Oi!

Happy belated Valentine’s Day! We had a party with food at school, but the kids didn’t exchange cards as you can’t buy them here. Valentine’s Day here is in June and it is more for male/female relationships.

Carnival, Brazil’s biggest holiday, is approaching us, or should I say--it is here! We experienced a bit of it today at school. The last period of the day was a Carnival party (pandemonium) for all the elementary school! Kids were dressed in costume, kind of like Halloween, but there was Samba music being played and confetti flying everywhere! Bill has even posted a short video of some of it.

Anyway, we are out of school all next week for the holiday. We are going to Natal, a city in the Northeast part of the country. We will fly there tomorrow and fly back next Saturday. We will stay in a hotel along the beach. We are all excited!

We went to a US Embassy Carnival Themed happy hour a couple weeks ago. They had a School of Samba there.

The different schools compete in cities to see who is the best. I’m not sure what they win, but I think it must be a sum of money. I know they spend lots of money on their costumes. Some of the cities also host Carnival parades where the schools dance down the streets and I’m sure they spend lots of money on floats.

Last Friday night was a school talent show and Courtney had a slumber party with four other girls here! I thought living in an apartment, a talent show would give us something more to do besides play games, go out to eat, and watch a movie. It did, but it did not get over until after 9:00 so we went out to eat then. That is not late at all for Brazilians as restaurants do not open until 7:00, but for a group of excited girls-it was plenty late. We didn’t start the movie until after 11:00 and they were up until the wee hours of the morning! It was quite entertaining to watch and listen to them! They all come from different countries, but all speak English very well! They had a ball! Saturday night we moved our clocks back already so it was nice to gain an hour of sleep especially after Friday night! We are only three hours ahead of Central US time now!

Saturday afternoon we went to a restaurant that had feijoada and live music. Feijoada is a special black bean stew with all kinds of meat coked in it! It is served with rice, manioc flour, collard greens, cooked bananas (not platians) and orange slices. It is a special meal eaten by many Brazilians on a Saturday at noon. During the music, a School of Samba showed up which was a fun surprise!

This week has been a very full week. One of my friends, Ann, who is the new first grade teacher this year, had her birthday Monday and several of us took her out to eat. Wednesday night my Kuwaiti student’s family invited Bill and I to their Independence Day dinner. The father is the Kuwaiti ambassador. It was a formal occasion. They gave me a Kuwaiti gown for “Christmas” (They don’t celebrate Christmas.) and were pleased that I wore it.

Then last night, a group of us went out to celebrate Courtney’s teacher’s birthday. Tonight yet, we have to pack, but we don’t leave until tomorrow afternoon.

Ate proxima!
Connie

Here is the video of the school carnival celebration, enjoy!

Oi!

It’s been over two weeks since I last wrote, but not too much has gone on. I won’t have Bill post any pictures on this blog as we haven’t taken many since our last trip! We are all getting back into the routine of school. I think most of my class still thinks it is vacation! We celebrated the 100th day of school the other day so I’m aware time is flying! I am teaching an after school class this semester with Kristie, the other 2nd grade teacher, who is also Annie’s teacher. We are teaching “Brain Teasers”-games that stretch the mind! Teachers are required to teach a class after school or help students with homework. I was not required to teach a class my first semester as they gave new teachers an adjustment period. The girls are doing “Brain Teasers” with me and twice a week Courtney has “Hip-Hop” and Annie has “Cheerleading.”

Bill is still plugging away with his Portuguese lessons twice a week. I am so fortunate that I lived in the country with a Brazilian family and went to a Brazilian school; and that the language has come back to me so well-even after 29 years! Kristie, who has been here seven years, says I speak better than her, but she hasn’t had to be dependent on the language like I was. She teaches in English all day, and there are enough people who speak English; and she knows the basics. I just started Yoga this week also. Lisa, the Headmaster’s wife teaches it. I have wanted to do it since October, but between Bill’s Portuguese classes and the girls’ after school activities, the schedule just didn’t work! I’m going to try really hard to make it work this semester!

As we, as a family, approach this second semester it is with mixed emotions! We are past the adjustment stage and all feels quite comfortable here. We turned down the school’s offer to stay another year, but we are also realizing how different Hutchinson, Kansas will be after this experience! We are just grateful we have had the opportunity to be here! It has definitely made Courtney and Annie much more aware of the world!

The girls have made good friends here. In fact the past two Friday nights, they have had sleepovers at friends’ houses. They have both commented how they miss their friends from the US, but will miss their friends from here when we leave! I too know the feeling!

With the girls gone on Saturday mornings, Bill and I made our way, via bus, to another market. We went to the largest fruit and vegetable market in the area. It is where all the produce comes into the city. We saw fruits we hadn’t seen yet! Of course I had to buy them for us to try, but I had to ask people how to eat them. Some you don’t eat the skin! Some you only suck on the skin to suck on the seed and then spit the seed out! Some you eat the seeds! Others you watch out for lots of seeds! I also bought a bouquet of tropical flowers, birds of paradise and a couple other flowers that I don’t know what they are-just pretty!

Bill and I also went to Kristie’s home for a Wonton Party to celebrate the Lunar New Year which I previously knew only as the Chinese New Year! If you remember, Kristie is a Vietnamese-American. In her seven years here, Kristie has made many Brazilian and international friends. There were about 50 people who showed up during the evening; Bill and I and one other teacher from the school, plus about six other nationalities. English was the main language spoken, but you could hear others besides Portuguese also! Anyway, it was fun and interesting! She had everything all prepared for us to make wontons-fried, steamed and wonton soup!

It is still the rainy season, but the rain comes and goes more sporadically! I thought it would be humid during the rainy season, but I guess the ground is so dry; it just soaks up the water so quickly. It is not really humid at all! The temperature had been in the 70’s, but has been in the 80’s the past couple of weeks. The mango trees all around no longer have mangos, but the avocados are in season now, and there are avocados everywhere! Annie just loves picking the fruits everywhere and has even learned the trees by their leaves on her own. And there are fruit trees everywhere! Just the other day she showed me a lime tree in our apartment “garden” and we had to make limeade! Within walking distance of our apartment, there are the lime, mango, avocado, jack fruit, coconut, “jabuticaba” (I don’t know in English!), guava, pomegranate, papaya, and tamarind trees. There is also another tree with berries like raspberries. It is not mulberries as the berries are good! I don’t know the name of it in Portuguese or English! We have even found a couple pineapple plants, but the pineapples weren’t on the plants long at all before they disappeared! For that matter, many of the fruits disappear quickly. The mangos tasted great, but were quite stringy. A Brazilian told me they were best for making juice which I’m sure was true!

The country is now preparing for Carnival, the biggest holiday in Brazil. Mardi Gras is a variation of Carnival and different countries have their Carnivals, but I think they all originate from here! It is the last week of February this year. It lasts four days and always ends on the day before Ash Wednesday, Lent. Different areas of the country celebrate with slightly different types of music, but most of it is Samba or a variation of it! I’m not sure of the significance of the holiday, but I know the country is in one big party mode! One thing I read is that it is letting go of your everyday self and embracing the carefree nature of the festival! That seems to fit what I saw when I was here before! People say Brasilia does not celebrate big, but there is a banner advertising for people to join the “Samba School” in our commercial district! I’m sure there will be parades and dancing in the streets! We are going to Natal, a city in the Northeast to celebrate. I didn’t want to be somewhere that celebrated too big, but yet I wanted Bill and the girls to get a good feel for it! We will be on the beach for a week. We have all enjoyed the beautiful beaches here, and the Northeast is know is for its beaches!

“Ate proxima!” Until next time!
Connie