Flexible Living 101

Sunday evening I got a text asking if we can be at a team meeting on Thursday afternoon.  No problem.  We added that to our weekly plans.  Monday at 10am, a new message arrived.  Flights changed for the week, so the team meeting will actually be better in just a few hours.  Can anyone host it?  Can everyone bring a snack?  That's a true scenario and that's life around here in a nutshell.  I'm not saying that our mission is last minute.  I'm saying that LIFE here is last minute.  

You never know when you will have guests stop by just as you are putting the finishing touches on dinner (around here, you would never NOT invite them to stay).  I might find out in the morning that we will have guests staying for that weekend beginning that evening.  And then, after making the bed up, it wouldn't be unusual to find out that actually plans changed and now they won't be arriving until Wednesday.  Even fun things happen last minute…a phone call at 5pm to invite us for dinner in an hour.  Or a phone call asking, "Can you come to my daughter's birthday party in the morning?  And bring cookies?"  Then after baking the cookies, it wouldn't be surprising for the party to get rescheduled for next week.  Here's a real live example, our base may or may not be expecting 4 missionaries who Jeyson will then drive over to Suriname (yes, the country) to go check out a plane for our mission.  When's this happening (or not happening)?  Next week! 

Last minute changes - it's cultural.  To add to that, we live in a very remote place in the country which runs extra last minute.  Compounding that, we are in ministry.  Our job by nature involves serving others and "others" involves other people's schedules and needs…even the last minute ones.  And just to make it extra interesting, we work with aviation in the world's largest RAINforest.  Rain, jungles, and aviation don't mix.  So bad weather results in the flight schedule getting shuffled around non-stop.  And the flight schedule getting shuffled results in our life's schedule getting shuffled.  Hence the last minute guests, who might have been planning to stay at one of our co-worker's house who got stuck in a village overnight etc. etc. 

So, what's to be done?  I've learned a few survival tips along the way that keep me sane.  Well that help anyway.

1. Get as much done as you can on Monday, since you never know what the rest of the week holds.  

2. Meal plan flexibly.  I just make a list of a few meals I might like to make that week and buy the basic ingredients.  That way I can make whichever one works for that night, depending on what else is going on.

3. Make extra food in your meals so you can easily have people over.  If nothing else, there's a nice night of leftovers later in the week.

4.  Keep snack food on hand that can be pulled out to offer to unexpected guests (pretty much expected here).

5. Learn to say no to some things.  One of the nice things in Brazilian culture is there's an expression "Nao vai dar".  Literally means "It's not going to give".  It can basically be used to say no to things in a very vague way without requiring you to give any excuse about why.   

6.  Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility.  We constantly have to remember that Jesus' major priority with his time was people.  We have slowly learned to be more and more flexible in order to make people, not our time or plans, a priority as well.

Blogging Freedom and a Catch Up

Lately I've been struggling to blog.  After 7 years posting just about every week, I couldn't figure out what had gotten into me that has taken away my blogging inspiration.  Then, I finally figured it out.  I realized that I originally started this blog because way back in 2007, I needed a practical way to update people back home with pictures.  So I started blogging and including a link to our blog in our update emails.  Since then, I've started using MailChimp, which allows me to put pictures right in our email updates and we created a facebook page where we often post pictures of the day to day stuff.  So that leaves me struggling to find something new to write here that I haven't already said and shown elsewhere.  

So, I've decided to take a bit of a blog-cation...a blog vacation that is.  Although maybe I'm better off considering it blogging freedom....freedom from any particular schedule of how often I will blog.  I will likely still post from time to time here when I have something longer to share than I have space for on facebook or in our emails, but it will continue to be random like this, or maybe even more random once our little girl arrives which will take up more of my time.  Basically, I'll blog when I have something to say that will work best in blog format, but I won't feel bound to blogging on any type of time table. 

That being said, while I'm at it blogging, here's a little update on some things I haven't shared about elsewhere.  

- The past few weeks we've been enjoying the cultural experience of watching The World Cup.  It was quite a bummer the way Brazil went out, but fun that for every game that Brazil played in, the whole country shut down and people got together to eat and watch the game.  Here's a shot as we were on the way to our friends' house for a game.  Everyone on the road was also headed to a game and dressed up in yellow jerseys to cheer.  

 - Amazing cake made by a friend for the game.  These two ladies and their families have become great friends of ours over the past year.

 - In other news, Elijah has officially moved out of his bed and into a "big boy" bed that Jeyson made for him.  It came out great!  And Elijah loves it.  Guess our eviction notice worked :)  Now time to get the baby's room ready.

