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!

DH's Birthday, our Anniversary, our Brazil date...

For my DH, life began August 1st. We became a family on August 1st. Now, our new lives as expats are scheduled to begin on August 1st! While that is what the official paperwork says, it can move a little bit when we work out the details. I have heard that they like Thursday arrivals at posts, so we can probably count on that being moved up a day. Of course, if they can take us a week or two earlier, I wouldn't mind...

Since last I wrote, we finished up DS1's mission paperwork and doctor/dentist visits and he had an interview with the bishop. After the bishop receives a completed copy of the medical form (the doctor forgot to fill out a section and has re-sent one), DS1 will just have an interview with the stake president and his papers will go to Salt Lake. It shouldn't take too long for us to hear back after that.

I was wrong about that groundhog thing. I will admit that Phil may have been right this year. I thought that I had seen my last snowfall for two years two weeks ago, but there have been a few since, and there is still a chance of snow in the 10-day forecast. I think the coats will have to last another few weeks yet. March is supposed to start out in the 40s and 50s, but after a couple of days we are back to highs in the 30s. Yuck. I can hear my Minnesota friends offering me their sincerest condolences right about now. Let me remind them that I lived there for 38 YEARS and I deserve warmth. 'Cause I do. 'Cause I said so.

I am pleased to report that I have discovered a few second-hand stores that I am in love with. Unique is huge and I knew the chain already. It seems to have a steady turn-around of stock. There is also a little shop that is run by a local hospital system close by, a Goodwill not too far away, and another Goodwill right next to the FSI. So far, I have found a really durable, humongous duffel bag for $12 that will be perfect for checked baggage, as well as the two remaining carry-on suitcases that we needed. I have been looking for alternatives to capris for Brazil. I know some Mormon women are able to pull of shorts, but with my long legs, I haven't found any that are long enough. While we will have A/C in our bedrooms, common rooms won't have it at all. I have found a cute skirt and a dress so far that will do for casual wear. I also found a really nice dress that would work for a more formal brunch. I wish my sewing machine weren't in storage. I suppose I can put some material and patterns in my luggage and make some skirts when I get there. But, in the meantime, I will keep scoping out the thrift shops. I have to keep looking for duffel bags, anyway.

DH and I both took some tests this week. Mine was just the ACT Business Writing test. If I ever want to work at post, this test may help me get a job. It was easy. After passing the English Composition CLEP test a few years ago, I wasn't expecting it to be too hard, but after taking it, I have to say that it was a breeze. DH's test was more important and more difficult. He had his last formal assessment before his big Portuguese test in April. They do these every 8 weeks throughout the course to make sure they are keeping up. His came in at at least a 2+/2+. The examiner said she figures he is at a 3 in reading, but their informal test only goes up to 2+, so she couldn't tell. He needs a 3/3 to pass the test, so he is in really good shape! He mainly needs to eradicate a little more Spanish from his vocabulary. We don't anticipate anything but an examiner's bad day to get in the way of him passing the test. I'm really proud of him!

Daydreams

We are somewhere between four and six months from leaving for Brazil. The logistics are a little overwhelming, especially since we don't yet know when we are leaving, which means we can't get our housing assignment yet, which further means we can't do certain things, like buy small appliances that we will need if we get a house that has 220V electricity (homes owned by the U.S. in Brasilia were once re-wired to 110V, but they quit that practice and we could end up with either type). We still have to make a decision as to whether to sell our cars here and buy either one or two there, or possibly one here and one there. While these cause a little stress, I have one little bit of logistics that has a happy place in my daydreams. Wardrobes.

While chatting with DS6 before school today, I could barely focus on what he was saying. All I could think was how happy I would be to throw away his coat. Its zipper is broken, it has stains on it, and he is my youngest son. Easy decision - it goes. Folding laundry allows my daydreams to go wild. Frayed cuffs make me wonder whether the owner could get away with one fewer pair of pants now, or whether I need to hold onto them for just a little bit longer. Long-sleeved shirts in the possession of my three youngest children get mentally marked for the charity box, and I count down the days until Spring (the groundhog may think it is another 6 weeks, but I am pretty sure they won't last through the end of the month).

