A Prince in Disguise

I walked outside the house yesterday morning, and observed Seth throwing what I thought was rocks out of our neighbour's yard.  When I took a look, it was three huge toads....  So we have spent the last 2 months preaching and teaching Seth about the danger of Cane Toads to no avail.  His reasoning is that they are making the water that our neighbour's dog drinks dirty, and the dog is getting sick from this.  Well, at least it gave me a photo op, as they are usually out at night and I haven't gotten a good pic yet.  This was probably the biggest toad I've seen, however, it may be hard to tell from the picture.  Isn't he handsome?

Randomness

Seth found a flopping fish, picked it up, and threw it back in the ocean.  When we said that we could have eaten it for supper, he said, "no, I didn't want to eat him, I wanted it for a pet."  Can you imagine his apartment when he grows up?

When Seth caught the fish, Hazel said "I saw its pedals that make it drive!"

Lyla and Hazel, at the supper table, saying "Me-dâ, me-dâ!" which means "give me, give me!" Why do they have to use the words with the least manners?  I guess it's harder to say "Eu gostaria mais, por favor!"

Seth lost his second tooth yesterday.

Lyla has never really spoken much English yet, and now it seems all she's learning is Portuguese.  So far she says "quero agua" (I want water), blah blah blah "gato," (cat, although she refuses to say the word cat and only says "meow" when we point to a cat and ask her what it is), "sapo" for frog, "mamai" and "papai" for mom and dad.

Hazel throws in Portuguese words all the time in her sentences.  For example, "I need to go xixi" (pee), or different colours.

Today I really focused on trying to speak portuguese instead of english to them, and Seth, Hazel, and Lyla all understand me.  Seth is just a bit more self-conscious about actually trying a new language.

Seth told us he wanted to be an entomologist.  We had told him that a friend of ours had an uncle who studied insects and what it was called probably over a week ago.  He says he specifically wants to study caterpillars :)

Speaking about caterpillars, Hazel got "stung" by a caterpillar we think yesterday.  Not one of the big ones I put on the blog earlier, but a small fuzzy one.  She cried for over an hour (it felt like 4).

There's a lot more little adjustments going on, and although I'm sooooo excited to see everyone in 3 weeks, I am sad that it seems like our kids are just adjusting and learning the language and our routine, and now we are leaving.  Seth and Hazel both are talking about how they love Brazil, although Hazel first says she wants to stay in Brazil, then in Canada.  It will be a lot of adjustments back and forth in the next few months.  We are planning to move in with my parents and Uncle Jay, but the plan was for one month.... not sure if that will be the case!  Hopefully they love us enough to put up with us!

Currently it looks like if we can set up our bank account within the next 3 weeks, it will take 35 days from the time we submit our paperwork to the Ministry of Labour to recieve our visas (30 for them to review it, 5 for the consulate in Vancouver to review it).  If that means business days, we may be there until middle of July!  I am a little bit happy about being there for a little of the summer, especially my dad's big sixtieth birthday!  I missed being there for my mom's birthday yesterday and it feels weird to know they are drinking wine without me!  Well, just so you know, we drank a cup here for her!  Happy Birthday again Mom, we love you!

Goodnight all!  We are off to watch a novella (only to learn Portuguese of course!)

There is a Possibility....

...that we may have a bank account by the time we leave!

Yesterday we left for Maceio at around 10 in the morning.  Seth and Hazel were at school and Thacianne graciously agreed to watch them when they came home from school.  She actually came home from school with them on the bus as she teaches some mornings, so that was perfect.  We brought Lyla along, and she is usually a good traveller.  We thought we'd be back mid afternoon.  It is supposed to be a two hour drive each way, and we were going to sign some papers at HSBC and then, I assumed, go out for lunch, and then return by 3 or maybe 4.

