Two Months Today. . .

Dom Pepe's * * * * * * * * * * * FISK

I can't believe another month has gone by! Is it really almost July?? Wow! What a difference a month makes! We're still in the hotel. . . 8 weeks today!! We still don't know which house we're going to live in, but we're hoping to know in the next 2-3 weeks. We bought a car!!! OK, we haven't actually paid for it, but we officially have a car that will be ours for the next 3 years! It's worth a post because it's such a cute little car. We're all learning the language and I have to say that I'm much more comfortable with people here. I don't understand every word, but at least I can get the point of the conversation. . . sometimes:) Kevin was in a long day of Portuguese meetings last week and he said he understood much more than the last time he had a meeting like that. Some days it feels like we don't know anything, and other days we're amazed at how much we know!
I think everyone in the town knows who Emma is. Everywhere we go, I hear people call her by name. She loves it and is making friends with everyone she meets. The hotel staff love her and they are always picking her up and giving her hugs and kisses. She's getting used to this touchy-feely culture and she lets people hug her more now than ever!
Even though we're still in a hotel, we've tried to develop somewhat of a routine. We get really excited for our weekly trip to Dom Pepe's, a pizza restaurant here. Normally we go on Thursday nights, but if Kevin is traveling, we go a different night. We call it our date night, even though we always take Emma with us. It's a good family night and I look forward to it every week.
Kevin and I both have language classes three times per week. His classes are on M,T, Th, and mine are T,W,Th. Emma goes with me to class and she's learning a ton. It's so fun to hear her repeat words the teacher says. FISK is where we go to school. The teachers are great and a lot of help! My teacher, Luci, is great! I think she knows the English language rules better than I do! I've learned a lot from her over the last two months.
While some Americans are leaving Horizontina, others are arriving. Stan and Barbara, from Moline, came about 2 weeks after we did. Aaron and Holly, who were married in May, arrived a few days ago. Aaron has been here since February, but he went home for a month so he could get married and bring Holly here. Harald and Silvia, originally from Germany, were living in the Quad Cities when they were asked to come here. They decided to take a little detour to Brasil before they head back to Germany in about 2 years. Mollie has been here for a year, but before that was in the Quad Cities also. She's been a great help with so many things. She seems so comfortable with the language and the people and she's always excited to offer help. Chris and Alina have been here for over 3 years. They seem to love it here and have traveled quite a bit around the continent. Josh and Jen are leaving this week to go back to Iowa. They have 2 little girls and Emma will miss them when they leave. Vivi is 2 1/2 and Valentina just turned 1. I'm really sad that they are leaving, but it's been fun getting to know them. Andrew and Autumn left almost 2 weeks ago and returned to the Quad Cities. They also had 2 girls and Emma enjoyed being around them too. After this weekend, Emma will be the only American child in Horizontina. She'll only have Brasilian friends. . . unless you count her kitty and Elmo and other stuffed animals. She talks to them more than anyone else on the planet, and it's in English, so I guess thos count as American friends.
Let's see, what else? I've been scrapbooking almost every day. Emma has been taking 2.5-3 hours naps every day, so I try to study the language, blog, email, and scrapbook during that time. It's a nice break for me and I'm finally working on Emma's baby scrapbook!! I had a goal of finishing her 1 year album before Christmas. Last week I finally made it to the 6-month mark!! Only six more months to go!!!
Emma and I go for long walks several times a week. It's nice to get out and she loves riding in the stroller. Normally we see 10 stray dogs, a few random horses grazing and about 100 motorcycles while we're out. I like getting the exercise and it's always good for us to leave the hotel room. We're really enjoying the slower life here.
I like it here. I realized about 2 weeks ago that I really like it here. It's not the most comfortable place I've ever been in life, but there's something about this place that I know is going to make me grow and mature. I still miss my friends, but I know I'll see them again. I know I'll be a different person when I leave here. I'm looking forward to that. I'm looking forward to learning more about myself, my husband, and my daughter, not to mention this town and country and the people here.
I guess that's all for now. Tchau.