Ibirapuera Park

We're on the the tail end of a four day weekend! Even though the weather hasn't been great (which is why we didn't head to the coast in the first place) we've managed to have a good weekend.

Thursday morning we headed to Ibirapuera Park. This park is very well known (probably because it is over 1.6 million square meters) and we'd read and heard lots about it. We were anxious to see what it was all about. We managed to find the park in a timely manner without getting lost-this in and of itself is a major accomplishment. The weather was sunny and cool, and because it was a holiday, the park was packed. After a picnic lunch, we went out exploring.

We saw some baby geese,

a good view of the city,

rusted out playground equipment that was fun nonetheless,

and this cute family.

On Friday, after such an exhausting Paulistinoesque day, we recovered with a few comforts of home...

Starbucks,

pumpkin muffins,

and a trip to Sam's Club!

We got a package...

Packages are very exciting around here! When we brought home a box on Wednesday afternoon the kids couldn't wait to open it.

There were holiday decorations,

books,

and, of course, peanut butter!

But the best part of the package...

the bubble wrap!

Adventure!

Adventurous is a word that has NEVER been used to describe me. Never.

Until now...

I decided to join my friend Mary on a trip in a little under 4 weeks. We are headed to Foz do Iguacu!



I'm a little nervous, but very excited.

What a way to spend a Saturday...

After a quick visit to the Santo Amaro markets this morning I arrived home to find the house in total disaster. You know, every single dish left wherever it was put down, peanut butter without a top, jelly across the counter, and Sophie looking worse than ever. So horrible that when I gave her a bath she kept asking me why I looked so sad. It was only her horrible blisters that were making me wince. Paul made his second trip to Einstein to get Sophie checked out. I, on the other hand, had the tough job of taking Noah to the pool to enjoy our beautiful day. Turns out Sophie has impetigo and is on antibiotics. I know it looks more horrible than it actually is, but I really hope she feels better soon.

Poor Sophie

Poor Sophie. Sophie who wears 10 outfits a day. Seriously. Sophie that steals my $18 lipgloss and applies it like crazy. Sophie that has our baba wearing purple everyday because she loves it so much. Sophie that could have had this song written about her.

Our poor Sophie woke up this morning and looked like this...



When we were trying to explain she couldn't go to school today she demanded to know why. When Paul showed her herself in the mirror she immediately burst into tears. I don't blame her. This picture doesn't do it justice. A friend commented, "She looks like she has a favela on her face,".

I thought maybe it was the sandpaper like tissues that we've been using to wipe her nose. Unfortunately, I really think it is this.
Poor Sophie.

New Purchases!

We did some shopping this weekend. We attempted last weekend, but the horrible maps and directions made us abandon our plan not once, but twice. This weekend, however, we were very successful!

In order of importance from least to greatest...

Yes, that's a television. No, I'm not really proud of this purchase. I sort of feel like it was inevitable and I guess I'm glad to have it-despite the fact that I woke up to Paul and the kids playing NCAA 2009 at 7:30 this morning. We do have a firm no television during the week rule though...

A new, cordless phone. The school gave us an old fashioned corded phone and we really felt the need to upgrade. Or at least be able to move further away than six inches from screaming children when necessary. The phone is being charged in the photo-we don't usually keep our phone on top of the stove :)

Next up, a rug to cover the white floors. Our previous rug (now relocated to the playroom) was just too small and shed constantly. This one is MUCH better!

Finally, our most important purchase...liquid hand soap in a pump bottle! No more bars of soap! It cost a pretty penny and I don't know why, but this makes me VERY happy!

Christmas Picture Rejects

This one is sort of cute...except Baby Olivia looks like she's passed out after a long night...
Evidence of the chocolate bribery wasn't supposed to show up in the picture...
That squeeze was just a little too tight...

In the end, I think we got one. Now, I just need to figure out a reasonable way to get the cards mailed out from Brasil!

And the verdict is...

So there's the answer to the questions about how Halloween is celebrated here. Although I understand that it's not universally celebrated in Brazil, I can guarantee that it's taken quite seriously at the Escola Graduada. This parade was led by percussionists throughout the entire school. Sophie was a bit overwhelmed, but for good reason. Now we can push on toward a Thanksgiving in Spring on a day when we'll be teaching rather than feasting. Who said international teaching was perfect?

