Wish you were here...

Or I was there...

Something to that effect.

So really I wanted to show you a picture of us on the beach, with big fat coconuts, and swaying palm trees. But we haven't quite made it there. Soon, I am told.

Here is our holiday recap letter we didnt send:

Things here in Brazil are going really well. Sidnei opened his own company and literally hasn't stopped since he started! We have felt so truly blessed because of this! I am so proud of him and how hard he has been working! Not to mention so impressed because half the time, I'm all, "I didn't know you knew how to do that!"

I am adjusting well, though I am really feeling 'saudades' about missing Christmas back home. My Portuguese has really come along in the last couple of months, especially the ability to understand! (Thank goodness!) I'm not working yet, but we have high hopes that I will start teaching at an English school soon! I have been keeping busy learning how to be domestically fabulous and finding my way around centro (downtown) so that I can shop pay bills.

We are so very grateful to be spending the holidays together this year! It has been a long trek, though our journey has just begun, and we are looking forward to enjoying many more holidays together! We would be remiss not to tell you how grateful we are for all the support you gave us these past (almost) 2 years! We love being able to have the internet and keep in touch with you all!

All of our love,

Always playing catch up!

I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted! The next couple of days, I'll be playing catch up! So today I will post pictures of my super cute nephew's 2nd birthday party. This was at the end of last month (the 28th) and it was so fun because he was so excited.

Just so you know, people blow out kid's birthdays BIG time here. I think I mentioned this before. It is themed, with hundreds of balloons, decorations, huge cakes, and lots of candies. It is quite a spectacular to behold. However, this year Israel's parents decided to keep it simple with just family. So we DIY everything. It didn't take long and they saved a LOT of money. They want to wait until he remembers it all which I think is very wise. The HUGE birthdays here costs thousands of reais. And thousands of anything (dollars, pounds, reais) are just hard to come by these days.

So without further ado, check out how excited this little boy was. He is so stinking cute and has gotten so big since I've been here. It has been fun to watch him learn and grow every day (My MIL takes care of Israel every day Tues-Sat 8-7). And to be honest, he has taught me a lot of portuguese. We are learning together!

Israel LOVES to sing and clap. Here he is waiting for us to begin singing!

Here I think I was watching Israel open presents!

I love this photo because when Israel wants to be cute, he cocks his head to the side just like this!

This is the one where my husband thinks it's funny to make faces and I don't know. If there were a picture after this, I would NOT be amused. Though I am now. But at the time, I was tired. See?

I got Israel "Pingu" the Penguin. He watches Pingu on his DVD. Pingu doesn't actually talk in a specific language. More like the teacher from Charlie Brown. You don't know what the heck she's saying but you get the gist? So Israel is in LOVE with Pingu. He was SO excited. He is still carrying it around and loves when Sidnei will play and make the noises for him!

Singing and clapping to Parabens..with all of his beloved presents on the table with him!

This is the third time he's going to blow out the candles! We sang to him three times that night! He kept saying mais, mais (more,more)! It was so funny! I'm so glad he had fun!


One of the funniest things about Israel turning two, is that you can ask in him Portuguese or in English how old he is and he will answer in English and say TWO (and hold up three fingers)! And if you ask him to say dois, he will say NO! Two! Love it!

They Love Me...Part II

The Mosquitoes. The mosquitoes here range from very tiny to very HUGE. And they all love me. I know I have complained about the mosquitos before.. But seriously people. They love me. No matter where I am they find me. No matter how much repellent, no matter what brand, no matter...they love me. Constantly ALL THE TIME people chuckle at the sight of my white legs with bright pink circles all over them and say 'sangue novo'....Ha Ha. Yeah, that doesn't get old EVER.

But can you blame them?

The last count was 64. 64. That is ridiculous. The pictures just don't do my legs justice.

Brasileira in the making

There have been lots of different discoveries I have had since coming to Ipatinga. One of them is my new found love for soccer. Actually, I think it is going to the soccer games. Because I still can't stand watching any sport on television.

