is just here Like the way people do entertainment here Like shows and sports are so connected And everything, so I wish Brazil had that More well-structured Yeah, because it's really impressive Yeah, it's the best place for sure for entertainment It's here, United States I like to watch stand-ups, though Your favorite stand-up comedian? I've been watching lately, Trevor Noah He's from South Africa But he's believed in United States for quite a while And he... I forgot the name of his show It's like Daily Something Daily News He's in New York, it's a big show And he replaced the guy I've been there for 20 years or something So he's such a clever guy That's another person I'd like to have a dinner with So smart, I like it Well, I wish they didn't ask me If I speak Spanish Nothing against Spanish Speakers at all First of all, I'm speaking English Because I'm talking to you right now If I'm meeting someone But my first language is Portuguese Nothing against... So do you speak Spanish? I declined to answer that