Getting Connected

Finally Connected (February 21-25)

Since arriving in Brazil, one of our top priorities was to complete the process of applying for our CPF so that we could get services here in the apartment.  We managed pretty well with a borrowed internet satellite USB (I would have gone crazy without it), lent to us by a kind neighbor, but it was a slow connection.  We weren’t able to use it to upload pictures or to “Skype” with anyone, but it was nice to be able to check email and facebook – and post blog entries.  Without a landline, we were limited to using our cell phones, which are very unreliable.  If we are lucky enough to get a signal inside the apartment and actually get a call to go through, we can’t move from room to room, for fear of losing the connection.  Even when sitting completely still, we drop calls constantly.  As for TV, we only had the few channels (most of the time with nothing in English) that we could pick up with the antenna we’d found.  Imagine our excitement when the day arrived that would get us connected with the rest of the world!  We’d been told that the technicians from NET, our service providers, would be here on Monday.  I’d heard that you couldn’t really depend on them showing up when they say they will, but I was still holding out hope.  Of course, Monday came and went with no NET – we were told they would be here the next day between noon and 2pm. 

All afternoon on Tuesday, I stayed in the apartment playing the waiting game again.  By this time, homesickness had hit me pretty hard and I was overcome by a feeling of sadness and wanting to be “home”.  Ian was also tearful and missing what was familiar to all of us.  By 4:30 that afternoon, with still no technicians, I contacted our relocation assistance company to find out if I’d wasted another day.  At 4:55pm, while I was waiting for a return call, the front desk notified me that the people from NET were here.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute, but, hey, they showed up!  The guys worked for 3 hours, while I helped the kids with homework, cooked, and we ate dinner – at 8pm, we finally went in to ask what was taking so long.  They informed us that there was “a little problem at the central office”, and unfortunately, they wouldn’t be able to connect our services today, after all.  What!?  Three hours and we had nothing?!  We’re learning not to expect too much, as these things happen all the time here.  No matter what it is, there always seems to be some kind of delay.  The techs left, promising to return early the next day to finish their job.  I made sure they knew I had things to do, and that I did not want to be kept waiting all day.  True to their word, they showed up at about 10am and finally were able to accomplish the task of getting all of our services connected.  After three weeks of waiting, we could finally make a phone call and not lose the connection.  I even spent one hour on Skype with my friend, Cilissa – it was wonderful!  The kids were also thrilled to find, once home from school, that they had several channels available in English.  It had been so long since they’d seen a familiar show, I let them spend 2 hours in front of our TV, happily watching reruns of “iCarly” and “Drake and Josh”.

As I’ve mentioned, things here just don’t seem to work the way they do in the U.S.  We joke that there is just a different standard of acceptance here, whether it comes to time, safety, or services.  I guess the part that is hard for us to acknowledge is that we are the ones who came here – we have to be the ones to conform to the way things are in our new country, not the other way around.  Believe me, it can become very frustrating to accept when things don’t go the way we are accustomed.  A lot of this frustration is what was helping to feed my feeling of being homesick.  I just want things to happen when we are told they will, and I want things to be familiar and easy.  Nothing here is familiar or easy – we constantly feel as though we take one step forward, then one step back to where we started!  Though we were excited to finally have a better way to communicate with our family and friends, we were disappointed to find out that there was a problem with the documents that had been sent to our importing agent in order to have our shipments sent from the U.S.  We’d been here three weeks, and our things were still sitting in the States, awaiting authorization to ship.  Despite the fact that Matt had gotten about 100 documents notarized, and sent everything that had been requested, they were still missing several items.  This, of course, means that Matt will have to waste more of his time visiting the notary, yet again, and we won’t be seeing any of our own belongings any time soon.