Halloween

So we're kind of still waiting to see what happens here on Halloween tomorrow, but we've made plans nonetheless. We're doing kind of a progressive party with the other Graded families with younger kids here at the Portal. We'll do drinks and snacks one place (with candy for the kids), then dinner at our place (with candy for the kids), then dessert at another place (with candy for the kids), then any makeshift trick-or-treating that might exist here (???).

So if I'd decided to take the coaching position this year, next week is the week I'd be out of the city in some other part of Brazil coaching in a 4-day tournament. It's been a long semester though, and I don't think we'd have made it to this point having as much fun and sanity if I'd been coaching all along. So no regrets. Maybe next year though....or maybe not. Time will tell. This is also the week that our school is beginning to advertise teaching positions for next year, as teachers who are moving on after this year have made their plans known. The first step in the process is to allow Graded teachers to move to new positions within the school. Although I'm more than happy in my position now, Abby has an opportunity to consider a different position. It's similar to the Reading Specialist position she had a few years ago, in that she wouldn't have a class of her own. She'd be providing academic assistance and supplementation to students who need it. So she's grappling with that decision. She does like her 3rd grade position, but she's never taught the same thing for more than two consecutive years in her career....perhaps she's starting to start a trend of switching EVERY year? Time will tell on that one too.

In the meantime, all is well with the kiddos for the most part. Noah did miss his first day of school today because he's had a little fever, but nothing major. More of a defensive move against him being sick for Halloween tomorrow. And Sophie just got back from swimming lessons, so it's time for me to run.

Hope all is well with everyone at home. Love to all.

Back in the Saddle

Hi again. It's been a while. It'd be one thing if I could say that I've been so busy, but not really. Status quo in that arena for the most part. Although we did just have an amazing, warm weekend with some serious pool time and lunches on the patio at the club. All the other couples and families were there, so everybody was happy. Last night before bed, Noah was crying about about the fact that the weekend was over because it was so "special". This is a kid who generally loves going to school as much as anything else in the world, so it's saying something that he was so upset. Kind of a relief though...I don't want the kid to grow up loving school THAT much.

So we've bought our Brazilian freedom...wheels. I got a Citroen Xsera - a nice family station wagon. After driving a minivan for the last two years in Virginia, I feel downright cool driving a station wagon. I looked at cars about two weeks ago, and had it delivered a couple of days later. So needless to say, we spent some time each day of the (three day) weekend driving around the city. My sense of direction in this utterly unnavigable city it terrible though, so we spent a good two hours completely lost in Sao Paulo on Saturday. I ended up stopping at a roadside information booth (kind of a rest-stop I guess) and asked an Italian couple in broken Portuguese if they knew how I might find Morumbi. They spoke Portuguese better than me, but they clearly weren't fluent either. So communication was pretty tough....that said, the woman had no regard for how ridiculous she looked as she motioned everything she said - charades style. It helped though.

Ultimately, the guy told us to follow them, and off we went. 30 minutes later, we stopped at a gas station and they pulled up next to us. She gave us a note telling us that "our home is your home" and their address and phone number. She gave us hugs and kisses and told us that they have lots of neighbors who speak English, so we should call any time and set up a visit. We made it home another 30 minutes later. So I can now safely say that Italian-Brazilians who speak limited Portuguese and no English are some of the most generous and kind people I've ever met. I'm not sure how that knowledge might benefit me in the future, but it sure did help last weekend.

In other news, I went out with the "boys" on Saturday night too. That was a good time. I went with four colleagues and we ended up in a kind of sketchy part of the city. Although I wouldn't go back to that particular area, I do find that going out on the weekends shows me what the city is all about and gives me a true sense of the culture here.

By the way, the photo at the top of this post was taken from the livingroom. Sao Paulo really isn't a beautiful city, but when the sun sets, you'd never know it. Come next weekend, we'll be 3 hours later than all of you east-coasters. Tchau for now.

Happy Half Birthday Noah!

Noah celebrated his half birthday earlier this week. He's officially 4.5 now! I happen to love birthdays and what better reason to celebrate on a Wednesday night?
He enjoyed (okay we ALL enjoyed) a couple brigadeiros and chocolate raspberry brownies. Noah insisted we turn out the lights, close all the doors, and sing "Happy Birthday" to him. Birthdays are HUGE in Brasil. Consequently, it is no surprise that the kids already know all the words to "Parabens Pra Voce". Sophie is usually the most excited to sing the song...except when I have the camera...then Noah's obedience shines through. Parabens Noah!

Of course you need a knitted hat in Brasil...

