This is really just an excuse to post a viral video...

Merry Christmas!  Hope y'all had a nice holiday.  As I mentioned in my last post, we are in the US, having a very UN-Brazilian vacation.  Right now it is -4 C outside, and snowing like mad.  I've been playing with the very large dog in the woods.  I have only been shopping ONCE in the past week.  Today we went roller skating.  And it's been wonderful. 

Yesterday (Christmas) we unfortunately had to call customer service here.  There was an issue with a Kindle, and we had to call Amazon.com.  I felt very bad, because it was Christmas morning, and it was so sad to think that someone had to work.  But the person we talked to was VERY helpful, and got things taken care of very quickly.  It was a great experience.  It is always easier calling customer service in a language that you are proficient in.  I've gotten to the point in Portuguese where I don't dread making phone calls, but I have to prepare myself for the many challenges.  Most of the time I feel like it's just me and my inability to understand and be understood.  And then I come across something that makes me feel better.  This is a video from a comedy show that has been popular in Brazil the past year.  It will really only make sense to you if you speak Portuguese, but even if you don't, it might give you a taste of the "challenge" of trying to get things done here (the guy is trying to cancel his phone line), and how funny it is to hear certain names pronounced in Portuguese (like Judith).  Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/vEaNCoCXcdk

time for vacation!

Well, I made it!  7 Christmas performances, report cards, LOTS of birthday parties, a kindergarten graduation, and all the normal things of life are over.  It's time for vacation.

We are so fortunate that we get to spend the holidays with my hubby's family in New York (upstate).  We got here yesterday, and I'm trying to figure out how to relax.  We've been going going going for so long, it is "work" to wind down and to stop.  But one of the many things that I LOVE about Brazil is the value for vacation.  Not only is it the law to give paid vacation time to employees (and pay an extra 1/3 of the salary for vacation expenses), but it is part of the culture.  It's an expectation that you would travel, rest, relax, spend time with family.  I like this.

I haven't decided if I will be posting much during my vacation, but you can be sure that I will be enjoying it. 

Feliz natal!  Merry Christmas!

I need some recipes!

Hi there!  We are so fortunate to have a great helper (empregada) come 3 times a week.  She cooks, cleans and irons.  And on some days she watches the kids for me while I run to the store, or schedule a dentist appointment, or run errands.  But we're kind of in a recipe rut.  So, I'm asking my fellow expats in Brazil for some inspiration.  What Brazilian recipes do you like to make?  What do you have your empregadas make?  Here's what we currently do:

Strogonoff

Costelinha

Cozido

Bife (frango, lombado, ou boi)

Frango milanesa


So, what do you guys like?  I notice that we are very heavy on the meat, so I'd love to get your suggestions.  The other challenge I have is that we have kids (i.e. picky eaters) and there is a dairy intolerance issue (a certain someone can't eat strognoff, so we don't have it all that often.  Thanks!

Countdown to the end of the year and a brush with fame

I'm getting a little tired of using my blog to vent about just how busy thing are.  But, this is my life.  Three kids.  Working.  Living in a foreign country.  Studying Portuguese.  It is very full.  We've run out of Brazilian holidays until Christmas, so now everyone is just "suffering" until the end of the year.  The weather has gotten worse (think "hot" and "humid").  Traffic seems worse (at least to me, since I'm driving the girls to and from school every day).  And then there is the realization that the end of the year is coming, so everyone has to finish all the stuff they've been putting off all year.  I'm a little bit angry about this, since my oldest daughter is someone supposed to miraculously complete 6 projects (areas of study, like "Mesopotamia" and "Protists") in 10 days.  Arg.

But!  Vacation is coming!  Christmas!  13th Salary!  School is out for summer!  No more driving across town!  Time with family!  A trip to the beach!  Just as long as we can all keep this in mind, we are going to get through it.  Right??!

And, on a totally different note, guess who my husband saw on his flight today? 

My son knew right away.   Of course he plays for the wrong team (according to my son), but I know he's going to tell all his friends at school on Monday.

our neighboorhood makes the front page of the New York Times!

