We rang in the new year with a day of missionary transfers. We had a great day meeting the incoming missionaries and the trainers. They all seemed really wonderful to us. I loved hearing both my parents speak. I knew my dad was great at Portuguese, but I didn't know my mom was doing so well. I very impressed by her ability to communicate.
On Wednesday we went hunting around for futebol jerseys and finally found one! Brad wanted one for the Sao Paul Futebol Club because that was the stadium closest to Mom and Dad's apartment, so we passed it a lot. Our team just won a big tournament, so lots of people love them right now (fair weather friends), which made their jerseys a scarce commodity.
We were fairly close to the Pinocoteca Brazilian Art Museum, so we walked over. It's a toss up for me between this museum and the futebol museum for my favorite museum of the trip. The art in there was really great, and we got to enjoy it at a fairly leisurely pace. There was a nice park right next to the museum as well.
We ended the afternoon at the temple. I adored the endowment room. It was all done in a beautiful dark wood (maybe indigenous to Brazil?) and gold. It was really striking. And on the way out we met Mom's Portuguese tutor. She was very bubbly and her English was flawless. I was floored.
On the last day of our trip we went to this little town called Paranapiacaba (say that fast) that has some British influence. Supposedly there is a Big Ben replica there. Unfortunately the most British part about the town was the fog, so we couldn't see Big Ben - it really was that thick. On the bright side, we got to make a surprise visit to a companionship in the area. I was amazed their apartment was as clean as it was when we got there (we literally gave them a 30 second warning). I don't know if my parents were as impressed as I was. Let's just say if they had done a surprise inspection of my flat on my mission, it may not have been up to snuff. It would have been sanitary, just not neat. :)
We got home, did a few last minute errands and projects, and it was time to go. We were so sad to leave. It really was the vacation of a lifetime.
The flight home . . . all's well that ends well, I guess. The Sao Paulo airport was nuts! I've never taken the full amount of recommended time until this trip. We got there 2 hours and 15 minutes early and we only made it to the boarding area about 10 minutes before boarding. Then our seats weren't together, so we had to finagle that. As I was preparing to ask my neighbor on the flight to switch with Brad, I was able to get her contact information for the missionaries in Sao Paulo. (Best part of the flight.) Neither of us slept much, despite having extra leg room. Then when we landed at JFK there was THE longest line ever to re-enter the country. We literally would not have made our connection except that some agent randomly took us and 2 other people and moved us to the front of the line. He asked us no questions, just moved us. Little blessings. We moved on to get our bags and they were about the last bags to come off, which stressed us out because they'd lost my bag on the way down. We finally got through customs and re-checked in our bags with Jet Blue and then barely made it through security in time to board. When we arrived in Rochester my bag arrived just fine, but Brad's bag never came. Usually when they lose your bag, they can look in their computer and find out where they misplaced. They had NO record of his bag (his bag that we checked at the exact same time as my bag that made it). It was so maddening. He spent several hours over the course of the next few days with Jet Blue and TAM to no avail. We thought for sure it was gone. Then suddenly Sunday morning we got a call saying it would be at our house before noon. No explanation as to what happened. I guess we'll never know, but we're sure glad we got it back.
Overall, it was an amazing trip!!!
1 comment:
Looks like you guys had a blast, Mar! So fun!
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