Spoiled Americans!

Long time, no blog! We moved into the new apartment (which neither of us can ever remember the name of) on Thursday and finally got to unpack our bags. Yay! We had been living out of our suitcases at the other apartment since we didn't want to unpack and repack just to move again. The new apartment is fabulous, as a previous blog entry has shown. We don't have TV or Internet yet, and in Brazil, it takes TWO WEEKS to set up Internet! When we were told that information about 10 days ago, Jonathan and I both looked at the company person like, "I'm sorry. What did you say?" Wow, how spoiled we are.

Jonathan looked at me and said, "Man, I'm used to making a phone call and having it all hooked up in the same day." Yeah. Me, too ;).

We still don't have Internet; we are hoping to have everything set up within a week or so. Right now, we are at the mall stealing Wifi! Hence, today will be a short post.

Moving on... We have been hanging out in our quiet apartment (which is quite nice). You should see us. It's kind of cute -- the way we count how many times each other blinks. Or at 7:30 p.m., we look at our watch and say, "Not bedtime yet." Once 7:35 p.m. gets here, we are doing pretty well, having only looked at our watch two additional times since the original glance at 7:30. Electronics have INVADED us. The last time we were at the mall, I quickly downloaded a few games on the iPad; DO NOT download Word W.E.L.D.E.R. Your marriage might suffer. I am obsessed.

Moving on (again)...Being that we hadn't washed clothes since we arrived in Brazil, on Thursday, I decided to try and work the washing machine in our apartment. Not happening -- All of the instructions and buttons are in Portuguese. I took one look at that thing, gave up, and called Mariana. She came by Friday morning and showed me how to work it. Once you wash clothes, there are no dryers to put them in. It's the good 'ole hang 'em up and air dry. The use of a dryer is VERY rare here.

I've been told two different things: 1.  Most people who own dryers are very, very wealthy; 2.  The dryers here do not dry very well and take forever to do so.

I do not know which is true, but either way, we don't have one. Also, everything here is much smaller than the U.S. Cars, cups, trash cans, washing machines....so, you know how most of us are used to saying, "Oh, no! I forgot to iron my shirt. I'll just throw it in the dryer," or "Honey, I'll have your shorts washed and dried before you leave in an hour,".... not in Brazil! You must plan! I have been washing loads of clothes everyday, and I STILL am not done washing our first 10 days worth of stuff:

The part we find the most interesting is the size of the kitchen trash can. I have set it beside the refridgerator to give you an idea of its actual size:


Can you even see it sitting there? ;)

I keep asking myself over and over, "How do they cook?!" There is no garbage disposal in the sink, so everything must be thrown away. I asked about this mini-garbage can phenomenon and was told that Brazilians just take their trash out. A LOT. We have gone through 11 garbage bags in three days. Are we wasteful?