My New Happy Place!

Oi do Brasil! Last week, I started taking painting lessons at a small art school on Cavaleiros beach with my new friend Becky. I’m not much of an artist, but it is so awesome to learn something new, and I find that the time I spend with a brush in my hand is so relaxing! Sitting in an open courtyard, listening to the ocean, and letting my mind focus on something creative is a pleasure I never knew I was missing. My teacher, Beatriz (Bea) is very helpful and also extremely patient in teaching us rookies how to paint. My classes are every Tuesday morning, and I’ve found myself anxiously awaiting my next lesson for the rest of the week. Once I have learned more of the techniques, I am planning to start painting at home. Gabe took me into Centro to buy all of my supplies, so I feel so official now! No turning back! I am still taking Portuguese lessons twice a week with my friends, Sakshi and Kim, and I really feel that my knowledge has greatly improved. It is such a difficult language for me, but our tutor is great, and I’m finally starting to conquer my fear of speaking.

Carnaval starts on Saturday, and Brazil basically shuts down for a week. We would love to be able to experience Carnaval in Rio, but with Jake being so young, and the crowds being so huge, we’ve decided against it. Instead, we are considering taking a 4-day cruise around the coast and celebrating the festivities on the ship with some friends. I’ve never been on a cruise ship before, and I have a dreadful fear of motion sickness (really hoping I can find some Dramamine if we decide to go), but I’m looking forward to spending some fun time together as a family.

Jake and I are still planning on spending the summer in Texas (woo hoo!), and we are hoping to be home sometime during the beginning of May. I will keep you posted as plans become more definite. I love you and miss you all so much!

Hugs!

Holiday Rewind :)

Hey kids! WOW! Was my last post really in November??? Holy cow! The past two months have really flown by! I guess I should start by summarizing our holiday south of the equator.

December

Jake finished school on December 15th. His school had an adorable Christmas program prepared for all of the parents, and Jake's class dressed up and sang a song and danced for everyone. He was so cute, and was the loudest singer in the class! I can still hear him screaming at the top of his lungs, "HO HO HO!" LOL The end of December also came with lots of new friends! A few of my MTP boys here in Brazil, brought their wives/girlfriends down for the holidays. All I can say is that I hope they are all able to come back to visit soon! They were such great ladies, and it was so nice to have some girls around for once! Christmas was so much fun with the little man this year. He's finally old enough to understand the holiday, so we had a great time making cookies for Santa, and opening presents on Christmas Day. That night, the Gauthier family had an awesome Christmas party at their house for all of the expats. There are so many new people from the company moving to Brazil, so our lives have been infinitely happier now that we have found some new friends in Macae. New Year's Eve was an absolute blast! The tradition in Brazil is to wear all white on NYE, and go to the beach for fireworks and festivities. Gabe and I threw a party at our house, and we had about 30 people here to celebrate with us. At midnight, a huge fireworks show was shot off of a barge out in the ocean. It was so cool to see all of the lights over the water---truly amazing! 15 bottles of champagne and a HUGE headache later, we spent New Year's Day at the beach as a family (NO, I didn't drink all 15 bottles by myself! lol).

January

The last few weeks have been spent trying to keep Jake occupied until school starts on Jan. 31st. I have also started proper Portuguese lessons with two of my expat friends, Kim (American) and Sakshi (Indian). It is such a difficult language to learn, but our tutor, Monica, is very patient and understanding. We've only had lessons for the last 3 weeks, but already my knowledge of the language and confidence speaking it have greatly improved. Last week, my good friend Joe Burgard (aka Joey Bogart) came to visit us. We spent the week in Macae at the beach, and then took a weekend trip to Buzios. Joining us was our friends Brian, Justin and Julie (Justin's rad wife). Buzios was a MUCH different experience this time around! We found a house on a rental site, and booked it for the weekend instead of going to a hotel. This is the way to do Buzios right, kids! The house was AMAZING--5 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms, movie room, private pool/spa, outdoor kitchen with BBQ, a 4 min walk to the beach, and a staff of two who cooked/cleaned/grocery shopped for us while we were there. Needless to say, we've been spoiled rotten by our stay at Casa Boa Vista, and I'm eagerly looking forward to staying there again!

Begrudgingly back to the grind this week. I'm working on getting all of Jake's school paperwork ready for next week, so hopefully we won't hit any more snags, and he'll be able to start on Monday. February is going to be an awesome month! Mom & Eric are coming to visit the first half of the month, and Michelle is coming to visit the end of the month. I also turn the big 3-0 on Feb. 6th (Dun dun duuuuunnnnnnn!) My 20's were a blast, but I'm really looking forward to this next chapter in my life. Aside from missing all of you so much it hurts, life in Brazil really couldn't be much better than it is right now.

