Thanksgiving, Success!

This year marks the first time in my life that I was fully in charge of preparing Thanksgiving; talk about intimidation! We couldn't celebrate on Thursday since there was no holiday, and we and all our friends were working so I planned for Sunday. I spent the week leading up making thorough lists of menus, recipes and a master shopping list.

Poor Gui, he got back from three weeks of solid travelling to a week of Thanksgiving preparations and trips to the Policia Federal to try to finally finish my residency card paperwork submission. He's tough though. Oh, and on the residency card- after some 12 hours waiting in lines in the span of two days, not to mention travel to and from the headquarters which is 2 and half hours away, BOTH WAYS, I have submitted everything I need and will be getting my card sometime next year. And oh yeah, they won't tell me when it's ready, so I just have to check everyday until then. Oh, Brazil, Brazil. But enough on that, this blog is not for dwelling on the crappy moments in life, and I would like to add that I was very thankful to have Gui there to wait with me rather than go it all alone. He makes life happy. His return was my response to the classic Thanksgiving question: "What are you thankful for?"

So let's move back to happy not crappy!

As Sunday drew near, we got all the ingredients together- including our imported and very essential Cambell's cream of mushroom, Stover's Stuffing, and a can of cranberry sauce. Then Saturday we loaded a mountain of vegetables, butter, milk, canned goods, dry goods, and 2 chickens (cuz hey, Turkey is expensive!) into two backpacks, a large suitcase, and a heavy duty, rice sack grocery bag to make the journey to our friends' house across town. It reminded me of all those times I had to stock supplies before venturing out onto the Oregon Trail. Luckily, no one got Cholera or Typhoid, and the wagon didn't flood when we forged the river, so we made it to their place in just 2 bus trips and a car ride graciously given for the last leg of the journey by our friend, Junior, who picked us up near the bus stop at Mickie D's.

They live in such a chic area we could never have bought all that we did on the same budget. I think we spent like $100 Brazilian Reais on everything! According to Google, that's currently $58 bucks! To feed some 15 people! You do the math, that's awesome!

We went already on Saturday because we'd be doing the meal at Zoe, our house church. It was a good set up because I always wake up way too early when I sleep in a strange place, so when I was up at 7 (with only 5 hours of sleep under my belt) I sprang into action. With girlfriends still sprawled out in the living room adjacent the kitchen, I started banging around to get casserole dishes and pot and pans fired up! By 8:30 there was a massive sweet potato casserole and 2 mac and cheeses all just awaiting the finishing touches. Still, on the girls slept, but some other friends began to appear. Throughout the morning, I spent my time cooking, running to the computer to confirm recipes, and ordering people around! I felt like the master chef, overseeing on all the sous chefs in their work, diping my finger in things, "No, no, more pepper!", giving instructions, "No, a teaspoon is like a little spoon, you know, like a coffee spoon!" (Leave it to Brazil to have measures in coffee spoons instead of tea! :P) What fun! Don't worry, I was a nice boss, and I had some great friends to volunteer to help. They knew the result would be worth it!

In the end, thanks to the help of 7 people, and the meticulous hour-by-hour schedule set forward in my "Thanksgiving Battle Plan," we had just about everything done but the gravy (which comes last anyway) by about 1! There was even time to fit in some Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Then we headed over to another house, the one where we would be eating and loaded some food in a car, the rest being carried on foot to the house a few minutes away. I would have liked to carry it all in a kind of Thanksgiving Dinner parade just to weird out the posh, Brazilian (and many American) neighbors. :P

It was a very successful feast!

Good food - we had the works, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, we did it all! And we did it right! And we used a kilo and half of butter! (Hence I had only one meal that day.)

Good friends - Zoe friends, art and design friends from the nearby university of SENAC, all together talking and laughing and playing games afterwards- not frisbee, but pingpong and basketball.

Somewhere in the midst of it all, I was perched on a stool talking to some friends, and I paused to look out on the scene- a large welcoming living room filled with the people I love best here playing guitars and singing and chatting, and the late afternoon sun flooding in behind from the open door, and it struck me how much I take for granted the blessings I have. And in that brief out-of-body moment, I was able to take a step back and look and be amazed at where I am right now, of how I got here, who I now know, what I have learned.