We got to the bank in good time, and were extremely happy with HSBC's helpfulness and apparent knowledge of what needed to be done.  The bank customer service rep pulled out the papers within seconds, we signed them, and they told us by today our paperwork would be in the HSBC in Salvador. That is where our lawyers "know" people and they have had no problems getting bank accounts in the past.  So excited about that potential.

We then also went shopping and then had lunch at a churrascaria, or rodizio, which is a steakhouse where waiters walk around with large skewers of meat and they slice the meat off and you grab it with some prongs you are given.  Yummy! if you're a carnivore like me :)  There's also a salad bar to help you feel healthier.

By the time we got back it was 7 at night.  We had actually a really nice little trip, and the only glitch was Lyla.  She has recently been potty-trained, however, we usually still have to take her to remind her to pee, as she does sometimes wait too long and end up having accidents.  So for the trip I put her in her diaper.  Well, would you know she refused to pee or poop in her diaper.  On the way there she screamed for ten minutes, and I mean Screamed, because she needed to go poop and pee.  We finally found a bathroom and after the bathroom break she was so angry about being forced back into her carseat she screamed for at least another 15 minutes before she calmed down enough to fall asleep.  And the exact same thing happened on the way home, except there was no bathroom and somehow I had to get this just-over-two just-potty-trained girl to understand that she could squat and pee at the side of the road.  I was actually pretty impressed that she did it.

Other than that, it was a good trip, and we are praying that this is the step we need to get things going here.

Have a great night everyone!
Brenda

Business Update

Remember last post?  How it should be simple to open up a bank account if we give our Brazilian administrator our power of attorney to do so?  Apparently the bank that has this list up on their website does not like their own requirements, and have said it won't work.  So this morning we sign over our power of attorney (Shaun, Hermes and I) to our lawyers, and drive down to Maceio to sign some more paperwork, and then it SHOULD happen in about two to three weeks.

So in order to enjoy the last three weeks here, as there is nothing else we really can do....

We are hoping to go to this natural habitat manatee project close by, which should be pretty cool.  And maybe take a couple day trips to some other beaches. And hopefully spend a couple days with the mission families in Recife.

In the interim, while we wait, Shaun has taken on a project to organize the books for all the different ministries and projects that get funneled from Canada through one organization here.  Apparently it is a bit messy, and often trying to sort out where money has gone and where it is supposed to go has been a bit of a time-consuming struggle for the missionaries and mission aid worker.  So Shaun is already putting some of his talents to good use here, even as we wait :)

And (my) favorite thing, I hired someone twice a week to help with cleaning.  You have no idea how exciting this is.  And you may be skeptical of this, but to keep the house and the kids and our clothes clean is a lot more work than Canada.  We have many many conveniences there we take for granted.  Plus I am doing school with Seth for around 2 hours a day.  Honestly, I think I could do it, but I am not exactly the most dedicated housekeeper at the best of times, so everything piles up and stresses me out, and I'd rather hang out with my kids.  So I figure it's a small price to pay for 3 weeks of enjoyment.  Now I'll only have to clean my bathrooms once a week, because she can do it twice.

So, tata for now!  I will update as I know things.  Have a wonderful Tuesday :)

Business in Brazil

Hello everyone,

Seeing as we are here in Brazil to start a business, I thought I would share how far we have gotten the past two months.

First, here's a bit of background.  Shaun and I have been interested in Brazil for years.  We originally hoped to come down and do some sort of mission aid work, but Shaun ended up hearing about a lead on the coco-peat industry.  I like to call Shaun a visionary.  Fortunately, unlike some people who only see the big picture and dream all the time, Shaun likes to make things happen as well.  He loves business, economics, and studies these topics continually (I have to admit it is sometimes hard to appear remain interested).  If anyone follows economics, there is a lot of talk right now about Brazil's rapid economic growth.  In the northeast there are lots of opportunities, but not as many people who have experience running businesses.  There is also lots of unemployment.  We are hoping to start this business and use it to help the community as well.  Anyways, our hope was to be down here last January. Obviously, things have slightly changed, and it has been hard to remain patient.  My general feeling over the last two months is that our lessons in patience are not going to end soon.

