Sunny Day...Sweeping those Clouds Away

Yes, yes it is. All our towels are drying in anticipation of rain the remainder of this week. And speaking of songs from Sesame Street, our new favorite song is the Portuguese Alphabet on Vila Sesamo, which is a different tune than ours and very catchy.

So what else is new?!?

Shaun's parents are coming for a visit!! They are arriving July 15th in Recife and plan to be here until August 4. It's exciting for Seth that they are here for his birthday.

Shaun is meeting with the gentleman who used to run a coco-peat plant, and he has already given Shaun a lot of information. He is going into Maceio next week or the week after to talk to some Minister of Business. He is bringing along the English teacher from the school here to translate. He also is hoping to visit a plant that uses the same equipment that he is looking to buy in Seragipe, which is around 4 hours away. It is the nearest plant that actually allows visitors to look at what they do.

Seth went to school last week Monday and an hour and a half later he was brought back home by Sandro....he told me he was sick with a stomach ache but no one could understand him. I wasn't sure if it was nerves or an actual stomach ache. But the next day he was mad he had missed the bus. I brought him to school and hung out for a while and he did alright. Maybe 4 hours is just too much for him. Yesterday he asked "Voce tem agua?" and we practically fell out of our chair. He likes to point at things and ask Bel what they are as well. He didn't want to go to school today though, and we don't have a car until Wednesday, when we go to our fancy evening out. Then starting next week the school is on Winter Holidays for 2 weeks. Speaking of which, I was talking to Thacianne who works in the public school system. She says her school started holidays on Monday and it is supposed to go for 2 weeks, but every year they are disorganized and find excuses to post pone it until August 1st. She also says if you work in the public school or in the public health sector, you are not provided with any materials such as books for teachers or equipment/medication for doctors. As a teacher she has to buy her own books to teach the class. If you read about Brazil online, there is a very high ratio of doctors to population, but apparently the northeast is far behind in this regard.

Hazel....nothing new with her really, she just skips along here, no concerns except when the fireworks go off at night...she ends up in our bed because they wake her up and she freaks out. Shaun and I often don't realize she is in bed with us until the morning....oops.

Lyla is rolling over from her stomach to her back all the time...very frustrating because she wakes up on her back immediately and starts screaming. Seth and Hazel rolled over way later than that and then I think they went back and forth right away, so I never had that problem. Little Stinker! Other than that she's relaxed about us dragging her around everywhere, smiling at everyone no problem.

Alright there are some random thoughts brought to you by the letter B (and S, H, and L). And here are a few random pictures. In case anyone is wondering why I'm posting and adding so many pictures, I found a site that will publish your blog as a book, so I thought that would be a neat keepsake for us of our time here. I'm feeling a little self-conscious about all the writing I'm doing :)

Our little Chevy Prisma...I don't really know how we got all the carseats across the back

You see these little dune buggy/trucks all over the place here.

Seth in his school uniform. I know, he really isn't going enough to make it worth it but I couldn't resist. Besides it cost R$25, and I had to buy it at a little shop in town that makes all the uniforms in the city. All the schools here have uniforms.

And there you have it.

Have a good week everyone!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Well, we had 6 days of good weather with only one night of rain, but last night it started to pour again. It hasn't stopped since...well a few minutes here and there. Someone at church told me they don't remember there ever being this much rain. The paper from June 23rd gave numbers for the average in June in Recife as 388.9mm. On June 23rd 476.9 mm had accumulated already. I am sure that the number has far surpassed that today if Recife is anything like here. When we drove to church this morning water was pouring out of the manholes on the street and there were rivers of water all down the road. We hate to think of how Barreiros and the other cities further north are faring. Here at our house we are getting really good at squeegiing (is that a word?) the upstairs to prevent the rain from pouring into our living room and we have towels at all the windows and the door on the ocean side, which is where the wind is coming from. We also have had two further incidents of no water in our reservoir. All the houses here have reservoirs on top of the house that the city fills. The water is gravity fed into the showers and faucets. No pressure in the showers here! Bel tells us that we run out of water because our house is three stories, so the water to the city fills up all the lower reservoirs first before pumping up to ours. She also advises us to turn off the water the second we are not using it and also take quick showers. The two days we've run out have been days that she works, and then a lot of water gets used to clean floors and bathrooms, etc. By the next morning we have water again, presumably because people don't use a lot of water at night so their holding tanks are full.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Sunday!