I finished Sophie's hat last night! I knitted it in under a week and it really only has one tiny mistake that I think I can fix with a needle (when I get one!). Sophie loves it! She thinks it is absolutely perfect for eating breakfast and drinking the milk from her cereal bowl...

Truthfully, in late spring in a tropical climate that IS about all it is good for. Nevertheless, I already began Noah's hat. I need to diversify my skills. Certainly, you don't need more than one knitted hat here!

Tuesday Morning

Sunrise from our bedroom window...









I'd like to think my day starts with a nice, large cup of coffee, but for some unknown reason all the coffee mugs in Brasil are THIS big. The bananas are there to give you some perspective on just how small the mug really is. After three months here I kind of get it-Brasilians drink coffee ALL day so smaller is probably better. Even without a microwave, a cup that size guarantees your coffee stays piping hot in the two seconds it takes you to drink it. An added bonus is that it is easy to keep your calories down-in a cup that size there's no room for anything other than a dash of sugar. I'll probably go into some sort of shock when we return to the States and I attempt to drink a Venti Non Fat No Whip Mocha...

Sophie goes to bed early in the evening and doesn't head to preschool until noon, so most mornings she is full of energy and can be found doing this:



while Noah is busy doing this:









Notice the makeshift Halloween decorations...sort of hard to get into the fall spirit here!

Katty arrives around 7:30 and we (Paul, Noah, and I) head downstairs to catch our buses to school.
Noah heads off to school and Paul and I wait another 10 minutes for our bus to arrive and take us here.














wish I could say our evenings are as peaceful, but with tired kids and tired parents the most peaceful part of our evening comes when we get to this:



I've got the caipirinha and Paul's got the knitting :)

We have sun!

After weeks of daily rain we awoke to a bright and sunny day today! It was cool this morning, but the sky was blue and we were happy! Paul headed out early to look at cars (more on that later) and the kids and I ate, dressed, and headed out to the grounds of the Portal. This place is so great for kids-on Saturdays they block off the top of the street for kids to ride their scooters and bikes, roller skate, and run free. We visited watched the kids ride for awhile and then visited the aviary before heading to the playground.

Despite the fact we've been here for over two months now, I still stumble upon cultural differences daily-today I realized it was the playgrounds. We have 3 playgrounds here in Portal-one large one and two smaller ones. When we first arrived it was quite a shock to see these playgrounds filled with steep slides, metal climbing structures, and somewhat old fashioned looking equipment. It definitely was nothing like what we were used to back in the States. The swings don't even have buckles for the babies. Sometimes you see the babas bring cloth diapers to tie the babies into the swing, but mostly you just tell your child to hold on tight and hope for the best! So far we've only had a few minor bumps and bruises and everyone's done just fine. You just sort of get used to seeing the kids climbing high, jumping from rocks, and scaling trees. In fact, after reading this article and this book I feel really good about the whole thing. For being in the middle of a huge city, it is really amazing how much authentic play experience the kids get without even leaving the confines of Portal.

Sophie and her good friend Anais on our extraordinarily dangerous playground!

TV free....and loving it!

When we first found out we'd be moving to Sao Paulo we knew for sure there would be some big changes. We knew we'd be trading our 2,600 square foot home for a 1,000 square foot apartment, selling and donating lots of our belongings, selling our cars, giving up heat and air conditioning, line drying our clothing, and generally simplifying our lives, but there have definitely been some unpredicted transformations as well.
One of the biggest decisions we've made so far is to live TV-free. Paul attempted to buy a TV pretty quickly after we arrived (quick! football is starting on Sunday!) but we had some complications ordering it online, and rather than sort those out he put the purchase on the back burner. Over the last two months we haven't gone back to order the television.
In some ways, living TV-free has been a dream of mine for a while. I quickly realized the television is a mixed blessing with children. I loved the "free" time it gave me to start dinner, check email, or take a shower, but I hated the constant whine for "one more show" and the way their play turned more into a reinactment of the latest episode of Dora or Diego and less about the kids' imagination. Moving to Sao Paulo totally eliminated that issue. We have a small portable DVD player the kids have watched a handful of times, and otherwise it is kept in the closet. It really is out of sight out of mind for Noah and Sophie, and I've noticed a definite change. We definitely have more time together as a family. Games, imaginary play, and art projects are almost always going on in one way or another. This site has been really helpful. After the kids go to bed Paul and I have time to talk (and not just in between commercials!), read, knit, play Yahtzee, or listen to podcasts. Things are just slower, calmer, and generally more enjoyable.
To be honest, we've had 3 weeks of straight rain so there have been times I've been tempted but so far I've held fast to the idea that TV-free is best for our family right now. I see it in this proof:











Noah's first "published" book: The Knight Who Was Afraid to Fight












An impromptu stove we created when Sophie wanted to cook dinner for us. It worked well and kept her occupied for a LONG time (by 2 year old standards). It was much more interesting than TV!

