Halloween

As I write this post I am hiding out in my house avoiding the trick-or-treaters! I didn't know that Brazilians celebrated this holiday!

The past years we have never had a trick-or-treater and now the door buzzer won't stop :(

So sad too because all my years in Houston I never had trick-or-treaters either. The one time I can celebrate and now I am hiding out...

It's going to be a really long night!

Tchau,
Sara

New Passport

Remember these old photos from her first passport?? Yea they were not the greatest! I feel bad that she will have to cherish this moment as her first set of photos for passports!

Now, one year later these are what her photos will look like!!

She looks completely different! The things a year can do!!

Tchau,

Sara

Lawn Mower

Came across a lawn mower while out shopping this morning. Really you never see them in Brazil and this is why- it's a plug in electrical lawn mower for close to 600 USD :) thank god we don't have a lawn!

Tchau,
Sara
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Laughing

Just to make you laugh here is a video of Belle laughing when she was around 5 months old.... can't believe how much she has grown!!



Tchau,
Sara

Connectivity

Recently I read and article that talks about people being alone together. It's where we are all connected digitally but what we really need is more face to face. The instant gratification of social media feeds our egos but not long enough before we are aching for a fix.

Maybe that's what my problem is here in Brazil. I have friends but nothing that goes to deep. If I want a real conversation I get on Skype and call my mom or other friends and family. I also turn to facebook and emails for the quick emotional fix when I start to feel too lonely.

I long for the days when communicating won't deny me friendship. I am not sure that moving back to the US will fix my problem but I know that I will be prepared for the challenges brought to me.

If and when we do move back to the US I plan to be involved in the community as much as I possibly can! Not to mention all the things I plan to do with Belle :)

Sorry for once again a poor me post but I really am trying to understand why I feel so lonely when I have friends and a busy life.

Tchau,
Sara

Brazilian Bday Party

This weekend we went to a birthday party for one of Belle's little friends from the park. I met his mother, who doesn't speak English, and we have known each other for several months. Although we cannot communicate very well she still made a point to invite us along :)

The party was in one of the buildings next to us so it was just a short walk over. The party had people paid to play with the kids and entertain them... Belle was a little nervous about this!

Party Invite

Looking at dad for confirmation.

The little boy next to her is another friend.
He is German/Brazilian and I really love his mom!

Cuttin loose :)

Notice Belle on the other side of the trampoline
with her dad... she was allowed to go on when none of the
big kids were playing on it. Then she became obsessed with being around it.

Nate playing follow the leader with the Queen.

The cupcakes. I dared Nate to eat the head... that's what the look is for!!

Little party favors with the little boy's name on it.
I need to get a pic of the two of them together
so she can always remember these times.

We had a great time despite not being able to communicate fully. It actually makes me sad that I cannot form stronger relationships because the lack of my language skills. Overall though the party was a success and Belle was worn out!

I had the feeling that a few of the women at the party were mean mugging me for some reason. Nate then told me that maybe they thought I was Brazilian and that I wasn't being nice.... who knows for sure! I thought it was pretty evident that I didn't speak good Portuguese though.

Ahh the joys of being lost in translation.

Tchau,

Sara

Parents Update

The made it in and out of Jordan and are on their way to the holy city! They said they are having a great time and learning so much.

I just can't wait to see there photos!!

Tchau,
Sara

Sara

More Teeth

Ok so now she has all of her bottom teeth except for the 2 year molars. This week we have done a lot of the pictures above- watching her new obsession Tangled, playing with her belly button, going to the park and being sad, and more Tangled.

Basically she runs the house at the moment. I can't imagine what her mood swings will be like when she is a teen!!

The entire house is getting less sleep so I feel we are all on edge. Despite being tired Nate and I plan to go to date night tonight! Once again Rosa is coming over to house sit while Belle sleeps.

Fingers crossed she doesn't wake up like she has been the past couple of nights. I have high hopes since the bottom row of teeth are through.

Tchau,
Sara

Israel

In case you were wondering my parents made it to Israel!

I went ahead and called the hotel since I hadn't heard from them. The lady at the front desk transferred me to their room where the had just checked in! Talk about Gods hand working :)

They say its beautiful and they are having a wonderful time!

Oh and another little fun fact. It only cost me 0.25 cents for a ten minute call from Brazil to Israel! Skype is amazing!

