Dear Friends and Family,
Wow! It has been a month since I have written and a lot has happened! Looking at our calendar, the past month, we have only had three evenings that we have not had something going on! And usually I try not to schedule things on school nights! I hope I can remember it as this our journal for ourselves too. This will be my last entry from here as our internet will be shut off on this Wednesday and we fly out on Saturday. We will be back in Hutchinson on Sunday afternoon of the 28th.
Annie is now 8 and had a fun birthday party! One of her friends could not make it as she had to make an emergency trip to the US, but the rest had fun and let us sleep a little!
Since I last wrote, we have been to several museums that we wanted to see here and waited until the end of our time to do so! The girls have also attended other friends’ and a teacher’s birthday parties. The girls have been to numerous slumber parties and had them here. The “big one” we had here (with friends of both girls) after school was out; we took all six of the girls to a state fair-like amusement park here to wear them out well before coming home to our apartment! We have been to several markets, and numerous farewell dinners with teachers and of friends made here! One of my parents even had a farewell party for me at her home on a Saturday and invited my whole class and their families. Another dinner was at a Malaysian friend’s home and the husband and Bill cooked a Malaysian meal! I hope Bill remembers how to cook it! We even managed to take in a Harlem Globetrotters game.
School ended on June the 10th, but before it did we had the typical “Festa Junia,” June Festival Party. It is a harvest party that all schools celebrate some time during the month of June and schools even get out for a couple days for it! The Brazilian/Portuguese Department is in charge of that party, but teachers sign up to help with different food or game booths! Typical outfits are square dance-like. I got the girls and I dresses at a market for the occasion; and the girls even volunteered to dance what they had learned in their Portuguese classes with several others!
The girls both had special end-of-the-year field trips that Bill and I were both able to go on also. Courtney’s class went to Cristalina, a town known for its crystals. An alumnus of the school owns a farm that had a crystal quarry on it. Although they stopped mining several years ago, you could still find numerous small crystals amongst the piles of mining debris. In fact, the whole area was covered in pieces of crystal. It appeared as if you were driving on a road of glass! It reminded me of my family’s rock hunting ventures in Africa as a kid. We also spent a couple of hours walking down the middle of a creek to loop around to the farm house which the kids thoroughly enjoyed!
Annie’s and my class, 2nd grade, went to a Brazilian student’s farm for their final field trip! It was also the girl’s birthday! The family hired people to entertain the kids like a teacher would do in the US! They played dodge ball. They had a DJ playing music. They hired a professional photographer. They had games set up like at a fair with prizes. They rented a trampoline, a bungee-type slingshot ride like I’ve seen at the Kansas State Fair, and a rock climbing wall that you slid down a on a rope once you reached the top. There was a pool and a hot tub on the farm, as well as a pool table. They had a horse to ride and another one pulling a cart. People were walking around the whole time serving soup, hotdogs, popcorn and drinks! They then served all of us hot sit down meal!
We just returned last night from our final trip here! We spent five days in the part of Brazil called the Pantanal. It is a world’s largest tropical wetland and has just recently been promoted for tourism. It is scarcely populated and not easily accessible as of yet. We took two airplanes to get to the capital city of Mato Grosso do Sul, which is only about 700 miles southwest of us here in Brasilia. We then rode a bus for four hours before getting to the Pantanal area, some on dirt roads. Most of the land is private farms which some have opened up parts for ecotourism. The government pays the farmers a stipend to use it for tourism, but there are strict guidelines for visiting and protecting it! They even limit the number of visitors per day! Much of the land is flat with trees scattered around. There also many termite hills across the pastures. There are many cattle ranches with 99% of Brazilian beef being raised there. Corn, beans and rice are also grown there. We saw agricultural names such as Cargill, Bunge, and Pioneer near the capital city of Campo Grande where we landed via airplane. There are various rivers that eventually drain into the Paraguay River. We spent parts of a couple days dressed in wet suits with masks and snorkels and floated down two of the crystal clear rivers and saw many types of flora and fishes. We also saw a couple of caves that were recently opened for tourism. They say there are 50 registered caves, but only three open for visitors. We spent another day touring a farm that was drained marsh land with canals. It was a bird watchers paradise! We also did a boat tour and fished for piranhas on the farm’s river. We also saw an old, enormous sink hole that had become a home to nesting macaws and parrots. We saw lots of animals on the trip--many birds, such as macaws, parrots, toucans, owls, kingfishers, spoonbills, ibises, hawks, storks, emus, herons, vultures, and many others I didn’t know. We saw lots of Brazilian alligators (They look different than the Everglade alligators.) and capybaras side by side. I was shocked the alligators didn’t eat the capybaras, but they said they preyed upon fish and birds! We also saw a huge snake which I was thankful we were on the truck when we saw it! In addition, we saw marsh deer, grey wolves, monkeys, and my favorite, giant anteaters! We saw three different ones. They usually keep to themselves and do not mingle with other anteaters. One was carrying its baby on its back. They were so beautiful and majestic! We saw the tracks of a jaguar and smelled it’s sent that it left behind, but saw no jaguar! Anyway, I told the girls it was another memory to file away of Brazil!