Besides, who needs a TV when you have this?













Edited to add: Don't think we've totally lost our minds...Paul still travels to school most Sundays to watch the NFL feed via his computer with some friends!

Rainy Day Fun

Paul has decided he's lost his blogging mojo. Perhaps it is because he's been suffering from this for the last two weeks and hasn't had the strength to eat, drink, or move-let alone blog. Either way, until he reconsiders, I've taken over the blogging reigns. So, as I said, Paul's been very, very sick for the last two weeks or so. Horribly ill. He braved the ER and Albert Einstein Hospital (a.k.a. Hotel Einstein) and spent the last week stooped over, shuffling between school, home, and bed. Thankfully, none of the rest of us caught the bug-though to be honest I've definitely been tempted to lick his toothbrush. A week in bed and 15 pounds vanishing doesn't sound too bad.

The weather has remained crummy by Brazilian standards. It's been gray and cool (mid 60s) and without the pool all of us were beginning to get a bit of cabin fever. So yesterday, day 10 of Paul's illness, things were really getting ugly around here. The kids were bickering, Paul was holed up in bed, and I was staring at the walls trying to think of interesting and creative things to do. In the end, I told the kids to stay in the playroom and went to work.

Their room looked like this at 10 am:

By 10:15 I'd used my super human strength to transform their room into this:

The kids were thrilled! Noah firmly declared that when Sophie is 17 and he is 19 THEN she can sleep on the top bunk. For the first time in several hours they were smiling for at least 5 minutes straight. And no one was whining! They spent a good 20 minutes climbing up and down, checking out all the possibilities. I think Paul was a little surprised by the whole thing, but he smiled nonetheless, fully aware that desperate times call for desperate measures.

Despite the craziness of the last few weeks the simple things still bring us the most pleasure:

Fresh flowers I picked up at the market. Just this arrangement in a simple mason jar makes me smile. Alot.

Knitting! I have finally learned how to knit. I'm working on a hat for Sophie and then hopefully some Halloween goodies.

And of course this.

It's good to be home...

A funny thing about the place we call "home". Our apartment here is still quite bare. We have white floors and walls in most spaces, and hardly a thing hanging on the white walls. We have beds, dressers, tables, chairs, couches and a variety of other items that we didn't choose and don't actually belong to us. We've lived here for less than two full months. Yet after being away from the apartment for 4 days, it actually feels good to be "home". I guess this is something I can thank my parents for... we always had a new "home" every couple of years growing up, for the most part, so maybe my adjustments are a bit easier.
Anyway, this talk about home is, in no way, a commentary on the quality of our trip to Paraty. In fact, it was pretty much as great as expected. We arrived on Thursday night, although after a full day of work and then almost seven hours on a bus (quite the Rolls-Royce of buses though it was), there wasn't a whole lot of action going on that night. So the fun began on Friday morning when we woke up at the Estalagem Colonial - a little bed-and-breakfast pousada - to this little pervert standing on our balcony, checking us out through our open door:
There was a whole family of these little lemurs that hung out in a giant tree that covered the expanse of the courtyard outside our room. They spent a little time every morning on our balcony, looking in at us. Abby was scared shitless by these harmless little tree-dwellers. The kids and I thought they were pretty cool companions though.
So Paraty is a designated historic site; a preserved colonial town in Rio de Janeiro state, south of the city of Rio. The cobbled streets are lined with rocks that were apparently hauled over as ballast for cargo ships that came to Brazil from Lisbon in the 1600s. They really account for a good deal of the downtown charm, along with the local shops and the boat-lined docks.

