Eu não falo português!

I need to learn this language! Before we moved here I had BIG plans to study Portuguese early and that way I would come here prepared and able to make conversation with Brazilians. It serves me right that now, the only phrase I have mastered like a native is Eu não falo português! (I don't speak Portuguese) . Luckily for me, Brazilians love to hear foreigners try and speak their language. They are so warm and encouraging. They don't seem to care that I am completely butchering their words to pieces. I know not all cultures would be so forgiving. I promise to work harder, Brazil!

Our stove was fixed yesterday and to celebrate I thought I would make a popular dish here, Beef Stroganoff. I bought this packet of pre-made sauce and when I went to check-out at the register the girl scrunched her nose and made it clear that what I was buying was well, gross! In broken words I explained that I wanted to make Stroganoff that night. She immediately turned off her register and bade me to follow so we could get the "right" ingredients. Cream de letche, ketchep, mushrooms. beef labeled Stoganoff because it is cut perfectly for the dish. Then you buy noodles or rice to put it on and these shredded chips to put on top. Voila! That's what I got to work with. Never made it before in my life, but this girl did not lead me astray. It was actually quite tasty. I might experiment with it a little bit more. I have since looked up more recipes on-line, but definitely a keeper! I am just grateful for the kindness Americans are shown here( or at least, in my experience so far) Would I turn off my register to show a newcomer around? Kindness rules! 

Tchau!

Letting Go! (picture me singing FROZEN at the top of my lungs)

I think anytime you experience big changes in life there is a process of letting go. Some things are just plain hard to let go of....Others, not so much. For example, here are my babies totally zoned out in front of the television. Normally, I would feel this terrible nagging guilt for being the mom that lets her kids do that sort of thing. In Brazil, however,  I can just let.that.go! You see, even though they are watching American shows like Bubble Gubbies, it is all in Portuguese. Seriously, the guilt just vanishes because it is completely educational and good mothering to have them learn another language. My advice to all mothers is just start changing your television settings to the language you want your kid to learn and then.. Poof! T.V. guilt will be obliterated instantly.

The next pictures show a little bit harder of a let-go. My Gracie-Pie/the Lou-Who/Ray of Sunshine started all day preschool five days a week. It is this super amazing Montessori school and she is in heaven. No doubt I am five times as sad as she is, but I wasn't really planning on her basically starting Kindergarten this year and I will MISS her. She is just so bored during the day and without the right tools to keep her entertained all day, I didn't want the picture above to be how she fills her day. Today I took her into school an hour late because I wanted her with me longer. I scored the stink-eye from her teacher for that. Soooo I guess I just have to let go and let this little girl do her thing. We sure don't keep our babies home for very long! I feel like you blink and they are off :'(

Tchau!

Viva Brazil!

It is honestly a bit surreal to start this post from my living room in Brazil. Jordan and I have been dreaming about this for three years and we are still a bit dazed over the reality that we are now living it.
Even though we got here on Saturday, today was the first day of reality. School started for the kiddos, I have a fix-it man fixing just about everything in my kitchen. He and I are having a heck of a time communicating, we have resorted to a lot of comical impromptu sign language and equally terrible Portuguese from me and English from him. And yet, we still manage to get the job done.

I was late picking up my children because we are having a tropical rainstorm and the power has been off and on several times. It happened to be off when I needed to take the elevator down to the lobby to meet them. I resorted to take the stairs so I wouldn't be stranded on the elevator, and while the light was on when I started my journey of five flights of stairs, the power went off half way down and I couldn't  see my hand in front of my face. I patted walls while holding Gracie and then I would set her down on the bottom of a flight of stairs and head back up for Eli in his stroller. Needless to say, after taking forever maneuvering down the stairs, there was no bus and no kiddos at the bottom. I managed to remember the word ESCOLA and communicated to the security guards that I was looking for my kids. They were found, a little annoyed/scared/crying that mom wasn't there when they got off the bus but all in once piece.

I have this nifty contraption that's a washer and dryer all in one. The dryer is a hot mess (pun totally intended) and after 5 hours of drying, the clothes were STILL damp. The directions to this machine are all in Portuguese so I thought I restarted the dryer but when I checked on the clothes at hour 6, they were soaking wet instead. Whoops!  We will definitely be trading that baby out for a separate washer and separate dryer.

Despite all of today's ' AHHHHHHHH I live in a foreign country' chaos, I can't even describe how grateful I am to be here. I feel like this is a fresh start for me. As I go through new stages in life as a wife, then a mother, then a mother of multiple kids I have to really focus on tuning into myself or sometimes I get lost. My kids and I all feel this crazy excitement to learn Portuguese and learn about this fascinating new culture. It feels good to have a new sense of purpose. I think this will be good for us all.

I need a blog to journal all of my observations, epiphanies, adventures and pics so we'll see if I can follow through.

Tchau!