My new job has done the impossible.  I have been made to feel like a computer guru.  My husband, brother, stepmother, and any other family member I have recruited as tech support over the years, will marvel at this development and immediately question the quality of teaching staff at my school.

I’m not particularly good with computers. I know I could get better, but I have no patience for them.  The slightest thing goes wrong and I get a knot between my shoulders and a seriously cranky attitude.  One complication and I shutdown faster than my MacBook. This assumption I have that anything beyond word processing will make me want to cry, is why I continued to put off upgrading my blog.

Back when I started writing,(I think this is probably true for most expats) my blog was a simple way to keep family informed about what I was doing in Brazil.  It’s so much easier to write a single blog post than 20 emails. I got a Mac with iWeb and realized I could have a blog with pretty pictures.  Oh, and a cool black background.  And no code!!! I never had to see rows of letters and symbols ever! My needs were simple, and iWeb filled them.

Last year, we moved to Cachoeiro de Itapemerim. I was without work and started putting a lot of energy into the blog.  I found a whole world of expat communities online and started registering my blog on their sites.  One day, I got a comment from someone I had never met, spoken to or heard of.  A complete stranger who found my blog, read a post, and liked it enough to spend her time leaving a comment.  My sense of validation only increased when I discovered the commenter was a gifted photographer, cook, writer and blogger.  Only her blog, named after a brine soaked sea fish, was a hundred times more sophisticated than mine. (Really, you should check it out.)

I rediscovered my love for writing.  By writing regularly, inspiration came more easily. My blog soon had a ton content and some regular readers.  The quality of my posts improved. (At least I think, do you all agree?)  This was the point when iWeb started to let me down.  It’s still hard to admit because I’m a Mac worshipper but iWeb, in the words of my husband, “really sucks.”

He’d been telling my this for years and I had ignored him.  This made acknowledging the need for a better platform, all the more difficult.  Not only did I have to betray my Mac and face headache inducing computer stuff, but I also had to admit my husband was and had been right all along.  (Honestly, I’d rather try writing software code.)  The other major hurdle was that now I had three years worth of content to move and no idea where to start.

Fortunately, my parents put me in touch with a guy who would do everything for me.  He’d get a new domain name, host site, and move all my content. This was back in December.  Due to various delays that included him being stranded because of blizzards and me having serious stomach issues that had me postponing every Skype call, it took two months to get everything set up.

Thus, the two month silence at Coconut Water (UPDATE July 2015: Now officially Brynn in Brazil).

I’m glad I did it.  WordPress is so much better.  Not as simple, but I think I’m ready to use real blogger tools.  In the end though, no one could figure out how to transfer all my content, because, cue husband, “iWeb sucks.” Yes, I know.  I’m now copying and pasting old posts into the new site a few at a time.  50 down.  70 to go.  I’m still glad I moved.

I hope you all like the new site and design as much as I do.  I’m in love with the banner, which was also the result of someone generously donating their time.  Turns out I’m neither a coder or designer.  That’s ok.  I just want to write.

Oh, and the reason I’m the computer guru among my fellow teachers?  The school has started moving to Macs and no one knows how to use them.  I wonder if I should talk to them about iWeb.