Lots of hugs! :)

Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Bom dia, friends and family! I'm back to blogging after two weeks of our home being invaded by the flu, bronchitis, sinus infection, and stomach virus. It's been a rough few weeks here in Brazil, but we are all slowly returning to normal.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and being so far away from family on this holiday is going to be difficult, so we've decided to spend the holiday with some of our new friends here in Macae. A rig manager that Gabe works with, Fategue, and his wife Fattu are bringing their three beautiful kiddos over tomorrow afternoon to celebrate with us. They are from Ivory Coast, and have been so kind to us since we've moved here. They are constantly inviting us to their home for incredible feasts, so Gabe and I figured it was time to repay their kindness.

I've never made an entire Thanksgiving dinner before. This will be my first year cooking by myself (yikes!), but I am trying to have a sense of humor about it all. I'm assuming that at some point tomorrow, I'm probably going to have a stress meltdown, and want to throw one or more of my dishes into the ocean, but I figure that anything is funny if you have enough wine! :) Big thanks to my mom and my mother-in-law Marie for sending me such great recipes! You two are such spectacular cooks, so I hope I can make you proud tomorrow! :)

To all our family and friends on this holiday--we love you, and we miss you more than you can possibly imagine. Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, and hope the Aggies BTHO t.u. :) WHOOP!

Hugs from Brazil,

Move Over Picasso!

The somewhat frustrating thing about Brazil, is that you have to go to a different store for everything you need to buy. Basic food necessities—one store. Fruits/Vegetables—another store. Paper products—another store. Clothes—another store. Paint—another store. Meat—yep, you got it, another store. There aren’t any giant superstores here, which makes every shopping outing a race against time and the other hoards of people to buy everything you need before it gets dark. I’m telling you, if I could open a Super Target in Macae, I’d be the richest woman in Brazil!

I’ve been begging Gabe for months to let me paint the apartment, because I just can’t stand the blindingly white walls anymore, and with a 3-year-old in the house, they’re impossible to keep clean. However, since we don’t know our way through the maze of the downtown area very well, it was hard for us to find a paint store. Thankfully, my sweet Brazilian friend, Carla, offered to help me out, and she came and picked me up yesterday morning. She took me to a store here in Macae called Vilarejo. It is a home improvement store, and the closest thing I’ve seen to Home Depot here in Brazil. Now that I know where to go to get things to update the house, Gabe’s wallet better prepare—I found all kinds of good stuff!

Carla flips and then rents homes here in Brazil, so the people at Vilarejo knew her very well. She was able to help me order the paint, and even get it delivered to my house. I’m still waiting for it to be delivered—that’s another thing, everything takes twice as long here, and I’ve learned a whole new level of patience. :) I’m really looking forward to starting the painting process, but without all the handy painting gadgets that I’m used to, (I only have a roller and a small brush), it may get interesting.

As for the family, Jake and Gabe are doing great! Jake is doing really well in school, and he almost has the potty training thing down! YAY! On Saturday, Jake had a Thanksgiving celebration at his school. The turn-out was great, and the staff at Maple Bear had all kinds of fun activities planned for the parents. Watching Gabe and me trying to decipher game directions shouted over the microphone in Portuguese, and then actually attempt to play the games was a riot! Inevitably, hilarity ensued, and we looked like a couple of idiots, but we really had a great time! After the games and a buffet of snacks, Jake’s class dressed up as Indians and sang a cute little song for all the parents. Here’s some pictures of my sweet little Indian. :)

That’s all for now, but stay tuned! Pics documenting my painting extravaganza are soon to follow. Hugs! :)

Bem-vindo ao Rio de Janeiro!

We woke up at the crack of dawn Saturday morning to get everything ready for our trip to Rio de Janeiro. A “minivan” picked us up from our apartment, and we proceeded to attempt to pack ourselves, and our luggage into the van. When I say “minivan”, understand that I mean a Brazilian minivan, which actually isn’t a minivan at all. It was more like a square-shaped sedan with a third row. We had the driver and Gabe in the front seat, Dayane and Pedro in his car seat in the middle row, and then Jake and I in the very back. Gabe said I looked like a sardine. For those who know me well, you know how terribly I travel in the back of cars, so of course I was horribly carsick the entire trip. So it goes.

