braziloween

Just as we were starting to make a dent in the massive amounts of stuff that were dumped on us, Halloween arrived.  I was in no position to plan out elaborated, wonderful costumes.  Come to think of it, I never do that.  I have a lot of creative energy, but for some reason it never translates into cool costumes.  So we did Halloween the old-fashioned way.  The kids found their own costumes and had a little help from me (very little) to tweak them just right.  Lucy was the only one who could have had an awesome costume, but she refused.  Of all the things I could find in the heaps of things, I came across some cute leiderhosen we got while in Germany.  She opted for her swimsuit and swim shoes instead, and I acquiesced quickly having very little energy to spare.  I'm not sure if she was a swimmer or a budget ballerina.  It didn't matter.  She had fun and got some candy.

Our neighborhood started doing a Halloween celebration years ago when one of the residents who had spent time in the states initiated it.  It's not a common thing here in Brazil, but it's getting there.  So we met with some friends and neighbors to eat what looked like mini sloppy joe's (yummy) and bright orangey red hot dogs (scary).  I still haven't been able to try a Brazilian hot dog. The color is just all wrong in my opinion.  They must have some allure though because they pretty much only sell them in packs of 1,000.

A few of the ladies from my English speaking coffee group (or in my case chocolate quente) joined us for the festivities.  The kids were chomping at the bit to get out and do some serious candy damage.  So we let them run off on their own while we stayed back and glutted ourselves on cake and brigadeiros.  

Our neighborhood is very secure and I felt comfortable letting the kids go trick-or-treating on their own.  It's the only time that's ever happened.  The little english speaking crowd consisted of a dozen kids from 5 years old to 16+.  The kids were out until close to 10pm.  Towards the end of the night houses were running out of candy and one lady gave our kids honey and jam packets, and they gladly took them.  It must just be a numbers game to them because I seriously doubt they planned to eat them.

You could say the kids "scored", but that's all relative.  There were a couple things worth eating in my opinion, but the rest I could do without.  At one point during the halloween season I had to pull a Tom Hanks from "Big" and actually wipe out my mouth with a napkin to get the terrible "chocolate" flavor out of my mouth - I promise I wasn't being dramatic.  It was awful.  Still, the kids loved it.  Like always, they did the booty count and trade afterwards.  I had to do some quality control, chucking out homemade or unwrapped candy.  Yes, some gave handfuls of unwrapped whatevers.  My american paranoia is deeply rooted.

shipment day!

I wrote this post over a month ago...but never published it.  I have this problem where I overanalyze it, read it too much, and then I get really sick of it.  So here it is.  If I'm going to be a decent blogger I'm going to have to get over this.

Sometime near the end of October...

Our shipment came...hooray!  Well, 90% of it. Moving day was such a crazy busy day.  Our rental furniture company came to get all of our spartan furniture an hour late, and our movers came an hour early (unheard of here!) so we had both companies working on top of each other for a while.  The movers were working so fast that by lunch time most of the 1 1/2 containers were unpacked.  We went out for lunch to our favorite spot right across the street (Villa D'Marco) and all Ryan could think about was what was still missing. As we drove past the open end of the moving truck we had looked inside and it didn't seem like there was much left, but we were still missing some major pieces.  Turns out his hunch was right.  Somehow in Phoenix the guy loading our shipment left out two whole crates which unfortunately held some very important items.  

Here's the laundry list of items that didn't make it: 3 sides of Lucy's crib, Lucy's headboard, the guest bed headboard, the master bed footboard, the frame of our family room sectional (we got the cushions though), the cushions for the living room couch (we got the frame though), half of the loft sectional, both living room side chairs, and a few other less important things.  

Items that did make it: a bag of In-n-Out burger trash, a sullied pair of little boy underwear that must have been shoved somewhere (I have a hunch from whom & where) and a mostly eaten, rancid bag of Nana's Tortilla Chips.  The In-n-Out trash & the Nana's chips made me a little homesick, the undies just made me a little sick.

