Açaí (ah-sah-eeee)

I can't believe I've never posted about açaí before (besides including it in the top 100 foods list)!  Açaí is a berry/fruit that grows on the Açaí palm, which is native to the Amazon.  It is usually served as a juice or a puree, sweetened with honey and mixed with yogurt, granola and bananas.  It is delicious, refreshing, and has lots of healthy antioxidants.  It is more common in the Northeast, but it can be found all over Brazil, and is a popular afternoon snack, served at ice cream stores or snack shops that specialize in smoothies and salgados (salty snacks).  

In the past 6 months or so, we've noticed a sudden increase in the amount of these snack shops in Belo Horizonte.  They are popping up everywhere, and they usually have the same kind of signage (a rectangular sign with images of fruits in the background) and the açaí included in the name of the store. I think that there is a new chain in town, but now people are piggy-backing on the idea, and without much creativity.  In fact, I've seen at least one store open RIGHT NEXT to another new store.  My oldest daughter loves to tell me all the names of the different stores, because some of them are just downright silly.  Here's a list of what she remembers:

1.  Rajaçaí--the açaí place on Avenida Raja

2.  Megaçaí

3.  Daçaí

4.  Taçaí

5.  Topaçaí

6.  Refresçaí

7.  Savaçaí--in Savassi

8.  Praçaí

9.  Peçaí

10.  And our favorite, Thaçaí, because Brazilians have a very hard time pronouncing the "TH" sound.

If I opened my own açaí place, I would called it "Saci açaí" (pronounced "saw-see-ah-sah-eeee") and have a picture of Saci frolicking amongst the fruits, eating açaí.  Anyone else have a names they can add to my list, or a creative name for an açaí business?

Cristina

This is a sad post.  I've been thinking about how to write this for over a month, and I'm still at a loss.

We moved into our apartment in the Gutierrez neighborhood a little over a year ago.  Within a week of moving here, we started to notice Cristina.  She lived on our street, and she was....well, she was a character.  A very unique and eccentric person.  Some might say crazy.  But a wonderful Brazilian woman with a large and lovable personality.  She had 4 Dalmatians.  She liked to walk them without their leashes, and they were hyper and ran like crazy.  She yelled at them.  She wore biking clothes most of the time, as in spandex biking shorts, gloves, shoes with toe clips, and a bike helmet.  Sometimes she rode a bike. Most of the time she didn't.  Cristina talked to herself.  Everyone knew her.  She was friendly, and liked to talk to the children.  She didn't know that my Portuguese was limited, and most often I didn't understand what she was talking about.  I just smiled and nodded.  

On August 16th, she was out walking, like she usually did.  She was crossing Avenida Francisco Sá at the end of our street, and was hit by a car.  She refused help, even though she had been injured.  She returned to her apartment by herself, and passed away.  

There are so many things wrong about this.  There is a TOTAL disregard for pedestrians in this city. Cars do not stop.  Crosswalks are totally disregarded.  I know this is not the case in all of Brazil, but for some reason in Belo Horizonte pedestrians seem to have no rights.  Last year at Christmas, there was a big sign in our neighborhood that essentially read, "For Christmas, be kind and respect traffic laws." The city started a campaign about 6 months ago to raise awareness and to encourage drivers to respect traffic laws.  I did see an article (can't find it now) talking about the INCREASE in injuries and deaths during the campaign (not saying that the campaign was causing it, but that the campaign wasn't really working).  As a person that cares about the condition of our planet and a concerned citizen, I love walking and try to walk as much as possible.  We moved to Gutierrez so we wouldn't have to drive so much.  My husband uses public transportation to get to work.  The children complain all the time, but we are trying to show environmental responsibility and to take care of our bodies by exercising.  

