Feliz Natal!

‘Tis the season! This is my Christmas letter to all of you! Although it is about 75 degrees Fahrenheit and school is out for our five week summer break, things are still busy this time of year, even in Brazil! The warm weather makes it hard for me to think Christmas, but as we went to a Christmas church program last Sunday, I began to think that it was probably also warm in Bethlehem!

The Elementary School’s holiday program was called “Family Reunion.” It was about a mixed family gathering for the holidays. We have to watch the Christmas theme as all religions and nationalities are represented at the school. Anyway, Courtney and Annie had fun singing and dancing in it! Courtney was a Spanish person and Annie, an Egyptian!

Aside from the school holiday program, I have had three holiday parties the past two weeks! All three were school related, but in the evenings! To add to my chaotic schedule, Courtney and Annie also had birthday parties to attend these past couple of weeks, plus a friend’s holiday party! (Remember we don’t have a car to drive all these places! That’s partially what makes it so chaotic!) Courtney’s birthday party was the Swedish ambassador’s daughter. The party was held at her home which is the Swedish Embassy. One of the party favors was a personalized CD with the girl’s picture on it and some of her favorite songs. Annie’s party was at a location that was similar to a mini-carnival with all kinds of rides. One of the school librarian’s daughters was at party and I was talking to her. She said a party like that would cost about $2,500.00 US dollars. It’s amazing the amount of money some people spend on kids’ parties here!

Bill also turned 50 on December 10th. I wasn’t sure what to do for the “big” occasion, but I knew it wasn’t going to be a big party! So a group of us just went to the brewery here in Brasilia on the weekend. A friend took a cake which is perfectly acceptable in this country. It was fun and simplified everything for me at this time of year! We, as a family, and my co-teacher (Annie’s teacher), went out to eat on his actual birth date at a “Churrascaria,” a Brazilian BBQ. They have a big salad bar, and the waiters bring around huge skewers of all types and cuts of meats. You can also have them bring you bowls of shrimp on the side! Therefore he kind of celebrated turning 50 twice! J

I am now beginning to think Christmas at home! We put a tree up a couple weeks ago, but I didn’t have any presents under it. Annie was a little worried if she was getting anything. She was relieved, and excited, when she saw presents finally, just the other morning!

We will spend Christmas here. We will actually spend Christmas Eve with one of my embassy student’s family along with some other people. The dad celebrates Christmas and the mom Hanukkah. The dad is Cuban and is going to roast a pig leg. They will have Cuban rice and beans and several others of us will bring side dishes. On the 25th, we will get together with some of the other American teachers that have not taken off for the break and eat and play some games. The other family that arrived when we did, and have a daughter Annie’s age, will be part of the group as well as another teacher couple that are expecting a baby in January. Many travel or have family visit as we have a month off.

On the 26th, our travels will begin! We will meet up with the family that I was an exchange student with 29 years ago at their farm near the beach and spend a week with them. Then we will spend five days in Rio de Janeiro, one of the “must see” places I told Bill about before getting here. After returning from that trip, we will take advantage of our time off and fly to the Amazon and do the five day tourist thing there. It was also on my list of “must see” places! I think I could get used to this long break in the middle of the year.

I will try to write a blog between our two trips. Once again, Feliz Natal e Prospero Ano Novo!

Connie, Bill, Courtney, & Annie

Oi de novo! Hi again!

Time flies when you’re having fun! And we are having fun! I am having a harder time keeping this updated than I thought I would! (Too many things to do! J)

The main news since I wrote last is our Thanksgiving trip. Thanksgiving is not celebrated here, but being at an American School we got the Thursday and Friday off. I took off the previous three days and we flew to Salvador, a city on the coast. We visited and stayed with a family that my parents had their three children as exchange students, the first one 22 years ago. I met the children when I went to my parents’ home at Christmases. The parents, whom we stayed with, were even there one Christmas! Later my parents had the cousin and a friend of this family. My parents have been to Brazil twice to visit this family and were even witnesses at the wedding of the oldest daughter. Anyway, the cousin and one of the children and his wife were revisiting my parents in Illinois during the time I interviewed and was hired here. The cousin got married this past weekend in Salvador and they wanted us to attend!