Anyway we have been going to Estadio Ipatinga on the weekends to watch our local team play (in white, on the right). I love being surrounded by all the people, I love the feeling of camaraderie that comes with supporting a team together! They have people who play drums in the stands...and they never seem to stop. They have a whole gang of people playing drums, others dancing to the drums, and others setting off fireworks. They put on quite a show. In fact, this past weekend, they started a fire in the stands with what looked like the toilet paper they had been waving around. It was quite interesting. And dangerous looking. When you enter the stadium, they do have security checking bags, but I suppose the only thing they are looking for is guns, everything else pretty much seems to be allowed.

Besides watching the game, I love to people watch. And Estadio Ipatinga provides plenty of interesting spectators to gawk at. My absolute favorite is "the rant-er." He is my all time favorite. He is at every single game. And he yells pretty much the entire game. He waves his hands around, yells at the team, yells at the refrees, and when all else fails turns to someone if they are willing to listen to his rants. He paces the stadium back and forth all game long, but I usually see him around half time. (Is it called half time in soccer?) We sit in the middle of the field, close to where the players leave to go to the locker room. So out of the woodworks he comes to give them a piece of his mind. Next time I'll get a picture of him in action. Seriously, my favorite. I'm always excited to see him.

Now although he is most definitely got a couple of screws loose, he does have something to yell about. Ipatinga is absolutely terrible. Meaning, even I, who knows close to nothing about soccer, knows that they are terrible. They are terrible about passing successfully, the fans are constantly yelling to 'play to the front' since they like to kick the ball around down field...it's amazing they ever get the goal to be honest. Thankfully the won this time around (1-0) since Sidnei vowed to never come to another game if they kept losing! Though I think he was bluffing. Even though they are terrible, it's still fun!

Sidnei's Dad complimented me by saying that I was definitely a 'Brasileira in the making' except he said it in Portuguese. And he told me that I would also need to come to the popular side of the family and be a fan of Cruziero. My husband is all about Sao Paulo. I have been forbidden to join the ranks of Cruzeiro.

I haven't made up my mind yet.

Pretentious Pizza

Seriously love when the weekends rolls around!

Tonight we decided to live a little and go to a "real" restaurant. You know the kind where they have real waiters?


Here in Brazil there are a couple of types of places to eat...

• Lanchonetes- these places are found ALL over every corner of Ipatinga. You can find them from small to big, having things varying from pastel and coxinha, to hamburgers, pizza, soups, and ice cream. 


• Boteco- I actually like the boteco that we have down the road from us. These are also all over every corner of Ipatinga. These places are sort of a mix between a bar and restaurant. Some people come to drink. Some people come to eat. Most do both. The boteco sets out plastic tables and chairs, often has live music (here anyway) and my favorite place does churrasco every night that is fantastic! Though they aren't all nice..some are pretty dumpy looking.


• Restaurante por kilo- Buffet style restaurante by weight. Serves all kinds of meats, veggies, sometimes salad, rice, beans, farofa, potatoes..etc. I like to go to places like this for lunch. But really, not great for me since my eyes are always bigger than my stomach...and I really hate wasting.


• Restaurante- A place in rare form in Ipatinga. I think we seriously have like 5 "real" restaurants here. Where you go, sit down, given a menu, order with a waiter,  and have more choices than hamburgers and pizza.

So anyway, Sidnei picked a restaurant that we have been admiring from afar to go to tonight. The outside is beautiful (I wish I had gotten a picture), with big glass walls to see inside, pretty decorating, and it just looks NICE. Like a real establishment. Anyway so I'm all excited. We walk in, we are greeted by a hostess (!) and taken to our seats. Everything smells SO good. The waiters look all nice and crisp in their uniforms. The table cloths (!) are pressed. Everyone around us is dressed nicely and having a nice time. Not to mention they had a big bottle of olive oil in the middle of the table, making me think I might get bread (you know, like at an Italian restaurant). Did I mention this is the first time we've been to a real restaurant in the five months I've been here??

