Oh my gosh, it has been 20 days since I updated. And I am leaving here 2 weeks from tomorrow.
Instead of trying to sum up the last 20 days, which would be no less than incredibly overwhelming...I think I will just pretend I have been writing avidly all this time, apologize to my grandmother who has probably been wondering why I wasn't updating, and tell you about the last couple days. So here I go.
Believe it or not, on Monday it was cold here. I'm not sure what the exact temperature was...but probably below 20C, if that means anything to anyone. Out of character for January, and really unexpected by me. One thing I have come to realize is that being from the US where everything is airconditioned when it's hot outside and heated when it's cold, I am used to a very maintained temperature. My body rarely has to adjust to severe temperatures, because everywhere is a pleasant 68 degrees...or 65 if you live at my house. (please turn the heat up when I come home, otherwise it is just cruel.) So when the temperature took a dip for the day here, I was absolutely freezing, while everyone else merely put on a coat or a sweatshirt and continued traipsing around in their flip flops. My feet were practically falling off they were so cold. After a little grumpiness on my part because I of course didn't bring sufficient clothing for such weather, the evening ended with a cozy movie about barnyard animals that could stand on 2 feet, and some delicious popcorn that José made. It was seriously so good. My love for popcorn was so apparent in my mood shift that Joaquim actually told José, "I think it was just you that made my girlfriend happy today, because without this popcorn, she wouldn't have been." True.
I guess I should give honorable mention to a few things...Joaquim took the TOEFL on the 18th and will get the results on Feb. 8th. That is also the day that I was supposed to leave, but I changed my tickets to make me leave on the 14th. That is the last day my visa is valid, and I leave the country at 11-something pm. Stretching it to the limit, that's how I like to do things.
Currently, Joaquim and I are thinking and praying about the opportunity for him to visit me in the spring. Basically, here are the issues...he has already been denied a tourist visa once, for reasons so ridiculous I can feel my blood pressure rise just thinking about them. And if he is denied another one for similarly ridiculous reasons, which is an unfortunate possibility, it will be very difficult for him to get a student visa.
(interlude: José just looked at me and said, very calmly, "voce tem uma barate debaixo do seu pé." This means...you have a cockroach underneath your foot. It is thankfully dead. Yikes.)
Anyway, everything would be great for Joaquim's visit except for this tourist visa issue. If anyone has any experience with the American consolate in São Paulo, or better yet any friends who work there, haha...I would welcome suggestions. The current idea is to write Moody asking for them to write a letter inviting him to see their school, since he has already applied. And if he passes the TOEFL (which I think he will) he can show that as well...I don't know, there are just a lot of things the consolate needs to see to be sure he has a good reason to go, and also that he will come back to Brazil. Of course he will, he would never stay illegaly in the US, but how to prove that...I have no idea. Any help?
Also of note is that Alex visited for a week a couple weeks ago. It was a fantastic time, thankfully restful for her, and hilarious for me, and she was able to meet and get to know Joaquim, and us as a couple. It was a lot of fun. He won her heart when he gave her an envelope and said "this is for you." When she opened it, a contraption made of a paperclip and a rubber band flew out at her, making a loud noise and she threw the envelope in the air, screamed, and then cracked up. So, he passed the test after that point.
That's all for now...I'll try to write a little something tomorrow, just to keep this going. Sorry for letting it go so long!
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Joshua
True friendship is visiting me in Brazil for a week. This is Alexandra Elizabeth Fillmore, who is leaving tomorrow and arriving on Sunday here in Brazil. I am looking forward to it so much, to say the least. There will be lots of laughing and catching up, and I will take full advantage of the fact that most people don't understand English. Always a fun trick.
This week has been pretty fun. To be honest I'm not remembering Monday very well, but on Tuesday we went to Joaquim's aunt's house for an impromtu visit and were thereafter chatted with for a few hours, fed cake and coke and some chicken pie thing which was delicious, and then went for a dip in their swimming pool, wearing borrowed clothes. After that we watched a movie with his cousin Carol, and got back around 1am. We were just planning to drop by for coffee. It was really nice, and always refreshing to have a change of scenery.
On Saturday night we went to this great new restaurant in town. It's just a little sit in place with coffee and salgadinhos and cake, and it was so cute. Very cozy, and very air conditioned. That is a rare commodity here. Joaquim cracks me up on a regular basis with his love for air conditioning. He has admitted on more than one occasion that he prefers to hang out at work because his office is air conditioned.