A family that is related to the family we had connections with in Salvador (that we went to the wedding at Thanksgiving time) is here in Brasilia to get visas to go to the US. They have a daughter that will visit us next year in the US. She will also spend some time here in Brasilia with us. We met up with them yesterday evening and LuAna came with us to our apartment to spend several nights. The girls are thrilled!
We will then try to pack. In fact, I hope to get to some done here in the next couple of days! I am not sure how to begin! Saying our good-byes has been very hard! And they seem to be going on forever-so we are constantly shedding tears! Some of the girls friends left before school was quite out and we had some farewell dinners before school was out too! Then there was the last day of school, our final “big” slumber party, and more farewell dinners! Leaving the States was hard, but we knew we would return! We do not know when we will see some of these people again! Saying goodbye is never easy, but I remind the girls that we if we did not have to say goodbye, we would have never had this wonderful experience! Also, now our world is so much smaller!
As we return home, we will hit the ground running there too! Bill’s dad’s dementia has worsened since we have been here as we knew it might, and we are anxious to see him! My siblings will all come to Kansas as we will all get together in McPherson, 30 miles away, where my parents have moved since we have been here, over the 4th of July. Bill’s aunt and uncle that have had our dog will come up from Houston on the 8th of July and possibly bring an aunt. We all are also anxious to see friends from home, especially the girls! Thank goodness we both have jobs to go back to and a home. Bill is not yet sure when he will return to work, but my school officially starts on the 14th of August. As we said all along about this venture: this will be an experience of a lifetime; and that it has been!
Saudades Brazil!
Ciao!
Connie
Wow! It has been a month since I have written and a lot has happened! Looking at our calendar, the past month, we have only had three evenings that we have not had something going on! And usually I try not to schedule things on school nights! I hope I can remember it as this our journal for ourselves too. This will be my last entry from here as our internet will be shut off on this Wednesday and we fly out on Saturday. We will be back in Hutchinson on Sunday afternoon of the 28th.
Annie is now 8 and had a fun birthday party! One of her friends could not make it as she had to make an emergency trip to the US, but the rest had fun and let us sleep a little!
Since I last wrote, we have been to several museums that we wanted to see here and waited until the end of our time to do so! The girls have also attended other friends’ and a teacher’s birthday parties. The girls have been to numerous slumber parties and had them here. The “big one” we had here (with friends of both girls) after school was out; we took all six of the girls to a state fair-like amusement park here to wear them out well before coming home to our apartment! We have been to several markets, and numerous farewell dinners with teachers and of friends made here! One of my parents even had a farewell party for me at her home on a Saturday and invited my whole class and their families. Another dinner was at a Malaysian friend’s home and the husband and Bill cooked a Malaysian meal! I hope Bill remembers how to cook it! We even managed to take in a Harlem Globetrotters game.
School ended on June the 10th, but before it did we had the typical “Festa Junia,” June Festival Party. It is a harvest party that all schools celebrate some time during the month of June and schools even get out for a couple days for it! The Brazilian/Portuguese Department is in charge of that party, but teachers sign up to help with different food or game booths! Typical outfits are square dance-like. I got the girls and I dresses at a market for the occasion; and the girls even volunteered to dance what they had learned in their Portuguese classes with several others!
The girls both had special end-of-the-year field trips that Bill and I were both able to go on also. Courtney’s class went to Cristalina, a town known for its crystals. An alumnus of the school owns a farm that had a crystal quarry on it. Although they stopped mining several years ago, you could still find numerous small crystals amongst the piles of mining debris. In fact, the whole area was covered in pieces of crystal. It appeared as if you were driving on a road of glass! It reminded me of my family’s rock hunting ventures in Africa as a kid. We also spent a couple of hours walking down the middle of a creek to loop around to the farm house which the kids thoroughly enjoyed!