I'm a little over 28 weeks now.  We'll be heading to Goiania at 36 weeks for the birth, leaving us with 7 1/2 weeks to get everything ready for the baby and the trip.  We decided to go with one way tickets.  Don't worry, of course we're returning to Boa Vista!  But this will give us more freedom to come back as soon as possible after the baby is born instead of buying tickets now for the last possible day she could arrive.  Here's to hoping for an early delivery...but what tired and big bellied mom isn't wishing for that?!? :)

 I've been enjoying water aerobics classes that are offered free through our insurance company for pregnant women.  I've met a couple of really nice ladies from the community, and I started giving childbirth education classes to one of the ladies and her husband.  It has been a wonderful time to build a relationship and minister to them as a couple, meanwhile helping me review my own material to get ready for my own birth as a perk!  I wish I could be here in Boa Vista to go along as a doula, but she's due only 2 weeks after me so I will almost definitely be in Goiania or nearly arriving back in Boa Vista when her baby arrives.  Btw, this mom to be is French and has only lived in Brazil for a year.  Both being foreign, we have a lot in common.  And since she doesn't speak English and I don't speak French, it's pretty funny that us two foreign women have to communicate in a third language...Portuguese :)

Elijah is getting so big!  Between sleeping in a big bed, playing creatively on his own, being potty trained...he's definitely turning into a kid rather than still being a baby.  He is starting to say a lot more too, like he will tell us what he wants to play with and remember things that happened and mention them to us.  He is still pretty behind on his speech though so he's going to get a few sessions of speech therapy before we had to Goiania and we will see if that helps.  If so, we will continue when we return.

 At the hangar, both of our planes are now in operation after the long and involved maintenance project, SIDs.  I'm very proud of Jeyson for all of his work leading the team through the project and doing a large part of it himself even though it meant teaching himself some new skills as he went along.  It was a sacrifice to put his flight progress on the back burner for almost a year in order to do this project, but that's what SERVING is all about and Jeyson always does that without complaining.  I really look up to that husband of mine!

And now the projects are complete just in time for July, which is our busiest flight month of the year.  There are several conferences and projects that take place in July, so two planes are definitely needed to make it all happen.  Jeyson is beginning is flight training again, beginning with some "book" style lessons with our chief pilot, and will now begin the hands on flights too to get proficiency flying in this difficult region.  Next week him and the chief pilot will head out on an overnight flight to bring missionaries to a village.  It's great to see that area of our ministry coming along in God's timing.

Lastly, this evening some ladies from our mission and partner mission are throwing me a baby shower.  It's such a blessing to see the friends God has brought into my life over the last year and will be a joy to celebrate our little girl's life with them.

Pregnancy Plans

We've officially decided to move forward with plans to travel back to central Brazil at the end of pregnancy for our baby to be born there.  The healthcare situation in Boa Vista is far from the best on many levels...especially when it comes to birth.  In fact, there's a well known joke around Boa Vista that the best doctors in town are "Dr. Tam" and "Dr. Gol"....Tam and Gol are the names of the airlines have flights leaving of Boa Vista to get to you a main city.   Although its very inconvenient to travel at 36 weeks, we feel like it's the best plan for our family.  I was just reading a Brazilian article about how people making trips like this for birth is getting to be more and more common in Brazil.  We have a wonderful doctor who will take care of us once we get to Goias.  (He is the same from Elijah's birth).  It was so kind of him to take me as a patient even though we will only have 1-2 prenatal appointments with him.  And we have a great support system for the logistics with the mission headquarters and Jeyson's family in the area.  And flying there will certainly be a lot easier than Mary who had to travel and give birth at the end of her pregnancy :) 

So, the main things to figure out next are buying tickets and figuring out who will keep an eye on our home in Boa Vista while we are gone.  We also are praying for continued good health...no complications that will make the late pregnancy plane ride impossible.

Once we are in Goias, we will spend some time with Jeyson's family, touch base with the doctor, and then have time to spend at the mission's headquarter base.  Jeyson has things we wants to meet about at the hangar and we're willing to help out in whatever ways are needed.  Once our girlie arrives, we will probably be back at Jeyson's family's house until we are able to travel (about a week after the birth).  We can also take a trip to the American embassy in Brasilia to get her American papers sorted out, something we'd have to travel away from Boa Vista to do anyway.  So, it looks like the trip will be just perfect for so many reasons.  The 6 weeks or so there will be pretty full.  Not to mention there are lots of friends and coworkers we look forward to spending time with. We're excited about the decision and very blessed that this door has opened so far! Just 16 weeks until my due date, 12 weeks until we fly to Goias!

World Cup Fever

Here in Brazil, World Cup Fever is in the air!  The World Cup is always a big deal here in Brazil, but this year it's bigger than ever since Brazil will be hosting the games.  Even when Brazil is not hosting, everything (banks, stores, schools, etc) close early so people can go home or get together to watch when Brazil plays.  So I can't even imagine what is in store for this year when it is on Brazilian soil!  

