November 28, 2011

I~m going to send smaller email~s back and forth so hopefully we can talk a little in real time. Sorry if that makes it more difficult to put on the blog but I don~t think it should be too bad. I~m going to email the Mission President real fast and then I~ll answer some of those questions.

And yeah we are going to move by December 1st but we still haven~t found a place to live. This is the most expensive area in the mission so it~s difficult to find somewhere under 1000 reais.

We email from a Lan House. Just whatever internet cafe we can find. It costs about 3 reais for an hour so it~s not too bad.

There are three main areas to the mission. Sao Paulo, which is obviously the part that is in the city. Then there is the ABC, which is named after the three towns in that area whose names I dont remember. And then there is the Baixada, which is where I am, it~s the coastal region and the biggest of the three. There are about 190 missionaries in our mission which is the most in Brasil and we have the smallest area. There are 16 stakes I know that, but I~m not sure on the number of zones. They are probably pretty close in number though, since my zone is just one stake. We don~t have true zone conferences we have area conferences because it~s just easier. But they are every other month I believe. And yeah that~s when we receive our mail. I already got your two packages and the dear elder one as well. Thank you very much. Although I haven~t decorated yet because we are moving soon and I thought it would be a wasted effort.

So on Sunday~s they meet in reverse order. Priesthood, Sunday School, Sacrament Meeting. From 9 to 12 and there is only one ward in our building. Our area is only this ward. I think that is how most of the mission is divided up. The feeling at church is a little different. A little less... formal? I don~t think that~s really the best word to describe it. I~ll try and take some pictures of the chapel for you. It~s a nice building. A little different from the ones in the States though. 

The speakers and CD player work great. They are almost always on when we are home. The outlets are different but you can fit an american appliance in. They still send out 220 volts though. I forgot that and fried my alarm clock. But the speakers work in it. It~s written on most products if they will function with 220 or not. I haven~t had to use my transformer thing yet. Well take that back, I should have had to use it with my alarm clock but forgot. 

Today will be my first day of soccer. I~m super excited to play with some Rapazes (young men) and show them that Americans can play too. 

Yeah we~re headed for summer right now. I don~t think it gets too much hotter than it already is, but it~s already pretty harsh. Moreso than heat it~s the humidity. It~s just so oppressive here. Super muggy all day and all night. But the temperature at night is perfect, and we always see people playing soccer on the beach under giant spotlights. It looks super cool.

Next week I~m going to send either a CD or a bunch of pictures through the mail. We~ll see how that goes. 

Sounds like the trip to Megan~s was a success. I entirely forgot that Thanksgiving was even happening. No one here cares and I only see other American Missionaries maybe once a week. So until someone reminded me the next day that it was thanksgiving I forgot. Oh well. Don~t think it would have changed much. Maybe I would have gotten turkey at subway. By the way, we have a subway about 50 feet from our apartment. It~s the only american restaurant that isn~t way over priced. The prices are pretty much the same as American. Which reminds me, I ate at McDonalds the other day. It was a little expensive but I deemed it necessary to try it at least once during the mission. The quality is a tad better here but it~s not worth the price. A happy meal was 15.50 reais. And the portions were smaller. Insane. The dollar menu is like 4 reais an item. Ridiculous. 

So I~m pretty sure I~ve already done enough walking for the next ten years of my life. Let alone the next two years. My goodness we walk so much. My feet kill. But I don~t have any blisters or things of that sort. I~ve been taking good care of my feet.

So Dad will be working in a different clinic? Still on post right? And he won~t be OIC anymore or anything like that? How different is it going to be? Hours? Days? Does he still get every other friday off? 

Ummmmm. I can~t think of much else to say. I can already see progress in my portugues. I can understand a little better. Still is difficult though. Living with a Brasileiro really is helping I think. Everything is in Portugues always. Well that~s all I have to report this week. Unless I think of more in the next 15 minutes. Goodbye until next week.

Oh and what is Brandons address? I would like to send a package home with some little things from Brasil and I thought it would be best to send it straight to Brandons. That~s all.

Oh and as far as the Disney CD goes. Whatever you send will be great. Can~t have too much music. I love the two Christmas CD~s although some of the songs do make me a little trunkie since they~re about white christmas and frightful weather. It~s just wrong here that it~s going to be summer during christmas. I~m not happy about that. I got into an argument (playful don~t worry) with Elder Lobo about how the words for silent night are better in English than Portugues. Because in Portugues it~s Happy Night. Which is just cheesy. We talk about a lot of things like that, where I think something is better in English and he thinks the opposite. There are lots of little things, slang, dialects, and idioms that are hard to understand because they don~t make sense in a literal translation. You just have to hear them and start using them. Although, I still think English is better. Haha. Oh well.

On mondays around this time is when I~ll probably be emailing. If you want to try and send them back and forth.  

So today I might be purchasing a Santos Jersey as my Christmas present to me. It~s tradition to buy the jersey of your first area. Just a heads up. I might not by one too.