Easter and Other Things

We are still here. And with all this rapture nonsense, I guess that phrase has a double meaning to it tonight. At any rate, what I mean is that we do actually remember that we have this website. And friends and family who like to read about what is up in our corner of life. Due to God's provision we have moved to our own apartment. Hendrick turned seven months old a month ago tomorrow. There are pictures of him on our photo album. He is wearing 12-month-old clothes these days, and really likes his big sister.

Easter came and went, and we (ahem, I...)didn't get anything written. That was also when we celebrated Hendrick's birth last month. But there are pictures!

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 Day One: Getting There

To the Airport

The alarm went off. I sprang out of bed and as my feet hit the floor I wondered why it had gone off. Then, as the fog of sleep cleared I realized that it was time to head to Rio de Janeiro. It was raining hard (even for Teresina). I wondered how wet we would get in the process of loading the car with our suitcases.

Nádya and I got around, then had breakfast while Kylie slept. While I got our bags downstairs and out to the car Nádya got Kylie. She must have realized this was very odd behavior for us, as she completely woke up, and remained awake until we were on the plane.

It is only about five minutes to the airport from our house by car. Maybe less. The rain had subsided by the time we got there, which made unpacking the bags from the car a little easier.

After checking in and waiting for a bit the screens at the airport started telling us that our flight was delayed. Not by much, but it was enough that they decided that we needed to get boarding passes for the next flight moved back to the following flight. Unfortunately they only decided this after we had passed the security checkpoint. So we had to go back to the desk, get our boarding passes, then go back through security.

To Fortaleza

While I have taken so many flights that I gave up keeping track years ago, for Nádya and Kylie this was flight number one. Nádya was a bit nervous, but after a few jitters she grew accustomed to it and even liked it. Kylie was going about the business of getting some more sleep.

We landed in Fortaleza and had to wait for a bit for our next plane. In the mean time a family visiting from Portugal came over and started visiting with us—well, to be honest, the came over to visit with Kylie. We just delude ourselves into thinking that people want to talk to us when all they want is to talk with Kylie.

Kylie had the time of her life (she loves to see other children, and actually has taken to jumping and kicking when she sees them). There are some more pictures in our album from the day.

To Rio de Janeiro

From Fortaleza we were headed to Rio de Janeiro. But somehow we had either missed the note that we were stopping in Salvador, or we were not told. Sitting on the ground in Salvador, our flights were all running late, and we were tired and bored. Ripe time for a distraction or two.

Next thing we know we saw Patrícia Werneck coming down the asile of our plane. She is an actress who recently played a rather large part in a novela (soap opera). I had watched bits and pieces of the novela, so I immediately recognized her.

I, however, had forgotten about the Kylie factor. I figured she was headed toward the back of the plane where we were seated for any host of reasons except to talk with us. I was wrong. She had heard Kylie laughing and screaming (not crying, the happy screams), and wanted to meet her.

She said that Kylie "Looks like a Johnson's baby!" Gerber is not as big in Brazil as Johnson & Johnson, so it is like someone saying that she looks like a Gerber baby.

Patrícia Werneck seemed like a delightful person, and even though Kylie was not to excited about interacting with her (it was nap time again) she obliged our request to get a photo of her.

She left, and after a few minutes we saw another person we recognized from the novelas:

Caio Blat ended up in the chair right behind us. He too was interested in Kylie, but by this time she was pretty grumpy. I overheard him telling the flight attendant that he was very tired and just wanted to sleep. That he did. The entire flight he was sacked out in the chairs behind us.

I guess the two actors had been in a presentation of the Passion of Christ in Floriano (?) where Caio Blat had played Pontius Pilate, and Patrícia Werneck had played Mary Magdalene.

Arrival in Rio de Janeiro

One of the things we did not know about our trip is where we would stay. We knew that trying to afford a hotel was out of the budget range (buying the plane tickets there was about two-month's worth of income while on sale for half-price).

We had a promise, though, from one of the leaders of the Baptist Convention that goes to our church that we would be able to find a place if we went to the same seminary where Patrick and Nyna stayed. "If not at the seminary, then someone will find you a place. I promise."

Of course, it was 11 o'clock Easter Sunday morning when we arrived at the seminary, and nobody who knew anything about our situation was around. There was a group there who were cooking lunch, though, and they helped us contact someone who would know what to do. They even fed us, and gave us water (the last real meal we had had was at home in Teresina).

Stay tuned to find out where we ended up staying.

This entry is part of "Rio de Janeiro: A Series." All the published entries are linked from that entry. Don't want to miss out on the coming entries? Try 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!

Going To Rio de Janeiro

It is almost 9 PM here in Teresina, which is late if you are getting up at 2 AM to be at the airport by 3 AM for a 4 AM flight to Rio de Janeiro. We are excited about many things about the trip, and nervous about a few. But we know it is all in God's hands and that those are good hands for it to be in.