Last week the official FIFA plane landed in Brazil, carrying the world cup (trophy) in it.  Since Boa Vista is the city farthest north in Brazil, the plane stopped at our airport to go through customs/immigration.

 Fun moment to have behind the scenes credentials at the airport!  The plane continued on to tour throughout Brazil until the games start June 12th.

 But that's just the beginning of the excitement.  Every single store you go in is decked out for the Cup. Bet you can't guess what team they are cheering for?  So hard to tell :)

And around here they get indoctrinated from a young age.  At Elijah's preschool, today was a special soccer day.  They all had to come dressed in a soccer jersey and were going to play soccer games and have soccer activities all day.  We don't have a soccer jersey, so we put him in a Chicago cubs shirt...oh well :)  

 Definitely a fun cultural experience so far...can't wait to see what's ahead!!

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.  

Expat Thanksgiving

I LOVE Thanksgiving and it's always so interesting to see how we will celebrate here in Brazil, where it is obviously not a holiday.  This year we got together with our new friends, Eric and Donna, who live on the border with Venezuela.  They have been missionaries in Brazil for about 15 years and have 8 kids who are now in the US.  Over the past months knowing them, they have taken us in in a special way, and even taken care of Elijah for a weekend when I was in the hospital.  So it was so fun to celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday with them and stay at their home through Saturday afternoon.

 It is also really fun that one of their sons just got married about a month ago and he and his wife (John and Rebeca) are now going to be serving long term in one of the native villages.  They will be flown out by Asas on Wednesday and will only come out of the village every 4 months or so.  But they were also able to make it for Thanksgiving.  We had a great time getting to know them.  Lots of fun to talk in English and make new friends in general.  Such a refreshing time!

One of the things you will find funny about us expats is how excited we get about food that you can only get in the US.  John and Rebeca brought this can of cranberry sauce back from the US as a surprise for Donna and we cherished each bite during the meal.

 Tons of fun time relaxing....

 And cooking the meal together...though Donna is SUCH an expert at whipping out meals for crowds with the large family that she raised that she makes cooking Thanksgiving look as easy as ordering take out!

Our meal...no turkey since they are very rare and expensive, but we had a great chicken

Elijah loved bath time in this very tiny tub!

And sleeping in the pack and play under a mosquito net.  The weather in Venezuela is GREAT since it's up in the mountains, so it was SO fun to take a break from sweltering temperatures to enjoy warm baths and pjs!

What a great weekend...it couldn't have been more perfect.  And there is no end to the list of what we are thankful for this year!

What's Now Normal

This morning I had one of those adventures that I would never have believed would be part of my life 10 years ago.  We needed a part for our dishwasher and Jeyson has been so busy that I told him I would stop by a place that according to the GE website would have what we needed.

So off Elijah and I went to a new part of town I'd never been to before.  I pull up to where google maps says the place should be located, but there's nothing there.  So, I ask a guy on the street.  There's no place like that around here.  But if I go up another mile or so, there's a place that fixes refrigerators, maybe they can help me.  So off i go in the truck again.

At this point I'm on streets that aren't streets.  They're skinny dirt roads that have so many potholes it's more like you can't even find where the roads are supposed to be.  There are the poorest, most broken down houses on every side.  There are NO street signs, so I can't even find the corner I"m now looking for the shop.  On my left I pass a little shack that's has completely unfinished brick exposed and there are two friendly looking guys in their 20's selling snacks (while listening on ipods!).  They know just the place I"m talking about and it turns out it's just ahead.  BUT it's in the middle of a construction zone so no cars can go through the strip of the street just where the store (I use that word VERY, VERY loosely) is located.

So I find somewhere to park the truck and take Elijah out of the truck and start trudging down the dirt road in the heat.  I get to the store and there is stuff everywhere. I mean washing machines, fans, fridges just piled on top of each other like it was a junk yard, yet it was only a store front.  Anyway, turns out the guy doesn't speak Portuguese...only Spanish, which I dont' remember anymore.  So we communicate with each other, both straining to understand the other.  I get the point that he does NOT work with GE brand stuff but he tells me to just continue ahead, turn left somewhere vague, and ask around and I'll find somewhere that does.

At this point, I didn't want to give up, so we trudge back to the car and go around the detour, trying to find the original road again.  I have no idea how, but I manage to find the place.  Seriously, no clue whatsoever.  But guess what, this little "store" doesn't have GE products either, but the guy says there's another one that does!  Believe it or not, I"m still hopeful.  So I continue on in a NEW direction, still farther and farther from my starting point.  I stop for directions about 16 times, all the while carefully making mental notes of my turns so I can retrace my route.  I finally get to the store, and....drumroll.....they also don't work with GE!! But they used to and know there's no one in Boa Vista that does!

