Electric power and the demise of an ancient electronic...

The electricity here in Brazil is odd at times. Not talking about the weird thing of having two different voltages throughout the country (110/220). My topic is the weird fact that the power will turn off at weird times for no reason and come back on just barely. Usually it happens once every two months and there isn't a cloud in the sky. It's the amperes part of the electricity. Yeah the lights will work but no appliances will.

For example, we had a very powerful tropical storm last Saturday that actually flooded the front part of our house, but luckily I was here to use this broom type thing to keep pushing the water out the front door. It was so intense that we had a roof leak in our livingroom and a bedroom. Our roof is a typical roof here, but not built to withstand a hard rain or for that matter a long steady rain. I consider it a very poor design. With this crazy storm the power went off a couple times, but always came back on with no problems at all.

So Sunday night I hear the noise that announces, hey the power just went off and came back on. It's our ancient printer for the computer. This printer turns on and does a test with every flicker of the electricity. You know the test of moving all its internal parts around and making the typical printer noises from the 1990's. Yes, that's it! It's very possible that this printer is actually older than our 9 year old son. The printer still works very well and I don't mind its ancient ways of sometimes only printing when it wants too or the fact it only works with an old laptop computer. Its temperamental at times I guess, but I don't have the heart to let it go.

Well this noise happened sometime early Sunday morning and it made me roll over in bed. Not a big deal and it's nice to actually get a heads up that the power is back on now. Usually when this happens I venture into my office and turn the printer back off. Well that morning the printer was off, but the lights in the house worked. I knew then there was a problem with the electricity. Went into the kitchen to find the refrigerator not working, well one light inside worked. Next, I turned on the coffee maker and the "on" light works just barely, but it not powerful enough to pump the water.

So unfortunately the printer couldn't handle the off and on of the past few days of power and has since gone to the electronics heaven. We are currently in the process of searching for a worthy replacement. Its sad times in our household...well for me it is. I think my wife could care less! I will sleep a little less assured now with this ancient electronic not warning me of potential problems.

I will make sure to disconnect the next printer when not in use. It was attached to a power strip with protection, but didn't work. Perhaps old age finally got this ancient relic. I think this is great advice to anyone living in Brazil. Disconnect any unused devices to prevent loss.                   

Pulled over by the police...

I had a wonderful morning as you can see by this picture. The police here do these roadblocks from time to time. The during the day ones are aimed at checking to see if you are legal to drive and taxes on car are paid. The roadblocks at night are the same, but really looking for drunk drivers too. I have been lucky and only been a passenger in a car for one of these stops. I wouldn't say it's too much of an inconvenience, the police are just doing their jobs.

So, I'm on the way to the grocery store and I see a traffic jam. No big deal, I am not in that much of a hurry. Then I see it's a roadblock and decide well I will just turn and avoid it. As I look to turn I see a police officer watching the line of cars...can't avoid it. They are really good at putting these roadblocks in places where you have no choice but to go through it. I then proceed ahead and as I go through where the police randomly choose people I get motioned to go down this side street where I am met by a small squadron of police officers. A lot of them! I pull into the spot where I am directed and wait.

A police officer comes up to the car and asked for my documents. Mind you I haven't gotten a driver's licence here yet and my American one is only good for 6 months. As a permanent resident of Brazil I am definitely in the wrong. I hand him my Brazilian ID card and car documents. I then explain that my Portuguese is horrible and please be patient with me. I'm like damn it I should of got the licence months ago. Now I am screwed! This police officer looks at my documents and tells me I am in trouble in Portuguese and walks away.

I am now sweating bullets, because I have watched too many locked up abroad TV shows and know that Brazilian prison can't be that good. Then I'm thinking what happens since I am not legal to drive here. Do they deport me...impound the car...see a judge...what is going to happen. My next thought is, glad my kids are not with me, my wife is going to kill me and I didn't wear underwear today so the strip search is going to be interesting during the booking process at the police station. I take a deep breath and wait.

The police officers are now gathered up and talking behind the car and I'm like damn I need a picture to send my wife. After I took it I realized that it was a bad idea to send her a photo of police behind my car. As I'm about to text her I am in trouble a police officer walks up and tells me in English "sir you have a big problem." Thank god a police office who speaks some English and can really tell me whats going on. In Portuguese I would of got some of it, but not all the details.

He tells me I am overdue on paying taxes on the car. Wow, a huge relief at first, because of the not having a driver's licence. Which never comes up and he never mentions it. The police officer then asks for me to call my wife and I attempt to call with no luck. I then explain that my phone provider is "Oi" and its horrible service. The next call went through and I quickly tell my wife I am in trouble with the police and they want to talk to you. I was expecting the yeah whatever, but I think she could tell by my voice it was for real.

I then sit back and listened to the police officer explain the situation over the phone to my wife. Most of the one sided conversation I understood and knew we had to pay the taxes by noon or they take the car. No big deal, tell us how much and we will pay. The police officer never mentioned the driver's licence to her either. I am now relieved and know they don't know or just don't care...awesome!

The police officer gives me my phone back and he walks away. My wife fills in the details of what I missed in the conversation. Awesome, pay the taxes and be on my way. He then returns with the bill and I about lose my mind. How the hell is it that much! I photograph it and send it to my wife with a message of let me go to jail. It's like highway robbery! The amount was close to R$2800 ($873 USD). This has to be a joke, really! She responds I will pay it and send back the confirmation that the bill is paid. It takes about 5 minutes and I have the proof that she paid it by bank transfer.

I show the police officer the proof and he takes me over to a small tent to validate the transaction. I am then provided a receipt and told they will mail the actual registration card to us at our home address. The police officer starts some small talk with me, tells me he lived in Georgia for a year and also welcomes me to Brazil by telling me "welcome home." Really nice guy and I am glad he was there to make the process a little smoother.