I may try to call them again to make sure they made it to the next city. I will update if I hear more.


Tchau,
Sara
Sara

Revenge!

I had the talk with Rosa the other day and my house is currently being gutted and cleaned. With that comes some unwanted items washed/ruined and things thrown of the refrigerator that were good.

Some how I can't help but think she is doing these things to further push me over the edge.... I think that she thinks- "haha. I will show her by throwing away her salsa and washing her new sand removal mitt." These offenses are just small enough for me not to say anything... blah!

I am probably just going crazy! But hear me out. She only threw out the salsa in the refrigerator and left the moldy cucumber and the all the little spills. (I didn't know the cucumber was moldy or I would have thrown it out. I am not that lazy. It was hiding in the crisper in a bag.) So she wasn't even cleaning the fridge out just getting rid of my hard to make salsa!!

Then with the sand mitt. I have told her before, in funny Portuguese words, that the mitt was 'special' because I didn't know what else to say. I explained it to her but I guess not the right way :(

Well, the joke is on her because when I can't remove the sand it creates more work for her! Ha!

I really am going crazy right? I just thought you all would think this one sided feud is funny! Rosa probably isn't even thinking anything at all.

Tchau,
Sara

The Talk

I really am going to talk to the maid Rosa today. I have to pump myself up for the big discussion. 

Reasons why I need to talk to her:

1. I wanted someone to come in at 8 am and since she has started she keeps coming in later and later. Now she comes in at 10 am. I am not sure anywhere where this is allowed. I would have been fired a long time ago!

2. She comes in 4 days a week but I have found that she avoids heavy cleaning. I find dirty floors around the couches, dust along the floor boards, and dust and dirt in the corners. I wouldn't mind these things if she was busting her but all day but she talks on the phone most of the day.

Reasons why I don't want to talk to her:

1. I am grateful for even having someone in my house to clean and help out with Belle so I don't feel I have the right to complain.

2. I don't want to confront her! For some reason she barely understands me when I talk to her, maybe she does it on purpose, but it makes for an awkward conversation!

Reasons why I am slightly angry:

1. Mostly it's not about the cleaning but I feel that she is taking advantage of me. Gringos are known for paying the help more than Brazilians as well as treating them with respect. I feel that she just does what she wants and knows that I probably won't say anything because I have been so nice to her.

2. If you can spend most of the day talking on the phone then at least get your work done! I understand off days, sick days, or just blah days but this has been going on for awhile. 

I feel that there is so much more to it. Maybe I am slightly jealous over the fact that Belle is in love with her so I am finding reasons to be hostile with her. Either way I need to at least talk to her and tell her what my expectations are and if she then doesn't comply then I will probably have to fire her :(

Wish me courage.... I really hope I go through with it!!

Tchau,

Sara

Weekend Wrap Up

Friday was the holiday Day of the Children, which sounds like a bad horror movie, and Nate didn't have to work for once!

We spent the holiday running around indoors since it was sprinkling and the malls were packed. Rumor around the neighborhood is that the line to get into parking for the mall was an hour wait! Really, it doesn't even shock me and that's why we stayed close to the hood.

Power only went out on Thursday night but came back on after three hours. Enough time for a good game of Scrabble :) by flashlight.

Saturday we had some friends over that ended in someone getting trapped in our guest bathroom. Nate and the guy trapped had to take the door off the hinges and kick it down since the lock was broken on the inside. Ahhhh thankfully it wasn't me inside stuck. Belle ran around laughing and trying to look under the door since Nate was passing tools through the crack. At one point she was even banging on the door.

Today, Sunday, the weather finally cleared up a bit and we were able to venture outside to the park and  a quick walk on the beach. All in all it was a great lazy weekend.

Tchau,

Sara

Green!

After three days of rain (sprinkling), the park has exploded with green! I took this picture with my iTouch..... With no touch ups. Crazy huh? I can't wait to see the park after spring!

Tchau,
Sara

Power Out

It's sprinkling here in Rio so we have lost power in our building. Gotta love technology in the fact I can email a blog from my cell phone.

We have our handy emergency lighting (no more candles), margaritas in hand, baby still sleeping, and each others company. I guess we actually have to talk to each other tonight :) instead of watching X-Factor!