By the end of the week, things seemed to be turning around.  Once again, Matt gathered the necessary documents and finalized the process of sending for our goods.  Another “step forward” was that I finally got a car to drive – a Ford Fusion that I’ll be renting for two months.  Someone at Alcoa arranged for a man to pick me up and help me with the process of renting the car.  When Matt told me of the arrangements, I asked him how I was supposed to get the car back to the apartment.  He looked at me with a curious expression on his face, and calmly replied, “You’ll drive the car.”  My response, with a hint of panic, was, “By myself?!”  I’m still a bit worried about driving anywhere but to the kids’ school on my own, and wondered if I could find my way home from the rental place.  In the end, though I could have found my way since it wasn’t far, the kind man rode back with me and took a taxi back to his car.  With a newfound sense of freedom, I vowed to start learning my way around so that I can become more independent – it will be nice to just come and go as I please.  Though that’s easier said than done in this city, I am hoping that with time, things just might become a little easier – and maybe, even, familiar!

 

         

                 

Beach Bound (i.e. Getting Lost)

Beach Bound!Another weekend arrived with the promise of a new adventure.  Our friends, Susan and Marcus, had invited us to join them at the beach for a couple of days.  Sao Paulo is situated only about 60 km from the Atlantic ocean, offering many beaches to enjoy, within a short (1 to 2 hour) drive.  Our friends were staying in a little “pousada” for a couple of nights, a small inn just across the street from the beach – though we tried to get a room in the same place, they were completely booked.  We were given the name of another nearby pousada, but only wanting to stay for one night, had no luck in booking a room there either – basically, you have to book for two or more nights, or you can’t get a reservation.  Given the fact that we were only about two hours away from the beach, we figured we’d save the R$ 450 and just drive up and back the same day.  After spending about an hour looking at Google Maps, and copying the 27-step directions (we have no printer yet, so we had to write out every little detail) to the beach, and the 32-steps to get us back to Sao Paulo, we felt we were prepared to find our way.  We also had the back-up of a borrowed GPS to guide us in case we got turned around.  Little did we know that our “back-up plan” would backfire on us, adding almost 2 hours to our trip!    

After loading our things into the car, we happily set out, looking forward to a day of relaxation away from this mega-city, and some fun in the sun.  We didn’t get far (500 meters, perhaps) before we realized we were already heading in the wrong direction.  One wrong turn in this crazy maze of streets can set you back several minutes until you can find a way to get back where you intended to be.  We had not been gone 5 minutes, and already our Google Map directions were useless to us, since we couldn’t even find the first street on which we needed to turn.  We decided to go with our back-up GPS, that was still “searching for satellite” – as a side note, we’ve never owned a GPS, having avoided them because we know they are not always accurate, and never seemed to need one, though we’re told you can’t survive in this city without one.  Once our little friend (the female voice on the GPS) located a satellite, she confidently started guiding us in the “right” direction.  It was not a good sign, when 20 minutes after pulling out of our complex, we drove right by it again!  After an hour of being in the car, we were still in Sao Paulo – first having been in a traffic jam caused by an injured motoboy who had hit a dog, then by following the directions right through the heart of downtown.  I may not know Sao Paulo well, but I knew we couldn’t possibly be going the right way.  I was pretty frustrated, and called my friend in a panic, letting her know we had no idea which way we were headed – Matt tried to keep me calm, insisting that we would find our way.

Two hours into our drive (we should have been close to arriving to our destination), we were finally out of the city, and following signs to Rio de Janeiro – at least we were headed in the right direction.  It’s an amazing feeling, to get out of the city traffic and feel yourself relax and breathe a bit more easily.  That feeling was short-lived as we entered a little town, Mogi das Cruzes, and the GPS had us going in circles – literally!  Streets in Brazil use a lot of “roundabouts”, and we ended up going around the same one 3 times – each time, our little friend would shout, “Recalculating…”  We gave up on trying to figure out where to go, and decided to stop at a gas station for directions.  A very kind lady looked up directions for us, and was sweet enough to print them, along with a map.  Feeling only a little more confident, we followed the directions she gave us, only to end up in the same roundabout again.  We ignored the GPS as she continued to “recalculate” and ended up driving into the middle of the town, obviously lost!  I convinced Matt to pull over and decided to take the advice we’d been given – ask a taxi driver to guide you to where you need to go, and pay them once they get you there.  We found a taxi stand, and I took my chances, walking up to one of them, with my map in hand, and in my limited Portuguese, pointed to our destination, and asked if he could get us there.  I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when he explained that we were still about 100 km away from where we wanted to be!  He told me he could get us to the main highway, and then we could find our way easily from there.  What a blessing he turned out to be!  For only R$ 30, he led us to the road that would finally get us to the beach – he kindly reminded us to watch for the speed humps and to obey the speed limits so as not to get a steep fine and ticket.  We thanked him profusely, handed over the well-spent money, and went on our way.

