Brasilia, Brazil!

Oi! (Hello)  I haven't posted in ages.  But since not posting I've accepted a position in Brasilia, Brazil for the next two years.  I will be teaching 2nd grade!  I'm beyond excited and will be posting updates to escapades here.  http://www.brasiliainternationalschool.com/

I will be teaching in a school called Brasilia International School.   It is a small school of roughly 110 students from grades K-12.  I will have approximately 10-15 students.  I can't wait to meet them.  To get to Brazil however requires many documents.  The first thing that was needed was to renew my passport.  I was amazed to find out that I had my passport at the bottom of my pile of "Important stuff" and was able to send that.  

Next began this process:

More complete instructions will be provided as you begin collecting documents, but think of it this way:
1.       Each document (except those that state otherwise) must be notarized in the state in which it was issued.
2.       Each notary signature must be authenticated by the Secretary of State in which the notary resides.
3.       Each Secretary of State Document must be legalized by the appropriate regional Brazilian consulate (the Brazil Embassy website lists the jurisdictions and corresponding consulates).
4.       After you obtain all of the requested documents above, please scan them to me, and then send them to Daniel Lopes in Brazil.  (Daniel will hand deliver your documents to the Brazilian Embassy upon delivery.)

Copy of Passport                   
Copy of Diploma                    
Copy of Teaching Certificate
Copy of Birth Certificate (scanned only – does not need to be notarized or go through the authentication and legalization process)
Copy of Driver’s License       
Local background check       
Employment verification
Resume (scanned only – this one does not need to be notarized or go through the authentication and legalization process either)
Brazilian Work Contract – Daniel will send this to you (notarized only, not authenticated and legalized, since it’s a Brazilian document)

Amazingly, I've got everything back except for my Iowa Diploma.  I forgot to send it to the correct jurisdiction, which is apparently in Dallas, Texas.  (I forget that since I live in Arizona that the jurisdictions are not the same as in Iowa.)  That's a lot of information, but praise the Lord!  After I send off the diploma tomorrow (certified copy of course) and have that return to me, I will have all documents ready to apply for my visa.  This is great since the world cup is in June in Brazil and I will need to have the process started early.  Brazil is known for being extremely slow in processing visas.  I am excited to have all of this completed within only about a month of accepting the position.  

Right now I am working on selling lots of things that just don't need to be moved to Minnesota and starting to close out the school year here in Phoenix.  I will not be telling my students from school about my move until the last week of school.  I pray that this will help in creating less drama for the students.  (Oh I mean for me!!!)  My dad will be buying my car.  I just purchased it in January when he came to help me after being side swiped and needing to purchase something after the totaling out of my poor Chevy Impala.  

So those are some basics.  The school is a christian school and it'll be pretty neat.  I will get to work with students from over 22 different nations.  Well at least so far that's what we have.  Sounds like there are over 100 different nations that are a part of the Network of International Christian Schools thus far and growing.  Pretty neat!  The best part?  I've already talked with and may have possibly met my roommates from emailing the staff at the school.  They've sent me welcome notes just to say hello.  It's been overwhelmingly amazing!  Please let me know what is happening for you in your life.  I want to be able to stay in the loop even if I am miles away.

Blessings to you all.  Feel free to share with others that may be interested in this exciting adventure ahead! :)