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.

Taxi!

Yesterday I needed to go and do a bit of stocking shopping at the Sunday Hippie Fair that's located at the TV Tower in Brasilia. There's just about everything you could ever need...furniture, statues of Brasilia's sights, jewelry, crafts, food and of course the tower itself to see the view of the city.

With my new footwear I knew I'd need to take a taxi. I also knew that I wanted the taxi to wait for me while I did my quick 30 minute buzz through the fair. So prior to leaving the apartment I'd practiced phrases like, "Could you please wait for me for 30 minutes at the tower and then bring me back to my apartment?" and also "I've sprained my ankle and am buying X-mas presents for my family," (so playing on the guilt factor there) but was ready to go. I limped on over to the taxi stand which is about a 2 minute walk from my apartment.

One thing you should know is that my boot is now making an extremely loud clicking sound as I walk. Andrea asked if it was like high heels. More like if a giant had high heels or a breaking plastic sound. My friend Vanessa today started laughing about it as we walked. That's when you know how ridiculous you really sound. This new sound just adds to people watching me limp around. A gringa. A boot and now a large sound that accompanies the girl. Seriously, I hope I start getting paid for the crazy things people watch me do around here.

Anyway, got to the taxi stand where there was a taxi waiting. I walked up to the open passenger window and exchanged greetings with the taxi driver. The older gentleman smiled, a kind smile. Then I told him where I wanted to go. He said okay and I got into the front seat which is not my usual seat but that's easier with my boot. After getting in I asked if he'd be able to wait for me. Again same response. Okay. Then I told him about my ankle. He said he was sorry to hear about that and we began our 15 or so minute drive to the tower. The entire drive we chatted about the possible rain, my trip home, about his friends who live in my neighborhood, what building I lived in and that he had one friend who lived in it and exchanged other pleasantries in Portuguese. I was pretty proud of how I was doing considering I've not been to class in a couple of weeks.

I did notice as we were driving he continued to check his watch, a lot. I knew either he was late or needed to be somewhere. We sped up the little hill to the tower parking lot where he dropped me off by all of the dried flowers. He told me that he had to go and pick up a lady and take her to church and then he'd be back for me. He told me to wait by the flowers and that he'd look for me there. He also said he'd be a little late. No problem. I could wait a few extra minutes. Before leaving the taxi, he pointed to the meter. R$14. Okay I said, I'd pay him when he picked me up. Again I was thrilled by how much Portuguese I was able to understand.

He pulled away, I clicked up the small hill to buy my wares. Found things pretty easily. Did some bargaining and was glad I'd waited to buy things in Brasilia over Rio. Much better prices on the stuff I needed.

While opening my purse to put my purchases inside, I checked my phone to check the time. 32 minutes had passed. I quickly and not so quietly limped on back to the taxi pick-up point. No go. So I waited.

10 minutes.

20 minutes...

30 minutes...

40 minutes. At this point, I'd become tired, hot and annoyed so I phoned my Brazilian and Portuguese helpline also known as Andrea. She told me to phone another taxi, get the number at the taxi stand (since taxi stands usually belong to one particular company) and I could take care of paying the first driver later. Sometime soon I think she's going to start charging me since I do this at least one time a week.

Instead of calling I schlepped my butt and goods down to the other side of the Hippie Fair to the taxi stand where I found 3 taxis waiting. None were my friend but I took one home. The whole time I felt guilty, thinking I'd left my original driver in a lurch but at the same time, I needed to get back for myself and to meet a friend for lunch. I just didn't want the taxi driver to think I was some American jerk who skipped out on paying. I feel like at times I need to make sure people know that no matter where people are from, people are kind and true.

Upon arriving back at my apartment building, I explained the situation to my doorman. He completely understood my broken Portuguese. Again, feeling so proud of my Portuguese abilities. I handed him the R$14 in case the taxi driver came to my apartment. Since he knew which building was mine I wanted to make sure I had the support. I left for lunch, returned and no driver. Thinking I'd have Miguel, my amazing teaching assistant call today and remedy the situation, I went upstairs, put on my pjs and settled in. About 15 minutes later, my apartment phone rang. The driver was downstairs.

Quickly I threw on some layers and hobbled on toward the elevator. I was feeling a little nervous as I went down. Would he be upset? Would he think I'd tried to sherk my fee? When I got downstairs, there he was smiling. He told me that the lady who'd he taken and does take weekly to church had not wanted to leave and that the church was far away from where I was so he'd been quite late. No problem. I paid him the R$14 I owed and then he told me to wait a moment. He walked over to his taxi which was parked in front of the building, opened the door and reached toward his glovebox. After finding a piece of paper, he handed it to me. The paper he gave me had his name and phone number. Severino. He told me next time to call him and he can pick me up right there.