Love the Raaps

Game Day

We got ready for the game between Brasil and Portugal by walking around town yesterday and this morning, stopping at all the little shops, and finding shirts for all of us to wear. You may think that this made us look touristy, but au contraire....it made us fit in. EVERYONE was in green and yellow today. The game started at 11 and we were invited to a World Cup party at Bete's sister's house.

Seth's Handiwork

Here they give thumbs up instead of waving, and Seth has adopted the greeting. He now walks down the street giving thumbs up and saying "Bom Dia" to everyone.

After the game we all sat down to eat and converse. Here you can see I obviously am laughing about a joke I told myself, seeing as I didn't understand anything our hosts were saying :) Unfortunately we didn't take pictures of everyone watching the game...there was a lot of yellow and green there!!

meus brasileiros

nossa familia

Shaun, Seth and Hazel ended off the day by playing soccer in the field beside our house.

Hazel's way of playing soccer, despite trying to convince her otherwise.

Festa Junina

Festa Junina is why there has been constant fireworks most nights since we got here, which sounds like it is especially big in Northeast Brazil. Tomorrow is the day celebrating John the Baptist and there is some tradition that insists that people keep bonfires burning all night long tonight. We went for a walk to Sandro's house which is close to here and saw fires all down the street. If you are looking at the weather network bar beside this post, it currently says "Smoke" for the weather.

Festa Junina
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Festa Junina (Junine Party), typically termed São João (Saint John's) as it is centered on that saint's day, is the name of annual Brazilian celebrations (historically related to the Midsummer and Saint John festivities in Europe) which take place in the beginning of the Brazilian winter, consequently during the European summer. These festivities, which were introduced in the country by the Portuguese during the colonial period (1500-1822), are celebrated in the whole country, but are particularly associated with Northeastern Brazil. The feast is mainly celebrated on the eves of the Catholic solemnities of Saint Anthony, Saint John the Baptist, and Saint Peter.

As Northeastern Brazil is largely arid or semi-arid these popular festivals not only coincide with the end of the rainy seasons of most states in the northeast but they also provide the people with an opportunity to give thanks to Saint John for the rain. They also celebrate rural life and feature typical clothing, food, dance (particularly quadrilha, which is similar to square dancing). Like Midsummer and Saint John's Day in Portugal and Scandinavian countries, São João celebrates marital union. The "quadrilha" features couple formations around a mock wedding whose bride and groom are the central attraction of the dancing.

Like during Carnival, these festivities involve costume-wearing (in this case, peasant costumes), dancing, drinking, and visual spectacles (fireworks display and folk dancing). Like the original European Midsummer celebrations, during the two-week June festivities in Brazil, bonfires are lit. They can be seen everywhere in northeastern cities.

São João coincides with the corn harvest. Special dishes served during São João are made with corn, such as canjica, pamonha and brazilian cuscuz. Dishes may also include peanuts, potatoes, sausages and rice. The celebrations are very colorful and festive and include amazing pyrotechnics. Bonfires and fire in general are thus one of the most important features of these festivities, a feature that is among the remnants of Midsummer pagan rituals in the Iberian Peninsula.

Pictures

Barreiros

Because of all the rain in Pernambuco, there is crazy flooding in towns around 30-45 minutes north of here all the way to Recife (as you may have read in my post about Shaun's trip home from Recife on Friday). Here in Maragogi there is nothing like that, but Sandro picked up Shaun after church to go deliver food and clothing to the town of Barreiros. The Air Force here has also started Operation Pernambuco because of the amount of people affected by the flooding. Here is a link from this morning. It is already outdated as I think the new number of dead is now at 23 or so. With no clean water it is sure to get worse. There is garbage floating through all the water in the streets and homes.

http://oglobo.globo.com/cidades/mat/2010/06/20/chuva-em-pernambuco-22-cidades-decretaram-emergencia-29-mil-pessoas-estao-fora-de-casa-916928668.asp

and the post from BBC. CBC doesn't have anything about it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/latin_america/10361810.stm

So posted above are some pictures from Shaun of Barreiros now. He says the one story houses were covered or up to their roof in water, and many of them had water halfway up their second story. You can see water lines on the sides of the houses if you look closely. There were tanker trucks full of water where people could fill up their jugs of water. Sandro told Shaun that it was such a flash flood that mothers had their babies torn out of their arms. Shaun says there must be way more that have died than the official number. And the water has subsided enough to leave garbage everywhere. There was a school higher up where people are getting food and clothing. Our school here in Sao Jose is talking about opening up their kitchen to make food to bring there. There is also a picture of a group of people standing on an almost dry piece...that is the high point of the city. He says the whole city is destroyed...grocery stores, gas stations, houses that have collapsed, roads washed away.

