Belo Horizonte is home to two professional soccer clubs: Cruzeiro Esporte Club (ZEIRO!!!) and Clube Atlético Mineiro (GALO!). You have one team you cheer for, and when the games are on it is popular to yell out the window. Or let off fireworks. Or honk your horn. For those of you who are reading this who might be considering a move to Brazil, don't ever imagine that the cities here are quite, peaceful places. They are loud, and when there are games, it is ear-splitting.
The past two days have been especially noisy. Atlético, who's mascot is the Rooster (i.e. "Galo") was playing in the final game for the Copa Libertadores. Thankfully, we were out of town for the last game that happened last Wednesday. Atlético lost, but apparently that didn't make much of a difference in the volume coming fans. On Tuesday afternoon, the horn honking (quarter, quarter, eight-eight, quarter pattern), and m-80 fireworks began. But the game wasn't until 9:00 pm on Wednesday night. My son is a Cruzeiro fan, and the rest of us just prefer quiet, so we were all hoping and praying that Galo would lose. Bummer.
I fell asleep at about 11:30 pm, despite the raucous neighbors, but then when the game was over and Galo had won, it was like Christmas and New Years all wrapped up in one. It was Atlético's first time wining this cup, so people were crazy! I was two delirious to get the camera, but my friend Ling caught this:
We had more m-80s going off right outside our window.
Despite my complaining, I actually don't mind it all so much. But here's what bothers me. My husband was almost late to work this morning because fans were celebrating at Praça Sete and bringing traffic to a standstill. The other thing is that the Paraguayan team was staying at a hotel in Belvedere, and apparently people in the neighborhood decided to make LOTS of noise to disturb their sleep, hoping to affect the outcome of the game. The noise and general craziness got out of hand, and some fans lit something that started a forest fire! I understand that Atléticanos are passionate and excited about this huge win, but really?!?
But to end on a positive note, you may remember this picture I posted last December:
Ronaldinho had been written off, but now with this win he's back in the limelight!
It is a very interesting time in Brazil right now. Lots of protests, lots of helicopters, lots of warnings to not go to Centro. Matt has nothing scheduled at the Palacio for 2 weeks (he's going on a state tour this weekend), so thankfully he is around here. It is inspiring to see Brazilians joining together to say that they want things to change. I agree with them! I love Brazil, and I appreciate so many things about this wonderful country and about living here. And I think that Brazilians are far too accustomed to putting up with a lot of crap: corruption, high taxes, super inflated prices, environmental degradation, huge economic inequality. I realize that I am making it all very simple, but I think it is good for Brazilians to do something, and to see that they can express their frustration. I just hope that there is some leadership, and movement towards real change.
I've avoided this post for a LONG time. It's been sitting there in my "to do" list for months. You remember that stupidleak 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....
Happy Easter morning! The kids have already opened their large Brazilian chocolate eggs (this year we found out that a friend makes them herself! So instead of shelling out R$75 at the drug store for crappy chocolate and cheap plastic toys, we paid her to make YUMMY eggs and we even got to choose our own filling). The kids found the "easter eggs" the Easter bunny hid on the patio. The broccoli quiches are made, green beans prepped, ham is seasoned and potatoes au gratin ready to go.
And as the hubby and I are sitting down to enjoy our 2nd cups of coffee, we heard this.
And not just once but every 20 minutes or so. So of course, we start playing the "what the heck is that noise?" game. My husband thinks it's someone's TV. I think it's a car with BIG speakers on it, driving around the neighborhood to advertise...something. Any other guesses? If I hear it again, I'm going to go out and investigate.
Belo Horizonte (pronounced bell-oh oar-ee-zonch) is the the 3rd largest city in Brazil and is almost completely unknown to the outside world.
How to contact me
I can't promise that I will respond quickly, and I can't promise that I will have the answers to your questions, but if you'd like to reach me, you can email me at srkelz (at) gmail (dot) com.