So, completely defeated and with no more rabbits trails to go down, it's time to turn around and follow my mental path back to the part of the city I know.  Only I do a turn around and discover that all the cars are coming at me!!!  Yep it was a totally unmarked 1 way road.  It was fine and traffic was slow so no real risk, but what to do now about finding how to get home?  Especially considering I barely know how to get home on the original path.  I grab a parallel road, each intersection peering over to see how I'm doing on the original road.  Then, the road I"m taking has a detour!  And I get turned all around.  I ask for directions from a little man who makes HUGE arm gestures as he tells me where to turn left, then right, then left and it makes no sense to me at the time.  Then, as I start deriving, I totally get what he was saying and it all comes clear.  I make it back past the second store, and then back past the first again, and suddenly I'm back in known territory again.

I feel like a SUPERWOMAN!  I'm not even exaggerating!  I think, that was amazing! I trudged around by truck and on foot on ridiculously skinny roads, navigating detours, WITH a toddler in the backseat and sometimes hauled in my arms, in a new city, in a foreign country, speaking Portuguese with people who don't even speak Portuguese, deciphering crazy arm gestures, went to three hole in the wall shops and got to the bottom of my sad story about my dishwasher, and didn't even get permanently lost!  If only I had known what I would now consider normal, my head would have exploded with panic.  But I'm not who I was, I've definitely grown and adapted, even if it's stretching.  Sometimes I think we think we're incapable of something that we totally are able to do.  God gives us what we need to handle each situation.  Now, that leaves only one question, what to do about the dishwasher???  I guess it's Jeyson's turn to figure out the next step.

Tuesday Bullets

I haven't been very good about taking pictures since I've been back home.  But here are a few bullet points about what we've been up to.

1. Getting myself and our home really organized.  I feel like we've been just making do temporarily in some areas of our home since we moved here, and I really feel like I'll feel more settled when everything has a place and I have what I need where I need it.  For example, I finally made a list of desk supplies I need (paper clips, rubber bands, etc) and just went out an bought it all.  Ahh, having things in order really makes day to day things run smoother.  But I still have many more areas like that.

2. It's been hot here.  It's the hottest time of the year in Boa Vista (Sept-Dec) and coming back from the States to this extra heat has been rough!

3.  Because of the heat, I've been doing more meals in my crockpot and we've been making at least weekend meals very easy.  Two crockpot meals I just made and loved were short ribs in tomato sauce (served over pasta) and chicken thighs in taco seasoning served with taco fixings.  Just cooked both for hours in the slowcooker until they were falling off the bones and shredded them up.  We also have been grilling, and we both love grilling fish.  It comes with the head and tail and everything around here, but it's so easy...just place on the grill with seasoning and serve with a salad.

4.  Pretty much every last part of one of the airplanes is taken apart.  It's for a special inspection called SID, newly required for older airplanes.  It's VERY involved and since it's new, none of the mechanics have done it before.  Jeyson has taken a big role in the project and is especially needed/helpful since all of the manuals and instructions on how to do the project are in English.  It will take a few more weeks. Meanwhile the other airplane is being relied on exclusively, so if it has any maintenance issues, they have to be fixed immediately since it is the only way the missionaries can get supplies.

5. We just had dinner with two of the missionary families who live in a very remote village.  They can stay there for 8 months at a time with no breaks.  I am completely inspired by all they are able to accomplish and all they sacrifice to serve and it renews our vision for why we are here...to make their work possible.

6. I can't believe Elijah will be 2 this week.  What?  Where's the time going?

7. I was asked to speak two weeks in a row to a group of ladies about birth.  Even though I'll have an hour each time, I don't even know where to start, there's just so much to say and Brazilian women really know so little about the subject.  It's an exciting opportunity though and a great door for ministry and to talk about the Lord.

8.  Our city here has free aerobic classes in the park open to anyone.  It's called "open gym" and is out in a huge central plaza.  A teacher stands on the stage and about 100 people go!  You don't have to sign up or anything, just come.  And there's free equipment to use, like steps for step aerobics

and everything so it's pretty well put together.  MWF 7:30-8:30pm.  I've been trying to go at least once a week.  It's a great way to meet women!

Our First Boa Vista Visitors!

We have Jeyson's parents here for 10 days and have really been enjoying taking them around.  On the weekend we hopped over to Guyana and on Sunday we went to a little aquatic park near a mountain.  During the week Jeyson has been working so we've been more low key during the days, and having fun together in the evenings.

