I notice I write more often about Ju than anything else. I suppose that shows quite a bit about how I spend my time when I have free time to write - and that is with Ju at my feet or near by, being the descarado that he is. For a change of pace, here are some other random thoughts.


Lela has always been a picture licker. Recently my mom sent down some photos of the wedding and now I always have a calico fuzzy body next to my laptop, trying to lick them. I have no idea what is so attractive that she likes them so much. I hope she isn't slowly killing herself with this weird habit.


I realized I had always assumed that people kissing on television and in movies were faking it. Well, they are, of course, but I mean with no tongues and such. Not sure why I always assumed this, but it just seemed natural to me that since these people, despite being actors etc, had girlfriends/boyfriends/wives/husbands that they wouldn't possibly be really using tongue in that shot. I mean, I know it looked like a tongue, but wouldn't their significant other be upset? I have no idea when I lost this assumption, but I think it was quite recent.


This entire year has been one big adjustment in responsibility for me. I started really teaching, really planning, and really "being in charge" of other people who work in my classroom. I never see myself as a boss. I am not comfortable telling others what to do. I suppose it takes some getting used to. I ended up doing the same thing with the DI program. I have been working with my team for over a year, but to really get the program started, I wanted to get others trained and have other teams and get school support, and some how in all that I ended up coordinating this program for the entire school. Not that I don't love the program and want to see it succeed, but I didn't mean to sign up for this - I'm not good at managing people, teams, not letting emotions show or get involved in what I'm doing. It's not anything I ever trained to do. Some days I wish I could just quit, but then what would happen to the program? Maybe someone else will volunteer for this position next year. It's unpaid and stressful, so I doubt it.

If it's not kids, it's cats! After having several nights of Ju waking up and getting scared of things in the dark like stuffed animals and shadows, I finally was determined to get a good nights sleep, when low and behold, I am woken up at 4AM by none other than Ona-key who decided that she absolutely MUST be fed THIS INSTANT and told me this continuously for 5 minutes before I actually acknowledged that I heard her meowing in my ear and got up. I am dead on my feet. Or butt actually, since I am sitting down. I think I'll go sleep now.

Ona is more and more decrepit by the day, not really walking so much as dragging her back legs along the floor to support her behind. The consequence of this is that she will often come in and poop on the tile floor somewhere rather than try to step into her litter box. Ju knows that coco is dirty and he can't touch it, so when he finds some, he usually comes to tell me and then watches as I clean it up.

This morning he found there was some on the veranda next to the litter box, and told me so, but since it was out there and not in the middle of foot traffic, I just said "okay, don't touch it, it's dirty. mommy will come clean it" and continued drinking my coffee. A little while later, he came to the top of the stairs and told me again, but this time accompanied by a long stretch of Ju language that I was unable to decifer, so I thought I'd better take a look. When I came up stairs I saw he had a diaper sitting in front of him, and inside it was the cat poop. Outside on the veranda I found another diaper with more cat poop in it. I guess he just wanted to help.

One day of delay to Bahia...

After much discussion at the office, it has been concluded that to keep the cats inside of these crates for the 36 hour period that is required to complete this trip in 2 days is inhumane and cruel, so I will be staying over in Sampa and flying out the next morning to finish the last leg of my trip. This will be pleasant for a number of reasons, one being the fact that the cats will get to run around a bit outside of the crates, another being that I will get to sleep and shower before seeing Meuamor, and last that I will get to spend more time with one of the dearest friends my love has, who is my contact in Sampa and is providing me with rides and a bed to sleep in. So now all that is left is to get the papers for the cats back from the consulate, and pay to switch my flight.

At least it is only money and not my first born child...

One issue after another...

I talked to Meuamor last night after he talked to the customs people and the Continental Airlines people. After calling and talking to Continental and discovering I have to drop the cats off at a special cargo area when I leave the US, and that I also have to pick them up in a special cargo area in Sampa GRU airport, I was a tad concerned about how I would accomplish both that and customs and immigration requirements in my 3 hour layover. So, still keeping this little secret of my actual departure date, I had Meuamor call and ask where this place was and if it were at all possible to get the cats on time or if it was inevitable that I would be missing my 12 noon flight. He also was to inquire as to whether or not I would have to pay tax for all the crap I will be entering the country with, none of it being new.

