After we decide to accept the jobs in Lithuania, we needed to figure out how to get all of our stuff (and boy did we have stuff!) from Brasilia to either Wisconsin or Lithuania.  We sold some of our stuff at school, and then we needed to pack up the rest. There was way too much for us to carry back with us on the plane, so we split our stuff in half - part got shipped directly to Vilnius and the other part - 13 boxes/suitcases - went home with us on the plane, and it all made it!  Chris spent most of his time the last two months in Brasil making shipping arrangements and packing all of our stuff.  There were times he didn't think it would all work out, but everything did.  That's not to say our last few months in Brasil were all work and no play, we did manage to squeeze in two more trips before we left Brasil.

The first was to Iquazu Falls.  You can't spend three years in South America and not see one of the largest waterfalls in the world! It was a short weekend trip, but well worth it.  Our other trip was to Natal on the Northern coast of Brasil and the island paradise of  Fernado De Noranha.  Natal is a very nice beach town on the northern coast of Brasil.  We only had two days in Natal and then we were off to the island paradise of Fernado De Noranha.  I know I've called it a paradise twice now, but that's only because I can't think of a more appropriate word.  If you don't believe me, just look at the pictures, by either clicking the link above or by clicking on the passport below.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but even these pictures can't say it all.  While it is a popular destination for Brasilians, it's pretty much unknown to the rest of the world.  If you are looking for a good reason to learn Brasilian Portuguese this is it.  Almost no one on the island spoke any English - good thing it was our last trip!  The island is located a few hundred kilometers off of the northern coast.  It is an ecological preserve, with strict limits on the number of tourists allowed on the island at any one time.  There is only one hotel on the island, so most people stay at a pousada (Bed and Breakfast).  There are over thirteen beautiful beaches and only one paved road, so a dune buggy is the only way to go.

After Fernado De Norahna, it was back to Brasilia, for a day, before we flew home with all of our luggage.  Once we got home, the real fun started - unpacking.  Not only unpacking all of our stuff from Brasil, but unpacking all of the stuff in storage.  The main goal was to find warm clothes, but we also did a lot of reminiscing, and a lot of trashing (Why did we keep this?).  We shredded about four trash bags of old papers.  We also had a rummage sale to sell some of the stuff we didn't need any more.  Thanks to Jeff and Kim for the use of the garage for the sale.  After pulling out anything that looked even remotely warm, it was time to repack all of the stuff that wasn't going with us and put it back in storage ... until the next move.  Then we had to find a shipping company.  Now, if you've ever worked with moving companies, you know what fun that can be, but to add to the fun, we were moving out of the country.  Most of Chris's calls for shipping quotes went something like this . . .

Nice shipping person - Hello, Bla Bla Bla Moving and Shipping.
Chris - Yes, I need to get a quote for shipping my personal effects from Neenah, Wisconsin to Vilnius, Lithuania.

At that point there were several responses ...

Can you spell that? - Can you spell that again?
What state is that in?
Where is that? - Where!?!
We don't ship there, we only ship internationally.
Why are you going there?

The one company surprised us, they asked how to spell it and said that they would have a quote for us the next day.  After not hearing from them for several days, we called back only to find out they still didn't know where we wanted our stuff shipped.  It's kind of hard to trust a shipping company that doesn't even have an up-to-date atlas.  HINT - If you are ever working with moving companies (even for a local move), be sure to get several quotes, our quotes varied by over $1,500.00.  Once we thought we found a reasonable company, we made arrangements to have our stuff shipped, but it seems their price was only good until we left the country, after that it went up.  So yet again we owe a great deal of thanks to Chris's mom for calling and finding a new shipping company and getting our stuff to us.  It took a little longer but the good thing was, we had a chance to look around Vilnius and find out what we couldn't get here, and Chris's mom was kind enough to do a little shopping for our new home. 

As you can see, we had a very busy summer, and we did not get to see anyone while we were home.  Our apologies to all of our friends and family that we didn't get to see.

Off to Vilnius.  In early August, we flew from Oshkosh to Stockholm to Vilnius.  We arrived in Vilnius without any problems.  We were met by Rasa, the school's Business Manager, and Suzanne R.the other new teacher  (at school we have a Sue, a Suzanne, and a Susan and two Bills).  We loaded all of our luggage into a taxi van and we were off to our apartments.  We dropped Suzanne off at her apartment first, and then Sue and I were off to our new home.  Our apartment is in a very nice area of town, across the river from the park.  Our apartment is very nice, clean, bright and newly renovated.  After dropping off our luggage, it was off for a quick lunch and a quicker tour of the city.  It was all just a blur.  The seven hour time difference is a new experience.  Jet lag wasn't that big of a deal between the US and Brasil.  Wisconsin and Brasil were only two hours different - Vilnius is seven hours, add that to being tired from traveling and you're pretty exhausted.  Once we were back at the apartment we did a little unpacking and went to bed.  One of the strange things about being this far north is that it gets light at about 3AM in the summer and it doesn't get really dark.  However, now that winter is here, we are paying for that.  It gets light at about 9AM and dark at 4PM.  Our first few days were spent finding our way around town, and doing a lot of walking.  One of the best guides is  "Vilnius in Your Pocket," a small magazine, in English, that gives tons of information about stores, restaurants and things to see, and most importantly maps.  A quick bit of trivia in the movie The Hunt For Red October, Captain Ramious was from Vilnius, Lithuania.

The first few days of school were in-service for the teachers and were very interesting.  First, the school was still being renovated.  They didn't even know what room would be Sue's until two days before school opened, and for the first few days the computer lab had no power.  The building we are in was an old Russian kindergarten, and now we share it with a Lithuanian primary school.  Because the school is growing we needed to add four new rooms this year.  Sue and the Middle/High School got the newly renovated rooms.  The biggest surprise came of the first day of teacher in-service.  As Chris was looking through his package of school information, school handbook, calendar, etc. he came across a teaching schedule - with HIS name on it.  It was quite a surprise because no one told him he would be teaching.  He was a little surprised and anxious, but decided he could probably handle it.  After a few tense days, the school opened and welcomed the almost ninety students from twenty different countries.  The first week of school went well, they were still finishing a few things around school but we were able to work around them.  After a few lesson planning sessions with Sue, Chris's first week of teaching went fairly well also.  Those of you who know Chris, will find that last sentence ironic.  The kids are all really good and it's nice working in a smaller school because you can get to know everyone.

The second week of school we got a phone call, our stuff from Brasil was in Germany.  Remember our stuff we shipped from Brasil, we almost didn't, it had been almost three months since we had seen it last.  No, it wasn't lost they just needed to get some more information from us.  About a week later it was here, and we started unpacking again.  The first thing we realized is that we have way too many T-shirts and shorts.  Everything made it here just fine, nothing was broken or lost.