Brazduras?

Or should that be Hondzil?

In an effort to facilitate my, um, successful readaption to all that is Canadian, I am up and off to Honduras on the weekend, for a week! Okay, the Honduras part isn't really all that shocking as my move back to Canada involved not just the loss of Brazil as "my" country, but also the gain of Honduras as "my new" country, but the timing has sure been quick ... I haven't even been here for a month! My clothes and suitcases are still lying on the floor (no joke).

On the fun side ... I will be stopping in Florida on the way down (as an aside, I think that I must be the only eastern Canadian who has never been to Florida before) to visit my Brazilian friend Andrea who is in turn visiting family in the States. When I left Brazil, I refused to say any goodbyes, insisting that sometime, somewhere, my friends and I would soon meet up. And although I knew that Andrea would be in the States during September, I wasn't sure if it would work out to see her so soon after leaving. It was only as I was physically booking my ticket that I twigged to the fact that Florida was indeed on the direct flight path to Central America and bingo! two minutes later a ticket was purchased! Now, if I could only manage to repack those bags of mine....

21 BOXES

My air shipment was delivered this afternoon - hurrah! What a relief it was to receive it after only a month of being packed up. No, really, I am not being sarcastic! Considering that it took my air shipment three months to arrive/be liberated when I moved to Brazil, a month seems positively refreshing! So it's a bit like Christmas - opening lots of packages and not quite knowing what I will find inside. So far, so good. Nothing broken and not too much mould. Speaking of which, if any strange new mould forms suddenly appear and take over in this corner of North America, it's not my fault. Repeat, not my fault. Not my fault....

C-c-c-c-old

I've always prided myself on my fundamental Canadianess and subsequently my ability to not only endure, but enjoy and look forward to, the cooler climes and downright frigid temperatures that tend to grace our fine land. Heck, I even came home during the winter three times during my years away. Good intentions aside, it turns out that I am now a weather wimp.

Take last week in the office. Everyone else is in late-summer type clothes, short sleeves, flowing skirts, sandals, etc. Not only am I wearing a sweater, but am also sitting at my desk wrapped up in a scarf and my jacket. I would have worn gloves had I had any. On the positive side, I think that I've managed to provide the quota of office entertainment for the week.

Then today, I was shuffling around the house in almost every piece of clothing that I own, wondering whether or not it is a bad thing to turn on the heat before even reaching October. When I realised that it was only 15º inside, the decision was made that indeed we would have to break the No Heat Before (Canadian) Thanksgiving rule which is normally the general practice.

I can't imagine what will happen when things actually start to cool off....

A MIRACLE!

I received the most amazing phone call today at work - that my air shipment - packed up on August 10th - had arrived in Ottawa and was ready to be cleared from customs. Hurray! I think that all of my colleagues in cubicle-land (a whole transition in its own right) were party to my exclamation of joy!

As soon as I received the news, I ran out of the office, piles of documents in tow, to start the process of liberating my stuff. Although relatively painless as a process, I did learn a few things along the way....

First, even though I have been living away for three years (for the government, I might add), I am still subject to the Can$750 duty-free restriction for bringing new purchases into the country, just like any traveller who has popped over to the Dominican Republic or Europe for a week's vacation. In the case of having lived overseas, the limit applies to all purchases made within the LAST SIX MONTHS. As one can imagine, the last six months is when lots of purchases are made as the "oh no, I only have x weeks left to purchase all the things that I have been thinking about purchasing for the last three years" realisation kicks in. This, in addition to the purchases of normal daily living.... Needless to say, I ended up paying duty and taxes on some of my final Brazil purchases. Blech!

I also discovered that I could have saved gaggles of money by getting an official alcohol importation license from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. Had I done that, I would have saved muchly on the massive amounts of cachaça that I brought home. Apparently anyone can get the license. Ah well, live and learn - I was just happy to have the thought of my stuff dangling before me.

Toilet Paper Goes in the Toilet and Other Tales of Readaption

So far, so good...

Buying a house by fax, txt messaging and long distance bank drafts is a great way to reduce reintegration stress. 'Nuff said. Guest room open for visits soon enough!

Just because it is still dark, it doesn't mean that it isn't almost time to get up. In my east-facing Recife bedroom, daylight came early (circa 4:30 - 5:00am) - meaning that getting up was an activity only undertaken after several hours of daylight had already come and gone. Not so here in the Great Orange (leaves, not snow) North (yes, I realise that this will only get worse until the end of the year and that I ain't seen nothing yet). On the other hand ...

Just because it is still light, it doesn't mean that I have to stay at work any longer. Loooove daylight that extends beyond 5:30pm as it makes evenings much more fun. Early sunsets all year round in Recife meant never getting out of the office during daylight hours (yes, I also realise that this will change as we progress towards the solstice).

Living in Chinatown means eating lots of Chinese food. I've changed neighbourhoods and now live on the border of Chinatown. Result, by the time I had been back for a mere twelve days, I had already eaten Chinese food four times en resto and twice as leftovers and Vietnamese once. The local entrepreneurs seem quite pleased with my new presence in the neighbourhood.

Just because a person is walking down the street either alone or in a group of two doesn't mean that they intend to rob me. To celebrate my return to Canada, I bought a new wallet - one which holds ALL my cards, ALL at the same time. Who would have thunk?

And yes ...

Toilet paper goes in the toilet, a fact which I manage to remember ninety-something percent of the time....

Cheguei!

I have arrived!

... and am even in one piece!

The last week or so is pretty much a blur. Following my late night arrival from Brasilia a week and a half ago, I spent my last days in Recife madly trying to clean, file, and see friends. There were even several cleaning sessions that finally had to be wrapped up at 2am.... My poor eyes just couldn't take it anymore. What got done, got done. For what didn't, well, hopefully I will be forgiven. :-)

Last Sunday, my last full day in Brazil, I had a terrific lunch at my friend Andrea's house and then final drinks with André and Sarah at California (the restaurant, not the state). Then Monday morning, everyone somehow managed to take the morning off work and showed up chez moi to mount the airport caravan express. Although I had thought that three cars to go to the airport would be a bit of overkill, it turned out that we actually fully used all three (Brazilian cars are small)! At the airport, we were met by Flavio who also managed to scive off from work. Felix safely examined and on board, we had one final caipirinha and then it was time to hit the Recife runway one last time. Strange to see my building looming on the horizon and know that it will be a while before seeing it again.

The travel was all fine, Felix was duly readmitted to his home and native land and three of my four bags arrived with me. Fortunately, Felix was one of the three! The fourth arrived the next day - although I am a little perplexed as to where it went, since I saw it in Toronto and personally put it back on the conveyor belt to Ottawa....

Now I am busy settling in, visiting friends & family, discovering my new neighbourhood (more on that later) and wondering how long my shipments will take to arrive (am hoping for pre-Christmas at the worst!). Work starts again next week.

More musing to follow as I unpack and organise my thoughts.