At the end of the day, we were exhausted, but we were so content. The bus ride back felt like a walk in the park now 50 pounds lighter - though some of that poundage we now carried in our stomachs! And getting home, we were greeted by the little "dumb head," as we have affectionately dubbed our silly pup. We took him out for a bit, and then crashed hard until morning.

What do you desire?

This song is awesome, I'm addicted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56HR7RhzZE4&feature=related Pay close attention to the lyrics.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately, ok, well, maybe that’s nothing new. I’ve always thought a lot.

Gui and I have come to the conclusion that he’s not ready to apply for a Masters program in the States yet. Instead we’ll be starting the Masters at his current university- USP. Not a bad alternative as it’s one of the best schools in the country, not to mention tuition is free. And still, we have feelings of reservation about this decision. We both already had this idea that we would be moving soon, we could already begin to visualize a different life on the horizon, it felt close. Now we have to realize that in fact, we will be staying. Perhaps only through next year, perhaps longer.

I was sad about it when I first began to let it sink in. I’ll be honest, I had my heart set on moving, starting new adventures. I’ve always moved. Moving is the only real constant in my life. I’ve gotten older, learned more, but always moved. The idea of remaining is foreign, and seems like the opposite of progress. I know that’s not true, but that’s how it feels.

There’s that , and the fact that I was and am anxious to leave behind what my Brazilian friends call “realidade brasileira” the Brazilian reality of injustice, crime, insecurity, pollution, poverty, chaos, inconvenience, lack of structure, the general unpleasantness that begets anyone who would choose to live here outside of the vaulted gates of the rich, and even they never fully escape the realidade.

I could pretend that living with the troubles of Brazilian life is just fine, but I would be lying to you and to myself. Rather, as someone who came from a very different country, I naturally have a lot higher expectations for my standards of comfort, security and convenience. But more and more I think that living here is good for me for the very reason that I have been stripped of so many preconceived notions of what I’m entitled to. Do I complain about the way things are? Yes. Do I often wish I could leave? Yes. But maybe for this very reason, I must stay.

If we could leave now, we would be running away. Things are bad in Brazil, but they are even worse in so much of the world. I grew up in the richest country on earth in one of its most peaceful moments. So many people did not have that, but because I did, I can’t help comparing. Brazilians also compare, even if they have never traveled outside of Brazil, so many are bitter and complain of the problems here and how much better life is elsewhere. Many leave and never return. And you would think- who can blame them?

This I had to get off my chest, regrets about staying. But as I alluded to earlier, maybe I need to stay.

So let me begin again, this time from a different angle.

What do you desire out of life? Really desire?

I was reading a poem with my classes this week as part of a lesson with the movie The Dead Poets Society. It’s a poem by Thoreau.

I went into the woods because I wanted to live deliberately,

I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life,

To put to rout all that was not life,

And not, when I came to die,

Discover that I had not lived.

I agree with him that life is not to be wasted, but fully lived, and I have often longed to escape to some secluded place to life it out. I’ve dreamed of having a little farm somewhere, maybe in New Zealand, where nature still seems more pure. I’ve thought of how nice it would be to hole off in some secret corner of the world, just me and the people I loved most working to provide for our own needs without the hassle of being part of the greater problems of mankind. But escape is not the answer. Hiding yourself away, no matter how much you disapprove of things the way they are is not what we have been called to.

How many times have you been to a funeral, and everyone consoles each another with that worn out phrase, “He’s in a better place now”? That’s such a comfort to think that the person is somewhere better, somewhere happier, more comfortable. But was that the point? To arrive somewhere nice? My problem is this- where does God factor in to such a conception of life and death. Is God reduced to a mere caretaker of souls? Heaven just an eternal retirement home? For some, that’s all they really wanted.

