Bored cat and other randomness

Random post. The cat is bored, and is playing with Sebastian's eraser.

Yesterday I saw two interesting things: a man balancing a big box on his head. I haven't seen it too often, but on occasion I see people balancing boxes, baskets, or bags on their heads. I wonder how you learn that skill. The other thing was the doggie wheelchair. Someone in our neighborhood has a dog that does not have use of it's back legs. They purchased a contraption that allows it to go out for walks. Something like this. Very interesting.

On another note, I'm trying to figure out how grades work here in Brazil. Sebastian came home before vacation with a packet of his work and an evaluation from his teacher saying how wonderful he is (essentially). There's a website maintained by the school with some of the information, and a list of criteria and some drop down menus with the letter A. So, am I supposed to choose something? Is Sebastian supposed to evaluate himself? There's an online tutorial in Portuguese, but it's way beyond my ability. And of course Dora didn't bring anything home, and doesn't know anything about any kind of packet. I'm writing a note to Dora's teacher, and I sent an email to a friend asking about how grades work here.

I bought cornflakes at the store yesterday because I've been craving cereal. Matt and I were fantasizing about the aisles and aisles of cereal that we took for granted when we lived in the states. Golden Grahams. Honey Bunches of Oats. Grape Nuts. Brazilians don't really eat cereal (except kids eating it for snack...at least from what I can tell). The cereals they do have are Sucrilhos (sugar flakes), Snow Flakes (more sugary flakes), and variations on a theme of little puff balls of chocolate. We are not really sugar cereal kind of people, plus a small box costs about R$4.50, which is a more than this frugal mama ever likes to pay for packaged convenience. Don't get me wrong, I have found a "deal" on occasion and purchased some sugar bombs. But right now, I would gladly pay $4.50 US for a nice box of Honey Nut Cheerios. Of course, the cheap box of cornflakes that I bought already tastes stale. Maybe I'll mix it with a box of sugar coated flaky crisps....