It just drives home the point of how essential water is, yet how much damage it can cause. And we were worried about water flooding in through the windows and doors and no water for washing.

Saturday

Had a Great Day, with a working shower and gorgeous weather! Went to Sandro's birthday party on a piece of property that will be the location of his future house. He had a covered veranda made on it (think JD on Scrubs), with a bathroom, fridge, some hammocks, and a giant outdoor shower. Great company, good food, my new favorite drink caiporoscas....all equal a good time. The kids had a blast with some other kids and we are now home, tired and happy. Seth fell asleep on the way home at 4ish and we couldn't wake him up for supper so he is still asleep! We are enjoying some World Cup action on our TV in our fabulous air-conditioned room, looking forward to a good sleep.

Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday tomorrow celebrating the Lord's Day and enjoying the communion of the saints with family and friends as well!

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

Water, Water Everywhere

It is ironic and amusing yet frustrating and a bit crazy that this morning that we have water pouring (ok slight exaggeration but still enough to have towels at all the windows) into the house at all the doors and windows, yet have no water coming out of our taps. There has been major rain and wind all morning, yet it is still warm and humid (for the temperature and humidity of Maragogi check to the left of the post). So right now we are sticky and stinky...no showers, no washing clothes and no flushing of toilets. We do have bottled drinking water so we of course will survive. Which is more than I can say than the over 1 billion people in the world who have unsafe drinking water. What I gather from Sandro is there is some broken pipe that they are fixing. And there is a reservoir on top of the roof, for moments like this, but ours I think was left open?? so there is no water in there. The gym beside us just told me we could use their showers, and I would run down there Immediately if Shaun wasn't in Recife and Hazel wasn't asleep. It has been a long morning already, with the internet going in and out (more out than in) and Hazel coloring on the wall (for the 3rd time) and none of the children's programming being that great to distract Seth and Hazel while rain keeps us inside. Sort of the reason that Hazel is asleep already :) Lyla's bouncy chair also was sitting beneath our staircase through the night and is sopping wet, so when she's awake I have to prop her on pillows or hold her (which I am too sticky to enjoy)....or she starts crying. She is actually starting to fuss now and this may sound a tad bit selfish but I am also counting down the minutes until I can put her in bed again!

Yesterday however was a beautiful day which we spent in Japaratinga while Shaun drove down to Maceio. Seth had a hayday with Titus and Joel and Micah in the pool at the Pousada, it was fun to visit with Tamara and Karen, and when Shaun and the men returned we had a wonderful supper before saying goodbye and heading home. We are hoping to spend a bit more time up in Recife with the missionaries and their families throughout the coming weeks. Shaun is currently in Recife to meet with the Canadian office of Foreign Affairs and Trade that he was supposed to meet with on Tuesday. He also has his computer or else I would upload a few more pictures of the last couple days, which are saved on it. So tomorrow expect some pictures of sunny weather and happy children! I don't think I'll be taking any today...lol.

So good morning to you all and may you all enjoy your refreshing morning shower in warm water and washing your dishes and your clothes and think of me! Tomorrow everything will hopefully reverse and we'll have dry weather and wet pipes! And a good internet connection! I don't know how many more exclamation points I can use!

Love you all!
Brenda

Name of Post

So...not sure if it was fluke or not, but this morning Lyla rolled over from front to back. In other news, the picture of Hazel in the bucket is how we are giving baths. We warm up some water on the stove and pour it in there. Our shower still hasn't been fixed and Shaun and I are shivering through showers each morning. I'm going to spend the day at the Wieske and Vanspronsen hotel today where they have a nice pool and hopefully use their shower for all the kids....and myself. In Brazil it's as common to ask if someone would like a shower as it is to ask if someone wants a coffee (or a Coke I should say...Coke is huge out here). And below is the picture of the tiny little baby gecko we found...which Seth actually lost in our couch. We're hoping it made it out alive and isn't rotting inside the cushions!