My husband is a daily reader of the New York Times (online).  Yesterday, he found an article about a pet shop that's within a 5 minute walk from our apartment! 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/world/americas/animalle-mundo-pet-a-motel-for-tail-wagging-romance.html?smid=pl-share

Yes, it's a love motel for dogs.  For those of you who don't know about "motels" in Brazil, they are not the same as hotels.  Hotels are for families, places to stay while you are traveling.  Motels are rented by the hour.  For couples.  I've never blogged about them, but you can read about them here, or here.  I'm sure there are other bloggers who have written about this, but I can't find your posts (sorry).  Anywhoooo, now there is a motel for dogs.  So TOTALLY ridiculous in my humble opinion, but it is what it is.  

Dia do Saci

Happy Halloween! 

My favorite part of yesterday was helping my son make a zombie costume that he can wear to school today.  Ripping up and old shirt and an old pair of pants is so strangely satisfying.  Then we poured red food coloring on it (Brazilian red food coloring is remarkably blood-like).  It wasn't until I was finished making the costume that I realized that my son would NEVER be allowed to wear something like that to school in the US.  Too violent, gruesome, etcetera.  And that's what I think that many Brazilians think about when they think of Halloween:  dressing up as ghosts/witches/goblins/zombies/mummies.  They don't realize that the whole point of Halloween is


THE CANDY!

Just in the 3 years that I've been in Brazil, I've noticed an increasing amount of recognition of Halloween.  Lojas Americanas sells Halloween costumes now, and I've even heard that there are some large apartment buildings in Belvedere that actually have trick-or-treating. 



But I also just found out that today is Dia do Saci. Saci (pronounced sauc-EEE) is a character from folklore that is considered an annoying prankster, that can be blamed for missing items, small problems, and generally causing trouble.  He only has one leg, and he smokes a pipe and wears a red hat.  From what I've heard, he can also be used by parents to threatened children, as in "if you don't clean up your room, Saci will hide your toys..."  You can read more about him here.

Back in 2004, a law was passed to recognize October 31st as "Dia do Saci" in Brazil.  The hope was that giving Saci his own day will help combat the influence of Halloween (that is in no way Brazilian) and celebrate Brazilian Folklore.  I'm not so sure that this law has been all that successful, but my youngest daughter is happy because she gets to dress up as a butterfly and go to school today. 

Mosquitoes

Honestly, mosquitoes haven't really been much of a problem in our Brazilian experience.  We've had some bites, but nothing too bad.

Until now.

Our new apartment, for whatever reason, is rife with mosquitoes.  As I write, I can count 5 bites on my legs (yesterday the count was 20).  I woke up in the middle of the night because I had been bit on my pinky finger.  The kids now know how to apply their own "medicine" to their bites.  I'm getting really annoyed by the bites, and what feels like a losing battle against these evil creatures.

Thankfully, mosquitoes are mostly just annoying.  But you do have to be careful about dengue fever.  There was a VERY big campaign last year to educate the public about dengue, and according to one report, the campaign has been very successful.  In 2011 there were 1415 cases of dengue in Belo Horizonte, and between January and August of 2012, there have only been 440. 

I'm not sure what it is about our new place that makes mosquitoes so bad.  It did start raining since we've moved here.  Maybe they were breeding here?  We have a house next door that has a "garden" in the back with lots of overgrown trees and shrubs...who knows.

Here's how I'm trying to deal with it:


1.  Bug spray.  We bought this when we went to Cabo Frio last year.  It's just what we have, and it seems to work ok.  But I'm not sure if there is a certain brand that works better than others.  My preference of course would be to use something more natural, but I haven't had time to research.


2.  Plug in room repellant.  We bought a device like this at Araujo (the main drug store chain in Belo Horizonte).  You are supposed to leave it plugged in while you sleep to keep the mosquitoes at bay.  We only bought one (we're cheap and we weren't sure how effective they are), and I pretty much use it as needed (both day and night).  Not really sure it's such a great product.


3.  The racket.  Pronounced "ha-ketch."  This is my favorite weapon of destruction.  Notice I didn't say mass destruction because it is pretty hard to kill many mosquitoes with it.  It has a little button on it that you push to activate a small charge.  Then when you swat the bug, it gets electrocuted and makes a loud crackling noise.  It's so gratifying, and I love saying something like "DIE SUCKERS!"  or "take that you &*^%#."  But it's also maddening when you see the mosquito flying around and you miss it, or it eludes the racket.  Arg.

So fellow Brazilian expats, please weigh in on this matter.  What tools do you use?  Anybody know if they sell citronella plants in Brazil?  Natural products?  ANYTHING???!

Thanks.