Sometimes we have to leave Portal!

I love where we live. I'll be the first to admit that living at Portal do Morumbi is about as good as it gets. We have 4 pools, a restaurant, a gym, activities for the kids, tons of green space, 3 playgrounds, trails, etc...in a nutshell, we're spoiled rotten. Many weekends we haven't left Portal except to wander to the fruit market across the street and the grocery store, also across the street. There's no need to leave-sometimes, especially on warm sunny weekends, it is easy to stay put ordering cool drinks by the pool. Yesterday, however, we pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone in a big way.

It started for me with a run at USP. I headed out early with a group of other teachers, but ran alone with thousands of other runners and bikers. Afterwards, two other teachers and I headed to a yoga class conducted nearly exclusively in Portuguese. The instructor speaks English, but since we are the only gringos in the class she reserves her English for corrections and adjustments to poses. I felt like I got a great work out and practiced my Portuguese at the same time! When I returned from class we quickly fed the kids lunch and headed out to the IMAX theater on the other side of the city. It took us awhile to find the theater, but once we did we weren't disappointed-the kids loved the 3-D glasses, popcorn, Guarana (sweet drink), and we ALL got a Portuguese lesson. Our day concluded with a quick stop at PUC-THE place to buy little girl's (and some boys too) clothes in Brasil. I resisted the urge for seven long months, but finally gave in. I left with 2 outfits for Sophie and a new sunga for Noah! He wore his other one out, and doesn't like to wear "regular" bathing suits any more! Look out in June!

We had a great day! It is stressful to leave Portal and our comfort zone-very few people speak English in Sao Paulo-but every time we do it it gets just a little easier!

Sophie modeling her new clothes!