Adventures and Blessings

Here we are in Parauapebas. Many things are different than we expected, but we should have expected that!

We apologize for not updating you all sooner, but there have been many things that got in our way of getting to the internet. First, I will let you know that Nádya has a completely clean bill of health (the thing they removed was benign), and has nearly recovered from the surgery.

Our trip here was quite a story in and of itself. The bus left an hour late at 9 PM, then broke down at about 4 AM. We got under way again about 10 or 11 AM, and had to change buses (planned) at a city about 3 hours from Parauapebas. When we were on the bus, and around the corner (we did not have seats at this time, and were standing in the aisle!) from the bus station this bus broke down. I think this was about 10 PM, but times are all pretty fuzzy now. The driver, and mechanics were fiddling around with it for awhile, got it started, drove 20 meters, and it died again. So the went to tinkering again.

About 11:30 we pulled into the bus station again. We were told that they would give us our money back for the trouble, so we got off the bus, and I was waiting for luggage. We were unsure of what we would do for the night. Suddenly a police car pulled up, and I found out that we were getting back on the bus.

The police got on the bus after most everyone had gotten on (some had had enough, and did not wish to go further that night, so we had seats at this time). They walked the aisle fully armed–which is to say one had his hand on his sidearm, and the other had a very mean looking short rifle, which was probably semi-automatic at the least.

They looked in my bag to make sure I was not a criminal (but not many others), and took two guys off to do a full pat-down. They returned shortly, and were seated. The police, not finding anything or anyone that looked suspicious enough, decided to escort the bus just in case.

We were under way about an hour later. The bus had not broken down, it was just a stall tactic to decide what to do, I guess. A tire blew later that night, and that took an hour to change. We finally arrived at something like 3 AM.

It was a long trip.

Both of us are still waiting for jobs. Nádya had an interview early last week, and from all appearances she has a job. First she has to have medical exams, though, which will take place the first week of July. Karl has an interview with an English school the morning of the 27th (tomorrow, as I write this), as well as other opportunities. The English school would just be for 3-4 hours per week, at the most, so I am keeping my eyes open. One of my other opportunities is to work with CVRD the same company Nádya will hopefully work for. I interviewed the day after we arrived, and the man I talked with was very interested in having me work there. He was concerned that we find a good fit for me, though, so we might have to wait a while before I actually start working there (they need to find a position that will work, as well as my possibly needing to take some tests.).

We are living downtown in the second story of a building that overlooks the central square. It is quite noisy from 5 AM to about 10 or 11 PM, with a slight lull between the hours of 12 and 2 PM (the lunch hour).

On our arrival, we found that we had been blessed with a bed-frame and mattress (He felt it was the least he could do, as my in-laws were very hospitable to him and his friend while they were in Teresina for medical reasons.).

It is about 95º F during the day–in the house, anyway, it seems cooler when we go outside. But at night it is very different than Teresina. It cools off! It actually gets down to about 70º F most every night. This makes sleeping much more comfortable and effective.

We do have internet at home, but are limited to how much we can be on it, as we pay the phone company for usage by the minute. Please let us know if you want to send a large file, so we can plan for it.

I suppose I could go on for a few more paragraphs, but I will need something to write about next time, too! All for now.