Last day in Brazil

Hi there.  I am alive.  I did make it through.  I will not lie:  it has been rough.  There have been tears, and exploding microwaves, payments made in the nature of thousands of reais, broken glass, and promises unkept.  Moving is never easy, but moving internationally is a whole other challenge.  My husband is hoping that they let us out of the country tonight.  We've been told for 2 years that our permanent visas have been approved, and our names have been published, but we haven't yet been called to go to the Policia Federal and pick up the documents.  On December 23rd at about 4:00 pm, my husband realized that our "protocol" (i.e. little piece of paper that is very important) has expired, and there wasn't time to renew it.  My hope is that this is not an issue to leave the country.  But one never knows with these kind of things.  So send up some good thoughts tonight at about 9:00 pm that it all get works out.  

But we did get out of our apartment.  We sold everything except for 12 suitcases and the cello.  We delivered the car to it's buyer.  We have no keys left.  We have said goodbye lots of time, and laughed and cried with good friends.  We are going to miss this place that has been home.  With all it's challenges and cultural idiosyncrasies, it has been our home and and we made our place here.  Before everyone wakes up this morning, I'm going to go into the kitchen and wash and cut a deliciously ripe Haden mango.  I'm going to eat the whole thing by myself, celebrating realized dreams, and thanking God again for the all that I've been given.

Van Dyke Mango

The sacalão had a new variety of mango.  It was advertised as the "Vemdek" (if I remember correctly) but it's actually a Van Dyke.  It was grown in Florida (most likely a descendent of the Haden).  It isn't very fibrous, so it's not very stringy, which is a plus.  The flavor is very sweet, and it doesn't have much of a bite or tangy flavor, which in my opinion, is a minus.  Not bad, but not great.  

Caja Mango

I've been on kind of a fruit kick lately.  It's either write about fruit, or write about the stupid leak (again) in our apartment.  Fruit is easier to deal with.  No surprises.  No not showing up.  No bitter taste in your mouth after confronting so much incompetence.

I found a new kind of mango at a neighborhood market a few weeks back.  Behold, the Caja Manga:

from Brasil Escola

They are little (slightly larger than a kiwi), and they were very green when I bought them.  Our empregada Irene told us that they we should wait to cut them until they look like the picture above, a deep, mustard yellow kind of picture.  She also told us that they are pretty sour, and best used in juices with sugar added.   A little bit of research also taught me that they are pretty stringy, and not so great to eat plain.  I had to wait over 2 weeks for them to change color and ripen.  The smell was really nice, different from a "normal" mango.  The flavor was indeed more sour, a bit more citrus-y.  I did the best I could to cut it into chunks, and then added it to a smoothie with orange juice and yogurt.   Yum!

Manga Rosa

On Thursday, I found a new variety of Mango at the Sacalão (fruit/veggie market). It's called the Manga Rosa, and from my internet searches, I think it's only grown in Brasil. I asked the clerk at the store about it, and he told me it was good and that if I go out of town (to his sitio!) there are tons of kinds of mangoes, and he went on to list a whole bunch for me. Nice guy! Plus it always feels good to have some form of positive interaction in Portuguese.

Here's what it looks like:



I was hoping to get my own picture, but I didn't want to wake up the hubby (kids woke up early), and it was all cut and almost entirely devoured by the time he was up. It was probably one of the most beautiful mangoes I've ever seen--the color was a beautiful orangey-red-peach color, and the shape was perfect. It was smaller than the normal mangoes I get. I would describe the flavor as more citrus, with an orange flavor, and a little weaker mango taste. The hubby didn't like it, but I kinda liked it, and the kids just slurped it down.

On another note, I had one of those "I live a strange life" while checking out at the Sacalão: I bought one manga rosa, a package of figs, maracujá (the kids are sick, and I'm going to try to add it to juice), cilantro and green oranges. And it was all R$9! Things I would never have bought, had I not moved to Brasil!

Flowers in Fall

We are about to begin Fall here (southern hemisphere). Late March is a time of heavier rain, though for the life of me I don't remember much rain a year ago. It's also time for things to be in bloom. We have these delicious trees behind our apartment that are in bloom, and I can smell them every time a breeze comes through our windows. And I think the mango trees are in bloom. I haven't taken a picture, but I see trees that look like this:



I was talking with a student this week about April mornings, and how April is her favorite month, because it starts to cool down, and the rains let up. I remember a year ago, being amazed at the blue sky and the glorious temperature. Today I drove to Alphaville, and I was amazed at how beautiful it is: green, lush, the trees with the purple flowers starting to bloom outside the city.



This is truly a beautiful place to live.

Sun

As most of you have probably heard from the news, it's been raining LOTS in Brazil. Thankfully, we are safe, and Belo Horizonte is a long way away from the horrible mudslides. My thoughts go out to all those who have suffered in this disaster.

And, we are grateful for sun. I used to live in the Pacific Northwest, and enjoyed the rain, and didn't think that grey weather really affected me all that much. Then we moved to Arizona. I remember waking up one morning in Tempe, and opening the blinds, and telling Matt, "looks like another nice day!" and feeling so good about it (despite the fact that it was super hot). And I realized that sunshine really did make a difference for me. The best part of sunny days here, is that we can play outside, and go swimming. Summer vacation (in my mind) is supposed to be the time when kids play outside, and spend hours by the pool. When it's raining like cats and dogs, it's hard to keep the kids (and parents happy). And honestly, there's not a whole heck of a lot to do indoors in Belo Horizonte this time of years. It's vacation, so the city has a very sleepy, slow pace, and several museums are closed. But here's to sunshine!

