Rich Kids Ride

This is how the rich kids in the neighborhood get to school. Not old enough to drive and too cool to walk or ride a bike. Usually there is more than one parked here but today I guess only one made it to school today :)

Tchau,
Sara
Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Family in Town

After way too much travel involving a cancelled flight, a hotel stay, and three rescheduled departure times my family finally made it! Did I mention I hate United? Needless to say everyone is tired but enjoying each others company!

Tchau,
Sara
Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

English Magazine

Well it's a rainy day so we are stuck in the house :( we were able to brave the world earlier this morning and grab a new book for Belle and an English magazine for me at the corner store in the neighborhood....

Unfortunately I spent 11 USD on the magazine! I hope it stop raining soon because that's an expensive habit. This is the first time I have ever bought one in the three years we have been here! I have always resisted until now. This was also the only mag they had in English.

Oh and don't tell me I can buy them online because it's just not the same!!!

Tchau,
Sara

Sick Again

What's the deal! I have never been one to get sick but this year alone I have suffered three times :(

Luckily Belle averted disaster this time around.

I have a stomach bug with no action just pain. My appetite is non existent but I am starving at the same time. Each time I eat my tummy hurts more so I avoid food.

After talking to friends and a quick search in the Internet I diagnosed myself with a bacterial infection of the intestines. I think stomach bugs are pretty common in Brazil because a good friend also had the same thing a few weeks ago.

Well since I diagnosed myself, like any good nurse would do, I now needed antibiotics. Unfortunately Brazil stopped selling them over the counter two year ago.... So I needed to find a doctor or a prescription, or just try my luck with buying over the counter.

I chose try my luck first- ya know start with the easiest. Turns out the gringo card worked!

Now let's just hope that I really do have a bacterial infection!

Oh and by the way I am having an 'i love Brazil' kinda day despite being sick. Maybe it's because family is coming in town in a few days. Maybe it's cause I got told my hair looked good so I decided not to have it cut. Maybe it's cause I got antibiotics without seeing a doctor or a prescription!

Either way today is great!

Tchau,
Sara

Bad Hair Cut

A few months ago I wandered into the beauty salon in my neighborhood and made an appointment for a haircut. It couldn't be that bad right... I mean, my Portuguese is really improving and all I need is a trim. Famous last words.

I leave the salon almost in tears because of the crappy cut- a weird type probably found in the mullet family of cuts.

I tried to fix it curly, straight, and air dried. Nothing would fix the look of the cut so I did what any rational person would do. I drank a few glasses of wine and then I cut my own hair.

The morning after I awoke to find my nightmare true. I cut my own hair. All the way around using only the mirror in my bathroom.

When I blow dried it straight you could obviously see that the cut was uneven BUT when it air dried curly you could barely tell! Seriously :)

Fearing going back to A salon, not THE salon, to have it fixed I have waited several months so it could grow out a little. I hope that the extra length will stave off any other problems or at least minimize the damage.

Tomorrow I am hoping the problem will be fixed and I am super scared. Maybe I should just wait until I visit the US in December??

AHHHHHhhh!!!! Wish me luck even though I may chicken out!! Oh, and just in case you are wondering I am going to bring a picture of what I want done this time to avoid any confusion.

Tchau,
Sara

Crazy Hair

Well in this pic she is mad but you can really see how much her hair has grown! Now we have bad hair days and mom is going to have to try and fix them :) I bet that will go over well!!!

Happy Monday

Tchau,
Sara
Enviado pelo meu aparelho BlackBerry® da Vivo

Football Season

Every year Nate and I struggle to stay connected with college football. Last year Brazil actually showed some games on cable which surprised the heck out of everyone!

This year we are hoping for even more games. Although the university names are not correct we think this might be the Arizona vs Oklahoma State game. The time is right, with the time change, and one university is correct :)

We can only hope right?

What's even crazier is that most of Oklahoma can't watch the game because it's only being showed on the PAC 10 network. For once we might see a game that nobody else can!

