Apartment Pictures!

Yesterday Sarah and I finally found out about our housing in Brasilia.  The Housing Assistant sent us an email detailing the apartment that will probably be ours.  It is about 1500 square feet, with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, den, servant quarters, garage, and, most importantly, 110v outlets!  This means that we don't have to buy lots of adapters or new appliances.  Most Brazilian homes are 220v, however when the USG buys them, they convert them to 110v.  Now I can start buying some of the things we'll need such as dehumidifiers, humidifiers, television, etc.

The apartment looks pretty 50's-esque, so it was likely in the original city plans.  It is only about 3km from the embassy, so it will be great for commuting.  The furniture... is... not the greatest, I guess, but we can ship our stuff there and make it our own.  It's really nothing very elegant or special, but it's definitely plenty big for the three of us!  Abby will finally have her own bedroom again, instead of sleeping in the closet. :)  She was pretty excited when we told her.

We will definitely need visitors with this much space, so start planning your trip! :)  Unfortunately, as exotic and beautiful as Brazil sounds, remember that we are nowhere near a beach.  We are definitely not in a tourist area, but hopefully it will be a fun place to live.

We leave two weeks from tomorrow.  Yikes!  We are frantically trying to pull everything together and take advantage of the ease of medical, eye, and dental care in our short time here along with all the packing and homework. 

Only 2.5 Weeks Left!

Jeez, how did it get this close to October?  The situation has certainly changed in the last couple of weeks.  In short, I've decided not to take any classes.  The ConGen course wouldn't work, and trying to get ready to leave while being in Portuguese class for 8 hours a day just wasn't feasible.  On top of all of that, I'm enrolled in two online classes to finished my Masters degree.  I'm so close!  After these 6 credits, I only need another research class, then my final "Portfolio Project" which is similar to a thesis. 

I've just finished a great, and exhausting, vacation from DC life.  I left Saturday, 9/4 to head to Bemidji, MN to spend a few days at the cabin with some good friends.  Needless to say, a few beers were consumed while playing hours of the board game Risk and relaxing outdoors in the chilly Minnesota Fall weather.  It was a great time!  The following Wednesday, we made the 9 hour drive to Lincoln and I hopped around from house to house until Monday morning when I flew back home.  Weird, right?  I've been here a little over a month and I was ready to come "home" a few days into my time in Lincoln, where I've spent the entirety of my life up to this point.  Perspective is a funny thing...  I had a great guys weekend with my nephews, and was able to watch the Huskers stomp on Idaho on Saturday. 

I lucked out on picking that weekend to be in Lincoln for many reasons.  Possibly the best day of the entire trip was this last Sunday.  I was able to attend the baptism of a good friend's daughter on Sunday and experience First Plymouth Church with full brass and choir.  It was awesome!  I forget after I'm out of choir for a while the emotional and dramatic effect that a well composed and performed piece of music can have on an audience.  It made me realize that at some point, I'm going to have to be in a choir again. 

Another reason it was a great day was after the baptism, I went to my nephews' midget football games.  Elijah tied 6-6, and Ben won 8-0!  I wish it were the other way around, however, as luck would have it that Ben was playing my cousin Matt's team that weekend.  All three of them played really well!  Ben is going to be one heck of a football player...  He played almost every play of the game on both sides of the ball, recovered a fumble, and had several tackles!  I also came home with a big blue bruise on my arm from practicing blocking with Elijah in the back yard.  That little guy beat me up a little! :)

Sarah and I sat down last night and made a list of the things that need to be done in the next couple of weeks so we can get out of here.  Wow...  It's a lot.  My priorities are to 1) keep up with school and 2) get ready to leave.  I'm going to worry about learning Portuguese and finding a job when we actually get to post, as there isn't enough time in the world! 

So that brings me to today.  I have been sitting in Starbucks since 8:00 this morning working on homework, and I've decided it's time for a break.  Hellooo Blogspot!