The Rest of Today

My day continued to stretch endlessly into the distance, and by 2:30 I was clock-watching. I knew Shaun's meeting was at 10:30, then he was hoping to go to CLiRe (Centro Liturea du Reformada) to find a Portuguese/English Bible. I assumed he would stop for lunch and then head home by around one. So I thought 2ish hours, probably a bit more, so 3-4 he would hopefully get home. At around 4 o' clock, who should stop by but Tamara and Karen and the kids, on their way home to Recife. The Van Spronsen van had broken down and was in the shop, so they decided to visit while waiting. They insisted I even run down to the next door gym to take a shower. That break in my day, with all the kids playing lego and watching a little TV (yes it was a TV sort of day) gave me that burst of energy and takes the edge off of irritability, if you know what I mean. And that shower, let me tell you, that feeling of freshness just makes your whole day decidedly better. They left at twenty to five, I started dinner, and at five Shaun pulled in. I was extremely excited as it felt like I had been waiting the whole day for him to get home (he had left at 8 in the morning). I was just thinking about getting worried, but I've already realized things just seem to take longer here .

If I had known how his day had gone, I probably would have been worried a lot earlier. Shaun came up to the house, saying "That was an adventurous day I would not like to have again." The meeting had gone well, with the Canadian women, Sheila, giving him a lot of information regarding contacts about how to start a business. She had even invited Shaun to attend the Canada celebration and one year anniversary of their office in Recife, which the Canadian ambassador would be in attendance. This is an evening dress affair, with a strings quartet and cocktails being served. She also said their office had not dealt with any small businesses before, so this would be a great learning experience for them as well. Hopefully that means they will be eager to help.

After the meeting, Shaun had spent an hour trying to find CLiRe. They did not have the portuguese/english bible so they took them to another church's library, where the only Bible available was a Spanish/English/Portuguese Bible. Then the genleman who works for CLiRe, Metson (sp?) took Shaun out for lunch, and he was back on the road at 1:30.

That's when the adventure started. Shaun spent an hour and a half trying to get out of Recife, somehow ending up he thinks north of the city. Then he finally made it to the BR-101 highway and headed south. But because of the rain there were large sections of the highway that were flooded. Shaun said he saw a flipped car, flipped semi, large numbers of cars sitting on the side of the road because they had gone through the water. At a big section of flooding he stopped to watch cars go through to make sure he could make it. There were people pushing cars out that got stuck, but then the cars weren't working by that point. The second big section of flooding Shaun saw huge sections of houses submerged in water. He waited an hour to get through to the actual flooding, and just made it through. And thankfully he arrived, safe and sound, just before it got dark.

The VanSpronsens, Wieskes, Uncle John, and Rev. Van Raalte, did not fare so well. Ken showed up at our door at twenty to eight. The passageway had been closed and every other route they tried was even worse. And then two of the Wieske van tires blew. So they decided to head back to the same hotel, and stop by our house to tell us the road had been closed if Shaun hadn't made it home.

By that time we had found out our water had been turned off because of some missed water bill. What they do if you don't pay your bill: Put a cap over the pipe that leads to your house. So our neighbour kindly pried off the cap and voila! we had water.

So here Shaun and I sit, enjoying our Caipiroscas, which is a blend of mashed limes, vodka and sugar, a nice end to a busy day. And something I definitely will bring back to Canada.

And once again, as in every other day, both here and in Canada, we thank God that He has kept our family and others safe as well throughout the day.

Here is the little invite that Shaun recieved from Sheila...no big deal, we're just going to be doing some hob-nobbing :)

Por ocasião da celebração do Dia Nacional do Canadá

e do primeiro aniversário do

Escritório Comercial do Governo do Canadá em Recife

o Embaixador do Canadá, Sr. Paul Hunt,

tem a honra de convidar

o Senhor Shaun Raap e acompanhante

para assistir à apresentação do Quarteto Egan, seguido de coquetel

dia 30 de junho de 2010, quarta-feira, às 19h00

no Teatro Santa Isabel, Salão Nobre

Praça da República, s/n, Santo Antônio, Recife

Convite pessoal e intransferível
Solicita-se a apresentação deste

Traje social

RSVP

livia.silva@international.gc.ca

Tel: (55 81) 2122 3141