Tuesday

Today we slept in...until 6. It has been a bit darker the last few mornings with the stormy and cloudy weather, which I think has helped cool things off as well. One thing I do notice is how nothing ever feels quite dry. For example our bedsheets. And the humidity in the air and the lingering dampness to all our clothes and bedding makes for a very unique musky smell. It does seem like everything in Brazil smells the same, and now I'm fairly confident that the water here just gets kind of....well, stinky. But we all smell the same, with that sheen of continual sweat from the heat and our slightly damp clothing, that I don't think anyone cares. At least, I hope not.

Anyways, today we left for Recife at around quarter to eight in the morning. Shaun was supposed to meet with a lady that works for the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Recife to give him some ideas of what to do next. He was going to drop us off in Aldeaia and let us visit with the Wieskes and Vanspronsens. The drive I believe is usually around a 2 -2 1/2 hour drive, but we however, missed an exit and then couldn't find the dirt road to get to the Wieskes, as it had mysteriously moved a 1/2 km over since the last time we were here. By the time we got there it was the time Shaun was supposed to be in downtown Recife. When Shaun phoned her she thought it would not be worth it for him to drive down there, as it would be busy because of the soccer game. Brazil played their first game today and everyone is in celebratory mood. In fact, many businesses this afternoon shut down while the game was on.

So we spent the day at the Wieskes, catching up with Tamara, Karen, and Ken. Seth and Hazel had a marvelous time running around the property and getting to know everyone again. We had a delicious lunch and then who should arrive, but guests from Canada. We went halfway around the world just to see Uncle John! Reverend Van Raalte, or as he's known here Pastor Teodoro, and Presbyterio Joao (the a has a squiggle over it and you kind of say it like Zho-ow, with an almost "n" sound at the end), are spending some weeks here to encourage the missionaries and see all the amazing work that is happening in this part of the world. Tomorrow the two families and the Canadian guests are making the trek to Marigogi, so we'll all have dinner tomorrow. Uncle John can then check out our living quarters and reassure my mom and dad that we haven't dragged our children to a jungle at the end of the earth! On Thursday all the men are making their way down to Maceio to see the mission post and visit with Rev. deGraaf, while the kids and I get to visit with their wives and kids!

We drove home at around 3:30, the same time the game started, and the roads were fairly empty. As we were driving through a little town we suddenly heard tons of fireworks go off and cheering like crazy, so we knew the Brazilians had scored. We are hoping to buy some Brazilian shirts and flags and have some fun getting into the spirit of the World Cup. I assume I'll know a bit more about soccer by the time it is over.

And speaking of fireworks, here in Brazil is a month-long celebration of some Saint. In Maragogi there are fireworks constantly going off at night, and no one seems to care where or how they light them. On Sunday when we were in church, the Roman Catholic church had a huge procession going down the street right outside. Many people were wearing long white robes and singing and lighting fireworks. They were so loud that we couldn't hear Pastor Alessandro preaching and we even stopped at one point to sing. I have come to the conclusion that this is a very loud and rambunctious culture.

So there is our little update on our present week. Hope everyone else is doing well!

Love Brenda

Trying to Add Some Pictures...for the 6th time?

There is a picture of Seth riding his bike on the beach...we took his bike without his training wheels so he learned to ride without them here, within a few minutes he was going by himself. Shaun said he didn't help him once.

Seth at school for the first time.

Also the view from our balcony upstairs.

I also would like to upload pictures on this post of Seth and Sandro (the busdriver) today...his first time taking the bus to school. Also the baby gecko we caught in our house. If these downloads actually worked I would also include a picture of the giant grasshopper Shaun and Seth found upstairs, a picture of us out for dinner for Valentine's Day (where we saw a bat flying back and forth over the pool....too bad Seth wasn't there to witness that!), and Sandro's wife D'Jane teaching Shaun how to dance to a northeast Brazil type of music. And I would love to upload a video of Shaun and the kids in the ocean and Lyla just smiling away, but that will probably take all night so we'll see how it goes.