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.

Out of the Frying Pan

It feels cool here in Teresina, believe it or not. Upper 80º's F really feels good after hitting 100º F nearly every day in Parauapebas.

We went downtown yesterday to run some errands, and Nádya took her résumé to see if there were any jobs available. There are a ton of medical facilities there, and she has friends at several of them. After we got home in the late afternoon, she got a phone call asking for an interview. It is today at 5 PM our time (1PM Pacific)!

By the way, if you ever happen to be looking for a job in Brazil, it is good to know someone where you want to work.

Another cool thing that is happening, is that my friend Patrick is coming to visit in a couple of days. He and my sister(-in-law) Nyna have been emailing and chatting for a while now, and he is coming to meet her. We are all excited (for different reasons), but I think its cool that I will get to introduce him to my wife.

He is even spending a birthday here, so I am sure we will have some sort of celebration that will yield many photos, some of which will be posted here.

As I promised before, here are some of the photos from Parauapebas, and the area. An alternate place to view the same images with my comments is here. The first photo is at the entrance of the Carajás National Forest.



These photos are from the zoo. The one below is of the recycling cans in and around the park. I thought they were so cool that I wanted to take some home with me. I restrained myself (actually, they would not fit under my shirt...). Júnior is the one posing with them.







The indians were very threatening...

Here are some shots from around Carajás, click here for more information on them.

[Insert Title Here]

I really am confused about how to write this. I guess I will start out with the general outline of what I know:

• The job offer is not full time. It would be a few hours a week.
  
• The job is teaching English via an extension program.
• I would be teaching English teachers in some classes, and in others, I would be teaching advanced students.
• I could supplement the work there with work at other English Schools
• The department head is the wife of one of the directors who interviewed me in December and January. (She said she would see if there was a possibility of my getting work there after all.)

I am pretty exhausted today, as it is quite hot today, compared to the last few days. I think its time for an afternoon nap.

If you have questions, post them here, or email me. I have lost many of your addresses, so if you have not received and update from me recently, and would like to, send me an email.

More Interview Stuff

We just made a call to the school to confirm the interview. It is postponed again (until Monday the 6th at 10 AM my time), but this is not all bad. I got some more information on the whole game-plan here, and thought I would share that with you as well.

The person I spoke with on the phone said that they are not able to hire new teachers as such, but they can hire students to be teachers. This would be part of an extension program, and I would be teaching advanced English students. I really don't know much more than that, as the conversation was very short. Further, I may have to correct these statements later, as they could be all wrong!

It does not sound very "full time," but that is another thing that is not very certain.

As far as the emotions I was feeling last week this time; I am much more relaxed. I think actually talking with someone there, as well as getting a feel for the direction they are thinking of going has helped enormously.

Other things that have been going on: We watched part of the Rolling Stones concert in Rio on TV, and all of the U2 concert on TV in the space of three days. Both were really good, but Mick Jagger's Portuguese is better (he has a son here, born of a Brazilian) than Bono's. We counted the guitars The Edge used in that concert, and it was more than 20: One for each song.

Carnaval was this past weekend. The samba schools compete to see who is the best. I did not care to watch much. There were some really cool floats, but mostly just thousands of people dressed in strange costumes shakin' it. (By the way, the "Super Bowl Wardrobe Malfunction" would not have been an issue at all here in Brazil.)

The carnaval here in Teresina was also televised, postponed the first time due to rain. The second try it rained again, but they (sort of) went ahead with it.

Along with the above, Nadya had Monday, and Tuesday off, as well as Wednesday morning. She enjoys cooking, and made some incredible food during that time. We also tried to go catch a movie, but one mall was closed entirely, and the other's movie theater was under construction. So we window shopped, which is quite fun with the right person.

With the prospect of possibly living here, I have switched in mentality from teaching Nadya English to learning Portuguese, while still teaching. I am picking it up rather quickly, and have some degree of fluency (though not much). I find that I often have to say I don't understand a sentence, or a paragraph only because of a word or two that I have not heard before. This is frustrating to the speaker as well as to me, as we both know that I understand a good deal of what was just said.

Just to clarify, I have not been resisting learning Portuguese. In fact, I want to learn it, but learning and teaching at the same time can be confusing and frustrating. Hence, I have focused more energy on teaching my wife English, and less on learning Portuguese until recently.

To sum up: We are both doing quite well, and very much looking forward to what God has for us in the coming months. We recently crossed the six month mark of being married as well, which is probably a bigger deal to us than to anyone else.

If you would like to recieve email updates when I update here, email me.

Postponed

Some parts of being in Brazil can be very frustrating.

When we went to the interview last night, I discovered that this was for an entirely different school than I originally thought. Then, when the person was not there who was supposed to interview me, my nerves fried. Its been a pretty stressful process, and not knowing all of the information does not really help.

So, this interview, which might take place tomorrow, is for the Federal University of Piaui. I am not sure what I would be doing there (besides something to do with English), and I am not sure of much else, either.

I love being vague. Perhaps more precisely; I love having a life based in vague "maybes," and not being sure of much more than what will happen today (if even that).

My hope is that the sarcasm of the former paragraph is not viewed by the reader to darkly. Yes, this can be frustrating, but I actually enjoy most of it. I am just to the point where I want to be able to say "This is our plan: ...." and have something to say, instead of just "..."

So, at this point, I am not sure what else to say. Part of me feels like quitting, but I don't really have anything to quit, so I guess I will just keep plugging along. [There goes that sarcasm again...]

