Carnival 2010

It's official! I've got Carnival plans for 2010 and what a way to kick off my Carnival experiences in Brazil because I'm going to Carnival central, aka, Rio de Janeiro with Andrea, Erica and Erica's mom.

We're in the midst of ordering costumes to actually be in one of the parades, ordering tickets to go to another parade and organizing our lodging.


I'm learning a lot about it that I had no clue about before so as I learn, I'll continue to add more posts and info so you can learn a little too. Just wanted to share the exciting news!

It's a Girl!

One of the reasons I was so excited to go home for break was that my bff, Colleen, her hubby, Landon, and sister, Ansley were expecting the latest addition to their family to arrive. And she did!

Corinne Mawdsley Faivre was born on January 3, 2010. She's beautiful. Just gorgeous, as you can see. Well, I'm being a little selfish here with the view but she's beautiful!

The best part was I got to be there to visit them at hospital; to hang out and hold her and just to spend some extra special time with her and her wonderful mommy, Colleen. I feel really lucky to have been there for this special time. Would have liked to have spent more time with them all but with a bum ankle, it can cramp baby visiting style and the ability to help. Regardless of that, I feel really priviledged to be there and get to spend the time I was able with her and Colleen.

Here's what I've learned about Corinne. She loves to sleep. She loves to cuddle. And on my last visit with them she stayed awake for quite a while so I got to actually chat with her a little. She's a great listener and likes to talk sometimes too.

Corinne's a precious addition to their already wonderful family and I'm thankful to have been there to welcoming her to the family but also to be there with her for her life.

Can't wait to see her again in June!

Packing Procrastination = Dreamy Post

It's about 6:30 am and I've been up for about 3 and a half hours. Not by choice, just thinking about the last minute things I need to complete before I go. Sigh. Wish I'd think about them around 8 am instead but not a option. Oh well.

I'm taking a little packing/email/Delta's baggage center phone call break to share a funny dream one of my good friends here had about me the other night.

Shanna, one of my good McDole friends had a small group of us over on Sunday evening to catch up. I got to meet her adorable baby girl Kiera and loved catching up with old friends. It's so nice to spend time with friends who you just pick up right where you left off. Maybe this was why I was on her mind.

Here's Shanna's dream...
I had a strange dream involving you guys (Shanna, Kindra, Tracy and myself). We were in the Amazon - apparently visiting Megan and trudging through the rain forest. Animals were everywhere and we were trying to move fast. However, our movements were impeded by the boots that we had on our feet. Not winter boots, but sprained ankle boots. It was the four of us and we each had boots on both of our feet. I had Kiera in a carrier - not like a Baby Bjorn, but more like a Native American papoose. One of her little legs was sticking out and it had a little baby boot on it. Hers was bright pink! Ours looked just like Megan's. It was so weird! There was no dialogue, just us huffing and puffing through the vines. Very odd but I thought you'd enjoy hearing about our trip.

I'd much rather trade my dreams for Shanna's anytime. Minus the boots of course!

And Shanna, thanks for Sunday. Snacks, good friends, watching an adorable baby and having fun conversations made for a great way to spend the afternoon.

"The Brazil Girls"

This March three of my good teaching friends from McDole (Gwen, Ann Jez and Tracy Maz) and my sister, The Goo, are coming to visit me in Brazil. They've nicknamed themselves "The Brazil Girls."

Since deciding to come and visit, these four lovely girls get together monthly for dinner to chat about their trip, practice their Portuguese (they have workbooks that Maz copied) and just get to know each other.

I was actually able to attend last week's monthly meeting. We took the train to Chicago and visited the Brazilian Consulate so the girls were able to secure their Brazilian tourist VISAs. Prior to going they had paperwork to complete, photos taken and got their money orders ready.

As we rode in the taxi and stood in line waiting for the consulate to open I gave them a couple of tips about our time at the consulate. The tips included where to go to inside to get their ticket to wait in line (go inside and to the right near the windows), how to say good morning in Portuguese (in case they wanted to practice a little, Goo did) and just to be patient.

My experience at the Brazilian Consulate had always been fine. The staff was friendly, things were completed as promised but it always took a while for things to be completed. I remember when I got my own VISA at one point my mom sent me back to up ask if things were ready and they weren't. It's (Brazil's view) just different when it comes to time. Time is relative and lines and waiting, as I've learned living in Brazil, are just part of life. With this in mind, I anticipated our visit taking close to an hour. We were in and out of there in 20 minutes. Seriously? I couldn't believe it!

Here's a photo of the girls waiting for their turn at the counter.

As we left the consulate, one man waiting for his turned yelled, "See you in the Amazon!" We all smiled as we were the second ones out the door. I was in such shock from our short visit to the consulate, happy shock but just so surprisingly different than my three previous visits.

We spent the rest of the day in the city. Sipping coffee and catching up at Starbucks; having drinks, laughs with our waiter during lunch at the House of Blues; and exploring the Art Institute on foot or in wheelchair. It was a great day out together and nice to see what our little "Brazil Girls" group travels like together. I'd say we're off to a good start. Looking forward to your visit girls!

And for those of you who aren't "The Brazil Girls" please know I'm always looking for visitors to come. I have an extra bedroom, plenty of sunshine to share and enough Portuguese to be a pretty good hostess/tour guide for your visit. Just let me know when you'd like to come. There's never a "bad" time to come so just do it.

Limping into 2010

There's been so many wonderful things that have happened since getting home almost 2 weeks ago. I definitely, now that things have quieted down a bit, need to post about a few of them but figure I should give the most obvious update.


My ankle.


I've started this post about 5 times all with different slants so I figure I'll try, key word try to just keep it short by using a timeline.