So he has found that: The Department of Agriculture of Brasil is only open for inspection of incoming animals from 9am to 2pm. The Continental people will not release my cats from their cargo area until probably about 2pm. This makes it impossible for me to make my 12 noon flight, and also appears that it will make it impossible for me to have them go through the Department of Agriculture that day as well, meaning - I will be spending the night in Sampa and I also have purchased a ticket for $280 that I cannot use.

I believe I can cancel my ticket for $150 fee, however, I still have to purchase another ticket on top of that. I found that on the Varig web site I can purchase one for even cheaper that what I originally paided, but I can only buy a one way ticket from the Brasil version of the website, not the American/English version. I am worried that if I try to purchase a ticket from there I either will not qualify and will not be able to, or they will send the paper ticket by MAIL and I will not get it in time. Either way, I am a little upset at the amount of money I keep having to spend to accomplish this - the credit card is almost maxed out as it is, and a T.A. stipend does not allow me to make an significant payments.

I will have to pay a fee for both the release of the cats from the cargo place in Sampa and to have the Agriculture people look at them. Continental will take US$ or R$, while the Agriculture people will only take R$.

I will hopefully not have to pay any tax money on my old stupid crappy used things I am bringing, but I will inevidabley be searched etc. because I will have large suitcases...

Today, I bought cat carriers. That is about it... But they are really nice cat carriers.

Today was a the day of endless phone calls to no avail. I am aware, I think, of what documents I need to get married in Brasil. I am trying to do my best to secure them before I leave (this is kind of a necessity), however from what I was told by others, they would be easy to get. I think the judgment of easy is purely dependent on having done it. I spent at least 2 hours on the phone today, trying to call the RIGHT numbers to find the documents that I needed. One of them, at this point, I am not even sure actually exists.

I did manage to secure reservations for the two animal spaces in cargo on my Varig flight, which was a relief. They only charge you for the extra weight, not even for the extra space taken up by the cages, so I am a little less poor than I thought I would be. It seems rather silly that I can reserve these spaces now with a non-American company that isn't even based in this country, but I can't do jack for the Continental flight until 10 days before when I get the second health certificate.

For the cats to get there little furry butts down there on the same flight as me, I must take them to the vet, get their health checked out, get an official health certificate from the vet($30), take that to the USDA APHIS Vet people here, have them look at it and approve it($40), then take that, some paperwork I don't' know exists yet, and $40 and mail it to the Brasilian Consulate in Chicago to get it all approved. This must be done 30 days or less previous to my flight. This then gets mailed back to me and I have 30 days from the issuing of the consulate to get them out of the country and through customs in Brasil. Then, again, 10 days or less before my flight, I have to take the cats to the vet AGAIN and have them issue ANOTHER health certificate just to get them on the plane with Continental. Geez, what a freakin' hassle. Worth it however, to have my fuzzies by my side in Brasil.

Getting my police record, or rather statement that I don't have one, has proven to be a process of trial and error. I called one police department, who told me to call another one, who told me they did not issue it and I had to come be finger printed at 3pm on a Tuesday or a Thursday and then take a bunch of paperwork (and probably some $$$ too) and mail that to the INS. Some 3 weeks later (if I'm lucky) they might return a statement saying I don't have a police record. I will most likely be in Brasil by the time this happens, so hopefully they have international mailing...

I was also previously informed that I need a statement saying I am NOT married. This is a type of certificate that no one I know has heard of before and does not know how to go about getting. So I called the city clerks office, who directed me to call the county clerks office, who informed me that they can issue a statement and notarize it saying that I never applied for a marriage license in this county. But that only applies to this county. So if I am to have a statement showing I am not married in the continental US, it seems I need to apply for one in each county of each state, which is ridiculous. There must be either some other document, or the person who thinks I need it is on crack.

At least I know once I am in the country, I will be able to move about freely. But actually getting there is in no way set in stone...