Last Minute Culture

Life overseas is so different than the life I used to know in the US.  Culture changes everything and you learn to go with it.  So sometimes you forget how much you have adjusted to a new reality in certain areas.  But this week I've been thinking a lot about how much I've adapted while in Brazil to go with the flow in an area that is hard for us Americans...the area of planning ahead.

Us Americans?  We love planning and value it.  Our calendars fill up several weeks or even months in advance.  Not so with Brazilians.  Let me give you a few practical examples:

- In Brazil, people don't schedule things more than a week or so in advance.  At all.  I mean super rarely will you have something planned and nailed down for more than just the next 7 days.

- As a result, people don't use calendars/planners, since it's not a problem to remember what you're supposed to do just this week, why write it down?

- Planners are commonly used here as scrap paper.  I'm completely serious.  They must go unbought in stores in the beginning of the year and get sold super cheap.  Because it's very common to see people using a planner as just a scratch notebook, just ignoring the dates and all.

- If you do have something far in advance (say a doctor's appointment) you just jot a note and leave it on your fridge or desk.  But again this is rare, since it's really easy to get an appointment the week-of since no one schedules in advance

- If something is scheduled in advance (or even not) it's VERY common for things to get canceled and its no big deal at all if you cancel on anyone else.  This happened to me 3 times this week.  I was getting all ready for something and thought I would check in with the person I was supposed to pick up/meet, and I just figured I'd call to confirm before I walked out the door.  (I decided to confirm simply because I know canceling is so common.)  All 3 times, the person had something else come up last minute and had to cancel.

- That leads me to another point...things come up very suddenly.  Since people don't schedule more than a week or so in advance, it could be Sunday night and my calendar looks clear.  Suddenly I'll get a call asking me to help with a church ministry for the next three mornings in a row.  I have no reason to not go (lack of mental preparation is not so valid :), I go and my week is suddenly full.

- When there is a weekly or say bi-weekly meeting, even when it's already scheduled it always seems to be a question mark up till the last minute if it's still a go.  The day of, we communicate back and forth to see if everyone is still on.  I guess this goes with the canceling things.  It's normal for things to come up and things to get canceled, so it's always good to make sure something, even something regularly scheduled, is still on.  Why do things get canceled so much?  Because all scheduling is last minute, so you never know when something is going to change original plans.

- Sometimes we get invites to go to someone's house for dinner as we're already eating dinner at home! We've even gotten invites for dinner after Elijah's already in bed for the night.

Honestly I hope this doesn't come across as negative at all!  I don't feel that way...it's just different.  I mean there are some frustrating parts of being in a last minute culture, and there are some frustrating parts of being in a plan ahead culture.  But let me tell you a few perks about this culture...

- You never know what fun social events might pop up.  You think your weekend is going to be boring and suddenly you're eating Brazilian bbq with friends!

- People in general are very flexible and understanding when you do have to cancel something

- You can invite people over last minute and they will make time for you

Don't worry though, when we come to the US, we'll swing back the other way.  We won't cancel on you or invite you for pizza after you're already eaten :)  It's just very weird to be part of both worlds

Bi-lingual Lingual Learner Update

I've had a bit of blogger's block lately.  Lots going on, but not much specifically NEW to write about.  So, time to give you an update on an ongoing story here...Elijah's journey to becoming a bi-lingual kiddo.

As of 4 months ago, Elijah wouldn't speak in either Portuguese or English.  He knew words, but he refused to say them on anyone's terms by his and he even refused to point at objects he knew when I said the names.

Now, he is really taking off in English.  BIG time!  He was SO far behind his age group, but now I really think he is closing the gap with the average 2 year 3 month-er.  It's really exciting to see.  He says tons of words and most importantly, he wants to learn them.  He constantly points at things wanting to know what they are called and says the names of objects and practically requires that I repeat it correctly so he can see if he got it right.  It's not even enough to say "good job!".  For example, if Elijah points at something and says, "orange", he wants me to confirm by saying "orange".  He is also really into letters and numbers.  He can say the names of about 8 letters when he sees them, and he can count to 10...something that took us completely by surprise.  He sometimes still messes things up, but he's well on his way.  I could be reading into it, but he really seems to be studying language and trying really hard to get a hold of it, now that he's seen how useful it can be.  Oh and just as a test, I showed him a picture of one word for each letter of the alphabet, completely a random list that I didn't make up.  And he knew 20 out of 26!  And why should he know xylophone anyway?  SO awesome, considering he literally refused to say or repeat even "ball" or "car" a few short months ago.  