Then he sends me on my way with a small ticket to give to the police officer blocking the road at the end of the street. They are very thorough with security and making sure no one gets away. I can also see now that I am out of the car walking around that they are preparing a bunch of motorcycles for confiscation and that there is a very powerful sports bike with an officer on it prepared to chase anyone that runs. This process of catching bad people seems legit...the other side of it with providing a system that bills you is not that simple.

The amount we paid was the taxes, late penalties and traffic violation fines. You may ask why we didn't pay, well I had no idea it was due and we have owned the car less than a year. The bill never came in the mail and yes they have our correct billing address. The taxes are due on the anniversary of the plates on the car from the original owner. There is no sticker on the licence plates here that tells you when it expires. It's on the card in the glove box that no one ever looks at unless you are pulled over and providing proof to the police officer.

The late penalties, I can see penalizing someone who knows they owe and is avoiding paying the bill. Even though my wife explained that we never got a bill, they didn't care. I think it's horrible that the government here charges an outrageous amount in taxes and fees, but doesn't have an accurate system that bills people in a timely manner. We would of gladly paid the taxes months ago when it was due.

Lastly was the traffic violations, yes I probably got a couple. One was from 2013 when we didn't even own the car...again great system of tracking who has what penalties. The next was failure to transfer car into our name immediately once buying it...bad on us. The last two were driving on the freeway without headlights on (yes headlights on day or night here but not required on city streets) and stopping past the pedestrian line at a redlight. Mind you, we were never notified of these violations or provided proof that these were actually committed. Here you are guilty and have to pay no matter what. You can dispute later and try to get reimbursed. Also the cameras that catch you in the act of committing a violation don't flash or show any sign that they just caught you doing something wrong.

The only thing I can say about this whole ordeal is "It's Brazil" and there is nothing I can do about it. I absolutely love living here and will continue to live here for the unforeseen future, but it does have its drawbacks. Each month here it seems I experience a crisis of here is another surprise bill. It could be from the kids school, taxes, fees from where we live or another water leak at the house. I am truly hoping I can rein in this dramatic "oh shit" we have to pay this new thing now. I am actually at a loss of words at this time of how to explain the processes here. After being in the military for over 20 years and experiencing their messed up processes, I now know they were not that messed up. It's on a whole new level here!

Well I hope you enjoyed my pain and suffering! It was a little scary at the time, but now my goal is to set up an appointment in my phone to remind me to pay a bill later this year. I have no confidence that I will get a bill sent to me or that I will ever get proof I broke the law for those 2 traffic violations I may have committed. My wife contacted the dealership to see if they will reimburse us for the one violation we definitely didn't commit...to be continued.

Thanks for reading!               

Vacation to Bahia!

Right after the New Year we embarked on a 2 day drive to Guarajuba, Bahia. This wonderful beach destination is not far from Salvador which is the capital of Bahia. The state of Bahia is so diverse and actually can be compared to California because of its huge difference in landscape across the state. It has a desert region, farming areas and of course the wonderful beaches (the water is significantly warmer here compared to the Pacific Ocean). I was amazed at how much change there was in one state.

Although it was a 20 plus hour drive to our destination over a 2 days period, it was very pleasant and really not that terrible. There was many little towns we went through on the way and some were very poor areas. There was the typical kids and vendors in each town trying to sell anything they could by standing in the street trying to get you to roll down your window. The roads were not that bad either, only in a few areas did I really think it was a little rough. My cell phone only worked a few times along the way, it was nice to disconnect from the outside world. I would say finding WiFi along the way would be almost impossible. The hotel we stayed in and any gas station or restaurant we stopped at definitely didn't have it. I would say most of Bahia is very poor and most of the money is in the capital or along the coast.

As a family we rented a huge house not far from the beach. A short 2 minute walk to standing in the powerful surf. We had everything we needed in this beautiful rental house; swimming pool, BBQ, AC in the bedrooms, large yard for the kids, TV, etc... It would of been nice to have WiFi, but we all managed to do without. For the 9 days we spent at this house we only ventured out 2 times to visit the capital and another beach not far away to do some shopping. Other than that just trips to the grocery store.

We all woke up when we wanted to and were usually on the beach at 9 or 10. A few hours of soaking in the sun, well for me it was cover my white skin and lather up with SPF 50. It was wonderful to have the family altogether and really enjoy the beach. No arranging meeting times or who was going to drive us there. We just walked to the beach when we wanted to and if we forgot something a quick walk back to retrieve the item was not an inconvenience. Then we all sporadically left for the house around lunch time to rinse off and swim in the pool while lunch was being prepared. We hired a lady to clean and prepare lunch each day, very affordable split accross the family. This was a true vacation where we had to do almost nothing.

Lunch was us all crammed around this wooden table outside near the pool. Like most meals in Brazil everyone is talking over each other and reaching over each other to get that prized piece of meat they see out of the corner of their eye. A fun and entertaining time to sit back and enjoy the fun we are all having. The time at the beach really wore us all out and most days the prepared dishes were completely devoured. Fortunately, we found a great cook and most of her dishes were absolutely amazing.

After lunch most took naps or did their own thing. Very relaxing time and there was no pressure to really do anything. slowly everyone started to emerge late afternoon for another round of beach time for a few hours until the sunset. This time of the day was usually less intense with the power of the sun being significantly less. I am very proud to say none of us got sunburned on this trip. This is a first for me at the beach...I always burn and peel, but not this time. My wife was very helpful and I also was a little more responsible with applying the sunscreen very regularly. Once again, when the sunset we all headed back to the house to rinse off and swim in the pool.