We spent Friday on a 35' chartered sail boat that flew a Pirate flag - Noah was extremely happy with that little detail. We sailed around and stopped every hour or so for a dip in the ocean, and ate lunch a couple of hundred feet up on the side of an island at a really nice restaurant with an amazing view.
Saturday was spent mostly shopping and napping (guess who-did-what?)... it was a little overcast, but around 80, so it was pleasant. Since I was with the kids all day (napping, playing in the streets and taking pictures) while Abby shopped, I got a pass to go experience a little Paraty nightlife.... it was a cool town to hang out in. I ended up at the "Margarida Cafe" (I didn't misspell - that's what the place is called) with a few other teachers who went with us, and listed to local music and chatted in broken Portuguese with some Braziledos and various other tourists.
So overall, a great time. Although our rustic little hotel little to offer other than a nice breakfast each morning and (I'm pretty sure) a flea-infested bed or two, we'll definitely be going back to Paraty....but probably not to the Estalagem Colonial.

Three day weekend...

It's kind of hard to believe, but we've been here for almost two months now...I guess it's been seven weeks? Anyway, aside from a couple of one or two day excursions, we really haven't been out of the city at all.

Until now.

Tomorrow after school, we pile onto a bus and head to Paraty...an old colonial town on the coast a little south of Rio de Janeiro. We're going with the other new teachers and a few vets as well - about 17 or 18 of us total I think. My undestanding is that we'll be doing some sailboating on Friday and some hiking on Saturday. In between, we'll be on the beach and exploring what the town has to offer. If only we could bring Katty with us, Abby and I would be able to see what the nightlife is like there too....maybe next time.

Needless to say, I'll be updating with some photos in a few days. In the meantime, hope all is well with all of you. Tchau.

Chinese in Portuguese and other odd tales

So I'm a pretty poor blogger. I've had the intention of updating this thing every week, but I've failed. The last post....that paltry one about the kids and playdates and such....was Abby. So I haven't posted anything in a couple of weeks. I'll try to be better.

In any case, things are pretty good here. The pollution has definitely gotten worse the past week to 10 days. So weird....when we got here, it hadn't rained for about 30 days. According to the locals, that was the cause of very bad pollution - much worse than normal, they said. But I didn't notice ANY pollution those first few weeks. You'd think it would have been unmistakable to a newbie coming from clean-aired Culpeper, Virginia, but not so. I've noticed it increasingly the past couple of weeks, and all the while, the locals haven't. Whatever. We're getting air purifiers for the bedrooms this week anyway. That should stave-off the need to wear surgical masks and carry around oxygen for a while.

We just fired our third faxeneira (maid). Our first one, Luzinete, came two times and then quit for a full-time job. She was only coming once-a-week for us, so that was understandable. The second one, Nazare, came once last week and did a nice job, but was a bit more expensive, so we were thinking we'd let her go. In the meantime, we had a new one come for a testdrive. So Rosana came today. That was a mistake. She did a great job, but she works.....sooo....slowly. It took her EIGHT hours to iron our clothes. I think I've mentioned before that we don't have a dryer...quite a luxury item here. So it's necessary to iron clothes. But the previous two faxeneiras ironed all of our clothes for the week in about half that. Four hours. Then the had time to do all kinds of other cleaning. So this woman came today and did a great job cleaning and ironing, but she was here until 7 o'clock. Unacceptable slowness. I came home at 4:30 and was forced to endure her presence here for far too long. So she's fired. We're going back to Nazare. I think she's worth the extra 10 reals per day. Another factor (not to be overlooked) is that the kids' Baba, Katty, prefers Nazare. She told me privately after I got home that "Nazare esta muinta boa"....much better. So that sealed the deal.

Speaking of...well....speaking in Portuguese, the language is getting a bit easier for me. My academic background in Spanish has definitely helped, particularly in knowing the verbs and sentence construction. I get the two confused from time-to-time, and the pronunciation is quite different. But overall, I'm better off with the Spanish background. So I'm generally able to communicate what I need. Understanding others, particularly those who speak fast, has been difficult. But it's getting better. In fact, last Friday I ordered Chinese food over the phone. Some English-speakers here consider telephone conversations in Portuguese the sign that you've "arrived" as a Portuguese speaker, but I don't feel like I've arrived anywhere yet. I'll update you on that again in a couple of more months.

Ok, so here's the latest installment of photos that Abby has uploaded from the camera. It's kind of a chronicle of last weekend....swimming in the indoor pool... after all, it was only 82 this last weekend, and the unheated outdoor pool was a bit chilly yet ;-) .... also a bit of patio life at the clube. Hope all is well with each of you!



Noah showing off his swimming skills under my watchful goggle-eyes.....












....he loves the water.

In the meantime....











...Sophie loves to dress up like this....













....and like this (what is that? Flashdance or something?)













Sophie at the Clube.














Noah at the Clube - just below.












....hence the need for ironing every week.