February 2016
So we are here in wonderful Brazil! Back together as a full family! Kids are in school after a long vacation in America. My wife is back to work in a sluggish economy. I'm without a real job after 21 years of having one...without any lapses. My savings is plentiful and with my money being worth 4 times as much here, life is great. I wouldn't say I "made it rain" but we were enjoying ourselves as much as possible.
Now we were trying to move into a house that wasn't fully completed. Still workers in the house every day doing what they do. My wife works long hours, in-laws traveling internationally and me leaning on other family members trying to get the house completed enough to occupy. It was a mad house! I would tell the workers to complete something and an hour later they would be working on something else that could of waited to get completed later down the road. The workers showed up and left whenever they wanted. Not the typical set hours like American construction workers. There was a point in time I finally just said the hell with it and let them do what they wanted to do.
My job was to move our household goods from one room to another without any real direction. Looking back I should of left everything in one large pile and had the rest of the house finished. Then started unpacking once it was ready to put stuff away. As a family we have moved multiple times but always into a finished house. This time was complicated with moving stuff here and there...then realizing I just put a bunch of stuff where scaffolding needs to be built to finish painting or hanging a lamp.
Don't get me wrong I was absolutely beyond happy to move into our forever home! No more moving again, this is it! This is part of adapting to a new culture. I had to lower my expectations and not compare it to an American worker. So it took the Plummer all day to hang the bathroom fixtures...at least its done! The painters had painted but the other people still working in the house damaged the wall, oh well its a lived in house. It will have a few marks here and there. So its a huge adjustment to get used to. Don't compare the two countries at all!
This went on for a few weeks and finally the house was some what completed. We just needed curtains in the windows so we could start sleeping each night in the new house. All the bedrooms face the elevated street in front of our house. So having an audience watching us sleep each night wasn't an option my wife would entertain...me either! Lets get them installed and get moved out of the in-laws house...our welcome was running short after 8 months. They were returning any day now from traveling abroad and I was scrambling to figure out where to buy curtains. I wouldn't say we were getting kicked out but we needed to be gone immediately.
Blacked out curtains is a must to keep some of the heat out during the day and street lights at night. I measured all the windows and headed downtown. There is no Lowe's or Home Depot here. To buy curtains you usually need to go to a curtain hardware place first and then onto a place that makes the actual curtains itself. It took me a few days to do the hardware part of it and a few more days to install them on the wall. Never drilled into concrete before to hang stuff on the wall. Always dealt with wood and drywall. I was nervous to say the least! But got the bedroom hardware up eventually.
After searching for a place to get curtains for a few days I had to ask for help. Luckily my brother in-law had a family member who made curtains. She came over, measured all the windows, picked out the material and was on her way. A few days later a guy returned and hung them on the hardware I installed. Finally we can start sleeping at the house! Now thinking back...I totally forgot about the window screens. That was also another show stopper on living in the house. Luckily this was also happening simultaneously to the curtain problem.
There is no AC in the house so cracking the windows each night is a must...plus having a fan in each bedroom to keep the air moving. Mosquitos are a problem here and with Zika everyone is bathing in repellent 24/7. I was referred to a guy who made screens and he also spoke English, thank god! Yep, you guessed it! You can't go to a Lowes or Home Depot here and buy screens to install yourself. So this guy came out to the house and measured all the widows I wanted to get done. This was my first experience with negotiating the price. Looking back I could of done better but you live and learn. He gave me a price and I countered to high back. Should of went lower!
Wow, now that is all complete and we are moved in! Time to organize everything! There was a few things still getting finished around the house. The cabinets were still being installed and I continued to move boxes from one room to another. The electrician was finishing up his part. Life was getting better, my stress levels had come down. My focus was on getting the kids lives back to normal with all their toys unpacked and a routine back in their life. I also was doing whatever I could to make my wife's life easier, she was working the grind. Gone early and home late! Didn't want her working each night after her long days.
As you can see, I had some challenges and I think I did the best I could of. The language barrier didn't help and I was very frustrated at times. The family was busy and couldn't help me that much. I now wish I would of hired a translator for the first one or two months. I could of got so much more done and saved a ton of money in the process. Those days I drove around aimlessly looking for stuff I needed would of been more pleasant. I went into places and wanted to buy stuff but couldn't communicate effectively enough to make a deal. Hell I know I got ripped of more than once on a few things. Buying sheets for our beds cost me a pretty penny. I could of gotten them a lot cheaper!
To be continued...