Annie’s and my class, 2nd grade, went to a Brazilian student’s farm for their final field trip! It was also the girl’s birthday! The family hired people to entertain the kids like a teacher would do in the US! They played dodge ball. They had a DJ playing music. They hired a professional photographer. They had games set up like at a fair with prizes. They rented a trampoline, a bungee-type slingshot ride like I’ve seen at the Kansas State Fair, and a rock climbing wall that you slid down a on a rope once you reached the top. There was a pool and a hot tub on the farm, as well as a pool table. They had a horse to ride and another one pulling a cart. People were walking around the whole time serving soup, hotdogs, popcorn and drinks! They then served all of us hot sit down meal!
We just returned last night from our final trip here! We spent five days in the part of Brazil called the Pantanal. It is a world’s largest tropical wetland and has just recently been promoted for tourism. It is scarcely populated and not easily accessible as of yet. We took two airplanes to get to the capital city of Mato Grosso do Sul, which is only about 700 miles southwest of us here in Brasilia. We then rode a bus for four hours before getting to the Pantanal area, some on dirt roads. Most of the land is private farms which some have opened up parts for ecotourism. The government pays the farmers a stipend to use it for tourism, but there are strict guidelines for visiting and protecting it! They even limit the number of visitors per day! Much of the land is flat with trees scattered around. There also many termite hills across the pastures. There are many cattle ranches with 99% of Brazilian beef being raised there. Corn, beans and rice are also grown there. We saw agricultural names such as Cargill, Bunge, and Pioneer near the capital city of Campo Grande where we landed via airplane. There are various rivers that eventually drain into the Paraguay River. We spent parts of a couple days dressed in wet suits with masks and snorkels and floated down two of the crystal clear rivers and saw many types of flora and fishes. We also saw a couple of caves that were recently opened for tourism. They say there are 50 registered caves, but only three open for visitors. We spent another day touring a farm that was drained marsh land with canals. It was a bird watchers paradise! We also did a boat tour and fished for piranhas on the farm’s river. We also saw an old, enormous sink hole that had become a home to nesting macaws and parrots. We saw lots of animals on the trip--many birds, such as macaws, parrots, toucans, owls, kingfishers, spoonbills, ibises, hawks, storks, emus, herons, vultures, and many others I didn’t know. We saw lots of Brazilian alligators (They look different than the Everglade alligators.) and capybaras side by side. I was shocked the alligators didn’t eat the capybaras, but they said they preyed upon fish and birds! We also saw a huge snake which I was thankful we were on the truck when we saw it! In addition, we saw marsh deer, grey wolves, monkeys, and my favorite, giant anteaters! We saw three different ones. They usually keep to themselves and do not mingle with other anteaters. One was carrying its baby on its back. They were so beautiful and majestic! We saw the tracks of a jaguar and smelled it’s sent that it left behind, but saw no jaguar! Anyway, I told the girls it was another memory to file away of Brazil!
A family that is related to the family we had connections with in Salvador (that we went to the wedding at Thanksgiving time) is here in Brasilia to get visas to go to the US. They have a daughter that will visit us next year in the US. She will also spend some time here in Brasilia with us. We met up with them yesterday evening and LuAna came with us to our apartment to spend several nights. The girls are thrilled!
We will then try to pack. In fact, I hope to get to some done here in the next couple of days! I am not sure how to begin! Saying our good-byes has been very hard! And they seem to be going on forever-so we are constantly shedding tears! Some of the girls friends left before school was quite out and we had some farewell dinners before school was out too! Then there was the last day of school, our final “big” slumber party, and more farewell dinners! Leaving the States was hard, but we knew we would return! We do not know when we will see some of these people again! Saying goodbye is never easy, but I remind the girls that we if we did not have to say goodbye, we would have never had this wonderful experience! Also, now our world is so much smaller!
As we return home, we will hit the ground running there too! Bill’s dad’s dementia has worsened since we have been here as we knew it might, and we are anxious to see him! My siblings will all come to Kansas as we will all get together in McPherson, 30 miles away, where my parents have moved since we have been here, over the 4th of July. Bill’s aunt and uncle that have had our dog will come up from Houston on the 8th of July and possibly bring an aunt. We all are also anxious to see friends from home, especially the girls! Thank goodness we both have jobs to go back to and a home. Bill is not yet sure when he will return to work, but my school officially starts on the 14th of August. As we said all along about this venture: this will be an experience of a lifetime; and that it has been!
Saudades Brazil!
Ciao!
Connie
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