This afternoon is pretty warm and lazy. I'm doing some laundry, and soon to come is a trip to the supermarket. Really fascinating.
Lately I've been reading Joshua. I'm also reading Numbers, and it's funny to see how they sometimes repeat themselves. In Numbers, Moses was just sending out some people to scout out the new land they were waiting to get their hands on, and everyone was freaking out. Talking about how they're sick of manna and want to go back to Egypt because they had such great food there (doubtful) and how they were going to die in Canaan or in the desert on their way, so they might as well go back (a fate that would end in death as well, and probably far less pleasant.) It seems people haven't changed since then, because big changes are still terrifying. In Joshua, they have just gotten to Canaan and are working on taking out all of their enemies. Little Israel is fighting against tons of nations who have been there much longer than them and are much bigger and stronger, but the Lord is taking care of them, doing things like hailing on people and confusing people so they start running around aimlessly, therefore becoming easier targets. But in nearly every chapter, God speaks to Joshua telling him not to be afraid. "Be strong and courageous." Because He is going to give everything into his hand.
I'm facing those same sorts of fears lately. Even having some ideas and some possibilities when I go home...a job, a roommate (evetually), a life...I'm not sure if I'm ready for it yet. It has been a month today since I left Londrina. It feels longer and shorter, in a way. I feel like I've been here for longer because I'm comfortable, but it feels shorter because the time flew by, just like my time in Londrina flew.
Now I have a few days to enjoy and then a week with Alex, and Joaquim is getting ready for the TOEFL, and then there will be 3 weeks of trying to squeeze the juice out of every moment...then I go home, take my sweaters out of storage, and get going, once again.
This week has been pretty fun. To be honest I'm not remembering Monday very well, but on Tuesday we went to Joaquim's aunt's house for an impromtu visit and were thereafter chatted with for a few hours, fed cake and coke and some chicken pie thing which was delicious, and then went for a dip in their swimming pool, wearing borrowed clothes. After that we watched a movie with his cousin Carol, and got back around 1am. We were just planning to drop by for coffee. It was really nice, and always refreshing to have a change of scenery.
On Saturday night we went to this great new restaurant in town. It's just a little sit in place with coffee and salgadinhos and cake, and it was so cute. Very cozy, and very air conditioned. That is a rare commodity here. Joaquim cracks me up on a regular basis with his love for air conditioning. He has admitted on more than one occasion that he prefers to hang out at work because his office is air conditioned.
This afternoon is pretty warm and lazy. I'm doing some laundry, and soon to come is a trip to the supermarket. Really fascinating.
Lately I've been reading Joshua. I'm also reading Numbers, and it's funny to see how they sometimes repeat themselves. In Numbers, Moses was just sending out some people to scout out the new land they were waiting to get their hands on, and everyone was freaking out. Talking about how they're sick of manna and want to go back to Egypt because they had such great food there (doubtful) and how they were going to die in Canaan or in the desert on their way, so they might as well go back (a fate that would end in death as well, and probably far less pleasant.) It seems people haven't changed since then, because big changes are still terrifying. In Joshua, they have just gotten to Canaan and are working on taking out all of their enemies. Little Israel is fighting against tons of nations who have been there much longer than them and are much bigger and stronger, but the Lord is taking care of them, doing things like hailing on people and confusing people so they start running around aimlessly, therefore becoming easier targets. But in nearly every chapter, God speaks to Joshua telling him not to be afraid. "Be strong and courageous." Because He is going to give everything into his hand.
I'm facing those same sorts of fears lately. Even having some ideas and some possibilities when I go home...a job, a roommate (evetually), a life...I'm not sure if I'm ready for it yet. It has been a month today since I left Londrina. It feels longer and shorter, in a way. I feel like I've been here for longer because I'm comfortable, but it feels shorter because the time flew by, just like my time in Londrina flew.
Now I have a few days to enjoy and then a week with Alex, and Joaquim is getting ready for the TOEFL, and then there will be 3 weeks of trying to squeeze the juice out of every moment...then I go home, take my sweaters out of storage, and get going, once again.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Christmas and New Years in Brazil
Once again I am so late in updating. And the holidays have come and gone. Maybe I didn't notice or feel the need to write too much because it didn't feel too much like the holidays. But it was a great time, especially on New Year's. I definitely prefered that to Christmas here.
