Today is the start of our packout of everything in the apartment. As I type, it's 9:13, and the moving company was supposed to be here at 9am, but said maybe 9:30 "with traffic", so I wait and I type.
It turns out I have been doing these moves all wrong over these last 11 years. I have not been properly organized, so this time, I've employed a tried-and-true (by others) method of using sticky notes to tell the movers where various things are going.
I thought using a system of green and red stickies would be smart. Green for "Go to South Carolina" and Red for "Stop and put it in storage in Maryland". But the store only had neon green and pink which are close enough to green and red, so I figured it would work. Our preacher here in Sao Paulo pointed out last night that I better hope and pray the movers aren't color-blind!
So there are approximately 800 sticky notes stuck on everything in this apartment. (And just to be safe, I wrote out South Carolina and Maryland on each note in case the movers forgot what green and pink mean). Time shall soon tell whether they get it or not.
In other exciting news, guess what I saw for the very first time yesterday on the grocery store shelves here in Sao Paulo? Tortilla chips! It figures since we only have 2 weeks left in the country, but boy, was I excited. To celebrate, Mac and I are having nachos for supper tonight. It really is all about the small things in life, right?
Monday, May 25, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
things that make you go "hmmmm"
This afternoon at 4:30, I popped over to the grocery store that is located exactly one block from the side entrance of our complex. As I was walking down that one block, I noticed two policemen at the end of the block and thought that odd as we don't see a lot of criminals being apprehended in this stretch of the city. As I took a few more steps, I noticed one policeman rifling through the backpack of the "suspicious" man standing in front of him. (Why he was suspicious, I have no idea.) I took a few more steps and realized the second policeman had his gun drawn. It was at this point that I decided I should've taken the long way around, but turning midstream would've been kind of awkward as they had seen me and clearly it would have been an obvious avoidance tactic. So I hustled myself along and got well out of their way in case shots happened to be fired. I did not want to get caught in the crossfire for some bread, microwave popcorn and Ramen noodles. There are reasons to die, but Ramen noodles are not among those reasons.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
a musing from someone who's organizing for a move
There are days like today when I think I'd never like to move again.
People who never move don't have to do things like get a knife and dig out the little stopper on the bottom of a bunch of salt and pepper shakers to empty out the contents so when they unpack boxes on the other end, salt and pepper don't go flying everywhere. This sounds very nice to me right now.
People who never move don't have to do things like get a knife and dig out the little stopper on the bottom of a bunch of salt and pepper shakers to empty out the contents so when they unpack boxes on the other end, salt and pepper don't go flying everywhere. This sounds very nice to me right now.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
some photos from Porto de Galinhas
Beach view from hotel
Mac on his first solo kayak adventure
Mac with one of the Porto de Galinhas ("Port of Chickens") chickens
Mac and me on the jangada
seahorse!
Hanging out in the water
Do you wonder why I could drop off the face of the Earth and live on this beach forever???
Sunday, May 17, 2009
2 more observations from PdeG
1. Mac is a great traveling partner, maybe because we've been taking trips together since he was a little baby. One thing he has to work on is his ability to quickly check for food that's stuck in my teeth. After I eat with Jimmy, I ask for a quick check and all I have to do is quickly flash my teeth and he can point out which tooth on which side needs work. Mac, on the other hand, acts like it's a full-scale dental procedure. He gets up close and wants to inspect every tooth. I have to open my mouth wide and narrow and then, if I'm lucky, he'll tell me if there's something stuck. Tonight, however, we did the full-blown check only for me to get back to the hotel to find a HUGE piece of creamed spinach stuck in my front tooth. How did he miss that???
2. I think I'd like to work in a resort one day where the dress code is a Hawaiian print shirt and flipflops.
2. I think I'd like to work in a resort one day where the dress code is a Hawaiian print shirt and flipflops.
some observations from my hammock in Porto de Galinhas
1. Mac is 100% better. No coughing, no lethargy. He's acting like his normal, 6 year-old rambunctious self. During our prayers on night #1, he thanked God for His medicine: the fresh, salt air which was healing him.
