Happy 2 Monthaversary!

It's been 2 months? Can you believe it?

I brought up the 2 monthaversary ponder to lots of newbies today...at Bardana during lunch, at our cancelled Portuguese lesson and tonight at our dinner club.

Everyone pretty much echoed the same thought. "It sure feels like we've been here a whole lot longer than that." And I have to believe their reply is for multiple reasons.

Many of which I've talked about...

• new culture, language and customs,
• new school with new procedures and policies and curriculum and culture,
• new friends and friendships,
• new grocery stores (think about how you hate to go to a new store and trying to find things, add language and different organization ideas on top of that),
• everything's new (got the pattern, right?).

But what's great is that even though we're working so hard in all aspects of our lives, it was really great today to have some time just to chat with my new newbie friends.

I'm hoping that we continue what we're doing because even though I don't see all of the other newbies on a regular basis, we've got a common bond, one that started two months ago. And for those of you who aren't newbies, you have to realize that for the first 3 or so weeks we were in Brasilia, we were with each other for I'd say a minimum of 2 hours each day. Truth.

So leaving campus for lunch and eating at delicious Bardana, we need to make it a weekly event.
And just chatting about our school and personal lives in Portuguese, well, when our teacher Monica, is back we'll have to do it in Portuguese but we need to continue doing it. And dinner club, I so appreciate Kathy, Hirsch, Carmen, Andrea and Monica putting up with all our newbieness although I noticed today that our chats weren't just about all things unfamiliar, we've moved past that into larger topics.

That shows me that feeling like we've been here longer than two months we're kinda growing up. The newbieness is still there and in some ways ever present...

• chatting about appliances that we've blown due to voltage,
• trying to buy stationary and 10 envelopes and leaving the store with white notebook lined paper and 2 envelopes and
• thinking a man was going to try and steal your ipod on a Sunday morning when he was really just asking for directions to the nearby Lutheran church.

I've come a long way in the past 2 months and so have the other newbies. Time sure flies when...you fill in the blank.