Portuguese people

It is so true that life is the same everywhere. 

 People are people wherever you are.

Last night we were invited to our neighbors to celebrate a birthday.  

Natalia and Eleo are our landlords and they along with their kids Jessica and Vasquo live in the second floor of the house.  Needless to say, we feel close because we can hear every Portuguese word through the walls.

Yesterday was Jessica's 16th birthday.  There was Natalia's parents, her sister, brother-in-law and their three kids, her cousin, Margharita (who is our housekeeper), with her husband.  As we gathered around the cake they began to sing "Happy Birthday".  It was practically the same melody as in English, but I couldn't follow, they added some crazy clapping thing.  

It was fun watching their family dynamic.  They used trick candles so she kept blowing them out.  The adults would yell at Jessica's brother periodically as he would "act up", just like a another kid I know.   The cousins picked on Jessica, even smearing cake on her face.  The adults laughed and joked with each other and the kids.  Everyone was having a good time.

Very normal crazy family stuff.

Today we had the cable installed.  I really said that wrong.  We had gone to the phone company about 2 weeks ago and signed up for this cable/wireless package and they called me this morning at 8:00.  Asked if I'd be home, then said they'd be here in 20 minutes.  I was not about to say no, it might have been another 2 weeks.

It wasn't anything surprising, but it did take all day long.  The most memorable and profound moment came when the "cable guy" bent down to work on the telephone line. 

He was not an obese man, most Portuguese are fairly slender, but this man had some bulk.  

It must be the international work man rule to wear the loose fitting low hung jeans.

People are weird everywhere.  

Winter is Here

The weather is changing.

 

On many days the long sleeves

and jackets are on in the morning 

to be shed in the afternoon,

then added again in the evening.

 Oscar's playing flag football.

No rain-outs yet. 

He's the one with the blue Colts cap. 

Thanksgiving was fun.

We went down the street to the vice-principals house.

She had invited about 20 people, and we all brought goodies.

Turkey and dressing with all the fixings.

Randy sure missed his Mom's noodles though. 

HENRY and RANDY

For those of you who know us birthdays are an event.  

So here are some pics for you to share some recent b-days.

Princess kitty wished Henry a happy birthday.  That was his favorite.

The hard part about birthdays is not having family to share the day.

Mary is expecting everyone here on December 19th.  So I hope you all bought your plane tickets!

crazy weather

Yesterday we had a taste of true Azorean weather.  It rained, a steady, heavy, cats and dogs type.  Poured, all day long.  I think there was about an hour at lunch when it rained lightly, but then it came back full force. 

 I tried to stay home and enjoy the sounds of rain in its varying degrees on the roof, but I had to go to the post office and phone company.  The post office is closed for the rest of the week and its always good to go to the phone company every once in a while to make sure things are being done correctly.  Its funny how much power the phone company has.   When I get a text message in Portuguese, I get worried.  So off to the phone company.  

It wasn't stormy. It was kind of nice walking through the rain in my flip flops and umbrella, for a while.

By the time I returned home, my jeans legs were soaked, my toes cold, and my umbrella had flipped inside-out twice.  

I've been making out my L.L.Bean wish list.

BUT......

Today, the sun was out and warm!  It was so wonderful to wake up to the sun!  We went to the swimming hole at high tide to enjoy the sun in case it disappears again tomorrow.  

Living here has shown us many ways to appreciate what we have:  

A car with seven seats,

 multiple electrical outlets,

 running water, and

 THE SUN!  

Missing everyone!  Karen

Today i don't have school so i decided to write in our blog. Outside it is very noisy because they are building a fishing dock. Many of the nieghbors have come to watch it. Mary went walking by it and saw some crabs. She said they were very mean.

-Henry

Halloween

Of course in Portugal the holiday celebrated is Day of the Dead (all Souls), but with the American base here, everything is a little askew. 

 We went trick or treating on base.  Bonnie was a kitty and Mary insisted on being a bull.  She even had a rope tied around her arm for Daddy to hold her back.  

Let me tell you the costumes were not easy.  A seamstress I am not!

They had two gates open from 6:00 to 7 for Americans only.  That in itself was fun because everybody is participating.

Then it got interesting.

The Portuguese kids were being held back at the gates until 7:00.  We were down the street and could hear the yelling when it started.  Most of the kids didn't wear costumes.  It's all about the candy.  Our friends (sonny and cher) ran out in 25 minutes.  The crowds were crazy!

After we went home that night we had our only trick or treater at 10 pm.  Poor guy.  Randy gave him what for instead of any treats.  I'm surprised our windows weren't egged!

Today is the day after election.  Randy stayed up till 1 am last night.  The kids and I got up early to watch final tallies.  I still can't believe we missed the whole thing.  I can't talk too openly about politics unless I want to argue.  I think its very hard for many to see past their living situation of being Air Force families, to believe Obama can improve America.  Too many are worried about money being diverted from military instead of the other possibilities, like going home!  

Time will tell.

Cheers,  Karen

Angra

Sarahjane window shopping.

Another missed day of note was our first shopping trip to the BIG CITY.

People talk about driving to Angra like we talk about going to Indy or Cincinnati.

   

But Angra maybe takes 25 minutes.  I took longer to find a parking place.

It took even longer to figure out how to leave the maze of one way streets.

Pope John Paul ll visited the island in 98'.

We went with our friends Amy and Justin and their kids Mark and Taylor.

  Isn't she adorable!

Backtracking

 Now that's what I call CLOSE!  

Or new friend, Edwarda, invited us to her front yard for a super close view.  Bullfighting is very much an excuse for parties.  Thank you!

  Its been a while.  Not having internet has been very inconvenient, but like the shortages of water, makes us more appreciative.