But I am afraid.  I have become much MUCH more concerned about crossing the street.  I don't trust any drivers.  I know that pedestrians do foolish things at times, but the ones with the power here are the drivers.  I really REALLY don't understand what drivers are thinking speeding up when they see a mother and two children in a crosswalk.  I don't understand why 20 cars speed by when I'm attempting to cross a busy intersection without a light.  I don't understand why cars run through red lights, or when motorcycles start entering the intersection before the light has changed to green.  From my perspective, it just seems like drivers don't care, and they are willing to put other people at risk for their own desires. And I don't understand how someone could hit a pedestrian, and allow her to walk away, when it is clear that she is not well.   There is too much of an attitude that "everyone does it" and too much cutting of corners and disregarding common sense.  Honestly, I think what needs to happen is fines and stricter laws.  Before the Lei Seca, it was common to see people driving down our streets holding a beer.  But now motorists know that if they are caught with even a trace of alcohol in their system, there will be serious consequences, and drinking and driving has decreased.  The only way to really change behavior is to create stricter laws, and then to ENFORCE them.  But it seems like pedestrian deaths are not important enough to Belo Horizonte for this to happen.  In the meanwhile, I am going to stop at crosswalks for pedestrians.  I am going to yield to walkers.  And I'm going to educate my children, and any one else who will listen. 

Sinto falta Cristina.

Walking to work

Almost exactly a year ago, we moved to our new apartment.  I love our new apartment.  Here are some of the reasons why:

1.  It's not infested with termites.

2.  It's close to Dora's school.

3.  It's not molding (yet).

4.  It's spacious.

5.  It's close to everything (bakery, bookstore, grocery, bank, fruit store, ice cream, etcetera)

6.  It's relatively flat on our street.

7.  The neighbors are nice and actually helpful

8.  It's close to 2 of 3 Maple Bear campuses.

So I get to walk to work.  I love walking to work.  Today I saw this:

Yes, it's September 25th, time to start your Christmas shopping!!  Especially for overpriced, kitschy snowmen decor.

And I saw this:

It looks like melons growing on the tree trunk.  Any ideas of what it is?  Cacau?

out and about

I was out to do some printing this morning (yes, we still don't have a printer, but to be honest, I'm happier to not have to deal with printer issues).  It was a beautiful, clear morning, and I was without the kids, so I could give my full attention to the surroundings.  It felt like a very Brazilian walk, since I saw these things:

from http://christchurchreformed.com/

A teenage boy holding his Grandmother's hand, out for a walk.  I love how common it is for people to hold hands while out walking, and how often I see boys and young men holding their mom's hand.  My  almost 9 year old son has not adapted to the Brazilian custom, but I always make him hold my hand when we cross the street.  Last week he didn't let go after we had crossed the street, and held my hand for a whole block.  

Oooh, bad picture from the cell phone...

The coconut delivery truck blasting funk music.  For those of you who don't have the "privilege" of being familiar with funk music, I was considering posting a YouTube video.  But my 1 minute YouTube search left me feeling very offended and disgusted, so I will spare you.

Yet another bad picture from the cell...

And a walk in our neighborhood wouldn't be complete with out illegal parking.  Can you see the telephone pole at the left of the picture?  There is a no parking sign on it.  And you can see 4 cars parked illegally in front of it.  What is harder to tell, is that the first car is a POLICIA MILITAR car.  The police officers were parked there, while getting ice cream cones.  It's really no wonder that 82% of Brazilians think it is easy to break the law, and 54% see little reason to follow laws.  But I had to just chuckle to myself, and enjoy the blue sky and this crazy, complicated, wonderfully frustrating place that we live.  

Horsing around

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4580566/Four-horses-loose-on-M25-motorway.html

Yesterday I got a ride home from one of my co-workers.  We were coming from Alphaville/Lagoa dos Ingleses to Belo Horizonte.  The traffic was bad (normal).  We were slowly creeping down a road with 4 lanes of traffic, when we came upon 2 horses crossing the street.  No saddles.  No owners.  Just 2 horses, out for a walk in a large city in Brazil.

I probably wouldn't have found this blog-worthy, except that 2 weeks ago, I came home from the Clube with the kids, and we found this in front of our apartment:

Yep, that's a horsey.  He's pulling a cart of scrap metal.  Our neighbors were doing some work, and a guy came up in his cart to pick up some of the leftovers.  Stray horses causing traffic and a horse drawn cart parking outside our window remind me that I just never know what I may encounter here!

The leak is back.

