Settling Into Brazil

We safely arrived to Salvador, Bahia, Brazil which will be our new home for at least the next 2 years. We were met by the HR staff at the airport and with our eight 60+ pound duffle bags containing everything we thought we would need (well…almost) were bundled off to the school to collect some spending money, use the Internet and grab lunch.
The next day we met our very friendly and helpful driver who will take us to school everyday. He speaks no Ingles and we speak minimal Portuguse but we quickly came to an understanding that we will teach each other. I said Bom Dia which sounds like to Bon Jia and translates as “Good Morning”. He asked how we were and we replied with our canned phrase from Pimsleur: “muinto bem” pronounced mweinto bang (very good). We learned our driver’s name was Dimas. First rule we learned: a D at the beginning of a word makes a J or G sound. So his name is sounds closer to Geemess. He had a difficult time with our names as well.
We had a few meetings on our first day then a fabulous lunch. The school hires a catering company to cook the meals, at a dollar a day which comes directly from our paycheck, we have a choice of chicken, fish, meat and several different vegetarian options. Yum! After work we were taken to the grocery store to get the necessities. (Beer, Chocolate, DC, Ramen Noodles) School provided juice, milk, cheese, bread, eggs, chocolate, sugar, salt, and many other goodies for us to live on so we were going to the store as an educational experience basically so we could find the store and shop on our own when needed.
We had a very confusing tour of the neighborhood we live in which is Campo Grande (said Campo Grange), bought groceries and headed home. We have NO IDEA how to get to that store again. We have learned to say the names of the major streets and landmarks which is always helpful. We also live near one of the best known hotels, Hotel da Bahia, which is a Sheraton hotel and makes getting home in a taxi a tad easier.
Cost of food and items in Salvador are through the ROOF (and mind you, we live on the 18th floor). A 12 oz. can of diet coke runs about $.70 cents from the supermercado and $1.15 at the loja de alimentos (convenience store). I might just kick my DC addiction here. An ironing board stand is $93.00 dollars. The iron, a cheapy, was $35.00. There are no clothes dryers here so we have to hang all of our clothes (but we get an incredible breeze up here where the air is thinner). An iron is certainty needed here. We bit the bullet and bought the iron but no board, using a spare desk for that.
They have a pulley system for drying your clothes which is pretty cool. You lower the drying rack, hang your clothes, and then raise it until the clothes are dry.

They also have gas stoves which I am not use to but getting the hang of. They have child safety knobs and a fold down protector/work area. You can see the knobs on the left are accessible and the ones on the right are not. Pretty cool, new to me but maybe not to you.

There are of course many other things here that are wonderful but I will leave you with this last image.
One thing I do not like here is that the toilet paper does not flush and nor do the people. A typical bathroom experience… (Don’t worry, this is not the toilet in our apartment)

I will leave this post here for now.

The end of one journey begins another. I have not been very faithful in the last 3 years in updating this travel blog but I am optimistic that the time has come to start again.

Mike and I spent the last 3 school years in Taipei, Taiwan and decided it was time for a change of scenery both professionally and personally. Mike obtained his PA teaching certification and then was awarded a Master of Science in Education through Drexel University in PA in a whopping year! His last semester he took 6 courses - I neither saw nor heard from him for 3 months! Ask him about his trip to Bali, no wait... don't, he was there in body but not in mind. It was well worth the time and stress as he completed his degree.

He is not done learning by any means! With the coming of August he will be teaching 5th grade. Oh the things he needs to learn! As in everything else he does I know he will be a dedicated student and teacher.

We accepted positions at an international school in Salvador, Brazil and I am in flight to our new home as I type this. Once we accepted the job a significant amount of planning and preparation took place.

The first order of business was to obtain visas, which sounds easier than it is. The amount of paperwork could keep a fire burning for hours. Thanks to Mike's father for collecting the birth certificates and to my sis, Mary, for sending the numerous documents to the Brazilian Embassy in Boston and New York to legalize the documents.