Prior to our arrival, our Brazilian administrator submitted all our paperwork to the bank to open up a bank account for the business.  The business was already registered, and we needed the account to deposit the money to apply for investment visas.  The bank informed Hermes that to open a bank account should not be a problem.

Here's a summary of our time here thus far:

Day 1-7 - Carnival

Day 8 - business meeting

Day 9 - business meeting

Day 12 - Where's the bank account?

Shaun had more meetings interspersed.

Day 20 - Where's the bank account? "Oh, the paperwork is in Recife, we should have it open in no time."

Day 30 - Where's the bank account? (does everyone get my point here yet?)

Day 35 - Where's the bank account? (FORTY days after we submitted our paperwork). "Oh, sorry sir, you do not have the right paperwork from the federal police to show you are allowed in the country!"

Shaun's lawyers had told him it was difficult to open a bank account.  However, because they were saying it could be done, and the bank we had originally applied with (which is a large Brazilian bank) said we had the right paperwork (on their website as well), we had just waited...and waited....and waited.

Not understanding this turn of events, we applied at two more banks.  One took 3 days to say it was not possible, the other took 2 hours.  The paperwork we needed was a Foreigner's Identity Card.  You can't get one of these cards unless you at least have a 12 month visa.  Not a Tourist Visa.

We were stumped.  There is a possibility of an investment visa.  But how to get money here into our very own company!?!?!?!?!?!

Finally we checked out some more internet sites.  And on two other banks' websites we were told that a foreigner without a permanent or temporary visa could open a business account with 4 things:

1) articles of association

2) CNPJ (business number)

3) Brazilian with our Power of Attorney

4) Resident Card of the business' legal representation

So Simple.

Now you may think this could all have been prevented.  Maybe yes, maybe no.  But I like to think of it as a learning opportunity regarding doing business in Brazil.  And we get to learn it before we've even started.  Some important notes to take if you are planning to start a business here:

1) Never expect a straight answer.  Always second guess.

2) We learned forums are often full of information (however watch out for mis-information or dated information.)

3) Things take a long time.

4) Things take a long time (and really this was only the first two months, which in the whole scheme of things is not very long.  I think it just seemed really long because we've already been waiting for two years.

So around two weeks ago, we got to the point of wondering if it was worth it.  Many Brazilians we talk to caution us that it will not get better.  Things will always remain slow.  A foreign friend of our neighbour, when he heard about us, said that we would never do business in Brazil, as he had tried and there was too much red tape.  So it was a low point.  

It's so easy to get sucked into emotions and not know if you are thinking logically or if you are only using emotions.  And it is harder if you start to read up on cultural adaptation and all that jazz, because just like a marriage (or some marriages, I should say), there's a honeymoon period, and then a "what have I done?" period, and then a period where you can accept the pros and cons of a culture.  So are we questioning just based on emotions, or are we realistically wondering if we can handle the different business landscape here?

We went out for drinks with Sandro and Djane and our friend Luiz I think the next night, and of course they convinced us that we needed to keep-on-keeping-on.  One of the great things about Brazilian culture.  And now that I think of it, we spent a lot of time discussing the pros and cons of each culture in a energetic, sometimes heated way, which was really fun.  And the band kept playing a song: Sempre Em Frente.  I guess that is now our new motto.  So for now, we keep doing what we're doing.  Shaun is confident that the bank account can now be opened no problem next week, so we will take one day at a time and see where that leads.  He also feels like once we actually have the equipment in hand to produce the peat, how can anyone stop us?  

In the meantime, we only have 3 1/2 weeks left here, if you can believe it.  And we'll keep you posted if anything else develops.