In Portuguese, Elijah is still way behind.  He knows just 4 words solidly.  But even in Portuguese something exciting is happening....courage!  He is finally choosing to repeat words in Portuguese, something he refused before.  And at "preschool" today I went to pick him up, and I told him in Portuguese to say bye to everyone, and he turned around and said "tchau!".  I was really proud, but even prouder but I walked by the room and two teachers were commenting on how far he's come to even do that!  Another teacher also came up to me today and asked me what "baid" means.  I had to think of a looong moment and realized Elijah was trying to tell the teacher about the band-aid he was wearing.  She said he kept coming up to him all day and saying it.  He also apparently says "O" a lot, which he does at home too...whenever he sees the letter O anywhere or even a circle :)  She wanted to know what that meant too.  As we walked out the door, he pointed at a sign that head the numbers 1-5 written on it.  He wanted the teacher to tell him in Portuguese one by one what they are called and he repeated each one.  Another teacher told me that every day as he comes in he points at her and asks "tia???"  in a way that is looking for affirmation.  "Tia" is aunt in Portuguese, which is what school kids call their teachers here.  So I guess he was trying to confirm that he is in fact calling her the right thing.  Slow by steady but I"m glad he's opening up!  The teachers all say he comes up to them trying to communicate during the day, but they can't understand and they're all cheering for him to take off in Portuguese too so they can get to know him.  I can't want to see where we are 6 months from now.

Lastly, one funny language related thing I want to add it.  We don't intentionally teach Elijah Portuguese at home.  We just speak to him in English (and Jeyson sometimes in Spanish) and figure he will learn Portuguese around town.  But the funny thing is everywhere I go with Elijah, people ask me (in Portuguese obviously), if Elijah is going to learn Portuguese.  It makes me laugh, because the person through the very fact of asking me the question in front of Elijah IS teaching him Portuguese.  So, I tell them, yes he is in a Portuguese class right now by being present :)  

It's really fun to see our boy grow and develop in so many areas, and especially in this area of being bi-lingual, which is new also for me.  I hope someday soon he can have them both down solidly and we can begin to focus on Spanish too.  

3 Thoughts Friday

1. The newest plane in Asas's fleet is ready to make its way from the US to Brazil, so  2 of our pilots flew to the US to pick it up and fly back.  They are going to make a few stops along the way to the headquarters where the plane will be based.  One of the stops is even here in Boa Vista, since we're the  city farthest north in Brazil.  But alas, there has been a hold up waiting for permission to be granted that would allow the plane to leave the US and enter Brazil.  So, our two pilots are waiting in Florida, where they have been for about a week now.  Please pray that this clears up so our missionaries can return to the field with this new tool for ministry!

2. We're so appreciative of friends and supporters back home who have helped us in unique ways, especially those who have used their fields of expertise to help us in some way.  For example, there's a family friend who is a tax attorney who has done our taxes for free for the past 7 years!  What a blessing to know that everything is done correctly in our complicated tax situation and to not even have to worry about it!  Then, there's the doctor who recently contacted me and offered for me to email or skype if we ever have any questions we could bounce off of him.  And an organization I just heard about that has built up a collection of books (about 5,000!) and allows missionaries to choose as many as they need and sends the books to the missionaries in the field for just half of the shipping costs (which comes out great the way they send them).  The main target is kids books, since so many families (including us!) don't have access to a library for kids books.  It's so amazing and humbling to be blessed in so many and such creative ways!

3. Lately I've been thinking about family a lot, and how blessed we are to have 2 awesome families!!  Of course we know we are exactly where God wants us, but we miss them a ton and I wish Elijah could grow up around his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents on both sides.  I'm so glad to live in a time when internet access makes us so much more connected.  We skype with Jeyson's family and stay connected with facebook, etc.  On my side, us sisters get a little carried away.  We have a lot of long distance fun together by sending video clips, group texting, facetime-ing, following the same news stories/shows, and even playing games in the evenings...all for free!  Awesome!!  Since you family members are probably more than half of the people who read this blog :), here's a big "We love you!"