And then...

Pastel. Delicious goodness.

Hopefully I can catch up to the present in this post. Then, I can start posting more interesting stuff rather than what we teachers like to call "and then" stories.

So, after a nice long night of sleep, we got picked up to go to our school on Thursday morning. We did some paperwork to get reimbursed for all our expenses, took pictures for IDs, and we got our passports legalized so that we don't have to carry around the real thing as an ID. We got a tour of the school, and I saw my classroom. It was previously the computer lab, so there is nothing in there right now. No whiteboard, bulletin board, desks, chairs, or anything. I am kind of nervous about it being ready in time for the kids on August 4th. But, I found out that my class size will be capped at 16 since my room is smaller than the others. But, it's seriously not smaller than my old classroom. Whatever, I'll take it!!

Then, we had our first lunch at the school. I had it before when we visited in 2004, but it was so much better than I remembered. Folks, my new school lunch is about a jillion times tastier and healthier than what I was eating back home. Everyday, we have rice, beans, a choice of meat, and lots of fresh veggies and fruits. Plus fresh juice and coffee. Wow.

In the afternoon, my principal drove us to Carrefour (the big box, Target-ish store around here) and Tok & Stok (like an upscale Ikea) to go shopping. This was really overwhelming. We knew Brazil was more expensive, but these places were WAY more expensive than we imagined. We spent way too much money, and got very little stuff, haha. We got a tiny coffee maker for about $70, 20 wooden hangers for about $15. Yikes. But, we also got a very cool lamp, couch pillows, a new trash can, and lots of other decorative stuff. At Carrefour, we got cleaning supplies, a dish drying rack (very important here), and things like soap and shampoo.

In the evening, we finally got together with all the family when we went out for pastel (delicious, deep fried goodness, like a sophisticated Hot Pocket). I discovered that I'm not so great at Portuguese when I'm in a large group (AKA the family). It's a little difficult to jump in with my limited speaking skills, but I could follow most of the conversations.

On Friday, we got a ride to the school, where we learned about the school's curriculum mapping software. So far (and this may change!), things at school aren't nearly as overwhelming as they were in Gwinnett. I think it was great training for intensity. But seriously, I'm sure I'll be overwhelmed once we really dive into it tomorrow. We had lunch at the school again, and then we spent our afternoon with Pierre. He's a teacher at EAC (our school) who also owns the Portuguese language school where I'll be taking lessons. The school has him helping the new teachers adjust to our new life in Brazil. He gave us maps of the city, detailed info about Brazil, important phone numbers, and all kinds of other great information. Then, he rode the bus with us to our neighborhood, so we can learn to get to and from school that way. It's only about a 5 minute bus ride for us, and about 10 mins for the other teachers (we are closer to the school, for some reason).

We spent the rest of Friday night unpacking and organizing. We are SO not finished yet, but I will post pictures as soon as we are. On Saturday, Pierre picked us up again and took us to breakfast at a bakery. Amazing fresh smoothies and fabulous breakfast food. Then we walked to the fresh fruit market and "hippie fair" that are in our neighborhood every Saturday. I am going to devote a whole post with pictures to the wonders of the fruit market and the fair. Let's just say I love them.

Last night (Saturday),  we spent the evening with Brian's wonderful cousins and their significant others. We hung out at Vanessa and Fabio's house (Brian's cousin and her husband), where we had delicious food and great amounts of fruity mixed drinks with tropical fruits I didn't know existed. I did a decent job of following all the conversations, but I REALLY wish I could speak more Portuguese at this point. I want to be able to talk to everyone so badly. Right now, I can follow the conversation and give mostly appropriate responses, but I want to be able to add more and initiate new conversations. Good motivation to learn, I guess. Perhaps I shouldn't be putting so much pressure on myself on day 5, huh?

Well, this ended up WAY longer than I thought. Today, Brian's aunt is going to take us to do more shopping, since we really haven't grocery shopped. Plus, we need a few more things for the apartment. I hope we get lots more unpacking and organizing done today. When it's complete, I'll post some pictures up.

Love and miss you all.

Day 1 in Campinas

The outside of our building (previously posted, but...isn't it beautiful?)

It's hard to believe that we have only been here for a little less than 3 days. We have barely had time to breathe, which I think is actually making the transition easier for me. When I last left off with my play by play, we were driving from the airport in Sao Paulo to Campinas...

