(Claire) Setting foot in Brazil

Normally when I arrive in a new country after a long-haul flight, I feel that surreal, slightly detached sensation that comes with suddenly ‘appearing’ half way around the world in a matter of hours! Everything seems different around you and it’s hard to take it all in and really feel through and through that you’ve arrived. This time however we walked out of the airport, met Matt (who had patiently waited a very long time for us to come through!), and wheeled our bags to the car, feeling entirely normal, unsurprised and deeply peaceful! The sun wasn’t particularly showing itself, and I wouldn’t say the scenery was the exotic tropical horizon that some might imagine when landing in Brazil, and so there wasn’t really any scope for romanticised feelings of ‘finally arriving in the Americas!’. I just felt extremely happy, peaceful and interested in learning about my new surroundings. It struck me that this may well be one of many ways that I would feel the difference of having had such a long time to prepare; yes we’d said goodbye to England, travelled thousands of miles in a matter of hours to our new home, and yet there was absolutely no way that my mind could be shocked! That was a wonderful feeling, and just in the first few days of being here there have been many more such moments...