QUICK POST

Hello from Brazil! Becca and I are alive and well here in São Paulo. Our plane got in at a little after 6:30am on Saturday morning after a little less than nine hours of travel from Atlanta. We hardly slept at all. Nevertheless, yesterday being A Festa Junina (Saint John’s Party Day), we went to a church potluck where everybody was really nice and the food was great.

I tried to hook up our IP phone, but couldn’t get it to work so it doesn’t seem like I’m going to be able to call as much as I would’ve liked. That’s okay, we’ll be buying a phone card soon and I’m sure that the mothers will be the first to know when that will be. Writing with a keyboard that has been designed for Portuguese speakers is tougher than you’d think.

I’m writing from the Souza family’s house. They, and Grandma Maria, are absolutely wonderful people. Gadevam, the dad, took us to a local mall that has a Wal-Mart type store in it where I bought a few things that accidentally got packed in storage instead of in my suitcase. São Paulo is a very racially diverse city, which is a switch for me being used to Chile where most people look quite similar. It has the biggest Japanese community in the world, outside of Japan of course, and lot’s of European, and African looking-people, making São Paulo look, at least to me, like L.A. but in Portuguese.

The weather is perfect! It may rain a little bit today but the weather overall is forecast to be wonderful. I’ll write more when I’m in a cyber café where I can take more time and can hopefully upload pictures. I’d like to take just a moment to thank my wonder mother and brother who came and helped us get our things ready for Brazil.

LONG DISTANCE PHONE CALLS, 16 LANGUAGES AND SPICES

(Souza Family's House)

TWELVE MORE DAYS UNTIL WE GO TO BRAZIL! On Friday we got the address and phone number of our host family in São Paulo. What’s more, Becca and I were even able to find their house on Google Earth! After arriving in São Paulo, we’ll take a shuttle bus to the temple and that’s where everyone will meet up with their families. Lucky for us, the Souza family only lives about a mile away.

Célia and her mother Maria

Maria, a nice old lady from Portugal, lives next door to her daughter’s house. Becca and I will live in Maria’s house with two other girls from our program and Maria will move next door. Breakfast and dinner will be next door at the Souza’s house. Celia, the daughter, told me that they eat a lot of traditional Portuguese food, as opposed to Brazilian food.

(1.19 Miles from their house to the São Paulo Temple!!!)

I called Celia yesterday to introduce myself and get her email. She sounds really cool. Talking on the phone in a foreign language can be very intimidating because machines recreate our voices on fewer frequencies than the human voice operates on. It’s close enough to sound like the human voice but unless you’re used to talking on the phone in that language you can find yourself struggling more than you do when you talk to someone face to face. Plus, every country has its own “telephone protocol” which can also make things awkward if you’re unfamiliar with it. The first time I called someone in Portuguese I didn’t end up getting everything and I was quite embarrassed, however, you never get good at anything without a little practice so I called the number. This time I think that things went more smoothly.

When I asked her if there was anything that we could bring from the USA for them she said that they like American cookie mixes. We’re going to buy one from the store but Becca is also planning on making one herself. I can tell you which one I’d rather eat. We’re also planning on getting them a gift but we’re not sure what yet.

Who likes science quizzes? Not me! I just had another one on Thursday. Boy will I be glad to be done with general classes. My Book of Mormon class continues to be great and my PE classes are a nice change in my routine. I continue to feel better and to be more fit. My clothes are fitting me better now and that is a wonderful feeling.

I have a new Chinese friend who Becca and I talked to today using our microphone and webcam. 中原狼is a twenty-three-year-old bookkeeper who lives in Beijing. Since saying his name in English is about as natural as reading it in Chinese we just call him by his nick name: Wolf. Seeing as I have absolutely no extra time to study Chinese, but would still like to, I found some free podcast lessons to put on my ipod and practice while I’m walking to and from places. I’m sure I look like a nut muttering things in Chinese under my breath while I walk but hey, I’m learning.

