Hello Sao Paulo!

On Friday, July 18, our airplane was

            approaching the city and we could see tall buildings for an hour before we landed at 7:00 am.        The sunrise was very picturesque and I pondered what in the world are we in for?

Raquel and Silvio met us at the airport.  They both work in Craig's church law office.  

We were so happy to see them! 

They are such amazing people.  We keep finding more amazing people! 

Raquel is pronounced like haquel.  The "r"  is  a  "h"  sound. 

 It was a gray day and a little misty and a pretty long drive.

Randy and Silvio made fast friends - soccer talk~

Vertentes Apartments

Our first "Gated Community"

this is one of several pedestrian entries - 24 hour, pleasant & friendly, guards at each station







this is one of three drive in gates

Vertentes puts new meaning to the term

apartment complex

After 2 weeks of being here, we still get confused as to which building we are in and which direction we need to go depending on which intersection we want to get to.  Of course, all directions and buildings look the same.  There are 11 buildings with 12 stories each.  We are on the 3rd floor.  

To get to the church office each day, we go down to the ground floor, across the courtyard, then up one level in a different building to a different street, then out the gate.  

Then each destination is a different combination of in, down, out, over, in, up and out.  And then there is right and left of course.  Thankfully the buildings each have a name written on the doors but I can't pronounce most of them.  We were all so proud when each of us could get to the office for the first time, by ourselves, and back.  We don't all have the same schedule so we occasionally are solo, which is still a little scary for me.  I just smile and say "bom dia"- good morning, or something,

 to make me look like I belong here....      (sigh :/ ) 

 Brazilian Pride

View from our apartment window - more apartments everywhere you look-

Clay and Cookie Overson are our sr. missionary, next door neighbors, and our first and best friends!  They are from St. John, Arizona.  They were so excited to have us come.  They haven't had neighbors for a while.  Prior to coming they stocked our pantry and fridge with everything they could think of,

and included flowers for the kitchen and table!  

After a day of unpacking, they had us walk with them to 3 different grocery stores, including Walmart  so we could see our choices.  Then to a dollar store called "FIFO",   then a "greasy spoon" for a chicken dinner.  All were relatively close by.

Here are some interior pictures taken after 2 weeks of unpacking and organizing.  I took the photos to remind us all of what each room can and should look like.  No space for throwing things around!

master bedroom, window 

and the radiator is an upgrade they just brought in this year

plenty of closet space for our room - plus upper storage cabinets

master bedroom - our furniture is all nice except the lamp shades are all old and falling apart-

if we bought new ones we just wouldn't fit in with the other apartments

Randy's room with a clothes rack for his clothes, we were anxious to get this because no closet in his room -
everyone needs their "own space"

except Randy's room doubles as our office

master bathroom - no cabinets or drawers
made a trip to FIFO to accommodate maintenance supplies
hot water in showers, (THANK YOU) cold water in sinks - ok, whatever~
water still leaks under the shower doors - they fixed it once?

 



our first apartment meal

small but adequate living room
post-it notes are Portuguese "labels" for objects

 

-no serious problems here-
a few teeny annoying ants

-we have to buy our drinking water-
-there's also a nice, spacious pantry-
 -hot water in our single sink for washing dishes-
-no disposal - should we just lick our plates?
and recycle the zip-loc bags I brought - not a common item here

BRAZILIAN APPLIANCES  ????

I didn't need a label to find out there is no hot water for the washer 

but what are all these "programas"?

-and this is the dryer with a similar confusing multiple choice-

Randy likes to clean the lint filter,

 he's sure the place will burn down if it's not done EACH time

Great for me because it's low down and in the back of the drum.

He is also always willing to take out the trash anytime.

But each day at 1:30pm, if someone is home, a girl comes by for trash pickup.

That's nice!

this is our gas stove which works great - the oven has to be "lit" each time, 

the temperature varies during the bake, regardless of Celsius setting

fridge is a little small -  but the store is close  :)

and we have a great little wheeled cart to carry things

~our microwave expert, Randy could easily interpret this panel~

The electric voltage is the same as U.S.  but you need adapter plugs for everything.
That makes it sound easy but you don't realize how many things need a "plug in".
I don't even know how many trips to FIFO were made for plugs and extension cords.
The number of outlets is very limited so we have had to get extremely creative!