Our Brazilian Adventure - Part 1

Ever since we decided to accept an opportunity to move to Brazil for 2.5 years, I started thinking about documenting our experience in a blog – not only to keep our friends and family informed of how we are doing, but also to serve as a reminder for our kids and us many years from now when our time here is a distant memory.  If you are reading this, then I am assuming you are somewhat interested in what I have to say – at times it may bore you, but you might find some humor in the stories I share, as well as sense the frustration we’ve dealt with when things don’t go the way we expect.  Enjoy sharing in our journey!

July 2010 - January 31, 2011

After many months of anticipating, planning, stressing, and talking about our “upcoming move” we were finally ready to go.  Matt had received a call in mid-July informing him that his boss wanted to meet with him the next day.  We were puzzled, wondering if he would bring good news, or bad.  We were definitely hoping for the former, feeling that Matt was good at his job and that his company (Alcoa) and boss recognized that fact.  The next morning, after his meeting, Matt called me at home to share his news.  As I was cleaning the bathroom, he somewhat calmly informed me that he had been offered a promotion…..in Brazil!  We were blown away!  It was an opportunity that couldn’t be passed up, despite all of the emotions we were all feeling.  During a trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil in October, Matt and I found a beautiful apartment and an amazing international school for the boys.  The next months passed (a little too quickly) as we prepared for the move.

As our family and friends on facebook, and those who talk to us on a regular basis, know, it wasn’t a completely smooth ride leading up to the big day.  Obtaining a Visa to enter Brazil as residents is not something that happens quickly.    We had planned to leave in early January, so we were mentally (as well as physically and emotionally) prepared to go.  Our house had been sold, all of our belongings were packed into suitcases, or were headed to storage, or labeled for air and sea shipments.  We checked into the Residence Inn for what we thought would be 6 days, and what turned into 4 weeks.  Without boring anyone with the details, we finally got the approval and necessary documents that would allow us to enter our new country on February 1, 2011.  After dealing with the frustration and fury of the delay, we decided to make the best of our time remaining in the U.S., taking a weekend trip to Deep Creek and Wisp, where the boys learned how to ski, and spent a week in WV with our families. 

January 31^st  finally arrived – “Move Day”, as Alex called it.  Feeling a mixed bag of emotions (nervous, excited, anxious, sad, etc.), and after saying goodbye a second (or third) time, we were ready to go.  With all 19 bags packed (11 suitcases, 4 carry-on bags, 2 backpacks, and 2 computer bags), we checked out of the Residence Inn (our home for 4 weeks).  My sweet and dear friend, Cilissa, was kind enough to drive us (and all of our stuff) to the airport.  Matt and the boys were in a rental car ahead of us, and when we arrived to the airport, Matt commented that he had seen both of us crying in the car.  It’s difficult to leave a place and people you love, and I was sad to be leaving one of the greatest people I’ve ever known.  With promises to “Skype” and email often, we said a tearful goodbye, and headed off to our new life.  We had an uneventful trip, with all flights on-time – we got lucky and left just before a major winter storm hit and paralyzed the major airports for a couple of days.  The boys were fascinated with first-class on the flight from JFK to Sao Paulo – Ian took pictures of every little thing that impressed him – the little TV in his seat, the socks, pillows, blankets, etc. – it was comical for me.  I told him not to get used to it, because when we were paying for our trip, we’d be back in Coach class.  His response to that was, “Oh, man, that sucks!”!  After taking some sleeping aids (Ambien for Matt and me, Benadryl for the kiddos), we all got a few hours of rest before hitting the ground running.  The next phase of the move was about to begin – Life in Brazil!     

 February 1, 2011

We touched ground at 9:00 am Sao Paulo time (6am EST), feeling excited and happy to finally have arrived.  After so much talking about it, our move to Brazil had finally become a reality – WE WERE HERE!!!  Going through Immigration took about 15 minutes (we watched countless others go through in less than one minute) – at one point, the girl at the counter, who spoke no English, said she’d be back in a few minutes and walked away with our passports.  Matt and I looked at each other with a bit of concern, wondering what could be going on.  After having gone through hell to get our Visas, we thought, “What now?”  She was back within a few minutes, stamped a few pages, and welcomed us to Brazil.  Whew!  Next up was the daunting task of collecting our luggage and going through Customs.  We were relieved to see that all eleven suitcases arrived and had help loading them onto 3 carts – I was able to explain in my limited Portuguese that we had 11 suitcases coming, and the man’s response was, “Are you moving here?”  They are not used to seeing so much luggage for 4 people.  When I replied that yes, we indeed were moving, he happily welcomed us to Brazil (I don’t think I mentioned that people here are extremely friendly).  One of my biggest concerns was what we would encounter at Customs – I need not have worried, as the official wanted nothing to do with us, or our mounds of bags and suitcases, and waved us through without a second glance.  We breathed another sigh of relief – whew!

