Becoming Imigrant

More Language

2010-07-01T02:26:00.002Z

In April I wrote that my son had made progress of building sentences of 3 words. Now he talks more, and shows that he observes the world around him. A few examples:
1) Lis: You like the film?
Johan: Yes
Lis: The film is finnished?
Johan: No, its commercials.
(Watching the night drama on Globo)
2) Johan: Want Nescau
Aun: Not now
Johan: Ok, later
3) Johan: Remote control!
(Aun giving him the remote for the TV)
Johan: Put on cartoons!

Sometimes I cannot do other than laugh of what he says and does. He evolves frighteningly quickly, with all my traveling and working away I might miss an important face.

Learning language

2010-04-28T23:56:00.002Z

I have earlier here talked about my learning of Portuguese, and the last two years have made wonders for my language skill. Since October of 2008 I have worked in Brazil, together with Brazilian crew (among other nationalities), with varying responsibility for external communication and instructing the crew. That have resulted that my Portuguese both for private use and professional use have improved radically.
It is a bit unimaginable to think that only 4 years ago I didn't speak a single word of Portuguese, there are still words I don't know, and I still have problems with the grammatical, I guess most Brazilians can hear I am a foreigner. There have been work situations where I start the communication in Portuguese, but end up speaking English as a deck foreman or crane operator tries to utilize his limited English skills.
My son also have had improving steps in his language learning. For some weeks now he have commanded "Vai la" ("go there") when he wanted something, something that reminds me of histories I have heard about my great grandfather who only looked over the table and commanded "send me that" when he wanted something during family dinners.
Today my son for the first time added what he wanted: "Vai la peta", "vai la dedei", at least he tells me what he wants now. I have read that two years of age children can combine sentences of two or three words, and my son definitely does that now. How long time does it take before he combines 4 words?
There have been some time since my last post, and my son will now soon become a big brother, but more about the new family member in a later post.

Baptization of my son

2009-07-14T11:22:00.000Z

Ford EcoSport 1.6 Flex 2009

2009-07-05T17:24:00.002Z

The car is now parked in the garage (still without plates, but they should arrive soon), and my son loves to play in the car. The result is that I am sitting in the car for hours while he plays.

This car will allow us a lot of more liberty, to go places, visit friends and family, exploring. Up until now we have rented a car for when we wanted to go somewhere or had family visiting, and one week of rent costs close to the monthly payments we have on the car now. That means having one all the time costs about 12 weeks of rent, or a quarter of the price of renting for the entire year.

This also mean that a drivers license for my wife is under way, that my DETRAN approval is needed (we will go there on monday) and much more.

Visitors

2009-03-18T22:02:00.001Z

Visitors are coming over soon. Alas, my brother arrived in Rio today, while my mother will come in a few weeks time. They both will be visiting for Johan Vilje's first anniversary, but before that, my brother will travel a little around Brazil. He said he will put a few letters out on his blog.

Rich & Poor

2009-03-16T03:18:00.001Z

Look, he is talking

2009-01-30T00:38:00.002Z

Today Johan Vilje talked two important words in one sentence, "mama papa", at a age of 9 months, he is almost walking, he is building himself a collection of words he use (most of which is prety unknown words to us) and he knows what he want. He are looking for all those dangerous places, such as how far into the power outlet can the fingers reach, do the blades of the fan stop if my finger get stuck there, how much earth can I eat before somebody stops me, is it possible to crawl down the stairs head first, can I enter the pool if my father forget to hold my shirt, what happens if I shut the door over my hand? Can you imagine what kind of days we have?

Power Outage!

2008-11-23T22:52:00.001Z

Last night, while the family slept I heard some noises from the street sounding somewhat like gun shots (though I was certain it was not), and on the same time the fan that we use to cool down my son stopped. Power Outage I thought and slept on, somebody will do something with it soon.
Early the next morning we woke up of noises from our television, each time the power came, the television gave a "pop" sound, and the power came and went like a disco light. To stop the sound I unplugged all the systems connected to the TV, and we slept on.
Now, 24 hours later, the power is still unstable, it seems like there are some serious problems with the electricity at the moment. One pharmacy I passed today used a notepad to write down what each customer bought (including the numbers from the bar codes), so that they could stay open without power. At times like this one notices how much we are tied to electric energy.
The computer I'm using is a lap-top with fairly good battery life, while the WLAN antenna and the ADSL modem both depend on a stable power supply. Alias our internet connection have come and gone all day.
Our Refrigerator and our Freezer are both kept shut, so that they can store the cold and keep the food from being destroyed, we cook most of our food on gas, but need electricity to heat water in the showers, it is also good with some light in the bathrooms, which is electric, and TV offers a lot of entertainment, either to watch TV broadcasts, or DVD's.
Now I wonder how long time it will take before we get the power back. I am tired of sitting in the dark.

