My Story: How Did I Get Here?

I met my husband through mutual friends in May 2009.  He was charming, with a warm smile and dark brown eyes, and offered to buy me my drink of choice [at that time in my life: Malibu and pineapple juice].  We went out on our first date a week later and have been together ever since.  Hubby and I were married in a small ceremony in October 2013 and welcomed our baby boy, Little Man, in February of the following year.

Hubby is a proud Brazilian, and we had talked hypothetically about moving to his home country since we first got together.  After our son was born, our circumstances were such that a temporary [albeit extended] stay in Brazil was possible.  I had already left a job in the legal field when Little Man came along.  Hubby gave his notice at his restaurant job.  We sold, donated, or threw away all of the belongings we had amassed over the course of our five years together and made the hellish trip from the States to Brazil in August 2014.  

I had done lots of research ahead of time on how to handle such a journey with an infant not quite 6 months old.  Fortunately, I was equipped with the ultimate secret weapon: breastfeeding.  We made it through the first domestic flight in the US without incident.  I purposefully booked an overnight flight for the 9 1/2 hour flight to Sao Paulo because Little Man mercifully sleeps well at night, only waking briefly to eat and passing right back out.  Again, we made it through the flight without incident.  [Note: though the baby slept like a rock, I was hit with a wave of intense anxiety about the magnitude of our decision and only slept for maybe 45 minutes the entire flight, and that’s being generous]  Once we arrived in Sao Paulo, more anxiety struck as I was smacked over the head by the experience of being in a country where I didn’t speak the language and had no idea where I was supposed to go or what I was supposed to do.  Luckily, because we had a baby, the airport staff were extremely helpful to us and whisked us through customs despite the fact that we had several boxes full of random odds and ends we had purchased for our home here.  With the exception of the nearest thing I’ve ever had to a legitimate panic attack in my life, I survived the Sao Paulo airport, and we boarded our final flight. 

It was apparent that our luck had run out almost immediately.  Poor Little Man hit the wall as we boarded the final flight and started screaming bloody murder.  It was one of my worst nightmares come to life: baby is screaming in public and even nursing won’t help while strangers stare.  I sobbed too until Little Man finally started nursing and fell asleep for the rest of the one hour flight.  Once we had landed, the other passengers began filing past and almost every single person stopped and said something sweet to Little Man.  

EDIT: I wanted to make it clear that through the entire trip, my wonderful Hubby was right there with his arm around me, holding my hand, and generally taking care of everything that needed to be taken care of.  We got through it together!

So, three months later and I am currently living in southeastern Brazil.  We live in a city, but in this country that is so different from my own, there are chickens roaming the streets and a donkey can be heard braying nearby at all hours of the day and night.  I curse roosters at 3:00 AM for crowing just as I am trying to soundlessly close the door to my son’s room after a late night feeding.  These first three months have been very difficult for me.  Culture shock and the situational depression that can accompany it are real, I can tell you firsthand.  However, I have started this blog so that I will have a place to share my experiences and pay homage to the vibrant beauty of this country. 

As a disclaimer, any comments I make about Brazil in this blog are intended only as observations.  I am not trying to compare Brazil to the United States.  They each have their own positive and negative attributes and neither is better or worse than the other.  

So, to family and friends reading to keep up with our escapades: Hello there! We miss you too!  To random people who have stumbled across this blog in a search for information about life in Brazil: Say hi and leave your comments and questions down below.