returning home

The last security has been passed...I’m now sitting at the gate waiting for my flight to be called. We made it to the airport in 1½ hours. On a Sunday, there’s no traffic, but the closer we got to Recife, the worse the condition of the roads. Even though we arrived way early to check in, there was a huge line ahead of us already. We counted 3 separate tour groups of teens...probably all of them are going to Disney World. There are parents, sisters, and grandparents, all here to see their kids off, so the line is “padded” with many extra people. However, for the hundreds of us who will board the plane, there are 3 check-in agents and each person seems to take forever. We arrived at the airport at 8am and I just stepped up to the check-in desk at 9:20. Why it took so long for the others, I’ll never know, because I walked away at 9:21. Quem sabe?

Shalomir and Renan came with us because Drew was not so familiar with the directions. There’s just one highway to Recife, but once you get here the airport exits are not so clearly marked. Coming to pick me up last week, Drew got lost 2 or 3 times. The flight is late so we still have time to have a little breakfast – at least a coffee and a pao de queijo (bread with cheese baked inside it...a favorite of many Brazilians). When we get to the security gate, it looks crowded, but everyone is just saying goodbyes – many times over! I walked right through and on to the x-ray machines. Since my other suitcase was still too full to use as a carry-on, I had to check it, so I put my liquids in it. The US is the only place I’ve ever had to take off my shoes...never in other countries, however, they have to do a closer inspection of my bag. Turns out in Brazil, contact cases and contact solution are classified as liquids. In all the other countries, contacts and solution are classified as medication...I thought that TSA security would be the same everywhere, but obviously they don’t agree with me. Anyway, the security agent found a plastic bag in which to put my contact solution and 2 contact cases...then took quite a long time to examine my EPI pen...turned it over and over. I explained that it was medication in case of a bee sting. Remembering that I saw not one bee during my entire 10 days here...maybe she hasn’t either. No flies, one or 2 mosquitoes, and 2 wasps at the beach. Most beach homes don’t even have glass in their windows and none of the apartment homes have screens. I left my windows open all day and night and never saw any flying critters. It’s just not a problem at all – boy I sure wish we had this “non-problem” in Georgia!
Something I may have forgotten to mention is the fact that even though Shalomir and Maikol had a hot shower, it was in their master bedroom bath. Maikol hadn’t been feeling very well, so he was in bed most of the time...I would have had to ask him to leave. Plus, most mornings we left so early, that if I wanted the hot water bathroom, I’d have had to shower at noon, when we came back to get ready for lunch, so I just continued to take the cold showers. Fortunately, though, the water is not icy cold, like ours is, so it wasn’t quite the shock it could have been. Mainly, staying there was much more like being with family because from 21 years ago when we first met, every time I traveled to Brazil, I always stayed with the Saunders family. There are 2 biological children – Shalomir is the elder, and Joshua is a couple years younger than her. There are also 6 adopted children, all grown with children now. Naomi is the adopted child I know best because at one time I had considered adopting Naomi and her brothers, Abraham and Marcio. But instead, Drew adopted the 2 older ones, and Marcio went to another family who really wanted just him. He was such an adorable little boy...I fell in love with him instantly, but he had already been spoken for – just waiting for paperwork when I met him. Naomi is now around 26 years old and lives in Waupaca, WI. Guess how that happened? She had one child here in Brazil, and around age 1, the child became very sick and died. So Drew wanted to “distract” Naomi from her grief and asked if she could come visit us for a month or so. Since I’ve spent so much time with her, she’s more like a daughter to me and we were thrilled to have her there with us. That month turned into 6 months, at which time she had met a boy who asked her to marry him...which then allowed her to remain in the states on a permanent green card. Even when we moved away from Waupaca, Naomi had made so many friends there she wanted to stay. She now has 4 children and has remained right there in Waupaca. Right now, Drew is considering visiting her for a while until the visa problem gets resolved. His other option is to apply for a marriage certificate and hope he can get someone to “grease” the wheels a bit and expedite a license for him to marry Sueli immediately.

I’ve got so many little notes in my notebook, it’s going to take a while to sort them all out and categorize them. We talked more about when I come back with the group – things we want to do, places we want to take the group, and the work that has to be done. For anyone considering making this trip, please be assured that I will request that your hosts have hot water showers for you. That’s probably more common than not, especially in the homes of Cidade Viva church members, so don’t worry about the cold water. The meals will probably all be together in one place so you don’t have to worry about eating or drinking anything terribly unfamiliar to you unless you really want to. Another consideration is host families who speak English. With the school at Cidade Viva, and Drew’s English classes for the adults, that’s probably a non-issue. I’ve discovered that when in doubt, sign language works just fine. Everyone has bottled water but there’s no need to worry about brushing your teeth or taking showers in it. I remember on a trip to China (before the western world was even allowed in) we couldn’t even use the tap water for brushing our teeth...every night we received a thermos of hot water outside our hotel room door, and each morning we brushed our teeth with it, so I got used to doing that activity with warm water. But here it’s not so critical.
There is so much more...keep checking my blog, because I’ll be updating everyone on what’s going on in Joao Pessoa as well as more definite plans for our team trip.