Perminencia Definitiva

2008-11-18T15:17:00.002Z

It takes time, in Brazil. Everything takes time. On the 20th of October it was posted in the "Diaria de União" that I have been given permanent residency in Brazil, now I can apply for my ID card. When I get my ID card I can apply for a national drivers license and other things. I can probably apply for a workers ID now, but have no rush with that.

International banking

2008-09-09T00:52:00.002Z

The way I live, I need to have banks in multiple countries, and that way I also have to move money around the world. But wiring money is not as easy as you would think. Within one bank, or even within a country is no big deal, but as soon as your money are crossing the borders, than you need to know how things are working.
It takes time to learn this, and in the event of my last transfer (from Norway to Brazil) i grounded again. This time it turned out I had to sign for the money to receive them, something that is difficult when I was sitting on the opposite of the world.
After a few phone calls and emails explaining the situation, the money transfer was completed, but in case of this happening in the future, I need to make a backup plan, so that my wife can sign for the money.

Two new familly members

2008-08-12T23:54:00.002Z

Minni
Mickey

In their temporary home, a full featured turtle tank will be added soon, and a good location will be selected.

Solid food!

2008-08-10T16:56:00.002Z

First try at solid food, and the recipe: Potatoes and carrots boiled well and mashed. Served with a silver spoon :D

Father - Son moments

2008-08-03T02:35:00.002Z

A Father and son moment, he loves to take a bath with his father.

Waiting for the papers

2008-08-01T21:51:00.002Z

According to Policia Federal and many other instances, everything is approved, but still I am waiting. The paper process is so slow that it is painful, and while I am waiting for the papers to arrive, I have to wait with getting many services in my name. For instance, I cannot transfer a phone subscription until I get the RNE, the ID card. It is frustrating to wait with all this.
But it isn't all painful, I have received my CPF, so I get some benefits there, and I have received a Brazilian bank account, with checks and credit card, so I can start to buy things on multiple payments (it is normal in Brazil to buy furniture and other things that are a bit expencive in multiple payments).
Finally all the documents I need to get my stuff liberated from customs are also ready, so the wait there is nearing an end. Now we are suffering from delayed communication between the Norwegian branch and the Brazilian branch, just hope that this doesn't further delay the process.
Further I am in the process of transferring the financing of the house to my bank, and in buying a car. I will of course put up a brag page here of the car when it is delivered, and I tell you I am buying a car with style!

2008-07-28T04:11:00.002Z

We have been busy, so there have been little time for writing, here are some pictures from what have been done lately.Praia Azul - Iriri - Espirito Santo - Brazil
The gift from great grandma was good to have in Patrimonio da Penha - Espirito Santo - Brazil, the nights there can be cold.
Visit to Tecnotruta where we ate smoked trout.

More can be seen on my wife's blogg.

Look, the kid is growing!

2008-05-22T00:47:00.003Z

The kid is growing up, and since this is my first child, I am very uncertain of the tasks to do. But for each day grow a little more costumed, and things goes a little easier.
Growing up multi-lingual and multi-cultural means that I talk and sing Norwegian to the kid while my wife do the same in Portuguese. Add it up with baby-chatting, and you can sort of guess the conversations in the house at the moment.

17th of May in Brazil

2008-05-19T02:48:00.004Z

For most of the world, 17th of May is just another day, but for a Norwegian like me, it is a day to celebrate the constitution and the independence of Norway.
Here in Guarapari, I know few other Norwegians, and those I know have the same kind of work as me (i.e. is a lot of time away from home), so this year I had to celebrate alone. Not quite alone. I got my wife and my step daughter to gather friends around for a BBQ, and I have my mother over for visit.
So we got a few people collected, and had some meat on the plates, and we even had people in our pool.

When you have no traditions, invent them!

Johan Vilje Guedes Johnsen

2008-04-09T20:21:00.002Z

Johan Vilje came home today. He was born a little early, but was healthy and full of strength. Photos can be seen here. We are all proud of him and happy to have him here.