When we got to our apartment, the director of our school and his secretary (who are both fantastic and super helpful) met us to help unload our bags and give us the keys and a little tour of the building. You may have seen the pictures I put up of the apartment a few months ago, but I have to take new pictures and post them for you to see. There is totally new, very nice furniture in here. Brand new pretty much everything. We feel incredibly lucky and spoiled. By American standards, our apartment is very small. It's 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths, but they are all tiny. However, by Brazilian standards, our apartment is huge and ridiculously nice.

To our surprise and delight, the school had already set up our wireless internet, land line, and cable. There are lots of American channels that can be un-dubbed, so that helps. But, we've been watching a lot of local TV too. I think it helps a lot with the Portuguese. Okay, back to the day. The school stocked our apartment with flowers, fresh fruit, a basket of snacks, and even beer in the fridge! Amazing!

We got settled for awhile, and then the stream of family began arriving. Brian has 3 aunts, 2 uncles, several cousins, and friends here, so we all had to see each other as soon as possible! His Aunt Katia took us out to lunch and then we took a good 2 hour nap. After that, Brian's good friend Thiago came over for awhile. Pretty soon after, the director of our school picked us up for dinner and ice cream. We got to meet the other new teacher as well. She's fantastic. After all this, we gave many many skype tours of our apartment, haha.

Alright, I'll leave it there. I need to work on getting less long winded! Will continue updating soon...miss everyone!

We are here!

So many things have happened in the last few days, so I am going to break the stories up into several different posts. There is so much to write, but I'll attempt to describe our departure and arrival to Brazil.

The days leading up to our departure were crazy. We were trying to get our apartment ready at the last minute and pack our last bags. On Friday, we threw Brian's parents a surprise 30th anniversary party, which we have been planning for 6 months. But I couldn't say anything about it online! Brian's sister, Sam, and her beautiful family made a surprise appearance, so that was wonderful. The next few days were a blur of errands, packing, and wonderful going away parties. It was so nice to spend time with everyone, and it made me seriously sad. I was an emotional wreck the last few days. I'm pretty sure I lost a pound of tears. The good news is that I haven't cried at all since we got here, so that's good, right? Story for another time.

The airport goodbye on Tuesday was Crymageddon 2011, so it was kind of a relief when we got on the plane to Miami. On our flight to Sao Paulo, I was the only American on the entire Boeing 777 (a HUGE plane), unless you count Brian. There was some serious drama over seat assignments before takeoff, which involved American Airlines staff threatening to kick passengers off the plane. Ugh, it was bad. Eventually, everyone settled down, and we had a quiet, uneventful night flight to Sao Paulo. 

As soon as we got off the plane, I had to leave Brian to get in the foreigners line. After 2 hours of sleep, I had to get my portuguese going to speak to the federal police, so that was fun. The whole trip went smoothly except for the baggage claim experience. There were so many people at the baggage claim, that Brian described it as "getting your bags in the middle of a rock concert." We had TWELVE bags to find (5 each, plus they made us check our carry-ons)!! Poor Brian had to get each 70 pound bag one by one and wade through the masses to get to where I was waiting with luggage carts. It was nuts. I seriously don't know what I would do without that husband of mine. Not only did he hulk all our bags, but he was able to talk our way to the front of the customs line, and his special paper from the Brazilian consulate got us through customs with no questions asked. Then, we had a driver for the 1.5 hour trip to Campinas.

Sorry this is a play by play, but I'm attempting to record everything that's happened so far before the details get fuzzy. I'm going to leave it there, because it's getting long. A ton has happened since we got here, and I'll post again soon with pictures.

Suffice it to say: I have seriously enjoyed my first 36 hours here. The school staff is amazing. Brian is the best thing since sliced bread. We love our apartment. We are so lucky to have the most wonderful and supportive family here. I am feeling somewhat confident with my Portuguese, but I still have a LOOOOOOOONG way to go. I am happy and really, really excited. 

Well, I miss you all, and I'll continue to update tomorrow. Right after I start unpacking!

We survived Alaska!

Among all the business of moving this summer, we are definitely carving out some vacation time. I'm totally not stressed unless I start to think about the fact that I'm COMPLETELY unprepared for my new job, but oh well...that's how first years at new jobs are. Right? This is the beauty of being a 5th year teacher...I'm inexplicably less nervous than usual. I figure I'll make it work somehow. I'm sure I'll be kicking myself once we get there for being so relaxed about it, but oh well.