Needless to say I was very frustrated.  Ryan got on the phone and took his power stance (When he's ready to get serious he holds the phone with his left hand and tucks his right hand into his left armpit.  Then he usually bites his pinky fingernail, but he gave up nail biting when we moved here - cold turkey.)  I've seen him take the power stance time and time again - even when we are driving.  He just gets his knee up there to help out at the steering wheel.  Anyway, that always does the trick.  So after some "negotiation" (that's a nice way of saying he ripped them a new one - so crude when I see it in type) the moving company agreed to air ship all of our lost (but now found) items.  So the good news is we can put our couches and beds together sooner than 3-4 months from now.  The bad news is it'll still be a month at least.

This is what we've been living in for 3 months:

And here's what we were living in for a week while we painstakingly put all of our things in their new places:

Somehow in the midst of all of it Lucy found a place to take her much-loved nap.

Even though we had some serious setbacks, it is so nice to have our things here.  Everyone has a mattress to sleep on and I've made a "franken-couch" out of the parts we did receive so things are comfortable. It really feels like home now and I've had a lot of fun getting the house just like I want it.  It also really helps to have Lana helping out everyday...so grateful for her.

rio...etc

Tomorrow we are getting our long-awaited sea shipment!  I am so excited.  I haven't seen my things for 4 months.  This big house is tile or wood throughout and it sounds like we are living in an enormous bathroom - the echoes are terrible.  It will be nice to have couches, rugs, and pictures to hopefully absorb some of the sound.  Not to mention I really want to sleep in my own bed with my own pillow.  I can't even imagine what that will be like.  We have been surviving in the mean time with some very spartan rental furniture.  Our bed consists of 2 twin mattresses shoved into a king size frame.  The big ridge in the middle is not very conducive to cuddling, and I'm a cuddler (until my feet come up to temperature).  The kids can't wait for their bikes, skateboard jump, trampoline, basketball hoop & tether ball pole.  Life is going to be hectic but so much fun for the next few days.

So...I have to get up to date today.  

Earlier this month we took a four day trip to Rio De Janeiro.  I was really nervous going into it because I had heard so much about the crime.  The first night I insisted that we be in our apartment before dark and I was going to send Ryan out to (get mugged) and grab dinner.  But then I acquiesced and we took baby steps to the nearest restaurant recommendation our doorman could suggest.

And actually I really liked Rio; in fact I think I could live there.  The beaches were beautiful.  We stayed in an apartment right on Ipanema beach with an amazing view.  We could people-watch from our balcony for hours, but we didn't because there was too much to see and do.  A couple QUIRKS about Rio (or they could be considered PERKS I guess if you're into that): the men wear speedos everywhere.  We would see hundreds of men a day running on the sidewalk sporting running shoes and a speedo - nothing more. 

Case in point: this dude stood in front of me for 20 minutes or more and did some extensive stretching - I mean down in the sand, legs in the air kind of stretching.  At first I thought he was retarded and I was cutting him some slack.  Then I thought he must be an exhibitionist and I was grossed out.  But then it was all cleared up when his buddy (wearing a speedo and a sweater vest) showed up for a heated game of paddle ball.  They were quite good, so I guess he's right to be taking his stretching so seriously.

And I'm not letting the women off easy, although I don't have any pictures to share.  I so wish I had my camera with me the last morning we were there.  Thomas and I took a walk to settle our stomachs after bingeing on a delicious breakfast buffet.  There was a lady in front of us (mind you we are at least a block from the beach) wearing a swimsuit coverup.  So the women all wear those tiny little g-string bikinis whether they are 100 pounds or 300 pounds, 15 years old or 60 years old.  This lady happened to be nearing her 60s and her swimsuit coverup covered just enough to make it look like she was a senile old lady walking down the street without a shred of clothing on her lower half.  All you saw was a shirt and a saggy old bum hanging out of it.  The full bum, not just a little cheek.  Thomas and I were busting up laughing.

Well, to sum things up we had a dreamy vacation.  We took the tram up to Pao de Acucar; we saw the Cristos Rendentor & we played on the beach everyday.