Child Outta This World - Also Know as EAB's Holiday Concert

Friday night was EAB's 2-5th grade holiday concert. The concert was titled "Child of The World." Each classroom represented a different country. This is a common theme you see around at lots of schools so there seemed to be nothing original about it to me. And I thought it would be kinda lame.

For our lower school music teacher, this theme was never was generic. Not for a single moment. This performance brought me to tears; happy ones. It was one that truly represented our school's diversity. Was one that showcased who are students are and one that they loved from start to finish.

I had heard early on during the year ,that the holiday concerts were always amazing. I'd been told they were a tradition at EAB. This told me that I needed to support this program as fully as possible and to leave any Grinch-like attitude at the door. I'm so thankful for the heads-up as I really enjoyed the entire experience.

It was hard though at times not to let my Grinch come out, but from the beginning, I was reminded how important this concert is to the EAB community and throughout the practices told myself this.

First off, my class started practicing our song to represent Panama back in late September. I learned last week during our two hour daily rehearsals (yes, that's right teacher friends back home, 2 hours each day AND I missed all except one of my plan periods the entire week AND report cards are due tomorrow - perspective there) my class had learned ALL of the songs in the entire program. They knew all the dances and lyrics to every single song by heart. And what I loved is that most of the songs had nothing to do with holidays. They were just great songs representing different countries' popular culture or their traditional culture.

Each child also paid close to $25 for their costume (again something at first I cringed). Seeing them on stage, as you'll see though, made the show.

The storyline of the show was that a 5th grade student visited their grandparents who had traveled the world. While traveling, their grandparent bought dolls representing different countries. The dolls came to life in the grandparents' attic to reassure this 5th grader that things would be okay as she moved to a new country. Can you guess where she was going to move? If you said Brazil, you're right! The 5th graders had the leads in the play, speaking about the countries, acting out the story and singing each song on stage. Again adding to the amazement of the show.

That's the history, now onto the actual final performance.

When I came home from school on Friday, I took a little break and actually downloaded some of the songs from the concert onto my iPod thinking the kids would love having them and also because I really enjoyed them too. Please open a new browser window with my blog so you can continue reading and then click here so you can get into the mood. This song was sung and danced by one of the 4th grade classes. You need to skip the intro and click on music at the top of the screen. Then please choose the song titled "Bom Bom Bole" and get ready to smile and dance along.

The night of the concert came and as I was getting ready and velcroing my boot, I looked out the window and had to smile because this is what I saw.And then as I waited for the elevator, I heard some kids playing soccer on the court next to my apartment building so I snapped a photo. Such different than the views I'm used to seeing for holiday concerts back in Kane County, Illinois. I hopped, well limped, to Andrea's car and drove to school where I was met by my class who were so full of enthusiasm, they were running and screaming and jumping with pure joy and excitement.

Some of the lovely ladies in their beautiful dresses. Dresses that are perfect for twirling. And as every girl knows, it doesn't get much better than having a beautiful new dress that twirls and you get to wear makeup and you get to dance and sing with your friends. Life is pretty good.

But don't worry boys. They weren't left out either. One of the boys in my class told another when they were having their costume fittings (yes, fittings people) that he looked like James Bond. So needless to say, they felt pretty cool.

While we waited for our turns to perform, we watched a couple of movies but I have learned that unlike back in the U.S. where this is an easy and fun thing to do before a show, it's completely wrong for here. Not to self, kids should bring games next year. Lesson learned. Their energy was so electric that movies weren't the perfect match.

Backstage, their energy, I'm still unsure how it was possible, jumped up to a whole new level. I snapped a quick photo before they went on stage. And of course in addition to the excitement, you have fun things like twirling dresses and Panama hats and other third grade friends dressed like Elvis Pressley and 50's girls and it's hard not to feel that energy go through the roof.

But the stage door opened and we went behind the curtain. I, along with one of the boys who got a terrible case of stage fright so did not perform, slipped down the stairs, into the dressing room, up into the orchestra's pit and then into the audience to watch the class sing (slipped may be an eggeration, more like limped again). Since I had friend in tow, I was only able to snap a couple of photos as much consoling was taking place during our class' performance but here are the lovely ladies twirling away in the streets of Havanna (we were a combo of Spanish speaking countries) and

it wouldn't be complete without a shot of the handsome gentlemen.

The show wasn't over though. After our class took the stage, we crept into the auditorium aisles and watched the two fourth grade classes represent Africa...

and India (including the gentleman in the center who's a former EAB student and now a TV star on a popular Brazilian soap/novela).

Here is the beginning of the 4th graders' Bollywood dance. Love it! I've been cranking this song throughout writing this post and while writing report cards this afternoon.