Wow, off topic already! This post is supposed to be dedicated to our recent cruise to Alaska and Canada. None of us had ever been on a cruise, and we all decided that we aren't too sure we ever want to cruise again. However, the Alaska part was fantastic! We had lots of fun, and got to be very cold in the summer. It was all great until Wednesday when Brian got sick, but here was the fun part of the trip (warning, lots of pictures):

We flew to Seattle and spent the morning checking out the famous Fish Market and the Space Needle. We knew we would fall in love with this city, because we love to sit around and drink coffee and read all day. We were right. Love at first sight. Brian almost didn't get on the boat.

Space Needle, from our hotel window

Fish Market...awesome food and gooooorgeous flowers! 

At the top of the Space Needle, after our 5 mile walk around town

On the boat, pulling away from Seattle. Noooo!

First formal night at sea...we got a little antsy during at sea days. Ready to get to Alaska! But we loved our waiters, Hambali and Asep. 

Ketchikan, Alaska. Site of the bridge to nowhere that never happened. Wow, it's cold and rainy!

Sorry this is sideways. Saxman native totem village. This one was begging to have  his finger pulled. Classy.

Rainforest hike in Ketchikan. We saw a bear cub!

Petting and feeding Rudolph

We found Sarah in the gift shop!

Tracy Arm Fjord cruising. Unbelievably beautiful.

It's a glacier!

Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska

More Mendenhall Glacier. We were captivated by the floating chunks of blue ice.

Our boat, obscuring the view of Juneau

Drinking Alaskan beer at a Mexican restaurant in Juneau. What??

The day I'm sure you all heard me worry about in advance. It actually turned out to be the best day of the trip. 8 mile glacier hike in Skagway, Alaska. This is when the train was pulling away, and I wanted to run after it as soon as our guides said "shoe chains will be necessary for walking on the glacier."

Oh, here are the shoe chains! Little did I know that we were walking straight up a STEEP hill of ice on the glacier. Covered in loose rocks and boulders. I didn't even fall once!

Us at the top of Laughton Glacier, where we had lunch. Yes, we actually are standing on the glacier. It's covered by a thin layer of dirt and lots of loose rocks, so it doesn't look like it.

Our awesome guides who made it a fantastic trip

It gets fuzzy here, because Brian was sick at this point. But, we took a quick trip into Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, and it was GORGEOUS. We now have Canadian stamps in our passports.

Waterfront in Victoria. It was very, very English-y.

Parliament Building lit up at night

Hope you enjoyed the quick tour of our trip! We are going to put the rest of the pictures on Flickr, so let me know if you're interested in more. We have amazing desktop background pictures for the rest of our lives.

46 Days

I'm so incredibly sorry that we haven't kept the blog up very well. Finishing out the school year made things REALLY busy, but I promise to post more often now that we are 46 DAYS away from getting on a plane to Brazil.

A lot of things have happened since the last post. So, in my typical fashion, I give you a list...

1. Our apartment in Campinas is all set. We have the address (if you're interested, I'll send it to you...you can play around on Google Street View!) and a few pictures of the place. The nice girl who is living there now has given us lots of information and pictures! It sounds like a fantastic neighborhood, with lots of great stuff within walking distance. Also, Brian's family went down and took lots of pictures of the neighborhood. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure...

Our building (we are actually on the back side)

The beautiful park right in front of our building! 

 One of the 2.5 bathrooms

 Living room--these pics are from when the current resident just moved in, so we will definitely have a little more furniture and decorations eventually. And we are totally replacing that couch right away! :)

 Not really sure what's up with the fence over the balcony

 Beautiful kitchen. Please note the dish drying rack. We are going to have some seriously pruny hands! :)

 Washer and dryer off to the side by the kitchen. Very normal setup.

Master bedroom (there are 3 bedrooms total). We should also hopefully have more furniture in there...

 

2. Wait, I forgot I was doing a list. Okay, number 2! I am completely done teaching at Peachtree Elementary, and I just moved out of my classroom on Wednesday. Very very weird. I'm mostly just going to miss my 2nd grade coworkers. If my new coworkers are half as supportive and (most importantly) hilarious as these ladies, I'll be okay. And besides, they're going to skype me and also hang out with me every summer...right? right???

 

3. I have finally gotten all of my paperwork in order to be legal in Brazil! I have my CPF (like a social security card/taxpayer card) and my work visa was just approved!!! I pick it up on June 21st. Someday, maybe I'll pursue the crazy path to a permanent visa. Hmm.