That’s enough from me. Here’s the lovely Becca who has been keeping schooltranslations.com a float:

We now officially have 16 languages: Arabic, Burmese, Cantonese, Farsi, Hindi, Ilocano, Indonesian, Korean, Portuguese, Punjabi, Rumanian, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese! It has been some what of a challenge to keep track of the translators, their translations and when to pay them (10 Spanish translators other than Ryan…so that means 26 total translators!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). HOLY COW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We grew so fast! Thank goodness most of the Eastern and Middle Eastern languages are covered by another translation agency that we work with, so I just have to deal with one person...which helps to take some of the stress away.

I have been training Sarah (Anderson) Taylor to take over my job while we are away in Brazil. There really isn’t much to the job as long as you record everything that you receive from the clients and translators. I have “perfected” a spreadsheet on MS Excel that makes it easy to know what to record: who is doing what and for whom… when is it due…how many words…how much to pay and by when…and the bill each client is running up etc. The most complicated part is doing the invoices at the end of each billing period because it is sooo time consuming. Otherwise it is a pretty plush job as long as you stay on top of things on a day to day basis. If you let things go, it may start to get stressful, but is easily mended the next day. She will rarely have to answer the phone, and when she does it is never anything complicated. She is doing well. I think she will keep our business a float just fine.

Ryan has been doing great with his physical education classes. He really has been trimming down, and that has made him feel better. He will look much better on the beaches than I will, that is for sure! I’m going to do my healthy liquid diet again until we leave for Brazil. I should easily be able to loose another 15 lbs like the last time before we get there. I only gained 5 of the last 15 I lost back…and it has been 4-5 months, so I am encouraged. It will be just another 10-15 lbs away from my target weight at that point, instead of 35-40 lbs away from my target weight like I was when I first started trying to loose weight for that modeling thing. I felt great on the diet! Don’t worry; my target weight is still within the healthy range for my weight, height and age…it is just the beginning of the healthy range, instead of the end!!!!!!

Brazil is going to be great! Our family seems really nice and I can’t wait to meet them! Ryan told me to go clothes shopping when I get there!!!…oh darn…new clothes!!! YAY!!! So I think I will have some fun shopping trips with the Souza girls as well as some of the single girls on the trip.

Talking about clothes…I have found some adorable dresses and skirts at Banana Republic and Nordstrom. I keep waiting for them to go on sale, because there is no way I will pay over $100 for them (The business is doing great, but is not at the point yet for me to be frivolously spending my hubby’s money)… not that I ever plan to be frivolous; I’m not that kind of wife…but still. I do plan to shop more frequently at those stores though at some point in time. I wish I could buy most of my clothes at Banana Republic! It is just my type of store! Their clothing fits/flatters me (my body) perfectly (for all you women, you know the challenge I speak of)! I just feel and look great in their clothes! Which is unusual for me to think when I go clothes shopping; I’m usually very disappointed and feel poorly about myself (again, all you women have experienced this at some point). Until that happy day, I will be content buying similar stuff at cheaper prices.

Okay…off the girly topic, I know I definitely must be boring Grant!! Heehehehe.

Ryan is cooking, and the house smells great! We have a spice cabinet that would put most of the couples our age to shame. From the basic Italian blend to hickory smoked salt and home made curries; turmeric, basil, sun dried tomatoes… all the way to star anise, fenugreek (who ever knew what that was!?!?) and yes even saffron threads. Ryan and I love to cook yummy things. When we find something at a restaurant that we like, we try to imitate it. We go and buy the whole spice and do what is needed to get the result we want. There is much success, but also some failures.

It will be weird having someone else do the cooking for two months. Since we will be living in Maria’s house, we will probably have access to her kitchen, so we will be able to prepare things here and there. Ryan is excited with the thought that I will be able to go shopping by the end of the two months and ask for everything in Portuguese. That would be a miracle if I ever saw one, but I will try!

It has been sunny and wonderful here in Utah. I will miss being around everything familiar, and our friends. I have been going on walks on the path by the “Provo River” (it’s a stream…but if Utah wants to believe it is a river...ok, I’ll let them) with one of the girls that I visit teach in church, and I will miss that. She has become a dear friend.

Well, Ryan wants to post this now. We will try to write blogs while in Brazil and post pictures. We have to get some adapters. Anyway, we hope everyone has a wonderful week!