Blogger, my old friend, how are you?

Cue Creepy Voice:  "Hellooooo!  It's nice to see you."

Ok, so now that we're settled with all of our things and Brasilia isn't quite so new anymore, I'm starting to lose my motivation to blog.  Obviously.  But not so gentle prodding from family and friends reminds me that I should probably get going again. :)

It's been so long...  Ok, so new things since the end of December:  We have all of our stuff and car!  It finally completely feels like home, albeit a temporary one, in our apartment.  The only thing remaining to do is to have maintenance people from the embassy come hang all of our pictures.  I know that sounds ridiculous, but our walls are made of concrete.  I've already tried with my normal drill bits, and it wasn't happening.  Also, because they own the housing, they prefer to do all of that work so that employees don't screw it up...  Once we get them all hung, I'll provide some pictures of how our apartment finally ends up becoming our home.  Here's a few of the chaos of our "moving day:"

 

Office

  

 Living Room

  

Laundry Room

 

Dining Room

  

Built in Bar - Dining Room

 

I tried to get a picture of the mess in the kitchen, but our maid already had it all put away!

I'm STILL waiting for my security clearance for the RSO job.  So if you're one of the ones that the investigators are contacting, call them back!  And remember what a swell guy I am. :)

The end of January, we were expecting it back any time so Sarah "talked me into" heading to Lincoln for a week while I still could.  It was such a last minute decision, I didn't tell my parents about it and opted to surprise them.  I went to my mom's classroom with flowers covering my face until she finally turned around.  She was so excited, one of her autistic students had to be taken out of the room!  I ruined that poor child's day, but I think my mom was pretty happy to see me. :)  Later that night, I surprised my dad at home.  I think the following pictures sum up his reaction:

The week I was back was a whirlwind of family and friends.  It was so fantastic to see everyone.  You don't really realize how much you miss some people until you spend some time with them.  Playing cards with the family, spending time with my nephews and niece, and drinking scotch while smoking cigars with the boys are definitely the highlights of my trip.  The Tam O'Shanter bar also never ceases to bring out the best in me.

I can't help but to also mention all the great food!  I'm not sure I ate a single meal at home that week because of all of the places on my list I needed to hit up.  Just thinking about all of my favorite restaurants is making me hungry!  The Oven, Valentino's Pizza, Taco Inn, Olive Garden, Bison Witches, Oso Burrito, De Leon's, Taco Inn, El Potrero, Taco Inn...  I am somewhat partial to Mexican food.

Since then, I've exercised quite a bit between tennis, jogging, and swimming and am now bach'ing it it this week while Sarah's away at a medical conference in Singapore.  Both the time I spent in Lincoln and Sarah's time in Singapore is solidifying our resolve not to be forced apart for an extended period of time.  While there are some definite advantages to the Foreign Service lifestyle, it comes with a healthy dose of difficulties as well.  While it works for some to be separated while one spouse is at an unaccompanied post or away at training for some people, I just don't think we're cut out for it.  There's a pretty high divorce rate for FSO's.  There were briefings on what to do in divorce situations before we even were posted overseas, and paperwork they recommended that couples fill out detailing the rights each of them has regarding children and possessions.  Almost like a prenuptial.  I can't help but to think that part of the reason for the high divorce rate is the time spent apart.

Sarah gets back into town on Sunday night, 2/27 and has Monday off.  She then works 4 days, and we leave for Salvador for a week!  March 4-13th is a crazy time in Brazil, the home of spectacular Carnaval.  We will be spending it in crazy Salvador for a few days, then going to a smaller fishing town to relax in a more peaceful environment on the beach.  We are definitely looking forward to the trip!

A few random things about the last couple of months:

Abby has moved rooms.  We had her in our spare bedroom, but almost of all of the doors in our apartment have levers instead of knobs.  She watched us enough to figure out how to open all of the doors!  We thought we had outsmarted her by closing and locking a door confining her to her bedroom and the hallway, but we came home one day to see that she had opened her bedroom door and realized she couldn't get into the rest of the apartment.  So what does she do?  She opened our bedroom door and was sleeping on our bed.  It was so funny, it was hard to be mad at her!  She's now living in the maid quarters now because it has a doorknob.