I've avoided this post for a LONG time.  It's been sitting there in my "to do" list for months.  You remember that stupid leak that was plaguing us?  Well, it is back.  For those of you who aren't faithful daily readers, here's the time line:

1.  Moved into apartment.
2.  After 1 month, noticed growing wet spot on the ceiling in our 2nd bathroom.  It quickly turned into peeling paint and then mold.
3.  Talked to almost everyone in the building and at the rental company, and found out this leak has been an issue for well over 1 year.  But they rental company/owner just kindly painted over the problem and were grateful to get some stupid Americans in the place to pay rent.
4.  Ranted.  Raved.   Made threats.  Enlisted help.  Called daily.  But FINALLY got the leak repaired, and the mold/damaged paint removed and entire situation "fixed."  Hooray!  We felt so proud and happy that we had achieved something. 
5.  Two months later, the leak/peeling paint/mold returned. 
6.  Called the rental company.  And they actually came back in a timely matter and began fixing the leak. 
7.  After one month, the ceiling in the bathroom looks as good as new!
8.  After 2 days (Yes!  TWO DAY!!!!), the water returns.  At this point THERE IS NO ONE LIVING ABOVE US.  It is a mystery as to why there is any water running upstairs.  My husband thinks that the owner of the apartment upstairs has come in the middle of the night and dumped water on the floor just to spite us.  I have to concur, because I can't come up with any other logical conclusion.
9.  We call the rental company.  The "fix it guy" is mad.  Maybe he will get things done???
10.  The rental company calls us back 1 week later to ask if the wet spot has dried and the leak has stopped leaking.  My husband said that it was still wet.  They ask us to call back when it's dry.  Wait a minute....is it our job to tell the rental company when to do their job?  Oh, I forgot....it's Brazil....

By this point, I have just given up.  I actually can't believe we got all worked up about the initial problem.  It seems so trivial at this point.  Now, we are ACTIVELY looking for a new apartment.  This is not just due to the leak.  I wish it were so simple.  Here are some of the reasons that we are looking for a new place:

A.  I don't like hearing our neighbors practice their farmer blows, clearing their sinuses, hacking, and coughing up lugies (as I WRITE THIS SOMEONE IS FARMER BLOWING!  Thank you.  I wish all you readers could be here to experience this moment with me). 
B.  Dora has had to put up with a lot of "love" from her little sister, and is begging for her own room.  We are looking for a 4 bedroom.  Plus next year, Dora will start going to school in the morning, and Bea and Sebastian will be studying in the afternoon.  Logistically, it would be helpful to have the girls NOT sharing a room.
C.  We'd like to be on the other side of town to be closer to my work, and the kids school (more on this later).
D.  We have a neighbor who has become a BIG problem.  Not only is she blowing her cigarette smoke into our apartment every day, but her 3 grown children that live with her in her basement apartment without windows (I think her living situation must be a wee little bit challenging) are now calling us uneducated, accusing us of throwing trash into their apartment, trying to take our parking spot, and just generally being very unkind.  Ugh.
E.  Termites
F.   Is it too much to ask that bedroom doors would shut?  Apparently so in this apartment.
G.  Living on the first floor and having a lack of direct sunlight starts to make a person's soul feel a little dark.
H.  Oh, and just to help me remember, another neighbor just threw their juice box out of their window onto the neighbor's roof.  Not only do we get the joy of looking out our window and seeing all this trash, but we also get to pick up the chewed gum, candy wrappers, napkins full of chicken and rice (?) and other yummy trash out of our area privativa (patio).  Ew.

All to say, we are all done with this apartment.  It has been good to stay in the neighborhood, it's been good to save money.  But it's time to have a little better surroundings so that I we don't start to think that our living situation is how all of Brazil is.  I've been very actively looking for apartments on the other side of town.  It is a challenge.  But I keep telling myself that we will find a good place.  Eventually....

Saturday afternoon walk in the neighborhood

I went out for a little walk this afternoon, trying to soak up the sun (it's been unseasonably rainy and overcast this fall) and get a little exercise.  While (successfully) attempting to avoid the dog poop, I saw a few things that caught my attention and I thought were worthy of mentioning here.  I realize it's been a little slow on the "blog front" recently, but hey.  You are here.  You are reading this.

1.  Quail eggs on sale!  One of my favorite little corner grocery stores has a sale on quail eggs.  I don't know the usual price, but this week they are R$1,99 (USD $.98).  Quail eggs are very popular here, especially hard boiled and served along with lunch or in a kind of herbed salad with onion and olive oil  and vinegar.  I first had them at a Self-service restaurant (a restaurant where you pick what you want and pay for it by the kilo).  Sebastian and I are the only ones who like them, but I don't think we'll have any problem finishing off 30 little eggs in a few days time.