...8 days later...I never published this because Ryan's Rio video wouldn't upload and then our sea shipment arrived and it's been madness ever since.  So I'll try again on the video but I think it's the soundtrack...copyright issues with The Girl from Ipanema.  I bought that song while in Rio and blasted it every time we were in the car. The kids never did learn to love it like I thought they should.  Here are some pictures to hold you over.

the haunting

All weekend this blog has been haunting me.  It's a whole lot of pressure.  I kept thinking, "crap, I started a blog!"  It's like getting a pet, so fun in the beginning, but then it starts to eat, poop, whine and bark.  Ask any of my siblings and they'll tell you I was notorious for poor treatment of pets - never intentionally of course unless you count swinging the Hailey's cat around in circles by her tail.  But I was young.  I learned to control that urge.  I've always loved my pets, but I was like a teen mom heading off to party (in my case a sleepover) and the last thing on my mind was feeding Corky.  So this is my new pet. Love it, but have to wash my hands every time I touch it...I'm mostly kidding...about the blog.

So it's Sunday.  I have had a wake-up-confused-and-groggy nap and my weekly piano playing is behind me.  This was the first Sunday where I've played all the hymns myself!  I'm quite proud.  The only reason this happened is because the lady that chooses the hymns couldn't get the themes from the bishopric member so she could choose the said hymns.  By Tuesday, I pulled a Tawanda (Fried Green Tomatoes reference) and took matters into my own hands.  Apparently the bureaucracy that plagues all of Brazil spills over into our church affairs as well.  So I chose the hymns - and the easiest ones I could find.  They threw a wrench in my plans and told me Come Follow Me isn't a sacrament hymn (I disagree) about a minute before I was supposed to play it.  So I did a quick change to a sacrament hymn that I already knew.  Look at how I just roll with the punches!!  Anyway, I suddenly feel like blogging again - sans stress and a little sweaty and dry mouthed from my monster nap.

Ben & Thomas had a camp out in the hammocks last night.  Ben reports that it was like sleeping on a cloud.  I think he'll make a good sailor!  These pictures are totally staged; the boys weren't really sleeping.  Thomas has his father's "eye condition" that makes it so he can NEVER keep them open for a picture with a flash.  We tried probably ten times.  The minute I woke up this morning I headed out with my camera to try to get some real candids, but they were already inside playing video games. Darn them!

Yesterday we had a fun get-together with some friends at the Churrascuria Sao Bento.  Here's a PERK: Brazilian restaurants cater to kids big time!  Sao Bento is a big banquet hall that has an amazing playground for the kids outside.  We ate delicious picanha, fried bananas & rice and had some nice company while the kids went wild outside.  After lunch we had a good old game of American football.  Turns out the Swedes were some of the best players!  Ben had the last play - and it was very cool.  Trust me.  We were actually there to watch the airshow that Embraer had scheduled that day, but it was a little cloudy so there wasn't much airplane action.  We did see the employees of Sao Bento put out a brush fire that started about 30 feet down the hill from the playground!

I need to think like a blogger when I'm taking pictures.  I'm realizing my pictures kind of stink.  I don't have a single picture of me or Henry...he was off in an amazing tree with a 20 foot circumference. I didn't measure it, but I don't think I'm exaggerating either.  I'll do better next time.

hurry up and wait

Now's the stage where we waited.  Over the next 2 months we slowly and painstakingly figured out all the junk that makes life run smoothly: internet service, cell phones, fixing the oven, finding a maid (hallelujah), getting the company car, buying a second car, getting the gate fixed, getting the hot water fixed, getting the water leak fixed...and the list goes on.

The crazy and sad thing about Brazil is that it is SO expensive to live here (cost of living in Sao Paulo is higher than NYC or LA) but maids are still so cheap.  I don't know how this society hasn't revolted because of the huge disparity.  Minimum wage in Sao Paulo is $300USD per month!  That said, we can afford a (well-paid) maid.  Lana comes every day from 7:30 - 4:30 and cleans.  She is wonderful!  Lucy hasn't warmed up to her yet, but that's not saying much since she generally doesn't like ANYONE.  We are hoping she grows out of that charming trait before she goes to school.

So needless to say, Lucy and I had a lot of time to goof around on the iPad until the bomb dropped...church callings!!!