By this time, we’d been in the car for three hours, and were wondering if spending one day at the beach would be worth all the hassles of trying to get there.  As we continued on the highway, we began to see the glories of nature in Brazil.  We were surrounded by lush green mountains, dotted with purple flowering trees, steep cliffs, and the occasional waterfall.  We laughed and rolled our eyes as the GPS, by this point more confused than we were, continued to recalculate, and tried to have us “turn left” – into a waterfall, or “turn right” – off of a cliff!  I swear, if it had been my own GPS, I would have thrown it out the window!     

Almost four hours after leaving our apartment, we finally arrived in Juquehy, our final destination!  A beautiful beach, with mountains behind us, fine white sand beneath our feet, crystal-clear water, and little islands that jut out of the ocean, Juquehy was a paradise.  We found our friends right away, and quickly forgot about the ordeal of trying to get there, and enjoyed our day.  The boys had a blast playing with their new friend, Nico, for hours, while we relaxed and soaked up the sun and surf.  Having only eaten breakfast (and a bunch of snacks I’d packed), the boys were ready for a late lunch.  Menu items at the little food stand on the beach are limited to hot dogs and corn – they literally cut the corn off of a cob and serve it to you in a little plastic cup, with butter and salt.  We ordered the hot dogs, which after one bite, the boys refused to eat.  Matt and I had to agree that hot dogs in Brazil are nothing like the hotdogs in the U.S. – not to mention the ketchup!  Coming from the ketchup capital of the world, our boys have become ketchup snobs – if it’s not Heinz, they don’t like it!  So, our meals for the day consisted of one cup of corn, and lots of ice cream snacks – there is no shortage of ice cream vendors that constantly walk up and down the beach with their little carts.  Another interesting option if you are hungry is the grilled cheese.  Young guys stroll along, carrying with them a cooler full of cheese on a stick and a little grill – for 3 reais, you can eat gooey, melted, grilled “cholesterol on a stick”.  We didn’t try it this time, but I’m sure it will beat the hot dogs – I will definitely get one on a future visit. 

We spent five glorious hours on the beach, got cleaned up, and joined our friends for dinner, before heading back to Sao Paulo.  This time, armed with better directions (and with the GPS turned off), we found our way home in just 2 hours – only getting a bit turned around once we were back in the city.  Now that we know the right way to go, we’ve decided it would be great to try to get to the beach at least one weekend a month – we’ll see if we stick to that plan.  Despite the ordeal we endured to get there, it had been completely worth it - we had a beautiful day, and a good story to tell! 

Sunday passed quickly, hanging out by the pool – we are quickly getting used to this kind of lifestyle.  Walking back to the condo from the pool, Ian spotted a caterpillar that he recognized from a show he liked to watch in the States, “Nature’s Deadliest”.  He was convinced it was the “assassin caterpillar” that is native to Brazil – we watched it inch along the walking path, taking care not to touch it.  Once back in the apartment, we “googled” the caterpillar and found that Ian was right – if you see one of those little critters, steer clear!  As Matt stated, “We’ve been here less than 3 weeks, and have already seen a deadly creature” – though I’m sure it wouldn’t kill us, our new rule is, “don’t touch anything if you don’t know what it is”!  Ah, the adventures of living in Brazil continue…..!

                 

                 

Time flies...

February 14 – 18, 2011

The days are passing quickly, and it’s hard to believe we’ve been here almost two weeks.  We are starting to fall into a routine of some sort – Matt working hard (he has a huge job ahead of him, and is really starting to feel the stress and pressure mounting), the boys adjusting to school, and me…well, I’m adjusting to the life of an expat wife.  I am so used to being in constant motion, juggling work, the house, the kids, that it takes a bit to get used to a different kind of schedule.  I’m taking advantage of the beautiful weather in the mornings for a workout – usually a walk/run near the complex – then I try to find reasons to get out of the apartment, otherwise I’d go crazy!  I’m still meeting new people, all who have been in my shoes, and are willing to help out however they can.  