The process started in January with ordering the original documents from several different organizations. The birth and marriage certificates, college transcripts, letters of employment and criminal background checks. The majority of these needing to be notarized and legalized in their original country, so some in Taiwan and some in the US. Once legalized, they were sent to the school who applied for our work permits on our behalf. The support and guidance from the amazing people at Ernst and Young in Sao Paolo is commendable. The HR director at the school was on top of all paperwork and helped answer numerous questions.

The trips to Boston to the Brazilian Consulate were painless and took no time at all. We ended the visa experience with 4 days to spare and a new page filled in our passports.

Oh I forgot to mention that the week before we left Taiwan I realized we did not have enough pages in our passports so an emergency trip to AIT was squeezed in!

The next item on my list is always PURGE! I love this one. I get to throw away things and start over again. We planned to take most of everything we brought here from Colorado and the few things we purchased along the way. The couch and ottoman we shipped did not return as the humid weather destroyed the fabric and as it fell off the couch it left small black specs on our clothes, piles on the floor, and stuck in Mike's beard. The Bali bed and ancient Chinese medicinal cabinet we bought did make the shipment and some day they will meet all of you when we settle into a house, who knows where.

Learn Portuguese! We have been practicing un poco for a few months and have already learned more Portuguese than 3 years of trying to learn Mandarin. We are excited to know that it is possible and accept the challenge of practicing Pimsleur which we bought and Rosetta Stone which the school generously provided for us.

The school year ended and we said our goodbyes to our friends. They threw a fabulous going away party for us at On Tap. They decorated the place with a Brazilian theme: the cake was Brazilian Carrot Cake the shape of a laptop that had a Nancy Google Search results page displayed, they had maracas and beads on the table, and put your head in the hole picture thing which was a hit!

They also provided us with a beautiful book highlighting our time in Taipei and wishing us well. I know we will miss them dearly especially when Friday night comes and they are all toasting Mike and I at Chilis, or cheering for the Patriots at the Super Bowl party at Suzanne and Chris', American Idol nights at Stacey and Erik's, Bunko nights, St. Andrew's Ball, Cooking Club, Pilates, golf, and other events! Thank you for the wonderful memories.

The summer came and went in a blur for us. The time was especially short this summer as we left Taipei for a 2 day Google Summit conference in Hong Kong. We were able to go with 2 friends who made the trip worthwhile. We also learned many new things and the highlight for me was playing with Google Glass. You wear them as you do a pair of sun glasses but they are so much more. They connect to a smart device and you can get directions, shoot videos, send emails, talk on the phone, etc.... all through the glasses. I cannot wait for them to be priced to buy.

We arrived in Boston to pouring rain and chilly weather but were warmed immediately as we were greeted by Mike's parents. They had steak tips and diet coke for us in the car! Oh to be home, it felt wonderful. We could have done without the rain for the week but the ideal weather at the Cape made up for it. Dad, Mary, Mags (and friend Amy), Sonny, Greta, Stacey, Erik, Deirdre, and Liam all made the trip to see us at the beach. As always it is a home away from home and provided us with a good base for our tans. We had lobstah and steamahs for Father's Day and all was right with the world.

We then headed south to see my bros. We stopped for supper to see Sarah and then on Virginia to see Ed, Maureen and Luke for a few days and then to Maryland to catch up with Tom, Julie, Andrew, Chris, and Matt for a few. Thanks for the company, the beds, the pool, and the delicious food.

We finally made it to Mary's house to see all of the improvements that she has done over the past year. She amazingly converted her house to a sanctuary for my father. He moved in December and has been busy ever since. The living room was converted into an on suite bedroom, Maggie's room was combined with the office (her closet is bigger than my last bathroom), she redid the front entry, blew out the dining room and added a great room with a half bath off it, and landscaped the yard with patios to the pool and hot tub. It looks amazing. I think they are both happy with the new arrangement.

In between all of the visits we squeezed in shopping, doctor appts. and eating at our favorite places.

We are headed to our new lives with our 7 checked bags, 4 carry-ons and positive cheerful attitudes.

Tchau!