I was listening to part of a sermon by John Piper in which he asks a very poignant question-“ Would you be satisfied to arrive in heaven, have everything you dislike about yourself fixed, have all your family there and have infinite resources?” Hmm, sounds a bit like my New Zealand farm. :P Then he goes on to the kicker, “Would you be satisfied, if God were not there?” Think about it, is your desire for the good things God has made greater than your desire for God himself?

I was reading this morning in Psalm 16, it says in verse 2, “I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.’” Man, I don’t think I have arrived here yet. But I think of how frustrated I have been with living in Brazil, and how my frustrations are rooted in my desire for good things. Do I love those good things so much that I forget the Lord? Do I love them more than Him? I have to fall out of love with the world. Maybe, staying in Brazil, and learning not to overvalue gifts and blessings is one way that I do that.

Here I have a closeness with God I had not experienced when things were as comfortable. I have strong friendships, and a great job. These are wonderful blessings. I must praise God for them, and not be so caught up in seeking other blessings I have known. He knows what we need much better than we do. We have to put Him first. We have to stop chasing after our life here. After all, Jesus said that whoever wants to save his life will lose it. I can’t chase after my earthly life. In one of my favorite verses, he also says that where our treasure is, there will our heart be also. Where is your treasure?

Back to my example of the funeral. Something has been dawning on me as I begin to take up the discipline of studying God’s word. Many people find comfort in the fact that their loved one has gone to a happy place. This is telling about what they desire for themselves. When I was a kid, I remember asking my parents if heaven would be boring. My conception of heaven was a comfortable place in the clouds forever playing a harp and flying around. “That’s gonna get old pretty fast!,” I thought. But Jesus taught something different. Heaven is perhaps as best we can conceive of it, not a place, but a state of being. For Jesus said that eternity is to know God! So even as we get to know Him now, eternity can begin today. We can start this relationship now, start to treasure Him above all things now.

As John Piper concluded, “Heaven will be filled with people who LOVE GOD!” Not with those who love comfort, or love happiness, or even love their family. For these are good things, but they are nothing in comparison with the one who has made them all.

So let me be dissatisfied with the trifles I endure here. Let me slowly cease to desire what does not fully satisfy. I hope that more and more this verse is true for you and me.

Psalm 73:25-26

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.

We're a buncha slaves!

School is in full swing, and I have some great students this semester! Even better, my regular classes have a lot fewer people in them, which makes them sooooo much more manageable! My throat doesn't hurt after work anymore! :P I've also got a bunch of private students, the same that I had last semester with several new additions. Pretty soon though, I'm gonna have to start turning the offers down. I'm pretty sure I have a life, and I'm trying to protect it.

Do you ever find yourself in that position? Trying to defend yourself against the onslaught of activities competing for your time? This week, I read my students a story called the Big Rocks of Life - http://www.appleseeds.org/Big-Rocks_Covey.htm The main idea is to question what are the things that are truly important and that you must insure are a part of your life. If you don't make time for the big rocks, the gravel, sand, and water will come fill in the cracks leaving no room for what really matters.

So I tell my class this story, and then I was trying to get them to talk about their big rocks. Ok, they're just 13 and 14 so I'm not expecting any serious self-analysis; I was glad just to get them to say family is very important. What did make me sad though was that right up there with family were things like TV, cell phone, and internet. I tried to give them a second chance-

"Really, guys? Isn't internet more of a little rock? Something that you use to fill your time?"
But They responded quite fervently, "No, Teacher! Internet is a Big Rock!!"

Wow, in my head, I just thought, "Well this is sad." Sure, they're young, so they don't think so much for themselves, but they're getting taught these values somewhere, they could be taught differently.

I was talking to Gui about that class over a candlelit dinner Wednesday. How romantic! Well, also the power was out when we got home. That's pretty standard here. :P We were talking about how Satan in really smart, you gotta give him that. He uses entertainment to distract us from life, to make us numb to the pain all around us, the injustice, the sin, the destruction, ultimately our need for Jesus. All these devices that people are letting their lives revolve around, are leading them to a slow, meaningless death. Worse, as Gui pointed out, it's a whole cycle. The kids want the X Box, to newest cell, the trip to Disney (here that's a HUGE deal to go to Disney), and then their parents have to work their tails off spending next to no time together as a family to be able to keep their kids, and their own cravings for entertainment satisfied. We are enslaved to our own desires!