Monday morning I joined my friend, Katherine, for a shopping trip to an international market.  It was a very nice grocery store, with things you can’t always find on the shelves at the regular market – however, I still can’t get past the sticker shock when I see things I recognize from home.  I did buy some Heinz Ketchup, to give us a little taste of Pittsburgh – at $5.00 for a small bottle, I figured the boys’ smiles would make it worth it!  Some things I didn’t buy due to the cost included marshmallows, costing $10.00 for a small package, maple syrup at $20.00 for a small bottle, and Bertolli pasta sauce, going for about $16.00 a jar (these are U.S. dollars I’m talking about!)!  Even though I don’t plan to shop there often, it’s good to know there is a place where I can find tastes of home for a very special treat.

I also decided to go ahead and jump in with both feet and already started volunteering at the boys’ school.  I’m going in to Ian’s class every Monday for two hours to help with Guided Reading Groups.  What an eye-opening experience my first visit was!  Tuition at the boys’ international “American” school is insanely expensive – the only way we can afford to send them there is with the generosity of Matt’s company.  However, the majority of the kids who attend the school are Brazilian – their parents are paying out of pocket for their education – meaning, these are very privileged kids, from families with means.  This also means that many of them have been raised by maids and babas (nannies), and know little about discipline.  I am proud to say that kids at Ian’s public school in Cranberry exhibit far better manners and behavior than many of the kids I encountered in his class here.  It was good, however, to be in the school and get to see the boys interact with other kids – I think my volunteering will be good for all of us – gives them the sense of security of having their mom involved, and gives me something to do with my time!

Tuesday came and went without too much excitement, other than the fact that we FINALLY got our CPF!!!  As I’ve explained before, we really can’t do or buy much of anything without this number.  Now that we have it, we can open a bank account, get our own services (internet/phone/cable) connected, buy a car, and most important, start the process of getting our belongings shipped to us.  We have been anxious to get all of the above started, and it’s just been a waiting game.  Now, we have to get about a million documents notarized and sent to the importing customs agent – and maybe in a month or two we’ll see some of our own stuff arrive!  

Wednesday brought excitement for Ian, as we packed him up and sent him off on his first trip away from home without a parent or grandparent.  He was so psyched about his trip that he had set the alarm for 5:15 AM a day earlier, and set another alarm as a “back-up” – he wanted to make sure he wasn’t late for the bus.  It’s amazing to me (and many people that we’ve talked to about our decision) that we’ve only been here 2 weeks, and we’re already sending our son off to a 3 day field trip – but we feel it’s the best way for the boys to really get integrated and see beautiful new places.  We’re anxious to hear all about his trip when he returns on Friday!

Since I decided to hire a maid, who is wonderful, I figured I’d ask her for some lessons in Brazilian cooking.  On Thursday, she went with me to the grocery store and showed me what I’d need to buy to make 2 very typical Brazilian dishes – “pastel de carne” and “feijao” – meat pies and beans.  Here, you will find rice and beans to accompany lunch and/or dinner on a daily basis.  Once back from the store, my cooking lesson began – this was also good practice for me to learn what basic foods are called in Portuguese.  We chopped, diced, sautéed, and cooked – the kitchen smelled wonderful – and dinner was already prepped for later that evening.  When Matt got home, we sat down to our first traditional Brazilian meal - pastel, rice with feijao, linguica (Brazilian sausage), and a salad complete with heart-of-palm - prepared by yours truly.  He and the kids loved it, and I was excited to have broadened my culinary horizons!  Over dinner, Matt filled me in on the 2 ½ hour battle he fought at the notary in order to have our documents notarized.  I was so proud to hear how, in his best Portuguese, he stood his ground, and talked to 4 or 5 different people (including, finally, the head honcho) and insisted that he was not leaving until everything was signed.  Success!  He accomplished his goal for the day – now we’re one step closer to getting our shipments sent to us.