2.  Dog booties.  You wouldn't want your little schmoopy poopy lap dog to get it's cute little paws dirty and then bring that horribly yucky dirt from the rua (street) into your pristine apartment.  So of course, you have dog slippers!

3.  Two new lançamentos (announcement regarding a new building project) for new luxury apartment buildings.  Alto padrão!  Lazer completo!  There is so much building going on right now, it's nutty.  And even though there are LOTS of apartments for sale right now, apparently there is still a market for new, bland looking apartment buildings. 

Off to take my allergy medicine.  It turns out that my sore throat and general lethargy are due to some allergy that I've acquired.   I never would have guessed that, but it's nice to know that I don't have an infection or some kind of weird throat growth.  Tchau!

Neighbors

A few weeks ago, I was doing some baking, and I had the pleasure of hearing my downstairs neighbor talking on the phone.  Very loudly.  For over an hour.  At 10 pm at night.  As I was overhearing her stories about jelly, doctor's appointments and many, many other things, I got to thinking about neighbors (and I remembered Danielle's post ).  Getting to enjoy all the idiosyncrasies of your neighbors is not an experience unique to Brazil.  The thing that I find unique is that most Brazilians living in cities live in apartments, which are surrounded by other apartments and other apartment buildings full of other people.  We live in very close proximity to people, so we get to know all their odd behaviors and hear their weird noises and arguments.  I'm sure that the crazy American family with the cellist and screaming children offers lots of fodder for conversation for our neighbors.  And we have had the opportunity to enjoy some of the following:

-Papa Bear.  In our old apartment, we had a good view into the neighboring apartment building's kitchen windows.  We were on the 4th floor, and we had a very good view into the neighbor's 3rd floor apartment.  There was a nice family of 4, and we liked to call the father Papa Bear.  Why?  Well, Papa Bear was quite a fuzzy wuzzy kind of guy, and was a little on the stocky side (not fat, just broad).  And Papa Bear enjoyed the comfort of his own home by usually walking around without a shirt on.  So, we had the privilege of seeing Papa Bear do all sorts of domestic activities without his shirt.  For Brazilian standards, he was quite helpful around the house (he did dishes, sometimes laundry, fed the kids, cooked pasta).  There were a few occasions when he would walk around in his underwear--yikes! 

A few weeks before we moved out, Bea's friend Julia (from our old apartment building) had a birthday party.  It was a big birthday party, held in the salão das festas (party room) of our building, but complete with bouncy toys, lots of food, and lots of beer.  Beer is the way the adults survive the birthday parties here.  We were sitting at a table with some other neighbors, enjoying our salgados and beer, the kids were running around in a sugar high mania, and I suddenly saw someone very familiar.  I felt like I really knew this person, I'd talked with them before, someone I saw on a regular basis.  Our eyes met, and I could tell that he didn't know me at all.  And then I saw his kids and his wife, and I almost yelled it.  "Papa Bear!"  I hadn't initially recognized him because he had his shirt on.  I thought about introducing myself and striking up a conversation, but I just couldn't get over the awkwardness of it. 

-Farmer blows/hocking loogies/excessive nose blowing.  Someone in our new apartment building must have a SERIOUS congestion problem.  Or maybe it's allergies, and they live with a cat or dog that makes it worse.  Because we hear them clearing out their nasal passages MANY TIMES A DAY.  And it's not a gentle little blow into a tissue.  It's a full on honking, coughing up mucus, disgusting, farmer blow.  It sounds like this:

-The Smoker.  Our downstairs neighbor is always so nice when we see her.  She ogles over the children, asks us if we like Brazil, and is so friendly.  And she smokes.  I'm not opposed to smokers, I have friends who smoke.  It's not a bad thing in and of itself.  But our neighbor likes to smoke in her courtyard, which is at the bottom of the building, underneath everyone's laundry areas and kitchens.  And because she's at the bottom, the smoke rises up and comes into everyone else's apartment and makes our apartments smell like smoke, including the drying laundry.  Not very nice.  Our sindica (the person in the building who helps resolve problems) came over one day, and I said something to her about, and the sindica said she's lived there forever, and she's always done it.  Now, the American in me thought that I should just go downstairs and politely ask her to stop smoking in her courtyard.  But this is Minas Gerais, and people don't do the direct confrontation here.  So, my husband came up with another idea.  We decided that every time she smoked in the courtyard, we would talk about the smell, the danger of smoking, the risk that second hand smoke poses to our children, and about the importance of being polite and thinking about others.  So passive-aggressive, yet so effective!  She doesn't really smoke there anymore!  And yet she's still polite to us!  So strange, but it got the job done. 