THE BEAUTY OF TERCIERA

Look up,

Look down,

LOOK ALL AROUND

We were over 400 meters in the air. I know we could see over 1/4 of the whole island.

It was pretty amazing. From that high vantage point the view was similar to a quilt of green with a very artistic seamstress.

GOD IS AWESOME!

home sweet home

Here it is!  Our new abode overlooking the ocean. 

 We go to sleep with the rythmic lulling of the waves, and wake up with the roosters crowing, and crowing, and crowing. 

 I'm sorry but do roosters ever stop crowing?  I'd almost swear it goes on all 

night long.  

We have the ocean in all its glory out the front windows and 

a wine vineyard along with various barnyard animals out the back. 

 It's all very picturesque and surreal.

The inside is harder to explain even with pictures,

 because we only live in the 1st and 3rd floors. 

 Our landlord has the entire 2nd floor and we 

share a long driveway and back wrap-around porch. 

 They seem to be wonderful people. 

 Oscar and the girls

 like to play with their 13 year old, Vascue (sp?) and his dogs, 

Santana and Bola.

 Life is a tradeoff.  We have internet, but no telephone.   We have outlets, but only a few adapters.  We have electric and gas, but today we have no water.  Until the rainy season begins, on Wednesdays and Saturdays we will have no running water. 

 Sounds like fun, eh?  But just look at the view.  All this water and not a drop to drink.  

Peace, Karen

  

Moving on up...

To the east side...of the island!  We're moving this week!  So in preparation, we bought another car.

It's a 99 Daewoo Lanos.  Ever heard of it?  Me either.  It is less rickety than the other car, though, so that's a good thing. 

Also, our first shipment of household items arrived this week, and we think our minivan.  When shipments arrive on the island, however big or small, it is always a big deal in this community.  If you hear that a shipment arrived for a fellow island member, smiles and congratulations are in order.  The same at the post office when letters and packages arrive.  Some people wait for items from home, others for mail order goods, some for Netflix.   But when your household goods arrive, that's the mac-daddy shipment of all.

We'll get towels and sheets, a computer, Barbies, and other essentials this week, just in time for our move out of temp housing.  We'll also all get to ride in the same vehicle when we go places without sitting on laps.  Woo hoo!

Ironic fact of the week:  we were told that school is never out because of snow, because it stays too warm here, but they cancelled school on days with high winds.  

School days cancelled because of high winds at Lajes School, Azores for this year:  0.  School days cancelled for high winds in southern Indiana:  1.  You win.  Game over.

Anyway, we heard about St. Mary's New Albany and saw it on the Tribune online:  sad.  We heard the damage was covered by insurance:  happy.

So, anyhoo, it turns out life is pretty good, and we have so many cars suddenly that Mary and Bonnie get to drive their own.

Peace.

THE BULLFIGHT

We're walking up a small street dodging cars and people, 

Not really knowing where we are to go.  The streets are

lined with short stone walls allowing most of the crowd

to  already be into their viewing positions, but these 

 are backyards, so we walk on.  

After a little while, I'm starting to 

get nervous.  We're walking

and the crowd is lessening.  

 Where is this bull?

I know it's going to come down this street.  Are we going to

be right in the middle of this thing? 

 

Finally, we find the bull,

the police, the end of the street, and an empty pasture

 behind a stone fence.

Luckily we were settled when the boom sounded because I might have simply jumped over someone's fence.  The cars were stopped but many of the street crowd stayed.  The bull was released by a group of men dressed in white shirts and black hats.  They were in control of the bull by a rope (or so was the assumption).  I only saw the men pull the rope to get the bull out of the pin and in the direction of the crowd.

 

This went on for about 15 minutes.  Some men had umbrellas another had a blanket sown to a rigid bar. They all taunted the bull in some way making for a good show.  Randy likened it to Nascar, waiting for the crash.  The bull didn't look so good though, and so this run ended with the bull trying to get back into his own pen.

Next blog will be our new home set to be furnished on the 18th!   Tootles!  Karen

The island bomb

Just to show you our living space and my personal need for space I add this picture.  We have two living rooms with both chairs pulled out for sleeping.  I think we have more room in the car.

We have acquired our new vehicle!  It's a 6 speed Fiat.  Metallic lime green with a special jingle sound no one knows quite where its coming from.  It's almost like jingle bells but only at a certain speed.  Past 30km/hr a much louder and more alarming sound takes over making us wonder when the explosion will occur.  

It served its purpose though.  We spent a lovely labor day on the beach of Praie.  The sand has been shipped in from somewhere creating a combination of sand and volcanic ash.  Black mud.  It made for some fun castle building.

It was fun and now our small apartment is also full of sand.  Hugs and Kisses,  Karen

First family outing!

   

Our sponsor family offered

 us their truck for the morning to explore the island.

  The plan was to caravan with

 an experienced teacher and some other newby's making a circle along the coast.  We began traveling North on winding roads taking lots pictures and some of us getting grumpy.  

 The roads are teeny tiny so we had some close calls, one with a donkey cart.  At one stop we could see a concrete pool made into the lava rock next to a natural wading pool.  

 It was beautiful!

Can you tell which one's are incorporative?

We made it as far as Biscoitos and the little girls both had their separate melt-downs so we broke off from the pack and did our own thing.  These natural wading pools are amazing!  Steps and bridges have been built into the lava to allow access.  The landscape had a science fiction feel.  Combine that with our light skin and the conversations in Portuguese around us, it was interesting.

  

Bonnie and I did the sunbathing while the others tried out the water.  Randy was pinched by a crab and the tide swells made him nervous with the little ones, but in all 

the side trip was a hit!  

Signing off from our island paradise, Karen

Pictures!!!!

 

Tada! We got our base passes and went on an adventure. We're going to the park now, so more on this later.

Sarahjane <3