We popped by the hangar one day

 And one evening grilled a fresh fish and last night we went to the central plaza to eat this typical soup, tacaca.  It's a really strange soup and you eat it with this long, pointy stick.  You use the stick to stab/pick up to eat the shrimp and to eat the green leaves.  You drink the soup from this typical bowl that is made out of a gourd.  And if all of that weren't interesting enough, the leaves make your mouth/tongue numb!  So, it makes conversation around the table pretty fun :)

With Jeyson's parents here, I have even gotten the chance to leave Elijah for a bit to go do a few things I haven't been able to.  Like get to this market which is a pretty intense farmer's market.  Tons of stands - a whole one of these covered areas just for people selling bananas, another for people selling watermelons, etc.  

 And there was this guy who was selling fresh coconuts and cell phone credit for prepaid cell phones.  What a combo deal :)  

Iria made us some typical Ecuadorian soup today for lunch, which they don't have the ingredients for in central Brazil but they do here.  It is made using green bananas and it was amazing!  Tonight our mission team is coming over for dinner made my Iria.  Then, this weekend we're planning to go to Venezuela, though we'll see how that works out since we hear that a group of native Brazilians closed down the road between Brazil and Venezuela so no one can get through :(  We'll see!  

It's so nice to have family around. 

10 Random Catch Ups

So how about a totally random catch up today of things going on here?

1.  We're making some friends!  We met a Brazilian family who also JUST moved here and are from Goiania (really close to where we used to live).  They're lots of fun and we have tons in common.  We just had pizza together last night.  Fun and yum!

2.  I am LOVING living on the border of Venezuela and British Guyana!  It's so fun to be able to hop over and enjoy the culture and products there or even when we can't go, there's always someone going.  We can ask them to pick up things for us.  Much nicer than in the middle of Brazil, where we used to live.

3. This kid LOVES acai berry smoothies.  Acai is seen as a special "super food" in the US, but this kid just thinks it's super delicious, which is surprising since it has such an earthy taste.

  4.  Speaking of food, here there are ALWAYS trucks/cars driving down the street announcing deals of things you can buy from their car.  You can hear it really loud from inside your house.  There is even a car that announces you can buy fish from their car....must smell in there!  Anyway, I usually ignore it, but the other day there was a truck selling pineapples...3 for $2!  I ran outside and grabbed some.  The guys on the truck bed were wearing cowboy hats and throwing pineapples at people lined up outside their homes to buy some.  Wish I could have gotten a picture of the truck!

 5.  We feel very loved by our family and friends (supporters back home).  We are so encouraged by notes in the mail and email, people who pray for us, those who give faithfully, and as the icing on the cake, we got this amazing care package from a friend int he mail the other day.  Loaded with so many things we don't have here.  I can't imagine doing ministry without such an amazing team of people cheering us on!

 6.  I know I say it a lot, but we really are feeling very fulfilled in the ministry we are doing here.  Jeyson has SO much to do at the hangar, and it's wonderful to have a job that when he comes home he is thinking about his job in a positive way, planning out what to tackle next and the best way to solve maintenance problems.

7. We think we settled on a church, and it's nice to get  to know people, knowing we'll be back next Sunday.  They even have a ministry for reaching out to pregnant women in the community.  I'm looking into seeing if my new skills can be useful to them.

8.  Speaking of birth classes, the pregnant mom I was helping had a great birth!  I was supposed to be her doula, but sadly it didn't work out logistically at the last minute.  But it was really nice to still be able to visit her after and help her with nursing questions, and I know the relationship is a long term investment...so much more than just having to do with her birth.  I was so encouraged just today to hear from one of the moms I helped in the Spring.  She told me what an impact the classes had on her birth, but also marriage.  What an encouragement to hear!

9. Around here cooking is a lot of work!  The other day I made burritos...and wow!  I had to make my own tortillas, cook beans from scratch, make rice and meat, grate cheese, make my own salsa and guacamole, etc.  Makes you really cherish each bite....but totally worth it!

10. There are some SERIOUS rainstorms around here.  There usually isn't even a drop of rain to warn you either.  It usually just starts with a gust of wind and BAM!  Down comes some of the heaviest rain you can imagine.  And, in 5-10 minutes, it's gone as fast as it came!  But dry season is coming now.  Thankfully that means there will be less mosquitos, but it also means HEAT!  They say soon we'll really find out what hot is....i'm sweating just thinking of it!  :)

Have a great weekend!

What Bugs Us

After writing about our milk situation here, it made me think about another food related issue we have in our new city - bugs!

Back in Anapolis, we had our occasional problem with ants in the kitchen.  The houses in Brazil are not nearly as sealed shut as they are in the States, so an occasional army of ants attaching your sugar bowl wasn't a huge surprise.  It was easy enough to clean up the sugar, wipe out the cabinets, and find and do away with the trail of ants.  But what we have here is WAY sneakier and more common.