Sunday, Dec. 20th

• First full day home


• Went to DeKalb to see Colleen and Ansley (yay!)
  
• Wore boot because Ansley had asked to have a soccer date so figured it would explain to her why I couldn't play but ankle feeling much better


• Stopped to see my mom at work


• Walked out door to take her home


• BIT it HARD on some ice covered in a light dusting of snow on the ramp by the stoplight


• Ankle twisted inside boot and hurt A LOT more than the first sprain, injured top of ankle which was different than initial Thanksgiving samba (alright stair) sprain


• Sat on ground a while because it hurt so much, scared mom and got help from stranger into car

Sunday the 20th - Sunday the 27th

• RICEd (rest, iced, compressed, elevated) my ankle


• Broke a 2nd Brazilian orthopedic boot


• Ordered and began wearing new aircast/cam walker


• Took it easy a lot, had many chauffeurs (thanks by the way) but still a lot of pain in ankle which radiated to my foot and into my calf (felt much different than sprains I'd had before)

Sunday, December 27th

• Finally admitted how much this new sprain hurt

Monday, December 28th

• Called doctor for appt

Thursday, December 31st

• Saw dr


• Took x-rays


• No broken bones - dr said if hadn't been wearing my boot probably would have fractured my ankle so definitely good news


• No torn tendons - again more good news


• Diagnosed with new sprain which involved tendons on inside of ankle


• Sprain, in addition to injury, most likely caused by weakness of ankle


• Since new sprain involves tendons this means will take longer to heal like A LOT longer, 3-5 weeks longer


• Have to wear boot


• Will visit dr again this week for check-up and for get physical therapy plans

Monday, January 4, 2010

• Driving again (LOVE being independent)
• Limping round the house, the store and pretty much everywhere I go

My ankle is still sore most of the time but I feel lucky because...

• at least it's not broken,
• at least I've got 2 more weeks to rest before school starts and
• at least everyone else is wearing boots in Illinois and I fit in fashion-wise here versus Brazil.

Leavin' for a Winter Wonderland - Things I'm Looking Forward to and Things I'll Miss

As I sit here procrastinating my final packing just about 8 hours away from taking off to Chicago, I'm smiling and thinking of home. Well, my two homes and what things I'm looking forward to having and what things I'll miss for a month. This idea came from a conversation I had last night with Jamey at our holiday party. Here's a short list of both (remember, short is relative in my world).

Things I'm Looking forward to in Chicago:

• Hanging out with my family in person - no more vonage or skype for a month, Dad - I'll actually get to see your whole face since mom can't hog the camera
• Hanging out with my friends and catching up on everything from A - Z much more easily than emailing
• Couch time with Goo - I look over at the second couch in my apartment and she's missing from it, the bad tv's here but not her to laugh at stupid commercials
• Playing with Ansley - our 3 minute phone calls just don't cut it
• Snow - the sight, the feel, the crunch although it sounds like I'm headed for slush
• Cooler weather - temps are in the 30s, not too cold for me (I think?)
• Wearing layers of clothing - I miss wearing them, get ready for more!
• Starbucks - peppermint mochas here I come
• Mexican food - Real chips, real salsa
• Cheese - Grilled cheese, shredded cheese to put on whatever I want, the variety, ooohhh maybe I'll have to head up to WI for more options
• Soup - it's the actual weather you should eat it
• X-mas music that matches the weather
• Driving a car - haven't done it for 5 months
• Baby Girl Faivre - she's going to be born while I'm home, I can't wait to meet her and also see her mom too, got your drink order ready?

Things I'll Miss about Brasilia:

• Walking everywhere - granted lately that hasn't happened so much but I do love it
• Blue skies - other than right now, we've had nothing but brillant ones for weeks
• Sun - love the tan you've given me and how you make me feel
• Tan - it's December 18th and I have tan lines, never had them at this time before
• Friends - I've made some good ones and will miss them but as 3 of us were saying earlier, we're glad not to see each other for a few weeks so we can just relax for a while, we'll see each other soon enough and my old one I'll see you, like you said, in about 48 hours anyway
• Open Windows - it's December 18th and my windows are open, love the fresh air
• Choppes - how I've grown to love you on a hot day to cool me off, gonna have to make me some of Andrea's eggnog to substitute for choppes

I still can't believe I leave today. Today! If you are one of the friends who lives close enough, definitely email me. Would love to see you while I'm home. In Chicago till January 14th (sorry Colleen I said it - someone asked her how long I was home and she replied that she wasn't even thinking about that, I'm not either Colleen). See you soon or if I won't see you for a while, see you around.

To Boot or Not To Boot, That Was the Question

Earlier today I visited the ortho doctor at the hospital for an ankle check-in or check-up.

I was pretty excited because my ankle's been healing, a little bit better each day. Still not good, not even medium but better.

The second reason I was so excited was since about Friday night my boot's been making a loud clacking noise. Seriously loud. Vanessa even laughed at me while we were walking down the street and this was after we'd walked for a few minutes. Completely out of the blue laugh. Love her for it but that's a significant volume level. Figured I could either be thrilled to be out of a boot and could trash it or at lease exchange said footwear.

Here's the scoop:

• Have to ice my sprain 3 x a day
• Have to rub some magic ankle healing cream on my ankle after icing
• Have to wear my boot on the flight home (at least I'll be wearing a boot when I arrive to the cold weather)
• Have to exchange my boot for a new one, no cost but couldn't drag it along today so have to do it tomorrow
• Got a note from my dr asking for a seat where I could have more space for said extra large boot

So, there's some good news because I'm definitely healing but the bad news is that on the inaugral Delta flight from Brasilia to Atlanta I'm going to have to wear my boot. I better either get a glass of champagne or at least a pair of wings from the pilot.