So we are here in wonderful Brazil! Back together as a full family! Kids are in school after a long vacation in America. My wife is back to work in a sluggish economy. I'm without a real job after 21 years of having one...without any lapses. My savings is plentiful and with my money being worth 4 times as much here, life is great. I wouldn't say I "made it rain" but we were enjoying ourselves as much as possible.
Now we were trying to move into a house that wasn't fully completed. Still workers in the house every day doing what they do. My wife works long hours, in-laws traveling internationally and me leaning on other family members trying to get the house completed enough to occupy. It was a mad house! I would tell the workers to complete something and an hour later they would be working on something else that could of waited to get completed later down the road. The workers showed up and left whenever they wanted. Not the typical set hours like American construction workers. There was a point in time I finally just said the hell with it and let them do what they wanted to do.
My job was to move our household goods from one room to another without any real direction. Looking back I should of left everything in one large pile and had the rest of the house finished. Then started unpacking once it was ready to put stuff away. As a family we have moved multiple times but always into a finished house. This time was complicated with moving stuff here and there...then realizing I just put a bunch of stuff where scaffolding needs to be built to finish painting or hanging a lamp.
Don't get me wrong I was absolutely beyond happy to move into our forever home! No more moving again, this is it! This is part of adapting to a new culture. I had to lower my expectations and not compare it to an American worker. So it took the Plummer all day to hang the bathroom fixtures...at least its done! The painters had painted but the other people still working in the house damaged the wall, oh well its a lived in house. It will have a few marks here and there. So its a huge adjustment to get used to. Don't compare the two countries at all!
This went on for a few weeks and finally the house was some what completed. We just needed curtains in the windows so we could start sleeping each night in the new house. All the bedrooms face the elevated street in front of our house. So having an audience watching us sleep each night wasn't an option my wife would entertain...me either! Lets get them installed and get moved out of the in-laws house...our welcome was running short after 8 months. They were returning any day now from traveling abroad and I was scrambling to figure out where to buy curtains. I wouldn't say we were getting kicked out but we needed to be gone immediately.
Blacked out curtains is a must to keep some of the heat out during the day and street lights at night. I measured all the windows and headed downtown. There is no Lowe's or Home Depot here. To buy curtains you usually need to go to a curtain hardware place first and then onto a place that makes the actual curtains itself. It took me a few days to do the hardware part of it and a few more days to install them on the wall. Never drilled into concrete before to hang stuff on the wall. Always dealt with wood and drywall. I was nervous to say the least! But got the bedroom hardware up eventually.
After searching for a place to get curtains for a few days I had to ask for help. Luckily my brother in-law had a family member who made curtains. She came over, measured all the windows, picked out the material and was on her way. A few days later a guy returned and hung them on the hardware I installed. Finally we can start sleeping at the house! Now thinking back...I totally forgot about the window screens. That was also another show stopper on living in the house. Luckily this was also happening simultaneously to the curtain problem.
There is no AC in the house so cracking the windows each night is a must...plus having a fan in each bedroom to keep the air moving. Mosquitos are a problem here and with Zika everyone is bathing in repellent 24/7. I was referred to a guy who made screens and he also spoke English, thank god! Yep, you guessed it! You can't go to a Lowes or Home Depot here and buy screens to install yourself. So this guy came out to the house and measured all the widows I wanted to get done. This was my first experience with negotiating the price. Looking back I could of done better but you live and learn. He gave me a price and I countered to high back. Should of went lower!
Wow, now that is all complete and we are moved in! Time to organize everything! There was a few things still getting finished around the house. The cabinets were still being installed and I continued to move boxes from one room to another. The electrician was finishing up his part. Life was getting better, my stress levels had come down. My focus was on getting the kids lives back to normal with all their toys unpacked and a routine back in their life. I also was doing whatever I could to make my wife's life easier, she was working the grind. Gone early and home late! Didn't want her working each night after her long days.
As you can see, I had some challenges and I think I did the best I could of. The language barrier didn't help and I was very frustrated at times. The family was busy and couldn't help me that much. I now wish I would of hired a translator for the first one or two months. I could of got so much more done and saved a ton of money in the process. Those days I drove around aimlessly looking for stuff I needed would of been more pleasant. I went into places and wanted to buy stuff but couldn't communicate effectively enough to make a deal. Hell I know I got ripped of more than once on a few things. Buying sheets for our beds cost me a pretty penny. I could of gotten them a lot cheaper!
To be continued...
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