Chirp! Chirp!

Java and I have a new friend bunking with us in Casa Robar. It is a cricket. She has moved into the sunroom somewhere and is a happy sort, chirping all the time. But can I find her to show her the door? No way. I wonder if she'll pay rent or at least do her share of the chores!

TGIF!

The weather in Sao Paulo is on its way to summer levels. (They are below the equator so everything is backwards.) So, the kids are hoping to meet the Japanese baseball teams and start playing on Saturday. Looks like Hannah might be able to be on a team too. On Sunday, Dan and Jackson have found a fishing hole and are headed out at 4 a.m. with a friend from GM. I'm just glad to hear they are getting out of the hotel a little bit. The apartment is supposed to be ready early next week so that will be one more step toward normalcy.

LATE UPDATE FROM SP: No baseball, but fishing is a go!

Guilt Feelings

I am trying to keep myself sane in the D. The Portuguese is being studied, the miles are being run (I did 7.5 on Tuesday night) and the weaving piece is nearly done. I'm getting through the final home repair projects and starting to pack up the last of the rubble. The roof repairs begin on the 20th and I got the locks fixed on Monday. But I keep thinking I should be with the kids and Dan in Sao Paulo. Heavy guilt. They are going through a whole bunch of new things and feelings that I'm not experiencing with them. Dan is starting a new job in a foreign country. He shouldn't have to deal exclusively with the kids too. Don't the kids need their Mom anymore? Probably not since they are strong independent teens but maybe I need them more than I know.

I think I'll be much better once I get to see them again on October 26 (17 days!) They should be leaving the hotel shortly and moving into the apartment. I know Hannah is tired of eating meals there everyday.

I had a nice lunch with my brother yesterday. We work about a mile apart everyday but we only do this a few times a year. It was great to catch up with Tim yesterday.

News Flash

The Sao Paulo Tech Police contacted me this evening to verify that Dan Robar sent a text message to his children in their hotel room from his office at General Motors Brazil. He even used cute initials at the end, GTG. How did this happen? Until today's incident, he had spent his life text-free. Obviously the South American air has gone to his head.

What's next? Could his first CD purchase be far behind? Or perhaps, now I'm getting really crazy, an I-Pod?

Do They Have A Moose Tree in SP?

This is one of our favorite Detroit icons. The "moose tree" is located in one of Detroit's poorest neighborhoods near Mack and Mt. Elliott. My camera phone photo is not very good but the tree has a pair of eyes and is usually adorned with a necklace or two of the season. A year or so ago, the house behind the moose burned to the ground. We were kind of worried about this tree. (Ro even thought about moving it to our backyard.) But lo and behold, new construction sprung up behind the tree. This is Detroit survival at its finest.

The report from SP is that the trio got in a taxi today and found a mall. Hannah's e-mail said it was a great spot but that it is no fun shopping with guys. We'll have to visit this mall again when I get there. A picture menu at a sushi restaurant made it so they could eat. (I am doing the Rosetta Stone again at home. Hopefully, I'll be able to speak a little by the time I get there for good.)

I'm trying to stay busy so I don't get too blue so after church, I went for another good run (5 miles). I am feeling mighty confident that I'll be able to get through my Free Press Marathon leg over the Ambassador Bridge just fine. Besides Patrice will be waiting for me in Canada and she can't start until I get there! Also went over to CCS and worked on my double weave piece a little more. It is almost done. I sure am glad I was able to squeeze into the CCS weaving class at the last minute. Without a loom at home, it makes it so I have somewhere to go and something to do.

Getting Away With It

Java has always slept in a small doggie bed at the foot of our bed. As soon as Dan and the kids left, she claimed a new home....Jackson's mattress. Too funny! I wonder how our goofy mutt will do in Brazil.

Hannah's First E-Mail from Brazil

This cracked me up. I love the whole 14-year old line of thinking:

OMG!!!! I am so confused!!! We are here!!! WOO!!! the plane was nice and comfy in bussiness class. the airport was insane!!! the customs line was like a battlefield of who could get in line first!!! once you were in line it moved pretty fast but not while you were trying to find the end of the line! The drive was soooo long....i fell asleep for like half of it. those motorcycles are so crazy!! The driver dude was nice but his english wasn't very good (dad said he was the guy that drove you to the airport). so now i am chillin' about to take a nap after a nice shower. now i think i should've done more of that rosetta stone. I dont' know what anyone is saying!!! IT IS SO FREAKIN ANNOYING!!! Sorry i think that i am just venting in this email. How are things there?? I miss you! love yah

Hannah

Exit

I can't say it enough. We have the best friends in the world. Not only did we have a blast on Saturday at our goodbye party, but a hearty bunch came over yesterday evening to wish the family well. Lots of laughs and hugs were exactly what we needed. Hannah's pals gave her an incredible scrapbook of photos through the years. Jackson, Delle and Denzel got in one more game of pool. Pat made the most amazing lasagna, Helen brought soda bread, Sean and Amber shared their wedding cake top (one year anniversary) and Lynne blew my diet with the world's largest bag of M&Ms.













