Enya alarm?

Every morning about 7:10 am, we hear about 20 seconds of Enya's "Shepherd Moon" outside our window. Sometimes we hear it more than once, sometimes just once. Matt thought I was crazy, until he heard it this morning. Dora just came in and heard me playing it, and said "hey, that's that song we hear!" Just another noise to add to the multitude we hear!

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!

Can't tell you how happy it makes me!

Sebastian just got back from the pool, where he was playing ball with a 7 year old boy who lives in our apartment building. All our kids have been pretty timid about playing with kids here, feeling like they don't want to initiate or respond because of the language. Sebastian saw this boy swimming, and asked if he could go down, and asked me to go with him. I am really proud of him, and we talked about it afterward. It doesn't take much to make a friend. And the fun thing is that this new buddy invited him to come over to play video games and play sometime!

Just made manioc fries (Mandioca Frita). Very yummy. Pretty time intensive, but good.

Tired, but don't think I'll be sleeping soon...

due to the fact that there are TWO rowdy parties happening within our "general" neighborhood. General neighborhood meaning within one mile radius. When we were walking home from Mangebeiras Park, we heard the first one. I've heard that Brazilians enjoy loud music, and parties provide the perfect opportunity for loud music and enjoying people (two of Brazilians favorite things). But it sounds like there is a concert happening right outside our window--crazy!

Kitty is here, a little traumatized by leaving mom and dad, but not meowing incessantly. He doesn't have a name yet, but hopefully by tomorrow. Beatrice is just diving right into pet ownership, smothering him with love. Sebastian likes to watch him in his little travel "cage", and Dora, well, Dora is giving him lots of space. I'm kinda surprised at Dora's apparent lack of interest, but I'll take it as obeying my wishes (I gave them a "talk" before the kitty arrived). He's cute, and Matt really likes him. I don't know if he's eaten or peed since he arrived, but he hasn't jumped out the window yet. And the wonderful thing is that his previous owner said that we have to come over to her house sometime, and she said that she would give me any new English students that come her way (she's an English teacher). She also said that she'd be willing to help us out on the school front--hooray! Matt posted pix on Facebook, but I might try to throw some pictures up here tomorrow. Boa noite.

School saga continues, kitty, and what we're up to...

Matt's friend Michelle from the Orchestra came over today, and accompanied me to the Public School that is right behind our apartment. Unfortunately, we were told that there is a waiting list, and we can come back the first week of April and put our kids on the list for the chance to be enrolled. We were told that it is more hopeful to get Dora and Sebastian in than Bea (we weren't really thinking about enrolling her, but hey...). I guess it is very popular because it is one of the few schools in the area that has all day instruction. So I'm feeling a little disappointed, but trying to look on the bright side, and realize that at least we know more now! Michelle offered to call a few other schools and see if there are openings.

Tomorrow the kitty arrives, and we have most of what we need. It is very popular in our neighborhood to have pets (especially cute lap dogs), so there are LOTS of veterinarians and pet supply stores within walking distance. It will be a little boy kitty, which makes Sebastian happy: we will have an equal male to female ratio in our household.

Matt is searching online for an oven thermometer. Our gas oven does not have any indication of what the temperature is, so we're pretty much guessing the temperature. I've been looking online at information on Cruziero. We're completely oblivious to soccer, and realizing it might help us relate to folks if we have a little knowledge. Plus the other night, in a game of "What's that noise?" I realized that there HAD to be a soccer game, because everyone outside our apartment started yelling, and fireworks went off. Kinda like when we were in Arizona our first year, watching Shrek on our computer and we heard all our neighbors freaking out when the Diamondbacks won the World Series....Might be helpful here to pay attention to soccer.

That's all for now!

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!

Getting closer to a decision on schooling

I knew when we moved to Brazil that finding school could pose a challenge. I did what I could ahead of time, but I knew that most of it would have to wait to get worked out until we arrived. And once we got here, I asked everyone I met their opinion. I heard that we had to hurry to get our kids in school because tests happen in March, and they might miss an important deadline. I heard that schools are horrible, and that there are only a few good schools. I heard that we HAD to send our kids to private school for safety, in order to really learn, for the right ratio of teachers to students, and for them to make friends with other children in their "class". I learned that the American School is very, very good, and also costs $10,000 a year (not to mention it is about a 45 minute drive away). I visited a private school within walking distance to our house, and was very impressed. The instructors and administrators were very helpful, and very willing to accommodate us. It was a very nice school. And children attend school for 4 hours a day. I also visited the local public school, and had not such a great experience, mainly due to the fact that we had to wait 30 minutes and the kids were climbing the walls. And I had a hard time communicating with the assistant principal, but I came away feeling like she really didn't think it was a good idea for us to enroll our children there. But every morning I look out our bedroom window, and watch all the families arriving with their kids, and see the moms chatting away, and see how happy the kids are, and I hear and watch them playing at recess. And it's free. Matt and I decided that our main concern for the kids is meeting other children and learning Portuguese. If they don't learn another thing all year, that's okay with us. I spoke with an American woman I met here with two small children, and Matt spoke with a Brazilian mom-to-be from the orchestra, and they both thought that if all we want is socialization and Portuguese, it doesn't make sense to shell out hundreds of dollars for education. We could afford it, but we'd love to spend that money on other things (vacations, helping friends and family come visit us, etcetera). I've gathered that among middle class Brazilians there is a lot of competition to get their kids into the right preschool, then elementary school, and so on. If you start on the right path, then you could end up getting admitted to Federal University (UFMG) that is free. So there's a mindset that you spend money on early education, so you don't have to spend it later. But we don't anticipate that our kids stay here for college, so this is not an issue for us. So, we're going to try to go back to the public school. A friend has offered to return to the school with us to talk to the principal, and we'll propose that it would be beneficial for both our kids and the students already there (exposure to another culture and language). And of course all this might change again, but this is our plan for today.