And I'm going to leave it! I'm taking a trip back to the states for the first time in 10 months to visit family. I'm SOOO looking forward to it. But before I leave, I'm stuffing myself with mangoes (mangoes for breakfast and Jim's yummy Mango Banana Sorbet. So you probably won't hear from me much more the month of January, but don't worry. I'll be gorging myself on Mexican Food and getting some quality time with my parents.

Things that go crash in the night

As I was going to sleep last night, I heard some strange crashing noise outside.  But thankfully I was tired enough to fall asleep pretty quickly.  But then in the middle of the night, I got woken up by a red headed 3 year old who had a bad dream.  After comforting her, I crawled back into bed, but I couldn't get back to sleep, because I kept hearing this really loud crashing/banging noise at random intervals.  I was starting to get really frustrated, and resorted to my middle of the night logic, and concluded that it had to be one of the following things:

1.  Someone throwing rocks at a metal fence, trying to get out their aggression at 3 am.
2.  Cars driving over a loose manhole or one of those metal things that covers road construction.  Even though I knew there had been no road construction and there are no manholes on the street behind our house.
3.  Construction workers banging away at random.  This may seem far fetched, but I had seen a man spraying the freshly laid concrete at the apartment being built two buildings down at 10 pm.

I finally got up, and stared out the window.  After a few minutes, I finally realized what was making this loud noise (not any of the above).  Any guesses? 

Falling mangoes. Yep, my favorite fruit kept me up last night. The school behind our house has a HUGE mango tree, and because of the wind and rain, the ripe ones were falling off the tree, crashing onto the tin roof of gym. Who woulda known?

Prósporo Ano Novo

One last post to say goodbye to 2010, a good year in my book. A move to Brasil, new jobs, a new cat, lots of mangoes, lots of fumbling through Portuguese and some humorous (in retrospect) mishaps, but mostly we survived a BIG move and have successfully lived here for almost 10 months. We can get by here. Heck, we more than get by. Thank you to all of you who read this, who share comments, who wander through. Here's to the approaching mango season, another month of vacation, and to Brasil.

DESEJO UM PROSPERO ANO NOVO, QUE 2011 VENHA COM MUITO AMOR, SAUDE, PAZ E FELICIDADES!

Ubá mango

Sebastian and I went to the Sacolão today (which, by the way, he corrected my pronunciation! "It's sac-oh-lão, mommy. Not sack-ah-lão!") and we found a good price on Ubá Mangoes.



Aren't they cute?! They are little baby mangoes...They come from Ubá, a city at the very south of Minas Gerais (thanks Wikipedia).

On another mango note, Matt noticed that the two big trees that we see out our bedroom window are mango trees. HUGE mango trees. I'm hoping that mangoes are like citrus was in Arizona, or apples/pears/my dads tomatoes in Washington state. Or zucchini.

And on yet another mango note, I found this website that has lots of pictures of different kinds of mangoes.

Yum!

Happy Dia da Criança

Today is Dia da Criança, or Children's Day here. From what I've gathered, it's essentially just an excuse to buy presents for kids (and I think that the link says something Johnson & Johnson promoting the holiday, so it makes sense). It corresponds with Nossa Senhora Aparecida,
but neither of these holidays seem like a reason to set off fireworks at 7 am. But don't worry, our kids were up by 6:15 am, because after all, it is Dia da Criança. We are going to head out soon to a small party at some friends house, and just spend the day playing and eating and lounging. Sounds marvelous.


I haven't been posting much recently because I've been going through a new stage in expat transition. We've been here seven months now, and we've gotten out of the "crisis" mode and pretty much figured out how to live day to day here. Thank goodness! So now, I have enough space to think about what I want, what would make our home more like a home, and even to think about what we've left behind. I love living here, and I love what I'm learning and what my children are learning. And recently I've been missing "home" a lot. I miss my family. I miss knowing how things work. I miss getting in the car to go to Target to buy sunscreen/tortilla chips/cheap plastic goods. I miss sending the kids out to play. I think these feelings are going to intensify as the holidays approach. I don't want to use the blog as a place to vent (well, not too much), so hence, not many posts.

But now, I have to finish up, because the crianças are getting restless and I have to go eat a whole mango...

Suco de manga

I don't usually buy juice here, because it has SO much sugar in it. But Matt is still gone, and sometimes the little things can make kids happy. And I learned something from the juice box! It's in Portuguese, but I'll translate (I'm getting pretty good at translating written Portuguese).

"Mango is originally from India, and was brought to Europe by the Portuguese, who learned of the fruit from their maritime expeditions. Mango is the most consumed fresh fruit in the world. In Brazil, several types are marketed: Palmer, Tommy and Haden, having less fiber and more flavor, and the classics, Carlotinha, Rosa, Espada and Bourbon."

I bought a Haden at the sacalão the other day, and I have a new student that said that he will bring me mangoes from his hometown next time he goes. Yum!

Tommy Mango

I love mangoes. I love, love LOVE them. I told Matt some time back that someday I would like to live in a place where I could eat mangoes everyday. And little did I know that Brazil would be my future home. I haven't had a mango every day since I've been here, probably more like once very three days. But I'm moving towards my daily dose. Today I ate something called a Tommy Mango. Very very good. Had to hold myself from eating the whole thing. These are what are for sale at the market across the street. I've heard people say that there are lots of mango trees around, and they actually can be quite dangerous when the mangoes ripen, making very large dents in cars as they come falling down. I'm hoping to go to Farmer's Market on Saturday, and hopefully get some really fresh, really cheap, local produce. Yum!