Hmmmm. What to say next? Just kidding. Maybe we will actually get a good night sleep instead of watching tv or playing on the internet.

What a way to kick off our three day holiday weekend!

Tchau,
Sara
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Instructions

Apparently reading the instructions to microwave Carmel popcorn isn't a suggestion.

Tchau,
Sara

Que Linda

Que Linda = What Beauty

In other words- look at that pretty girl!

Belle gets this all the time! It's usually followed by a comment about her big blue eyes and blond hair. Brazilians are obsessed with these traits because they are so rare to see in a Brazilian.

I tell Nate all the time that when we return to the States Belle will probably think she is ugly because no will be rushing up to touch her hair! Of course she is beautiful but blond hair and blue eye are way to common in the US for someone to comment about it.

I feel that because of Belle standing out so much we have become well known around Barra! We go to the grocery store and people there know her name :) Anywhere we go inside our neighborhood people shout out to her and even now at the beach people Belle knows come up and say hello.

Just today she made friends with the entire boat coming home from the beach. As we walked alway people were shouting, "Tchau Isabelle!" Ahhh my little celebrity!

Tchau,

Sara

Belle and the doctor

> I took Belle to the dr today for her 1 year shots.... Yes I know it's a little late but that the only time they had open.
>
> Anyway, I told the dr all my concerns and he just laughed at me. Seriously. I'm kinda upset about it. Brazil has this old school medical system where what the dr says goes and nobody questions it. Now I must wait until I visit the states again to address my concerns. Good thing they are not an emergency.
>
> Belle handled things great as usual. I have properly dosed her with ibuprofen and ran her at the park to decrease the soreness in her legs from the shots.
>
> Fingers crossed the night goes well!
>
>
> Tchau,
> Sara

Three Years

Nate and I have now called Brazil home for over three years. I really just cannot believe how fast the time has gone.

Really, I almost forgot about this little anniversary. That is until I began talking to a new expat in the area. She talks about all the problems she is having and going through. The language barrier, the living conditions, the food, the safety and just about everything you can imagine! 

Because of these talks it makes me realize how much we have grown as a family and adapted to Brazil. Things that used to bother me just roll off my back and I keep moving forward. 

The painful transitioning phase passed a year or two ago and now we are settled. The problem is that it takes about a year to settle and you go through so much that you really don't want to switch things up. You figure that you might as well stay for a little while because things might get easy or bearable! 

That is the point which we are at right now. The bearable phase but now I feel that we want a change to something a little more comfortable. 

I am proud of how much we have gone through and I now I really am ready to switch things up a little. I just hope that an opportunity comes along soon before I fall back into complacency! 

Wish us luck that something will come along or that we find a new niche here.

Tchau,

Sara

Belle Feeding Baby

Yesterday I showed her how to feed her baby with a plastic spoon and fork. After my demonstration she promptly shoved the spoon into the baby doll's face and started saying, "mmmmmmm". Hilarious! I wanted video but she took it all to her room so I snuck up on her! Notice in the video that after she sees me she puts the spoon in her mouth so she can pick up her baby and carry the fork.... she is wanting to go behind the curtain with all of it!!!




It reminds me of this video taken when she was little and we were feeding her! She now always says, "mmmmm" when she is hungry too!



Tchau,
Sara

Beach = me time

Every time I drag Belle to the beach I get some me time! It's really a win win :) now I can finally finish my book.

Tchau,
Sara

Military or Police

On the way home from seeing a friend that just moved to Rio, Belle and I ran across the police or military. I really think they are just the police....

I also wonder what they are doing in my neck of the woods. Usually you can see them more toward the city center or on the outskirts of the city. There were like 5 vehicles with armed men traveling down the street.

I probably should have taken a picture and one of the guys actually was watching me! I tried to pretend I was texting :)

Ahhh things you see in Brazil!

Tchau,
Sara

Dressing herself

She may not want to wear bows but she loves shoes and her tutu!! She brought these items to me after she tried and failed to put them on herself!

Tchau,
Sara

Playing Ball

                                                           Loves the soccer ball!

                                                                            Tchau,

Sara

Hiding Spot

Belles new hiding spot. Between the window and curtain. I guess she thinks it's cool enough to bring a book and her blankie!

Oh and she did this all on her own. It took me awhile to find her because she was being so quiet!

Tchau,
Sara