Boogey Woogie Bugle Boy of Company BSB

Last week the United States Women's Naval Academy Glee Club came for a week long tour of Brazil. And guess where one of their stops on their tour was? You guessed correctly.


The U.S. Embassy asked EAB to host one of the group's performances. This opportunity provided me with a gratis chance to see some of America's finest performing. And also an opportunity to get a little Glee fix since the TV show was beomcome one of my guilty pleasures living in Brazil. Now I did know that the TV show's set list would differ quite significantly from the Naval Academy's, however, I hoped that the girls would be able to show a little of their spunk and they did as you'll see.

Vanessa and I went to the show together at 8 o'clock on Thursday evening. The lower sections of the auditorium had a decent number of attendees. I'd say about 100 or so people were there. There was a mix of EAB staff, EAB students (four of my families) as well as the local community including one of the well-known choirs in town who had cancelled their rehearsal to attend.

The lovely Naval ladies, whose luggage had arrived (3 women in front donned different outfits and later we found out their luggage was lost) all were dressed in white. White shirts, skirts and even shoes. Hair was pulled back and makeup, for most, was light.

The set list began, not surprisingly, with Anchors Away. The first few numbers were rather traditional and with my Glee influence I worried that I wouldn't get my fix. The ladies then moved into some more traditional spiritual Brazilian music. Again, and from the wiggling fifth grader sitting in front of me, I was not the only one who was enjoying their music but was really hoping for a bit more spunk.

I wasn't disappointed. Two smaller quartets took the stage during the performance.

The first group of girls, who called themselves The Stowaways, sang The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy and a couple of other familiar big band era songs.

Later in the evening, my favorite quartet, The Sirens, treated us to an amazing beat box version of Hey Jude and then went into a Destiny's Child/Beyonce mix. Here's a little of it for your enjoment...

Got my Glee fix.

Seeing a group of American women take the stage in Brazil definitely brings you home for a bit. Hearing the familar tunes and English introductions, seeing a sea of what's familiar feels good when you're far away.

To end the show, well before the 15 minute long obligatory thank yous, the Glee club director asked the Senior class to come to the front of the stage to share what they would be doing next year.

Some of the girls will be...

• going to flight training school to become a fighter pilot/s,


• moving to Hawaii to become a nuclear something, something commanders and


• one has her fingers crossed so legislation is passed and they can become the first ever female submarine commander.

And to think when I graduated college, my plans were to get a teaching job. Any job. I have to say being a nuclear something, something commander is kinda like being a second grade teacher. Both can be stressful jobs at times but that title is so much cooler than second grade teacher was. I think though I'd rather have the stress of how to teach a particular reading strategy over deciding nuclear something something things any day.

I'm So Excited!

Right now, it's exactly 6 days and 15 minutes till the Goo, Maz, Jez and Gwen land in BSB. I'm so excited to not just to see them but to really hang out with them and for an entire week! I've got the Pointer Sisters going through my head.

And as you can see, I guess Maureen and Bernie (the clever snowlady designers) are just as excited as the girls are.

PS Not to rub it in, but in BSB there's no snow; only blue skies and brillant white clouds. And the temps right now are in the upper 80s. The Goo's right, get ready to break out those flipflops and we'll see what's under those layers of snow. See you soon girls!

Don't Go Breakin' My Heart Shower Singer

While walking home this evening, I took a little different route to grab a bit to eat for dinner after staying late at school. Figured I deserved a treat.

On this new route home though, food wasn't my only treat. As I passed by one of the many apartment buildings, I heard a child singing. It definitely sounded like he was in the shower. He was belting it. It was one of those times where you just can't help but smile.

And as I continued down this path, I realized that I recognized the song the boy was singing. Not such the common occurence here. And so I started to hum along with the shower singer. "Don't go breakin' my..., don't go breakin' my...heart" sung by Elton John and Kiki Dee.

Not sure if his parents are Elton John fans or if his English teacher is but I was definitely a fan of this shower singer tonight.

Taco Toast

The Goo made a personal request that I post this story for others to enjoy. Enjoy my, um, well, it's just my stupidity.

About two weeks ago I woke up on a Thursday and got ready as usual for school. In between the shower and drying my hair I always eat breakfast. This particular Thursday was no different than any other.