I am pretty sure my own closet will be nearly empty when I remove my winter wardrobe. When I look at what I have for Spring/Summer, I see 4 blouses, two skirts, two pairs of light slacks and the formal gown I bought for next year's Marine Ball. My dresser contains a half-dozen t-shirts and two pairs of capris. The shoe rack is only sporting one pair of flip-flops, some hiking sandals and a pair of Converse that are heavily grass-stained. I need to go shopping. In the meantime, what of the winter clothes will I keep in HHE, what will I bring with me in case of a visit to a cold climate, and what will go to charity? Decisions, decisions.

DH's wardrobe is pretty easy. He will be wearing suits to work and on Sundays to church in Brazil. He needs a few outfits for evenings, Saturdays and holidays, and he needs a tux for special events, like the Marine Ball. One of his suits has a shine to it, so if we buy two, he should be good to go. Maybe another pair or two of dress shoes is in order, as well.

Then, of course, there is DS1. He will submit his mission papers in about 2 weeks, after his final doctor's appointment. Who knows when he will be leaving? If sooner, we can pack him up and load him off before we leave for Brazil, and the wardrobe choices will be pretty obvious. If later, we take him to Brazil with us and send him off from there. Will he need another suit? He seems to have stopped growing, so he has one that should work for him. Anything in his wardrobe that is decent can be saved for his younger siblings, so making decisions as to what to do with his clothes won't be tough.

The middle children will be the toughest to make decisions about. What clothing is worth saving for younger siblings? What size is the smallest I will need in the future? Should I bother taking some winter clothes with us to Brazil in case of a visit to a cold climate? I imagine our R&R will be in the summer, but what if something else comes up? Is there room in our 7,000 lb shipment for even a set of winter clothes for each child? If I give up bringing something else and have to buy it for 3x the U.S. price, would the just-in-case mentality be worth it? Maybe buying new stuff in said cold climate if we happen upon one would make more sense. The kids' coats are all worn out. I knew it could be our last year with them, so I didn't buy any new ones this year (other than for DD), as they each had one that fit, even if they were a little worse for the wear. DD's won't fit her in another year, anyway, so what's the point of keeping that? I certainly won't buy her a new one on the off-chance she will need it.

I will continue daydreaming. If you have any advice, please be free with it. I like to think of every scenario, and when I miss something obvious, I kick myself. For example, when we packed for VA, we thought, "We won't need transformers and plug adapters until we get to wherever we are going, so they go in HHE." Newsflash - HHE doesn't arrive in the new country for 2-6 months, during which time, we will need those. I have no idea which box they are in, so I don't think we will be getting them before we leave unless they happen to be in another box we remove before we go. Drat!

Radio Silence e eu falo português

I am sorry that I haven't posted in a while. Between Portuguese classes and the holidays, I haven't had a chance. I just realized that, although I posted on Facebook, I never posted here that we are going to Brasilia, Brazil sometime around June. I started Portuguese classes and time flew! DH is enrolled in a 24-week course, but they didn't have room for me in it, so I got to take just the 8-week FAST course.

We both went to classes from 8:30am-5:30pm, Monday through Friday. My course ended the Friday before Christmas. It was pretty intense. In just 8 weeks, I exceeded where I ever was in either German or Spanish from high school and self-study. The Spanish helped, of course. Portuguese has a lot of cognates and similar grammatical rules, so I was able to catch on quickly. I am able to speak (or at least read and write) in the present, imperfect, preterit, present continuous, imperative and future (the vou/vai/vamos/vão + infinitive kind of future) forms. I have fairly good pronunciation. Unfortunately, my old brain isn't doing very well at processing what other people are saying very quickly. I can understand anything thrown at me by Pimsleur or Mango, but when it comes to having a conversation with a native speaker, I need to tell them, "Você poderia falar mais devagar, por favor!" or else I get lost. Okay, I still get lost, even then, sometimes. But I am determined to succeed.  

