Day by Day

We've made progress getting settled this past week.  We received our Brazilian CPF number (their version of a social security card) and we made an offer on an apartment!  I turned in our documentation (a novel's worth) to the apartment rental agency today while Mark went to campus at UFMG (large public university) to meet students.  We should hear something by early next week - whether or not we've been approved.  The thought of having our first real home is very exciting to say the least.  If all goes as it should, we could potentially get the keys by the end of next week!

City-life...

Another view from our temporary apartment

The sky was so beautiful, I couldn't resist.

The hill we climb each morning on our way to Portuguese class

You can't tell from the picture, but it is very steep and LONG!  Even though walking in this city isn't without challenges, we love it.  One day last week, we walked for well over 4 hours downtown!

"Oi" phone booth, "E" parking sign, "Pare" stop sign, "Ipatinga" street sign, and "lata de lixo" trash can

This is a typical street corner.  Random observation: most people use plastic grocery bags as trash bags (I think so their trash actually fits in the tiny basket)!

I had a little incident with the pressure cooker a couple nights ago.

Don't worry, the bean juice came off of the ceiling easier than expected.  I tried to make Brazilian rice and beans for the first time with a pressure cooker and didn't secure an important valve that releases steam/pressure.  No one was injured.  I'll let you know what happens the next go-round... hopefully, success.

Padaria...

I've been having weekly breakfasts with the girls at a bakery close-by, Pão e Companhia. It's becoming a Monday morning tradition. I think it's the Belo Horizonte version of Panera... I thought I'd use these pictures as an opportunity to introduce you to some of the girls on our team.  There are 7 couples (including us) and 5 singles on staff in Brazil.

Vivi, Fabiana, Marcela, Diana, Grace, and Monicke

Vivi is Raul's wife (our pastor) - they have a toddler named Daniel. Fabiana is on campus staff at PUC. Marcela and her husband, Sam, work with the church; they've done anything and everything to help us establish our lives here. Diana organizes and overseas the ministries at church. Grace Bailey is Kent's daughter (the International Director for Campus Outreach). And Monicke is a nurse and goes to our church.

Claudia and Michelle 

Claudia is our Portuguese teacher.  She teaches English full-time, and Portuguese to Mark, Sam, and myself Mon.-Thurs. each week.  She and her husband are heavily involved with the ministry and church.  Michelle and her husband, Anselmo, are on campus at PUC - pronounced "pu-kie" - a private university in BH.  Michelle is from GA and is a twin too!  She's been in Brazil for over 10 years.

Jo and Margaret

Jo is Kent's wife and Margaret is their other daughter.  The Baileys will move back to Birmingham at the end of April.  They've been in Brazil since the very beginning (1998, I think).  It will be hard to see them leave.  It's been great for us to get to know them.