A Minha Vida no Brasil

Swimming in the Backyard

I forgot to make an update on our arrival time to post. We actually got moved up to July 17th in the end, so we have now been here for almost three weeks. We moved right into our house, which normally doesn't happen at this post. However, our sponsor is in charge of housing, and they had an interest in not putting a family of 8 in temporary housing, so they made it work.

I love Brasilia! I don't know where to begin, so I will just make a list of the things I love, followed by the things that are a little weird or I don't love so much.

Love:

The weather! It is winter here, and winter is almost perfect. It is between 73 and 80 during the days. There is rarely rain; it rained twice, briefly, a week or so ago when it got a little cooler than normal. The is such low humidity here that the rain dried up in no time flat.

Don't Love: 

Dryness. It is around 10-15% humidity here during the winter. I was warned, and I brought a humidifier for my bedroom, which was great until I was woken up by a "drip, drip, drip" one morning this week. The float had malfunctioned, and the entire contents of the holding tank were spilling onto my dresser and floor. No damage, luckily, but I am afraid to use it again, and by the time I get another one, winter will almost be over and I can expect rain for an hour each day to keep the air moist.

Love: 

Our house! This house is amazing. It has four large bedrooms, and each has plentiful closet space and its own bathroom. Three of the bathrooms have showers and jacuzzi tubs. They are all on the upper level. The master also has a sunroom, complete with hammock hooks. I haven't bought a hammock yet, but it is in my poans. I need to work on that, because there are also hammock hooks in the sunroom off the loft, in the front yard on the porch and in the back yard on the porch and by the churrasqueira. If we tried to fill all the hammock hooks, we could probably have a hammock for each family member.

Anyway, the upper level houses our bedrooms, a sunroom, and a loft area, which is our family room. The main level has our living room, dining room, den, kitchen, T.V. room, weird room that looks like it may have once housed a hot tub (in the middle there is a hole where you can sit down in a square - I need some throw pillows to put in there for the kids), and finally, the servant's quarters, complete with laundry room, pantry, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a "drive room." The drive room is a room right off the driveway where we can put shelving and keep car-related stuff, as there is no garage. There is also a small basement storage room, which is kind of musty-smelling, but clean. I may put potatoes in there during the summer to keep them fresh longer.

In the back yard, there is a churrasqueira, which I mentioned previously. That is a brick barbecue. It has a counter and lots of cupboards next to it. Behind it are a sauna and bathroom with shower. The pool is right across from it. The pool is very nice, and has a nice fence around it to keep little kids out.  My kids can all unlock the gate, but understand the rules and don't go in without me watching. There is also an outdoor shower, for those who would rather shower outside in cold water instead of walking five feet to the bathroom behind the churrasqueira where there is hot water. They have only swum twice, as it is a little on the cool side yet (overnight temps get into the 50s at times).

Behind the pool is a beautiful garden, complete with fruit trees, flowers, a fire pit, and raised pathways, which I imagine will be nice when the rainy season hits. Two duplex doghouses and a storage room (for garden tools, lawn mower, etc.) are just off the garden. One of the doghouses will be put to use in a few weeks when the kids dog-sit for someone at the embassy. There is even a doggie shower and basin on the side of the shed.

Behind the garden is a soccer field. It isn't quite regulation size, but is about the size of a basketball court or maybe a little bigger. 

All of this comes fenced in with a tall, decorative-spiked fence, enclosing the whole property. The back of the house also has an additional set of floor-to-ceiling gates along the back porch of the house. Nobody is cracking into this place.

Don't love: 

The security system. I have set it off a few times and had embassy security come by to check on us. Oops! But I am getting the hang of it. The driveway gate is also a problem. It came off its track and isn't functioning right now, but when it works and when I remember to close it so I don't get a visit from the security detail who drives by regularly, it is fine. But, the top rail is probably the exact height of our van, which means we may have to park on the street when it gets here. No big deal, as it is an old van, but we will have to make sure not to leave anything in it that someone would want to steal, like cell phone chargers and the GPS. It is just a minor annoyance, not a major sacrifice.

Love:

The embassy. The family is welcome to utilize the facilities any time, and the kids can even get dropped off here instead of at home after school. There is a cyber cafe for lounging around. There are exercise rooms, a swimming pool, a brand new playground, tennis courts, soccer fields, a sand volleyball pit, medical unit, cafeteria, commissary, and there are language classes, which I am starting today.

Don't Love:

The continual transportation anxiety. Our van will not be here for 2-4 months, so until then, we have limited options. The kids and DH have busses to take them to school and work that are provided by the embassy. But grocery shopping and getting to church are up to us. We depended on our sponsors the first week. They have been truely amazing! Last week, we rented a car. We totally ignored all of my ingrained rules for seat belts and double-buckled and went without the booster seats when we drove to the school for admissions testing and to church for meetings. We thought we would be without a car for a while, but my husband's boss went on vacation today and gave him her car for the duration of her trip, so I have a way to grocery shop and get to the school if I end up with a sick kid. After that, we will probably rent a motor pool minivan, which is available on the weekends, to do our shopping, and I will just have to use taxis if I need to go anywhere else.

I really do love it here. I am sure I could go on about church here and school, but I think that will have to wait for another day, as I need to go deal with returning the rental car (harder than it sounds). I will also quickly mention that DH got to spend his birthday in the Amazon. He had a really nice trip.

Tchau!