The good news is that I get to start a distance course later this month. I will get to pick up where I left off in an online format, and each week I will get a 45-minute call from a native Brazilian mentor. I'm not going to progress like DH is, but at least it is something. Living in almost any other country, one can find English speakers and get by, but that isn't the case in Brazil. In order to run my household, I will need to be able to buy groceries and clothes, connect internet service, and do just about everything else in Portuguese. 

DH gave me a gift certificate to a Brazilian salon in MD for Christmas (mani-pedi time!). They don't speak English there. I am going to have to get brave and make an appointment after the kids go back to school next week. Speaking on the phone is the worst for me. Having no body language to clue me in just makes the whole experience worse. Oh, well, what do I have to lose?

DH, the kids, and I all got diplomatic passports, and we also got the kids tourist passports (we already had them). DH is working on visas, and I have gotten the kids' school application paperwork turned in. That was a project! There are still two school counselors who have not completed their part of the paperwork and turned it in, but they have promised to do it next week. I hope we won't have any problems getting into the school. We felt pretty good about the school we decided on. We had multiple choices, and it was a hard decision. I don't want to have to re-make it if something doesn't work out. There is a waiting list, so we will see...

The holidays went well. My in-laws came for Thanksgiving, and we enjoyed spending time with them. We visited the National Zoo with them, which was really enjoyable. There is an Amazon area there, which has all sorts of monkeys. We saw some of the kinds that we can expect to see in our own back yards there. We are all excited about monkeys! Also, we can expect to have some kind of cool trees in our yard, like avocado, banana, lemon, lime or cocoa. That will be cool! There is also a good likelihood that we will have a backyard pool, as well as a brick barbecue. We will find all of that out closer to our move date, of course. 

DH and I did our Christmas shopping on date nights, as well as another extra Saturday or two, and utilized Amazon.com a bit, as well. I think the kids appreciated our efforts. We went pretty small this year, as we have limited space in our little apartment, and considering that we have a weight limit for our shipment to Brazil. We didn't do all that weeding out of our stuff back home just so that we could replace it with more junk. The highlights were DS1's pottery classes, DS3's piccolo, three mini quad copters for DS2, 4 & 5, electronics kits for DS6, and a princess castle that makes Play-Doh dresses and princes to go along with three Disney Princesses for DD. It even squirts out Rapunzel hair from the top of the tower. 

I should mention that, although DD, DS5 & DS6 had a lot of fun mixing all of the Play-Doh colors together so that they could make the aforementioned hair stretch nearly all the way across the living room, the Doodle Car that we got her was more of a hit with her. Have you seen these? 

You can either draw or print out a track, and the car will follow the line. DD gave one to a friend for his birthday in November, and she has been begging for one ever since. She and DS6 played with it a ton on Christmas Day. We let them draw all over the backs of the remnants of the Christmas wrapping paper (they got a good 20 feet off of those rolls, I'd say). Then, they printed out and taped together a bunch more from the Doodle Car website.

Last night, for New Year's Eve, DH and I played Settlers of Catan with the younger kids while the older three went to the church dance. We all stayed up late and slept in this morning. I think most of us are up now (due to loud music at 6am, DH woke up and woke me up, and although we both tried, we only got a few catnaps before giving up at 9:30am and just getting up). We don't have much planned for today. Several of us have head colds and are trying to recover, so we will probably just take it easy. 

I get to go back to being home alone after this week. I have a lot of cleaning to catch up on, and plan to sleep a lot before I start up with the distance learning course again. Between taking the kids to seminary and going to classes, I ended my 2 month course pretty tired. Hopefully, I will recover quickly and be full of energy before it is time to pack us all up and move again!

By the way, in my last post, two months ago, I mentioned that we were supposed to get our car back after a month of being in the shop. We finally got it back on Monday. Yes, Monday. Between the insurance company and the shop's ordering errors and mis-handling of diagnostics, it took over 3.5 months to get the repairs from the accident done. It took another couple of days, due to Christmas, to get a worn CV boot replaced at another shop (no chance we were taking it back to the VW dealership for that one). We are now convinced that we don't really need a second car, and plan to sell the Jetta. It would have been nice to have it when the van's alternator died two weeks ago, though...but at least Ford can turn one of those around in less than 24 hours.