Reminds me of a passage I read in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, describing how slaveholders would craftily reward their slaves with freedom at the end of the year and encourage the abuse of that freedom so as to convince slaves that freedom was in fact a bad thing, and they were better off being slaves.

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (Ch. 10)

The days between Christmas and New Year's day are allowed as holidays; and, accordingly, we were not required to perform any labor, more than to feed and take care of the stock. This time we regarded as our own, by the grace of our masters; and we therefore used or abused it nearly as we pleased. Those of us who had families at a distance, were generally allowed to spend the whole six days in their society. This time, however, was spent in various ways. The staid, sober, thinking and industrious ones of our number would employ themselves in making corn-brooms, mats, horse-collars, and baskets; and another class of us would spend the time in hunting opossums, hares, and coons. But by far the larger part engaged in such sports and merriments as playing ball, wrestling, running foot-races, fiddling, dancing, and drinking whisky; and this latter mode of spending the time was by far the most agreeable to the feelings of our masters. A slave who would work during the holidays was considered by our masters as scarcely deserving them. He was regarded as one who rejected the favor of his master. It was deemed a disgrace not to get drunk at Christmas; and he was regarded as lazy indeed, who had not provided himself with the necessary means, during the year, to get whisky enough to last him through Christmas.

From what I know of the effect of these holidays upon the slave, I believe them to be among the most effective means in the hands of the slaveholder in keeping down the spirit of insurrection. Were the slaveholders at once to abandon this practice, I have not the slightest doubt it would lead to an immediate insurrection among the slaves. These holidays serve as conductors, or safety-valves, to carry off the rebellious spirit of enslaved humanity. But for these, the slave would be forced up to the wildest desperation; and woe betide the slaveholder, the day he ventures to remove or hinder the operation of those conductors! I warn him that, in such an event, a spirit will go forth in their midst, more to be dreaded than the most appalling earthquake.

The holidays are part and parcel of the gross fraud, wrong, and inhumanity of slavery. They are professedly a custom established by the benevolence of the slaveholders; but I undertake to say, it is the result of selfishness, and one of the grossest frauds committed upon the down-trodden slave. They do not give the slaves this time because they would not like to have their work during its continuance, but because they know it would be unsafe to deprive them of it. This will be seen by the fact, that the slaveholders like to have their slaves spend those days just in such a manner as to make them as glad of their ending as of their beginning. Their object seems to be, to disgust their slaves with freedom, by plunging them into the lowest depths of dissipation. For instance, the slaveholders not only like to see the slave drink of his own accord, but will adopt various plans to make him drunk. One plan is, to make bets on their slaves, as to who can drink the most whiskey without getting drunk; and in this way they succeed in getting whole multitudes to drink to excess. Thus, when the slave asks for virtuous freedom, the cunning slaveholder, knowing his ignorance, cheats him with a dose of vicious dissipation, artfully labeled with the name of liberty. The most of us used to drink it down, and the result was just what might be supposed; many of us were led to think that there was little to choose between liberty and slavery. We felt, and very properly too, that we had almost as well be slaves to man as to rum. So, when the holidays ended, we staggered up from the filth of our wallowing, took a long breath, and marched to the field,--feeling, upon the whole, rather glad to go, from what our master had deceived us into a belief was freedom, back to the arms of slavery.

I have said that this mode of treatment is a part of the whole system of fraud and inhumanity of slavery. It is so. The mode here adopted to disgust the slave with freedom, by allowing him to see only the abuse of it, is carried out in other things.

Entertainment, as this story shows, can be a form of control. I'm not just attacking technological devices, but anything that is used to distract us from the truth- TV, alcohol, partying, self-absorption in all it's forms, etc. The thing is, we don't have to remain slaves. But we need help; we can't break free on our own, as I find out more and more how weak I really am, how little self-control I can muster.

