Announcment: A Party

It has been a summer of huge adjustments, ups and downs—and sometimes sideways. Writing has taken a back-seat to other priorities, which is why it has taken so long for an update.

But today I am not writing an update:

Karl and Nádya's Reception

We got married a little over three years ago, on the 27th of August, 2005. Since it was in Brazil our friends and family here in the States could not come, so we are holding a reception in honor of the occasion.

We would love it if you could come to our reception on the 11th of October at 6:00 PM in Vancouver Washington. We sent out invitations a couple of weeks ago, so if you got one and have not done your RSVP then now is your chance. If you did not receive an invitation, then here is your chance (I have heard that some people nearly mistook them for junk-mail, so if you misplaced or round-filed it you are not alone!).

In either case, you may click here for our page with all the details, directions, RSVP instructions, and gift registries.

If you just want to RSVP at the moment, here is the link to do that: RSVP to Karl and Nádya's Reception.

Oh, and if you bring a digital camera or video camera to the event you can share your photos with everyone else here.

We look forward to seeing you there!

PS: I started a new job this week that I really like, and look forward to working there for some time to come. More to come on that in another post.

Headed To Portland Oregon

We now have plane tickets in our hands for the arduous journey from Teresina to Portland, Oregon! That is important, but some of you have known that for awhile.

What is more important is that we now have confirmation that the visa has been given the official stamp of approval! This means that we can leave on our flight as scheduled—provided the courier does their job in a timely manner. As you may recall, Patrick and Nyna had to delay their trip home because the courier took forever to deliver the package.

As long as the visa gets here, and all the flights are on time, we should be in Portland, Oregon on the 22nd of April at 2:30 PM. After about 26.5 hours of planes and airports we might even have enough energy to say, "Hi!" (And maybe someone can tell me whether or not I actually have an accent in English!)

Rio de Janeiro In Retrospect

There were are few things that just did not fit in the previous posts about our trip to Rio de Janeiro, which I thought were important. So I have rounded them up in this post.

Rio de Janeiro is a lot larger than Teresina. More people, more cars, more money, more of most things. What surprised me about the culture, though, is that people were more polite. And not just a little.

The Public Transportation System

In Teresina the idea of getting in line for something does not exist (unless there is someone to enforce it). In order to get on the bus here, if there are more than three people at the bus stop, one must fight just to get to the door. No blood no foul.

In Rio de Janeiro people were orderly, and even polite, about getting in line.

I was also impressed that the equipment (the buses and subway trains) was in very good condition, and often had air conditioning. In Teresina the buses are generally pretty old—or at least get to looking that way in a very short time. Air conditioned buses would be a dream.

The bus / Metrô combination worked really well for us. If you don't know Portuguese it might not work as well for you, but a great many people there speak English, so I recommend trying it. Besides, the Metrô website is available in English, so almost anyone could get their route planned easily.

I like riding the bus around to get a feel for a new city. While it isn't always the best form of transportation it does help one familiarize oneself with the basic layout.

Feel

As I mentioned in the second paragraph, as a whole people were a lot more polite than here in Teresina. Many people said "Hi," as we passed on the sidewalk. And almost everyone we asked for help was happy to guide us on our way. It struck me as odd that in such a big city people would do that, while in Teresina people can be a lot more cold. Maybe it is the heat here.

For being so full of people, Rio really felt like a much smaller town most of the time—just sprawled over a lot of area. The geography of the city could have something to do with that. The city is built within the vales of these granite hills that rise from just above sea level to 2000 feet and fall back down to sea level, all within a couple of miles. There is a lot of getting around the mountains to be done.

Our expectation was that we would constantly be hearing "bolas perdidos" (stray bullets) flying around, in some ways. That is the sense of Rio de Janeiro that the national news portrays. I did not hear any. Though, the favelas are different where most of this takes place, and we had no reason or desire to go into any of them.

On a side note, I have found a couple of great blogs by some Americans living and working among the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.

I never felt like we were in any immanent danger, but knowing that crime is a huge problem there kept us alert. We also avoided using English at all times, and I avoided speaking at all in buses and on the sidewalks. While my accent might not give me away, a) I don't trust that I don't have an accent, and b) A simple grammatical mistake would be a giveaway that I am a foreigner. Foreigners are often the target of choice for the local banditos, who generally just want to make off with some cash or nice jewelry.

