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The Teaters: Sore Arms
I (Amanda) have had the opportunity for a few new experiences lately. On Saturday (Jakeīs birthday) we had planned to go to a churrascaria (Brazilian BBQ) for dinner - which is Jakeīs favoirte - unlimited rounds of meat. However, the lights in the car were accidently left on earlier in the day, so when we went to leave for dinner, the battery was dead and wouldnīt start. Since it is a manual car, Jake thought we could give it a push start and hope that the motor would catch. We learned that our driveway has a dip in it, so once we got to a certain point each time, it got hard to push. We tried a dozen times with no success. At this point it was close to 9 pm - and there wasnīt a single grocery store, mechanic, or gas station open within walking distance. So we went back into the house to look for anything that we could use to jump start the battery. We found a remote control car that Jake had bought to use with the kids at CLM a few years ago. With its 12V battery charger and a few extension cords, we hooked up the battery to our car. By the following morning, our battery was charged and the car started right up. We learned later that the reason it didnīt start when we pushed it was because the alarm had been on when the battery died - some sort of feature to keep your car from being stolen.
As my arms were starting to feel better, we decided to begin doing a little work at our future home at CLM. We have decided to add a very small addition onto the kitchen to allow us to fit our kitchen table in the kitchen rather than into the also very small family room. So with a sledge hammer and a few small shovels, we got to work removing the concrete porch that was there and digging a few inches down to prepare the floor to be poured. I donīt think hard (physical) labor is my calling here in Brazil but it certainly seems as if God is giving my opportunities to work my arms.
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Posted by admin on Wednesday, June 17 @ 00:00:00 BST (22 reads)
(comments? | The Teaters | Score: 5) |
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A Monkey, a Bonsai Tree & a Walmart Run
This week Amanda finished a knitting project that she started while we were waiting on our visa - a small stuffed monkey. It was a long wait, but he is finally finished. He may need a little reinforcement though - unfortunately he came close to losing his left arm during his first night at CLM. We also got a bonsai tree - which are incredibly cheap here in Brazil. We looked online for ones in America and they were $40-$100. We got the same type - a Jaboticaba Bonsai for $8. Jaboticabas are apparently fruit baring trees, so maybe in a few years we will have jam! We are investigating how to prune and shape it. We can't
decide between making it into a sphere, basic shape, or more clustered like you see in Japanese restaurants. Any suggestions? Aside from the fun of having a little tree, I am also using this as a learning experience for when I put together a terrarium for the CLM kids, which I will put up a post about later.
We made our first Walmart run while we were in Curitiba. It was strangely familiar yet had some very distinctive differences. The colors were the same and a lot of the products were the same just less variety than an American Walmart. At this Walmart, all of the employees wore roller skates and zoomed down the aisles, sometimes making it difficult to catch their
attention to get help finding a certain item. But for sure the prices were much better than other stores here... so we loaded up our cart...not knowing when we will have another chance for a Walmart run. We could not find any french vanilla creamer, so we went down the road about 3 miles to a similar store called 'Big' to see if they had some. After about 10 minutes there we discovered that Walmart owns Big, and they stock the same items... But we did find some back in Guarapuava and bought half of them.
  
To view pictures in larger size, click here
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Posted by admin on Sunday, May 31 @ 00:00:00 BST (52 reads)
(comments? | Score: 5) |
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New-old Friends and New-old Cars
We met some very close friends of the CLM family as well as Amanda's family. If some of you
are familiar with CLM history, a Christian man by the name of Jacob Lay donated the land
for CLM Entre Rios, having a vision from God to help the Brazilian orphans. As well, this
same man was Amanda's Grandpa Gutai's boss in the 50's when he lived in Brazil before
immigrating to the United States. We spent some time with Jacob, who is now in his mid
80's, listening to stories about CLM's start and his friendship with Amanda's family. We
also met up with Jacob's son, Robert, who lives in Curitiba and has a heart for helping
others - especially helping others buy cars. He took us to a dealership of a friend and
helped us get a good deal on a car.  
Robert gave us a ride to Curitiba (a city of around 2 million about 4 hours away)For the
price we wanted to pay, here in Guarapuava we could only get a very basic '94 small car. In
Curitiba, we found a car with a few more options (still very basic by American standards)
but much newer - a 2000 Renault Clio. It has a few quirks we are trying to iron out but we
are very thankful to have a better mode of transportation now. Unfortunately, automatic
cars are very rare here. So begins driving lessons for Amanda!! In Brazil cars hold
there value and depreciate very slowly. For example, in Brazil a 97 S10 will cost you
about $15,000 USD, where as in the States it would cost around $3000. So here cars are an
investment. If we take good care of our car we should be able to trade it in for a few
years with only a small loss in value. Our Clio has a 1 liter engine. My friend Kevin
King has a motorcycle with a 1.1 liter engine... It means that we get good gas mileage
(around 40 m/gal), but we go pretty slow up hills. To view larger photos, click here
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Posted by admin on Saturday, May 30 @ 18:39:30 BST (31 reads)
(comments? | Score: 5) |
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Lost in Translation: When evidencing the reduction of the bursts...
