Yay for today!

Today is a holiday (May Day)! It's not an official holiday in the States, but it's like Labor Day here. Nobody is working and all the stores in town are closed! What a great way to start the first work week here! We might be traveling tomorrow with some other Americans to a tourist area, so I'll post more pictures later! This morning I spent about an hour with Kevin's boss' wife, who speaks very little English. I thought we did a great job of communicating, though! She's really sweet and was very helpful in teaching me the language! Emma sure likes her too! I went for my first run in Horizontina today. . . a little over 2 miles. Sad that I was up to 5 a few weeks ago and then blew it by doing nothing for a few weeks! I'm excited to get back into it! There's something very therapeutic about running for me. I usually only think about where I'm running, how fast I'm running, and if I'm going to be able to make it back to where I started! It's my time to relax and decompress, to be alone and just do something for myself. The sun was beating down on me, but there was something so great about sweating:) I returned to the hotel, exhausted, but very happy! We had lunch at the hotel and met several of Kevin's coworkers. Most of them speak English and are excited to use it with us. It was a fun morning. Emma slept over 3 hours this afternoon. . . awesome because we're going to our first Brasilian birthday party tonight and it doesn't actually start until 8pm (Emma's bedtime)! We're going to attempt to lay her down at this house, but I'm not sure what that's going to look like! Apparently, leaving a party at midnight is kind of early! Yikes!
**We arrived in Horizontina for lunch on Monday. We ate with a JD couple and asked them several questions about what we were eating. The wife answered most of our questions. Then I asked her what this mashed potato-looking stuff was. She was trying to look at it and decide. As I reached over to give Emma a bite of something, the woman plunged her fork right into my mashed potato-looking stuff and took a huge bite! Then she told me what it was! I guess I was a little shocked. . . only Kevin does that to my plate and usually he asks first! Cultural thing, I guess!
**Several times a day, a man on a motorcycle drives by the hotel. Strapped to his back is a giant loudspeaker, and I mean, LOUDspeaker!! It's rather obnoxious and it's always during Emma's nap. Apparently, he's selling advertisements. I'm sure I'll get used to him. Maybe someday I'll be able to understand what the guy on the speaker is saying!
**I heard today that I can get a full manicure and pedicure for around $8-$10:) Anybody wanna come visit?
**The hotel employees are just loving Emma. Every day they try to get her to say, "Tchau, Bye." Every day, she pleases them and waves as she says, "Tchau, Bye"
**Mollie, one of the Americans here, taught Emma how to say, "beijos", which means "kisses". Now she blows kisses as she's saying, "beijos" and everybody just loves it. I think it's pretty cute, too!
**Just in case anyone's wondering, our SKYPE number does work and I can get messages on it! Thanks for the messages already! I haven't had much of a chance to call people back though, but for sure once we're in our new home, I'll do it more!