Friday, January 25, 2008
I'm pregnant
I took the pregnancy test I had brought with me from Canada, and it came back positive. Jeff and I were pretty sure I was, since I have been feeling nauseas for the past few days. Now I just have to find a doctor :). Take care everyone and may God bless you today.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Living in Curitiba
I have now been living in Curitiba for a week. Here are some of the things I have learned about my new city that I like and don't like.
THINGS I LIKE
-I don't feel like I'm in a third world country. It's a very modern city. It's still a city in Brazil, very brazilian, but very modern also.
-There are lots of shopping mall and they all have indoor playcenters for kids up to 12 years old. Alysia loves them and they are not to expensive.
-The maps of the city are very accurate so we can avoid getting lost :)
-The people are very friendly and helpful.
-The food is cheap.
-taxis are not to expensive either.
-my new home is a nice neighbourhood.
-The bus system seems to be very good. Once I can figure out how to get around it seems to be very organized and timely. They have these big red buses that act like the subway. You have to enter a big transparent tube (you pay when you enter), they are like subway stations, and they have their own lanes so that they are always on time. Then they have all the other buses. But they all seem clean and safe. Alysia and I tried one of the red buses today. Tomorrow we plan to try on of the yellow buses that goes in front of my future neighbourhood (I lived in a gated community).
-Hair salons are cheap (for me). You can get a pedicure and a manicure in many places in the city for about $12-$15.
-The weather has been cool (late teens, early twenties) for it being the middle of summer. The curitibanos are complaining about it. But I like it this way (well maybe a bit warmer would be nice).
I will keep posting more good things in the future as I find out about them.
THINGS I DON'T LIKE
-Most of the streets downtown are one way and they don't put crosswalks with light at to many of them, so it can get tricky trying to figure out when to cross the street. Since they also put the traffic light right in front of where the cars stop and not in the middle, you can see if it's green or red and if it's safe to cross. You basically have to wait till the cars stop or when you have a chance. This only happens on streets with no lights for pedestrains, which is often here downtown.
-The food is not really to my liking. But I have heard about a big city market where I can get almost anything I need.
-All electronics are very, very, very expensive. Imagine you computer or any electronic you have and think that they pay almost double or triple the price here.
-My new home is about the same size in square feet as the one we had in Moncton. The problem is that it's broken up into smaller rooms. We are trying to figure out where we are going to put everything.
-I have to learn to drive a stardard car. They don't really sell automatics here. The truck we bought is standard. A co-worker of Jeff's is going to call around to the driving schools to find one who has an instructor who speaks english or spanish to teach me. Otherwise it's going to be Jeff trying to teach me, and he is not the most patient of teachers (especially with his wife, he paid the first time to have someone teach me to drive).
-Clothing also seems to be expensive. About the same as North America. You have your cheap store, your ok stores and you expensive stores. But everywhere you look they have two prices. The buy now or the layaway. They are both the same in the end, but people here seem to pay in installments or save up till they have enough (which is not bad)..
Well thats all for now. Take care everyone and may God bless you all.
THINGS I LIKE
-I don't feel like I'm in a third world country. It's a very modern city. It's still a city in Brazil, very brazilian, but very modern also.
-There are lots of shopping mall and they all have indoor playcenters for kids up to 12 years old. Alysia loves them and they are not to expensive.
-The maps of the city are very accurate so we can avoid getting lost :)
-The people are very friendly and helpful.
-The food is cheap.
-taxis are not to expensive either.
-my new home is a nice neighbourhood.
-The bus system seems to be very good. Once I can figure out how to get around it seems to be very organized and timely. They have these big red buses that act like the subway. You have to enter a big transparent tube (you pay when you enter), they are like subway stations, and they have their own lanes so that they are always on time. Then they have all the other buses. But they all seem clean and safe. Alysia and I tried one of the red buses today. Tomorrow we plan to try on of the yellow buses that goes in front of my future neighbourhood (I lived in a gated community).
-Hair salons are cheap (for me). You can get a pedicure and a manicure in many places in the city for about $12-$15.
-The weather has been cool (late teens, early twenties) for it being the middle of summer. The curitibanos are complaining about it. But I like it this way (well maybe a bit warmer would be nice).
I will keep posting more good things in the future as I find out about them.
THINGS I DON'T LIKE
-Most of the streets downtown are one way and they don't put crosswalks with light at to many of them, so it can get tricky trying to figure out when to cross the street. Since they also put the traffic light right in front of where the cars stop and not in the middle, you can see if it's green or red and if it's safe to cross. You basically have to wait till the cars stop or when you have a chance. This only happens on streets with no lights for pedestrains, which is often here downtown.
-The food is not really to my liking. But I have heard about a big city market where I can get almost anything I need.
-All electronics are very, very, very expensive. Imagine you computer or any electronic you have and think that they pay almost double or triple the price here.
-My new home is about the same size in square feet as the one we had in Moncton. The problem is that it's broken up into smaller rooms. We are trying to figure out where we are going to put everything.