The first problem we have is that ants don't appear in easily defined trails, they just simply appear out of nowhere, and FAST too!  It's like they're waiting to ambush! If you accidentally leave a cookie or a smear of jelly or a piece of tortilla out on the table, there will be a swarm of ants around it in just a matter of an hour or less.  And it's not a trail that can get rid of, but just an every ant for themselves type of group that you can never really get rid of.  I mean you can kill THOSE ants, but they don't seem to be part of a coalition that you can ever find and rid yourself of.  We don't have an ant problem to deal with, but an ongoing ant reality to get used to.  Needless to say, we have to be very careful to not leave things out.

The other problem is that little tiny black bugs get into food in our pantry.  I'm not even just talking about previously opened bags of food, but closed bags as well.  They seem to like grains best - oatmeal, cornmeal, flour, and pasta.  They chew their way right into the bags!  And when I go to use a cup of flour or pour pasta into water, I always have to do a double check that there are no black specks in the back.  I find them in something about once a week!  I've even stored my stock of these grains in a closed cooler, but i have no idea how, but even that didn't stop them!  Maybe bugs were already in one of the bags when I bought it and they just spread around to the other bags.  I was so sad the other day to have to throw out about 10 lbs of flour, oatmeal, etc.  A lot of people I know store their grains in the freezer.  This seems like a great idea, but I'll have to investigate to see how much space I realistically have.  

For now, it's just a situation that bugs me :)

The Scoop on Milk

One of the things I miss most since moving here to Boa Vista, is milk.  I'm a big fan of milk and milk products like yogurt.  But here in the middle of nowhere, far from grassy fields where cow graze, milk is far from abundant or cheap.

As far as I can see, searching high and low, there is no fresh milk available...at all.  I'm not even talking FRESH from a farm, I mean just any kind of milk that needs to be refrigerated.  The options are milk that is liquid in form, but is sold by the liter in a box that sits on an unrefrigerated shelf.  Imagine nonperishable liquid milk.   It looks like this: 

I comes out to $6 a gallon and is ok tasty for coffee or cereal, but not good enough tasting to want to drink a whole glass (except for Elijah who doesn't know the difference :).  But at that price who can afford a whole glass on a regular basis anyway!  

So, the other major option is powdered milk.  It works out to cost about $4 a gallon or so and you have to mix up batches of it to keep in your fridge or by the glassful.  The taste is....well you know if you've ever had powered milk while camping or something.  It's...ok. 

Yogurt and ice cream, they do have them here, but they are very pricey.  Cheese is decently affordable so we do eat that as well so we can get enough calcium

But as much as I am bummed about the lack of milk here in Boa Vista, I can't imagine living in Venezuela.  When we went over the border a few weeks ago (where powered and box milk is usually much cheaper) the city was completely OUT!  Maybe that's why the cereal was so abundant :)

Anyway, so when you pour yourself a large glass of fresh milk with dinner tonight, drink one for us too!

Venezuela Getaway

This weekend we had a stellar time crossing over the border to Venezuela.  We left Boa Vista Friday afternoon and drove two hours up breathtaking, windy roads to the Brazilian boarder town of Pacaraima.  Friday night we stayed with a missionary couple that we recently met and had a relaxing and encouraging time with them.  It was just fun to get out of Boa Vista and get up to the cooler mountain climate for a change of pace and speak in English!  Pacaraima is incredibly small!  It almost had a mountain village feel to it.  The couple, Eric and Donna, had tons of fun stories to share.  They have 8 kids and several grandkids who live in the US. 

The next day in Venezuela was an adventure!  The culture was surprisingly different than in Brazil and the fact that the government controls many of the industries had an impact on life.  For example, the government controls many of the food industries, which resulted in the entire city being out of milk, flour, coffee, sugar, and other products.  Gas is also run by the government which meant there was only 1 gas station in the whole town.  The good news is gas is SUPER cheap (compared to Brazil especially!)  It was less than $1 per gallon, where in Brazil it is over $6!  So TONS of cars and trucks come from Brazil to Venezuela to fill up.  Many Brazilians even make a living of coming over to Venezuela in trucks with enormous modified gas tanks to fill up on gas to resell illegally in Brazil.  And they just keep getting in the line over and over all day!  So as you can imagine, the lines are SOOOOO long!  You have to wait across the street in a parking lot to even get called over to the gas station.  In the parking lot, there were people walking around selling snacks to people waiting in line.  We came at a good time and were like the 8th car in the diesel line (the gas line had 198 cars in it....really!  The cars were numbered!).  But it still took us almost an hour to get gas since people come with such huge gas tanks.   

