I MADE IT TO BRAZIL!!!!!!!!
Right after I posted my last post, about flying up, up and away, my plane started to board. I was told that I would have to wait for my name to be called by the lady at the United desk. I waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, the plane was taking last calls, and there were four of us who had not boarded our plane yet. They were asking for people to volunteer to change their flights so that others who needed to make their connections and what not would be able to stay on track. Two people gave up there seats, so a couple jumped on. But no one else did. So myself and one other gentleman who was here from Israel for business were left to watch our plane take off without us. Talk about scared...
I was fighting back tears. Scared. Worried about my luggage which was on that plane. Worried about getting to Brasil. Scared about having to sit in an airport alone for days... So I prayed. I prayed hard.
I know that God doesn't let things like this happen without a reason, as Heidi reminded me in her texts...maybe there was someone I was supposed to meet. Or I just wasn't supposed to fly from PDX to Chicago, Chicago to Newark, NJ to Sao Paulo...
Well there was my first blessing. I was only going to have one layover now, and it was in Houston. So instead of flying from PDX at 6am, I was now leaving at about 12p. I board my plane, everything is good (other than me being smashed in the window seat next to Mr. Humongo Retired Military Man and Mr. Alabama, who was really nice, whereas Mr. HRMM was drunk... though still very knowledgeable, he was just up and down and up and down every 30 minutes during our 3 hour flight).
We land in Houston, it was a rough landing but still, on the ground. Kinda like halfway there!! I find my next terminal, find some food, its around 4pm now and my next flight is taking off at 6:50. Waiting around to board when they keep telling us the cleaning people are taking forever. They finally let us board at 7pm. THEN, about 45 minutes of sitting on the plane, the captain tells us, "So, the flight controls are not checking out at 100%. Now I care about my safety more than yours, so if you see me grab my luggage to get off the plane you better follow. Maintenance is working to get it fixed, I will keep you posted." and within 20 minutes of that we are all walking off the plane so that maintenance can do some tests. Another 30 minutes after that, we are told that they are going to put us all up in hotels, that we will be flying out Monday morning at 8:45. But then it kept changing and the final time was 9:45a.
Two long hours later, after finally getting our hotel vouchers and taxi vouchers (because now it is after midnight and there is no shuttle running people from the airport to hotels), we make it to our rooms at 1:30 in the morning.
Second blessing: hot shower. big COMFY bed. oh, and a great new friend!
Lauren is her name, she is 27 and works for JP Morgan in Sao Paulo. She is originally from Oklahoma City and then New York. Blonde, sweet, has been living in SP for almost a year now on her own.
She was the biggest help EVER.
God is good.
We made it to our hotel together, actually got rooms right across from each other. She even called me in the morning to make sure I woke up to catch our shuttle. Once we made it back to the Houston airport, she snuck me through the "Premier" line for security, so I didn't have to wait forever. And since a lot of the passengers from our original flight didn't make it back for the new flight, we were able to snag seats next to each other.
So, here I am again, thanking God, even through the chaos of TWO flights not working out as they were "supposed" to, because He gave me someone to help me through the crazy process. I wasn't totally alone.
Lauren and I had some great conversation, she was really helpful as she told me a lot of what to expect as a blonde living in Brasil. Super sweet girl!
Tati and Wellington picked me up at the airport after we landed. Oh, so I made it through immigration without a problem, was in line maybe 20 minutes. Went to find my bags, they told me they were up in the United office, to go through customs and up to the second floor. So I walked through customs, no one ever stopped me, so I just kept going. Went upstairs, found my bags. I kinda felt like a big girl now!! haha
We were in the car and Tati asked how long immigration gave me here... I said something like my visa is good for 90 days. She took my passport and was looking at my visa stamps and apparently they should have written so many days in there somewhere... but they never did. (oops??)
We just kept on driving and stopped at a fast food place called Habib's which served Arabic food, hamburgers, mini brazilian pizzas, and milkshakes. I got some hummus and pita bread and it was actually really good!
I made it to Isabel's, my host home, around 12:30a. The family was still awake so Isabel, the mom, gave me a tour of the home and kinda gave me a little bit of a rundown of the place. Laryssa came home right after I did, we are sharing a room. She goes to work at 7am, then goes to school right after, and doesn't get home until after midnight. It is crazy. I asked her when she has fun and she said on Saturdays and Sundays.
I was able to get on their computer and let everyone know I made it safely to my house last night. When I went to lay down my mind just wouldn't shut off. I kept trying to think of how to say things in Portuguese. I want to learn the language so badly!!
Today has been a great first day! Other than the freezing cold shower... I guess if two people try to take showers, the hot water shuts off. Armanda, my host brother, apparently was trying to take one in the other bathroom....
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| Erika and Bruna Crafting for Saturday's Party |
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| Leticia singing and playing with Sophia watching |
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| With Leticia, she told me that Saturday I get to meet her whole family, and that she has told them about me (: |
Everyone is working with me on my Portuguese! It is funny to have the kids try to tell me to say a word, watching them all bust up laughing, and just knowing that it was probably something naughty... haha
K, I am going to go do some more crafts for our big festa junina that is Saturday! Look it up... (:
Tchau!
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