What an experience! The wedding itself was in a beautiful, old Catholic church. Instead of bridesmaids and groomsmen, there were numerous couples that went up, yet different single and married people went up to sign the marriage certificate during the ceremony. Her grandmother carried up the rings, but they did have flower girls and one little boy. It was not a really long ceremony. The reception was incredible! It was at a hotel along the beach and had many more guests than the wedding. I heard 500 invitations were sent out. The food was spectacular-shrimp, salmon, other fish, chicken, beef, many other fancy little pastry-like things, and sweets, plus the wedding cake. The drinks were unlimited. There was a juice bar with numerous fresh fruits that I didn’t even know, that were made into alcoholic drinks or just juice. The dancing and music was lots of fun! They had some Carnival music and a miniature float to push people around on. The girls, as well as Bill and I loved it! I’m sure they could have made a huge down payment on a new home for the amount spent on the wedding, but his parents gave them a 2-bedroom apartment as a wedding gift. It never ceases to amaze me the difference between the two social-economic classes in this country.



Salvador itself was also a neat city to visit! It is over 500 years old-settled first by the Portuguese. It is also where most of the slaves settled in Brazil after slavery was illegal. So the city has lots of culture! The family picked us up and first took us to their beach home. You literally walked out their backyard, across the sidewalk and were at the beach. And what a beautiful beach! After a couple days at the beach home, we went to the apartment in Salvador. Various family members, took us all around to see the sites-a huge artesian market, the old part of town, the area most settled by the blacks with a lot of African influence, and a couple of huge, very old Catholic churches. We went up an elevator that connected the lower part of the city with the upper part on the side of a hill. A family member took us to a beach that was in conjunction with the Tamar Project to help protect the sea turtles.

Family members were in and out lots. One of the girls that had been an exchange student with mom and dad had two young girls, a little younger than Courtney and Annie. They lived just down the street and were back and forth playing constantly. A sister to the family we stayed with had a daughter a little older that was anxious to practice her English. She bonded with our girls instantly and we saw them often too. The apartment we stayed at was just up the hill from one of the beaches in the city too. It fact the internet has it listed as third best beach in Brazil. We went there four times! The girls raved at the fact that they got to go to the beach more times in a week than they had been in their entire life! I’m afraid they will expect all the future beaches they got to, to be that nice! Needless to say we had a wonderful Thanksgiving although it didn’t seem like Thanksgiving! It makes me anxious for our five week Christmas break!

At school my class had a Thanksgiving dinner. Parents brought in food. I had my class present a song, poem, and short skit. I missed the actual presentation, but my assistant was my sub. We are now practicing for our winter music program. We have two more weeks until our five week break. Some Brazilian schools are already out for their summer break, so my kids are really wild! The American School tries to semi-compensate with the Brazilian calendar. That is why we have five weeks off now and seven weeks in June and July. It is summer now, but the temperature has not varied too much since we arrived last winter. It is the rainy season now. The rain actually cools things down a little bit, but is not bad. You never know when the rain is going to hit. You just carry an umbrella all the time and after it rains, the sun comes back out.

Courtney and Annie are excited for Christmas! Annie finally talked us into getting a tree. We bought some lights and we made some red and green chains so our apartment now looks like Christmas! It’s hard for me to think Christmas when it is so warm, although stores are all decorated like in the US. Advertising hits everywhere, I guess! You even see some lights around and some street light poles are decorated.

The girls have met a couple of girls in our apartment building. They are Brazilian and speak Portuguese so that’s fun! Courtney has a pretty good Portuguese vocabulary, but Annie is more hesitant to speak unless she can do it perfectly!

We are having fun learning the public transportation. Just today, we got on a couple buses and rode them around-making a complete circuit. One even went to a neighboring town! We are also having fun trying all the new tropical fruits and new foods. The food in Salvador reminded me of flavors I ate as a kid in Africa. We can get mangos year around, but there are many trees around that are full of ripe mangos now. They are quite stringy, but have a wonderful flavor.

Ate proxima! Until next time!

Connie