Recommendations

The following are a few things that one might consider while planning a trip to Rio de Janeiro. It is not complete, but I think covers the major things.

• If you are planning a visit to this great city, then do not miss Sugar Loaf, or Christ the Redeemer. Each of these costs R$ 35.00 per person currently, but well worth the trip.


• Know the basic distance (in kilometers) between your various destinations if you are using a taxi, as well as how much it will likely cost. Taxi drivers pick up the little things that give you away as a foreigner very well, and will sometimes "take you for a ride."


• Museums seemed to be plentiful, but we never had time or energy to visit one. When we do return I would like to spend some time seeing the various memorials and museums around the city. Patrick and Nyna visited at least one that looked really interesting from the photos. Maybe Patrick can write a little more about that (hint, hint)?


• Maracanã [*] is one of the largest football stadiums in the world—soccer, if you are in the US. Patrick and Nyna took a tour. From the pictures I saw, I would say this is on the list of must-see things, though maybe toward the bottom.


• Follow basic travel-safety guidelines. Keep your wallet in your front pocket. If you are lost or scared (or both) do not act that way, it is the best way to become prey. Do not carry to much cash with you (and not in your shoe, as you could end up barefoot and broke!).

Closing

Though the primary purpose of our trip was to do Nádya's visa interview at the US Consulate, we did get to do some of the fun things there are to do in Rio de Janeiro. We noticed a big difference in the cultures of Rio and Teresina, and really enjoyed ourselves once the stress was over. If you are considering a trip to Rio de Janeiro, stop considering and go. By far, it is one of the most interesting cities I have visited.

I am open to questions or comments if anyone has something you want to know. Hope you enjoyed the series! (And if you did feel free to share it with others.)

This entry is the closing segment of "Rio de Janeiro: A Series." All the published entries are linked from that entry. If you liked the series, try subscribing to the RSS feed or getting updates via email.

Rio de Janeiro: A Series

We are back from our trip to Rio de Janeiro, and while we returned early Sunday morning safe and sound, getting the photos named and uploaded has taken some more time than originally expected. Besides, even if I wrote it up all in one entry a lot of people would not want to read it all. So I decided to write a few smaller entries so that it was more manageable for both the reader and the writer.

Some of the news you likely want to know has already been published. But that small tidbit is likely not enough for most of you.

Here is the list of posts that I will publish in the coming days:

• Day One: Getting There
• Day Two: Blood and The Beach
• Day Three: The Medical Exam
• Day Four: The Visa Interview
• Day Five: O Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer)
• Day Six: Pão de Açúcar (Sugarloaf)
• Day Seven: Rest and Return
• Rio de Janeiro In Retrospect

As I get the entries posted I will also link to them from this post.

If you are interested in being notified as I post (So you do not have to remember to keep checking back here.) you can sign up to be notified via email. You can do that by either following this link, or by simply putting your email address in the box at the top right corner of this page.

I would like to emphasize that neither I nor the company who sends these emails will spam you. The company is very careful about the sign-up process, as well, so that someone who knows your email address will not be able to sign you up without your permission or knowledge. If you have questions about the process, please feel free to contact me via email. My email is published in my profile.

Enjoy the series!

Visa News: The Countdown Begins

Good news! We have an appointment with the US Consulate in Rio de Janeiro for Nádya's visa!

The interview will be the 26th of March. We just found out this morning, and have a lot of planning to do between now and then. We do not even know when we will need to leave for Rio (but we know at least a day or two before the 26th).

More news as it comes.

While you are here, an update on Patrick and Nyna: Nyna's visa has been approved, and they are heading back here to spend some time with the family before heading off to Florida. They get in tonight at around 11 PM local time.

News About Our Visa Process

Our trip to Recife to visit the United States Consulate there was only the beginning of the entire visa process. After that application step, we were to receive more forms to fill out and return to the Consulate in Rio de Janeiro. The problem has been that we have never received these papers.



So, I emailed around after the first of the year to see if there were any developments. It turns out there were: They mailed the papers on the seventh of November—we just never received them! The Consulate sent the papers, but the Correios (the Brazilian post office) never delivered them. Frustrating too, because we will have to send the papers via this same un-reliable system.