Here is the diesel waiting lot

Finally filling up!

Since many of the items in the stores in Venezuela were in short supply, it was pretty wild to go shopping.  It felt like black Friday, except people were diving for packages of laundry soap :)  Almost everything was cheaper in Venezuela than in Brazil so we stocked up on diapers and bleach and spaghetti.

But what was really fun was finding a lot of items we miss from the US that we can't get in Brazil.  Cans of mushrooms, packs of oreos, Heinz ketchup, and boxes of name brand cereal (corn flakes, raisin bran) for cheap!!  There was also a bakery that had lots of pastries like ones Jeyson misses from Ecuador...and donuts!  It was tons of fun just discovering everything.  There were tons of shops we didn't have time to go in and a Chinese restaurant!  But our new friends have made us feel welcome to return, so we definitely plan to!  It was just so much fun to get out of this tiny tiny town and feel refreshed by the cooler climate, kind new friends, and many layers of cultural fun and food!  Definitely a winner weekend!  I am loving living on the border of different countries!

Little Multilingual Learner

We have a little multilingual learner on our hands.  It's been such an interesting process to watch him take it all in, I thought I'd make a few notes to myself of his progress along the way.  

Recent trip to the zoo

While we were in the US, we only spoke to Elijah in English and he had no exposure at all to Portuguese or Spanish.  Towards the end of our time there, when Elijah was just over 1 year, he started saying a few words....goodbye, night night, mama, dada.   We were on a roll...or so we thought!

Then we arrived in Brazil.  When we were leaving places, Elijah would proudly wave at our friends and say"bye bye"....only these people spoke Portuguese!  They would either reply "tchau tchau"  (pronounced chow chow) or just smile and laugh since he was such a novelty.  Within a few weeks Elijah stopped talking all together.  

I'm not sure if he was taken back by people not replying the way they were in the US, or if he was just confused, or if it simply that everywhere we went he heard Portuguese and suddenly he realized he had a lot more to take in before he could talk.  In my collage TESOL classes we learned about a process called "mapping".  Basically, before speaking, the brain needs time to create a general "map" of how a language works.  So, for the past few months he has been a completely silent mapper.  He hasn't said a word.

Here's our language exposure plan:  Elijah has been constantly been hearing English at home and Portuguese everywhere we go.  We also want him to learn Spanish, so Jeyson speaks to him some in Spanish.  We also expose him to Spanish through movies and in the future books.  If he doesn't catch on to Spanish right away that's ok.  It is very similar to Portuguese so he should be able to pick up on it easily in the future, maybe even by sending him to a extracurricular language school (very common around here).  

Well anyway, as of this past week, we can tell something is clicking. He is starting to make tons of talking sounds.  He isn't saying anything, but he thinks he is!  This is a great first step.  He's gaining courage and trying out the phonemes.  I also noticed he is understanding and obeying commands in English.  Then other day I noticed he's getting Portuguese too.  

Normally I say "Fala tchau"  (say bye) when we're leaving somewhere and model by waving, and then he'll wave.  Then the other day as an experiment, I just said "Fala tchau" abut didn't model the waving. But he followed the direction and waved!  Wohoo!

I know it seems like a small victory, but I was so excited.  This multilingual learner is on his way!

Tchau tchau!

Total Culture Shock

- Today we saw something truly shocking.  As we were driving on the highway, we passed a police inspection station and noticed the police officer give a friendly wave and grin at the car in front of us. A few seconds later we were side by side with the car and we looked over to see the driver was a police officer in full uniform (he was driving in a civilian car) DRINKING A CAN OF BEER as he drove!!!!!  There are no words!  (Especially considering it is illegal to drive in Brazil with any alcohol at all in your  blood.)  It was a truly shocking cross cultural experience.  

- And one one more much lighter story....

First you have to know that every grocery store pretty much has strong, sugary espressos that you can drink free of change.  

Anyway, the other day Jeyson was at the grocery store and saw a dad with his young son and daughter.  The son was about four and riding in the cart, but REALLY acting up...wild, complaining, disobeying etc.  The father in frustration had a plan to keep the son calm and still.  He commanded/bribed, "Sit down in the cart and I'll send your sister to get you a cup of espresso to drink!"  And that's just what he did!  I bet the good behavior didn't last very long!!!  hahaha!

You Know You're Back in Brazil When...

- You have pizza with onions, peppers, ham, and hard boiled eggs on it for dinner

- You go to your local bakery and at the checkout realize you forgot to put Brazilian Reais in your wallet and the cashier/owner says not to worry, you can stop by and pay tomorrow.

- It has been raining or drizzling non-stop since you arrived 2 1/2 days ago

- You swerve around potholes that could swallow your car whole!

