Sorry the posts are getting fewer and farther between, not much is new as the office continues the round from transfer to zone conferences and back, the gates don't work then get fixed.... I have some not-so-good photos to help remember things, and a few notes.
The really big (somewhat sad) news is that Sister Chambers returned home to Missouri.
She was glad to have a car again and to go to her favorite Mexican restaurant, but the office is definitely not the same without her. She recorded something like 1,100 baptismal records and hundreds if not thousands of referrals. She taught the missionaries to fill out the forms clearly and correctly and they all loved her. She was as hard-working as any young missionary! And as she and others left, a really big group of newbies came, always fun but tricky when its such a big group at once - they all need trainers and apartments and people kept being taken off or added to the list right up to the last minute. There seem to be a lot of visa problems right now.
Atacado dos Presentes has been mentioned before, it is the big buy-everything store. Its crazy busy most of the time and the lines can go not only back and forth across pretty much the entire store but also down a very long aisle. Sometimes the preferential line is faster but sometimes not.
We have found that sweet corn is available in the frozen section sometimes and usually its just great, but this time not so much. the same thing happens with green beans, usually fine but once in a while full of sticks and stems and withered beans.
The RioMar mall likes to go all out, they are already working on their four-story Christmas tree. Before that was this giant ball pit, likely in honor of Dias das Criancas (Childrens Day).
I suppose since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving we can't complain if they don't wait until after it to start Christmas Decorating. We like this mall because it has some good food. Durk believes that Maderos really does have the Best Hamburger in the World. They bake their buns up fresh in-store, for a start...
Durk went in to have a trigger finger looked at. The three receptionists were quite official-looking in their matching dark red blazers (I think this is his third or fourth time up there for that visit). Even to just get a shot it requires a sonogram (another place, another appointment, another very long wait, results: "possible trigger finger" -- what a surprise!) and now a wait for insurance approval which is not actually needed. Who knows the total time that will be invested by the time he gets the shot. Just imagine if he went for the surgery.
And enterprising gentleman has started charging for parking on the rubble across the street. He started at R$1, then upped to 2, then 3, then "down" to R$2.99 even though there's no chance anyone is getting the penny back from their 3. Last Sunday was a big testing day (like the SAT) and he charged 5. We don't know if the owners have anything to do with it, likely not - the school next door owns it to build on. The man has a clipboard and bustles about writing down their license numbers or something, and he can provide cardboard scraps for sunshades on the windshield, no idea if that costs extra. There seems to be a lot of unemployment and we are impressed at the ingenuity of some.
Somehow I'd like to get a photo that shows the bright yellow front of these birds. I got a closeup of one who kept tapping on our window the other day like he really wanted to come in. He let me get quite close but the shady window area with the bright sunlight behind and him always moving made the photo less than stellar.
I also still hope to someday catch this line of furniture fixing shops, narrow areas stuffed with furniture to the ceiling on the sides, usually the men are working in the doorways.
Next to each other, the block above and below. That's Recife's variety.
Brasil has "day of the dead" or "All Souls Day" or whatever translation you like. They have adopted Halloween a bit, mainly to paint faces and have parties apparently. The Brasilian holiday is Nov. 2 and is usually marked by trips to cemeteries. We wore our costumes from earlier celebration at the office to a ward activity, Here is Durk disguised as Elder R. Carvalho and me as Sister I. Sousa. If you don't think so, look closely at the nametags.....
You can't have any sort of gathering or activity without photos.
The mangoes on "our" mango tree seems to have slowed down a lot in their growth but the tree also flowered again in the meantime. And down the street at the school next to the office, their tree really looks full! There are at least six varieties of mango around here, I am told. You'd think we'd be eating them more often.
One of the porteiros for our complex passed away, (he had been looking like it was likely - don't know how old he was). They asked everyone in the complex for donations and then posted a complete report of how much the funeral cost and said there was enough to give extra to the family. Durk says we should come here when we feel we are about to die, because including flowers, transportation and everything it was about $400.
We have a new temple couple here, the Harris' from Manti Utah (they haven't lived there really long but still knew our Uncle Don, Judge Tibbs:) and there was supposed to be another from Idaho but their visas haven't arrived. Harrises work the later shift so we might try going to out together on Mondays sometimes instead of Fridays, when the temple is closed.
I did find a nice-looking vegetarian buffet restaurant only eight minutes walk from our place, but it turns out they are only open mid-day (that's when people eat the main meal, they think its pretty bizarre that we might eat a sandwich for lunch).
That's all my rambling for today, sorry if some of the comments are repeats. Thank you!
The really big (somewhat sad) news is that Sister Chambers returned home to Missouri.
I suppose since they don't celebrate Thanksgiving we can't complain if they don't wait until after it to start Christmas Decorating. We like this mall because it has some good food. Durk believes that Maderos really does have the Best Hamburger in the World. They bake their buns up fresh in-store, for a start...
 |
| You can see he works on keeping it swept and some places are looking pretty good where there is still tile from the floors f the bldgs that were knocked down. (Look closely in the shade, he's there waving) |
And enterprising gentleman has started charging for parking on the rubble across the street. He started at R$1, then upped to 2, then 3, then "down" to R$2.99 even though there's no chance anyone is getting the penny back from their 3. Last Sunday was a big testing day (like the SAT) and he charged 5. We don't know if the owners have anything to do with it, likely not - the school next door owns it to build on. The man has a clipboard and bustles about writing down their license numbers or something, and he can provide cardboard scraps for sunshades on the windshield, no idea if that costs extra. There seems to be a lot of unemployment and we are impressed at the ingenuity of some.
Brasil has "day of the dead" or "All Souls Day" or whatever translation you like. They have adopted Halloween a bit, mainly to paint faces and have parties apparently. The Brasilian holiday is Nov. 2 and is usually marked by trips to cemeteries. We wore our costumes from earlier celebration at the office to a ward activity, Here is Durk disguised as Elder R. Carvalho and me as Sister I. Sousa. If you don't think so, look closely at the nametags.....
The mangoes on "our" mango tree seems to have slowed down a lot in their growth but the tree also flowered again in the meantime. And down the street at the school next to the office, their tree really looks full! There are at least six varieties of mango around here, I am told. You'd think we'd be eating them more often.
One of the porteiros for our complex passed away, (he had been looking like it was likely - don't know how old he was). They asked everyone in the complex for donations and then posted a complete report of how much the funeral cost and said there was enough to give extra to the family. Durk says we should come here when we feel we are about to die, because including flowers, transportation and everything it was about $400.
We have a new temple couple here, the Harris' from Manti Utah (they haven't lived there really long but still knew our Uncle Don, Judge Tibbs:) and there was supposed to be another from Idaho but their visas haven't arrived. Harrises work the later shift so we might try going to out together on Mondays sometimes instead of Fridays, when the temple is closed.
I did find a nice-looking vegetarian buffet restaurant only eight minutes walk from our place, but it turns out they are only open mid-day (that's when people eat the main meal, they think its pretty bizarre that we might eat a sandwich for lunch).
That's all my rambling for today, sorry if some of the comments are repeats. Thank you!
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