More Language

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

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

Ford EcoSport 1.6 Flex 2009

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

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

Look, he is talking

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!

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

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

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.