Finally made it to Brazil...!

I should've known right from the beginning that our trip to Brazil was going to be a unique one.

We were scheduled to fly out last Wednesday but we received a phone call telling us that we may not get our passports with Brazillian visas in time.  We had our suitcases packed and ready on standby just in case.  Although we were praying that God will expedite the visa process so that we can fly out as scheduled, we were reminded once again that God's timing is always the best.  Megumi and I ended up coming down with a little cold on Sunday night.  So not getting our passports back until Friday afternoon turned out to be a blessing in disguise.  It gave us some time to feel better before our journey.

On Sunday afternoon, we locked up our house and headed out to the airport.  After much anticipation, our Brazil trip was really happening!  As the pastor drove us there, we reminisced about how last time we were at the airport was when we first arrived on St. Kitts.  It has been 4 months already!

We got there more than 2 hours before take off, which we thought was plenty of time.  Well, guess what?  It took us an hour and a half to check in.  Mind you, it is not a big airport.  But things were moving at a "St. Kitts pace".  When we finally got to the counter, the airline agent told us that although we had 3 seats reserved, there were no seats together left on the airplane.  All 3 seats had to be separate.  Mike and I looked at each other and said, "Does somebody else want to take care of Meg during our 3 hour flight to Miami?" We were joking of course.  We figured once we got on the plane, somebody would be willing to switch their seat so that at least one of us could sit next to our 18 months old daughter.  The next problem was that the person that booked our tickets had bought 3 seperate trips (St. Kitts to Miami, Miami to Rio, Rio to Campinas) and the American Airline agent had a hard time figuring out how to get our luggage all the way to Rio.  By the time we had everything figured out, it was past the scheduled boarding time.  But this is St. Kitts we are talking about.  We should've known that there's nothing to stress about.  We quickly walked through immigration and security.  Then we realized that everybody else was still waiting to board in the lobby.  We made it on time. We are going to make it to Miami...back to United States!
As we got comfortable in our seats on the plane (and yes, somebody did change their seat for us so all three of us were able to sit together! yey!), Mike says "Yuki, I just want some good old Mexican food at the airport...doesn't that sound so good?"  To which I replied, "Mike, I just want a huge salad...or some Quiznos.  That sounds good too."  We couldn't wait to have some yummy good old American dinner at the Miami airport.  Our mouths were watering just thinking about it.

Once we landed in Miami, we found ourselves in a line which was snaked around immigration.  I kept on looking at my watch and looking at the line.  We had an hour and 15 minutes to go through immigration, baggage claim, customs, security and to our gate.  When I asked at the information desk to see if there was any other way to connect to Rio, the officer shook his head and said "Sorry Ma'am.  This is the only way.  There's no other transit.  You are catching the 8:20 flight to Rio? Oh, well good luck...I mean really good luck.  You are going to need it."  That did not calm my nerves at all.  The only comfort walking through the snail pace immigration line was talking to other people.  Megumi quickly made some friends as we kept passing people back and forth.
After finally making it through immigration, we found ourselves down in the baggage claim where we picked up our 2 suitcases.  Then back in line we went.  This time for Customs.  At this point, I was starting to realize that my salad and Quiznos sandwich were getting further and further away from me.  We were just hoping to make it on to the plane.  After what seemed like forever, we got through Customs and we ran over to drop off our suitcases for the connecting flight.  Then on to Security line we went.  It sounds ridiculous even as I type.  I think we spent half of our traveling time waiting in line! Megumi was such a trooper through it all.  After security we ran to take the Sky Train to our gate. 10 minutes before take off, we make it on our plane to Rio.  That was a close one.

I won't go into details about our 10 hour flight to Rio from Miami.  Let's just say that Megumi did not sleep as well as she does at home.  But who can blame her?  I couldn't get comfortable squished in our airplane seat so I'm sure she couldn't either.  Megumi made up for all her crying by waving good-bye and blowing kisses to the flight attendants as we walked off the plane.  I'm glad we were able to leave on a positive note :)  Can I also say that Mike and I actually enjoyed eating the airplane salad?  Yeah, the iceberg-and a-slice-of-tomato-pathetic salad?  We are deprived.  Can you tell?

At Rio de Janeiro Airport

We were so relieved to finally make it to Rio.  We were in Brazil at last!  Only to find out that one of our suitcases did not make it with us from Miami.  Oh well.  At least we made it and one of our suitcases did too.  We filled out the necessary form and walked through Customs.  During this time, Mike and I quickly figured out that not many people in Brazillian airports speak English.  One of my favorite comments was when Mike asked the Customs officer, "How do you say 'thank you'?" To which he replied, "No English.  Only Portuguese."
Our next task was to figure out our connecting domestic flight.  After talking to two different airline agents and still clueless to where we were going, I finally found somebody that realized we did not speak Portuguese.  It's really hard to follow directions when you can't understand the language (duh!).  Although she did not speak English, she figured out enough of what we were looking for and gestured us to follow her to the correct airline desk.  While we waited in line we learned how friendly people are in Brazil.  Megumi kept waving and blowing kisses.  Which she received many kisses and a string of excited comments in Portuguese in return.   We even made a friend while we waited at the gate.  Although they didn't speak English and we obviously could not understand Portuguese, we were able to at least exchange the babies' names.  Before they left, they wanted to take a picture with Megumi and I.  So we did :)

We were on our final flight of the day.  Rio to Campinas.  Guess what?  Once we boarded the plane, we realized our seats were taken.  After double checking our seat assignments, we realized that the airline had issues both parties the same seats.  While the flight attendant try to figure out what to do, we waited in the back in the flight attendant service area.  Mike and I just looked at each other and started laughing.  What can we do?  Our day was full of surprises.  But each time we think we are not going to make it, we do.  So we were not stressed.  This is when Mike asked the flight attendant next to us and learned how to say "thank you" in Portuguese - "Obrigado".
Did we make it on the flight? Yup!  We sure did :)

Megumi's new "smile".  This is what she does now when we try to take a picture.

After our short one hour trip to Campinas, everything went smoothly.  There was somebody that came to pick us up at the airport and he's been a big help ever since.  He's one of the only people we know that speaks English and Portuguese.  It's good to have someone like that around.

Everybody's been so helpful ever since we arrived here on UNASP-EC Campus (Adventist University campus).  Although we have a hard time communicating, we have fun trying.  They even had somebody arrange to take us down to the store so we could pick up some shampoo, soap, toothbrush, detergent...etc. to help us get through until our suitcase arrives.  We met some other missionary families at supper tonight in the cafeteria too.  There is a girl Megumi's age and I think they are going to love playing together for the next 3 weeks.

Our new "home" for next 3 weeks!

Our trip to Brazil was not quite what I had expected.  But I feel like I can't complain.  Because in the end, it all worked out.  Luckily we all had one extra set of clothes in our carry-on so we are sleeping in our outfits for tomorrow to bed.

I am exhausted but what a memorable 24 hours it has been.  God knows I love to plan and I love to be prepared.  But God is teaching me to not stress out when things don't quite go as expected.  Trust in Him.  Trust in His care.  He WILL see you through.  He sure did today and I'm sure He will see us through tomorrow too.