On Christmas, we had a picnic outside, with watermelon and ice cream. Does that make sense to anyone? Certainly not me. When I think of Christmas, I remember quiet, and dark, watching a movie with my family, opening presents with music playing in the background...preferably something cheesy by Amy Grant or Steve Green. And this Christmas was truly "green and bright." It was very different, but fun in its own rights. We went to church on Christmas Eve and afterwards everyone from church came to Lar for a party. It wasn't really a dinner, just little finger food, called "salgadinhos" which basically means little salty things. So that was fun, loud and crazy. Then on Christmas we slept in, Joaquim and I talked with my family through webcam at 1 and watched them open presents...people were crowding around the webcam here to see the snow that was on the ground in Palatine. Then we had a big picnic lunch...rice, steak, chicken, salad, coke, guaraná, and then watermelon and ice cream. After lunch we opened presents which was hilarious because all the kids got something, so Mãe was throwing presents at everyone. Literally.
On New Years, I had a lot more fun. We went to church and had a nice service to enter the new year. Lots of singing, testimonies about what God had done the last year, and we spent the last few minutes of last year and the first few of this year praying, while we heard fireworks and people yelling. I sort of missed the tv countdown and yelling "happy new year!" but actually prefered this. It was nice to be with lots of people, to hug literally everyone and wish them a happy new year, whether you know them or not, etc. It was a great time, then we went back for another party with salgadinhos and lots of people, and stayed up late singing and watching movies. After going to bed at 5:15am, I woke up late the next day for yet another barbeque and more ice cream. That's something I could easily get used to. ; ) That was a lot of fun, I guess because my New Years traditions aren't as strong as my Christmas ones.
So, all in all, it was a great time. I really wished my family had been here, and thought about it a lot, but all is well.
As we came into the new year...it brought some stress with it. Knowing I'm going home soon and not knowing what will happen after that, it's not easy. Joaquim is going to take the TOEFL test, and English test he will need to get into Moody, where he is working on applying, on January 18th. There are lots of "if...then..."s to come, which makes my life feel like a "choose your own adventure" book. I always hated those books.
On Christmas, we had a picnic outside, with watermelon and ice cream. Does that make sense to anyone? Certainly not me. When I think of Christmas, I remember quiet, and dark, watching a movie with my family, opening presents with music playing in the background...preferably something cheesy by Amy Grant or Steve Green. And this Christmas was truly "green and bright." It was very different, but fun in its own rights. We went to church on Christmas Eve and afterwards everyone from church came to Lar for a party. It wasn't really a dinner, just little finger food, called "salgadinhos" which basically means little salty things. So that was fun, loud and crazy. Then on Christmas we slept in, Joaquim and I talked with my family through webcam at 1 and watched them open presents...people were crowding around the webcam here to see the snow that was on the ground in Palatine. Then we had a big picnic lunch...rice, steak, chicken, salad, coke, guaraná, and then watermelon and ice cream. After lunch we opened presents which was hilarious because all the kids got something, so Mãe was throwing presents at everyone. Literally.
On New Years, I had a lot more fun. We went to church and had a nice service to enter the new year. Lots of singing, testimonies about what God had done the last year, and we spent the last few minutes of last year and the first few of this year praying, while we heard fireworks and people yelling. I sort of missed the tv countdown and yelling "happy new year!" but actually prefered this. It was nice to be with lots of people, to hug literally everyone and wish them a happy new year, whether you know them or not, etc. It was a great time, then we went back for another party with salgadinhos and lots of people, and stayed up late singing and watching movies. After going to bed at 5:15am, I woke up late the next day for yet another barbeque and more ice cream. That's something I could easily get used to. ; ) That was a lot of fun, I guess because my New Years traditions aren't as strong as my Christmas ones.
So, all in all, it was a great time. I really wished my family had been here, and thought about it a lot, but all is well.
As we came into the new year...it brought some stress with it. Knowing I'm going home soon and not knowing what will happen after that, it's not easy. Joaquim is going to take the TOEFL test, and English test he will need to get into Moody, where he is working on applying, on January 18th. There are lots of "if...then..."s to come, which makes my life feel like a "choose your own adventure" book. I always hated those books.
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