During the State of the Union, President Obama announced that he will be making a tour of South America to promote the United States' interests abroad.  He will be coming to Brasilia in April!  We've learned that the work going into a presidential visit is absolutely massive.  He has two advance teams come to scope out the town and prepare for his, and almost 2,000 staffers and press, arrival.  Hotels need to be wired for communication and security equipment, bulletproof windows need to be installed, and accommodations booked for the whole entourage.  It is a HUGE undertaking!  The coolest part about the trip is that a "meet and greet" has been set up at the embassy.  We may be able to meet the president!  We've realized how incredible this is, as some officers here have had 30 year careers without hosting a president, so we're very fortunate to host him in our first tour.

Our decision to bring our own furniture was proven a fantastic idea after hearing about the couple who lived in our apartment before us.  Apparently, the husband was a renowned nudist, and walked around naked so much that they couldn't even hire a maid.  I choose to ignore that we lived on that furniture for 3 months until ours arrived....  yuuuuuuck!  Have I mentioned that there isn't a shortage of crazies who work for the FS?

Sarah informed me yesterday that she had a meeting with the head of the Health Practitioners at her conference.  Med works differently from the rest of FSO's, so we've never been sure about our option to extend past two years.  Apparently it's a possibility!  She needs approval from a couple of people, and I'm sure it will come with a ridiculous amount of paperwork, but if we choose to stay the option is there.  The major benefits of staying are that we wouldn't have to go through the process of moving for another year, not having to learn another language so soon and I wouldn't have to look for a job all over again.  The only thing we're weighing that against is our enjoyment of Brasilia.  It's a great place with great weather, but it comes with some downsides like how expensive it is to fly home, entertainment is sometimes limited, and I don't even know if I'll enjoy my job yet.

It is tradition in Brazilian places like Rio for everyone to wear white on New Years, then go into the ocean at midnight.  I've heard that the color of underwear you wear is significant to how you want your next year to go, and there's also something else about hopping over the first three waves of the new year, but I don't know the whole story.  Here's the US Embassy staff's interpretation of a Rio New Years:

Merry Christmas from Brazil!

Another Christmas has come and gone, however being in Brazil changes the holiday experience for us a little bit.  The most obvious thing by far is the difference in weather between Nebraska and Brasilia on December 25th.  It was 85 and sunny for most of the day here, while in Nebraska around Christmas, you always have to wonder if you're going to have to dig yourself out of a couple feet of snow in sub-zero temperatures.  Sarah actually teared up a little bit on Christmas morning when the song "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" played, as it gave it a new meaning from our tropical climate.

Digging a little bit deeper, it was very different not to enjoy Christmas with our families.  It was very sad not to eat a big Christmas meal with them, or watch them all open presents.  At the same time, it was important for us to establish our own Christmas joy independent from them.  No one wants to sulk on Christmas, whatever the reason. :)  As difficult as it was to spend our first Christmas away from home, we actually had a really great long weekend. 

Friday night Sarah and I were invited to a large Italian dinner at Ted and Mona's apartment.  We have really, really enjoyed spending time with them and, along with some others, they have become our family away from home.  It is a tradition in Ted's family to cook massive amounts of home-made Italian food for a giant Christmas Eve dinner, and I've got to say we had a great time!  Sarah and I volunteered to help with the cooking, so we spent some time in the last week making homemade pasta and ravioli with them.  We also arrived at 1:00 on Friday to help some more, and spent most of the day in the kitchen learning how to cook delicious traditional Italian food.  It was a lot of fun!  I did, however make the mistake of wearing a white shirt which was splattered with oil and marinara sauce by the end of the night.  I was looking kind of rough... :)

Feliz Natal!

 Me stuffing the mushrooms

Ted working on the cod dish

Mona making cookies

Sarah taking pictures :)

 Table for 15

 Delicious!

I will share the menu with you, because it was very impressive and fun to make:
Bruschetta (Sarah and I made this and brought it over)
Stuffed Mushrooms
Calamari
Fried Shrimp
Baked cod with bell peppers, olives, and other veggies
Baked Loin
Homemade Ravioli (we actually made and pressed the noodles)
Stuffed Artichokes
Fresh baked cookies, rum balls, and biscotti
Creme Brulee
10 lbs. of homemade pasta (that never ended up being served)

There was a serious amount of food.  After dinner, we had a fun gift exchange, and somehow a few of us ended up on the balcony with some scotch and cigars.  Later, it turned into a youtube dance party, and we stayed out much too late! :)  It was really a fun Christmas Eve away from home, shared by other orphans just like us.