We will have adventures to tell, and pictures to show when we get back (and maybe I can do some catch-up posts as well). The visa interview is scheduled for 7:45 AM on the 26th (Wednesday), but Nádya has some medical exams for the visa on the previous two days.

I will try to post here when we know something, but don't have any guarantees when it comes to the internet access.

Three Things About Kylie

She loves to play with her hairbrush. This includes chewing on it and hitting things with it, she just hasn't quite figured out how to brush her own hair with it.

Kylie loves typing. She loves the keyboard so much that she only has to see someone using one, and she will start whining to go over to it and pound on it for a while. This picture is in her stroller; she was lucky enough for the computer keyboard to quit working with the computer, and now has her own for a toy.

She also loves this monkey. It happens to be my mother-in-law's, and is from USBank. I am not sure of the story of how it got here (I have a guess, but will leave that for someone else to tell in the comments.), but Dona Carmélia has been very clear that it is hers and she wants it back. We will happily oblige her.

Kylie: Seven Months

Our little princess turned seven months old on Saturday, so we had the usual party. There were not as many in attendance because of various activities, but those who were there enjoyed it thoroughly.

It has been fun to see people's reactions to Kylie change over the last month, or so. When she was first born people would say things like, "Oh, she looks exactly like her dad!" That has been changing recently with more and more people saying she looks exactly like Nádya. She is growing and changing so much!

We took her to the doctor for her monthly checkup on Friday, and the doctor said everything looks fine. She will start teething soon (Well, she has already started chewing on nearly anything she can get her hands on.), and she gained 300 grams (0.7 pounds), and grew one centimeter (0.4 inch) since we were there three weeks ago.

Kylie had a great time getting her picture taken. Incidentally, she hardly ever automatically smiles for the camera—we usually have to coax that out of her, but it is not terribly hard to do. She actually loved the cake, and wanted to be close to it. In the picture above I am holding her back from diving in.

Singing? Clapping hands? Kylie loves them both. I think I have mentioned that she likes to dance, as well.

We sing the birthday song every month, and last night was no different, except that Kylie was kind of humming along. She is beginning to form words, and really recognizes when mom is talking to dad. She is even beginning to catch on to the concept of waving goodbye!

Of course, at the end of the night she is ready to go to bed. Saturday she tuckered out pretty early, so we were glad that we started the party a bit earlier than usual.

The following is just for a technical verification. You may ignore it. Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

Video Of Kylie

The facebook page works great, but I discovered this morning that if you are not logged in, or do not want to start an account with them, you cannot see the video. So, I added it to YouTube, and placed it here for you to see a little more conveniently.

My apologies if you tried to view it, but could not because of these issues. Had I known, I would have just posted it here in the first place.

Kylie Growing

Of course we expect that our little princess will grow up; it is just happening so fast! Kylie is standing on her own as long as she has something to hold on to. She is also walking up and down the hall with help. She hasn't really got the hang of crawling at all, but can scoot around a little when she wants to.

She also loves the camera:

Here she is mid-scoot—and mighty pleased with herself:

She has also discovered that life isn't completely a bed of roses:

When we took her to the doctor shortly after Nádya's birthday for her six month checkup. She weighed in at a very healthy 8.4 kilograms [18.5 pounds], and was 67 centimeters [26.38 inches] long. It is a good thing she is not spending so much time in our arms!

The doctor said everything looks good, but that we need to watch her weight a little bit, though with her increased activity it should not be a problem.

There are more pictures of this little princess in our web album. They are displayed chronologically, so the newest ones are at the bottom.

Christmas: Later Than Planned

My parents sent me a package near the beginning of December. This was our Christmas presents and, while they were told it should get here in time, it didn't.

New Years? Nope.

Karl's birthday? Não.

It did come on Nádya's birthday (the 21st of January) though!

Here is Kylie with part of what she got:

My present may seem odd to you: Shoes. I have not been able to find any here, and my old ones were wearing out. My feet are very happy. ;)

Nádya's Birthday

Nádya did not want a celebration of her birthday. She told me that she had eaten enough cake for the month.

We had a semi-surprise celebration anyway. Her mom (who makes the cakes for our celebrations) put this cake together in the afternoon after Nádya went back to work. I had an English Class to teach so I was not there when Nádya got home from work.

It was a fun little party.

The rest of the photos are in our January Birthday Celebrations 2008 album (They are in the last three rows.).

Kylie At The Six Month Mark

From Kylie's 6th Month

On the 16th of January we had our usual monthly celebration of Kylie's birth. As we get closer to heading to the United States these parties become a little more precious to us, as the family gathers together and celebrates.

There wasn't anything particularly special about this one—well, the cake was spectacular. But that is always the case. Kylie is getting to the point where she has a bit of involvement in the parties, which makes them more fun. I am not sure that she understands that the parties are for her, but she certianly warms right up to having lots of people around. At least until it is just past her bedtime...