Friday arrived, bringing with it a beautiful morning.  I’m enjoying regular walks (sometimes runs) through the complex, and in a nearby park.  On my way out that morning, I got a real treat – the monkeys had come out to play!  I had noticed a few people staring at the trees just a few yards away from my building, so with my curiosity piqued, I walked over to take a closer look.  Right in front of me, not more than 10 feet away, were three little tree monkeys, playing and climbing on a tree.  They are cute little things, not much bigger than the squirrels we see in the U.S.  It made me so happy to finally see them, I couldn’t stop smiling!  It was also great to have Ian back with us later that afternoon, as I couldn’t wait to hear all about his trip.  He filled me in on all of his adventures at Replago – a fantastic resort, complete with lakes and other great outdoor activities.  They enjoyed riding a zip-line, being pulled (and tipped off) on a banana boat, jumping off of a floating trampoline into the lake, and taking nature walks – most of all he enjoyed being independent.  I was amused as he proudly stated, “It was like being in college; we didn’t have moms or dads there to tell us what to do.  We just had to take showers and brush our teeth on our own – it was awesome!”  They grow up too fast, but it’s wonderful to see how quickly they are adjusting to their new environment.  Once again, we were comforted by the knowledge that our kids are OK and they will survive (and thrive) in this country!    

Driving!

Exploring on Our Own

Our second weekend here arrived with the promise of a little adventure.  Now that we had a car, we decided it was time to start figuring out how to get places.  We’ve heard that on any given weekday, there are as many as 7 million cars on the road here.  With no medians or shoulders, if a car breaks down, runs out of gas, gets pulled over, or gets into an accident, there is nowhere to go, creating a bottleneck situation.  Weekends in Sao Paulo offer a bit of a reprieve from the hustle and bustle of weekday traffic.  Many people head out of town to nearby beaches, or just enjoy relaxing with family and friends, and cars can move around the city a little more freely.  Don’t get me wrong, there is still a lot of traffic, but it actually moves – giving us a chance to drive around without feeling as intimidated and frustrated. 

Our first venture in the car as a family was simple, or so we thought.  We wanted to go to a local office supply store to return some school supplies, then over to Wal-Mart to take advantage of having a vehicle to carry large items (a case of shelf-stable milk, 10-liter jugs of water, etc.).  Without the benefit of having a GPS, Matt carefully studied the map, consulted “googlemaps” and planned our routes.  Both places are nearby, so we felt it would be relatively easy to find our way.  We headed out onto the very bumpy roads – many roads here are cobblestone, and while I find them very picturesque and charming, they really make for a bumpy ride, the paved roads are not in the best shape, many areas with potholes and uneven pavement – and then there are the numerous speed-humps that are everywhere!  As we bounced along, with the boys fussing at Matt because they kept bumping their heads, we felt confident that we were finding our way – until one of the main roads we needed to take was closed.  We’re told this happens a lot here, so we tried to figure out how to navigate around to a different street, but had no clue where we were – we abandoned our adventure to the office supply store, and went on with the task of trying to find our way back toward the apartment, with the hopes of making it to Wal-Mart once we were in “familiar territory”! 

Thanks to Matt’s good sense of direction, we did make it to Wal-Mart, along with about a million other people (they also like to shop on the weekends here – lesson learned, shop only during the week!).  We loaded up the cart and the car, and I decided it was my turn to take the wheel.  I have to be honest, Wal-Mart is only about 2 blocks from our apartment (it’s confusing, but to get to Wal-Mart, it can take about a mile of driving in order to avoid a very dangerous left-hand turn out of our complex – to get back is easy, as we only have to make two turns, both with traffic lights), but I figured that I needed to start somewhere – I’m taking baby steps here!  I was very proud of myself for getting us home, but still think it will be months before I’m comfortable behind the wheel of a car!  Later that evening we had a great dinner with friends we’ve met, and enjoyed watching Ian and Alex play with their son, who is also 10 years old.  Little by little, we are feeling settled here, and knowing the boys are happy gives us a sense of relief and a feeling that we’ve made the right decision to move our family to this end of the world.

