Feiras and Calhetas

 In Sao Paulo, during each week there are several outdoor markets on different streets on different days. They are called Feira Livres. (Pronounced Fay-duh leevree). At the markets, they sell flowers, produce, meat, and sometimes other very random things such as bras and hair bows. It is the best place to get your produce for the week as it is usually very fresh and usually a better deal than at the grocery store. We took the kids to the one by Ibirapuera park (the biggest park in Sao Paulo) the other Saturday. Clara got to ride in the carrier since it was about a mile walk.

 We got so many looks! A few people even stopped and took our picture. Hilarious!

 I forgot to mention one of the best things they sell at these--fresh sugar can juice and fresh coconut juice. SOooo delicious. They also sell these yummy fried pockets of meat and cheese called pasteis. The girls love to stop and get them.

 They shut down the entire block for the Feira and they are always full of people. The vendors are always offering you samples of their goods and once you try one, they will get you to try some of everything. The other day, a vendor even offered me some of the beer he was drinking!

 So you know now that my double stroller has bit the dust, and with Charlotte's school a mile walk away, it has been an interesting adjustment. We have compromised some and fold down the back of our single stroller and the kids sit together. They are such troopers and generally get along great!

Movies here are most often shown in English with Portuguese subtitles, except for kids movies, which are dubbed. We were really lucky and since Cinderella was a live action movie, it was shown in English for a few weeks. We took the kids to see it and the theatre even had a coach for them to pose in.

Easter was fun and low-key, but we definitely missed family. Charlotte's school brought a live bunny into all the classes, and Charlotte loved it! We had to adjust our traditions a little bit, but it was still fun. 

 Easter weekend we went to a beach called Calhetas, which is a locals beach. It is close to Isla Bella, which is an island off the coast here that is supposed to have some of the best beaches. We did an AirBnb because there weren't a lot of hotel options, and it had a really good description. The lady said we would have no problem with beds for all four of us. We were a little surprised when we got here and realized the "house" consisted of one room, one bathroom, and an outdoor kitchen!!
However, the location was amazing, and we walked to one of the coolest beaches I've ever been to.

 Here was the bedroom that was meant to sleep 4:

To keep the beach as clean and pure as possible, they keep the land down to the beach wild and you have to hike down a ways. It was a beautiful hike!

The water was amazing, and the view was stunning. There were no waves and it was as warm as a bath! There were probably only 25 people there all day.

 The only downside to this beach was the biting flies. No matter how much bug spray we put on, those little guys did not leave us alone! (What was kind of funny about this, so every lady here wears a thong, and you could see bug bites all over their buns!)

 One thing we've heard a lot of expat families say is how much the living abroad experience has brought them closer as a family. Lately the girls have been playing together a lot, partly because they have no other choice. They also know that the other will always understand them (as opposed to other kids that don't speak English).  Also, all of our free time is spent together, and it has been amazing. It really is a neat experience and I do feel like our family is closer because of it.

Life has returned to (semi) normal

We are in our apartment, Charlotte is going to school, and Clara and I have gotten used to the routine or staying and home and running errands. Peter works a lot and typically goes to the factory every week for 2-3 days. (The factory is in Pernambuco, which is a 3 hr flight from here). 

This is before we got our air container, and the girls didn't have any bedding. :/  Thanks to our friends KaLee and Neal, the girls each had a sheet to sleep on.

Charlotte had her first playdate with a friend from school. It was with a sweet little Portuguese girl named Maria. It was funny to watch them play--Maria spoke Portuguese and Charlotte spoke English back but they didn't seem to mind. They just kept playing. The mom was really kind and let Clara and I come too. Clara was happy because there was lots of yummy food for lunch. All the other kids were playing and she was sitting at the table eating :).

Our apartment has a few pools, and this is the main one. During the week it is pretty empty other than sunbathers. The kids love having a pool that they can go to whenever they want. 

 We also have a couple of playground areas for the kids.  It is so great, there are tons of other kids and moms that come around 5 or 6 pm and Charlotte just loves having friends to play with. Most of our friends are expats from Latin countries, so we get a good mix of Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian. Most of the moms don't speak a lot of English, but they speak enough and my Portuguese is getting better, so it is fun for me too.
The other day Clara got bonked pretty good by the swing, and all the moms ran over and just fawned over her. Two went and got special cream and ice packs, and then one called me later to see how she was doing. I love the moms here!

Every Friday is dress up day at Charlotte's school, and she loves it! Her friends thought it was pretty neat that her hair looks just like Elsa's hair. Also, the sidewalk you see her on? Pretty typical. This is why the frame of my stroller snapped :/

Our complex also has an indoor playroom for rainy or cold days. 

One of my favorite words that I have learned lately is "Fofa." A lot of times Clara and I will be out running errands, and people will talk to her and call her Fofa. I finally asked my tutor what it means, and he said it is a mix of adorable, cute, and chubby. Pretty perfect for Clara, since her nickname at home is Squishy. So now we call her Fofa! (or Fofinha)

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

A few weekends ago, we went up to the city of Campinas. They have an antique train there and we took the kids for a ride. 