Galatians 4:8-9 (New International Version)

⁸Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. ⁹But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?

Something I like in this passage is how it corrects itself, "Now that you know God, -or rather are known by Him." We're so self-orientated, self-aware, self-you-name-it. The other day I was talking to Mom about how after a year, I really feel that I'm a part of the community because I know the neighbors across the street, and the lady who gives me bread at the bakery, and all my friends at school. Without hesitation, in a wisdom gained with time, she observed, "You mean, they finally know you. " I guess, in my perception of things, just as with God, I'm always thinking it's my job, and I have to do all the work to get to know Him. But I have to realize that He already knows me so much better than I know myself.

Who am I kidding? I gotta confess that I really haven't been seeking God. I had been getting really bummed about my lack of discipline, when I stopped being hard on myself long enough to let an important idea seep in- God has been seeking me the whole time. He's the one who's been pushing for a relationship long before I ever wanted one. And there are still so many days, I can come up with a list of good excuses not to give Him any attention at all. It's about time I really started being modest and humble enough to realize that really, really, really, it is not be anything I do that I am saved. I am saved by grace, and by His grace alone can I come to know Him.

So those are some thoughts for you on a sleepy Friday afternoon. Time to go feed the puppy- little, skinny thing.

World Cup, What's that??

World Cup decorations line every street!
Saw this today in the nearby favela! How happy!

Do you ever have one of those mornings where you wake up and stay lying in bed letting thoughts drift around your head? I love lazy mornings like that. It's as though your brain has been left in sleep mode and wisps of dreams and random thoughts are free to mix and mingle.

I had this dream again that I'm overjoyed to be home, and no, it's not because I miss my country all that much or because I'm visiting family (I miss them, of course), but in these dreams, I always find myself at the grocery store blissfully running through the cereal aisle or smiling as I notice all the variety of flavors of Doritos. This morning I was wandering happily around Trader Joe's considering cheap wines. I guess deep down I miss the American grocery store experience? :P Not in a real lamented way, I just think my subconscious is telling me something, and I know what's one of the first things I'll do next time we come home to visit. Straight off the plane, "Take me to Publix!"

So the World Cup is upon us. Now, I had only barely been aware that there was such a thing most of my life, but suddenly I find myself plop down in a country that literally lives for this time every 4 years! What enthusiasm! What excitement! What a surprising show of patriotism! I was starting to think Brazilians never really thought much of being Brazilian, but I just hadn't been around for an international soccer game! Soccer seems to be the uniting force for this country, the thing that really brings them together whereas they remain pretty apathetic when it comes to military service or pride in their government (and who could blame them with raging corruption and a history of brutal dictatorships).



But Brazilian pride is on open display! I need to take some pictures to show you! Every house, butcher shop, bakery, nail salon, and car repair shop is strung with green and yellow streamers and big, happy, green, blue, and yellow flags! Our neighbors even painted a giant flag the width of the street! My immediate thought- This would not fly in my old neighborhood in Georgia! The Rivershyre neighborhood committee would have a cow! They would be calling the cops and shutting thing down before they even got started! In Brazil, there are no such committees, nor would the police do anything if there were, and you might try bribing them to look the other way. It's much more the attitude of do what you want, until someone stops you. Bearing this in mind, I wonder if everyone would be cool with me painting a big Hello Kitty on the street in front of my house so friends can find my house more easily...

Here's the neighborhood flag!

Speaking of the flag, I think it is really lovely. The colors aren't so symbolic of battle as reds and whites. Looking at it you think of nature, lush green palm trees and brilliant blue skies. But I always have to puzzle at the slogan in the center - Ordem e Progresso - "Order and Progress"?? I'm not saying these aren't legitimate goals, but they hardly seem so high on the Brazilian agenda in light of everything I'm witnessing. I propose an obvious change. How 'bout getting rid of the lofty government slogan, and putting something that really explains the heart, the core of Brazilian love of country, the same flag with one simple all-encompassing idea at it's center: "Futebol!"

