Feliz Natal!!

This is the Christmas tree in the lobby of our building, because our stuff STILL hadn't arrived yet. Hopefully in January. Fingers crossed.



And here are the boys showing off their die-cast (hard to see) bargain bin fighter jets that they got for R$5 each.


I'll see you after summer break. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!!

Halloween 2011

Halloween isn't officially celebrated in Brazil, but you do find pockets here and there. There are several schools around that primarily teach English where many people send their children as an extra-curricular activity. And many times these schools will have a Halloween party because it's a fun was to celebrate the culture of some English-speaking countries. And one of Sam's classmate's mother happens to be the director of one such school and invited the boys to come to their Halloween party. Nice!

Since we don't have our stuff, and I hadn't seen many costume options around, face paints and a bag of red plastic vampire teeth that I bought at a store is what we had to work with. Oh, and an airplane blanket that served as Sam's cape. Sam went with the Dracula/vampire look. Andy said he was half Native-American, half vampire.


Waiting downstairs for our taxi to take us to the buffet.


Still waiting.

A buffet here is not just an all-you-can-eat joint. Typically it's a place to have a party, different buffets geared towards different age-groups. And the ones geared to kids also smell like fried food, as that is primarily what is offered. All types of drinks, too! And pipoca - popcorn.

One of the boys from Andy's grade was there, so they hung out for most of the night.


Dracula and his friends.


A little foosball.


Brotherly love while waiting in line. Sam is emphasizing/arguing about something while Andy adjusts his teeth.


Sam flipping on the trampoline...

and Andy.

This was by far the most popular ride of the night. I rode it once, which made me dizzy enough to last the whole evening. Typically I like rides that spin, but this one was a doozy!


So no trick-or-treating, but still a lot of fun!

Brazilian Independence Day

Sam and I were able to catch the tail end of the Brazilian Independence Day parade a couple weeks ago.


Here was a military band performing Have You Ever Seen the Rain? by CCR.

Parade goers, after the parade.


We also thought it would be a good time to check out some of the street fare that we'd been seeing around. Primarily because we were hungry.

Sam's first churros. I had eaten these in California years ago, but these were thicker and hallow on the inside so they could be filled with either dulce de leche or chocolaty stuff. Then a bit of the gooey inside stuff was squirted on top as well, and sprinkles were added. He liked it.


Next up: pasteis. These can be filled with cheese, chicken, beef, shrimp, etc. They're kind of the Brazilian version of empanadas. Sam has cheese and I had chicken. And this was the SMALL.

After our tummies were full, we found a playground at the beach.




Some fellas kicking around the futebol.

A cathedral on our walk home. It wasn't open; Ill have to go back to see the inside.


Fun time!