Besides this delay being frustrating, we are elated that we can move forward now. Just last night I was lying awake wondering what was going on with the visa, and just when I could introduce my wife and daughter to family and friends.

I am still wondering some of those things, but at least now we know that the next step is in our hands.

Now we are working on getting these papers filled out, and documents collected in order to send them to the Consulate in Rio de Janeiro.

[Update: I did not choose the best wording, and that left some things unclear. The forms have still not arrived in the mail from the Consulate, however, they are also available online. So, we have downloaded the forms and are in the process of filling them out. Hopefully we will have more news soon regarding this. Though I do not know how soon to expect it.]

Sickness

From Kylie's 4th M...

Check out the linked album above for more new photos of Kylie.

Kylie is running a bit of a fever today, along with a cough and sneezing—her first such illness. We took her to the doctor, who said that it is just a cold or the flu, and assured us that we were doing things right.

The weather is changing; we had our first real thunderstorm last night. None of us slept real well. That means cooler temperatures, but way higher humidity. Fun.

We are doing just fine otherwise. Time is marching along, and we look at our child every once in awhile and say, "Wow, hasn't she doubled in size since yesterday afternoon?"

Surgery Update

It has come to my attention that updating needs to be done. It has been a fairly restful week, but mostly because I had no choice.

Surgery was fine. In fact, since today is a holiday here, I got my stitches out a day earlier than the doctor had originally said. He said that there were no problems whatsoever during the surgery, and it was one of the easiest one's he has done.

Who knows? Maybe he says that to everyone.

My cousin Rebecca is still struggling with super-low white blood counts. Her spirits are good (she is a very spirited person), but I am sure this is getting a bit frustrating for her.

My grandfather's leg problem turned out to be a hematoma, and not a blood-clot. That is good news. It still hurts, though.

There is plenty more to tell you, but I just don't feel like writing much at the moment. Tomorrow evening we will be having our monthly celebration of Kylie's birth. I expect there will be plenty of pictures and some sort of story to tell.

What Is Happening?

The last month, or so, has been full of news. All of which I want to share, but have not had the time to put it all into written word as of yet. Part of that is because of the emotions involved, and part because I have been so busy running to and fro to various doctors. Following is my attempt to explain summarize it all.

Patrick Visits

My good friend Patrick Borter came to visit his fiancé, Nyna (who also happens to be my sister-in-law). It was really good to see him, especially since he had some adventures getting here.
We really enjoyed having them to our house a couple of times, and just kind of hanging out together. When we did make it to Nádya's parent's house on a couple of occasions it was quite fun for the whole family to be together (Well, nearly the whole family. Jr. still lives to far away—in Parauapebas—to come visit for things like this. We missed him.) for a short time.
Patrick and Nyna are awaiting their fiancé visa, and the last time they were together was in September of last year.
What photos we have of the visit are here.

The Move

We have moved. We are once again living with Nádya's parents. It was not exactly our first choice, but with Nádya returning to work, and me going under the knife soon (keep reading for more info on that), we were running out of options for child-care.
Also, amerInglês has lost a lot of students in the last few months; mostly due to financial difficulties. So the student's financial difficulties became ours.
It is kind of comical, when one steps back from the situation, looking at us trying to fit the stuff from our house into our room. Ha! We might get the 3-D jigsaw figured out someday. More on this later.

Health

Some members of my family in the States has had some pretty serious health problems of late. Here are a couple, followed by my own situation.

Grandpa

My 93-year-old grandfather recently fell—I have not heard why, but my guess is that he was pushing the limits of his abilities. ;) He likes do live that way. Anyway, as a result of the fall he ended up with a blood-clot in his lower leg, and is in the hospital.
Grandpa is an old farmer; he does not go to the hospital for something minor (like cutting off part of a digit, or splitting his head open after falling off a ladder). He is an “It's only a flesh wound!” type of guy.

Rebecca (Karl's Cousin)

Rebecca was in the hospital for a few days (maybe a week—I lost track because of so many other things going on) because her platelets were so low. The diagnosis is “Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura.” Which is medical speak for “blood problems of an unknown cause.” (Okay, so that might not be an exact translation, but that is what it means to me.)
She is on the mend at home now (since last Thursday), but still does not have much energy, and is on chemotherapy treatments. Her platelet counts have been measured at six—when the low end of normal is 140-150.