For dinner we usually had a BBQ or finished off any leftovers we had. Only went out to a local restaurant once as a family. It was great to eat at the house most of the time and not have to pay a bunch of money at restaurants. I will say though that the food at the grocery store was way more expensive than at home. For example Picanha, a must have at all Brazilian BBQ's was at a price I couldn't stomach. Usually R$40-50 at home and here it was R$100. Way too expensive for a slab of meat! I did however get introduced to other cuts of meat that were just as wonderful and I will include a few of them into my future BBQ's at home.

Most nights we were all in or around the pool listening to music and drinking our favorite beverages. Our kids were absolutely wore out each day and could be found watching cartoons inside or sometimes they feel asleep watching a movie on their I-pads. Most nights we all stayed up late and had a ton of fun. It was beyond a wonderful time!

One day we took a trip to Salvador the capital to experience the old town. A well preserved area with many shops, museums, restaurants, churches and statues. I absolutely loved it and really want to return to explore the city more in the near future. The city streets were not the typical square block type like other huge cities, but the winding road that was well planned out for the hill landscape this city was built on. Old town was cobblestone roads of the old days with very limited traffic. Mostly small delivery trucks and a few taxi's that were mainly used for handicapped and elderly. It was perfect to walk around and enjoy the sights. We had a wonderful lunch of seafood and did some extensive shopping (stuff is much cheaper here compared to the beach we are staying at). After a late lunch we all heading back to the beach house to enjoy the beach before the sunset. You can see where our priorities lay with this vacation.

Sadly we left after a very fast 9 days and returned the way we came. Nothing significantly different on the return trip. A different hotel and different restaurants. I will say I was relieved when we ate at a Pizza place in Correntina, Bahia and it was very cheap for a great meal and a few drinks. We were back in the affordable part of Brazil.

Although I said that I could of just stayed living at the beach, I missed our home in Goiania. Sure we don't have the beach, but we have many other things that are absolutely wonderful. Family and very close destinations for weekend trips. Some of these close destinations are Caldas Novas, Pirenopolis, Brasilia and friends little farms or lake houses. Plus, the landscape of lush green vegetation throughout our state of Goias is so beautiful this time of the year.

Plans are already in the works to return to Guarajuba, Bahia for New Years this year! Well thanks for reading!

        

                       

A helping hand

On Christmas Eve day we took all those toys that were given to us on my birthday to donate to children for Christmas. It was an enlightened experience to say the least. We traveled to Trindade, Brazil early that morning and arrived at this very nice spiritual center that my wife was recommended to help. A very organized event that this center has been doing for the local community for the past 15 years. The first hour or so was spent listening to music, praying and a briefing on what to expect in the neighborhoods we would be going to. A simple do's and don'ts in the neighborhood and how much time we would stay at each house.

There was a lot of hustle and bustle among all the organizers finishing up last minute preparations for the kids arrival at the center. A requirement for the help they receive from the center is to attend events and I believe there is also some education involved. I don't think its too much to ask from these people and it seems that religion is not a huge part of it. Mainly getting these families out of the neighborhoods and providing a safe place they can go to. Each of these children wrote a letter asking for specific items. These items ranged from a bicycle to a toy car. All the normal things a boy and girl would ask for on their birthday and Christmas. The family also receives a huge bag of food. Items include: rice, chicken, cooking oil, snacks, etc. A great deal of food that will last them a few days.

One of the workers directed us to a room where they had all the toys organized by family. A lot of work went into getting these items and having them ready for when the kids arrived to give them. The bus finally pulled up and all the happy kids departed the bus. They were greeted with singing and hugs from the organizers. What an experience for these kids! The kids were fed breakfast and were playing in the courtyard until it was time to go. The gifts were arranged in big bags and the kids were to open them at home. Us volunteers were sent out to wait by our cars to transport the kids home. I believe there was about 36 cars involved in this mass transit. As the kids walked out into the parking lot, they were yelling to their friends "Did you get what you wanted?" and "Yes, did you?" The excitement was wonderful and these kids were having a blast.

We ended up being the extra car transporting one of the center's organizers, extra food and the massive amount of toys that we brought with us. Since the kids had already asked for specific stuff, our toys were backup and we donated the rest after we were done. The line of cars driving to this neighborhood on the outskirts of town was impressive. Once in the neighborhood we split up into groups and started going door to door.

The first house was a small boy and girl who got a toy truck and bicycle. A very simple little home and the mother was pressure cooking beans. They smelled delicious. Each house was small talk, praising the kids on their new toys and a quick prayer. We also gave that huge bag of food to them. The next house was a little different with a small boy and a pregnant teenager. Very nice people and our children got to see a chicken lay an egg. There was two chickens tied together and you could tell that this was going to be their dinner that night. The next place we visited was the center's small outreach house in the neighborhood. Its a place for the kids to come and play. We then went back to the center to pick up more toys and returned to deliver 3 bicycles to three kids. What an amazing experience!

The work this center does is amazing! It was sad to see the families in the neighborhood that didn't receive anything, but they were not willing to do their part by attending the spiritual center. One neighbor actually called my wife over and asked for a bag of food. The rules were clear on who got the food, but my kind hearted wife gave one of our toys to a very small child in that house. You can't help them all and these people have the same opportunity to start attending the spiritual center. This is a very poor community and there is definitely drugs in the neighborhood. I can also assume that there is also some very bad people that live here too.

In this whole experience I have realized that I am very grateful for what I have. The experience my kids got from doing this is also a great thing. Letting them see how good they have it and to see that not everyone lives like we do. A lot of parents shelter their children from the bad parts of life and I think it's better to expose them to it. Let them know that their is people suffering out there and to help when able. Not entirely a handout but a helping hand.



