Muito Bom

January 2015
Very excited for my guests Barbara and Rubens to arrive.  We have been writing back and forth for some time and seem to have a lot in common.  They are coming for a work conference in DC and are extending their trip 10 more days with us to practice their English.  They wanted to exchange but the timing wasn’t good, so I offered them a hospitality stay.  If we get along then we can go visit them in Brazil!

Jan 28

Barbara and Rubens arrive.

They are even more than I expected.  Right off the bat they feel like longtime friends.
We take them to the gym – we share a love of exercise.  We have a nice but inexpensive meal of spaghetti and get to know one another over a good meal.  We share our favorite happy hour spots – Rams Head on West Street and Yellowfin, where they treat us to fave local beers and pub fare.  We have relaxing and interesting conversations in our hot tub.

We let them borrow one of our cars to drive to New Carrollton and the mall – they come back with a full tank.  We set them up with the free English classes that are offered at our local church.  Rubens works for the Nature Conservancy and I know there is a conference on the environment with local lawmakers in Annapolis.  I arranged for them to attend and they were very pleased to attend such a valuable event (for free no less).

My daughter Ellie when asked if she likes Miss Barbara, says “No, I love her”.  Needless to say the maternal instincts of Barbara and her missing her two children back home, leads to strong bond between her and my daughter.

Ten days go by very quickly and we are VERY sad to see them go.  However, we have had several conversations about us coming to Brazil next Jan. I am Very excited.  They live right on the beach in a beautiful resort town in Bahia.  They have a guest house or we can stay in their guest room, our choice she says.  I know whenever we go, the red carpet will be rolled.