Sunday brought another adventurous day for us – a trip to Ibirapuera Park – a beautiful park in the middle of the city that offers an oasis and escape from the craziness of Sao Paulo.  With its many walking and biking paths, unique plants and trees, and beautiful scenery, one can take a deep breath and unwind.  We had our soccer ball with us and joined others in the open green spaces to kick it around – I’m sure we looked like the Americans that we are, as our skills aren’t even remotely close to those who are born and raised here.  We like to joke that boys here are born with a ball at their feet, learning how to kick it as they start to walk.  This has actually been one of the issues holding the boys back at school – at recess, the only thing boys do is play soccer.  Since Ian and Alex lack the experience the other boys have, they are frustrated because the others don’t include them as much in the games.  Another drawback of recess for them is the language barrier.  Though English is spoken in the classrooms, recess is free-time for the students who don’t speak it as their native language – they use this break to speak in Portuguese (or Spanish for the many Latin American students), and the boys get frustrated because they don’t understand them.  We’re trying to get them to understand that in just a few months, they will learn Portuguese and be able to communicate better with everyone around them.  We’re also encouraging them to practice their soccer skills as much as they can – once they feel more confident in their ability, they can be a bit more aggressive and prove to the other boys that they can play alongside them and not just watch from the sidelines. 

After playing, walking, and people-watching, we bought the boys fresh “coconut water” from one of the many vendors that line the walking paths – they literally drill a hole into the top of large green coconuts and pour the water from the fruit into a little bottle – and headed back to the car.  Because parking spaces in the park are very limited, we had parked a few blocks away.  It is pretty comical to witness the situation with parking here, as there are vagrants who stand on the streets and wave you into spaces, promising to “watch” your car in exchange for a few ‘reais’ (Brazilian currency) - I have since learned that you are really paying them to not key your car.  We had parked on the street and tried to ignore the man who was asking for money, when a kind lady (who spoke English) told us about a safer area that offered free parking on Sundays.  Once back at the safer lot, we climbed into the still-intact car, with me behind the wheel – I was very nervous, as this was a much longer drive and the traffic was a bit heavy – but confident that Matt could navigate and help us find our way home.  It felt so good to actually be driving, that my worries melted away, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief as I turned into our complex and enjoyed the success of my first “real” adventure on the roads.  Of course, as I said before, it will be a long time before I am confident enough to try to do this on my own!            

     

     

Week 2 in Brazil

February 8 – 11, 2011

I’m finding that I’m staying much busier than I thought I would be in my first weeks here.  The days pass very quickly, and I have not had as much time to write as I had imagined.  Therefore, I’m going to lump some days together in order to get “caught up”.  Tuesday of this week brought me the gift of Tania, my new maid.  I immediately took a liking to her, and had ample opportunity to practice my Portuguese, as she doesn’t speak English or Spanish.  We seemed to understand each other just fine as she quickly got to work getting this apartment in order.  The previous tenants did not seem to care much about cleanliness, and she worked hard to remove the grime that had built up over the past few years.  Little by little, she had the place sparkling.  She is very pleasant, always smiling, despite her difficult days.  I found out it takes her almost 2 hours to get here – getting up at 4am in order to fix breakfast for her husband and daughters, and gets her own house cleaned up.  She leaves her house at 6am, taking the metro (subway) and a bus to arrive here by 8am.  She never stops to take a break, scrubbing, cleaning, washing, ironing, (even offering to cook for me) for 8 solid hours.  Then she takes another 2 hours to get home, and has to take care of her own family – cooking and cleaning for them.  Such is the life of service people in Brazil – all this for $50 a day.  

While Tania worked away, I spent 2 hours at the grocery store near my apartment getting a lesson in what to buy and what to avoid from another ex-pat who has been here 3 ½ years.  We walked up and down every aisle, as she pointed out the brands that are good, and reminded me to always check expiration dates – I have learned the even with expiration dates, I still have to be careful, as things here spoil very quickly.  I know if Cilissa is reading this, she’ll chuckle, as she knows that I usually don’t pay too much attention to the dates, and that I rely more on my nose to know if something is still good!  I’m learning that here it is necessary to go to the store at least 3 times a week, and to buy produce, cheese, eggs, and meats in small quantities to avoid wasting so much food – otherwise, a lot will end up in the garbage.  While at the store, my friend introduced me to Marcello, a meat vendor who is always there with a smile on his face and knows every customer by name.  He proved this to me the next day, when I went back to the store, and he greeted me by name, asking me in the traditional greeting in Brazil, “Tudo bem?”  which is also answered with the same two words, "Tudo bem!" – “Everything well?”, “Everything well!”. 