2. Mac talks to anybody that will listen to him - in Portuguese or English (and he thinks Spanish, too) - which leads me to believe that he is well past my being entertaining to him. It's a little embarrassing because he will infiltrate any family or bother a romantic couple in the pool or in the ocean to start talking to them.
3. We ate a delicious meal at Bar Caxeira Restaurant last night. I had the most marvelous fish ever and we had to order Mac two children's plates of spaghetti, although one plate was pretty big itself.
4. We rented a beach buggy (dune buggy) and driver this morning for a 4-hour tour. The tour took us to different beaches, one of which is really a natural pool formed by reef where Mac got to kayak by himself. We also got to go on a flat-bottomed boat (called a jangada here) up a river where sea horses live! We got to see three sea horses in their natural environment (as well as in a big jar where they collected them so we could see them up close). The whole thing was very cool and Mac loved it.
5. There are not a lot of Americans at this resort and we've met 2 of the other 3 American guests here. We didn't meet the woman from New Jersey who's traveling by herself and has been here for a week but left today, but we did meet two guys who work for a GPS mapping company out of Denver. They're in the Recife area for 6 weeks to map the streets and highways of this area for GPS units like our beloved Garmin. Did you know that they have to physically drive the streets, making notes, all the while looking like major targets with bullseyes on the car because they are driving around in a car with a big GPS antenna on top, laptops in the front seat, a camera mounted on the dashboard, etc. Especially in parts of Recife, which is VERY dangerous, this screams "I am rich, please rob me at gunpoint." Very interesting talking to these guys. We always learn so much from people and their jobs and their lives just by asking questions and being interested.
6. Mac's favorite word du jour (or of the last few days) is "spectacular". As in, "this beach is spectacular" or "Mom, you should see the tile in the bathroom; it's spectacular".
7. Our jangada was named Pato Donald (Donald Duck) and we soon found out why. Our jangadeiro liked to talk like Donald Duck. Granted, he had skills, but how annoying is that???
2. Mac talks to anybody that will listen to him - in Portuguese or English (and he thinks Spanish, too) - which leads me to believe that he is well past my being entertaining to him. It's a little embarrassing because he will infiltrate any family or bother a romantic couple in the pool or in the ocean to start talking to them.
3. We ate a delicious meal at Bar Caxeira Restaurant last night. I had the most marvelous fish ever and we had to order Mac two children's plates of spaghetti, although one plate was pretty big itself.
4. We rented a beach buggy (dune buggy) and driver this morning for a 4-hour tour. The tour took us to different beaches, one of which is really a natural pool formed by reef where Mac got to kayak by himself. We also got to go on a flat-bottomed boat (called a jangada here) up a river where sea horses live! We got to see three sea horses in their natural environment (as well as in a big jar where they collected them so we could see them up close). The whole thing was very cool and Mac loved it.
5. There are not a lot of Americans at this resort and we've met 2 of the other 3 American guests here. We didn't meet the woman from New Jersey who's traveling by herself and has been here for a week but left today, but we did meet two guys who work for a GPS mapping company out of Denver. They're in the Recife area for 6 weeks to map the streets and highways of this area for GPS units like our beloved Garmin. Did you know that they have to physically drive the streets, making notes, all the while looking like major targets with bullseyes on the car because they are driving around in a car with a big GPS antenna on top, laptops in the front seat, a camera mounted on the dashboard, etc. Especially in parts of Recife, which is VERY dangerous, this screams "I am rich, please rob me at gunpoint." Very interesting talking to these guys. We always learn so much from people and their jobs and their lives just by asking questions and being interested.
6. Mac's favorite word du jour (or of the last few days) is "spectacular". As in, "this beach is spectacular" or "Mom, you should see the tile in the bathroom; it's spectacular".
7. Our jangada was named Pato Donald (Donald Duck) and we soon found out why. Our jangadeiro liked to talk like Donald Duck. Granted, he had skills, but how annoying is that???
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