Things We Cannot Confirm or Deny...

Being a diplomat means that you can't say a lot - especially online. For example, if you want to know whether DH has been furloughed, you won't see an answer to that here. But if you know me, you will know that I will have thought out what to do if DH is/will be furloughed or has to go without a pay check for a while.

The great news is that, even if he is/will be without a pay check for a while, we have things covered. We have some cash on hand to cover this month. Plus, our house sells on the 23rd, and the buyers don't have an FHA loan, so everything is expected to go through smoothly. We will have a little cash coming in from that. While we were hoping to use it for some other things (for one, paying off the VW, which, by the way, we are supposed to be getting back from the shop today after a full month of repairs), we can use it to cover our expenses, instead, if need be.

Even if the sale were to fall through, we are members of the SDFCU now, which means are eligible for a 0% interest rate credit card for 6 months, which should be plenty of time to get back pay, were DH to have to go without a pay check for a while. If you are in a similar situation, check to see if your credit union has some sort of benefit designed to help you out during the shutdown.

Still planning on finding out where we will be posted on Friday!

Fairfax

A few weeks before A-100 started, the mentor group for DH's class put out an email with helpful tips. On it, someone wrote that Fairfax was too far away, and that you shouldn't try doing A-100 from here. While living closer in would have been wonderful (especially in one of the Oakwoods), that wasn't an option for us, and we had already secured this apartment. Do I regret it? Absolutely not. If we lived away from the metro line and had to drive to it, it would be too far away, but right on the line, it isn't a bad commute at all. Plus, we get the advantage of having the kids in an amazing school system. I am really happy with it. Of course, it does have its ups and downs...

Driving in Fairfax can be a challenge. During non-rush hours, the only thing to watch out for is the lane size. In MN, we are used to really big lanes. Here, they are a bit smaller. I have done more "curb checks" here in the last two weeks than I have in the last 5 years. And, they don't trim trees and bushes so that a large vehicle doesn't hit them while sticking to their side of the road. There are a couple of places that I always swipe tree branches if there are cars coming in the opposite direction. But on the up side, everything we need is sooo close. I can live my life in a 3-mile radius (other than going to classes/meetings at the FSI or Main State). I suppose some day I will venture out to Costco, which is 8 miles away (still in Fairfax), but until then, I have what I need right here in my own little bubble.

During rush hour, that 3-mile radius may as well be 30 miles. The roads are full to the brim, and any amount of rain will make the whole city come to a grinding halt. Stop light cycles are approximately 5 minutes each, making every red light something to be avoided at all costs. If your light turns green, you must look both ways really carefully, because it is likely that two or three cars more than should will go through that "orange" light. But never fear that you will miss that green light by daydreaming; the car behind you will honk their horn the second that light turns green, regardless of whether you were daydreaming or not.

Parking spaces are hard to get into with our Ford E-350 if there are cars on both sides. We have learned to love the back of the grocery store parking lot.

There are an amazing number of grocery stores within my 3-mile bubble. I can go to Safeway, which is right in my neighborhood. I can go to Giant, which is north of us next to our church (and which I have decided has better prices and produce, and is a time-efficient way to kill off the grocery task while waiting for youth activities). Walmart is only a couple of miles away to our west, and Target is only a couple of miles away to our east. There are also a CVS and a Walgreens next to Safeway, and a CVS next to Giant, in case convenience is an issue. Grocery prices here are terrible. Think Mackenthun's (my Waconia friends will get this), but with double the dairy prices. Milk is $4 or more per gallon. Eggs are $2.50/dozen, and butter is $4/lb. Ouch.

