Murilo with fake facial hair. He's our neighbor and one of the sweetest little boys I've ever known. He loves to give kisses and bat his beautiful brown eyes at people!
I met Maria for the first time on Saturday. Her parents are building a house close to ours and her daddy works at Deere. She has the biggest, bluest eyes I've ever seen!
Livia is a little miracle baby! After trying for 5 years to conceive, her parents with through IVF. Of the two embryos implanted, only Livia survived. She was delivered by C-section at 30 weeks gestation and spent almost 3 months in the hospital!! She just celebrated her first birthday this month and you'd never know by looking at her that she's overcome so many challenges!
Georgia is Livia's cousin. I met her when we were living in the hotel. She's one of the sweetest young girls in the town. Once a week we see each other at our language school. She's learning English but is very shy to use it.
One of the high school girls, getting ready to perform.
Catia and Livia. I met Catia shortly after I moved here because she works at the hotel. She speaks English and was able to help me learn quite a bit when I first arrived. She was pregnant with Livia and had just found out she was having a girl. Six weeks after we moved here, she went into labor and had to be transferred to Porto Alegre for a C-section. By the time she came home with Livia, we had moved into our home. The past year has flown by and we're finally connecting again. Between her English and my Portuguese, we are able to have some really great conversations! I'm really looking forward to spending more time with her!
Catia and Livia. I met Catia shortly after I moved here because she works at the hotel. She speaks English and was able to help me learn quite a bit when I first arrived. She was pregnant with Livia and had just found out she was having a girl. Six weeks after we moved here, she went into labor and had to be transferred to Porto Alegre for a C-section. By the time she came home with Livia, we had moved into our home. The past year has flown by and we're finally connecting again. Between her English and my Portuguese, we are able to have some really great conversations! I'm really looking forward to spending more time with her!
Then there's my cutie-patootie. She was a happy camper with her pink balloon. She just stood and stared at all the other kiddos. They were all dressed up for the festival and Emma was curious about their fake freckles and facial hair. She loved watching them dance and perform.
Celebrating with a dance.
I want twins. I really want twins. I told the mother of these boys that I'm going to kidnap them and take them back to the States with me when we leave. These 4-year old boys are Marcia's sons, the owner of our language school. Arturo and Bernardo (very Brazilian names). When we arrived here, they would hardly even glance at me and when they did, it was with a scowl and growl! Now they smile and love to be goofy. Maybe it helped that I gave them a couple of Power Rangers for their birthday!!
I decided last minute to take Emma to a festival at the Catholic school on Saturday afternoon. I've been trying more lately to make connections with people here and this was an effort that was very worth it!! Because we also had a going-away party to attend, Kevin dropped me off at the festival and he went to the other party. Part of the reason for the festival is to celebrate the end of summer/fall and the beginning of winter. When the immigrants came to Brazil, they were very poor, but very proud of their heritage. The Brazilians celebrate rural life by dressing as farm boys and girls - using straw hats, plaid clothing, fake facial hair, freckles, girls with braids, old clothing that's usually frayed or torn, and a few black teeth. Maybe that's more hillbilly-ish than farm-like, but it's quite a sight either way!
We watched each age group perform a dance or little skit and Emma just stood in awe of all the other little kids. She smiled and laughed and really seemed to enjoy herself. I was able to talk with quite a few other parents after the performances while Emma played with other kiddos at the playground. We're considering having Emma go to this school for preschool, so it was really good for me to meet parents of other kids there, quite a few of whom are Deere employees. When Kevin came to pick us up, he recognized several faces. For the first time since moving here, I really felt like I was part of the community. That's not totally true. I've felt it a little bit at other times, but Saturday was different. It felt bigger. It was really great for me, and for our daughter, too.
Oh, I realized after I left the festival that most of the photos I had taken were of the kids there. I have been so amazed over the last year. Before I moved here, I thought of Brazilians as a mostly dark breed of people. I expected dark skin, dark eyes, and long, dark, straight hair. Well, I was off. Way off. While there are very dark people in this country, there are also very white people here as well. Our city was actually inhabited by people of German descent, so there are many blond haired, blue-eyed people walking around! Some of the kids have incredibly curly hair. The little blond-haired boys with blue eyes are just beautiful. Well, most of the kids here are just beautiful. But so are the adults! Most of the people here have a very different body type, too. (Check out Gisele Bundchen, the supermodel. She was born and raised here!) Apparently, most of the women here don't need thighs. They function just fine without the extra bit of flab that most of us would love to get rid of! Anyway, all that to say, Brazilians look very different than what I had expected! I love taking pictures of the kids here because they are so stinkin' cute!!
