I have had many questions about our house: what’s it like, how do we like it, is it Brazilian? So I thought I would write a bit, and put pictures in an album. The pictures have headings, so check those out.
We feel very blessed to have this home. The men at the mission, including Tim, worked very hard at building it and making it into a home. Its been said that we have the best view in town. It doesn’t necessarily have a lot of "homey" touches yet, but feels like home.
It is located on the Mission property, right next door to the Guest House run by Kevin and Angie Van Hulle. Across the yard and down the sidewalk are two other missionary families and a few Brazilian friends. The building we are in will eventually be the Mission Office, when we move out in a year or two. But now has us and a few tool rooms. In addition to our apartment, we have a room we call the "garage," where we keep bikes and scooters and tools.
The kids share a bedroom, which thanks to its size, fits them nicely. We put Wardrobes in the middle to give the girls some privacy. For the first month or two, they chose to sleep in hammocks instead of their beds! (Each room has several "rede" (hammock) hooks.) There is a master bedroom, a kitchen (quite large), and a school room. One thing we do miss is "comfy" chairs. Couches are available, but a bit pricy and NOT comfy. So we don’t really have a "family room."
We went from 5 bathrooms in the states, to one, for the six of us. Even that can be worked out, with some creativity. Tim fashioned towel hooks in each bedroom, that not only supply a place to put them, but also help them dry faster. (And keep out the rain at times!) That’s one thing you get with Brazil is rain pouring in, thru windows and under doors. We just don’t have anything under the windows in the way. And that’s a nice thing about tile floors-easy to clean up!
I think my favorite part is the kitchen. We bought a long table with a bench on one side, to fit lots of people for dinner. I love to host, so this is perfect for me. Tim worked very hard at making several bookcases/ shelves for us to put our things on. (So in the pictures, those you see were made by him.)
What makes it different than most American homes? No dishwasher…bugs…no glass on the windows (except in the school room which has an airconditioner)…cement walls…a water cooler! That’s about it. Oh, and the rede hooks!
The Kubackis in Angola 