I have been to Target and Walmart, but they are both inconvenient to my normal driving patterns, so I mostly go to Safeway and Giant, unless there are household things I need that I can't get from the grocery store. There are also office supply stores all over the place. If I need something I can't get from CVS or Walgreen's, Staples and Office Max are both within a mile. Hardware stores are a little farther away. I would love to get to one so that I can make copies of the apartment keys, but I never find myself in that direction, so I will have to just make a point of it soon. I believe Home Depot is right by Costco, so I'll have to plan a combined trip.

Of course, I must also compliment the weather here. It has been gorgeous every day. When it is hot, it is not as humid as MN. When it is cool, it is not too cool. It is sunny most days. I am not thinking Fall yet, and that is a wonderful thing! The landscaping here is also gorgeous. For such a busy city, it has a lot of green in it.

Church is good in Fairfax, but keeps us way too busy with our big family. Youth activities are not all on the same night of the week. Mondays at 4pm we have Wolf den meeting every other week. Wednesdays at 7:30pm is Webelos. Thursdays at 7:30pm is Mutual. I am getting worn out from all the driving. I think DS1 will be ready to do the Thursday drive soon. This week, I started having him drive whenever he is in the car. It was time to get back on the horse, and now that I know the area well, I am comfortable navigating him around. He is being much more cautious, which I appreciate. If our post assignment is one that keeps us here through the school year, then once we have the VW back from the shop (no, we don't have it back yet), we will buy him a parking pass for school and have him start driving to seminary. If it is closer in, I'll just keep doing it, since we'll be selling a vehicle and wouldn't want to pay for the parking pass. I'm exhausted, but I hope to adjust to the schedule soon. Maybe once daylight savings time ends...

Oh, did I forget to complete that sentence? I think I fell asleep.

Okay, maybe I should tell you a little about our bid list before I take a mid-morning nap. I'd love to tell you where we would like to go, but apparently we aren't allowed to mention which countries are on the bid list online. There are over 30 posts in our top picks list at the moment. Basically, if it doesn't have accredited schools for our kids, it went to the bottom of the list. If it has good schools and the housing situation is good, it went to the top of the list. There are some posts in the mid section that just didn't excite us, like one country where the commute is long and the housing is rumored to be "depressing." We really took the commute into account for both DH and the kids. There is so much on this list that looks wonderful. It was hard to decide what factors would determine between high and medium, after the posts with no decent schools were trimmed out. DH really doesn't know whether he'd rather get his Consular assignment out of the way first, learn all about the workings of the embassy as an HRO (Human Resources Officer) or get a position in his Econ cone. I think he would optimally take a combination assignment, where he gets to share or rotate Consular and Econ or Consular and Political duties. But, it matters so little, because he has to do the Consular assignment at some point, so it may as well be now. We can't wait until October 11th!

Bid List

I'm sorry I've been so quiet this past week. DH got his bid list on Thursday, and we have been researching posts nearly every free second; that is, when I'm not chauffeuring children to church activities (which in our ward are not all on the same night, but fall on three different nights for my kids), going to spouse training, trying to figure out where to put all of the stuff I had sent to us via UAB, or helping DH fill out his voucher forms (that's how we get our per diem and lodging paid).

The bid list is wonderful! I guess DH's sponsoring class, the 172nd, is jealous. We are finding many, many posts that fit our criteria. Plus, the majority are in hot climates. Yay! (If you haven't heard, I am hoping for a hiatus from Minnesota-like weather this first tour). There is a lot of Africa, South America, and even some safe (ish) places in the middle east. We would like to get a hardship post our first tour, which will allow us to have more of a choice for our second tour post. Our top criteria is school availability, though. I would really like to not home school seven children, thank you very much. That would be insane to begin the one year that they are all in school. Of course, it is only six children if we don't leave until later...but that is still a lot to bite off. Plus, I don't really want to home school at all if there isn't internet, and it seems like the posts either have good schools and internet or no schools and no internet, with few exceptions. I'd also like to go somewhere where I can get an embassy/consulate job. Although I hear the pay isn't great, I think it would make a good entrance to the workforce for me.

I need to get back to researching posts, and then I need to get ready to go. I have spouse training again this afternoon. DH & I get to go to class together today and find out more about the bidding process from the CDOs (Career Development Officers).