Furniture and Acclimating.

Yes, after almost three months since being packed and two months since we have been here, our furniture and boxes have finally arrived. We did not anticipate the length of time it would take to get through customs in Brazil. So in the future we will pack our air shipment (which only took 3 weeks not the 5 days we were told) more intelligently. I should have taken a picture of the house will all of the boxes and wrapped stuff everywhere. It was very overwhelming. But we got through it and are relaxing.

I wish I could say I am relaxing on my comfy couch or my bed. But wait, those have not arrived yet. The pieces were too big to fit through the elevator so the movers have to bring them over the balcony. Yey! At least they got my piano through the elevator. That would have been way stressful to see that come over the balcony. A bottle of wine would have been drank (or is it drunk). So we have to wait for the last three pieces. But why build an apartment building where stuff can't fit through doors? Most of them are like that here. Which does not make any sense to me. Anyway, the movers were supposed to come on Monday, but that didn't happen. Then they were supposed to come Wednesday. Again, that didn't happen. Now they are supposed to come on Friday. We will see. Apparently, this is normal for Brazil. So I better get used to it. When it does arrive, I will have pictures.

Now that the furniture is here we can feel more at home. We have tried to get acquainted with the country though and have not relied on "American things" to feel better, well except for JIF peanut butter.

What have we been doing to get acquainted? Well thank you for asking. Here are some things:

1. Watch American movie titles on the guide and try to figure out what movie it actually is. Two that stand out are "Busca Explosiva II" for "The Marine", and "Novias Em Guerra" for "The Devil Wears Prada". Yes that does not make any sense, but it is fun to try to guess the name of the movie.

2. Go to as many restaurants as possible. Well, not anymore now that I have a set of decent pots and pans.

3. Try to make brownies without access to Betty Crocker boxed mix, chocolate chips, good cocoa powder, or correct consistency of sugar. They did not turn out too bad, but they did fall apart when cut.

4. Play a game. We play, what is floating in the river today kids? Usually it is brown sludge. I definitely do not want to know what that is. I do not think it is brownies that did not turn out well. There is a couch down there at the moment. It is a very nice color from here. I think we saw its companion burned to a crisp on the highway a few weeks ago.

So see we are not doing too bad. And with unpacking all of this junk, I don't want to move again for a while. But don't tell that to my husband's boss!