Meanwhile, I will wait until next Friday at 11 AM our time for the "interview."

Carnaval begins tomorrow.

Paperwork Update

We called the Policia Federal yesterday to see if my documents were ready.

As you might recall, if you read this regularly, I took the documents in on the 27th of January. We then visited the 6th of February just to see if there was a chance they were ready. They had not yet sent them in, but were going to do so that day (they said).

When we called yesterday, they said, "Have patience! We just sent them in on the 15th."

Part of me wishes that I could just rant about this for awhile. The other part, though, says that would not do much good, and would not make for a very good entry here. Besides, I have so many things to be grateful for, that this is not a huge deal (okay, it is, and it isn't).

I have another interview today. This one is with a college here in town, and will take place at 11:30 AM Pacific. I have already met with the President of the college, and she is very interested in having me teach the teachers. I am not sure what all this will entail, but I will let you know soon.

You might have noticed that there is a new button on the right-hand column of this page. It should let you know if I am online with Skype or not.

I should have another entry up tomorrow with my assessment of the interview. Have a good day.

[Update: The interview did not work out today, we will try again tomorrow at 11 AM local (6AM Pacific).]

Another Interview

Had another interview today. This time it was at Skill (see the first comment in previous post). It went well, the guy seemed genuinely interested. He mentioned that I looked like a “white” Brazilian, as well as saying that my pronunciation of Portuguese words was very good (he said this after exploring the limits of my command of the language).

He was not sure if he would have any openings for me because my Portuguese is limited, which leaves me with more advanced students, and there are not as many of those. (For reference, this is the story I have heard all over the place.)

It is sort of funny how this interview got set up, so let me tell you the story:

My friend Phil left a comment on the last entry here mentioning that he had worked at Skill (the name of an English school here) when he was here, and that I should call them, and see if they might be interested.

During the day, my brother-in-law Allan saw the comment, and called to see if I wanted him to put in a good word for me. I said sure, and he called back a few minutes later saying that I needed to be there at 10:30 AM today.

Funny how that bounced around the globe like a hot potato in such a small amount of time.

The Job 2

The director did not call on Monday night, so we called last night. When we did, he said that he would call back in a half-hour.

We never received the call, so at this point we assume that I do not have a job.

Our spirits are up, and we are looking for other opportunities. We know that God will provide.

Thanks for your prayers!

The Job

Karl does not yet have a job.

I went to the English school that was interested in me yesterday. The director's boss is on vacation, so, once he gets back we will have a more firm idea of whether or not I have a job.

Monday is the day he will be back in the office I guess, so we should know by then.

Thank you for your continued concern and prayers. We look forward to telling you that I have a job.

The Past Week, Or So:

Its been an eventful month. I considered opening with the first words from “The Tale of Two Cities,” but felt that might be overkill.

November 30th the DSL was turned off here for what the company said was going to be 72 hours. I was fine with that. I figured it might be longer, but hoped not.

I found other things to do with my time, but many of them (such as watching my movies) got old fast. I also started to miss talking with family, and friends via chat and email.

One of the more extensive projects I delved into was putting some music on “paper.” Before I came to Brazil I upgraded some applications on my computer, and got a new one called Garage Band. I had a lot of fun orchestrating different pre-recorded sounds into some semblance of a cohesive and musical retreat from the rigors of everyday life. I plan to review the application on my other site soon.

Monday of this week--or was it Tuesday--I don't remember, we found out that my application for permanent residence in Brazil was rejected because of a missed step in the paperwork. This was because we were given flawed instructions.

Looking back now, I can say that it is all in God's hands, and that he has it under control. But I really struggled for a day or two with the “Why?” question. Its frustrating that we have had so many delays to getting this process started. Sometimes it feels like one step forward, three steps back.

On Wednesday I started 3 or 4 songs (I had one of those really inspired days...), then I went to the shopping center to see about a job.

Talk about Divine appointments! The director of the school had called an American who had a Tourist Visa. He could not hire this person because it would cost the company R$8000 (a lot of money here) and likely his job as well. Once I explained that I was a different person entirely, and that I had the correct authorization to work in Brazil, he was excited--or it seemed that way to me, at least.

He said that he would call me very soon, as teacher training has already begun. I should know more by the end of the day today, and will let you know about it.

Another thing I started doing during the long days without internet, was re-reading a great book. Its called “Messy Spirituality,” and its by Michael Yaconelli. (The link has some excerpts from the book.) I HIGHLY recommend this book. No, its not the Bible, but it can help you grow closer to Jesus if you let it.

So, we are getting ready for Christmas. Tomorrow morning, Nádya and I are going to a market for veggies for a salad, and in the evening the entire family is going to dinner. I will probably have more pictures for you to look at soon.

For now, though, here is a taste of the thunderstorms we get in Teresina:

Technorati Tags: Life In Brazil, Music, Observations On Life, Our Activities, Our Story

The Interview

Well, I can't say I have a job. But the interview went well, I thought.

I have a test on Thursday at 10 am my time... that would be about the time some of you will be putting a turkey in the oven I suppose.

The job would start in February, and I would be teaching English to advanced students. I have two schools interested in me, so we will see what happens.

Both schools are exclusive (they would not let me work at the other school for example), and both class times start in Feb.

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

Job Interview

For those of you who are personal friends and family, I thought I would let you know that I have a job interview on Tuesday. I suppose if you are not in either of those categories, that sentence might put you off... you can know that information too, though. I would be teaching English. I don't know how much I will make, but I am legally permitted to work here. The interview is at 7 am Pacific (noon here).