Lar Doce Lar (home sweet home)

Rick relaxing in our hammock ,we bought it for the trip- this is our porch/carport but we dont have a car so i guess its just a porch. :) Our front door. The sign says PAZ- portuguese for "Peace" it was made by our neighbor/host Suely. Our front room/living room Our Kitchen/dining room

Well - it has been a whirlwind week, and as we near the end of it, we can hardly believe how far we have travelled and how much information overload we have had! We have been picking up new Portuguese words every day, and are looking forward to our first official class on Wednesday. We have asked for a week or so to get ourselves situated, rested up, and comfortable before we delve into any other responsibilitys!

We are loving our little home, it is a very simple clapboard home, which is kind of the middle ground as houses go.. the nice ones are made of concrete block and concrete, then those like ours of finished wood and with windows etc, and then those made of plain boards, with no windows, and gaps between every board.. and then the shacks. The inside is nicely done, and we will have a hot shower eventually as soon as we get the shower head fixed... yes the shower head.. there is an electric element inside the shower head that heats up the water as it passes through. I know it sounds like an electrocution waiting to happen.. but you just have to remember... NO ADJUSTING THE SHOWER HEAD... and you should be fine! Until now we have been boiling water on our stove and then taking bucket showers.

We also learned last night that we are in a "unique position" in the neighborhood. Our house is located two houses up from the local "Crack House" run by the guy in charge of crack cocaine for our area. Now while this makes our weekend nights rather noisy and busy on our little street- it does ensure some measure of safety! You see- the guys who do the stealing are usually stealing for drug money, so their suppliers make sure they know not to steal from the houses around the crack house, so the police dont get called into the area and start snooping around. Never thought I would be thankful for a crack house so close!

Our town of Itaperucu ( prounounced.. ee-ta-peru-su) is located in a beautiful area, lots of green hills covered in big trees, but the town itself is mostly concrete ( due largely to the fact that the MAIN industry in the area is the huge concrete factory on the edge of town). Its still a beautiful place though, everything is brightly painted and very colorful.

For the most part we are finding stuff is cheaper here, by about 1/3 for most things.. like bread or milk . But fruits and vegetables are much cheaper as are services such as hair cuts, dentists, manicures etc. I was shown how to get a manicure and pedicure today (life is rough - im telling you!) It is beautifully done, with flowers on my nails and everything, and it cost about 8 Dollars CAD for the whole thing (hands and feet!)! So cheap!

Every time we leave our front door is a new language learning experience for us, and at the end of every day our heads are either spinning or in shut down mode, exhausted from all the struggling to understand each and every conversation we enter into! Well, I should post some pictures yet.. this post is rather long though, so I may just post a bunch in a new post! God Bless, and keep praying! We love hearing from you all.. whether by email or comments on here!