POST BY JACKIE.
WE ARE HOME!!!! Carlos and I got home from Brazil on Wednesday and are freezing! I thought it might kind of be nice to get back to cooler weather, but I was already missing the heat as soon as I stepped outside of the airport.
Leaving Brazil was a lot harder than I thought it would be. I loved the weather, the culture, the people, the beach… I had no idea what to expect before we got there. I had imagined it to be a lot less developed and although it is completely different in most ways from the U.S. it was very easy to grow accustomed to. It became so normal, that all I really missed from the U.S. was family, friends and coffee. My Portuguese got good enough that by the end of the trip, Carlos didn’t really need to translate for me much. Speaking is another story though, as I could answer questions, but nothing too complex.
It’s cool to be back in Kansas City with Carlos’ family, who regularly speak Portuguese at home, and be able to understand them. I always thought before that they were yelling at each other or trying to be secretive in Portuguese, but they are really just talking about getting the butter out of the refrigerator or asking someone to move the chair.
God taught me a lot about living while in Brazil, which I think is the coolest thing I have brought back with me. He taught me that to be comfortable, I don’t need my own bed, my own closet and my own everything else. That isn’t to say that I think God wants me to be a free-loader the rest of my life, but rather to not be so tied down because of stuff. I don’t want to be someone that works my life away to have a bigger house, a fuller closet, a nicer car, and the best of everything this world has to offer. I want to be someone who can drop everything I have to go where God wants to lead me. I don’t want my job to define me as much as I want to be defined by how good of a mom I might be some day, or how well I serve others. So my challenge now, is to find out how to balance being a responsible adult (who does some day want a house and a family) with being someone who isn’t afraid to give everything up to move to another country for a month or two. Or wait, did I already do that? Does that mean I just need to find out how to be a responsible adult? haha, j/k.
One last thought. A lot of people, in hearing about our trip, have said “Wow! Wish I could do something like that”. And my answer to all of those people is, “You can!” If you really want something to happen, you can figure it out. And I can say this, I promise you will remember that time much more than you will remember those couple of months you stayed at work.
The end.
Posted on Sunday at 7:01pm
POST BY CARLOS.
Yo my lovely people out there on planet earth and cyber space. I am finally writing a post (thanks to Jackie’s prudence).
Sao Paulo is a weird/amazing place to be. This is the city I would have grown up in if my parents hadn’t moved to the States when I was six. This is the city that would influence and define the person that I am (or would be). I am sleeping on a bed in an apartment in the same building I lived in when we left. The layout of the apartment is exactly the same as our old one, and the guest room is where my old room would be. The sensation that comes over me while I’m here is indescribable. It is an overwhelming feeling of ‘whoa’. That’s really the only way I can explain it. If we hadn’t moved this would be my ‘KC’. That’s a lot to really wrap my mind around.
I love the US. I love my friends, I love my city, and I especially love my wife Jackie. I know that if we never would have moved, I would never have met her, and that fact alone is reason enough to be 100 percent happy about the choice my parents made. So this is not a feeling of ‘I wish’, but more of just ‘what if’. Not in any way where I would want things to change, but just a self-reflective, pensive, stare-out-the-window-for-hours sort of way. It is very strange, and I am glad I get to feel it. A lot of people on this earth will never have any clue what it feels like.
This city is amazing (despite the fact that everyone complains about the over-saturation of cars). It is super urban, but with trees jammed everywhere that people can put them. I guess it’s just to remind everyone that you’re still in Brazil (most tree species in the world!). I read an American article that says Sao Paulo is the dining capital of the world. I have heard from so many people about the food here. You can get anything here and it’s all the best version of it. There are buildings with so many colors on them. It rains really hard (I LOVE rain). There are museums, boutiques, thrift stores, and venues everywhere. And the people here are friendly, just like everywhere else. The only problem with the people, compared with the rest of Brazil, is that they work a little too much. Everywhere else seems to take working a little less seriously and I seriously like that.
We started our trip here, we are ending our trip here, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. This whole experience has been life changing for Jackie and I. It has taught us another way of looking at life, and it has really taught me about how to relate more to my family (not that I didn’t before).
I am glad we did this and I look forward to many more trips with my best friend and amazing wife Jackie.
Now off to our west coast USA road trip!!
POST BY JACKIE (AGAIN)
We have now been back in Rio Claro since Monday and it feels really nice to be here! Carlos and I ended up staying in Guaruja for a little over a week by ourselves. The apartment we stayed in was at most a five minute walk to the beach, so we did that, like….every day. Wake up and eat breakfast, go to the beach, come back for lunch and then prepare dinner, go back to the beach, go back and eat dinner and relax, and then back to the beach to run, sleep and then repeat. There were actually about 5 amazing beaches within walking distance, so we tried new ones out every couple of days. My favorite was one called Tombo. It was about an 8K walk (along the beach) to get to but it wasn’t bad at all. One morning we woke up at 5:00, packed a picnic breakfast and walked to a neighboring beach to watch the sun rise on the ocean. So awesome! Then we went back to bed. haha.