Wednesday was an important day for us – we had an appointment to start our “RNE Protocol” – yet another number and identifier that we learned we would need in order to be able to receive our shipments from the U.S.  The only caveat was that we had to travel 100km to a city called Sorocaba to get this done.  We had been given an appointment in Sao Paulo on February 15^th, but could do it in Sorocaba on the 9^th.  We figured that getting our things 6 days earlier was worth a 2 hour drive, and would allow us to see a bit of the area outside of this enormous city.  Our driver picked us up at 9:30am in order to be on the tail end of rush hour – it took us almost one hour to go the first 10km to get out of the city, then another hour on the highway to do the last 90km!  I think I’ve mentioned the crazy traffic here, and I’ll have more to write about that later – it’s really another world!  Once in Sorocaba, we had to check into a hotel, in order to show that we were “staying “ there – after a quick lunch, we were off to the Federal Police, where we would be registered as residents of Brazil.  With the assistance of a kind lawyer, and after telling a little white lie (stating that we would be living in Sorocaba), we were all fingerprinted and received our “protocol” – one more thing we could check off the never-ending list of “things to do to prove we live in Brazil”!  We quickly returned to the hotel, checked out, and survived the two hour drive (most of it without air conditioning, in a very hot car) back to Sao Paulo.  We capped off our busy day with a relaxing walk through “paradise”, the jungle preserve in our condominium complex – a beautiful reprieve from the hustle and bustle of life outside our compound walls.  Back at the apartment, I was thrilled to receive an email from my sister telling me she’d purchased tickets to come visit – our first guest would be coming in just 7 weeks!!!

Thursday brought another big step for us – Matt finally had a car to drive!  This, of course, meant that he’d actually have to drive in Sao Paulo for the first time.  It’s hard to describe how crazy the traffic is here – it really is something that can only be appreciated live and in person.  Drivers here have absolutely no regard for traffic laws, much less for lanes!  People just drive wherever they feel they can squeeze in – creating extra lanes if they so wish.  They may be in the far right lane, but have to make a left-hand turn – no worries, they just cut across all of the cars to their left, and make their turn regardless of who is in their way.  Here, people like to use their horns, honking them the second a light turns green – even if they are 10 cars back from the intersection, and there is nowhere to move.  More insane than drivers in cars are the maniacal “motoboys” – these are the crazy men (and women) who must have a death wish to navigate the streets of Sao Paulo on motorcycles.  I’m serious when I say a “death wish”, as the statistics state that an average of 3 or 4 motoboys are killed daily in this city.  However, if you witness the craziness they exhibit on their bikes, you would understand why this is the case.  As I mentioned, cars just kind of squeeze together in the narrow lanes of the streets here, leaving little space between them – out of nowhere you’ll hear the buzz of an engine, and a little “beep-beep”, and before you know it, a motorcycle is speeding past, close enough to take your nose right off of your face if you so much as lean toward your window – zooming through what little space there is between the cars.  My goal, while living, and eventually driving here is to not kill a motoboy! 

The maze of streets in Sao Paulo is another issue that presents a great challenge to anyone behind the wheel of a car here.  While we never had a GPS in the States, I think we won’t be able to live without one in this city.  Matt is amazed, that no matter how many times he’s been back and forth to his office, he is always taken a different way.  We are told that any road can be closed at any given moment, leaving you scrambling to find an alternate route.  We’ve also been told to watch for changes in direction of the flow of traffic – a one way road going in one direction today, can be headed in the complete opposite direction tomorrow!  Now that Matt had a car, I was worried about him driving and navigating the streets, hoping he could find his way home – to my great relief, he made it without any problems – a huge first step for us, as this brings a lot of freedom to get around on our own! 