            

Gifts for kids

When my wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday this year, I told her to have my guest bring a gift for a needy child. I had been to a birthday party earlier this year for my wife’s uncle and he did the same thing. It’s a great way to give back and make the children feel special this time of the year. There is a lot of poverty here and it’s not the child’s fault. They were born into poverty, so sad. It’s also a great way for our children to see how great their lives are and we should be very thankful. My mother in-law also did the same thing and added to my huge pile of gifts that we are going to donate.

So keep this in mind for your next birthday and give it a shot!    

A father of boys

Our boys are young and definitely not interested in girls yet. Which is a good thing, they will have plenty of time when they get older. I like to joke with them at times and will yell out "look at that pretty lady over there." I usually get the Dad, I don't like her, mommy is better, stop saying that, etc...

It's hilarious, but on one occasion it took a turn I did not see coming. This is the conversation that occurred while driving through our neighborhood.

Dad - Boys look at that pretty lady right there.
Son #2 - I don't like her.
Dad - Why?
Son #2 - She is too white for me, I like dark girls.
Dad - (I'm in shock) Uh uh, oh.
Son #2 - Yeah, dark is better.

This is from a 5 year old! Looking back now I'm still laughing at him saying this. It is true that kids will say the darnedest things. You never know what you will get when talking to them.

Son #1 ignored me and didn't say a word...my tricks are getting outdated for this 9 year old.

I guess I better step it up and start the embarrassing part of being his father. I think its time for a fanny pack.

Tires for the car

The roads here in Brazil can be a little rough during the rainy season and there are a few roads that just weren't built that well. At times you will see huge craters in the road that are big enough to swallow a small car. The road workers try their best to keep up with repairing the roads, but with this much rain it almost impossible. During the dry season the roads are usually better.

I've had a few problems with flat tires, a couple nails and another time I hit a huge pot hole that broke the bead on the tire. It was time to get a few new ones. So I contacted my Brazilian friend who works at the garage I get oil changes from and he is also the owners son. You will learn here, that loyalty is important and most businesses will reward a return customer with discounts. It's a general maintenance car shop that does engine repairs and other stuff. Not a tire shop, but my friend assured me that he could get me a great deal on tires. That's great, I figured he could or that he had another garage to refer me to.

It seemed everything was in place; date, time, prices for the different brands of tires and oil change. This was arranged a week in advance. I contacted my friend the day prior to confirm the appointment and to pick the brand of tire I would like. He reconfirmed that they were ready for me to be there the next day and that "Luciana" was expecting me. My friend unfortunately was out of town and wouldn't return until after New Years. Not a big problem, but I was hoping he would be there to make this a smooth process. Oh well, stuff happens and we all need to just roll with it.

I get up early that morning and drag the kids with me to this garage that is about a 30 minute drive away. Yes there is closer garages, but remember the loyalty thing. My in-laws also use this same garage and they were the ones who took me here in the past. Its our place to go for car needs and I think my mother in-law had done something to help these folks out in the past. There is also a huge shopping area close to this garage I like to walk around in. I usually don't buy anything there because it is the very cheap Chinese made stuff. It reminds me of any Chinatown you may have visited with the shops pretty much on top of each other and interesting things to see. A lot of knock off stuff!

We arrived and drove into the garage, my oldest son said "Wow Dad this is a beautiful garage." Indeed it is! Very well kept and maintained. A place I would recommend to anyone and I am glad I found this gem of a place. I parked and ushered the kids into the waiting room and proceeded to look for "Luciana" or someone else I may recognize. I ended up with a mechanic I never met before, but he seemed to know who I was and what I wanted. I explained to him in broken Portuguese what I needed done and showed him that I wanted the front right tire to go back as the spare tire. Told him that Hankook (Korean) was the brand I wanted and he agreed that was a good choice. All was good, went to the waiting room to wait.

As we sat there the kids got restless and I decided to walk them around the small shops. We left and walked around and returned in about 20 minutes. The mechanic saw us walk back in, but was busy on the phone. I knew something was wrong when my car was sitting in the middle of the garage ready to go...no new tires. He got off the phone and took me out into the garage to show me what he did. It was partly right, moved the front right tire back to being the spare tire and put my repaired tire back on. I had repaired this tire at another place a week ago to get me by until I could arrange tires at this place.

In my broken Portuguese I asked where was my new tires? He replied that they were not a tire shop and I was in need of new tires. I told him, that's why I'm here. He explained that they don't do tires and hey look at this tire...it's not good. He then proceeded to take a photo of it and my license plate just incase something happened. You know cover your ass type of stuff. I did the palm to the forehead and then kindly asked if the oil had got changed at least. Sadly, no and he didn't have time to do it right now.

What a mess, it wasn't that much of a language barrier but a huge screw up on my friends part. I am not sure why he thought that they could do this, but he wasn't there to fix the problem. I sent him a nice message telling him what happened and it went without a reply for awhile. Uh oh, he knows that he screwed up and is avoiding me. A few hours later he replied with "Oh my god, I am so sorry." He just woke up and is 3 hours behind us in Mexico on vacation. He will fix this when he returns. I told him no problem and that I will deal with it next week. He is on vacation and at that point I didn't want to bother him. Enjoy yourself man!

It's what I would like to call "Its Brazil" type of situation. Whenever something happens and someone is like "why isn't this working" or "What happened" I say this. He probably thought it was no big deal to do this type of work and is willing to do anything to please the family. Things happen here and there is not much you can do about it. I am disappointed to not get this done and will now need to find another place next week. It's hard to explain the culture here, but it is for the most part laid back and people want to make you happy. Yeah, I wasted my morning for nothing but what can I do about it.

Well thanks for reading and being part of my daily struggles here...to be continued!                

Found the culprits that are eating my fruit! Each morning we wake up and open all the doors and windows, let the breeze flow through the house. It's necessary to open the house and let nature do its job by cooling it down throughout the day. There is no central air system, only fans and the small air conditioning units you can put in each room. It gets hot at times, but nothing that we can't solve by taking shelter under a fan. 