Tchau,
Sara

Holiday

Yesterday was Brazilian Independence day and the third time I have celebrated this holiday in Brazil. I admit that the holiday does not live up to the USA counterpart. I also have to admit that I don't know what goes on inside family homes or travel wise. The state of Rio doesn't do very much so that's where my basis comes from.

I did hear a few fireworks in the middle of the night, that scared the crap out me, and our neighbors stayed up all night drinking (I know not because I heard them but because they were still drinking on the balcony at 730 am when I was up with Belle) so maybe this is how they celebrate?

Either way I miss the Fourth of July :) I miss going to the lake with family or friends, tons of fireworks set off by the city and the crazy pyro in the family, way to much food, and tons of laughter.

Cheers to another great start to a great weekend. 

Tchau,

Sara

Mom Convos

These past few days I have really been pressing Belle to interact with kids her age by having playdates. It's a nice way for me to talk to other moms going through the same thing- ya know being an expat, having a kid, wondering when you will ever go home, and stuff like that.

Crazy the things that the moms come up with to talk about. We dream of the things that we could have in the US that would make our lives ten times easier- ready to go food, tons of toys with flashy lights, little traffic with easy access to parks, and of course a place where everyone speaks the same language.

We talked in depth about delayed speaking with households of multiple languages. The child will actually be equivalent to other children of single language households at the age of 6 with all the languages they are learning. It really makes me feel normal that Belle can only say 2 or 3 words. I do wonder if she will retain any of the Portuguese that she learns when we leave?? I really hope so!

We talk about how to make the long flights home and how much we despise United :) The next trip home is always on the agenda as is when the next family member is visiting.

Occasionally the conversation lead into where to travel to next and what hotels are kid friendly.

After these groups I think about when I move home how much I am going to be out of the loop. I will honestly have zero clue on how to raise my baby in the US! Not to mention nobody will care about the things that I have done with her in Brazil...

I don't really know where this is leading but sometimes I like to point out the little differences in the day to day life!

Tchau,
Sara

What? I have been busy :)

Ha! I hope that you know when I don't write that I am just too busy to bring myself to the computer. Writing a blog is kind of like always writing emails to people who don't respond but it's also like writing a diary. Once I take a few days off then my head fills up with tons of unnecessary information and I shut down.

So hear is the 'clean out the house' post.

What's new, Belle is still teething with zero teeth to show for it and a whole lot of tears and not a lot of sleep. I swing back and forth from giving ibuprofen and the all natural teething tablets and sometimes I just cry with her!

I just need to get over her and the whole teething thing and I still have a strong dislike for mother's who say that their children never noticed teething.... very strong dislike.

Good news is that we are venturing out more and more around town. I have given up on leaving her at home to go to the supermarket and I just drag her along. She needs to learn these things and how to act in public. The old school shopping carts without a baby seat are a problem because I am constantly trying to get her to sit in the cart, or stop from knocking everything off the shelf, or holding her squirmy little booty. All in all though it's getting easier or it's the same and I just don't notice. I really wish Brazil had a seat in the cart! It would make such a world of difference.

Playgroups among the gringo group are picking up because schools is back in session so nobody is traveling. I have met a few other mom's that are also in the health care profession so it's nice to talk about our glory days.

The past weekend Nate and I had a date day and night. We had Rosa come to the house at 3pm and stay the night with us. (it's safer for her to stay the night then to be traveling late at night) We went out to eat and tried to have somewhat of a normal conversation. We still traveled home to help put Belle to bed, since she was fussy and of course teething, and then ventured back out to a friends house for a cookout. It was nice to get out but the next day is always painful.

To my surprise when I woke up with Belle the next day so did Rosa. She told me to go back to sleep and she would play with Belle!! I gave her some money to walk to the little bakery in our neighborhood with Belle and get some breakfast. I promptly returned to bed and continued to drool on my pillow.

Nights and morning like that are rare and I am so thankful that we can do them every once in awhile. Maybe we will start doing it once a month but for now I still feel like I am recovering.

That about catches things up a bit. Hope everyones week is going as great as mine!

Tchau,
Sara