It's the Weekend!

February 5-6, 2011
The weekend had arrived – time to relax! It takes some time getting used to the fact that we are 3 hours ahead of EST here, and I’m accustomed to making early morning calls to my mom, sister, mother-in-law, friends, etc. So, to have to wait until mid-morning is tough for me, as we are all early risers. So, when Matt and the boys went off to play soccer, I thought I’d try to get a call to go through to my parents. It was only 6:30 am in Huntington, but I figured they would be awake (as they, too, are very early risers)! Success! The call actually went through, and I was so happy to be able to talk to them that I tried to fill them in on every little detail of the past few days. My dad thought I was hopped up on caffeine from the strong coffee here, but I really was just thrilled to have been able to connect with them! Though we really hadn’t been here long enough to start feeling homesick, it is tough when you can’t just pick up the phone or hop onto the internet to check email anytime you feel like it.

After 30 minutes of catching up with my folks, the boys and Matt were back and it was time to try to get “authorized” to use the pool. We had been told there would be a doctor at the complex on Saturday and Sunday for the sole purpose of the exam needed to be able to enter the pool - they would not recognize the complete physicals we had done in the U.S. just before coming - so we headed down to get our medical clearances. Matt and I had to laugh at the “medical exam”, which was performed by a young, beautiful, and sweet Brazilian doctor in a library in our complex, and consisted of showing her our toes, fingers, underarms, and back (as well as a brief peek at our upper thighs) – she never even touched us – they were just making sure we didn’t have scabies or body lice! We paid the doctor the required $R100, went to the administration office, handed over our official photos and our newly obtained medical clearances, and were finally given our cards that would allow us to swim!

We spent the rest of the day lounging by the pool, staring up at the (unusually) crystal clear blue sky, in utter amazement. Matt and I kept looking around, at the palm trees and beauty that surrounded us, and wondered, out loud, if the other could believe that we really live here. As Matt stated, so far, it just felt like a “really stressful vacation”! Though it took them a while to warm up to the kids who didn’t speak English, before long Ian and Alex were playing ball and splashing around with the others, looking like they’d lived here forever. While at the pool, we met and talked to several other expats who had been here for a year or longer, hearing about the wonderful experiences they have had and vacations they have taken throughout South America. We decided we needed to call our financial advisor and have him set aside a chunk of change for a travel budget – we want to take every opportunity we can while living here to get to see new places that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford (time or money) if living in the U.S. We capped off our day by having dinner with our newfound friends, the Deeps, at a local Italian restaurant – it really didn’t feel like we’d only been here 5 days!

Sunday was another beautiful day, and the boys were eager to get back out to the pool. I spent most of the morning unpacking and putting away the last of the suitcases and headed down for another afternoon of rest and relaxation. With so many Americans in our complex, there was a lot of talk about the Superbowl. We, of course, were dying to watch the game since our Steelers were playing, but we didn’t know how we’d get to see it without cable or internet – not to mention that it would air so late here, starting at 9:30pm our time. One family was actually hosting a Superbowl party, and we were invited to a couple of different homes to watch the game. As it turned out, Matt went down to the Deep’s to watch the game with Brent using their Slingbox (a nifty little device that allows you to connect to a cable box in the U.S.), and another neighbor lent us his satellite internet USB so that I could try to see it on the computer – I wanted to stay in the apartment since the boys would be sleeping. Though I wasn’t able to pick up the game, I could hear and see occasional updates – disappointing ones, as the Steelers lost by 6 points. But, the best thing that came out of that was that I finally had an internet connection, albeit temporary. It felt great to be able to sit in my own kitchen and be on-line as much as I wanted to catch up with email and connect with everyone back home!

Some things worth mentioning… as I’ve stated in previous posts, the weather here is hot and humid. We keep the windows open day and night to allow the breeze to cool the apartment, but the humidity is another force we have to battle constantly. We’ve learned we have to place these little contraptions to trap moisture all over the house (especially in closets) to keep things from becoming damp and mildewed. I bought 6 of them to start, and will have to go out and get several more if I want to win this war! With the windows always open, we’re also learning to live with the many sounds of life in a city. Mixed in with the songs of tropical birds, there is always the buzz of cars far below on the busy streets, as well as the occasional sound of people talking, cooking (smells great, too!), and kids playing or crying. During professional soccer (futbol) games, you’ll hear people cheering, horns honking, and fireworks going off when their favorite team scores a goal – no matter the hour! I should also mention, living in a tropical climate, that the weather is very volatile. We can have the most beautiful clear day, and inevitably, between 3:00 and 5:00 in the afternoon, a haze settles over the city like a grey blanket – you can actually watch it move in. Along with it will come a brief storm, with a few claps of thunder and lightning, a possible shower, and it’s gone as quickly as it arrived. Being as high up as we are (on the 27th floor of a high-rise), the wind can sound very intimidating, howling, and slamming the windows shut with a forceful bang. Even though this definitely is not the serene setting we had in Cranberry Township – Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore! – there is a strange tranquility to the place we now call home.