After the two fourth grade classes performed, Brazil was saved for last and a group of Brazilian underprivledged children from an institute that provides after school care through music performed using original music they created and danced using their bodies to help keep the rhythm.

For the finale, all of the classes gathered on stage and sang the tear-jerker, "I Am A Child of This World" after they sang about how important it is to reach out and help others but that their voices as children really matter.

After the show ended, we wished everyone a Merry Christmas and I again limped across stage (at least wearing one cute shoe) we went back to our room for one final shot and also so families could pick up their children. It was such a wonderful show because the kids had such joy throughout it all...rehearsals, classes and their final performance.

I've definitely grown an appreciation, not only here but from working closely with my good friends at McDole the past few years that sometimes, that's what is important. The joy and love of being a child. So the performance of children from all of the world; in my class representing four continents, truly was outta this world.

Brazilian Thanksgiving

Just a couple of days before leaving for Thanksgiving Break, Kathy hosted a Thanksgiving feast for all the EAB apartment dwellers. There were about about 20 people who were able to attend.

Kathy emailed us all an invitiation and asked us each to sign up for dishes to share When I saw the list of foods that people had already signed up to bring including turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, I was really excited. It's things like this, celebrating Thanksgiving, that when you are far away from home that give you a high. Those traditions that you need to feel secure when you're so many miles away from your family and friends. I couldn't wait to taste the dishes, but what would I bring since most of the traditional ones were already taken?

I decided to bring corn casserole which is one of the dishes my family always has at our Thanksgiving dinner. I was ready to email my mom for the recipe and decided to take a look online first to see what ingredients were needed. Living in Brazil, some foods and spices are easy to find while others are not, what I found is that some of the ingredients, alright, several, for corn casserole are not so commonly found in Brazil. Foods like: cream corn, sour cream and cheddar cheese are impossible unless you visit the American commisary (which is rumored to be open now to all Americans at a small fee but no evidence yet). I was outta luck. I'd have to come up with some other dish and I wasn't thrilled about it.

Then, upon returning from the fazenda, we had a last minute cancellation, the family that was supposed to bring the mashed potatoes couldn't attend. You can't have Thanksgiving without mashed potatoes and I brought those a couple of years ago with the Goo for Thanksgiving back home so I knew I could do it. This time round I just hoped not to get potatoes all over the walls and floor.

I borrowed a big pot and handmixer from Kathy and just had to break down the process for the size of my pots and kitchen. Here's a few shots of my potato process.
Washed potatoes
Had to use 3 pots because I don't have quite a large enough one yet. This also meant I actually had to make mashed potatoes four times since nothing was quite large enough to hold it all for mixing at once. Pretty funny process.
Then, after the potatoes were ready, I walked next door in the beautiful chilly summer evening (temps in the 70s) to Kathy's apartment building which is next door to mine. The whole time I was carrying this large pot of mashed potatoes hoping not to drop it since I'm a bit of a klutz. The photo above is the set table in Kathy's party room .

Hirsch, Gallagher, Monica and Vanessa waiting for dinner to begin.
Erica and our hostess, Kathy, carving the birds.

Yum! The food and fellowship were so delicious.
Digging in! Full table, full bellies. We had all of the traditional Thanksgiving favorites including delicious stuffing, turkeys and pumpkin pies.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Vanessa, could you please pass the potatoes?
Just like at home, after eating dinner and dessert, people sat around chatting and began cleaning up and washing dishes. Unlike at home for me where the weather is usually quite chilly, Savanna and Ellie wearing shorts and a dress, went outside to dance and play. They took a break from dancing outside for a picture. You can see the X-mas lights reflected on the floor. No football games either.Ellie wanted to be in all of our photos to celebrate the day.Mark and Isabel did a little bit of yoga to help aid their Thanksgiving digestion. Our Thanksgiving feast couldn't have been more deliciously perfect. The food. The friendship. The laughter.

Earlier in the day, I was reminded about the larger meaning of Thanksgiving. I had received a bit of mail from Ansley. I miss playing with her a lot. In fact we have a soccer date when I return. I just had better get my ankle healed quickly or if not will have to have a snowdate since I think the weather may not cooperative with our plans. The point though of including this and taking my picture that night was it reminded me of why Thanksgiving's important. It's about taking some time to be thankful for what you have. I could write a post and list all of the people that help me to be me, support me, love me but instead, I think the photo says it. It's the little things, it's the handprint turkeys, the emails, the calls from the people we love and care about that makes me thankful. I'm such a lucky girl and a few weeks past Thanksgiving, I'm still thankful for it. And I'm even more thankful that in 6 days, less than one week, I'll get to tell everyone in person just how thankful I am for them.