It happens every once in awhile, usually if we have a lazy day and take a nap. Windows and some of the doors stay open. We live in a closed community that is very safe for Brazil. The front doors may get closed and locked while we nap, but not all the time. Well on a couple of these times I have came out to the fruit on the kitchen counter has been eaten a little. You can see where the birds peck at it with their beaks. They usually leave a couple droppings to say hey we were here and thank you! 

It's the price we pay to live in paradise and we love it! The 2 photos show them looking in and this time I had the window closed. Its wild here and its awesome to be so close to nature!     

Kids School

Since we moved to Brazil, I have taken on the role as Mr. Mom. It’s been challenging for a guy who spent the last 20 plus years working a hectic job of odd hours and long trips away from home. This caring and feeding of kids was never a full-time job for me. Now don’t get me wrong, I am loving it! The boys have done a total reverse and are more attached to me now. Before it was always the fall and get hurt yell for Mommy, now its Daddy. Sometimes I get busy and think “oh crap, did I feed the kids lately.” Usually I have or I ask if they are hungry and they already got a snack. They are at an age where they can help themselves, which is a good thing.

Currently I am Mr. Mom, full time student completing my MBA on-line (teach yourself), teach English to about 5 clients and complete most of the chores around the house. Yeah, I know most of my friends think I’m living the life of luxury and don’t do much, but I can say my days are jammed packed. Currently I have a load of laundry in…specifically the pants and other types of shorts. I’m positive there is probably another name for the classification of these types of cloths, but I don’t know what to call it. I break it down like this: Pants & shorts, shirts, underwear & sock, kids school uniforms, delicate stuff and towels. The only white stuff is usually kids uniforms which wash by themselves. Well anyways that’s some of the crap I’m doing today and I’m not very good at it. They smell good in the end and some of the stains come out.

Sometimes I miss a few things and I will tell a short story about what I missed this morning. Like every Monday – Friday morning I am up at 0630 to get kids to school by 0735. Yes, that early, but they get off at 1200 to come home. A little different then the full days like American kids do. Dressed, breakfast, the scramble to get to school at a decent time. As we are walking in I see the sign up for end of year parent teacher conferences. A highly valued get signed up now before it fills up and I can’t align the times so both kids will have their meetings close to the same time. I sent the kids on their way to the classrooms while I heroically jumped into the mix of crazy moms to get my coveted spots.

Yes, I am the only everyday drop and pick up the kid’s dad. Some of the other dads do it a few times a week but not every day. I know, that I’m not that good at seeing upcoming events and planning for stuff that a mom would realize. After my victory of getting great times for the parent teacher conferences, I head over to the outdoor area where they do events at the school. I knew my youngest kid had been practicing singing each day for the past few weeks and this was the day to sing for us parents. He told me every day that his teacher was mean for making him sing and he hated it. Complained he would get thirsty and she always was making him sing louder. I thought it was funny!

Well as I am sitting front row seat, a victory! I get a call from my wife…not happy wife. She says, “teacher just called and is very mad that our son doesn’t have a monkey costume on.” Well the costume part was a complete surprise to me. “it was in his journal to have a costume for today.” I didn’t see a memo to have one, sorry. “well fix it or go explain to him why he can’t sing this morning.” As you can see from this conversation, I am in big trouble and it’s not a possibility to have a monkey costume in 10 minutes. I could make him into an army dude or burglar by getting some grease from the car engine and rubbing it on his face. Not an option though, its toxic and wouldn’t go with the animal theme the teacher was going for.

I get up from my prized seat and head to the classroom, as I walk in he is facing away from me. I’m not sure what to expect when I kneel beside him. I say “hey buddy I’m really sorry, I didn’t know about the monkey costume.” He is not upset at all but says “does this mean I don’t have to sing?’’ Right then and there I knew this was a good thing. I told him I missed it in the journal that I sometimes look at and then tell him he can come home for the day. He practically danced his way to the car and was so happy not to have to sing those horrible songs.

I feel bad that I missed this and he didn’t get the experience to sing in front of the school. I plan to pay more attention and not get caught up in the other stuff I got going on. In the end, I realized that it ended up good! He was happy to not sing, skip school, poop at home, play on his I-Pad, etc. I got the best times for parent teacher conference, had front row seat (which is rare) and got to spend time with the youngest while I did the laundry this morning and he talked to me while he pooped. It’s hard to hold an I-Pad at that time and he makes that the dad let’s talk time.

Thanks for reading,

A very happy and grateful Daddy

            

The birds of paradise!

Where I live in Brazil we have these odd birds named Ema's (Emu). I'm not sure how many there are in our neighborhood, but there is a bunch of them. They are scavengers, will eat just about anything from baby snakes to discarded leftover french fries. It must work, I have never seen a snake here. They normally don't bother anyone and usually only thing they damage is small shrubs. I am grateful to have something that wanders around and eats junk that would otherwise attract unwanted animals and bugs. One interesting fact I have learned about the Emu is that the dad's sit on the eggs and then raise the babies once they hatch. In three of the pictures attached you can see the little ones. Also, each male has three to five females...not sure if this is a good thing or not. They are not native of Brazil, but are a great thing to have around.

Not sure if you can eat them or not.
   

Hey everyone! Saw these bad ass cars the other day. Always wanted a VW bug (not pink) or a dune buggy looking thing. Thought they were both pretty cool and I hope the pink bug is a girls car. Maybe someday I will get the opportunity to get one of these to beat around. Until then I will enjoy my Mitsubishi Outlander!   

