Question: You live in SOUTH AMERICA.  Is it really dangerous?  

Short Answer:  I feel totally safe, although I half expect to get robbed while we live here.  🙂

Long Answer:  We live in a big city, and just like in any big city, you have to be careful.   Although I never feel like I’m in danger of getting assaulted or hurt, robberies are definitely the most common crime where I am.  That being said, I follow a few simple rules that I think will serve me well while I’m here.

A.) Don’t make myself a target.  This means I don’t go into bad areas.  I don’t walk alone at night.  I carry a small purse.  I don’t wear flashy jewelry or use my iPhone in public.  (In fact, Michael and I left my engagement ring and some other valuable, potentially flashy items with our families back in the states.)

B.) Stay Alert.  I am always on alert when I am walking around outside.  I am always looking to be sure that no one is following me or getting too close.  I always know where I am going and I walk with a purpose.  If I get turned around, I PRETEND I know what I’m doing until I feel like I’m in a safe place to ask someone or check my phone.

C.) Stay Calm.  Even with all of these safety precautions, I realize that I still might get robbed.  Robberies are fairly common, and the key is to not freak out and just hand over my stuff.  Once they see a phone and a little cash, I will be free to go.  I hear of plenty of robberies but almost no “horror stories” because the idea is really not to hurt anyone.  So, if I can stay calm, I think all will be well.

All that being said, I really do feel ABOUT as safe as I did living in San Francisco or DC.  You just have to be smart.

Question: What do you miss the most from home?

Short Answer: People, my job and our church.

Long Answer: Here is my Top 5!

1) Friends and Family.  Although we are SUPER thankful for the new friends that we are making AND for the blessing of having family in São Paulo (we love you Joe!), there are still so many people who we miss tremendously.  And not only do we miss them, but sometimes we feel really far away.  Like when something tough happens and we can’t be there.  Or when friends get engaged and have babies and I can’t just hop on a flight to see them.  Or the fact that my sweet niece is growing up so quickly and I feel like I am missing it.  That is the hard stuff.  So, we treasure our visits home and welcome visitors at any time.  🙂  Seriously.

Our families (just missing Brad, Suzanne & now AC!) – Thanksgiving 2010 – Hidden Valley Ranch, AZ.  And yes, we are all wearing custom-made, matching vests.  So what?

2) My job.  I have said it before, but emotionally, this has been one of the toughest parts of moving to Brazil for me.  I don’t have a work visa and therefore the process of getting a job is VERY difficult.  Thankfully I have been finding some cool things to do that keep me out & about and busy, and I am feeling pretty adjusted to this new phase of life, but I do miss having a career.  Plus, I worked with some pretty awesome people in SF (FM shout out!) and I miss it!

3) Our church.  City Church.  We miss you!  We have been really blessed by some of our Christian friends here who have brought us to a really cool, international, primarily English-speaking church called Sampa, and we think that this is where God has us for now.  We also continue to go (about once/month) to our neighborhood Portuguese Catholic mass that has an awesome priest who is super fired up about the gospel (as much as I can tell since he is preaching in another language).  And so we are thankful to be so blessed here.  Thankful to have Christian friends and community. Thankful to be in a country where we are free to worship the Lord.  But our hearts still miss City Church.  It is the community in which Michael and I started our married life and where we made some very dear friends.  It is where God taught and fed us as a couple.  And so while we are thankful for His provision here, we are still missing City Church.

We miss you friends!

4) Conveniences — sort of.  I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss having a dryer, a big dishwasher, heat and AC, a car (although we do hope to get one at some point), online bill-pay, and oh yeah – speaking the language.  So, yes, I miss these things.  But at the same time, they are all reminders that we are here.  We are doing this.  We are not just recreating the life we had in the US.  We are making a new life here in Brazil.  And that makes me happy. 

5) Peanut Butter.  OK, so not really peanut butter per se, but that is almost like the expat code word for all food American that you can’t really buy here.  My list in this category includes: Safeway Salsa (it’s amazing), brownie, cookie and muffin mixes (don’t judge me for using mixes!), tortilla chips, easy mac, good oatmeal, fruit snacks, etc. etc. etc.  That being said, we have been pretty good about loading up on these types of things when we go home so we have a pretty good stock-pile and would, of course, survive just fine without any/all of them (I think).  AND, I have an equally long list of Brazilian things that I have fallen in love with and now cannot live without, too.  🙂

Treasures.  Don’t judge me.

Question: How is your Spanish… I mean, Portuguese?

Short Answer: Yes, the language of Brazil is Portuguese (but don’t feel badly — not long ago I thought it was Spanish too).

Long Answer: Well I am happy to report that Michael is a total rock star with Portuguese.  He is seriously amazing.  When he speaks, no one can believe that we have only been here for 6 months.  He was recently told that it sounded like he has been living here for 6 YEARS he is so good.  And even more, he’s loving it.  He speaks it as often as possible, going out of his way to talk to our doormen, the waiters, whoEVER he can.  I feel confident that by the end of the year he will be mistaken for a Brazilian.  I think his being fluent in Spanish definitely helped him in this process in a few ways.  First of all, the languages are similar and he said that once he figured out how they differ, he basically knew 60% of Portuguese.  Secondly, I think it’s helpful that Michael had already gone through the process of learning a language.  He knew HOW to learn it.  Finally, he is just super awesome, smart and talented.  He says he’s not especially gifted with languages but is just really dedicated and hardworking which is hard to argue with since he did spend like, 1-2 hours every day for a YEAR studying Portuguese while we were still in San Francisco, before he even asked to get transfered here… Impressive?  I think so.

Oh, wait, you’re asking about MY language abilities??

Well… I’m taking classes and I think I’m doing OK.  I am no where CLOSE to where Michael is, but I’m also a lot better than I was 6 months ago.  At this point I feel relatively self-sufficient.  Recent successes include: going to a doctor for my physical and getting through the entire appointment mostly in Portuguese, ordering dinner to be delivered (talking on the phone is MUCH scarier), and other general, daily communication and SURVIVAL.  I mean, guys, learning a language is freaking hard.  It’s an entire LANGUAGE.  Is anyone else getting how overwhelming that is??  I have never gone through this process so even nailing down which tenses are which in ENGLISH is a challenge.  Seriously, does anyone know the Present Perfect Simple vs. Future Progressive II vs. Conditional I Simple??  No.  We just speak.  And although it would be grrrreat if I could learn like a little baby and just take it in and not worry about these pesky tenses, I can assure you that I’m not a baby and I sure ain’t learning this language by osmosis.  SO…time to get back to the books.  🙂

My really hot translator and me