The station played some great samba, and the kids really got into it! They also made friends with some of the other children there and a random cat. 

The trip took us to a different station that had one of the first telephones. On the way back we were entertained by a band with an accordion player, singer, and drum player. The accordion player was amazing and it was super loud and fun.

Yet Clara still managed to fall asleep with all of this going on.

On the way back home, we stopped by the Campinas temple. It was neat--it has a church owned hotel right next to it for those that need to travel to visit. The temple and grounds were gorgeous.

We've also had some wonderful things happening closer to home--we got our stuff!!! We got our sea container with all of our furniture and some other things at the end of February. It has been amazing having things that are actually ours. 

An interesting thing about our move--the day the movers got to our house in Michigan was super stressful. They wanted to pack things backwards of how I wanted to pack them, and I was so worried that things would get put in the wrong place. I insisted that toys and kitchen things go in our air container (the shipment that is only supposed to take 3 weeks) so that we could move into our apartment immediately and the kids would be happy. We had air mattresses, all of our bedding, and towels in there as well. Wouldn't it just be my luck that our air container takes 3 months instead? We got  I guess I am supposed to learn a lesson from this, that planning is all you can do, and hope it works out. 

Also, our couch wouldn't fit through the door. But the movers were super great and brought it in through the window!!

Also that week, my sweet Grandpa Deaver passed away. He was such a sweet man, and I was lucky to be his granddaughter. Peter and I were sealed by him in the Las Vegas temple. He always spoke so sweet to us and was such an example of faith. 

Peter's company was very kind and has a policy that allowed me to fly back for the funeral. I also have some amazingly sweet friends here that watched my kids for me while I was gone.  I flew into Atlanta, got into the car with Amanda and her fam, and drove the 8 hrs straight to NC. The kids were great and it was awesome to see everyone, even considering the circumstances.
Here's the cousins of that side of the family, minus my brother Dustin.

My mom and her sisters:

The funeral was really moving and we got to hear some fascinating stories about my grandpa's life. I felt like I got to know him a little better. 

Amanda's poor boys got sick while we there, so we left the next day to go back to Georgia.
While there, we of course had to get some American pizza at Costco.

I got to spend the next day or two with some of my favorites before I had to go back! We had lots of fun and Steven let us sneak out and have a sister date.

It was so great to visit, but the girls were so happy to have me back. Charlotte sobbed when I left and when we skyped, so she was especially happy.

School

We've had a fairly low key last week or two, especially due to Charlotte's broken arm. It's put a damper on our beach trips! :) 

We did manage to go to the Sao Paulo Aquarium, which wasn't huge but was plenty big. The most exciting exhibit by far was the mermaid exhibit. The girls spent probably an hour looking at these girls in their mermaid tails. Charlotte kept asking me questions like, "How did they get here?" and "Why do they have tails", and "How come they were born mermaids and I wasn't?". It is just so sweet that she thinks they are real mermaids!! Love that sense of wonder. 

Charlotte started school last week and this picture is from the parent day when we got to know the classroom. Her teacher is really sweet and speaks fantastic English. The lessons are all in English but her friends are all Brazilian. We are hoping she can pick up some Portuguese from them on the playground.

 Here's the entrance of the school right past the security guy and the finger scan. Yeah, intense! But it's nice knowing they are so careful about the security. The security guy had our faces memorized before we even got there and knew who we were. (We had to send pictures of us all with the application.) The drop off and pick up are kind of crazy since the school is on a small road and the only parking is parallel. That and I am driving the biggest car of all the moms, and I am a silly foreigner who has still not mastered parallel parking. Also, we get some funny looks because I always have Clara with me and all the other kids her age are enrolled in the school. They often ask me why she doesn't attend.

It seems to be a really great school and Charlotte loves going. There was absolutely no crying when we dropped her off. They serve a snack every day of a fruit, some type of bread thing, and juice. On Fridays they get to wear dress-ups!

Our park by our hotel has these trees with giant leaves that make the perfect umbrellas.

Last Saturday we went to Parque de Cantereira, which is on the North side of Sao Paulo. It is massive and has botanical gardens and a mountain. We did the hike not quite knowing that it was sooo uphill. We were so glad Russell had come with us (not only for the awesome company) but he also helped us push the girls. The girls adore him and want to hang out with him all the time.

Charlotte was getting a picture taken of her uniform and Clara wanted to pose too. 

Our favorite of the uniforms: the cute red polo dress! Her school has the cutest logo of a little bear and a Canadian flag.

And some of the weirdness we saw: Why hire a sign guy when you can use a mannequin instead?

Peter's work has been going well but he travels up north to the plant for part of the week. I don't think any of us will be too sad when he has finished the track up there! A funny fact about Pernambuco (which is close to the plant), the beach is the 10th deadliest for sharks. They have a natural reef that you are not supposed to swim past and they made surfing illegal. Crazy! 