Left to Right:  Carl, Justin, Al, Yamille

 Surgeon General's Warning: Don't Be This Guy

 Grease Lighning! L-R: Buenas Aires, Elizabeth, Justin, Mona, Yamille

Christmas day, we woke up and had a nice relaxing morning of opening presents.  Highlights for Me: fine scotch, GPS, tennis accessories, video games, clothes, and an album that Sarah made documenting our road trip USA.  Sarah: commercial juicer, kitchen accessories, Julia Childs DVD & books and clothes.  Our family was great and sent us gifts so that we had plenty to open on Christmas morning.  Because of the shipping delay, I think the gifts will keep on coming for a couple of weeks too.  :)  A great way to keep up the Christmas cheer!

Charlie Brown tree stacked with gifts!

 Suiting Abby up for the family Christmas picture

After relaxing and playing a sufficient amount of video games, we were invited to a Puerto Rican Christmas dinner at another couple's house, Mayra and Iris.  The food was delicious!  I'd never had Puerto Rican food before, but it was lots of rice, beans, a chicken dish, delicious beef, fried plantains, and potato salad.  They also had a type of spiced egg nog that was delicious. 

 Delicious food!

Our Hungry Brazil Family

A view from Mayra & Iris' balcony

Also, great news!  One of the best Christmas gifts I got was from the embassy.  I got a job!!!  I'll be working as an Administrative Assistant in the Regional Security Office.  The job requires a security clearance, so I'll start as soon as I get it.  They estimated the middle of January if all goes well.

More GREAT news!  Sarah just called, and apparently the last of our things are arriving tomorrow!  The only thing we'll be waiting on then is our car, which is scheduled to arrive this week or next.  Things are looking up! 

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and have a happy new year!

 

 Thanks Abby, my eyeball was getting a little dry.  :)  Go Big Red!

Feliz Natal!

November in Brazil

November in Brazil has been eventful!  So eventful, in fact, that I didn't have time to write about it. :)  We started out the month by staying out late on Halloween and drinking too much at an embassy party.  It was a very fun night filled with dancing to a VJ, and lots of crazy costumes.  As our shipments of stuff hadn't arrived yet, we went as the most simple thing we could think of.  Liz Lemon and Jack Donaughy from 30 Rock.  It involved me shaving my face, which I haven't done in years!  This was the first time Sarah had seen me without facial hair. :)

 

The weekend after the Halloween party was our first Marine Ball.  The Marine Ball is a traditional, formal event that happens every year at all embassies (and some consulates) in which the Marines plan a ball to commensurate their founding.  There are formal presentations, ceremonies, and traditions.  Then the dinner and dancing commence.  It was so much fun!  They held it at the Navy Club this year, and it was absolutely beautiful.  Needless to say, after our Halloween experience, we were still on the sober bandwagon but we were out very late all the same. 

Prom Picture! :)

 

Our friend Garry.

The week and a half directly following the Marine Ball was spent traveling around Brazil!  Sarah and the Regional Medical Officer (RMO) are in charge of the other 3 consulates in Brazil: Recife, Rio de Janeiro, and Sao Paulo.  The RMO's name is Yuri, and he is based out of Lima, Peru.  Yuri and Sarah joined State at the same time, and attended all of the same training, so it was nice to travel with a familiar face! 

Recife was definitely the favorite place for Sarah and I.  We're not so much about the HUGE cities with big crowds, but we love more laid back vacations.  I say vacation, but Sarah was working.  I was on vacation! :)  We spent a lot of time on the beach, which was wonderful!  There are vendors who push carts up and down the waterline, while other vendors stay in one place and put out free chairs and umbrellas for people to sit in.  So the only thing you ever need to leave your chair for is to get rid of the cerveja and caiperinas! :) 

View from our room in Recife.

Relaxing on the beach.

Recife has one of the highest numbers of shark attacks in Brazil.

The beach at night.

This vendor is carrying fresh oysters on ice in the bucket which she will serve to beach-goers by opening them with a pocket knife and pouring oil, salt, and hot sauce on.  They're delicious!