The thing that amazed me about this situation is that our other neighbors have been suffering and quietly complaining to each other for years about the smoke, and yet they never did anything.  I think that is what happens far too often here.  There are problems.  People don't like the problems.  They want something different.  But for whatever reason, they feel helpless or unable to solve them (because of past experience, because it's far too often the reality).  So they just learn to live.  They suffer through the stink, and resign themselves to living with second hand smoke.  I feel like a lot more could be written about this phenomena.  But I've got to go bother my neighbors...

confessions: recycling

We have lived in Brazil for 18 months and 4 days. In that time, I confess that I have NEVER knowingly recycled. For those of you who know me from my former life in the states, this is quite a shock. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest. I lived in Eugene Oregon for 4 years. I was very disciplined about recycling, I reused things, took cloth bags to the grocery store, bought recycled clothes, composted, and saved the salmon. I was the picture of environmental conscientiousness and a little bit high and mighty about my recycling ways.

And then I moved to Brazil.

The funny thing is that Brazil has something like a 96% success rate for recycling aluminum cans. But I just couldn't figure out how to do it. I saw the coleta selectiva (recycling) trucks in our neighborhood. I saw big, strange looking "bins" on the Contorno for collecting recycling (hard to take a bag of beer bottles there when you don't have a car). And some of the grocery stores have areas where you can recycle. But we didn't have much space in our apartment. But the big thing was the garbage collecting in our building. In the garage/basement, there were 3 barrels, labeled "glass" and "paper" and "cans." But they were always just full of trash. And the nice ladies who cleaned the common areas of our old apartment would just take all the trash out there and put it out on the street (that's where you put your trash for collecting here). So, it felt kinda pointless. But the thing that didn't make me feel so horrible, and made me feel like my environmental soul was not going straight to hell was knowing that there were people that would look for my cans and bottles and cardboard in the trash. There are people who make their living digging through the trash. Not a great way to make money, but they have found a way to make it.

But now that we are in our new place, I made it a priority to figure out how to recycle. We have outdoor space, so I can store our stuff out there. There is actually a recycling bin in our building too! Though I found out that we can't use it because it gets too full in the weeks time between pick ups. But I learned that recycling day is Tuesday, and all I need to do is just put my stuff out on the curb. Voilá! And I can sleep better at night, knowing that I'm doing "my part."

5 Things I Want to Do in Belo Horizonte but Don't

Born Again Brazilian and Rachel in Rio inspired this post.


1. Go hang out at one of the botecos and chew the fat with the neighbors.



2. Eat Rodizio. This is more like a confession. A very, very sad confession. I've lived in Brasil over a year, and I've yet to gorge myself on meat. But we bought a coupon on ClickOn or one of those discount websites, and will be going to Porcão in May.


3. Go to the padaria (bakery) in our neighborhood--in fact, on our street--that is considered the best one in Belo Horizonte. I've been avoiding it because I can't figure out how to go i. It doesn't have your typical door/entrance; there's an intercom. Hmmm...)



4. Get the car washed by the guy that always used to say hi to us last year when we walked to school. I have no idea how much he charges, and I really couldn't even start being intelligent and talking about the car. But I miss seeing him on a regular basis.


5. Wander around the stores and shops on Cristóvão Colombo and Getúlio Vargas.

Pineapple: Giving Mango a Run for It's Money

I bought a pineapple at EPA. It's the cheapest grocery store within relative walking distance, but not always the best quality. I've not purchased much produce there, because I usually go to the Sacalão/market across the street. I finally got around to cutting it up tonight.

oh

my

GOSH!