We are also hoping that soon they will get our things through customs and we can move into our apartment. Life will improve quite a bit with more space and toys :). 

The good, the bad, and the snuggly.

We have had an interesting last week and a half, full of ups and downs! We'll start with some of the ups.

This is Clara at the park right by our house, Parque de Povo. Mostly I had to put this in because she looks so dang cute! I'm glad I mostly brought dresses for the girls because it is all they want to wear. 

We go to the park almost daily to get out of the apartment so the maid can clean. (Since it is basically a hotel room, the maid comes and cleans every day too. I haven't done many dishes since we've gotten here!!) 

After we get home and have lunch and naps, we usually go down to the pool. One of the days this week though our friends in the room below us invited us over to swim in their hot tub! (And by hot tub I mean lukewarm water tub.) They are a Brazilian couple that went to BYU and has two cute kiddos close to our kids age. It is pretty awesome that they have this on their balcony for now and we are lucky to be friends with them. 

On rainy days we like to get our nails done. It is only 10 reis (about $4) for the kids to get their nails painted, and since we are stuck in a hotel with very little to do I don't mind spoiling them a little. It was funny, I don't understand much portuguese, but I did understand the nail girl telling her coworker that I let the girls get them done every week, silly American. Haha!

 Now for the bad. Friday night while at our park, Charlotte took a spill while running and broke the bone by her elbow. We could tell pretty quickly that it was not just a sprain and took her to the ER. In this picture she had already gotten some medicine and her cast and was in much better spirits. The hospital was amazing and we only had to wait in the waiting room (a special one for kids!) for about 10 minutes. Another awesome thing they did was after someone went into triage, if the nurse thought they were contagious, they made them wear gloves and a doctor's mask. SO smart! We probably had the best experience possible there.

Charlotte had some rough nights, but seems to be feeling so much better. On Monday we went to an orthopedic specialist (that we had to pay up front before even seeing the doctor) who gave us the good news that Charlotte will most likely not need surgery. Yay! She is adapting well at her one-armed-ness. We are hoping it will only be 4 weeks. 

Even with Charlotte's arm the kids and I still go to the park almost daily mostly to get out of the house. Sometimes they don't even get out of the stroller but it is nice to take the walk. And on days when it is hotter than heck they know they might even get a juice at the end!

 More good news this week--our air container has finally arrived! It is so funny to me to think of the amount of care and effort I put into packing some things in the air container and some in the sea when in reality, we will probably get both at about the same time. I feel like a big lesson I am supposed to learn in my life is patience :). We've got another big week ahead of us with Charlotte starting school so you know I will have to post some pictures of her in her uniform!!

And lastly, I drove--without Peter, with traffic--to a friends house. I can't lie, I was pretty proud of myself.

Update

Life being as it is sometimes, we found out our international health insurance does not go into effect until the beginning of next month. We did take Clara to the doctor and they diagnosed her with a throat virus of some sort that unfortunately will continue to give her a high fever for the next week or so. The best we can do is keep her as comfortable as possible with some medicine.  Peter and I are going to see what happens and hopefully we just have the same and can all get better soon.

Never assume, because when you do . . . you know how the rest goes

This has been an interesting week. A week full of highs and lows and also a very educational week.

Let's start off with Sunday. I assumed since the roast I bought said to cook it for two hours that 3 would allow me plenty of time before we had to bring it over to our friends. Wrong! 6 hours total and the thing was finally cooked. Thank goodness for pizza.

On Tuesday we had to drive a couple of hours away to get a special number (like a social security number) in a different city. Our appointment wasn't until Wednesday but we had to stay the night in order to get that number in the city. (We couldn't get it in Sao Paulo because they give preference to the refugees and they have had a huge influx. And we can't get our stuff shipped until we get this number. So it was worth the effort.)
Getting to the hotel we checked in and went up to the room. Surprise--only one bed. We ask the front desk for a different room and they kindly let us know that they do not offer rooms with two beds. They do set up a trundle in our room, though, and after an interesting few hours, we end up with Charlotte in our bed and Clara enjoying the trundle by herself. The next morning we all wake up feeling pretty yucky but dink around for a while until our appointment. We get to the address we were given 1/2 hour early, and,  you guessed it--not the right address. We barely make it to the correct address in time and things gratefully go smoothly. I am still crossing my fingers that our stuff will quickly come!
Thursday we all wake up still pretty sick--sore throats, goopy eyes, bad coughs--but the girls and I need to go apartment hunting. The relocation agent picks us up and we start looking. Clara is insisting on being held as we walk everywhere and her little body gets hotter and hotter as the day goes. She is so feverish and Charlotte is bored to tears. Peter rescues us and sees the last few places with us. Something good came out of the visit--we picked an apartment! More fingers crossed that it all works out.
Tonight we are all just kind of miserably sick and are going to go to the doctor tomorrow. I'm sure once we feel better my outlook will be better too.