-I have to learn to drive a stardard car. They don't really sell automatics here. The truck we bought is standard. A co-worker of Jeff's is going to call around to the driving schools to find one who has an instructor who speaks english or spanish to teach me. Otherwise it's going to be Jeff trying to teach me, and he is not the most patient of teachers (especially with his wife, he paid the first time to have someone teach me to drive).
-Clothing also seems to be expensive. About the same as North America. You have your cheap store, your ok stores and you expensive stores. But everywhere you look they have two prices. The buy now or the layaway. They are both the same in the end, but people here seem to pay in installments or save up till they have enough (which is not bad)..
Well thats all for now. Take care everyone and may God bless you all.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
I'm in Brazil
Hello everyone from warm Brazil. I thank God for having a good day of travel all the way from Moncton till we arrived safely to our hotel in Curitiba.
I had my first experience traveling in first class. It was very nice, as it should have been for the price they charge. Alysia slept all almost the whole 10 hours from Toronto to Sao Paolo.
For those of you who want to call us, our phone # is still the same as in Moncton. We signed up with Vonage. So all call to us are free, for us (and for those of you in canada, it's only Canadian long distance).
Curitiba reminds me of San Jose, Costa Rica. I hope I learn Portuguese soon.
Take care everyone and may God bless you all. I will write more another day. I'm pretty tired tonight.
I had my first experience traveling in first class. It was very nice, as it should have been for the price they charge. Alysia slept all almost the whole 10 hours from Toronto to Sao Paolo.
For those of you who want to call us, our phone # is still the same as in Moncton. We signed up with Vonage. So all call to us are free, for us (and for those of you in canada, it's only Canadian long distance).
Curitiba reminds me of San Jose, Costa Rica. I hope I learn Portuguese soon.
Take care everyone and may God bless you all. I will write more another day. I'm pretty tired tonight.
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
I made a dress for Alysia
I'm so proud of myself. I was testing my sewing skill to see if I could make a dress for Alysia. I bought the pattern and all the material and asked a lot of questions. For my first time I have to say it did not come out to bad. I made a few mistakes and had to fix them (but that's how we learn) but overall it was not to hard. I wish it fit better, but that will come with time and practice. Take care everyone and may God bless you all.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
9 More day till I leave my home
I can't believe how fast time is passing. On January 11Th we move out of our home an into a hotel. We are leaving on January 16 for Brazil.
Here is a rundown of what I have been doing this past month.
-Celebrated Christmas with family.
-Went out for dinner and a movie with my hubby on my birthday :)
-Celebrated Alysia's birthday at the zoo.
-Did nothing for New years but hang out at home.
I also got my sewing machine when I came back to Moncton. I'm adding some pics at the bottom of some of my sewing projects. The pyjama pants I did with my sewing teacher's help. The other two are little sewing projects of mine to test my skills and machine (I was following my sewing books instructions). I have also fixed some small rips :). I'm very proud of myself so far :P.
Since I won't be working and since Alysia is starting school in February (8:30-3:00pm) I will have a lot of free time. So I have taken a page from Zaak Robichaud's book. I have made a list of things I would like to accomplish in the next 3 years.
1. Learn to sew (clothing, curtains, gifts etc.)
2. Learn to play the piano
3. Learn to bake (bread, cakes, etc.)
As you can see my list is not to long(nowhere nears as long as Zaaks). But I'm sure I will come up with other things to do :). We are planning on having a second child (God willing). So hopefully that will keep me more busy my second year there :).
Here is a link to see pictures of our future city, Curitiba, in Brazil
http://www.jeffmar1.myphotoalbum.com/
Take care everyone and may God bless you all in this new year.
Here is a rundown of what I have been doing this past month.
-Celebrated Christmas with family.
-Went out for dinner and a movie with my hubby on my birthday :)
-Celebrated Alysia's birthday at the zoo.
-Did nothing for New years but hang out at home.
I also got my sewing machine when I came back to Moncton. I'm adding some pics at the bottom of some of my sewing projects. The pyjama pants I did with my sewing teacher's help. The other two are little sewing projects of mine to test my skills and machine (I was following my sewing books instructions). I have also fixed some small rips :). I'm very proud of myself so far :P.
Since I won't be working and since Alysia is starting school in February (8:30-3:00pm) I will have a lot of free time. So I have taken a page from Zaak Robichaud's book. I have made a list of things I would like to accomplish in the next 3 years.
1. Learn to sew (clothing, curtains, gifts etc.)
2. Learn to play the piano
3. Learn to bake (bread, cakes, etc.)
As you can see my list is not to long(nowhere nears as long as Zaaks). But I'm sure I will come up with other things to do :). We are planning on having a second child (God willing). So hopefully that will keep me more busy my second year there :).
Here is a link to see pictures of our future city, Curitiba, in Brazil
http://www.jeffmar1.myphotoalbum.com/
Take care everyone and may God bless you all in this new year.
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