Karl

For a couple of months I have been experiencing some abdominal pain. At first I thought it was nothing, but when it persisted I decided to go to the doctor. I don't know how much of the time since my first appointment we have spent traipsing around town going to one doctor and another, then to the insurance company to authorize exams. But it has been more than enough.
Long story short: I have a gall-stone, and need to have surgery to get it out.
That means that I will be in the hospital for at least a day, and who knows how many days of recuperation. We are waiting for MediPlan (our health insurer) to approve the operation, so I don't know when this will happen, but probably this week sometime. The doctor wanted to do it today, but MediPlan is dragging its feet.
We will try to let you know when we know more.

[composed and posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: steps back | financial difficulties | short time | fiancé visa | Patrick Borter | Our Activities | Our Story | serious health | child care | been so busy | good friend | jigsaw | Life In Brazil | returning to work | health problems | Living Outside the US | pushing the limits

Dia das Crianças (Children's Day)

There was a day that I remember asking my mother, “Mom, why isn't there a children's day? I mean, there is a Mother's Day, and a Father's Day—so why not a children's day?” Her response did not satisfy me much; it was something along the lines of “Because kids have birthdays, Halloween, and Christmas.”

Here kids get their own day. This year it landed on the twelfth of October. It seems to usually involve presents (read: toys), and some sort of party, depending on the family. There are also activities put on by the city, and other companies. In fact, the place where Nádya works paid for games and lunch at the mall for their employees and their families.

Kylie was a bit small for the arcade games, bumper cars, and other rides that they have in the children's play area of the mall. So we spent a lot of time just hanging out and watching other people's kids have fun (which wasn't as boring as this sentence might make it sound). We then had lunch at McDonald's.

I suppose if you like McDonald's food in the States, then you would like it here. I am not a fan. But hey, it was free. So I can't complain to much!

Anyway, it was a fun day using the mall as a short respite from the 100˚F or more heat we have been having.

Here is the album of photos we got from the day:

Dia das Crianças (Children's Day)

[composed and posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: Dia das Crianças, Life In Brazil, Living Outside the US, Our Activities

Recife Trip: Success

We are home after an eventful trip to Recife, but before all the details, here is a quick rundown of our itinerary for the trip:

1. Sunday the 23rd, at 10:15 AM 10:55 AM:Leave for the bus station.
2. 12:30 PM: Bus leaves for Recife.
3. Monday the 24th, at 6:15 AM arrive in Recife.
4. 1:30 PM: Arrive at US Consulate.
5. 2:30 or 3:00 PM Leave US Consulate.
6. 7:15 PM: Bus leaves Recife for Teresina (with us aboard).
7. Tuesday the 25th, noon: Arrive in Teresina.

Does that look grueling enough? It was more than enough for me. I am still recovering!

It is a fairly common thing among Evangelicals when traveling to ask for hospitality and give it in turn. So we thought we would try to save on the hotel that way. On the advice of our pastor here (who had tried to find other arrangements for us ahead of time, as one needs the commendation of a pastor) we asked to be taken to this Baptist Church/Seminary, but ended up at a slightly different church.

We walked in at about 7:15 AM, and to my wonder there was a service going on. On the way to the church from the bus garage Kylie had put her diaper to good use, so we were really in need of somewhere we could change her quickly. Nádya asked someone sitting in the back who the pastor was.

I went down front to where he was sitting, and asked him if we could talk outside for a moment (the music was playing so loud that it was difficult to communicate). It turns out that he was not the pastor—in fact, he did not even go to that church!

He is a missionary from the United States. He was also kind enough to invite us to his home and rest there. It was a beautiful apartment with a wonderful view of the city—which is drastically different from Teresina, and far more beautiful. They were very gracious in offering their home, taking us to lunch, and even offering s'mores (marshmallows are impossible to find). They even dropped us off at the consulate!

At the consulate we were treated very cordially (in stark contrast to last time), and all the applications, forms, and other documents were accepted. I did need two more documents for Kylie's registration, but those can be emailed when I get them. So, it was a successful trip.