 

4. We are packing and organizing and packing and organizing, and it's never going to get done, oh my goodness!! Okay, thanks for letting me freak out. As you can see, I can't really talk about packing and getting organized without having a conniption. So please don't bring it up.

 

5. We had dinner this week with the new instrumental music teacher at EAC (our school in Brazil). He is starting a faculty band, and I am super psyched to be a dork and play my flute again.

6. We are taking a couple big trips in the next 46 days. Before the big one to Brazil, of course. Next week, we are going on a cruise to Alaska with my mom, her boyfriend, my brother, and sister-in-law. Oh yeah, and Brian too. They are making me go on an 8 mile hike to a glacier. Then, I heard talk about going on a glacier. I might die. I will miss you all.

Also, we are going to Wisconsin with my dad and his girlfriend at the end of June. I haven't seen my grandma since our wedding, so I can't wait for this. Also, I am going to get to show Brian Milwaukee for the first time. And we might get to go to Summerfest!

 

Well, I think that's it for now. If you don't hear from us for awhile, it's because we are buried in boxes. Or, I am stuck on a glacier. Either way, please rescue me!

Things I am excited about!

Alright, so sorry that we haven't posted in awhile. Let's face it, life is not quite interesting enough to blog about yet, but maybe it will be in the near future! Also, Brian promises me that he will post sometime soon. Hmmmm, we'll see if that happens.

Before I get to the subject of this post, let's have a little status update about what's new with the impending move. My work visa paperwork has been sent to Brasilia, so now we wait. I can't even imagine how complicated it will be to get a permanent visa (which I intend to pursue while we're there...I've heard it will be quite the headache). Next week, is my spring break (HURRAY!), so I have to get a bunch of documentation in order to get my CPF (tax card).

I also got some pretty big news on the work front last week. My position at EAC has changed from ELL teacher to 4th grade classroom teacher. I was excited about ELL, but I'm getting pretty excited about 4th grade too. I think I'm going to love working with kids who are a little bit older and more independent. The only difficult thing about this new position is that I am now going to have to bring a lot more classroom stuff with me. I'm going to skype with my principal next week, so hopefully I can get a better idea of what I should bring and what I can leave behind. We are planning on spending most of our spring break organizing, throwing away, and packing things up in our apartment. I want to do the same thing to my classroom in the next couple of weeks.

Okay, now to the point. My last post was a whiny "what I'm desperately going to miss!" post about what I'll miss from home. I think I could probably add quite a few more things to that list. However, I want to counter that negative post by listing what I'm looking forward to in Brazil! I'm sure there are tons of things that I don't even know about yet that I'll love, but here's what I know so far:

• Family: I will miss my family and friends from home terribly. But I am so fortunate to have an amazing family in Campinas too. Most of Brian's Brazilian family lives there, and we are so excited to get to spend time with them and be near them. They are the warmest, kindest people. When we visited in 2004, I couldn't really speak a word of Portuguese, but they treated me like family anyway.
• EAC: Our new school seems awesome. The administrators seem fabulous, and everyone has been really welcoming so far. I know it will be a lot of work, but I figure nothing can be more intense than teaching in Gwinnett.
• Friendly and fun people: Yes, this is a stereotype. But seriously, Brazilians are generally kind people. They work hard, and they know how to relax and have serious fun. I love that everyone greets each other with a kiss on the cheek. I think I'm going to learn a lot about balance down there.
• Portuguese: This is super exciting to me and terrifying at the same time. I am going to miss English so so badly. But, I love the portuguese language. I hope it loves me back. I have been studying it with Rosetta Stone and watching our novela (soap opera) every night. I can understand basic conversations pretty well. Speaking is a WHOLE lot harder, and my accent is pretty obnoxious. I am a perfectionist, so I'm trying to get past a fear of making mistakes. Luckily, my job will be in English, but I am convinced that learning Portuguese will be the key to my happiness there. It will allow me to be independent, which is huge. That being said, I don't expect this to happen overnight. I'm preparing myself to be patient and progress gradually. Luckily, I have Brian to help me out until I can function well in public by myself! :)
• FRESH SQUEEZED JUICE! Seriously, I miss this so badly from when we were there. You can get fresh squeezed juice of almost any kind (strawberry, pineapple, grape, mango, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!) with or without sugar. You can even get it at McDonalds. It's so good.
• Food in general is less processed and better for you. Of course, there are plenty of things that are bad for you, but there is an abundance of fresh fruit, veggies, rice, beans....yum. Oh, and pastel. So delicious.  Most people get fresh bread from a bakery (usually within walking distance).
• Transportation:  This might be a pain, but we're not going to have a car. At least at first. Public transportation is pretty good though, so we should have no problems getting to work and most other places we need to go.
• Weather: I've been told (please don't let it be a lie!) that the weather rarely dips below 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the dead of winter, and it doesn't usually get above 90 in the summer. Of course, most people don't have AC or heaters, so it can be a little uncomfortable if it hits those "extremes." Also, no hurricanes, earthquakes, and almost no tornadoes. I would like to never see ice again.
• Traveling: I'm just so excited to get to see more of Brazil and South America in general. When we went before, we visited Rio (twice), Sao Paulo, and Minas Gerais (Ouro Preto mostly). It is easy and relatively inexpensive to hop on a nice coach bus to major cities in Brazil, so we will definitely be seeing some more beautiful places.
• Help around the house: It is really normal for middle-class Brazilians to have a maid come a couple times a week to help clean and cook. It seems really strange for Americans, since only pretty rich people have cleaning help here. But, I think we're going to go with it. Because living with a boy is messy and gross (that's my excuse).