As we approached Rio, I was quickly distracted from my spinning head by the beautiful architecture of the city. Prior to our trip, Gabe and I had heard nothing but horror stories about the crime in Rio, and thought we might have to stay safely secluded in our hotel, but we were pleasantly surprised by our surroundings. In fact, downtown Rio actually reminded us of some of the European cities that we have visited. The best way to describe it would be to say that it has the hustle and bustle of New York City combined with the somewhat grunge coated beauty of Bordeaux, France or even Rome, Italy. With the 2016 Olympics looming in the future, the signs of improvement were all around. Many of the buildings were covered in scaffolding due to cleaning, and many of the roads were being repaved. They have a long way to go, but it was good to see that they’ve at least begun the work of cleaning up the city.

On Saturday we checked into our hotel, then took a taxi to visit Sugar Loaf (Pão de Açúcar) mountain. They named it Sugar Loaf because apparently there is a type of bread here that is the same shape as the mountain. The only way to reach the top is to take a series of cable cars across the water. I also discovered that I have a terrible fear of open heights, and began to feel that sweaty carsick feeling again as I stepped into the cable car. It basically looked like a subway car with windows for walls, but I can’t deny that the view was truly spectacular! Once we got to the top of the first mountain, we walked into a beautiful park with 360-degree panoramic views of the city/ocean. As we stopped to take pictures, we met a new friend—a tiny little monkey about the size of a guinea pig jumped down from the branches of a nearby tree to say hello. :) Jake and I were amazed! So cool to see a real, live monkey in the wild! There happened to be a juice shop in the park, so we stopped for a drink. One awesome thing about Brazil is that you can get fresh squeezed juice everywhere you go. We had a glass of tangerine and pineapple juice—so refreshing and delicious!

Then we boarded the second cable car to the top of Sugar Loaf. This was a much steeper climb, and the car kind of tilted like a roller coaster climbing the first drop of the ride—needless to say, I was freaking out a bit! Due to my panic attacks caused by the cable car ride, Gabe discovered that he loved making it worse for me by talking about the cable breaking and shaking the car…such a jerk! lol However, we made it safely across, and if we thought the views from the first mountain were good, we were in for a big surprise. The views from the top of Sugar Loaf were breathtaking! Up close, the city had that griminess to it that most cities have, but standing on the edge of the mountain, breeze in my face, with the city reaching up from below, I felt like a bird flying freely above a beautiful city at sunset.

After taking about a hundred pictures, we rode the cable cars back to the ground, and took a taxi to a nearby shopping center. Our friend Diogo told us that he was taking us to “one of the best restaurants in all of Rio de Janeiro”—Outback Steakhouse! LOL The food was actually really delicious, and it was nice for Gabe and I to experience a bit of home for the afternoon. After dinner, we were exhausted, so we retired to our hotel for the night.

On Sunday, we woke up early, at breakfast, and took a walk along Copacabana beach. The beach was gorgeous! Even at 9am, there were hundreds of people already sunning themselves in the sand. As we walked, we came to a really cool street market. There were booths selling every type of craft/statue/jewelry/painting/clothing you can think of. Precious stones are plentiful in Brazil, and cost about 1/3 the price in the U.S. We found the most beautiful carving of a toucan made out of jade, turquoise, quartz, and amethyst. It was gorgeous, and it only cost us R$ 50 (around $25 bucks)!

Then we went to meet Diogo and Dayane, and we took a taxi to the bottom of Corcovado Hill. Corcovado is the tallest point in Rio de Janeiro, and is also the home of the famous Christ the Redeemer statue that stands guard over the city. There is an awesome tram ride up the mountain through the surrounding rainforest. The plants and flowers along the way were so beautiful! My mother and sister-in-law, Natalie, would have been in heaven! Once we reached the top, there is a series of staircases that you have to climb to reach the Christ statue—probably around 10 flights (thank goodness I had been working out!). When we finally reached the statue, I was overcome by how truly enormous it was! Already being at “the top of the world”, it literally seemed to reach right into heaven itself. It was awe-inspiring.

We sat under the shade of the statue, and awed at the how small the great city of Rio appeared below us! After taking tons of pictures amongst the hoards of other visitors, we carefully walked back down the stairs to the tram station. When we got back down the mountain, Diogo & Dayane took us to the Botafogo Praia Shopping Center. This shopping center was actually a 6-story mall, with beautiful views of the ocean and Sugar Loaf. As we went up the escalator, I was overcome with joy. I couldn’t believe it, but THEY HAD A STARBUCKS!!!!! Yep, I was in heaven! :) After a late lunch at the mall, unfortunately it was time to head back to the hotel, collect out luggage, and begin the return drive to Macae.