Sometimes we find some pretty hilarious English translations. Here is one of them, its 4 steps of instructions to make... Well you can try to figure it out.
1. Remove the content of this packaging and places it in the microwave oven with the side of the instructions in the top.
2. Regulate the microwave oven in the maximum power programming the time of the burst for 2 or 5 minutes. According to your device.
3. Follow the process of reduction of the bursts intently, when evidencing the reduction of the bursts, turn off the microwave oven.
4. After blowing up the popcorn, open carefully the packing for the dianogal edges of the superior part of the package (the vapor that leaves is extremely hot).
Yup, that's right, it is instructions for microwave popcorn, made here in Brazil by Zaeli. And if you wondered how to store your microwave popcorn package until you use it, here is how: To conserve in dry, cool, aired and free place of strange odors.
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Posted by jake on Saturday, May 09 @ 13:51:39 BST (42 reads)
(comments? | Lost in Translation | Score: 0) |
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The Teaters: Our First Night in Guarapuava
Last night was our first night in our house in Guarapuava. It was also the day that our kitchen and mattress were delivered. In Brazil when you rent, you have you provide your own kitchen set (sink, faucet, cabinets, countertop, appliances, etc.). The house comes with a drain pipe and a spiggot - the rentor supplies the rest. The cabbinets slip in some what like an entertainment center. As I said, ours came yesterday. First they installed the cabbinets that go above the sink. When it came time to level it up, I asked if they had a level and he said no. (A delivery truck dropped off the cabbinets and they left a man with a bike behind to install them. He had a a few tools in a small box.) Then, the man asked for a small ball, we gave him a rubber ball that we brought down for the kids. As he held the cabbinets in place I put the ball on top of them. Wala! we had a level. Once the ball stopped rolling to either side we marked the holes and he got his hammer drill out. We had hoped to live close to friends while we were in the city. Well last night while we were killing some bugs (namely a cockroach, a spider, and an earwig), we saw two people out in the street yelling and screaming - and apparently at us. I opened the door and there was one of our neighbors - Rossana - who used to be a missionary at CLM! It turns out that they live in the apartment building that is right beside our house - maybe 20 feet from us. A few of the college kids from CLM live on the same road - just a few blocks down. We are so excited that God picked the perfect location out of a city of over 100,000 - so that we could live right next door to friends and we didnīt even know it until today. God is so good!!!!
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Posted by admin on Tuesday, April 28 @ 14:14:08 BST (65 reads)
(comments? | The Teaters | Score: 5) |
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The Teaters: A crazy motorcyclist and a disappearing rat
What do these have in common? Our first day at CLM. We have a house rented thanks to help from Mike and Mary, another missionary couple from the US. We spent most of the day in Guarapuava, looking for the basics we would need to move in. We were able to get a refrigerator, stove, table, kitchen cabinets/counter tops, bed, and bedding. Talk about a productive shopping spree. We were able to find some things used which was nice. Our goal is to move in to the city on Monday and begin our Portuguese study the same day. The sooner we get started, the sooner we will be able to get to CLM to help out.
Back to the three odd incidences of the day. On our way to our last stop in Guarapuava, we were heading up a hill and were turning left into a parking lot, when all of a sudden we heard a lot crash and saw a guy on a motorcycle hit the front corner of CLM's car, fly off his bike and land on the sidewalk. Thankfully, it doesn't sound like he has any major injuries, although the ambulance did take him to the hospital. People in Brazil can be crazy drivers, but especially motorcyclists. They fly through the middle of busy streets between cars and try to share a lane. Needless to say this guy had broke several traffic laws - passing us on a one lane road, on the wrong side, and through a street parking space. Thankfully, everyone was protected and nothing worse happened. After that excitement, we returned to CLM to get some rest... only to find a rat that had scurried across the room. Jake was out to catch him and cornered him behind a bookshelf. Much to my dismay, I had to push the bookcase to lure him out, only to find that he had disappeared. We checked everywhere and canīt figure out where he went or how he escaped. Beyond that excitement, we are really looking forward to being able to spend some time with the CLM kids this weekend. We know about 10 of the 30 some kids that are here right now. We have a lot of names to learn. The kids we know have grown up so much. I canīt believe it. Some of the kids were only 3 or 4 when we first met them; now they are 9 or 10.
Please pray for us as we build relationships with the kids and other missionaries, build our language skills, and adjust to the Brazilian culture and the city of Guarapuava.
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Posted by admin on Saturday, April 25 @ 01:54:15 BST (58 reads)
(comments? | The Teaters | Score: 5) |
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Latest News From CLM
Mary writes in the latest Prayer Warrior:
Tuesday, June 30, 2009, Brazil
Dear Prayer Warrior,
CLM ENTRE
RIOS:
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