Living with the In Laws

I LOVE my in laws. No, truly, I do! The great thing is we get along really well. They took me in like another daughter, did everything they could to make me feel completely comfortable with them, they try their best to communicate as best as possible and make me feel involved. For the wonderful people they are, for the beautiful son they raised, I love them.

That being said, I don't want to stay in their house forever. Just as a background, from what I have experienced and noticed, children stay in their parents homes until they get married, normally. And a lot of times, houses are built one on top of the other- apartment style. Case in point, my sister in law built an apartment with her husband on top of my in laws house. They live upstairs. And honestly, it is an incredibly smart move. She doesn't have to pay rent. She just pays her part of the light and water bill (many people seperate their utilities, but they chose not to). This frees up quite a bit of money. Who wouldn't want to live rent free??

Well for me this question is conditional. There is space still to build another apartment next to his sister. Apparently, Sidnei's older brother wanted to build one, but his wife did not. My mother in law proceeded to tell me this story today...With her obvious contempt for her other daughter in law's decision. So of course, my own planning to get out of dodge as soon as we can, I opened my mouth. And I told her that I understood my sister in law's decision. That this space would always be hers and her daughters. And that all women want a space of their own.

She proceeded to give me her opinoin of this in very rapid portuguese. So I didnt understand most of it. But I know she was talking about how it is ridiculous to pay rent and how it makes it impossible to ever buy your own lot. So I am thinking she didn't really appreciate my opinoin much.

And she is probably right, but I NEED, I CRAVE my own space. Here, truly, my sister in law will always be charge. I will never be able to do anything in the yard without her having an opinoin. Not only that, but I crave space from my in laws too. I need a little space. I need a little privacy. And honestly, if we stay here, if we built a house here, it is something we'd never have.

And to be even more completely honest. I think I'd go absolutely INSANE. I love my in laws. They are wonderful. Thankfully my husband does know this. He talked for a while about constructing one apartment. And if we go back to the United States, we will construct one so that when we come to visit we have a place to stay.

However, for now, we will move into an apartment. I don't know when that will be. We are hoping the beginning of next year, we'll be set to go. That is what I am hoping...and praying.

Brasilian Independence Day

Since I am behind, I am catching up. That means Independence Day is coming to you late. While all of you were lounging around, grilling out, pooling it, beaching it, or wherever you were celebrating Labor Day, we were celebrating Brasil's Independence Day (Septemer 7th).

I think in other places they do more. Here the only real celebration was the parade! Which I was excited to go to! I always loved the parades in our little hometown of Crewe, VA. There is nothing in the world like tractors pulling beauty queens, shriners in their tiny cars and 6 year olds from Mrs. Carrington's Dance class tap dancing down the street...I miss my little town!

So backtracking...the parade wasn't really all that different from my little town. It actually made me laugh a little. But in a nice, friendly way, promise.

My saintly husband, got up bright and early, to get on the bus (before car), and take me to the parade!

No Parade complete without the band! The Policia Militar band!

We had I believe the ENTIRE police force go by us. And let me tell you, this city employs LOTS of police. But here they are with their awkward, yet surprisingly cute march.

Here is Sidnei's big brother Ney and the dog he trained Apache. He brought Apache to the house one day. I love that dog. So friendly AND obedient. Gracie could use a few lessons.

My favorite since I was a little girl...always the horses!

But I always felt bad for this guy: The worst job in the parade...cleaning up after the horses.

The Bombeiros!!! Or the trusty firemen! I have to say, the ones in full get up, must have been HOT!

And here is where I start the inappropriateness that is me...
Here we are making others aware of epilepsy. Which is not funny. But I swear, here I see more things illustrated than anywhere else. Like someone having an epileptic seizure. The people behind the banner, were also wearing t-shirts of the exact same thing. The t-shirts is what really got me. To be fair, Sidnei did tell me there are many people here who believe that you can physically catch (like a cold) something like epilepsy.

Then there was this guy. He was blind, carrying the Brasilian flag down the road. And his walking cane. Which I just wish someone would have taken from him to help him, because he was having issues with both. However, I think it was being used as a prop to say, "See? He's really blind!" I don't really understand who these guy's were. I need to do some research. Sidnei informed me that they were the sons of Masons. I was part of the Daughters of Job when I was younger, and I don't remember the boy's organization. But Sidnei seems to think they worship the devil. Along with the other people that boo'ed them. What the heck? Does anyone know? I just thought they were doing a cute rendition of Harry Potter.

This guy was my favorite!!!! He was part of the literacy campaign! And even though it was hot and muggy, he was so fun and cute! Look how cute his little buddy is!

Trip to the Fazenda

This past weekend, we had the pleasure to go to a family's fazenda (farm). And it was so great! We really had a nice time! Of course as always, there was the famous churrasco! But for me, the best part, was when I got to go horseback riding! I have loved horses as long as I can remember and we had a really good time together!

Tell you the truth, I was SHOCKED that Sidnei got on to ride the horse! But here he is, my favorite part, is that he and the horse are making the same face!

