uma americana ignorante...

I have arrived in Brazil, without much incident, though if you thought it was good idea to pack all your heavy stuff in your carry-on because they don't weigh carry-ons, you'd be wrong. They don't weigh them, you just have to be able to lift it into the overhead bin by yourself, and I could not. I did ask for help from the stewardess and she said they aren't allowed to lift things, so she said I should find some big guy and ask for his help...um, okay, then. A nice, big enough, guy did offer to help me hoist it in and then I just waited until everyone was off when we landed and climbed on the seat and dragged it down myself. My handle only fell off my too-heavy carry-on a few times (read 8-10 times) between security, boarding, de-boarding, and re-boarding...I'm sure other people got a chuckle out of it at my expense. That was all before I left Chicago. In Chicago I asked at the desk if there was anything I could do with my very heavy, broken-handled bag filled with books for school children and the attendant gladly gave me a tag and told me to leave it before I boarded and I could pick it up when we arrived in Brazil, so I didn't have to worry about it all during that leg of the trip! I even got two seats to myself during that 12 hour-ish stretch, which was verrry nice. The attendant had told me to get my too-heavy broken-handled carry-on as soon as I got off the plane in Brazil, except that it wasn't there, and through a series of charades with the only Portuguese-speaking baggage clerk and my only English-speaking self I discovered I shouldn't wait for my carry-on to get off the plane, but, I assumed from the charades, should pick it up with my other checked bags (fortunately, I assumed correctly). I managed to get all four of my 70 pound bags plus my too heavy carry-on onto one cart all by myself...I'm sure it was a sight to see me struggle, but I did it and I got my cart all the way to customs before I had to take them all off to be scanned and put them all back on (with some help this time). Two ladies from the school, Jen and Linda, were there to greet me and we were on our way in Linda's smallish hatchback (Toyota Prius size, if only slightly larger) and my excessive luggage.

You can say a prayer for a woman I met on my flight from Chicago to Brazil named Theresa. She is Brazilian and she and her family were flying to Rio for her father's funeral. She asked lots of questions about the school where I would be teaching, so I got to tell her a little about PACA being a Christian school started for missionary families and what I would be doing there. She told me that she and her family are Catholic. She said she and her son will be staying for a while with her mother in Brazil and then she will head home to Tucson, Arizona. I told her that I would be praying for her and her family, so please say a prayer that God would provide others to be a source of encouragement for her and her family during this difficult time, both in Brazil and when she returns home to Arizona.

Upon my arrival on Wednesday, I was shown all around the school and introduced to a number of people whose names I promptly forgot. The weather has pretty consistently been chilly (50's and low 60's) and drizzly, so everyone I met has apologized for the crummy weather and told me it would get better. I told them it was cold and drizzly in Indiana when I left so I was used to it, though the biggest adjustment here is that there is no inside heating, so cold outside equals cold inside. I wear lots of socks. I got to eat a traditional school lunch on Wednesday of black beans, what appeared to be sausage, and rice. It was good, I've found there isn't much I won't eat thanks to my mother's rule that we try anything and everything without complaining, no matter what it looks like or smells like (and my siblings and I had some theories about what the canned plums my mother served us actually were, think small, roundish, wrinkly, and brain-like...our imaginations ran wild). I had lots of help bringing all my bags into my house here, affectionately called the "The Big House," because it is big and not because it is jail, though there are bars on the windows :) My roommates had left me several welcome signs and a room full of balloons (fun at first, not so fun when you're kicking them out of the way to get your things put away). I have three roommates, Jean (teaches M.S./H.S. math), Claryssa (teaches 2nd grade), and Christine (teaches 3rd grade). I think we will get along just fine, not least of all, because we all have our own rooms and own bathrooms. They are all very nice and have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome, they even got me an antimofo (a box of anti-mold something), so mold doesn't grow on my clothes and shoes, very thoughtful since I don't like to smell like toxic mold on a regular basis. I've spent the last few days resting and getting all my things put away (and discovering that my four suitcases of stuff doesn't seem like as much now that it's all spread out and put away), I managed to turn my sheet into a curtain and my scarf into a table runner in an attempt to make my room look less like what I lived in as an 18 year old college freshman...necessity really is the mother of invention. The other teachers were busy this week getting ready for parent/teacher conferences on Friday, and it was nice not to have that responsibility, though I will have the advantage of their three day weekend following :) I realize that many of you believe that since I have spent the better part of 3 months resting and getting my things packed up in the states, that now that I'm here I should be working, um, now, immediately...and I will, in time, in time :) I spent Friday morning at the Federal Police, getting more pictures, fingerprints, and forms, and I know there will be at least 2 more trips like this to get a work permit and set up my bank account. A lady from the school named Rosa did all the work gathering my forms and speaking to the officials, I just smiled, nodded when necessary, and held my hands out for fingerprints. Rosa also helped me with my Portuguese while we waited, which didn't take too long, because I know nothing. Even the things I thought I knew, like hello, thank you, and good day all turned out to be wrong, but I've since learned...hello = oi, thank you = obrigada (for girls, not obrigado, which is for boys and got me a few funny looks and smirks when I used it), and good day = bom dia (pronounced bom gia, again with the funny looks). Some of the other teachers and my roommates took me out to dinner last night at a place called Rascals in a huge, fancy mall. They had a nice salad bar complete with artichokes, quail eggs, salmon, fresh mozzarella, and every different kind of lettuce imaginable. I also had a wonderful dessert called Petit Gateau, which I think is French, and was a chocolate cake with ice cream and mango puree, verrrry good. I'll begin teaching next week, though I did go a few times and see the preschool and ESL classrooms, and met a few of the preschool students and teachers. It has been a while since I worked with such young students, I forget how cute all their stuff is, cute little tables, cute little chairs, cute little boys and girls running around when they're supposed to be getting ready for a nap. I really am excited to start working with them, I think my main responsibilities will be teaching math and Bible in the preschool class and then working with ESL students. Tomorrow is church, I was told that Brazilian churches traditionally meet on Sunday evenings instead of Sunday mornings, so I may be able to try an American church in the morning and a Brazilian church in the evening.

Thank you all so much for your prayers, I really had a good flight, safe travels, many, many, many helpful colleagues who go above and beyond to make me feel welcome, and several good days of rest before I'll start teaching, all blessings. Continue to pray that I would be disciplined in learning and practicing Portuguese, as I am acutely aware that I know basically nothing and hearing all the little preschoolers chatter in a language that I do not understand makes me a bit nervous. Pray that I would know what to prepare as I begin teaching preschool and ESL, especially ESL because I have no experience in that area and am not certain what to expect. Pray that I would be an encouragement to those I meet (and that I would learn names quickly, as anything that follows "hey, you" doesn't seem to be as uplifting), and especially to my roommates, colleagues, and students.