Our Brazil Journey - Part I

If you asked me 5 years ago that I would be married to a beautiful woman and that I would be living in Brazil, I don’t think I would laugh or think you were crazy. I think I would wonder for a minute or two and say that I wish that were true. Well, life has thrown me many different things and I have been many different places and now living in Brazil and being married is my reality. The purpose of this blog will be to try to bring you, my friends and family, a bit closer than the 6300 miles that separate us.


Our journey Day 1:
The day of our move, my mom and my dad came with us to the airport in an SUV limo. Not the stretch kind of limo that we were hoping for but it was still very big and very useful to carry six suitcases FULL of clothes and 2 large dog kennels (One for Angel and the other for Samantha). It was very surreal to be driving in a limo with my mom and dad knowing that today may be the last time I see either one of them for at least a year.

We arrived at the airport too early to check in so we waited around and took the puppies out for a quick walk around the airport because they were soon going to be locked in their kennels for about 20 hours!

Before we knew it, it was time to check in the bags and say goodbye. Because everything was so hectic at the airport and because my parents had to leave to meet the limo driver to meet his schedule, we didn’t have time for a long goodbye. This was both bad and good. It was bad because, of course, I wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. It was good because it made it easier and not too emotional. Of course it WAS emotional but it was so quick that I didn’t quite know what was happening. Before I knew it, we were going through the difficulties of metal detectors, screenings etc before boarding the plane. Now, most people that know me understand that I don’t love to fly and become quite anxious beforehand but because of the finality of the journey, I had no idea what to feel so I pretty much felt nothing. We boarded the plane and were in the air within minutes. We lucked out AGAIN and had an entire row to
ourselves! We both got very excited about all the movies that we would be able to watch because the plane had 33 movies to choose from and that doesn’t include any shorts, classics or tv shows that we had at our disposal nor the video games that we could enjoy. That being said, I watched ONE movie “I love you man” which was pretty cool and then we slept. The entire 12 hour flight seemed to last about 4 hours. The only interruptions were the multitude of services that Korean Air brings to its passengers. Within the first hour we were brought pillows, blankets, socks, waterbottles, toothbrushes and blindfolds. Then we were given a “refreshing cloth” to clean ourselves with along with roasted peanuts and orange juice or apple juice. Two hours later we were brought dinner (chicken/rice, veggies with strawberry cake) and coffee and tea. In the morning we had pineapple juice, breakfast (noodles/pasta omelet coffee, tea, fruit, muffin and yogurt. Needless to say we were well taken care of which probably helped the trip go by faster.
The next thing we knew, we were landing in São Paulo. Our landing was very rough with our heads landing in our laps and people screaming. I think it was more of the shock of the whole thing that made everybody scream but it was pretty smooth after we bounced on the runway a bit. After disembarking, going through immigration again was very easy. While Ana was waiting for me to go through the line for “estrangeiros” which was longer than the line for Brazilians she met a porter who helped her get the dogs and all of our suitcases and then, for a little money, helped us COMPLETELY bypass customs. We just had some girl take our papers for the dogs and we were on our way. It was very surreal. We again let the dogs get some walking and do their business because they had been locked up for so long. It was amazing because they were in such good spirits and were very excited to explore the outside of the airport.

Before we knew it, it was time to check into TAM airlines and recheck all of our luggage and the dogs. This time didn’t go quite as smoothly (imagine an extra 10 minutes at the checkout counter in LAX and then an extra 25 minutes at the checkout counter in São Paulo) but it all still went ok and we were soon waiting for our next plane. I called my mom and talked for 10 minutes or so ( I thought a CDMA phone from the US wouldn’t work outside of the US but it did) and I tried to call my dad but I got his voicemail. Up to this point, it DID NOT feel like I was in another country outside of the language.


We got on our next plane and after an hour we landed in Curitiba. This time we were so excited to see our dogs that we ran off the plane and gathered them and our luggage. This was the end of the air portion of our trip which I wasn’t upset about. It hadn’t been an overly long journey thus far and none of us was overly tired including the dogs which was a shock! When the doors opened at the Curitiba airport, we were greeted by Ana’s mom Rosana, dad Paulo, uncle Sérgio and cousin Victor. They were SUPER excited to see Ana and hugged her from quite some time. I got this one on video. =) Ana’s dad and I walked the puppies and let them stretch AGAIN. Yet again they were still in GREAT spirits and very excited to explore again. I know I keep saying it but I am completely surprised by this. I thought they would be the most difficult part of the trip but I was severely wrong.

We loaded the suitcases into the 4 cars and hightailed out of Curitiba for an hour journey to Joinville which would be the FINAL stop for us. I rode with Ana’s dad and with Samantha who was very comfortable staying in her kennel with the door open for the journey. Of all the times I came to Brazil, we always took the same drive from Curitiba to Joinville but this was my first trip in the daytime (It was 5pm local time) and the view was beautiful. There were lots of lakes and forests that we drove through that I unfortunately never saw previously. We arrived fairly quickly, compared to the other parts of our journey, and put all of our stuff in her dad’s apartment. The rest of the night was somewhat of a blur. I know Ana’s sister Manuela, Manu for short, came over to welcome us and that it was quite entertaining watching 4 small dogs run all over the place. Ana’s dad has two poodles, Cookie and Boopie. I vaguely remember the length of the journey starting to take its toll so I faded pretty quickly. I slept a dreamless sleep on a full size bed with Ana and our two dogs. Any other day it would’ve been uncomfortable but not this day. When I look back on our trip, it was surprisingly easy with everything that could’ve gone wrong. The hardest part was leaving my family and the place that I was not only born but that I also grew up in. It was hard for Ana as well because she had become close to both my mom and my dad. I hope that my family will be able to visit us in Brazil very soon and before a year passes.
Along with that sadness though is also a happiness that Ana is finally back with her family who she had been away from for over two years (minus one trip we took). Even though she never complained about it, I knew how much she wanted to be back in a place where she had LOTS of friends and close family. The people here seem to be EXTREMELY friendly and warm. I have already met 3-4 of her friends by accident while we were walking down the street going here or there and they were super cool. I hope this is a sign of things to come here.
I wish it hadn’t taken me 6 days to write this blog but there have been lots of things going on. I plan on updating the blog weekly with the highlights of the week both in words and in pictures. You can expect the next part soon. Subjects to follow: Adapting our first week, looking for our first apartment and adjusting to a new and challenging language. For now I hope you all are having a great weekend and I hope you have a great week to come!!

Valeu até mais!!!