Brent and Jill Nichols September Report

Brent and Jill Nichols September Report

Brent Continues to Make All My Dreams Come True

This past Wednesday night, Brent took me to see my team: Botafogo.  I have been wanting to go to a game in their stadium, called Engenhao, since before we moved to Brazil.  It was originally built for the Pan-American games and now is used by the best futebol (soccer) team in Rio as their home field.

We went to Rio by bus and boat to arrive at the stadium.  We ate a dinner of hot dogs, popcorn, biscoitos salgados and coke zero. (They didn’t have diet).  We cheered and booed along with about 10,000 other loyal fans. Unfortunately, just like what happens to the Aggies sometimes, the clock ran out before we could get ahead, and the game ended, 2-1.  It was still the best sixth wedding anniversary we’ve ever had.

Harry Potter!

In the States, I have been to lots of IMPORTANT movie premieres.  When Star Wars was re-released, (my A&M friends and I drove to Houston to see it in the IMAX); the first Lord of the Rings, ( I dressed up as a fairy pricess); and of course The Royal Tenenbaums (I was the only one running to get my seat).

So I clearly know what is appropriate in the United States.  What would happen in Brazil?  Do people buy tickets way early? (Yes.) Do they stand in line for hours waiting for the best seats?  (No.) Will everyone be dressed up like all the charaters? (Not even one.)

So, I tried to play it cool.  Until I found out that all the midnight showing tickets were gone.  We ended up buying tickets for a Thursday afternoon with the McGees.  April and I began planning our attack for the day.  Because of my classes, I couldn’t arrive more than an hour and a half early, April took one for the team and arrived 3 hours early at the mall.  When she got there, a huge line was already in place…for the show 2 hours before ours.  So, April continued to check back until we finally arrived.

About an hour before the show, they let us form a line for our show.  And when we were released, with only 15 minutes to go, April and I ran to get the seats we wanted.  (Yes, it was a race between us and children and WE WON!)  All in all, great day.  Next time we will buy earlier and go later.  One more mission accomoplished in Niteroi, Brazil.

It can be a stressful thing in a new country to not know how to do the things that usually are no problem.  So when it came time to see Harry Potter, the Half-Blood Prince, or as we know it here, o Enigma do Principe, I was a little nervous.

Brent and Jill Nichols July Report

Hope you are doing great!! Click the link below for this months report.

the-bridge-07-09

How I know I’m starting to fit in:

• I took a nap, without A/C, under a sheet and two blankets and it was 80 degrees outside.
• Sometimes I want to stay home at night to watch the 9:00 soap opera.
• People talk to me at the bus stops.
• Sometimes I understand and talk back.
• I’ve seen some CUTE spandex outfits.
• My Portuguese teacher asked me what you call grapes all together and after five minutes, all I could come up with was “stem of grapes”.  On the way walking home, I thought of “bunch of grapes”.
• I know about the secret bus stop.
• When people are coming over, I ask morning/afternoon/evening instead of what time.

Brent & Jill May Niteroi Report

Please click on the link below for this months newsletter

the-bridge-05-091

How the Fire of Botafogo Warms My Heart

Brent has not yet chosen a soccer team to support here in the state of Rio de Janeiro.  And I have no doubt that once Brent chooses– he will be a better fan than I am, in that he will know all the players, their statistics and how and who they should recruit.

I chose to support Botafogo on of our last campaigns to Brazil with the Edmond church of Christ.  And since then, I keep finding more reasons that we are a perfect fit together.  For one, their emblem is a “lone” star.  Obviously I love Texas, where my father was born and raised, where I chose to go to school, and the place where my favorite in-laws live! 

Their colors are black and white.  Very easy to dress in support of my team and also appropriately for any occasion.  And last and most importantly, they can cheer even when they are down.  Any good Texas Aggie can tell you the value in team spirit even when the chips are down.  We do our yells before the game, during the game, and after the game, no matter the outcome.  So my choice in teams was confirmed last night, as I saw a group of Botafogo fans chanting and cheering in the street after a tough loss earlier in the day.

It is this loyalty and this commaraderie that will catapult us to our 19^thstate championship in the coming weeks.  Viva Botafogo!!!

Brent’s birthday!

Brent turned 32 this year and we celebrated with our team, some friends from Rio, and some new Niteroi friends!  Brent’s first priority was getting some people together to play basketball.  When they weren’t on the court, we ate Brazilian BBQ and enjoyed spending time together.

It was awesome and overwhelming to have so many of our new friends there.  We were changing languages with every conversation; no wonder missionaries are so weird!  We were so blessed by the people who came, even though, of course, we miss our families at times like these.  Love to all of you, enjoy a little piece of the party!

Brent ask to have candles on potato salad so that NO wax could get on his peach cobbler.

On the court!

And with our friends!

Jill got cold in Brazil!

Each Thursday night the team gets together for a little bonding time.  Sometimes we pray, sometimes we praise, and sometimes we fellowship.  A couple of weeks ago, we decided to have a movie night.  All of our apartment buildings have some common areas that tenants can use for entertaining.  Ours has a movie room, that conveniently has an air conditioner.

I think I’ve mentioned before that my husband is….thrifty.  So, when he has an opportunity to use an air conditioner, FREE OF CHARGE, (keep in mind: he has not stopped sweating since we got here); Well, let’s just say, he went for it!

After 30 minutes to an hour, most of the girls were freezing.  I went upstairs and got sweats and blankets.  Brent never got cold, but he sure stopped being hot.

Same window, different days…

We are so blessed to have the most beautiful view of God’s creation out of our window.  No matter the weather, it always reminds us of His power and creativity.  Enjoy!