At school all my students' have ceased to think about anything else. Thursday they were begging me to let them out early for the opening ceremony, but I played the American who doesn't care about soccer and told them they would stay to the end. I'm no sadist, but hey, they're just some middle schoolers looking for any excuse to leave early, and besides, their class next week is already canceled to watch the first Brazil match! I feel no guilt. It's fun though explaining to my students that America simply doesn't care about soccer. "But Teacher, what then do you do??" By the responses I get, they both pity us and our lack of taste and think we have serious mental problems. "Who doesn't love soccer??"

Everyone is telling me that it's going to be really incredible. Everyone stops what they're doing! Brazil stops! Banks close! The post office shuts down! The highways are empty! At work (if you haven't been sent home early) they just set up a big TV and everyone watches together! Nothing could be more important, and whenever Brazil scores, the country erupts with cheering, and neighbors run to the streets kissing and hugging and celebrating together! I'm excited!



I feel I should fill everyone in a bit more since it's been so long since I last wrote. I'll share a few more thoughts and stories. :)

Yesterday was Brazilian Valentine's Day, it's really more for people who are dating. I had to work, but when I got home I made special lunch. I had gone to the farmers' market and got some pretty leeks and shrimp. I cooked them together in a cream sauce with pasta. Something I learned in my time in France. :) I love how fresh the food is here. Mangos, avocados, and coconuts all year round! And everything is relatively preservative-free. Meal preparation takes a lot more work because you working all with raw ingredients, but the result is awesome, wholesome food!

Classes continue to go well, and my first semester will be over the end of this month! I'm really enjoying it, but I've asked to have two less classes for the coming semester. I was feeling a little over-worked at about 50 hours a week. I want some more free time, especially as Gui and I are starting to do more projects in our neighborhood trying to start a Bible study, maybe even a house church. I really think that's a more worth-while use of time. We recently got to attend a week long conference with a really amazing Australian author, Michael Frost. You should check him out, he has some really radical - radical in the true sense of getting back to the roots- ideas about what the church should look like, what it should be seeking. It's got us thinking and praying hard about the way we live! It's so exciting to be learning and growing together!

Gui's studies are going well, and God has really been blessing us as we draw close to Gui's graduation in December and the next step into the unknown. He has put some caring and helpful people in our path. With Gui's new free time, he's able to study, read, research, and he's been building up valuable relationships with professors. Right now he's attending a special two-month long seminar with a really great professor from the University of Miami. This guy graduated from Gui's school and is giving Gui a lot of helpful advice and encouragement about the process for Brazilians to enter into foreign universities. What a blessing to be able to get advice from someone who's already been through this process!

No idea where we're headed come next year. It really depends on where and if Gui gets into a Masters Program. We could still be in Brazil, maybe in the US, maybe in the UK, who knows?? The great thing is I have a lot of peace about where we are right now. And looking into the future, I can't help thinking of this verse- "A man's heart plans the way, but the Lord directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9

The Long and winding road, that leads to Brazil

This is me standing in front of the Argentinian White House, I mean, Pink House. But wait, what am I doing in Argentina?? Don't I live in Brazil? What's going on here?

Well, I'm going to work backwards a bit now to fill in some of the gaps in the Wedding-Honeymoon-Married life story. So let's take it one step back, right before getting home to Brazil. Well we made it back after a whole slew of adventures: the famous Helen, GA; Chapel Hill, D.C., New Mexico, Buenos Aires...

Ok, actually that last one was not on the agenda. The story goes that coming home, as we tried to go through customs in the São Paulo ariport, I was told that my visa was no longer valid! This came as a huge shock because I had gone to the Federal Police in São Paulo and spoken with the head of their foreign visas to ensure that we could go to the US without any problems, but well, without her there to confirm what she had told me, my word was as good as mud, and we were stuck with me unable to enter the country!

One glimmer of hope was that we could call the Brazilian authorities and explain the situation begging for them to wave the problem. When Gui finally got through to someone, they said we could not call them as mere humans, and we needed my government to ask on my behalf. Then I called the US Consulate in SP. They essentially washed their hands of me saying it was my own problem, and they could not do anything to help. So we were back to square one: leave the country and get a new visa at a Brazilian Consulate. The closest Consulate, we were told, was in Buenos Aires.