I have already had a couple people ask me when we were coming home since the trip was successful. We don't know. This is the first step in the process, now we wait to be called for our big interview in Rio de Janeiro. There will also be some more documents to get for that, as I recall, but hopefully they will inform us what we need to do before we get there. They say they will.

Now we just wait.

[More panoramas of Recife here, and other photos of the trip are coming.]

[composed and posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: eventful trip, bus station, missionary, commendation, recife, cordially, marshmallows, drastically, baptist church, Our Activities, Our Story, leaves, rundown, itinerary, bus garage, s'mores, Teresina, evangelicals, stark contrast, kylie, grueling

Will Travel For Visa

The ink is dried. The writer's cramp is still wearing off my hand. The paper cuts are beginning to heal. The forms are all tucked safely in a nice folder with our passports and work-permits. We even have the bus tickets.

Recife here we come!



We are heading to Recife via bus this Sunday at noon so that we can do two things at the US Consulate:

1. Register Kylie as a citizen of the United States of America.
2. Apply for Nádya's immigration visa.

This is the first step in getting moved to the US. If all goes well the process will take about six months, and who knows, maybe less (okay, so that is not to likely).

It will be a seventeen or eighteen hour bus ride on two-lane roads with a two-month-old. Want to sit behind us?

Very long-time readers may remember that we have made the trip to Recife before. It did not turn out the way we hoped. The rules have changed now, and are a good deal clearer now (at least, so it seems to me). The Consulate even seems to be more ready to answer questions than before.

Other News:

Following are some posts you may have missed if you are not signed up to the email subscription to Karl and Nádya's Blog*:

• Kylie recently turned two months old there is a post about that called: Two Months With Kylie
• We had a beautiful rainbow the other day: Teresina Rainbow
• I also posted a story about burning saltwater that you should read.

*This is a different list than many of you are already on, but still managed by me—I am in the process of trying to switch you over to this list, but you have to sign up for yourselves.

[composed and posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: passports, six months, work permits, kylie, immigration visa, bus ride, teresina, united states of america, Our Activities, Our Story, bus tickets, recife, feedburner

Rainy Season

Written 10:30 AM on Monday the 12th of February.

The weather has taken a turn. It might be better, but I am not sure. It is cooler, but much more humid. Everything starts to mold that is wet, and if something has the ability to hold water it is at the very least damp. It has rained nearly every day the past week-and-a-half. With the first big rain of the season we got 40% of the month's normal rainfall overnight. The next day I saw a television show where a city official was interviewed. He was asked what could be done about a problem of people being swept down manholes, through the sewer, and into the river. His answer was essentially, "Blah blah blah, there is no problem. Blah blah blah." This after they played a clip of a man who barely escaped with his life.

Allan and Herika and Yluscka spent the weekend with us last weekend (starting the 2nd of Feb.). That was fun and exciting. We talked, ate, talked some more, cleaned house, ate some more. Oh, and I had classes, too. (Speaking of which, I should do an update on that soon...)

Yesterday, I had a little surprise. We went to Nadya's parents' house for lunch, which was not a surprise. After that we went to a couple of houses to look at dogs. So, we have a pooch now. It is a month-old female. It misses its mommy, and whines when I am not close by. No name yet... we are working on that.

Ironically, Nadya was the one that wanted this dog, and I said "no" for now (I had a list of reasons; one was money, but this dog was free.). Now that we have the dog, she is a bit jealous.

Here is a bit of "inspired" poetry by me, just for you:

Doggie do, doggie doo
What to do with doggie doo
It smells real bad on my shoe
At least it is not a doggie that goes moo

Technorati Tags: Brazil, Family, family, family and friends, family gatherings, family members, Life, Life In Brazil, Our Activities, Our Story, dog, puppy, weather

Around The House

Written 11:50 AM on Tuesday the 31st of January, 2007.

We are settling into some sort of a routine in our new home. I am loving it. Of course, it is more work, as we are responsible for the entire house. But it is kind of fun to explore how we are going to meld our two cultures and lifestyles. And, while that exploration does lead to a conflict now and then, life has been pretty tranquil.