Pros and Cons

Having a sprained ankle would obviously seem to have a lot of cons such as:

• pain,
• wearing a boot that makes your foot hot while living in a warm place,
• it takes forever to get anywhere,
• having to rely on people for a lotta things when you're pretty independent (rides, extra steps, grocery shopping, etc),
• getting tired,
• lack of exercise and the list could go on.

But having a sprained ankle has many pros too which until I stop and think about it, are easily forgotten. The pros include:

• prioritizing work (I do what I have to do not just other "stuff"),
• excuses to lay around on the couch,
• Chinese herbs taken with wine,
• my students jump at the chance to grab something across the room as they see me start to limp over (that one probably sounds like child labor - I don't ask, they offer, I swear!),
• more time with friends.

Since my sprain, I've had lots of time to myself lounging but I've also had loads of time lounging with friends too. I've played more games, eaten more meals and just sat around talking about odds and ends with friends then I had in a while. In fact, after I send off this post, I'm headed over to Andrea's for some pasta and Guitar Hero. This is the perfect TLC after a long day of concert rehearsals which made for tired feet and a tired brain from report card writing.

I feel really lucky to have such great people to do this lounging with and just wanna say thanks to them for putting in their extra time (my mom's so happy to know I'm getting the TLC I need) and in the same breath putting up with me. Words can't say this enough.

Thanks Andrea. Thanks Erica. Thanks Kathy. Thanks Super Stars. Thanks Erins. Thanks Sam. Thanks everyone. You're the best and if you ever sprain your ankle, I may not have a car to schlep you around but I'm happy to schlep to the store, bring you chocolate or watch bad tv with you anytime.

Girls' Weekend at the Faz

A few weeks ago Andrea, Kathy, the Wolvie girls (Erica, Savanna and Ellie) and I went away on our 3-day weekend to the phenomenal Marco Polo fazenda. And what a perfect weekend it was.

Fazenda Marco Polo had been recommended to us by another teacher at EAB who'd seen their advertisement in a magazine. Originally we had plans ot visit another fazenda but then found out our original reservation location had decided to remodel so our plans changed and honestly, it couldn't have been better.

The fazenda's owned by an American and Brazilian couple. The place definitely reminded us a lot of being in the U.S. From the furniture (American antiques) to the Kleenex (the size of the boxes gave that away) to the bookshelves (lots of English titles) but it was mixed with Brazilian charm. It was a lot farther from Brasilia that I originally thought, (almost 4 hours from Brasilia and past Goiania which I visited for a couple of hours on the return with Kathy) but each time I drive out of the city, I'm reminded that I live in Brazil. The countryside reminds me of that.

The Casa Grande. This is the 4-bedroom house where we stayed. There are 2 other houses on the property and luckily we had the entire house to ourselves.

The beautiful staircase in Casa Grande. It was closed but I did try to sneak up it to see where it led. The wooden slats spiral staircase surround this beautiful tree trunk but about halfway up, the trunk seemed a little too hollow for me so I came back down.

This is our room. Andrea, Kathy and I shared it.
HUGE! It even fit all of us.
On one of the porches where these comfy chairs and a hot tub. Spent a lot of time reading here.
The gazebo near the pool housed fooseball, chairs, an lcd projector and a stereo with loads of American music.

The pool. The pool had beautiful tile mosaics on the bottom which the girls loved diving toward. The chairs were beautifully comfortable, swim-up bar, volleyball net, lsauna, bathrooms with American posters and newspaper clippings and lots of shaded seating.

One of my favorite parts of the property were the adorable garbage cans. I wonder if there were fun garbage cans everywhere if more people would throw things away. Here are just a few of them.

A mango tree with a tree swing. Yes, those are mangoes!

The property's owner must love flowers as not only all of the light fixtures inside the house are in a flower design, from sconces to chandeliers but also outside along the walking paths, as seen above.

It truly was the perfect getaway. The grounds were gorgeous. Beautiful flowers, cute lizards and even cows right outside our door (when we sat reading or swinging in the hammock they were right there)!
Enjoying the pool.
Fish #1 - Ellie

Fish #2 - Savanna
Cheers!
Cozing up near the fireplace in the library.

Brazilian breakfast. Yum! It usually consists of lots of bread with things like cheese, coldcuts, butter, jam and honey to put on your bread. Coffee, freshly squeezed juice, sometimes eggs, lots of delicious pasteries including pao de quiejo (cheese bread).
Playing games.
Milking cows. This was the first time I've done this but I did a pretty decent job. Must have been channelling Gram. What was so cool is that we actually drank the milk we helped to get for breakfast. In our coffee, with chocolate added. There's nothing quite like fresh milk.

We definitely will be shouting "Polo!" the next time we are need a relaxing weekend away from when we hear "Marco!" being shouted in the rainy wind of Brasilia.