Carlos’ cousin Renato(Nico) and his girlfriend Larissa(Lari) met up with us the last few days which was a lot of fun. We went to the beach, played some cards, ate at Habib’s (thebest). Then all rode back to Rio Claro together, about 3 hours and 4,000 toll booths away. Renato said that every time you even think about a toll booth, one appears, which isn’t really an exaggeration at all.
While back in Rio Claro, we’ve pretty much just been relaxing, because we haven’t relaxed enough on this 2 1/2 month vacation. Last night Lari had us and some of her and Nico’s friends over and we all just hung out outside and basically just talked about the difference between Brazilians and Americans. It’s really interesting and funny to hear what people think about America. I think once we get back to the states I am going to make a list of all the differences I can think of in the two countries.
We have been in Brazil for two months and three days, which means my 3 month visa is nearing expiration. It is going to be really weird to leave this place that now feels so normal, but coming back to our family and friends makes it all worth it. Hopefully the weather is still nice by the time we get there…. and lets not talk about how cold Kansas City winters have been since the beginning of time up until the winter Carlos and I decided to skip. Go figure.
I’m going to make Carlos write soon, and maybe post some more photos.
POST BY JACKIE
Two weeks ago we left Rio and took a bus to a small city called Cacapava to see Carlos’ Tia Sonia and Tio Wilson (his dad’s sister and her husband). They were some of the nicest people! Which doesn’t surprise me because I have yet to meet someone I didn’t like that didn’t make me feel totally welcome. Sonia cooked us an amazing lunch every day that we were there and Wilson made us coffee every afternoon. Best coffee maker in Brazil! Most towns here have a center where there is a square with shopping and bakeries and restaurants, so we walked to the center a couple of times. Cacapava is a smaller town, around 100,000 people so there wasn’t a ton to do there but we were just content hanging out with family most of our time there.
Now we are in Santos and have been here for about a week. We are staying with Carlos’ parents good friends Vera and Paulo. So far, this is the first place Carlos and I said we could live some day. (Don’t worry Mom, we aren’t THAT serious) It is a city, but smaller, about 400,000 people. There is a good mix of beach life and city life. We usually spend every sunny day at the beach and have ventured into the city a few times. We started running a few weeks ago, and having a beach one block away to run on makes it so much easier to keep it up. The sand is super flat, flat enough to ride a bike on, so running on it is really easy. We run down almost the whole coast and back which is around 4 miles. We had to do something to keep us from coming back super fat. People feed us like we’ve never eaten before. If you have time, you should look up “Santos, Brazil” on Google images, it’s beautiful!
The funniest thing people have told Carlos (because Brazil can be kind of dangerous if you are meandering around like a tourist) is that he “looks” like a Brazillian so we should be safe. haha. Glad that he’s a Brazillian looking Brazillian to keep me safe.
Our next plan is to head back to Guaruja (the first beach town we went to) for a few days and then to Sao Paulo for a few more days. Then Rio Claro with Carlos’ aunt and uncle. Every other plan is still up in the air. You can usually call a Brazillian a week before you plan on visiting and that is more than enough time for them to plan a million things to do, stock the refrigerator, clean the room you will be staying in, put the cleanest of sheets on the bed for you and put fresh towels, bars of soap, chocolate and a little porcelain puppy dog with a “welcome” sign in it’s mouth on the bed too.
Missing all our family and friends back home, but enjoying our time in Brazil so much. This is something we will remember for the rest of our lives and are so thankful for everyone we have stayed with. This whole experience has been such a blessing.
POST BY JACKIE
As of today we have been in Brazil for 4 weeks. It is really cool to wake up in a different country and to have it feel normal. I wonder what Brazilian habits I will bring back home with me. I like the idea of setting a table for breakfast the night before. I also like that the big meal of the day here is lunch. All I can think of is stuff that has to do with food. They take food pretty seriously here.
We are still in Niteroi and loving it here. The first 5 or so days it was pretty rainy because they had a “cold” front come through. (It was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit). Since then it’s been really sunny and warm so we’ve spent quite a few days at the beach. Our favorite beach is called Itacoatiara (EE-TA-KWAH-CHEE-A-DA). The waves are enormous and you can hardly swim there. Carlos takes that as a challenge though, and it kind of scares me.
Almost everyone that lives here says that they don’t like Copacabana beach as much because of how busy it is, but Carlos and I went there the other day anyway. We love big crowds. There were tons and tons of people. I didn’t hear many people speaking anything other than Portuguese. Rio is so dangerous that I have to be careful not to speak English too loud and they told Carlos to speak with a Rio accent. We didn’t see anything happen while we were there, but we have heard enough stories to know that tourists are usually pretty easy targets.
Today we went to a beach called Camboinhas (COM-BOW-EEn-YAS). The waves aren’t as strong at this beach so you can swim a lot easier, but it is still a bit of a struggle. It is a beautiful beach with a nice view of Copacabana. After today, Carlos is looking pretty native. You may not recognize him when we get back.
Carlos just posted some photos. If hover your mouse over the photo, you will be able to see a tiny description in the lower left corner.
That’s all for now. We will update you again soon.
Du-Du and his wife Glaucia.
Eduardo (du-du) is a crazy guy.
Nice posings for pictures.