Talk to you soon,

Brenda

Odds and Ends

This post has been in my drafts for a week, so I thought I might as well just publish it.  These past two weeks we have had a lot of revelations about business in Brazil, so I think I will attempt to do a post this week about our discoveries we've made.  Many apparently small issues have grown into weeks of waiting, which have delayed the start to our plans unfortunately.

So here's a few pictures of two weeks ago...

We had an "infestation" of massive bristly orange caterpillars, which we were told were poisonous (fever, swelling, etc.).  Seth wanted to keep one as a pet...

Does anyone know what type of caterpillar this is?  Seth and I have perused the internet endlessly, to no avail.  It does not appear to be included in any of the top 10 most dangerous caterpillars lists, which has been a huge comfort to me.

And on Good Friday, we enjoyed a delicious crab feast at Sandro and Djane's terreno.

A Festa

I just thought I'd upload a few pics of Shaun's birthday a little over a week ago.  He shares his birthday with our good friend and neighbour Thacianne, so we had a nice little party at Sandro's terreno.

The day started off with a perfect present for Shaun from Hermes and Thacianne: this beautiful big hammock.  I guess they were sick of us asking where was a good place to buy hammocks!  Shaun said: "they know my heart"  which I had a good laugh over.  But in the end, they really could not have given him something more perfect.  

Enjoying food and good company.

And we played some v-ball in the afternoon.  Perfect ending to the day.

Thanks Djane, for opening up your land to us every Saturday!

Goodnight :)

Check out this Blog :)

If you remember, a while back we got a super-cute dress in the mail for Lyla's birthday, from my talented sister-in-law Tania.  Well, I thought I would take a couple of pictures to do the dress justice, as the lighting and subject (Lyla) did not cooperate to show the true craftmanship that Tania put into the dress.  And while I was taking pictures of that, I realized how many things we had brought along that were made by Tania!  So I got all picture happy and thought I'd show off her work and link to her craft blog.

In case you can't tell by looking at pictures in the blog, Lyla is a very tall and sturdy two-year-old.  I think because of this, Tania and I both assumed she would fit a larger pattern.  The ties over the shoulders are a bit too broad to stay on her properly, so in this picture I tied it halter style around her neck, which looked great.

Here the dress is, tied "normal."  I also tried criss-crossing it in the back, which worked well.

I thought I would try it on Hazel too, and you can see the straps are a good fit for her.  To me, she looks so old here! 

And now for some more of the goodies that Tania has created for our family:

The last few years, Tania has found a crafty project to make the kids for their birthdays.  This is a pencil crayon roll-up case that Hazel got for her fourth birthday with a colouring book.  It is honestly one of the best inventions ever: it keeps the drawing supplies neat, and little kids can see all the colours without dumping the box of crayons out.

Here is the baby blanket that Tania made Hazel. when she was born.  Lyla's using it these days.  I believe this is called a rag quilt?  So cute, and  that backing material that you can see at the top of the picture: didn't every little girl have a nightgown in that material when they were younger?

Tania also made book bags one year for all the school-aged children.  The one with the bikes on it is Seth's.  And one day, after my diaper bag somehow became fermented with spilt applesauce, I randomly asked Tania if she could make me something like a book bag for a few diapers and wipes.  She had the other bag ready for me by the next day.

Okay and now for her blog link: http://maddisworldcrafts.blogspot.com

Enjoy browsing when you get a chance :)  

And thanks Tania, for all the time you spend making cool things for our family!

Another Animal (the Story of Our Life Here)

When we brought this home from our friends' house to show Seth, he immediately wanted to phone his cousin who once-upon-a-time had these at pets.  Believe me, they were never as big as this one!

Seth ended up letting it go, thinking it would have a  better life out in the wild.  We don't really know where Seth got his interest and compassion for all things insect, reptilian, amphibian, etc., because although I find the information about them fascinating, I can't say there's any love lost between us.  And I think Shaun is even more hesitant about these animals than me!