Rio de Janeiro Day Three: The Medical Exam

There really is not much to report about the actual medical exam. We took the same bus as the day before with the same long trip (number 415, if you want to know) from Tijuca to Leblon. Because we got there a bit early the blood test was not ready, but we went ahead with the exam anyway.

Once the exam was over we still had to wait for the blood test to arrive, and because the results must be sealed by the doctor when the interview is done, we did not know anything until the interview. So we did some extensive window shopping on the second level of the building we were in. Things that were really cool but not marked with price tags—which communicates that sense of "this is out of your price-range."

As I said in the last entry, we thought maybe we could hit the beach that day after the appointment. We had a couple of things against us, though: It was raining when we finally got out of there, and Mark and Helen had found a place we could stay, and we needed to get our stuff together to move it. (Besides those things, seeing and smelling the water flowing in the drainage from the city again while on the bus re-enforced the desire not to visit the beach.)

Above is a picture of the outside of the building where we rented the apartment. This particular apartment is used by a missions organization to house short-term mission teams. So, while some of the furnishings were a bit tattered and used, it was well furnished. I think there were something like 12 beds and about 5 couches in the places. It has three large bedrooms plus servant's quarters.

Mark and Helen had plans for the evening, and so we decided it would be best to try to get there as soon after Nádya's appointment as possible. I am not sure what time we got on the bus, but I know it was before 5:00 PM. That bus ride took forever.

It was after 7:00 PM when we got there. They drove us and our bags to the new place (probably a whole three city blocks), and showed us around inside. It was immense. And it had water heaters! (Water heaters are not very common in Teresina because the climate is so warm hot that a cold shower is relaxing. I have missed hot showers, though.)

Even though it was a bit dusty from being dormant for a while this was one of our favorite things about our trip to Rio de Janeiro. It was cool during the day (Though a bit dark: Even at noon one needed to turn on the lights to see anything.), and really nice to be able to come and go as need arose without worrying about disturbing anyone.

The next day was Nádya's visa interview at the US Consulate.

I will leave you with a picture of Kylie and Nádya by a tree right outside the apartment, and there are a couple more pictures in the album:

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Rio de Janeiro Day Two: Blood and The Beach

We ended up staying with a missionary couple Sunday and Monday nights. They are professors at the nearby seminary, and great people. Mark and Helen took us in on very short notice, and we are very grateful. It was no small thing they did. It was more like a series of big things in the end.

I think they would have put up with us for the entire time we were there if they did not already have other plans. They were very gracious, and really bent over backward to help us out in our time of need.

Blood

In order to get the immigrant visa, one must submit to a rigorous medical exam that includes a blood test (or several, really). We had scheduled the exam for Tuesday so that the blood test would be ready by then, but we still had to go get the blood drawn.

We were staying in a neighborhood called Tijuca, but the place we needed to go was all the way over in Leblon. As the eagle flies, they are not that far away from each other, but none of us are eagles (or mountain climbers) so we took the bus.

The appointment was at 9:45 AM, so we left good and early at 8 AM to get there. There is a bus line that goes through both neighborhoods, so that is the one we got on. The problem was traffic, and lots of it.

We were a bit late, but the people were quite happy to take our money (and subsequently Nádya's blood) anyway. Once we got that over with, we wondered what to do next.

The Beach

Nádya's sister, Nyna, had been through this process only a month before, and had given us some advice on where to go. Turns out the beach is only two blocks away from the doctor's office where we were.

We could tell Kylie was getting hungry as we got to the walkway by the beach, so we sat down and fed her some of the soup she has been eating around lunch time. It was quite balmy. One of those just-about-perfect days. Not to hot, and not to cold with a nice sea breeze thrown in.

But as Kylie was finishing threatening rain clouds were starting to form over the granite hills that loom over Rio de Janeiro. No beach for us. Not today. Time to hit the bus stop and head "home." We thought maybe we would try to visit the next day after the appointment.

The bus ride home was faster because it was not rush hour, but it still took about an hour and a half because the bus winds through all the important neighborhoods it can. It rained off and on the whole way. Which made me glad we had not gone for a dip in the water as I saw that the gutter water from the city runs directly into the ocean there.

By the time we got to our destination the sun was shining (where we were, anyway), and we decided to grab a bite to eat before heading back to the apartment of our hosts. We had advised them that we planned to be back around three, and it was still only a bit past one. So they were not expecting to feed us.

We spent the afternoon resting, and I took some pictures of the area from the high vantage-point of the apartment. Mark said that he calls the living room window "the zoo" because one can see so many different things going on in the other apartments.

It was interesting to watch, but I could not escape the feeling that someone was watching me watch others. That was a bit odd.

There are several more photos from the day in our web album, but unfortunately we could not take the camera to the beach because we were to nervous about getting mugged (it is a pretty bulky camera). There are even a couple of pictures of Kylie in there.

Here is a panoramic view from their window (click the image for a larger version):

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.