The house itself is around 7.6 meters wide (close to 25 feet) and 13.6 meters long (around 45 feet) (I counted tiles to get an estimate here.). I did not include the front porch/garage area in that measurement, but it is about 5.6 meters by 7.8 meters (18 by 25.5 feet). The lot is not much bigger than the house area. It is probably a 10 by 20 meter lot. It may be a little wider than that, but I am not sure.

The first room past the front door is the living room. Straight ahead is a hallway to the back of the house (Okay, not quite, but I will get to that in a moment.). On one side is the bathroom, and my office. On the other side is our bedroom. We think this used to be two separate rooms, but have no proof other than the shape of it. At the back of this hall is the kitchen and dining area. Just outside the back door is the "laundry room." It consists of a sink with built-in washboard, and a tiled floor.

The camera is on the way, so we will post some pictures of the house soon.

I am learning how to cook rice and beans for lunch, so that my wife does not have to do that at night when she gets home. I am also learning other things like how to wash clothes by hand, and how to keep the house clean.

...Gotta go, the beans are about to boil over.

Technorati Tags: Life, Life In Brazil, Our Activities, Our Story

Moved

Written 8:15 AM on Tuesday the 23rd of January, 2007. I am not sure when I will get it published, since we don't have internet set up yet.

We packed up our stuff on Saturday. Well, to be honest, Nádya packed most of it while I was teaching my second class for the day. I got home, and there was barely anything left to do.

Sunday the truck came at three in the afternoon, and we loaded our things on it with the help of the driver and one other guy. It was very hot and humid Sunday. Not the best weather in which to move, but the iron was good and hot—ready for striking.

The helper showed up smelling like someone who had been drinking since Friday night. He actually had a beer right there in the truck, and drank from it every time he took something there. I am not sure, but I think it was his personal reward system, or something. (The driver was not drunk, and seemed to be put off by this guy's actions.)

Once things were deposited more or less safely in the house, the movers left, and we started finding places for our "new" things. We have had these things since we got married, but not used them because we were living with N‡dya's parents. It is kind of nice to pull things out of a box and think, "Wow, that is cool. I did not remember we had that!"

That night it was so hot inside our house that we barely slept. We were tired enough. I was ready to fall over with exhaustion. The house had been shut for a couple of days, and had just been painted, which made it nearly impossible to sleep.

Monday morning I was left with the task of finding gas for our stove. The stoves here (at least 97% of them) run on propane that comes in 13 kilogram canisters. It is a similar setup to a propane bar-b-que. There is a little store just down the street where we thought we could buy this. So I took our empty canister there for exchange.

They evidently quit selling propane. But they were nice enough to call someone else who would deliver it.

Somewhere in the shuffle the burners to our stove got lost. So we ended up going to that same store last night to purchase one. Hopefully we will find the old ones, as the one we bought does not work very well (There is hardly a flame at all.), but at least we can cook our food!

One of the oddest things about this experience (To me this is normal for Nadya.) is that there is no toilet seat on the toilet. That is something we have to go purchase for ourselves.

Speaking of which, I am off to make a list of things to purchase, like clothes-line, and a toilet seat.

Technorati Tags: circumstances, Our Activities, Our Story

Storm

Dark clouds gather on the horizon of late. Bearing down with sinister intent, and guile such as is rarely seen in nature. In the moments before this storm breaks the calm, nature waits. The air is calm, pregnant with moisture; heavy with the burden of knowing this sleepy afternoon will soon be torn from its bed with a start.
Lightning begins to flash all around as the sun sets. The boiling clouds draw near as if by the very darkness itself. Light fades. Thunder tears through the clouds with vengeance and malice that would melt the knees of the very strongest man to the consistency of warm butter. It is distant at first, but clear. And coming.

Wind winds its way between the trees, down the streets and through open windows. Sometimes even through closed ones. It carries on its back the rain. Drops the size of a man's fingertip begin to pound the earth. It has begun.

The storm's rage and wrath continue, now shaking the bones of children and men alike with great claps of thunder which seem to sear the clouds together—though its motive seems to suggest tearing them apart—now pounding roof, ground, and unwary pedestrian caught by its overbearing hand.

Fury, though, must also meet its end. The clouds, with their effusion of lightning, are soon borne away by the very winds that brought their wrath. Breezes, calm and cool, take the place of the wind; stars and moon begin to shine once more.