After a hearty lunch at Sala Thai, the Sao Paulo trio left this afternoon. I miss them already.

















P.S. Dan's Dad did have a small stroke but he's one tough soldier and looks like he'll recover. This is his second stroke so I hope he takes his time coming home so he can get stronger. I'm glad Dan and the kids got to spend some time with him this morning. Thanks for your prayers. They helped!

Prayers

Send it up for:

Dan's Dad, Wayne, was admitted to the hospital yesterday afternoon. He just wasn't feeling right. (We found this out late last night when we called the house to say goodbye.) We are going to stop at St. Joe's on the way to the airport today. Pray that this fabulous man is on the mend.

My Colorado pal, Corinne, is having surgery this morning due to complications from reconstructive surgery after she kicked breast cancer to the curb. She is an amazing single Mom to two fab teenagers and deserves prayers everyday.

The Sao Paulo Trio....Dan, Jackson and Hannah fly out this afternoon. They are in for a roller-coaster ride of ups and downs as they work to get acclimated to new schools, jobs and friends (and three months without me!)

Boxes Everywhere

Life in the D has changed radically in the last 24 hours. We are now surrounded by boxes and fairly raw emotions. The movers packed just about everything yesterday and will be back today to do the last of it and move it on out. Today is Jackson's last day at Cass and Hannah is headed out to lunch (thanks to the Jewish holiday a lot of her friends have the day off) with her best buds.

I snuck out of work early yesterday and took Hannah to get a pedicure. It was nice to just chill with her. (She is pretty accurately convinced that Ro won't take her to get her toes done in Brazil.) Jackson went out with Ari last night for a movie date while Ro ran a last few errands.

I love my husband. He was killing time yesterday and he called Hannah and I at the salon to see if it was OK if he bought a pre-lit Christmas tree to ship. So many things on his mind and he's thinking about the holidays. So cute!

I think I'm OK. Thanks to my fabulous company, I am going to the Sao Paulo Auto Show at the end of October for a week. I'll probably return to Brazil for Christmas and then I'm there for good after NADA at the end of January. So I'm not saying goodbye for months, just a series of weeks.

Tomorrow's the big day!

Last Post from this Computer

As soon as I'm done with this post, I have to unhook the computer and get it ready for the sea shipment. The movers come in the morning. Heavy sigh!

We have the best friends in the world. We did our Brazil or Bust party yesterday. I bet we had 100 people here. It was family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, babies and adults. Jerome from church cooked his heart out and we fed everyone hamburgers, brats, chicken and Ro's salmon. Pat made a sinful chocolate dessert and Lynne took care of the vegetarians. My Mom and Tim brought in the birthday cake so it was a true team effort. My job was to introduce everybody to the joys (or evils) of Caipirinha. It is a traditional Brazilian drink prepared with a sugar cane liquor called cachaça.

After getting up bright and early to clean up the party rubble, we thought we'd have all day to leisurely pack. After we went to the Clique for a yummy birthday breakfast for Jackson (he is 17 today), we were treated to a surprise visit from the Cleveland Robars. It was great to hang out with them. Then, someone called for pots so Ro sold them some clay jewels from the Laundry Room Gallery. Then, a guy we sold some cube chairs to on Craig's List called and wanted to buy some of Ro's tables. Needless, to say Ro had one of his best art fair days ever but we didn't start organizing our stuff for the movers until after 5. Oh well! We're getting it together.

I better get back to it.

Pride

I am so proud of my kids. We are totally rocking their world by taking them to a foreign country, ripping them away from their friends, enrolling them in a new high school and a myriad of other therapy-inducing, life-changing moves. Not only are they calm, but they are in pretty good spirits and have provided a lot of laughs throughout the last few crazy weeks. I really love that they have bought into this adventure 100%.

The Next 10 Days

OK, the visas are here. We're in full ignition mode now. Hard to believe that Dan, Jackson and Hannah only have 10 more days in the US. Here's a brief look at the stuff we know about during this crazy stretch:

Today--Hannah is at her girlfriend Elizabeth's baptism this AM; Jackson is going to the homecoming dance at Regina tonight with Ari; and I'm moving into the Dearborn Inn for the next two nights to run the Crain executive meeting

Wednesday--Both kids go to the dentist; Art Van delivers the furniture we bought

Thursday--Meet with the Merrill Lynch guy we've been avoiding for a year and then sit down with Jackson's counselor at Cass, Mr. Washington

Friday--Second round of immunizations for all; Hannah is going to Mercy's homecoming dance with her buddy Taylor

Saturday--PARTY! We're having about 100 people over to the house for our "Brazil or Bust" open house

Monday--Movers arrive and pack up all our belongings on the air and sea shipment

Wednesday--Plane leaves at 4:15 p.m.

