We drove to the hotel in Porto Alegre and then headed to my favorite store in Brazil - Bourbon Hipermercado. It's not really that impressive of a store unless you haven't see tortillas, cottage cheese, celery, blueberries and garlic salt for a few months. It just makes me happy to have those few items in my possession! I think Kevin threw eight packages of tortillas in the cart. I threw another one in just because I could. Even though we know how to make our own tortillas now, we can't help ourselves! We finished our shopping and then met Brian (an American who used to work with Kevin in Ottumwa) and Clovis (a Brazilian who works in Horizontina) for dinner. The restaurant we had planned to eat at was closed because of the holiday so we chose the next closest one, which just happened to be Outback Steakhouse. I wasn't at all disappointed. Kevin and Brian decided they couldn't eat at Outback and not order a Bloomin' Onion, so they took care of that. Emma had some very American Mac' N Cheese and I had a very American Grilled Chicken Salad. I can't even explain just how big of a deal an American salad is to me. Mmm.
Kevin went to work Tuesday. There's a kid's play area within the hotel restaurant so Emma and I stayed there after breakfast. Then we went to the two different malls that are across the street from each other. We visited Papai Noel and saw all the pretty Christmas lights and decorations. One reason I love going to the city is simply because there are more things to see. Our little town decorates for Christmas, but the malls just go overboard. I had about as much fun as Emma did! I'm not really sure what the colored bull was for, but Emma played by him for at least 20 minutes! We spent a few hours in the Barnes N' Noble-type bookstore and just had a really relaxing day.
On Wednesday, Kevin left early for work with another colleague. He entrusted the car to me so that I could pack everything and have a way to Montenegro later in the day. I successfully made it out of POA and met my friend Monica at another hotel. Her husband works with Kevin and Clara is one of Emma's little amigas. From that hotel, we followed Monica to their home in Canoas. Emma had a blast playing at Clara's house, with Clara's toys. She also loved that Clara's mommy kept giving her goodies like chocolate cake, fruity yogurt and candy! As you can see, Emma was muito feliz, very happy!
After leaving Monica's house, I drove to the JD factory and picked Kevin up and headed toward the city of Montenegro. He had a dinner with his boss and the rest of the team so Emma and I spent the evening with his boss's wife at their home. I'm still learning certain words and certain tenses of words, so when his wife explained to me that she didn't know I was coming until the last minute, it took me a few minutes to understand. I think for her, that was a really big deal. Brazilians are so hospitable and had she known I was coming, she said she would have made a nice dinner for us. Instead, she ordered pizza. I wasn't at all disappointed about the pizza, but I did feel bad for her feeling uncomfortable. After over a year and a half, I'm still learning cultural differences between here and my home. I feel like I've learned a lot over the last month or so. For instance, I was told that when there is a man and a woman in the car, the man will always be the one driving. One of our Brazilian friends said she always notices when I'm driving Kevin to or from work because it's just not normal. Also, no matter what time we leave someone's home, they will always say something like, "What? You're leaving already? But, it's early!" It could be 2 or 3 in the morning and it's just common to say that. I figure, if someone's ready to go, they can sure go, especially if it's 3a.m.!! If someone is in my home and says they need to leave and I say, "OK, thanks for coming. Have a good night!", I will have offended them. I can't even count how many times I've done that!! Oh, and the last one I'll save for another full post. It has to do with how we dress and how we're treated. I'm still trying to digest that one!
So, Wednesday night we stayed in Montenegro and then headed back home early Thursday morning. It was a fun trip, one I'm glad we took!