The waiter hands us our menu and asks what we would like to drink. He gives us the house special for the day. I think it was some kind of fish. We open the menu...and to our surprise...the place we are at is a PIZZERIA. I almost died laughing. Sidnei was irritated. Seriously the restaurant looks so pretty. The waiters are SO formal. I would have never guessed. And just so you know, they don't have any signs outside except for one that says Bohemia which is an alcoholic drink they serve there. Ahhh well. What's a girl to do? So we order a pizza...my style. Quatro Quiejos (four cheeses) because I like to keep it simple. And thankfully our overpriced, pretentious pizza, was the best I've had since I've been here. Though, I don't think Sidnei will be back.

*Just as a side note, in different cities, the eating scenario varies in different places and in bigger cities(so I have heard)  it is much different. We just don't have many options in this small town.

Brazil's Independence Day!

Since I am behind, I am catching up. That means Independence Day is coming to you late. While all of you were lounging around, grilling out, pooling it, beaching it, or wherever you were celebrating Labor Day, we were celebrating Brasil's Independence Day (Septemer 7th).

I think in other places they do more. Here the only real celebration was the parade! Which I was excited to go to! I always loved the parades in our little hometown of Crewe, VA. There is nothing in the world like tractors pulling beauty queens, shriners in their tiny cars and 6 year olds from Mrs. Carrington's Dance class tap dancing down the street...I miss my little town!

So backtracking...the parade wasn't really all that different from my little town. It actually made me laugh a little. But in a nice, friendly way, promise.

My saintly husband, got up bright and early, to get on the bus (before car), and take me to the parade!

No Parade complete without the band! The Policia Militar band!

We had I believe the ENTIRE police force go by us. And let me tell you, this city employs LOTS of police. But here they are with their awkward, yet surprisingly cute march.

Here is Sidnei's big brother Ney and the dog he trained Apache. He brought Apache to the house one day. I love that dog. So friendly AND obedient. Gracie could use a few lessons.

My favorite since I was a little girl...always the horses!

But I always felt bad for this guy: The worst job in the parade...cleaning up after the horses.

The Bombeiros!!! Or the trusty firemen! I have to say, the ones in full get up, must have been HOT!

And here is where I start the inappropriateness that is me...
Here we are making others aware of epilepsy. Which is not funny. But I swear, here I see more things illustrated than anywhere else. Like someone having an epileptic seizure. The people behind the banner, were also wearing t-shirts of the exact same thing. The t-shirts is what really got me. To be fair, Sidnei did tell me there are many people here who believe that you can physically catch (like a cold) something like epilepsy.

Then there was this guy. He was blind, carrying the Brasilian flag down the road. And his walking cane. Which I just wish someone would have taken from him to help him, because he was having issues with both. However, I think it was being used as a prop to say, "See? He's really blind!" I don't really understand who these guy's were. I need to do some research. Sidnei informed me that they were the sons of Masons. I was part of the Daughters of Job when I was younger, and I don't remember the boy's organization. But Sidnei seems to think they worship the devil. Along with the other people that boo'ed them. What the heck? Does anyone know? I just thought they were doing a cute rendition of Harry Potter.

This guy was my favorite!!!! He was part of the literacy campaign! And even though it was hot and muggy, he was so fun and cute! Look how cute his little buddy is!

Trip to the Fazenda

This past weekend, we had the pleasure to go to a family's fazenda (farm). And it was so great! We really had a nice time! Of course as always, there was the famous churrasco! But for me, the best part, was when I got to go horseback riding! I have loved horses as long as I can remember and we had a really good time together!

Tell you the truth, I was SHOCKED that Sidnei got on to ride the horse! But here he is, my favorite part, is that he and the horse are making the same face!