Well, I could keep going on and on. I'm going to stop and continue another time since this post is getting pretty long. I also would love to write sometime soon about the crazy questions people have asked me since they found out we're moving to Brazil. I know it's just genuine curiosity, but I have realized that even the most educated Americans don't seem to know almost anything about other countries in the world. I can't blame them I guess...I didn't know anything about Brazil before meeting Brian. But seriously...if I hear, "Do you speak Spanish?" one more time...ah well.

If you got this far, I'm impressed. Thanks for reading!

Happy almost Carnaval! And a random list of things I'm gonna miss...

55 more days of school! Wait, this post is not supposed to be about my not-so-boring daily life. It's a random post intended to get my mind off of that craziness.

First up, it's almost Carnaval in Brazil! The whole country takes a few days off to celebrate, and New Orleans has nothing on the brasileiros. Luckily, we'll get to watch the parades and samba schools on TV this year, but we're already dreaming about where we might be a part of it next year. Oh the fun.

Oh yeah, that is totally gonna be me next year. If I can just keep this gym routine up!

Also, Brian came across this guy while reading the Brazilian news online today...

This guy is John Carioca. He is the "mascot" for North Americans visiting Rio for Carnaval. He is supposed to be there to help tourists and pass out Carnaval information in English, but uhhhhh....I think they're making fun of us! I mean, look at those Tevas! And that dorky hat! My half-brasileiro husband laughed for minutes on end at this photo. Until I reminded him that he is also half-gringo.

On a different note, I have started to follow a few blogs of Americans living in Brazil. It's really interesting and helpful to read about the experiences of people who have gone through what I'm going to go through. Reading these blogs have gotten me really excited, because I'm pretty sure I'm going to love it. I feel so lucky to be in such a great situation. Awesome job where I get to speak English, the best Brazilian family you could ever ask for, and the chance to learn and experience new things every day.

 

However, I'm starting to think about a few of the things I'm going to miss. Besides, of course, my family. You know, the shallow things. I promise to counteract this negative post very soon with a list of things I'm very much looking forward to about Brazil. I don't want to sound complain-y and like I expect everything to be the same as the US to be happy.

But for now, here are the random things I am learning that I'll be without in Brazil that I'm kinda going to miss:

• PEANUT BUTTER! Okay, you can get it, but it's expensive. I think I can learn to make it.
• Blueberries. Apparently, they only grow in colder climates. I should also add here that there are bajillions of amazing fruits available in Brazil that you can't get here. So I'm sure I'll be good on the fruit front.
• Dishwashers. Nooooo! I'm way too lazy to wash all my dishes by hand!
• Target. Yeah okay, big "box stores" are the American devil. Whatever. I LOVE Target.
• Hershey's. I don't remember seeing anything but Nestle down there. Ehhh.
• Top Chef, the Daily Show, Netflix, and all other access to dumb American TV. Well, maybe I'll be better without it. Or maybe I can find some kind of cable package so I can still see some of it!

In other news, I just sent off my Brazilian work contract so that the work visa process can keep moving forward. So far, it's been a fairly painless process.

Alright, back to real life! If anyone wants to come over to watch Carnaval between Friday and Tuesday, let us know. Happy almost Friday!