So you may not know it, but I have been in the process to get an extension on my visa for about 4 months now. I decided randomly to check online Friday, though my visa paperwork had only arrived at the Ministerio de Justica on the 13th of December. That is the office that decides whether I get to stay or not. They decided. I get to stay! Thanks for all your prayers -- that is an incredibly fast decision, as they generally take months to come out with a verdict, even on renewing visas.
My only problem? I am currently in the US, and I have to have a tourist visa to get back into Brazil, since my "current" visa is expired (I don't actually have the new one until they stamp it in my passport at the Federal Police). Heh. It's never staying that's the problem. It's getting in....
Addendum: My visa was published in the Diario Oficial on Christmas Eve. I still have to have a tourist visa to get in.
24 December 2007
02 December 2007
On vocabulary
"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man." - Jebediah Springfield (in The Simpsons Episode 3F13, entitled "Lisa the Iconoclast")
The English language doesn't actually contain the word "embiggen," but Portuguese does. I laugh and think of this quote every time I hear it, and I have been meaning to post this for months. I like Portuguese.
The English language doesn't actually contain the word "embiggen," but Portuguese does. I laugh and think of this quote every time I hear it, and I have been meaning to post this for months. I like Portuguese.
01 December 2007
On my blood pressure
I generally have pretty good blood pressure, which is good, because my stress level is sky-high, what with me living in a foreign culture and all. Here's an excerpt from my conversation with my friend Ilce today:
Me: Oh, yeah, my pressure usually runs about 115/75.
Her: Your systolic is 115?! That's hypertensive!
Me: Huh?
Her: You feel okay with a systolic pressure that high? I mean, 120/80 here is already hypertensive!
Me: 115.
Her: Yeah, that's really high!
Me: (still really confused) One fifteen
Her: (finally realizing that something isn't quite right) Oh, I thought you were telling me 150.
(Cue the laugh track) I absolutely couldn't figure out why she was freaking out about my systolic BP of 115 and she couldn't figure out why in the world I wasn't more worried about it until she figured out that I was saying 115 and NOT 150 (and that was her misunderstanding, not my misspeaking). That, my friends, is a testament to the fact that we both need more sleep (writes the blogger at 12:20am).
Me: Oh, yeah, my pressure usually runs about 115/75.
Her: Your systolic is 115?! That's hypertensive!
Me: Huh?
Her: You feel okay with a systolic pressure that high? I mean, 120/80 here is already hypertensive!
Me: 115.
Her: Yeah, that's really high!
Me: (still really confused) One fifteen
Her: (finally realizing that something isn't quite right) Oh, I thought you were telling me 150.
(Cue the laugh track) I absolutely couldn't figure out why she was freaking out about my systolic BP of 115 and she couldn't figure out why in the world I wasn't more worried about it until she figured out that I was saying 115 and NOT 150 (and that was her misunderstanding, not my misspeaking). That, my friends, is a testament to the fact that we both need more sleep (writes the blogger at 12:20am).
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