Of course, Ryan and I were really hoping to fly under the radar at church.  Turns out, we are just what the doctor ordered when it comes to piano playing in church.  Ryan got called to be the Primary Pianist, which he is rocking at.  He has a real gift for piano.  Despite his one year of lessons when he was young, he can sit down and play most things.  I got called to be the Ward Pianist!  (that's not an excited exclamation, it's a holy crap exclamation)  You need to understand that I quit piano when I was in 6th grade and have never learned to play a hymn in my life - despite trying periodically.  I bawled when they asked me.  I think they interpreted that as an outpouring of the spirit but it was just actually that I was scared out of my mind and completely overwhelmed.  My non LDS friends must be wondering why I do this even though I don't want to.  The answer is simple.  In our church you do what you're asked to do as well as you can do it.  The lucky thing is that nobody is very picky.  I stumble through 2 hymns every Sunday after 15 hours of practice during the week and nobody seems to mind.  Ryan picks up the slack and plays the ones that are truly beyond me.  I've learned 12 hymns so far.  If there's ever a time for this it's now - full time maid and no crazy perfect expectations at church.  I'm becoming grateful for the opportunity.  I still gripe, but I see that it's a good thing.

Thank goodness for my sweet friend and neighbor Maartje who let us borrow her keyboard while our piano takes 3 months by sea.

what next?

I know if I try to give you a play by play until I'm caught up to date I will never keep this up.  So, I'll use lots of pictures and few words to make the next three months as painless as possible.

The first thing we did when we got to Brazil is clean.  I thought the landlord just left our house filthy, but turns out it only takes a few days for houses to get that dusty.  We spent an entire day sweeping and mopping - it's a big house...oh, and unpacking our 20 duffel bags.

Then to the nitty gritty...school supplies.  I bought all the school supplies I would need back in the US, but unfortunately they are in the air shipment which will take a MONTH AND A HALF to arrive!  So we find a paper store in a mess of one way streets and spend a small fortune on wacked-out school supplies.  Nothing looks the same and it's often super flimsy and very expensive.  In my blog I will be referring to PERKS and QUIRKS about Brazil.  I don't want to always be negative, but some things must be said.  QUIRK: Brazil's stores specialize way too much!  For instance there will be an entire store dedicated to plastic trash cans, or a store specializing in fire extinguishers, or in this case paper.  You buy pens piece by piece from a glass case!  Two hours later, with a screaming two year old (the abacus was the cure) we left with little in our pockets and 1200 sheet protectors - they are way into those.  So much for not many words.  I heart OfficeMax.

Time to celebrate Ryan and Lucy's birthdays.  They got the shaft this year!  Without a working oven or a single useful kitchen tool, we resorted to a bakery birthday cake.  It looked beautiful but wasn't that great.  Lucy turned 2 and Ryan turned 36!  How did we get that old?  I'm one of those old ladies that tells the young ones that "life goes so fast".  It really does, but they won't listen just like I didn't.

First day of school!  Our kids are going to Esfera International School.  We are really happy there aside from an occasional hiccup.  The kids have half of their curriculum in English and the other half in Portuguese.  Yikes!  It's been a confusing first 3 months, but they are starting to get it.  I'm so proud of them.  I know how my head hurts after just 3 hours of all Portuguese at church once a week!

we're on our way!

July 27th: Now we are really on our way!  It's Lucy's second birthday; 17 hours of travel is kind of a crumby way to celebrate it.  She did have a very fun backpack from her Grandma Sharp to explore.  It had all kinds of fun things to keep her busy.  She LOVED it.  Here's a before picture of Lucy:

.....and after 17 hours of travel:

Poor girl.  That's how we were all feeling.  The boys were fabulous on the airplane.  In fact one of the teachers from our soon-to-be school Esfera was on the airplane with us.  We didn't know it at the time, but later she told us that she noticed us get on the airplane and she thought "oh great" when she saw a family with 4 kids sit down near her.  But the kids were so good that she was totally impressed and she was delighted to see us show up at the school she taught at a few days later.

The boys before...

...and after - up to no good kissing the buttocks of a nude statue:

We finally made it!  Let the adventures begin.