A driver was waiting for us, with one of those little signs that read, “Matt Mooney”.  We wondered if there was a vehicle big enough to take us and our stuff to our apartment, and were pleased to see a 15 passenger van that we filled to capacity – with only the 4 of us and our driver!  The traffic gods were on our side, and we were able to make it to our apartment in just 45 minutes, a trip that can sometimes take 2 hours.  So far, so good!  Security at our condominium complex is extremely tight – which, living in a city this size, is a very good thing.  Luckily, we had no problem getting through and were finally able to get into our new home.  Our only mishap the entire trip occurred here.  As we were loading our suitcases into the elevator, I warned the boys not to touch any buttons.  Of course, if anyone knows my Alex, you don’t have to guess who was the one that did exactly what I had told him not to do.  I had just stepped out to drag in another suitcase, only to watch the doors close in front of me.  Agghhh!  I could hear the boys but the doors wouldn’t open.  As the security guard in the building went to figure out how to get our boys back, Ian and Alex could be heard starting to panic – Alex calling out a very anxious “Moooommm!”.  They ended up on the second floor, and Ian reasoned that they needed to go back to the first floor.  When the doors opened to the garage, Ian asked the people who were waiting to get onto the elevator how to return to the lobby.  They, of course, didn’t speak English and couldn’t understand what he wanted.  He emphatically put out his hands and repeated, “Lobby, Lobby”.  Finally, they understood what he wanted and guided him back to where Matt was waiting for them.  I had already gone up in a second elevator, and was amused to see the sheepish look on Alex’s face, as I calmly asked him if he had learned his lesson.  I think it was a perfect way for him to understand why he shouldn’t be touching buttons! 

The boys had fun exploring our place, taking it all in – we’d only been here about 5 minutes when they started with, “What are we going to do now?”  I thought, “Good grief, we just got here”, but they were ready to explore the grounds and look for monkeys – something they’d been talking about for months.  We showed them around the complex, and the beautiful grounds.  We are fortunate to be surrounded by an oasis of green, as our condo is situated on a large Atlantic reserve.  We’ve never seen such enormous bamboo, with trunks as big as trees.  Amid the flowering trees, there are also avocado and banana trees – it really is like living in paradise.  Our long morning was beginning to catch up with us and we decided to head out in search of a place to eat lunch.  We passed a McDonald’s on the way, just across from our complex, and the boys wanted to eat there - I refused to have McDonald’s be my first meal in Brazil!  We walked a few blocks and found a little diner, managed to order using our limited Portuguese, and a lot of pointing to items on the menu, and enjoyed our food.  Then, it was a stop at the grocery store and back to the apartment to start unpacking.   

By the end of the evening, I was exhausted and ready for a break, and the boys were dying to go for a swim in one of the pools.  We changed into our swimsuits, grabbed our towels, and headed to the pool – only to be stopped by one of the security guards, who informed us that we had to be registered in order to be able to swim.  I tried to explain to him that we had just moved here, and where we lived, but he directed us to administration, saying he could not authorize us to swim without first being registered.  OK, we thought, we’ll go register.  Imagine my frustration when they explained to us that we needed to undergo a medical exam for clearance to enter the pools!  I explained that we’d all gotten our medical clearances in order to even make our move, but it wasn’t good enough – we’d have to come back on Saturday, and have their doctor on staff do an exam, then, and only then, would we be permitted to swim.  So, we took our very disappointed boys back to the apartment and pouted.  Apparently, this rule applies to guests, too, so my one piece of advice to anyone who visits us, make sure you bring a note stating that you are “clear for swimming and physical activity” or you won’t be allowed in our pools!  Overall, other than the elevator incident, and not being allowed to swim, our first day in our new home was a success – we felt relieved to be here, and dragged our exhausted bodies to bed.

February 2, 2011
Day 2 in Brazil started a little earlier than any of us would have liked.  Our bodies were still on Pittsburgh time, 3 hours behind – so when the alarm went off at 7:00am, we felt like it was still 4:00am.  We were supposed to be picked up at 8am, however, due to a scheduling glitch, we started our busy day of running errands at 10am – wish we could have slept in a bit longer!  First stop, Chapel School for the boys to see their classrooms, meet the teachers, and buy uniforms.  Alex, after meeting his American male teacher, exclaimed, “My teacher is really loud, really tall, and really awesome!”  Ian loved his Australian teacher’s accent.  They seemed excited to start school, and we made plans for their first day to be Friday, February 4^th.  After visiting the school, we were taken to a shopping center where we were able to make purchases (including 2 fans to help cool the apartment), get photos made for many documents we needed, and to exchange our U.S. dollars into Brazilian reiais.

As I mentioned above, we had to buy some fans for the apartment.  One of the wonderful advantages of living in Brazil (for me, anyway!) is that it is warm most of the year.  One of the disadvantages of having warm (i.e. hot) and humid weather in Brazil is that most people don’t have air conditioning, including us.  Here, we leave our windows open all day and night, but the humidity hangs in the air like a heavy blanket.  We are fortunate to be high up on the 27^th floor, so we usually have some air movement, but the fans help to circulate the air a bit more.  Another disadvantage of living in Brazil is the cost of everything – it is so expensive!  I will eventually have to get over my sticker-shock, but it’s so hard to spend 3 times the amount we’d spend in the U.S.!  Therefore, we only bought 2 fans and move them out into the living spaces during the day, and into the bedrooms at night.  At least, it was money well-spent. 

The late afternoon of Day 2 turned out to be an exciting one for the boys.  In October, when Matt and I had visited Brazil, we learned that it is very common to see small monkeys in the trees (a bit like seeing squirrels in the U.S.).  Ever since we shared that information with Ian and Alex, they became obsessed with looking for monkeys and trying to catch one.  They even had all of their friends at school obsessed, with many of them asking the boys to “bring back a monkey for them”!  Of course, we explained that they wouldn’t be able to catch one, but it would be pretty cool to see some on our condominium grounds.  They got their chance that afternoon while playing on the soccer court – about a dozen little brown and grey monkeys were scampering across the fence that encloses the court!  I wasn’t there, and still haven’t seen any, but the boys were thrilled.  Now, I’m hoping I can spy one, too!