Owning a house

2008-03-25T22:54:00.002Z

Owning a house means work and responsibilities. As a matter of fact I own a house and an apartment, both financed on loans. That makes a lot of monthly expenses, but I'll cope through it.
But there are also other responsibilities. A house need regular maintenance, just like a car or a boat. But the good thing of having a large house is that you can renovate it one room at a time.
The house in Norway is just an investment. It is not really a house, it is rather an apartment, and the plan now is to sell it when I can make some money that way. In the meantime, I'll pay my monthly parts of the loan.
The house in Brasil is a life project. Not that it was in a bad shape, it was in really good shape when we was handed the key. But there are solutions that we're not too happy with, and some rooms have been used for quite some time since the last time they have seen some new paint or similar. Many bathrooms also means that some are seldom or never in use. The danger about that is that you don't know the status of systems like water heaters and taps until you need them.
It is an ongoing project to get this house like we want it. Everybody have ideas of how things should be, so to get a better view of things I have started to make drawings of the house. I have chosen to make it in Inkscape, since it is a free program, though I still don't know if I can get the results I want from that. Maybe pen and paper is the best way?

Permanent Visa

2008-03-11T00:38:00.004Z

I have a very good advice to those who want to apply for Permanent Visa to Brazil. DONT!
I have probably been a bit naiv when I started the process of gaining my Permanencia (Permanent Residence Visa) to Brazil. The process have showed that there is no sure way to bypass the beuracracy. Each time I have showed up at Policia Federal, I have lacked one paper, or the last paper I was lacking need to be translated or authenticated. I have lost count of the times I have traveled to Policia Federal, which have its office on the border between Villa Velha, Vitoria and Cariacica.
But today marked a change in the process. The last document that needed translation was handed to me this morning (after finding the right house in Vitoria, but with good directions I managed that easily), and all the documents and the aplication was handed over to Policia Federal. After a short wait I received a declaration, a stamp in my passport and a protocolo, a document with refference number to the application. The Policia Federal informed me that it might take up to 2 years before the Permanencia is entered into my passport, because all the documentation will be checked by the Imigration Authorities and they will also investigate my life situation.
This opens many doors for me, so the next few days will be busy with finding the right offices, and apply for all the other necessary documents for a residence of Brazil. I will need a CPF, an ID card, a Brazilian drivers license, and a workers ID.
CPF is a ID number used for opening bank accounts, accuiring telephone number, water connection, energy connection, buying things to be transported to the house, renting cars, renting hotel rooms, buying stuff on down payments, signing documents. Basically, without CPF you are handicapped.
The ID card is the usual document to prove your CPF, but is also necessary when traveling in certain areas of the country, or when travelling with companies who send in passenger lists for passenger safety.
A worders ID allows me to require points for retirement, in other words I can get a pension from Brazil when I retire.
How long time it will take before everything is organized I do not know, but at least the ball is rolling now.

Travelling

2008-02-17T19:25:00.002Z

I am regularly travelling all over the world, but all this travelling have become different now. I used to love visiting new places, go exploring. When visiting places I have been before I used to love to see how things have changed, or stayed the same.
Now it is completely different, if I have visited the place before, than I am not that interested to go up in town alone, and when visiting new places I wish I had my wife with me.
I know we are planning to go round the world when we get older, when the kids becomes adults and I retire from my work, but that is still many years into the future. My priority now when travelling is to find out what might be interesting to visit together with my wife, and where to stay away.

Missing the Carnaval

2008-02-04T21:17:00.000Z

The the biggest party in the world. Every year, some weeks before easter, all of Brazil dresses up in beautiful costumes, dances samba all night, and celebrates this ancient catholic tradition. Not much of Brazil is catholic of today, but this party has become the soul of the nation. You cannot take it away from them.
Since I am far away on job, my wife is covering the carnaval for me. I check out her blogg several times a day to see if there are something new from the carnaval there. I check out all the photos she posts there and wish that I could be there together with her.
The photos I have put in here is taken from her blogg, I have chosen to put them here so that you can see that the carnaval is a big party also in Guarapari.
Before I left for work I had a small taste of what the carnaval could offer in Guarapari, just check out my video on YouTube.
I hope that I can experience the carnaval next year together with my familly. One of my brothers, Stein Eldar, is planning to visit Brazil about the time of the carnaval 2009, with some luck he visits Guarapari then :D

A big kiss for my wife for sharing these images with me!

The dog Lays is holding is the newest member of the familly. We visited it during christmas, but it was still to young to be brought home. It arrived the house after I left for work, so I havn't met it in our home yet.