The emigration officers were very helpful and sympathetic telling us that as they had seen in the past, this option was fairly quick and rarely failed. So given the choice between spending at least $4000 (or more) on flights to the States (not to mention getting back on a plane for 10 hours!), and our other choice: a cheaper, 2 hour flight to Argentina, we went with the latter. Besides, Gui reminded me, hadn't I mentioned wanting to go to Buenos Aires just the other week? Be careful what you wish for!

I've never been deported before. I don't recommend it to anyone, but if you must, Brazil is not such a bad place to check that life experience off from your list. We were treated very kindly, and though we had to spend some 8 hours at the airport buying tickets and waiting for our flight, in the end the whole experience wasn't that bad. I even had a personal escort while in the airport to ensure I didn't run away and break into the country!

We got to Argentina kind of late, and the airport was far from downtown, so Gui, using his Portugnol skills found us a reasonably priced hotel right near the consulate. We crashed hard and then got up the next day, had some nice breakfast (Yes, Mammie, we chose the hotel with the free breakfast offer. You have trained me well.) And we arrived at the Consulate good and early. There was hardly anyone there, and all that we lacked was a photo which we got done very quickly. They were incredibly nice and even waved some of the visa requirements that weren't convenient! So we were told that we could pick it up in 3 days, i.e. we had that day, and two more for sight-seeing!

And well, when life gives you lemons, you take them, because hey, free lemons. (Sorry, that's this T-shirt Gui really want to buy, but you get what I'm saying.) Now, these lemons weren't all that free, but we were certainly going to enjoy our unplanned trip to Argentina all the same!

We went to the zoo one day! It's a zoo unlike any I've ever seen in that, you could feed all the animals, and I mean, ALL THE ANIMALS. See photos...





We also covered some serious ground on foot seeing the cemetary where Evita is buried, an Evita Museum, beautiful churches, government headquarters, and even some Argentine soldiers marching by!



Time went by quickly, but we managed to see just about all that we wanted in those 3 days. We stayed in a nice hostel the rest of our time there. We knew it was good because Gui had stayed there on his trip through South America from last vacation. Every morning we had cafe con leche and bread with buttle and rich, dark dulce de leche. Great way to start the day!

On the last day there, we went straight to the consulate, picked up my new tourist visa right away (a visa for 5 years even though now it'll be totally unnecessary because I'm getting a residency card, but hey, that's alright, the side trip was worth it!)

Besides, Gui got to have his Argentinian barbeque, complete with blood sausage and what I think where grilled intestines. I politely tried, and then went back to my awesome salad...



We made some new friends...



And we celebrated our marriage in style!



Yep, in the end, it was a very fun way to end our adventures! That is, for now!

Married in Brazil!

Hi Everyone!

We made it back to Brazil! The journey home is a blog entry unto itself, which should be published shortly assuming I don't get behind in my class plannings!

But how nice to back in Brazil again! Sitting at my little table, I'm having some breakfast- grilled mozzarella cheese sandwich and cafe com leite. This cheese sandwich for breakfast thing is totally Brazilian, anything bread-y/cheesy in the morning. It wasn't too strange for me to adjust to after the year of the baguette in Paris. Brazilians don't really eat sweet things in the morning. Still, Gui and his mom will gladly accept if I make pancakes or muffins. :)

The weather is finally giving us some relief. Well, relief on the one hand in that it's not incredibly hot and muggy. No, fall is in the air...in March!?! My brain just can't seem to wrap itself around this concept yet. March=Spring!! What's going on!?! But I digress. The point is: Yay!! It's cooling off! At the same time, we're smack in the middle of the rainy season! Bummer. I'm not talking just a little drizzling, I'm talking pouring showers every evening that leave whole neighborhoods flooded! By the way, one of my favorite Brazilian songs is about the "Waters of March." In this version sung by two Brazilian music giants, Tom Jobim and Elis Regina, they make rain sound so happy! Check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srfP2JlH6ls&feature=related



So a lot of people have been asking, "How's married life?" But I couldn't really say during our month long honeymoon what's it's really like. I think I can finally answer that question as we're starting our new life and settling into our routines.