Love this time of the year

I guess it's technically spring time here in Brazil. You know, the total opposite of America where it is very cold. For me, I think Brazil only has two seasons, dry and wet for six months of each. The temperature is very similar throughout the year. It does get a little cold in June and extremely hot in August but the rest of the year is 22 - 32 celsius (71 - 90 fahrenheit). Perfect weather to open the windows and doors each day. Let the air flow through the house. Almost each day now it rains a little here and there. Where I live it tends to rain less than it does in the big city nearby. We can see parts of Goiania from the neighborhood and a lot of times it is a downpour there and nothing here. I guess the heat of the city makes the clouds explode. With all this rain the trees and grass are bright green. The total opposite of the brown and dead looking when it's the dry season. I will never complain about all the rain because we suffer during the dry season. The rainy season is extremely nice and I welcome the rain each day. So if anyone wants to know what season it is here in Goias state, I would say its wet or dry instead of the normal four seasons you would experience in America.  

Its awesome to live here and experience the wonderful weather and even the culture. Has it been a tough transition, yes it has and I am still trying to adjust. Sometimes the cultures clash with one another like a torrential downpour and it's to be expected. I am grateful for this wonderful opportunity! Can't wait to see what the New Year will bring for me and especially my family.

Thanks for reading!       

Bird...the one that got away!

On Monday I was outside with the kids and the construction workers next door flagged me down. They asked if I was missing a bird or knew someone who had a bird like this. It was time for them to leave work and taking a bird out the gate through security wasn't an option. I took the bird and went to my house with him. His right wing is clipped and he can not fly. He or she was very friendly and didn't mind being touched and carried around. I went next door with him to ask the neighbor if they had a cage to keep him in and to get some food. They didn't have one and the one time he tried to fly away he just crashed landed on the floor next to me. So I wasn't worried about him getting away.

Next I went into the house to show my wife that we now have a bird. At first she was not thrilled and said get him out of here. In the meantime I was growing attached. I had grabbed a handful of bird food from neighbor and also gave him peanuts and crackers. Little guy was very hungry and thirsty. I took him out to the garage to feed and find a perch for him to sit on. My wife came out and I asked her to go get a cage at a store. My intentions were to keep him until we found the owner or make him a forever home with us. He was actually a bird who liked to be held and didn't mind attention unlike the other birds I have seen here.

I decided to see if he minded a box for just one night and that got him all crazy. Not an option and the likelihood my wife would find a place to buy a bird cage this late in the day was zero to none. My next idea was a wine bottle holder with a few sticks secured through it. More comfortable than metal on his feet for the first night. He also climbed all round it like it was a playground for him and seemed to be very good at using his beak to climb. With the perfect cut of the wing and the fact he was touchable, I knew he was a pet of someone and he was loved for sure.

He ate a ton of food for such a small bird and drank a lot. I had finished putting a few sticks through the wine holder and securing them with wire. As he moved around the sticks would fall off and it scared him so they had to be secured. Next I was working on a food and drink container. My idea was to put him in the bathroom for the night so he would be safe. Pet store trip tomorrow to buy a proper bird house or go to my wife's grandmothers house to borrow an old cage she had. I was on the fence of spend money or don't because the real owner could show up to claim him

Now here comes the bad part, as I was doing all this work to secure him for the night. He was hanging out eating, drinking and climbing around the perch I made for him. A few times he crash landed onto the floor and walked around. No more than a 10 foot radius. Well, he did it one last time and must of caught the wind just right coming out of the patio into the backyard. He cleared a huge row of tall bushes separating my backyard and neighbors. I took off running and couldn't get through the thick bushes. Through the bushes I could see him crash land and take another leap and flapping his wings across the neighbor's yard. As I ran around the hedge row I lost sight of him.

I spent the next hour looking for him until the sun went down. Met a new neighbor and got to see their beautiful house in the process. They let us search their yard and look around for the little guy, but couldn't find him. With his color it's almost impossible to find him when he is in the grass or brushes. I wish him luck and looked for him yesterday and a little today. Hopefully he is a survivor and will make it. There is a lot of cats around here and I'm sure he will eventually be cat food if not found. I will keep an eye out and security is aware that a pet bird is on the loose. Maybe someone else will catch him.

My kids are now asking for a pet bird. I am opposed to buying one from a pet store, because I believe they all belong in the wild. Don't want to support this behavior of collecting birds and selling them as pets. It's a shame they do this and cut their wings so they can't fly. I am however, for rescuing injured birds and would accept one this way. Maybe we can find one this way, we will see.

The kids are always trying to convince me to get a pet. Can we have a dog...no fence, can we get a cat...there is a cat at your grandparents, can we get a bird...the neighbor has two, can he get a guinea pig...they stink. I have lots of excuses! The fact I just lost a bird who can not fly should tell you maybe I am not fit to take care of animals. I am a little heart broken I lost him...        

The shower has electricity going to it...Zap

Let's talk about the wiring here in Brazil. It's very similar to American wiring, just a little bit more juice involved and some caveman style application. The voltage here is 220 volts and I have experienced a jolt a few times with the well that doesn't work. A little more painful then the standard 110 volts like in America. The weird part here in Brazil, is the whole country is not 220 volts. There is parts of the country, mainly around São Paulo that are 110 volts. Plus, many Brazilians buy in America and bring the electronics here. Its standard to see a 220v-110v converters here and there. I have a bunch of them in random sizes depending on the appliance they are used for around my house.

There is also no water heater tanks in the houses here like you would find in an American house. The only type of water heaters I have seen here are for the pool and shower. Yes, there is wires going to the shower. At first it seems like you got to be kidding me and then its who the hell thought of this. That's 220 volts right above my head, when I am naked and wet. All I can think of is those warning pictures of a man standing in water messing with electrical wires. This is a very odd thing for an American.