Photo

2008-01-23T21:49:00.000Z

To advertise a little about my familly. Photos are available in my gallery, but I have also activated a picasa profile. All the photos in this blogg is available in Picasa, I have some feeling there will be posted a lot there when the baby comes. In my gallery is pictures of our life in Guarapari, as well as travels all around the world and various shows and much more.

Preparing the arrival

2008-01-11T23:59:00.000Z

A new person will move into our house in a few months, we are expecting a little mini-me, and he needs a bedroom. Therefor the money sack was opened to buy furniture and tools, and working hours scheduled. The project started with removing old wall paper, than the old ceilings (as seen on the picture), before new light points was prepared, a new ceiling constructed, and painting before a grand final of new wall paper. The colour choise is probably not so very original, and many will argue that we will need to redecorate if the next baby is a girl, but that will be for the future.
I will post again here when the room is finished so that everybody can see what results we have been able to obtain.
The old ceilings was in painted and tinted wood, the new ceiling is plastered. There are two doors into the room, one was tinted brown while the other was painted white and covered with wall paper. The original room was devided, knocking down the false wall gave me a lot of thinking, as it was very hard to see how it was done to put it up, and I wanted to save the plates for future use, but evidently the plates was of such a quality that it was nothing to save, cutting in them would just make make a heap of garbage.
The old wall paper was yellow, we are heading for light blue wall paper. The furniture is pure white, and I have also chosen that colour for paint. Since the room have direct ventilation to the two bedrooms that are in everyday use, we have chosen to use only water based paint. All doors, ceiling and other surfaces that are not to be covered with wall paper (except floor of course) will be painted white.
Almost everything is ready for the baby to come now, and we are looking forward to it.

Let's Make Friends

2008-01-06T22:25:00.000Z

This weekend marked a change. By chance I met another Norwegian living here, and we invited him and his familly over for a barbeque. This was a lucky strike for us, Håvard, the other Norwegian is also working on the seas, so both of us have limited time ashore, and his wife have kids the same age as the daughter of my wife.
We got together, me and Håvard took care of the meat, while the wifes went to the kitchen to prepare the rice, vinagret, and other stuff we needed. The kids found the tone quickly and played card, took a swim in the pool, and watched movies together. Håvard's familly stayed over and we ended this all with a large breakfast this morning.
We will surely continue to keep in contact, it is good to have some friends speaking the same language, it can get exhausting to speak Portuguese all the time. A good start on the year making new friends.

Finally it was done

2007-12-27T21:14:00.000Z

Finally it was done. All the translating of documents, writing applications, waiting for the red tape, receiving documents in return because of information in the wrong language, and all that.
This day started with running around for various appointments. Lis had her nails and hair done, and I bought myself some clothes appropriate for the waiting event. While my wife was busy doing her nail and hair, I brought her daughter to a flower shop to help me out, bought a bunch of flowers. Lays helped me write the card, so that I get the language straight.
Finally the hour was there, we went to the Cartoria, lined up with a few other couples (there was a guy running round taking photos) and finally we where let into a chamber together with a judge and two witnesses. Everything was extremely formal, and the question everybody knows was asked both of us un turns before two documents was sent around for signing. One document signed by me and my wife, the other signed by us and the witnesses. After that the judge stated: I now pronounce you husbond and wife.
We no longer just say we are married, we actually are!
And now, I only need to sort out the rest of the paper work.

Learning Language

2007-11-15T17:27:00.000Z

As I mentioned in an earlier post, many of me collegues have offered to help me learn Portuguese. One of them had offered to copy a learning program used by American diplomats in mastering the Brazilian portuguese. I am now sitting an hour or so every day in my cabin repeating words, frases and sylabals. I probably sound stupid when people pass my cabin hearing me utter "bom, bom, dia, dia, bom dia, bom dia".
For each day I get to use my new language, I learn a little more. The need for the dictionary are slowly decreasing, aswell as the number of times I need to ask people to repeate or slow down. I am slowly getting there. I also firmly beleave that my learning curve will be alot steeper when my child arrives. To have somebody to learn with will be good.
I have also promised my wife that I will talk Norwegian with the child, so that it will learn my native tongue, and my wife hope to learn some of it herself.
Multilingual families have multilingual fun!