In the houses of men calm takes the place of fear while husband and wife and son and daughter drift to sound sleep in the fresh, cool air.

Tomorrow will bring new things. Another storm is likely already building it's anger, but that will have to wait until the appointed time.

____________________________________

No, this is not the beginning of a detective mystery, or some other adventure. That is what a storm is like here. I love huge storms. They remind me how small and insignificant I really am in the scheme of larger things.

The photo is from last year, but is illustrative of the nearly nightly storms we have been having this week. I love it. I hope soon to be able to record audio from one of these. When that happens I will at least post some excerpts.

I also want to take a moment to congratulate Tré on his recent engagement!

[composed and posted with ecto]

Technorati Tags: rain drops, detective mystery, sun sets, warm butter, light fades, son and daughter, sear, sound sleep, lightning, calm nature, appointed time, burden of knowing, stars and moon, pound the earth, storm breaks, dark clouds gather, wrath, effusion, strongest man, claps, Observations On Life, Our Activities, Our Story

Our Big Goal For 2007

I have never been the type of person to like filling out forms. At all.

No, really, if there is a way to avoid filling out a form I will do it. I suppose this goes back to my kindergarten experience. My teacher was strict, old, and grumpy. Actually, the way I remember it, grumpy does not quite do justice.

I don't remember a lot from that year, but I do remember that my teacher made us write our names ten times per day. It was supposed to be an exercise to learn our alphabet and how to write, but with my name it was just torture. My last name alone is eleven letters long. Put that with my first and middle names (which we were required to write out as well), and the grand total is 19 letters.

I remember one day in particular, all the other students had finished their work and were playing (this turned into a common pattern in my early school days). I was about half way done with writing my name ten times, and seeing all the other students playing was making me very anxious to join them. I decided to go bargain with my teacher. She yelled at me that I needed to finish writing my name or I would never get to play.

Since my bargaining skills proved less than adequate, I ended up (begrudgingly) writing out my name the rest of the ten times, just in time for playtime to be over (which I think was deftly coordinated by the teacher).

Fast forward to today. I married a foreigner, and to get her home I have to fill out forms. Not only this, but I am also responsible for making sure that we fill out the right forms, and that they are submitted to the right place... blah blah blah.


Yes, we have begun looking into getting Nádya's visa again. I spent all day yesterday reading web-pages, emailing lawyers (they want money I can only dream of having), and trying to get some coherent idea of what needs to be done. I can't say I got much of anywhere.

The combination of needing to fill out forms—read: “I sense my doom is near at hand.”—and not knowing what direction to pursue... Lets just say that I am ready to throw in the towel. I am not planning on doing that, but I feel the desire.

All that to say that, yes, one of our goals for 2007 is to move to the US. The three of us are aiming for September. ;)

[composed and posted with ecto]

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This Week's Update

There have been a few questions recently about how the English School (amerInglês) is going. Here is an update:
Its going well.

What... that wasn't enough? Okay.

After tonight's class, I have the next two weeks off. Well, that is sort of a figure of speech, as this project does not really get taken care of without me.

The students seem to be continuing to enjoy the classes, though it seems that December has taken its toll on attendance. We have been consistently adding students, and even though we have lost a couple we have more than we started with.

One of the things I am constantly challenged with is not having a space that is just for the school. We are seeing that it would greatly benefit from having its own building, and that is a dream we may not see the fruition of until a few years down the road.

We have many ideas about what amerInglês will look like in the future. Its not something we really want to just abandon, but at the same time, we know that we cannot live here for an extended time at the moment.

Maybe saying those things will create more questions than they answer. Ask away. Now on to the rest of life.

We are now at nine weeks with the pregnancy, and all that goes with the first trimester. Nádya is counting down to the three-month mark—she has been drinking a lot of coconut milk lately.

I posted the big news of this week yesterday, but did not send out an email about it, as I knew I would be writing again today. Here is the link to that post.

The pastor of my church at home has, as a mutual agreement with the elders resigned. He is leaving at the end of December. This is not as a result of some sort of sin, or anything. Its just a transition due to a huge combination of circumstances that I am not going to go into here. I took this pretty hard at first, but I know that God has good things in store for Evangel.