It's really really really yummy. I think my last experience with pineapple made me a bit jaded. It was a Saturday morning, and I think Matt was either on tour or working, and I decided to go to the bread store down the street and treat the kids to something yummy. Unfortunately they were not on their best behavior (hard to believe, I know), and after several attempts to discipline them, I had to pull out the "you've lost your treat" line. Needless to say, they were VERY unhappy. But the funny thing is that I think it worked, because I haven't had many problems with them while shopping since then. Anyway, we were walking home, all weepy and grumpy, and I came across the pineapple truck. Someday I will take a picture and post it. It's almost always parked down the street, and covered with pineapples. Well, I used my feeble Portuguese to ask the price, and like a dumb American, accepted the price at $4R. He handed me a pineapple for inspection, and I said, "sure" and we were off. I got home, and noticed that I had a most puny, old, practically molding pineapple, and when I cut it up, it was not good. Not horrible, just not what you'd expect for a pineapple from a truck at the side of the road in Brazil. Plus I didn't play by the Brazilian rules and negotiate and make small talk, and ended up paying way too much. So that made it taste even worse.

But this EPA pineapple has reminded me of the goodness that a pineapple can be. Yum.

A glorious afternoon

After much debate, and a cancellation, we hired a baby-sitter to come over for four hours today. The kids first reactions was, "but she won't speak English!" We prepped them with some helpful phrases, but the moment Terezinha walked in the door it was love at first sight. She kept oogling over the kids, and hugging them and touching them and loving all over them. Beatrice immediately fell for her, and Sebastian in his "I'm too cool to like you" mood said that he kind of liked her. And Dora got to practice her Portuguese. And me? Well, I had sore feet when I came home because I booked it all over the neighborhood and got A LOT done! Here's my list (it makes me feel good to list it):

1. Found again that Google Maps has false information, and there is not an English school five minutes from our house.
2. Found an English school about 20 minutes uphill from our house that was not open.
3. Found a $350 R couch at a store close by that might be worth buying.
4. Found another English school, and got phone number to call.
5. Went to the grocery store. By myself. That alone would make this afternoon all worth it.
6. Went to the fruit/vegetable store.
7. Went to another English School and got the email address of the person to send my resume.
8. Went to the private school by our house to see if I could talk to the Director about getting a discount if we teach some extra classes there. Three kids at a private school is a tad bit pricey! I didn't get to talk to the Director, but scheduled an appointment for Monday.
9. Went to another private school to get information on books, uniforms (we have to buy those, including uniforms and books for Beatrice!). Also got info on what they need to enroll the kids.
10. Went to the papeleria that sells items for said school. Met someone who is interested in private English lessons. Exchanged contact information.
11. Purchased two DVDS, and talked the guy down $1R

And all this in four hours! Phew! But I came home and the kids were happy, the dishes were done, the floor were clean, and the kitchen was spotless. A very good day. Now I'm off to make Waffles that we can enjoy with our syrup for Saturday breakfast. Boa noite!

Surprises around every corner

After the kids went to bed tonight, I decided to go to the corner drug store and walk around the neighborhood. I was hoping to find some good deals on Easter candy, but no dice. Kids get these big hollow chocolate eggs filled with cheap plastic toys and all wrapped up in cellophane for Easter. Walk into any drug store or grocery store, and there are huge displays, almost cave like, of these chocolate cellophane eggs hanging from the ceiling and any surface area.

But I digress...after leaving the drugstore, I decided to wander around. I passed two bars that are usually dead during the day, but there were all sorts of people, sitting at tables on the sidewalks, drinking beer and eating bar food (of which Belo Horizonte is famous for). I'm dying to try coxinha, churrasco, pão de queijo, and the breads! Then I walked down a street very close to our house, and voila: ballet school! One of the things that Matt and I talk about is how stores, restaurants and the likes seem to be in the most unlikely places. We'll be walking down a street that seems entirely residential, and all of the sudden there is a clothing store. Or cooking school. Or ______ (you fill in the blank).

Other random details: the kitty is named George. It's perfect. Call him Curious George, "George of the Jungle" and not to mention the Seinfeld reference. The kids love him--Beatrice smothers him, but he puts up with it. I'm making Mark Bittman's bread and trying to figure out what to make for Easter (do I go Brazilian? Do I go traditional American? What to do, what to do...) Sebastian tried figs (figos) and persimmon (caqui) and like both, but especially the figs. Today we bought passion fruit (maracujá). I'll let you know how it is!