Article in Portuguese

Creating new life

2007-10-23T23:53:00.000Z

My wife is pregnant, and last monday was our first go on ultra sound. It is a small creature, just over 4 cm long, and every indication is that the baby is healthy. This is my first baby, and I am really looking forward to holding it in my arms, but I will still have to wait another 7 months or so.
Living whith a pregnant woman is not easy, but one thing I can promise you, it is not dull. Moods are changing quicker than the channels on the TV, sudden cravings for food, visits to shops that sells baby items, looking at baby magazines. The only thing that cannot keep up with this pace is my mind, she have changed her opinion before I have figured out what she want or mean. Whoha, this is going to be some interesting months.

Article in Portuguese

Empty Rooms

2007-09-14T13:57:00.000Z

Moving is not an easy task. But moving to another continent is even worse. Finding a transport agency who could take my stuff to Brazil seemed difficult, but I managed to find one. For some reason, the major agencies only took co-operate customers, and since I don't have a company couldn't send through them. But the agency I found in the end could give me an offer in door to door transport. The next issue then was what to put on the transport, and what to carry on the flight passages, and what to find storage for back in Norway. During excavation of stuff from shelves and cupboards, we found stuff that should have been on the transport, realized that stuff that didn't need to go with the transport most likely ended up there, but the Transport is off now, and there is nothing we can do to correct the content there. There is an estimate that the Transport will use month and a half to get through everything, and we are hoping it will arrive in good time with no damages on the stuff carried.
For the air freight is a difficult task as well. We are taking different routes, but are able to check in together. The task will be to get everything that is going directly to Brazil with my wife's luggage, and the other with mine. I am taking a 5 week detour to work, I wish we could go together all the way, but looking on our travel routes, and how much it costs, we'll have to stay at it.

Read Article in Portuguese

Secrets

2007-09-10T10:42:00.000Z

We started to suspect my wife was pregnang while visiting my mother. We talked silently about it in Portuguese so that nobody would get suspicions about it until we was certain. The more we talked about it the more we knew we had to take tests to find the answer. One day we borrowed a car with the excuse that we where going to look at the magnificent view of Atlantic Road, did a short detour to the farmacy and bought a pregnancy test, and found a quiet restaurant where my wife niped to the bathroom to do the test, I was promtly handed the test to read off the result, and the first thing that appeared was the + sign meaning the test is positive, it took long time yet (almost 2 minutes) before the control sign appeared.
A positive test means that my wife is pregnant, and I am to be a father in about 8 months time. We are both happy, and have now used a couple of days to spread the news.

Article in Portuguese

Play with Words

2007-08-22T10:45:00.000Z

When visiting the familly, communication is a bit tricky, my wife only speaks Portuguese, which I am the only one to understand (some of atleast), one of my brothers speaks abit Spanish, but the rest of the familly speaks nothing that my wife can understand. After dinner, we sat down round the salong table with a cup of coffee, and then the bright idea of a game with words popped to mind. Yellow stickers, write words, put them on what the word ment. We sat round the table drinking coffee with these yellow stickers saying the Portuguese words for mouth, eye, ear, arm, hear, and so on. After a while we started to schufle the yellow notes round, and the other persons started to guess what the words meant. We had loads of fun with that.

This article in Portuguese

Que Lindo!

2007-08-19T13:31:00.000Z

On the train through Europe, and when arriving in Norway my wife kept shouting this all the time. Everything here is different, and she finds it beautiful. I can understand her, but I do not see the same beauty, maybe because I am more accustomed to it.
When my wife met my familly she found them to be good hearted, great people, and friends and neighbours of my father was also introduced to her. People had a little problem to grasp that she doesn't understand or speak English or Norwegian, and kept talking to her in English even though I had to translate it to Portuguese for her afterwords. Anyway, yesterday we had a great day, first arriving in Trondheim after two days on train from Paris, and than, lunch with my mother, and later in the evening we went to my father for a "street party". Everybody kept telling me how beautyful my wife is, and all I can say to them is, "I know, I keep telling her every day".
I want to thank everybody who have welcomed my wife and everybody who tells me I have a beautyful wife.

