The Last Good-bye...

It has taken me a week to be able to write this. I think I needed that time to re-coop.

Well, we have left Brazil. Our contract ended, and we are going back the the States. My house is packed and gone to the shippers. I hope to see it in about 4 months, though the company thinks it will be here in 6-8 weeks. We will see! Let's see, in the last two weeks I went from a house to an apartment; from the apartment to a hotel; from the hotel to an apartment. We will be in our house next month. So this really does not feel like we are back yet. We are settled but not. It is interesting to feel like you are in a transition period for a month or two.


Our final two weeks in Brazil were filled with "See You Later" parties. I don't like the word goodbye. It is so final, even though I titled this blog with it. So I think we said "see you later" about 10 times. It was very difficult to do. Even now I miss everyone. It doesn't feel like we really left yet. Even though it was an interesting leaving. Unfortunately, my husband had business to complete, so we could not leave together on the same plane. He was heading one place and I was heading to another through JFK. I had nine of the 12 suitcases with me and the kids. That made it interesting. Well let me tell you the whole of it...


In Sao Paulo you need to leave for the airport early, like 4 hours before your flight. This is because the traffic could cause you problems. Sometimes there are accidents, or just major traffic, and you need to account for that. Of course we got to the airport in about an hour. Traffic was bad, but not too bad. So the boys and I have to wait in the airline's club room for two hours before our flight. Yes the club room. We left in style- a very comfy business class! The room was not a problem. The boys got munchies to tide them over and we got to watch very good looking soccer players on the television. Spain against Portugal. I usually root for the team with the cutest players, but it was a wash. They both did. So I rooted for Spain. They won. Yey! Okay, we got to the plane to board. That is when listening skills disappeared. My boys did not want to listen on what seat they had. The flight attendant then brought me a glass of champagne. So I sat by the window and the boys were together in the middle. Bad move. My thought was they could play and have fun. Well. There was a maintenance delay. They did not play and have fun. They argued. So business class got to listen while I tried to rein them in. The flight attendant brought me another glass of champagne. Then I just had to separate them. An hour in the car, two hours in the club room, then 1.5 on the plane waiting for the maintenance crew to finish was just too long for them. Why did they not fix the problem before the flight was supposed to take off? Really people! I was not a happy camper anyway. Did you know that if you are a knitter and leave from Sao Paulo, you can take your knitting needles on board the airplane? That was a shocker to me. I know this because there were two knitters in the two rows in front of me. And yes, they were knitting with wool. Just my luck. Since my boys decided listening wasn't on the agenda, there were no movies allowed to be watched. So they fell asleep and business class was once again quiet. 


In the morning we arrive in JFK an hour after scheduled time. So that left us with 50 minutes to get through passport control, luggage, customs, recheck, and re-board. We were up for the challenge. So I asked for a short line in passport, then got to the luggage carousel and waited. Eight minutes later our luggage came out. Okay, two boys, one mom and 9 bags of luggage. How to do this and get through customs? Okay, mom you take the two giant wheely bags, toss the duffel on top and the computer bag, big boy,take the smaller wheely suitcase and the backpack and the carry-on wheely, little boy, take the other back pack and the two wheely duffels. Okay got it! No there was no skycap available, and I did not have the time to go find one nor the money on hand to get a cart. Okay got through customs. Now to recheck the bags. Great. Got in line; made it to the front; cut my hand on a metal thing sticking out of one of the suitcase handles; bled all over the place till I realized I did this. The agent looked horrified that there was blood on my ticket, then tells us we better hurry because we have to get a train to the next terminal. Great. A very nice gentleman helped point is to the correct train for the next terminal. I thought we were home free. We had 15 minutes to get to the plane. No, not home free. In JFK if you are switching terminals you need to go through security again. Luckily for me we were in first class for our next flight. So we got in the line for the first class security. Only one man in front of us, good. Okay, get the computer out of the back pack, get the carry-ons on the belt, get my shoes off, and wait my turn. Got it. Okay, get everything off the belt, get the computer back in the bag, and forget about putting on the shoes. Take them and run! Leave security area, where is our gate? There, okay boys let's book it! We ran to our gate, we had 10 minutes to spare and we were the last to board. Made it! 


After about 18 hours (we have figured) of sitting, I think my leg muscles atrophied. But, we all made it. We are here now and together. We will adapt to our new living environment soon I hope. Have we said good-bye to Sao Paulo? I think not. We love the city and its country. There is still the World Cup and the Olympics. Besides, we still have friends there. And even if their contracts expire and they move on, we will still be in touch, where ever they are. Last good-bye? No. More like I will see you later...