Floatie Toys!

Hats!

On a day that Sarah and Yuri were working, I visited a cachasaria.  Cachasa is a traditional Brazilian liquor made with sugar cane.  It is used to make the national drink, which is called a caiperina.  Caiperinas are cachasa, sugar, and mashed up limes and are delicious!

Olinda is a small Dutch colony just outside of Recife settled in the mid 1700's.  It was the best place of our entire trip.  It was a small town filled with grand churches up on magnificent hills with the old city overlooking the skyscrapers of the new one.  It was filled with pastel yellows, oranges, blues, and had kind of a "Mexico" laid back feeling.  Sarah and I would love to come back and stay in Olinda.

Old Olinda Church

Streets of Olinda

Overlooking the tropical trees, ancient church, and ocean.

Old Olinda with the new Recife in the background.

Old and new.

After 3 days in Recife, we left for Rio de Janeiro.  Unfortunately, the weather in Rio was rainy and cold, so we didn't spend much time on the beach.  I was also feeling kind of sick for part of the trip, so we took it pretty easy in Rio and Sao Paulo.  We did make the trek up to the Christ Statue, which was amazing!  As the most famous monument in Brazil, it stands at one of the highest points of the mountainous city and overlooks both the coast and the lake borders of Rio.  You got a view of the beautiful homes with the poor favelas (slums) right next to them.  You may have seen the favelas in the news recently, as there has been much violence while the military police are raiding them in advance to the World Cup and Olympics coming to Rio.  Favelas are typically lawless shanty-towns run by drug lords and guarded by teenagers with fully automatic weapons.  They have been devoid of law enforcement except for the occasional post for years, and have been overridden with drugs and violence in many places.  Brazil will be hosting the World Cup in 2014, then Rio will hold the Olympics in 2016.  They are trying to get a handle on the crime before they arrive.

Anyway, back to our Rio experience. :)  Here are a couple of pictures from Rio.

This is at the bottom of the Christ Statue mountain.  We took a tram up, but had to wait about 3 hours after we bought our tickets.  We ventured around and explored for a while, and almost walked into a dangerous favela on accident. :)

Everyone who visits has to take this picture, right?

From Rio, we went to Sao Paulo for a couple of days.  Sao Paulo was tough because it's the largest city in Brazil, but it definitely isn't a tourist destination like Rio or Recife so we couldn't find much to do for fun.  I still wasn't feeling 100% either, but we did make it out a few times.  The most fun thing that we did was visit the Mercado Central, which is an indoor market in the center of the city.  It is in a beautiful old building with stained glass windows and filled with vendors of all kinds.  There were fruits, meats, and vegetables of which we'd never heard of and the entire area was bustling with activity.

This is a view from the second floor looking down at the vendors and across at the stained glass.

Yuri and I were offered some fruit to try.

The week that we returned, our UAB arrived!  That is our first "unaccompanied air baggage" shipment that was 450 lbs., so just a small portion of our things.  The best part about it arriving is that we had packed all of our Thanksgiving supplies in there, so we were able to host a "night before thanksgiving" feast at our house, because many of our friends were going out of town the next day.  I wish I had pictures, because we really had a great time hosting our first party.  There were only 6 of us total, but we had two (small) turkeys, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, fruit salad, roasted pecans, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie.  It was delicious!  It was also great to celebrate Thanksgiving with good friends, as we definitely missed our families.

That may actually be a reason that it took so long to blog again.  Missing home...  There are stages that we were told that each person goes through when moving to a new culture.  We were largely in the "tourist" stage for the first month, making it easy to want to share our experiences.  After that first month, things started to get more difficult, and reality set in.  We've really been missing home, and are continually frustrated at our inability to communicate with Brazilians.  Just the communication barrier makes every trip outside of our house or embassy somewhat of a difficult hassle, and eventually it gets old.  We started questioning our motives for being here, and really missing home.  We still feel this way to an extent, but I think we've turned a corner and decided not to focus on the negatives.  It's getting better.  After all, it's almost Christmas!  When did that happen?  We have our Christmas decorations up (bought from the Brazilian Wal-Mart) and our presents under the tree!  

Charlie Brown would be proud. :)

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all around the world, and I'll try very hard not to wait as long to blog next time.  Happy Holidays!