If you have questions about anything, we would love to hear them. I know people read these things, but I don't always know what you are most interested in knowing about.

Technorati Tags: abandon, evangel, circumstances, elders, fruition, counting down, figure of speech, email, coconut milk, Our Activities, pregnancy, taken care, Our Story, teach english, first trimester, consistently, live here, constantly

Police Response

[Note: The following description is by no means complete. That is on purpose because I still only understand about 60% of what was said. My own stress, and that of those around me made it very difficult to understand Portuguese last night. It also may include some hyperbole and understatement.]

Most of the time living in Brazil has become such a "normal" thing to me that I don't really think about it. Last night, however, was a glaring reminder that I live in an entirely different part of planet Earth.

There is a bar next door to our house. They play loud music. At all hours. No. I mean really loud music. It has at times, started at noon, and gone past two. Yesterday it started at about 10 o'clock AM, and we had no respite from it most of the day.

The heat here has a big effect on the architecture, more stuff takes place outside. Also, windows are there for two reasons, security and to keep the rain out. The majority of the time they are open. A great many bars are outside, including this one. Let's make this in to a mathematical formula*:

Heat + Bar {Success of said bar ≈ amount of noise created by said bar.} = Noise outside

Tempers stew. Words exchanged. We have another formula:

Heat + Temper + Time + Bar Next Door + Words = Brewing Storm

If we take the results of the previous two formulas and put them together, we have:

Noise outside + Brewing Storm = Need For Police

Here is where a major diversion form how the formulas would work in most developed countries. The formula would look like this where I grew up:

Need For Police + Call 911 = (Police Sent + Firemen Sent + Ambulance Sent) Total Response Time ≤ 5 Minutes

After arriving on the scene, the police would determine what needed to be done. Reports written... etc. Here is what the formula looks like here in Teresina Piauí, Brazil:

Need For Police + Call (x and/or y and/or y and/or z) = "Police are on the way." + (14 intense minutes + Call (x and/or y and/or y and/or z) again + 21 more intense minutes + Police car drives by twice)

[Where x, y, and z = different police departments]

And here is the finger of accusation: The police here (which are plentiful) do not seem to work very hard. I am sure that some are open to bribes, too, though I don't know that for a fact. When a situation of the gravity of last night's encounter is not responded to for over half an hour there is a problem—no, a number of problems.

The general consensus here (from what I have heard) is that the police would rather clean up a mess after the storm has passed by, than intervene. What is the point? It is my understanding that death threats were traded last night (Second-hand, I did not understand much of what happened last night.), this would surely result in some action by the police at "home"(though I am not sure what).

I have heard locals accuse police of not going into areas where criminals are "because it's to dangerous!" I guess they lacked foresight while choosing a career.

Why am I coming down so hard on this issue? Because I love these people. I want to see the situation improve. Nobody was hurt last night. While words were exchanged, the situation was resolved eventually. However, there was a time when I felt that it was going to end in a scuffle at the very least.

So, to sum up our mathematical equation from earlier, here is pretty much what happened yesterday:

Heat + Bar {Success of said bar ≈ amount of noise created by said bar.} + Temper + Time + Bar Next Door + Words = Need For Police + Call (x and/or y and/or y and/or z) = "Police are on the way." + (14 intense minutes + Call (x and/or y and/or y and/or z) again + 21 more intense minutes + Police car drives by twice)

[Where x, y, and z = different police departments]

*I am not any good at math, so just ignore any mistakes I make, and try to get the general idea. Thanks.

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Ultrasound Number One

I have read many blogs where the excited parents post pictures of their yet-unborn baby. This seemed odd to me until now—now I have a clue. Not that I was put off by the pictures, I just didn't understand what a significantly cool thing this is.



This was an amazing experience. We both cried when we saw the baby. I am still in awe.

Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Nyna!

[Edit: I forgot to mention that this is at 7 weeks. Also, this morning I have been able to sort out my video "woes" and have have changed the post to reflect that above. The video format is Quicktime (.mov).
I added music, but it fades out when there is something important going on. Yes, that's me playing guitar.]

Technorati Tags: Baby, Interesting, Life In Brazil, Living Outside the US, Our Activities, Our Story, overjoyed, Ultrasound