Items on last night's menu

We ate at a cute little Italian place last night. Typically, the waiter will bring English menus to those of us that need them. I am fascinated by the translations on these, however, since the Portuguese to English isn't always right on the money.

For example, here are a few of the items featured on last night's English menu. All items appear as they were on the menu:

• Unwaved chicken
• Rotten cheese
• Friend cashew (a cocktail)
• Pizza: ham, eggs, peas, palm tree, olive
• Tenant roast beef
• Packages stuffed with ham
• Turkey chest
• Triturated nuts
• Fresh tomato without skin sauce
• Solid of leaves
• Little buck leg (in pieces)
• Splints of funghi
• Pasta: milk cream, gem, bacon

It was actually one of my favorite restaurants thus far :)

I'll be home for Christmas

Yep, I'm leaving South America tomorrow and will be back in Texas on Friday morning. Overall, Brazil has been fun. Good food, nice people, good weather (aside from the heat!). The parts of the country I've seen so far have been really pretty. Lots of bright green trees and dark red soil.

This trip has also given me the opportunity to meet a few more of my co-workers that until now, have been a continent away. Though I will say this, I don't think I could travel full time for work. Some folks travel every week, flying out on Monday and back on Friday. That is not my kind of gig, but the occasional trip now and then is ok for brief amounts of time :)

Anyhow, it's a little strange seeing Christmas trees everywhere, Santas on every window sill, and garland on all the doors down here. Since it's in the high 80s, it is just hard for my mind to comprehend that it really is Christmas. I had no idea that the holiday was so widely celebrated in South America. Yeah, I'm a pretty insulated American :)

Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures of my trip when I'm back in the states. Connectivity is patchy down here, so I think that's why my previous attempts failed. I know, I know. You're all dying to see what Brazil is like. But patience, people, patience...

See you soon! Feliz Natal!

Oi!

Yep, I'm still down in Brazil. Sorry I've been remiss in posting as of late. Our days are pretty long, and honestly, I've been too tired by the time I get back to the hotel to do much more than lay back, watch Harry Potter and do some Su Doku.

This is indeed the life.

We got Sunday off from work, which was nice. Some of us headed a few blocks down from the hotel to a local park for a bit. There are a ton of local merchants and craftsmen that come to the park, setup a tent and sell their goods. Most of us are looking for good Christmas gifts, but honestly, a lot of this stuff you could find in the US. I have, however, found a few things that I'm bringing back with me.

As we trekked back to the hotel, we started to realize why this part of Brazil enjoys a siesta during the afternoon. It was crazy hot. I was literally a puddle in front of the hotel by the time we made it back. We rested for the afternoon and then a few of us went out to one of the local malls that night. It was super crowded, but we had a good time.

Today, we're back "in the office" if you can call it that. Only 4 more days until I get to come home. Yippee!

Feliz Natal!

(I really hope I spelled that right!)

Brazil, the first few days

Brazil is good so far, I guess. Aside from the 10 hour works days, I don't have too many complaints :)

Seriously, though, it's been ok so far if I don't count being away from friends and family. The food has been great so far - lots of tasty beef and strong coffee served in tiny cups. I'm here for about another week, and I'm really hoping that the building will have indoor plumbing by then!

Due to the somewhat shady nature of the areas we're in while we're here, we have a security team that stays with us as we go about town. They are supremely cool. And I can tell you this, you haven't been shopping at a mall until you've been shopping at the biggest mall in Latin America with security guards tailing you. It was super fun! I'm going to try to get some pictures with them, and will post those when I do.

In the mean time, hopefully these will tide you over...enjoy! One is a picture of the mall we went to, one is a picture of the construction site, and one is a picture from the plane. You guess which is which :)

Out of the office

Hey folks,
Sorry I've been a little incommunicado lately. I have been in the air heading down to Brazil. I got in on Tuesday at noon, and we're 4 hours ahead of CST. So, it's all glamorous and all, working down here, wearing hard hats, steel-toed sneakers, and safety glasses.

Overall, I'll primarily be working a lot. Not a whole bunch of excess time to spend being an obnoxious tourist. Wish me luck! I'll try to pull together a better post later, complete with pictures and everything...

Here's a link to where I am: Campinas, Brazil

The first step

Admitting you have a problem.

1) I have a problem. I'm an email addict.

That's what I learned at a training class this week for work. Sure, it was voluntary. But I think that it should be mandatory the way email zips around this place. Basically, I was in a class that was supposed to help you become more organized and use Microsoft Outlook more efficiently.

And boy were my socks knocked off.

I realized, during the class, that for some sick, twisted reason, I was taking pride in the amount of email that I had managed to fit in my inbox. Why was I happy to have more than 2,000 emails? It made me feel important, I guess.

But you know what feels better? Having 0. Yep, not one thing.

Sure, I'm not 100% organized. I probably never will be. But I know that I'm on my way to becoming less of an email packrat, and that can only be good.

Yay!

More Mexico pics

Here are some links to more Mexico pictures. The other folks on the team did a much better job of capturing the trip on film than I did. Yay team!

This first picture gives a good feel of the overall area we were in. Dirt roads and all that jazz.



This second picture is Amar and little boy walking up the road towards one of the houses under construction. I'm guessing that this kid just got out of school, but I'm not sure.

Picture links:
The Austin's pictures
The Mayen's pictures
The Hochstratter's pictures

Oh, Mexico

For our first Thanksgiving as a married couple, Amar and I decided to head down to Reynosa, Mexico on a mission trip with our church. We left on the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving. The SUV was loaded to the brim with supplies, friends, and snacks, and we descended into Austin pre-Thanksgiving traffic. Fun. It really wasn't that bad, and we made it through town and down to the border fairly quickly.

We stayed at an orphanage in Reynosa, and let me just tell you, it was posh. It was nicer than some hotels I've stayed at before. Plus, there was home cooking for breakfast and dinner each day. Yeah, it was pretty sweet.

Thursday recap:
Thursday we set out to the colonia to do some canvassing. Basically, the colonia is a settlement of creatively constructed structures perched near the border crossing bridge on a strip of land between an irrigation canal and sewage canal. Families settle there for weeks or months, sometimes years, somehow surviving is a seemingly unsurvivable manner. There is little food, poor shelter, and tons and tons of dust and gravel. We spent our first day there meeting as many people as possible, talking with them and telling them about the various activities we were going to do over the next few days.

Friday recap:
The guys set out that day to start building the first of 2 houses planned for the trip. They got the foundation setup, the floor done, the walls put up and the windows installed. The rest of us ladies set up for the kids activities and women's ministry for the day. Needless to say, things with the kids didn't quite go as expected, but the team flexed and made it work somehow.


Saturday recap:
Saturday was much the same as Friday, but with more building and more sports. Our time with the kids and the women was much more productive! By this time, the guys had almost finished both houses. Quite impressive, if you ask me!

Sunday recap:
We attended church with the staff at the orphanage, and it was quite a new experience for most of us. The corporate worship time was really active, lots of songs and dancing, and it was so neat! The pastor who spoke also had a translator, which made the service just a smidge longer :) After church, we packed back into the car, and proceeded to wait in line to cross the border for about 2 1/2 hours. Uh, yeah. No so much fun. Here's a picture of the Rio Grande. Yeah - no so grande in this picture…

Anyhow, we made it back safe and sound. We're now praying about possibly going again in December...keep you posted!