Well, if you have read my earlier post on the rain in my office, you would of heard about my shower head debacle. So, these showers are very expensive and fancy with a digital temperature gauge. They are also not very good quality. The water here has some calcium build up and will clog very fine holes like the ones in these showers. So I have started a little graveyard of the ones that blew up and use what parts I can to keep the last one working. I am hoping to get another piece to fix the other shower in the master bedroom (the head). The only reason I like them is because I can see the temperature. The basic showers that I replaced the others with have 3 selections of temperature: warm, hot and extremely hot. Its nice to select an exact temperature!

I went out and bought 3 basic showers to put in the boys bedrooms and the guest bedroom. For a little while we shared the the master bathroom shower and it was getting crowded each night trying to get ready for bed. Time for them to move back to their rooms. The new showers were a great price at R$120 (USD $37.50). As you can see in the pictures they are huge and have two different ways for the water to spray out. A true rainfall shower and that is actually a true statement here. The water to the house is gravity fed from the two large tanks in the tower on the roof.

The problem with the new showers for me was the fact they were not pre-wired to just plug into the wall. A very weird concept of buying a supposedly ready to use shower but you need to wire it to plug into the wall. Or there is another way...shove the 3 wires into the receptacle. The shower adapter to the water line screwed in easy and the whole shower attached to that. So easy to install but now it was time for the wire part. It took me about a week to work up the courage to shove wires directly into the receptacle. Yes, I turned off the circuit breakers to the house...all of them. Just because a receptacle is in your kitchen doesn't mean the circuit breaker box next to the kitchen is responsible for it. Found that out when we hooked up the dishwasher...a few kitchen receptacles go to the garage downstairs for some strange reason.

First I made sure a responsible adult was in the house, in case I had an accident and shocked the piss out of myself. Then I just went and did it! Prayed I put the wires in the correct holes even though the Internet told me it could be backwards. This could definitely happen here! All wires are in and I started the process of turning all 3 circuit breaker boxes back on. No strange bangs or burning smell and everything seems fine. Next was to test them out and see what happens. Luckily they all worked and no problems at all.

Old Showers, one is currently inoperable 

New awesome simple shower with wires shoved in the receptacle 

For me this is a strange concept of no water heater for the whole house and the fact you can shove the wires into the receptacle. Well until next time, thanks for reading!  

       

Textbooks for school

I am in the process of going to school on-line for my MBA with a focus particularly in International Business. This is my second semester taking classes and it has been running pretty smoothly up until this point. Internet connection has had minimal times of not being connected, the electricity in the neighborhood has been really good lately and I was able to get all my books for the first semester on-line as E-Books. I rented two and bought a digital copy of the other. Really cheap, $110 for all 3 books and the VA pays me $250 each semester for books. A little extra in the pocket for myself!

Now, lets talk about this semester. I am in the first day of the 3rd week of both of these courses today. There was 3 required books that I had to find and only one was available digitally. This digital copy I got was off some Russian website and I probably have viruses now or Julian Assange is borrowing my e-mails to use later. Some funky things have been happening to my laptop too, not from the water problems either. I've tried to run antivirus stuff and delete some weird programs to no avail. I will mess with this at a later time.

Ok, the other two books had to be purchased on-line with international shipping. I actually paid more for taxes and shipping then I did for the books. Both books were purchased two weeks before this semester started and I just got the first one today.

Lets start with the Amazon purchase, I bought it and provided the correct address and my Brazilian tax ID (CPF). Without this tax ID customs will hold it forever and send it back eventually, sometimes. I assumed Amazon has had experience with international shipping, so I wasn't too worried about this book actually making it. Five weeks later I have it after the first book got held up in customs and they eventually abandoned it. When I finally got a hold of UPS they told me Amazon told them to throw it away and here is the name of who authorized it from Amazon. I then talked to Amazon and they claimed customs was on strike a few days and that is what caused the book being tossed out. So they reimbursed me and I bought another book through them without any additional cost to ship it to me. I'm happy they resolved it and I finally have this book now.

The other book was purchased through the only website I found it on. Its called Biblio.com and the book shipped from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with DHL. This should of been a key indicator that this was going to be all messed up. It had a nice journey too, from Malaysia, United Kingdom, Netherlands and finally to São Paulo...where it sat for a few weeks. DHL was very slow to answer any of my E-mails or phone calls and kept saying it processing customs. Even though it was a messed up place to have a English textbook to come from, I had some faith in DHL. They are a well known international shipping company. I would think that they were better than UPS and could find a way to correct problems easily. Well I finally got notified after the book was returned and why. The description on the package of what was inside was a bunch of random letters and numbers that meant nothing. Customs said hell no and kicked it back. I am now in a back and forth where is my replacement book and have no idea when I will get it.

So, for 3 weeks I have been winging it and still getting A's. The one digital book I got from the beginning of the course hasn't been used once. I have been mainly looking for key words in the questions provided by the professors and google searching for some materials to write about. We are supposed to be taken quotes out of the readings from the textbooks to support our ideas and I have somehow used references from what my classmates have posted in the discussions without both professors realizing it. Either I am very good at BSing or just lucky.

I am now laughing at this but I have lost my mind a few times. Hopefully the other book will be here soon. The logistics of living abroad can be a hassle at times.

Trash can...its wild here!

I just lifted up the trash can in the bathroom and about 50 huge ants fell out the bottom of it! A little excitement to say the least. I redneck threw the trash can out the front door into the yard, which was a good idea, because there was more in there. I took the electric bug zapper and started giving the ones on the floor some juice and smashing them. Lots of zaps and the smell of hell yeah, die! These little bastards have large pinchers on the front of them and I have found similar ones on one of my sons soccer uniform after practice. They mean business and do pinch if they get to you. Its wild here folks and stuff like this happens on a normal basis.

Water Problems

The Shower Head Graveyard!