- You hug and kiss everyone you see again...including your child's pediatrician

- You have to stop by three different stores in order to cross every item off your grocery list

We're here and settling in.  It is wonderful to be back, but yet at the same time so strange and different.  There are so many things to readjust to, from speaking Portuguese to driving stick shift, to constantly mopping up your floors since they get so muddy in rainy season.  I feel like a clumsy kid as I remember everything!  The highlight  has been seeing our friends and coworkers again...oh and sleeping in OUR bed :)  Even though Brazil is a much harder place to live in than the US conveniences-wise, we have a strong sense of joy being here, knowing this is exactly where God wants us.  

It is really good to be home!  

Stay tuned as tomorrow we meet with the leaders of our mission to nail down some details of our new upcoming assignment!

Crazy!

We had quite a crazy, eye-opening cultural experience this weekend. The house three houses down the street from us had a party this weekend. This is NOT the first time they have had a loud party since they moved in a few months ago, and this time we just couldn't handle it. LOUD music and cars spinning their wheels up and down the street. At midnight we rolled our eyes. At 1 am were a little annoyed. At 2 am we were very annoyed. At 3 am we decided to call the police. We didn't want anyone to get arrested, but we did want the music to stop so we could get some sleep. Oh, and this family has a small baby and at least one other young kid in the house!! By the way, that was not even the crazy part yet!

So Jeyson called the number for the police. And?? No answer!! He tried again. Still no answer!!! Jeyson called the fire department (different number) to confirm that we had the right number for the police. Yep, it was correct. They told Jeyson to call again. But once again, the phone just rang and rang and rang and rang and eventually the line automatically hung up. It was insane! Of course we were not having a true emergency, which was a relief, but what would have happened if we were having one? I just can't get over the fact that we couldn't get in touch with the police!!!!!

We wound up just putting on a fan to drown out the noise and sometime after 4am the music stopped. The next day we were telling our Brazilian friends about the situation and they suggested that we get a police officer's cell phone number (they are written on the police cars apparently) so we can contact one directly next time. Crazy! It seems a whole lot easier to dial 9-1-1 in an emergency than to get out your phone agenda to locate and dial a random 10 digit number! At moments like this the reality hits that we live overseas where our sense of logic is not the same as everyone else's.

No Window Shopping Available

When my parents were here visiting, they kept noticing things about life in Brazil that I had never mentioned before. Why had I never mentioned them? Because I've gotten so used to life here, that I forgot those things were weird! So, over the next while I'll randomly show you those thing in posts. The first...is storefronts.

Do you notice anything different about the storefronts of Brazil from this picture?


How about here?
While it may be a bit hard to see above, it is very clear in this picture. Shops don't have doors like stores in the States. Instead, the WHOLE front of the building is open. The storefront is a huge metal panel that rolls up and above, like a garage door and locks down totally at night. So, when you're walking down the street you can see right in each store without entering. And if you're shopping (or getting your hair done like below) you can see right out to the street as you do!

Here we were doing some shopping in downtown Goiania. Here the stores are grouped by type. This area was several city blocks of just fabric stores! There are whole city blocks of car parts, beads for jewlery making, bakery equipment, and just about everything else you can imagine. Since the storefronts are all open, the products just spill out onto the street during working hours.

Also, since there is no front of the building, that means there are no windows....so therefore no "window shopping", but it's even easier since you can just see in the whole store :) What would you call that, then? Storefront shopping? I'm not sure...we'll have to work on that one!

Day Trips

The final post I want to put up about my parents' visit is of the 2 day trips we took. The first was to this quaint old mining town about an hour away from us called Pirenopolis. The roads are all made out of stone so it's a fun walk.

Lots of fun eclectic sights and shops

And we had lunch at a fun little family run restaurant. We sat out on a big wooden table on the front porch and the food was brought to s family style. There were about 20 items brought to the table, all typical Brazilian food. When there was nothing left to even imagine them bringing to the table, the husband offered to make anything else in the kitchen that we wanted (included in the price). He suggested he could make us a fried egg if we wanted. My parents found that quite random and went for one!

It was a really fun way to introduce my parents to typical Brazilian cuisine.

The second day trip we took was to Salto de Corumba. This is a waterfall/hiking area that we had never actually been to before this way. We had heard it was a pretty light hike up to the main waterfall. (The waterfall from a distance.)

But in the end the hike won and we lost. It was quite a bit tougher than advertised! We stopped at a smaller, second waterfall and enjoyed the view before hiking back down. (Eli hiding from the sun!)

We sent Jeyson up ahead and he took pictures of the view that we missed. (This is very large...the trees at the top can give you perspective).

In the end we decided to have a nice picnic lunch and call it a day, but it was still a fun experoence being together.