This Works For Now

The interview went well! Nádya started work today. The pay is not “out of this world,” but it is livable. There may be some options for me, as well, but for the moment we are considering what is best. I will let you know when we have more concrete ideas.

In the meantime, a friend wrote yesterday asking a few questions. They were so good that I thought I would reply by creating a new entry, and let you all in on the answers.

You haven't mentioned anything about the World Cup, it must have been a riot when they were winning.

I suppose it was. We moved to Parauapebas in the middle of the “Copa,” so we experienced it in two cities. Here in Teresina the Brazilian flag was everywhere, along with various other forms of decoration. Some of these were (ahem, are): Painting the street with the Brazilian flag, hanging yellow and green streamers from strings, and stretching them across the street, putting the Brazilian flag on the car.... They can get very creative, so this is just a few of them.

Teresina seemed more intense about the decorations (and fireworks) by a long-shot, than Parauapebas, but both towns shut down (including most government facilities) for the games. We were out walking Monday, and saw a flag in the very top of a very tall tree–it was no small flag, either.

[Image: The above image can be found here along with much interesting information about the ball itself.]

The fireworks went off anytime a goal was made. Here in Teresina it was pretty crazy in that way; in Parauapebas after the games (even the final loss) there were a great number of people driving through the streets in a “mom motorcade” honking horns and making a great racket any way they could.

What kind of timeline do you guys have for coming to the states? Or is there one?

Several people have asked this recently. The answer is still “I don't know.” Its kind of lame to keep saying that, but there are so many factors involved, that I can't make any prediction. I don't mind the prospect of staying here for a while, but we need a more stable (robust?) financial situation.

Essentially we are waiting for my Brazilian identification card to come through, which will allow us to apply for Nádya's visa a the US Consulate. Once that comes through (and depending on what obligations we have here when it does come through), we will have a better idea.

I have student loans to pay off, and need to either come up with a way to make enough money to pay them from here, or get back to the US, get a job, and pay them from there.

Most of all, though, I miss friends and family there. Nádya is looking forward to meeting you all, and I am looking forward to introducing you to my wife.

How is your Portuguese coming along? How about Nádya's English?

My Portuguese continues to improve. I have recently hit this patch where I understand almost everything that someone says to me, but may not understand a word or two. This can be very frustrating, but its all a part of learning a new language.

Nádya's family has noticed that I learned a great deal while we were in Parauapebas, and are sometimes surprised at how much I know now. I guess the strangest part for me is that I don't really usually have to think about it that much. I own the vocabulary I know, sometimes I have to think about a word, or two, but in general I am pretty “fluent.”

Nádya's English is doing well. Since we started focusing on my Portuguese, it has kind of taken a back seat, but we do continue to work on it. She helped out a lot with the English classes I taught in Parauapebas, which she said was good review.

Important: If you have questions about what we are up to please comment or email me! I will be happy to answer them the best I can.

In Teresina Again

We have arrived in Teresina safely. It was not the same as the trip there. There were no breakdowns, or stalls for police. It was still long (at 24 hours), though.

It turns out that the apartment situation did not work out, unfortunately, but we are still grateful to be back in Teresina. It is much cooler here, and not nearly as dusty, either.

We don't understand why things worked the way they did. It seemed that nothing worked out the way we heard it would. The more time we waited, the more stress we had, and we knew we had some opportunities here in Teresina.

This probably is not the long explanation some were looking for, but I am not sure how to explain everything to myself just yet.

We are, however, looking forward to the possibility of finding a place we can afford. Hopefully that will be soon, but we don't know.

Thank you all for your well wishes. Keep praying for us.

Incidentally, if you are a Google Earth user, Teresina recently got a huge boost in resolution (I just noticed). If you want to see where some of the places are that we have been, or that we frequent, I can send you the files.

We have some pictures from Parauapebas that I hope to get on the web in the next couple of days, I will make another entry for those when they are done.

Leaving This Dusty Town

We are traveling back to Teresina to live. Things did not work out here. I will explain more later, but essentially nothing worked out like was planned, and we now have an apartment (furnished!) waiting for us in Teresina.

I am out of time... Gotta go. Write more in a few days.

Five Days Short Of A Month

I apologize for it being so long since I updated. Not really much has happened, though. I guess in some ways that is not entirely true, but what I am trying to say is that no major changes have taken place.

Work:
We expect to know more on Tuesday regarding work for Nádya. We are fairly certain that will work out in our favor. As for me, I am teaching English using the course at called Spoken English Learned Quickly. I have one class per week. The students are so far impressing me at how fast they are picking things up (they are all adults my age or older).

As for my working at CVRD, the chances are not as good as they were. The guy we talked to evidently got transferred to another location, so we are going to be exploring other options.

I also have work in August teaching English at a school in the nearby city of Carajás. Its not full time, but it is a foot in the door.

Living Situation:
It is not ideal. We are making the best of it, and learning a lot about relationships with others. Pray with us that we can afford a place to call home soon.

Weather:
Its hot. Every day. 100º F is pretty normal with 27% humidity. It still gets down to about 70º F at night–which is cold when you are used to 100º F on a regular basis.

Other:
I am experiencing sort of a homesickness lately. Usually its not terribly acute, but it is there. Part of that is because I know that my parents are in the final stages of readying their house in Vancouver, WA for sale. They are moving to Idaho to be closer to family. I miss my brothers a lot, too.

I guess I really miss my roots; all the friends and acquaintances that I have made through the years. I miss my church especially as well.

[Note: If you are a friend of my parent's, and would like to have their new address email me or them.]

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.

Safely home, and more...

I have arrived safely in Teresina, and am greatly enjoying the time with my family here.

This is just a pause in the journey, however. From here the two of us head out to Parauapebas to start our new jobs there. We leave this weekend. In the meantime, we have some other things that we will be doing.

One of those things is that Nádya will be having surgery tomorrow morning (Thursday). There is a lump in her breast that the doctor says is a cyst inside a “nodule.” They have done several scans, and are pretty sure it is benign, but want to be completely sure.

We really appreciate those of you who are praying about this already, as well as those who will begin to pray as you read this.
I did know about it before the trip to the US, but did not want this news to overshadow the other things that were going on, and decided it would be best to wait until now.

It will be a difficult week this week, as we have much else to do to prepare for our move, as well. So, pray for energy for both of us, as well as peace, in this time of mixed emotions.

I am running out of time to write here, so I need to go. I hope to write more soon, as well as upload some pictures from Nathan and Melissa's wedding, and some of my reactions to culture shock.

[Update: Since I could not publish this last night, it might read a little differently than originally intended.]