Friction on the concrete floor

Shut-Off valve that blew apart

So I had a little water problem here lately. Not from the rain as one might expect, but from the water pressure coming from the city connection. Yes, in a 3rd world country the pressure can be too much. I know I didn't believe it at first. When the water tank would signal to fill back up, the jolt of water pressure caused one pipe to wear through over a 8 month period and another fitting to destroy itself. With these two events happening it caused it to rain in our office twice in 1 week. Not once, but twice! We found the first problem and fixed it, didn't see the other problem until it was too late for another event.

First episode of rain in the house happened because of the friction on a pipe laying on the concrete floor upstairs wore through. It sprung a leak sometime in the night and slowly filled every crevice in the water tank area until it seeped through the ceiling into the office. Yes, the office with many important electronics, books, documents and other nice to have stuff is directly under two huge water tanks and all the associated pluming. I think I would of rethought this process when designing the house, but at the time I didn't think of it. So, like every week day I get up at 0630 to get the kids ready for school. As I am walking down the hallway I hear the sound of rain...I just walked by a window and noticed there was no rain outside. It was a beautiful sunny morning. I ran as fast as I could to see what was going on. As I rounded the corner I saw water rushing out of the office into the house. I started grabbing everything I could and yelling to the wife for help (big mistake, I will explain later). She comes running out to help. I get what I really thought was important and started to think of what to do. Got to stop this in the house rainfall. Once I feel she can rescue the rest I head out to grab a ladder from the garage and head up on the roof. The water tank area is an enclosed tower on the roof. I get in there and immediately find the tower on the bottom level is about 2 - 3 inches of water. I shut off the incoming water from the street and open the valve to dump both hot tub size water tanks. The tanks dump in a matter of minutes. I come off the roof and run to the street to turn that valve off too...wanted to make sure there was no water at all coming in.

Wow, that's a huge event for so early in the morning! Now, we started the process of cleaning up the water. Buckets, rags, towels and whatever else to sweep and mop the water out the front door. Mind you I'm doing this with my wife...and she is not happy with me. I'm clueless of why she may be mad at me and not the fact we just had a huge rain in our office. A hour later when she returns from dropping kids off at school, she tells me the next time something like this happens to come in the bedroom and wake her up nicely. I tried to explain the extreme circumstances of this event and realized this was a losing battle.

Well glad we were home when this happened and prevent everything from being destroyed. If we were away this would of continued for a long time until we came home to discover it. It was the main line to the house and there is no safety device to realize oh no I am sending a lot of water into this house. I fixed it with the help of the neighbors worker who is repairing her roof. I went and got a new pipe with two fittings and we fixed it. I took up some old rags to put around the pipes where I thought they might rub or chafe. What a mess! Cased closed and what the hell was that!

Nope, it happened again but in a different spot the very next day! This time, it was much more and the video is attached to show you. It was like a waterfall coming out of the ceiling light and splashing all over. We were gone most of the day and I decided to come home instead of staying longer at the in-laws house. My wife sent me a message saying she was coming back to work from home. We were in the house no more that ten minutes and I was preparing the kids a snack and my wife was just walking in the door. This time she heard it first and we both ran to see what was happening. Again rainfall in the office but this was a torrential rainfall. We did the same as last time and started to grab everything important and then I ran first to the street to shut off the water valve. Which was the best decision ever, because the only shutoff valve upstairs was the one the blew up. If I would of went up there first and found out there was no way to stop it. It was like a damn fire hose going off up there. We completed the same process of clean up and this time the wife wasn't mad at me. Maybe its because she found it first and yelled for me to help.

This time we contacted the plummer who did all this work to fix his mess. I am no licensed and certified professional plummer but the fact he had put pipes on the concrete floor and didn't realize the pressure was a bit much tells you he is not very good. Although he did fix his mistakes, it will be a cold day in hell before we call him again and we have also had other water problems before this. I will give a short paragraph at the end of the other problems that could be his fault or maybe just bad luck. After he completed the work I looked everything over and made sure it was all legit. We reduced the pressure by restricting the flow to the house by only opening the shutoff valve upstairs half way and the one on the street halfway. The filling of the tank is much slower but at a decent pressure. Ok, I am now satisfied nothing else will happen!

Two day later I come out of the house to find two garden hose connections spraying water up into the air. The water meter reading guy decided he didn't like the fact we only opened the valve halfway. He opened it all the way causing too much pressure to the outside connections. I can't win! So, I replaced the two outside spigots and hopefully they will hold. Please, I hope this is the end of it!

Now let me tell you briefly of the other water problems. First is the well that was drilled in our front yard. Hasn't worked since day one of moving in the house. I tried to look it over and found out if you touch the electrical box to the pump it will shock you with 220 volts. So, I turned off the power to it and haven't touched it since. Next is the laundry room area, the drain to the sinks was plugged and would cause it to leak into the garage through the ceiling and then next we found out the washing machine drain pipe was also plugged. This caused a hole to develop in the garage ceiling and for the same plummer to come fix it a few months before the rain in the office. Lastly, the bathroom showers in all 4 bathrooms plugged up and exploded except for one. I take a sewing needle and shove it through all the holes where the water comes out of the shower head roughly once a week. Its about 40 holes and takes sometime. The water here seems to be a little hard and develops crusty chunks in these shower heads. I have replaced 3 of them some far with simple showers, but I am trying to save the last one in the master bedroom. It's fancy and has a digital temperature gauge. Its a double shower in there and the other side is just the body of the fancy shower and I am in the process of trying to find where I can just buy the shower head part. Hopefully this week I will figure out the place!

So as you can see, we have had a few problems. Nothing that has questioned my move here, but has made me more aware of future potential problems. Its Brazil, things are more difficult here. Even with a brand new house you can expect some problems. I know, in America it would be very rare to experience anything like this within the first few years of a new build.

Well I hope you enjoyed this and had a few laughs at my expense! Thanks...