Our first visit to Rio was short, but wonderful! It goes without saying, but our overall view and impression of the city is changed. Not once did we ever feel worried about our safety, and the overall beauty of the city was incredible! I can’t wait to go back!

P.S. Sorry, but due to my slow Internet connection, I couldn’t load very many pictures onto the blog. Check out my Facebook page for more! Love to all!

Rio, Here We Come!

Hey everyone! Haven't blogged in awhile, but honestly, I didn't have much to report. Same old, same old for the past few weeks. This week however, we are going to Rio! The driver is coming to pick us up early on Saturday morning. I'm really not looking forward to the drive (driving 110kph and playing chicken on a two lane road is enough to make anyone's heart stop), but we'll be there soon enough. Saturday, weather permitting, we are planning on spending at the beach. Our hotel is on Copacabana beach, so hopefully we won't get rained out. Sunday, we are going sightseeing with our friends Diogo & Dayane. We're planning on visiting the Christ statue on Corcovado and also Sugar Loaf. We've had many great suggestions as to where to eat, but having Diogo there, a native born Carioca (someone born in Rio), I'm sure he'll be able to show us around. Gabe has training on Monday & Tuesday there at our hotel, so Jake and I will probably just hit the beach or the pool during the day. Apparently there is also a great open-air market in Ipanema, so I'm REALLY looking forward to doing some shopping. I hope they send a big car to take us and all of our new stuff back to Macae! I'll be sure to take lots of pictures, and I look forward to sharing our trip with you when we return on Tuesday. Have a great weekend!

Michelle's Visit to Brazil

I’m back blogland after a fun and relaxing week with my friend Michelle. She arrived last Friday, and we all headed to Buzios for the weekend. We stayed at the Atlantico Buzios Resort, and unfortunately the weather was dreary all weekend, so no beach time. :( We stopped and had a lovely dinner with our friends Charlie and Carla. There is a dish here in Brazil called moqueqa, and this restaurant has the best I’ve tasted so far. Moqueqa is a seafood dish cooked inside a big pot and you can use any kind of seafood. Most places use fish, which we had, but they also made a lobster version at this restaurant. One word—AMAZING! Moqueqa is fish fillets steamed in a pot with olive oil, onions, tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic, and spices. You serve it over rice with this sauce they make that looks like gravy, only thicker. In Charlie’s words, “It looks like wallpaper paste.” Haha! After dinner we took a walk out on the dock and saw this little kid catch a HUGE fish. No idea what kind of fish it was, but it was beautiful! Across the street from the restaurant is a seafood market. The ladies running the shop loved Jake, and one of them gave him a fish to take home in a baggie. I think it was a large sardine, but Jake LOVED it. He named it Charlie after our friend, which everyone thought was hilarious except for Charlie! lol Jake wanted to take his fish home with us, but without any ice to keep the fish fresh, after 20 minutes the fish was slimy and stinky, so when we went out on the dock, Jake and Gabe fed the fish to a sea turtle. Jake of course started to cry and immediately wanted his fish back. Needless to say, we had a heartbroken little boy in the backseat on the way home.

Sunset in Macae

Once we got back to Macae, the weather was still crumby, so Shelly and I played cards all day on Monday. We took some runs along the beach between rainstorms, and I expanded Shelly’s knowledge of great movies (She had never seen Caddyshack, Arthur, or the Princess Bride…I know, folks, I couldn't believe it either). Thankfully, the sun finally came out on Wednesday morning, so Michelle and I spent the entire morning at the beach. The people-watching was incredible, as usual, and she was amazed that people go jogging here in nothing but a speedo. We also saw a water rescue while we were laying out. Apparently, a man got dragged out to sea by a strong rip current, and we watched the lifeguards swim out to save him. It was an exciting day at the beach! Before Michelle had to leave, we had a great goodbye lunch at our favorite little restaurant in Cavalieros called Ilhote Sul. We had shrimp in a cheese sauce with bananas and peas (sounds gross, but it was awesome!) Unfortunately, then it was time to say farewell to my friend. It was a short, but great visit with Michelle, and we miss her already. That’s the only rotten thing about people coming to visit; they always have to go back home. We’re ready for more visitors! Who’s next? :)

Here are a few pictures of Jake when he came home from school dressed as a tree! Have a great weekend everyone!