The kids plan to go their new school in Sao Paulo on Friday. Whew!

We have an address

­­­­­­­­­­­­­Rua Itapaiuna, nº 1.800, ap. 142,
Edifício Thamyris,
Condomínio Villagio Panamby, Jardim Morumbi,
São Paulo, SP,
Cep: 05705-901

Dan and the kids will be staying in a hotel the first two weeks and then they get to move into our apartment. Guess I'm kind of jealous of all the firsts they are going to experience without me.

Total Rain Out!

We were supposed to spend today getting rid of clutter. For the past three weeks, we've been clearing out closets....one pile for sea shipment, one pile for storing here in Detroit, one pile for garbage and another for the garage sale. Man, do we have a lot of stuff for that sale. Unfortunately, all the rain from Hurricane Ike soaked today's garage sale. So now not only do we have the dining room and foyer filled with garage sale items, we spent the suddenly free day BUYING stuff to take with us. Oh man! We bought pillows, garbage cans, cookie sheets, mattresses, a chair, 10 pairs of shoes and a bunch of other stuff. We definitely went in the wrong direction.

It looks like the neighborhood garage sale may happen next Saturday. Please pray for a sunny day.

While you're praying, think of young Mr. Jackson tomorrow at 1 p.m. He is taking his road test for his driver's license. You can't drive in Brazil till you're 18 but we didn't want all his classes here to expire by the time he gets back. So if he passes tomorrow and then goes to the Secretary of State next week, he'll be able to drive for about two weeks. Poor guy.

SUNDAY UPDATE: He passed! Thanks for the good vibes all.

Awesome!!!

My way cool bosses at Crain today told me they are going to take a stab at letting me work remotely from Brazil. If I ever, ever, ever have complained about work, I take it back. Not only will I be the most loyal employee ever, they are going to get some great work out of me from the (way) southern bureau of Automotive News. The built-in desk that I'll be using in our Sao Paulo apartment office is pictured in this post.

As part of the deal, I'll be coming home every 4-6 weeks for a week or so at a time. How sweet is that?? I can stock up on tennis shoes, jeans and electronics in the U.S. and sell them from my trunk in Brazil. (Just kidding!)

Brazil or Bust Party

As if we didn't have enough to do in the next few weeks, we've set the date for our goodbye party. I didn't want the family to leave without having a chance to say "tchau" to their pals. I'm putting together an Evite invite and list now so look for it soon. So if you're in town (sorry Corinne!), come join us for some Motown fun on Saturday, September 27 from 4-8 p.m. The price of admission is to look up an important word in Portugese that we'll need to know and teach it to us. Should be fun!

A Perfect Detroit Weekend

Wow...I got up really early yesterday to help my energetic neighbor Amber sell green beans, peaches, pears and grapes at Eastern Market. What a blast! I saw so many people. It was kind of cool to see their reaction....it was like "why are you here?" We yelled at people, weighed their purchases and worked really hard for nine hours. I enjoyed it but I don't think I could do it every weekend. I give Amber a lot of credit. It's tiring work.

Last night, I kept the Detroit groove going and went to the Dally in the Alley in Midtown. Such a great mix of Detroit people all enjoying a beautiful night. The vibe there is perfect with its combination of bands, art, community groups and food. I wish I had taken some pictures. It is also kind of a hippie-ish gathering too with lots of attitude. It is one of those events that make you proud to be a Detroiter, not a suburbanite.

Stan and Barbara came over for dinner tonight. Stan is going to house sit for us when we move to Sao Paulo. We attend church together at St. Charles. They are a great couple and they'll do a fab job with the house while we're gone. How do you fill two people in on all the quirks of an old house?? But hey, I made peach cobbler with peaches Amber and I sold at the market so all was good!!

We Have a Date!

On October 1 at 4:15 p.m., my family is leaving me for Brazil. It was supposed to be just Ro and Hannah but now Jackson has decided to get started on his Brazil high school career, rather than wait for the second semester in January. I admire his decision because I know how tough it is for him to leave Cass.

What about me? I have promised my bosses at Crain that I would be here through Auto Show season. So, I'm going to be oh so lonely. I hope I can do this.

Mamas for Obama

We filled up the Buick yesterday morning with a bunch of Mamas and their daughters and went and saw (well kind of) Barack Obama in Hart Plaza. What fun! The lines and crowds were crazy. We marched in with the Teamsters during the Labor Day Parade and got right into the Plaza. We were way far away (the photo to the left is from the paper) and we couldn't hear very well....but hey we were "breathing his air" as Marcella said. Our view was the one between the two tents in the photo. Santoscoys hosted a great BBQ last night for a bunch of friends so we had a fabulous day to say goodbye to summer and hello to the future.