Here is Sidnei's Dad (Jose), Mom (Marlene), his Uncle (who is also named Sidnei), and Sidnei waiting for the food! They were starving!

Sidnei and I! We even got someone to actually take the picture for us!

Here we are in the backyard, I just thought everything looked so lush, green, and pretty!

This picture here, is to show you that I have really learned my lesson! As you can see, I have very burnt arms...and though you can't tell, I came home with lobster red arms, chest, and face. It's all very cute and painless, even days later. My parents always said I never would learn anything the easy way.

Here are all the goodies we got to bring home! I love going to the country and bringing home all the fresh produce. I promise to write a post on the foods here VERY soon!

This is Gil's Dad, Gil (who is marrying Sidnei's Uncle Sidnei) and Sidnei's Mom Marlene.

At this point we went hiking in the mountains to go to the lagao (the lake) and fish! We were not lucky. This is the way back...and if you can't tell, I'm burnt and so over it all. Ready to head home!

Here is Sidnei throughly enjoying himself and trying to convince me to stay overnight so he can fish at night, when he is SURE the fish will bite. HA HA!

There are no more pictures because we went home!

Seriously good day with friends and family!

Lagoa Silvano

So back in...July was it? When it was still "cold" (think high 70's and 80's...compared to right now, it's heaven) here, we took a nice break on one of the warmest days and went to the lake!

The lake grounds are really nice. They have pavilions where of course we had a place for churrasco (no get together is complete without it). I really thought the lake was really pretty. The pavilion was set on a hill, so you walked down to the lake, where they have a little sandy beach. I didn't get in the water (never did like lake water much...read: chicken), but it was so nice to lay out in the sun, eat (my favorite is grilled pineapple), and hang out.


View on top of the hill where the pavilion is...the slide never opened that day or I would have thought more seriously about getting in!

But they did open the little kiddie water park! The kids came running and screaming! They were so funny to watch! (That is my sister in law's brother and child by the way, not just some random people)

Those my friends are big swan boats!! I was so excited! I wanted to go find out where they were and go ride them. Unfortunately Sidnei had a MAJOR headache and laid on a table top for most of the time.



Can you tell he's feeling icky here? He got off the table top to go home so I snagged him to take pictures first. You can tell he was thrilled with that idea.


These next two were before the sickness ensued.


This really made me miss our times on the beach back home, but glad we have a place here too!

This was one of the craziest birds, wandering around the park. It had a crazy scary scream call and would go on for 20 minutes at a time. I would try to find out what it is, but I have no idea how...My Brasilian friends..do you know? I wish I had a better picture of it. It had a crazy mohawk feather thing going on!

Hopefully we'll be going back to Lagoa Silvano now that it's warmed up quite a bit!

Parque do Ipanema

Once upon a time, about two months ago, I uploaded these pictures. And never did anything with them.

So now, let me introduce (better late than never) Parque do Ipanema (ironically located in Ipatinga, MG). It is really the only "scenic" or pretty place to walk in Ipatinga. It really is a very nice park and kept really clean by the city. We love to go in the evenings right before it gets dark. We walk around, people watch (one of our favorite activities) and settle in later at one of the many vendors that are selling numerous things, including, but not limited to, hot dogs, hamburgers, churrasco on a stick (beef or pork), popcorn, fried bananas (like little chips), drinks (all varities), popsicles, and (my personal favorite) filled churros (you can fill them with chocolate or doce de leite (or dulce de leite or similar to caramel if you are more familiar). YUM.

Anywho, here we are:



This is a very peculiar. It is a little island with a windmil. I dont really understand it, but I hope to one day see the time when the paddle boats at the bottom are open on the pond you can't see here.

I thought this was rather picturesque at the time...but at least you can see the pond/lake I was talking about.

So of course I made Sidnei stand there (because of the picturesque-ness).

Pensive Husband, wife who thinks she's creative. If I look close I can make out his face in the darkness. In my defense it looked better on the camera screen.

An ending much like the beginning...self portraits.