Friday came and went as quickly as the rest of the week, but it also brought a few “first steps” for the boys.  On the first day of school for Ian and Alex, Matt and I were handed papers and permission slips for field trips for both of them.  Alex’s class would be traveling to a resort called “Sitio de Carrocao” for the entire day, and Ian’s class would be traveling the following week to “Replago” for a 3-day trip.  Though we’d only just arrived, and the cost for the trips was steep, we decided it would be the perfect opportunity for both boys to really dive in and get integrated with the other kids in their school, as well as a chance for them to see and experience something new.  So, after only one week as a student at Chapel School, a very excited Alex left at 6:15am - the buses returned at 8pm that evening, bringing with them exhausted, but very happy children.  He had so much to tell us about all they did, including swimming in a cave, going down waterslides and through waterfalls, petting exotic animals, and even go-kart racing (he was proud to report he came in 2^nd place!).  Ian also had a fun afternoon, going over to the house of a new friend, and out to dinner with his family – to none other than Applebee’s – the very same chain as in the U.S. that is hugely popular here.  By 10pm, we had both boys back home with us, along with the comfort of knowing that they were happy and adjusting to their new lives in Brazil.    

First Routine Day!

February 7, 2011
Our first Monday in Brazil marked the first real “routine” day of our life here.  I had been nervous about being left alone all day, as Matt was working a full day at the office, and the boys would be in school.  Matt, still without a car, took a taxi into the office, and I put the kids onto a bus (a temporary arrangement until I get a car – and get brave enough to drive here) and off to school.  Eager to get back into an exercise routine, I met Katherine at the gym and worked for an hour – it felt great!  Back at the apartment, I decided to enjoy the peace and quiet, take advantage of the internet connection I still had to send some emails and start my blog.  Just as I was ready to start cleaning, my service phone (only used to call the doorman or between apartments in the building) rang – it was a new friend (a lovely lady from Spain) offering me a ride to the store, since she was headed that way and knew I didn’t have a car.  I reasoned that I could always clean tomorrow, and took her up on her offer. 

Cleaning the apartment is a necessary evil – and a much more challenging task than back home.  In the States, the way houses are designed, they are relatively easy to keep clean.  Here, however, it is a constant battle.  With windows always open, there is a never-ending flow of a fine dust (smog and dirt combined) that settles onto the floors and furniture.  The apartments in our complex are big, with marble and ceramic floors that need to be swept and mopped multiple times a week.  In our kitchen and laundry room, all of the walls are white ceramic tile – smog and white walls don’t really mix!  All of my cabinets and drawers are also white, so I could literally clean all day and never finish.  Laundry is a whole other ballgame!  People here rarely use clothes dryers, as the cost of electricity is so high.  Not to mention, that to fully dry a whole load of laundry (keeping in mind that everything here is small, so a full load isn’t really that big) takes about 3 hours!  So, laundry rooms are equipped with these very nifty clotheslines on racks that hang from the ceiling and operate on a pulley system.  I have figured out that what works best for me is to put the clothes in the dryer for about 30 minutes, just enough to soften them and get out the wrinkles, and then I hang them to dry completely.  Of course, since we can’t just pull things out of the dryer and put them away, there is a lot more ironing required, too.  I always hated doing laundry and ironing at home, now I know I had it easy! 

All of this brings me to the issue of having a maid.  Every apartment that we looked at has maid’s quarters – a little bedroom and bathroom dedicated to the household help.  Everyone here has a maid!  I was convinced, before arriving, that I would not hire a maid, as I wouldn’t be working outside of the house, and would need “something to do”.  The life of an ex-pat is a privileged one, and as we met more and more of them, we found that they not only have full-time maids, but several of them have “babas” (nannies) and drivers, too!  I was a bit intrigued by the idea of hiring a driver, as the traffic here scares me to death, but I still didn’t think I’d need a maid.  Well, I’ve changed my mind!  Though, I still don’t think I’ll need a full-time maid, I definitely need help!  So, my friend who called, introduced me to her maid’s sister who was looking for work – I hired her on the spot!  When I talked to Matt later that day I filled him in on what my day had been like (gone to the store, out to lunch – and, oh yeah, by the way, I hired a maid today!).  For now, she’ll work 2 days a week – who knows, maybe I’ll eventually break down and hire her full time.  So, my first “routine” day turned out to not be so routine for me – looks like I won’t have to clean after all!