And the verdict is... Married life is happy! As is life in Brazil! :D I have many things to be so grateful for. Already, this second arrival in Brazil has been so different from when I first came in the fall, I mean spring. See! It's hard! Hehe.

But so many factors have changed. For one, I have a job; a place to go during the day; responsibilities; time constraints. I needed that. I need some structure to function. I'm not sure I could handle retirement... Maybe that's when I start my bakery. :D

But back to my job, it's just great. A gift from God. I found it when I was just out on a long walk one day months ago, before we got engaged. I was in total despair, unable to find a job or to figure out where my life was going. As I was walking, I had seen a language school and passing it on the way back, I summoned my courage and marched up the steep hill (how intimidating, this school staring down at me!) and in my very broken Portuguese, I managed to speak with someone about job opportunities. She told me there was nothing until the next school year started in January. At the time, I wasn't sure I would stay that long, so I just got her email address and went sadly on my way.

A few months later, when we got engaged, my immediate thought, well, after the obvious thoughts like, "Wow! I'm engaged!," "I'm engaged?," and "Am I really engaged?," after these sorts of thoughts, my first practical one was, "Now that I'm definitely staying here for a while, I can get a job!" Something that really helped was that I would be married to Gui so gone was my worry of finding jobs that would provide me a work visa (which as I found through countless interviews, is nearly impossible). This left me to take jobs that were willing to pay me illegally and very poorly. My big fear was still being unable to find work. I was determined not to spend any more time stuck in the house all day by myself!

I remembered that school I had visited and the nice woman there, and finding her email, I wrote to her expressing interest in the coming year. It turns out that she is the school's director! The following week I had an interview and was hired that day! And what a great job it's been so far. They've been giving me formal training, the other teachers are sweet as can be, the school has very nice facilities, my bosses are agreeing to pay me a great salary even while I wait for my work permit to come, and they even helped me open my first Brazilian bank account! It's a great place to work all around. Plus, it's just a 10 minute bus ride from home! When you consider that Gui and Ana have a 2 hour commute both ways, this is quite exceptional!

This is my second full week of teaching, and I really enjoy it! I have only intermediate and advanced students, so they have at least 3 years of English under their belt. I'm teaching groups of all different sizes and ages. Some are middle school, some high school, and my night groups have a lot of adults. The variety keeps things interesting, and I really like getting to my students. They are of course very curious about an American living in their town. :P

Brazilians in general are very curious about foreigners. My middle schoolers are always asking things like "Teacher, do you speak Portuguese with your husband?" Brazilian students call their English teacher "Teacher." I tried to get them to say Ms. Maggie or Mrs. Oliveira or Mrs. Bullock, but have since given up. Every English teacher is "Teacher." I was telling Gui, the only other time I've heard someone called teacher is like in the Bible people talking to Jesus. :P Teacher seems far too great a title for me. haha

Besides having a job, which has really made me feel more like I have a life here, being married, and being assured of me and Gui's relationship as opposed to when we were still dating is so much less nerve-racking. And as we're having a lot of fun playing house! He's very sweet and helps with cleaning whenever he can! :) I just hope it continues this way!

I love learning to cook Brazilian food. I'm getting better and better about knowing my water to beans ratio for the pressure cooker, and I already have rice down. Brazilian grocery stores have barely anything that is almost ready to serve. Little food comes in cans or pre-made packaging. You want beans? Go get a bag of dry beans, soak it, and cook it yourself! Vegetables, fruits, meats, and fish come fresh from the markets and are just wonderful! And I'm constantly discovering fruits and vegetables that I've never even heard of!

So how is married life so far, you ask? Well, I think this is a question you spend your whole life figuring out, but married life in Brazil, working as an English teacher, learning Portuguese, making rice and beans, is a lot of fun! And as Gui and I pray about Grad schools and possibilities of moving after his graduation in December, I can't wait to see where God leads us next!