I Just Called to Say I Love You

2007-08-13T11:44:00.000Z

Talking on the phone is something ordinary for most people, and most couples does it regularly, but when one of the persons are struggling with the language this might be harder than it seems. I have to admit that my Portuguese is not good yet, but I am able to talk some on the phone. There are allot of interrupts where we ask each other if we understand, ask to repeat, or similar. But never the less, this trip on work have left me with not many other options, as we haven't installed internet at home yet. The alternative to talking on the phone was to agree on a certain time when my wife could get to an internet cafe and buy one hour, but getting this to fit with my work schedule was not simple, so often I ended up calling her instead. Only two more days, and we will be together again, but the need for calling on the phone will still be there.
We are going to Norway to visit my family, but my step daughter is left behind in Brazil, she needs to go to school, and we have arranged for an adult to look after her and food in the house for the entire trip, but we will need to call her from time to time, so that mother and daughter can have a talk, and I would also say a few words to the girl. After all, she is a part of my family.

Article in Portuguese

A little help from a friend

2007-07-14T14:45:00.000Z

I work in an international environment with colleges from all over the world. Many of them know that I have found my love and moved to Brazil, and those who speak a little Portuguese help me a little with the talking, and other are offering me various forms of other help. I am happy for all the help I can get.

I also found a couple of DVD's with Portuguese subtitles. Watching movies in English (or Norwegian) with Portuguese subtitles, or Portuguese movies with English or Norwegian subtitles, are a good help in getting in the language. All the help I can get is valuable for me.

Article in Portuguese

Our House

2007-06-25T16:51:00.000Z

It is finally done, well, much payment is still at hand, but the contract is signed, and will be sent to the government for paroval very soon, and I have the keys in my pocket. It is not a small house. It contains much more than my familly needs, so we have much room for visitors. At the moment there is 11 bedrooms in the house, 2 kitchen, 5 bathrooms, a swiming pool, and a BBQ area. It is close to beaces and Centro. This starts to sound like an advertise for a hotel.....
We are happy about our new house, the price was really good, and we have a good relation with the familly selling the house to us. All the stories about people being swindled when trying to buy property in Brazil does not account on us.
The next step now is to organize the house to our needs and wishes, and to get friends and familly over for holidays and parties.

Article in Portuguese

Administering Tickets

2007-05-26T20:58:00.000Z

As my work brings me all around the world, and my employer have not been willing to accept my change of address to the other side of the world, I have to administre tickets by myself. Atleast as long as the work keeps me in Europe.
Without a 100% certainty of when I can travel, and where from, ordering tickets in advance can be a strugle. I ended up ordering an Air France ticket from Trondheim the day after scheduled crew change, and a return for arriving Trondheim the day before next scheduled crew change. But Air France only brings me to Rio de Janeiro, so I had to find another way to organize the ticket for the last leg, to Vitoria. I phoned round to several ticket agencies, but nobody could help me without printing a paper ticket, and sending it to me proved dificult. The solution was to walk up in Edinbugh one slow day, and buy the ticket from a small local agency. The tickets is abit more expencive when bought in Europe, but atleast I have a seat on the plane to Vitoria, where my wife will meet me on the airport.
I am now counting the days to when I see my wife again.

Article in Portuguese

Learning language over distances

2007-04-29T15:40:00.000Z

Sitting 10000 kilometres away from my wife, and our language skills are scarse, communication often involves translator engines, dictionaries, and other aids.
Yesterday my wife found a small online course in Norwegian, and I use every opertunity to see if I can buy self-study courses in Portuguese.
It is not easy to be so long away from its wife, and knowing that 6 weeks will pass from I left her at the airport in Vitoria until I see her again is hurting. We use every opertuity we have to communicate via MSN. The only things I have to remind me of her in this time is the ink on my skin, the pictures I have, and our talks on the net.

Article in Portuguese

Communication without words

2007-04-26T14:36:00.000Z

I fell in love with a Brazilian girl. She didn't speek English or Norwegian, and my Portuguese was very limited to say it mildly. Some how, we managed to get the contact. My few words gave us a fundation to communicate, and where words fell short, arms and legs took over to explain what we ment. I soon realized that learning the language needed some assistance and we bought a small notice book where we could draw, scribble, write, translate and remember. There is also nice tools to aid, on the internet, in book shops, and so on. It is really how quick one learn the language and culture when one have good teatchers, my love is patient with my lack of language, and is very helpful when I get stuck on words I don't understand, or words I cannot translate.
The culture is probably the worst part to learn. There are many traditions and much attitude that I bring from Norway, that is very different from what of a Brazilian. It is not possible to become Brazilian over night, though I am trying.
At the moment I am torn between two homes, one in Norway and one in Brazil, though I also have a third home, that of my work.
So what is the purpose of this blogg? It is my experiences in becoming Brazilian, and observations of how my wife becomes Norwegian....

Article in Portuguese