There are a great many more images in our web album, should you wish to see more. Which reminds me: If you have questions about a particular photo in the web albums feel free to use the comment form below the photo.

There are a couple more entries coming soon. :)

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.]

Karl Winegardner's Birthday Party

From January Birthday Celebrations 2008

Karl had a great birthday. There is not a lot to say about it in terms of what the party was like. It included family, and a friend who visited. But it was fun. The cake was great (Of course it was, my mother-in-law made it!), and having family members around was the highlight.

The pictures in this post link to the album, which has many more pictures of the evening. You may have seen them, though, if you looked at all the pictures in the album from the last post about Phil's party.

Phil Steller's Birthday Party

From January Birthday Celebrations 2008

Phil and Denilze Steller came to Teresina to visit her parents for Christmas, and New Year's. I just so happens that Phil's birthday is in between the two. They were elsewhere at the time, so they invited some friends and family to celebrate a couple days late.

We had a great time visiting with them, as well as some other friends we have not seen in a while.

It just so happened that there were three other people there that also had birthdays within a two-week period. Yours truly was among them. Here we are together, but unfortunately I don't have a chance at remembering the other two people's names. (If someone knows, leave a comment, and I will update the post.)

Photos: An Update From Teresina, Brazil

From Kylie's 5th Month

There have been a number of events since Christmas that we took photos of, some of which have been posted in our photo album. The above is from a trip we took to the mall to see the Christmas display (It was interesting, but not as interesting as other years.).

Here are some of the highlights:



Kylie has begun to sit on her own, and loves looking around and exploring the new vistas in that way.



About the same time she started sitting, she started gleefully giggling at certain things we do. There are a couple more like this in the album.



While waiting at the mall before another event (which I will write about shortly), we ran into some friends from church. Their daughter is one month older than Kylie. They were fast friends.



Nádya's brother, Júnior, came from Parauapebas, Para to spend Christmas and to ring in the New Year with us. Kylie loved the extra attention. ;)



While no teeth are showing yet, Kylie is definitely getting ready to teethe. She loves chewing on this little thing, or another toy that looks like a foot—or her own foot for that matter.

Oh, and since this is the first post of 2008: Happy New Year!

Kylie: Five Months

From Kylie's 5th Month

On the 16th we had another little party for Kylie turning another month older. At first I balked at the idea of having these every month, but now I have come to cherish them. They serve as a reminder of how quickly the time goes by—besides it is a good photo opportunity, and her Grandma and Grandpa (and other family) in the USA like to see the photos.

The party was fun. The cake was purchased this month, and nearly everyone was disappointed in the quality of the cake (the chocolate on top was real good...).

A couple of days later, we took Kylie to her monthly checkup. She is doing really well. She weighed 7.5 Kilograms, and is 65 centimeters long.* The doctor was impressed with some of the things she has been doing, and told us to keep up the good work.

Kylie is a joy. Even though I have no experience with other babies, I would call her an "easy baby." As long as she gets her food and sleep on time she is quite content. She laughs often, and is beginning to explore the world around her. She even had her first instant message conversation the other day!

[For many more pictures from the party—and some from after—click the link below the photo.]

*Oh, I suppose I have to translate that: 16.53467 pounds, and 25.590551 inches

Yluska's ABC Graduation

From Yluscka's ABC Graduation

The 8th of December we were invited to go to a graduation party for Yluscka. I was very much looking forward to it until I realized that I would be wearing a tie and slacks—at that point I was just looking forward to it.

Yluscka would be addressing her peers, teachers, family members, and others, so we thought it would be fun to go for that reason alone (There were others, such as food.). The party was going on smashingly, the appetizers were good, and the little ceremony was interesting. I was actually with Kylie inside part of the time because she was hungry and tired.

As the ceremony was coming to a close—well, as soon as Yluscka had received her diploma—the first drops of rain began to attack the ground. I was inside at the time and heard much screaming, and the rush of running feet. For maybe ten seconds the rain came slowly, but then a full downpour was in progress. Then the lightning and thunder.

I watched as the workers rushed to get things under cover from this surprise. The tables and chairs that had been arranged outside were now needed inside (even if space was not sufficient).

Then the power went out.

If the 100 or so kids were scared before, this added to the fear and so screams abounded. I don't recall that the power came on again while we were there. The rain continued for an hour or more, then stopped.

Unfortunately, the rain and power-outage delayed dinner. On the upside it was romantic when it did come. Dinner by candlelight is great on a stormy night.

When the rain finally did stop, we still had to wait for about 45 minutes for the water in the street to go down.

From Yluska's ABC ...

For many more photos of this event, see links below the photos in this post.

Oh, and wearing a tie was not so terrible.