That morning I decided I wanted cinnamon toast along with my coffee and daily banana. I placed the bread into the toaster oven, as I usually do, poured the coffee out of my french press into my mugs (one for home and a travel one for school) and got out the sugar and cinnamon from the cabinet in which I keep them and butter from the fridge. Quick side note: This was when I could have coffee in the morning. About a day later, my coffee carafe broke and since then I've been without any coffee. Sigh. Thank goodness friends and the Goo are coming soon with a new one. Coffee withdrawl is rough. RIP coffee carafe. We had a nice ride and I hope that you are making coffee for somebody else in carafe heaven because I'm sure missing you making it for me.

About this time, I heard the friendly ding of my toast oven. I, as usual, used my wonderful bamboo tongs to grab the toast. Then I spread butter on the two slices of toast. Next, as always I sprinkled sugar on the slices and topped them with cinnamon. As I did this, my nose suddenly caught the scent of tacos. One of my neighbors must have made tacos for dinner. This was rather unusual since Mexican food in Brasilia is hard to find and definitely not a commonly made item. I was impressed by said neighbor but also surprised that I was smelling this strong taco scent at 6:00 a.m.

As I picked up my cup of coffee and took my cinnamon toast into my living room, I again was hit by the strong taco smell. So strange, I thought to myself. I even placed my coffee and toast down on the table and leaned out the window to see which neighbor had made tacos. The smell was suddenly gone.

It returned again as I sat down to eat my toast. I noticed, as I took my first bite, that it didn't have it's usual cinnamon deliciousness. It just tasted like sugar and butter. I was disappointed and smelled tacos again but figured that this smell, my neighbor's dinner, had somehow infused my apartment with its odor.

A couple of bites and a sneeze later, I realized that my toast did not possess its usual flavor and when I sniffed it, it smelled like tacos and pepper. What? How could this happen? My maid comes on Wednesdays so somehow she must have combined the cinnamon with the pepper. Why would she do that?

I quickly jumped up from the couch and BBC Global News to check my cinnamon shaker. What had my maid done to my bottle? When I picked up the shaker from the counter, the color did look a little different but not greatly. The label read just as most of the other ones I did, from Target's spice section but the name didn't read cinnamon. It said cumin.

Yes, I'd made myself some cumin toast, taco toast, for breakfast.

I opened the cabinet where keep all of my spices and cooking things and found that my maid, wonderful Davina, had reorganized the pantry. Everything had a new place including the cinnamon. No tampering, just my stupidity and my assuming that things were in the same places. And you know what they say about assuming things...

Lesson learned, even at 6:00 a.m., it's important to check spice labels the day after your maid comes. Unless you want to try taco toast for yourself. Have to say, I wouldn't recommend it.

The Ants Go Marching...

On my way home this evening from school, I'm not sure why, but I had my head down most of the way. Perhaps it's because I left at 6:15 p.m. Tired and hungry so I guess I was focused on my walk. Not the usual. Anyway...

During my head down commute I noticed five different types of ants. Yes five. Five different species in my 10 minute commute. (Sidenote, I just had a random flash to those Subway commercials for the $5 footlong and was going to make a joke but I don't even know if that's on tv in the U.S. anymore. Laura would be so disappointed in my pop culture knowledge).

I saw a herd little black ones, not living too far away from a red dirt mountain of little red ants

Then I saw one lone big black ant that looks similar to ants back in Illinois.

Next I saw a trail of carpenter ants carrying a variety of leaves and bugs on their way home.

Finally I saw the scary ones that attacked me way back earlier last fall.

They've dug up my usual route home so I had to take a little different path but this new route and having my head down gave me an appreciation for the variety around me. Especially after staying late at school and I have a mountain of papers to grade, some blog procrastination and enjoying the little things in life probably isn't a bad idea at all.

Hope all my IL friends and family will see some ants soon.

Cloudy with a Chance of Beauty

The clouds in Brasilia are just magnificent. Truly. They are one of my favorite small things about living here.

From brillant white in December...
to peaceful speckled sunsets...

to last night's powerful storm clouds.They are just breathtaking.

When this is your view, these amazing clouds, how can you not take a moment to forget everything that's bothering you and just enjoy what's around you. It helps to put things in perspective. Maybe I need to do more of that...