Here is Sidnei's Dad (Jose), Mom (Marlene), his Uncle (who is also named Sidnei), and Sidnei waiting for the food! They were starving!

Sidnei and I! We even got someone to actually take the picture for us!

Here we are in the backyard, I just thought everything looked so lush, green, and pretty!

This picture here, is to show you that I have really learned my lesson! As you can see, I have very burnt arms...and though you can't tell, I came home with lobster red arms, chest, and face. It's all very cute and painless, even days later. My parents always said I never would learn anything the easy way.

Here are all the goodies we got to bring home! I love going to the country and bringing home all the fresh produce. I promise to write a post on the foods here VERY soon!

This is Gil's Dad, Gil (who is marrying Sidnei's Uncle Sidnei) and Sidnei's Mom Marlene.

At this point we went hiking in the mountains to go to the lagao (the lake) and fish! We were not lucky. This is the way back...and if you can't tell, I'm burnt and so over it all. Ready to head home!

Here is Sidnei throughly enjoying himself and trying to convince me to stay overnight so he can fish at night, when he is SURE the fish will bite. HA HA!

There are no more pictures because we went home!

Seriously good day with friends and family!

Lagoa Silvano

So back in...July was it? When it was still "cold" (think high 70's and 80's...compared to right now, it's heaven) here, we took a nice break on one of the warmest days and went to the lake!

The lake grounds are really nice. They have pavilions where of course we had a place for churrasco (no get together is complete without it). I really thought the lake was really pretty. The pavilion was set on a hill, so you walked down to the lake, where they have a little sandy beach. I didn't get in the water (never did like lake water much...read: chicken), but it was so nice to lay out in the sun, eat (my favorite is grilled pineapple), and hang out.


View on top of the hill where the pavilion is...the slide never opened that day or I would have thought more seriously about getting in!

But they did open the little kiddie water park! The kids came running and screaming! They were so funny to watch! (That is my sister in law's brother and child by the way, not just some random people)

Those my friends are big swan boats!! I was so excited! I wanted to go find out where they were and go ride them. Unfortunately Sidnei had a MAJOR headache and laid on a table top for most of the time.



Can you tell he's feeling icky here? He got off the table top to go home so I snagged him to take pictures first. You can tell he was thrilled with that idea.


These next two were before the sickness ensued.


This really made me miss our times on the beach back home, but glad we have a place here too!

This was one of the craziest birds, wandering around the park. It had a crazy scary scream call and would go on for 20 minutes at a time. I would try to find out what it is, but I have no idea how...My Brasilian friends..do you know? I wish I had a better picture of it. It had a crazy mohawk feather thing going on!

Hopefully we'll be going back to Lagoa Silvano now that it's warmed up quite a bit!

Parque do Ipanema

Once upon a time, about two months ago, I uploaded these pictures. And never did anything with them.

So now, let me introduce (better late than never) Parque do Ipanema. It is really the only "scenic" or pretty place to walk in Ipatinga. It really is a very nice park and kept really clean by the city. We love to go in the evenings right before it gets dark. We walk around, people watch (one of our favorite activities) and settle in later at one of the many vendors that are selling numerous things, including, but not limited to, hot dogs, hamburgers, churrasco on a stick (beef or pork), popcorn, fried bananas (like little chips), drinks (all varities), popsicles, and (my personal favorite) filled churros (you can fill them with chocolate or doce de leite (or dulce de leite or similar to caramel if you are more familiar). YUM.

Anywho, here we are:



This is a very peculiar. It is a little island with a windmil. I dont really understand it, but I hope to one day see the time when the paddle boats at the bottom are open on the pond you can't see here.

I thought this was rather picturesque at the time...but at least you can see the pond/lake I was talking about.

So of course I made Sidnei stand there (because of the picturesque-ness).

Pensive Husband, wife who thinks she's creative. If I look close I can make out his face in the darkness. In my defense it looked better on the camera screen.

An ending much like the beginning...self portraits.

Party Girl

So as you all know, Sidnei's birthday has recently (and by recently I mean a week and a half ago) passed.

We all had a nice time. A very nice low key time. There was cake and soda. And family (which is more important than I am making it sound right now). Which is all well and good.


Us and the store bought cake...since my cake making ventures haven't exactly been successful here.

Israel LOVES when everyone sings Happy Birthday!

And trying to convince everyone to take a picture together is like pulling teeth. Hence why you don't see many in the photo.

Here is my question. Is it normal to be so low key for adult birthdays in Brasil? I am familiar with blowing it out on kids birthdays. Seriously if you haven't seen a little kid Brasilian birthday party, they make us look shameful. Our bowling parties where we get the pin everyone can sign is just down right pitiful next to theme banners, walls of balloons, theme decorated tables, millions of candies, big cakes,lots of food, and the list goes on.

So here I am thinking I need to blow it out big for Sidnei's birthday. And I want to. It's really the first thing we have been able to celebrate since we'd been separated. My problem: lack of funds. Sidnei has been working on a big construction job that we have been financing. Thankfully we finally got paid, two days AFTER his birthday. So the only thing I could do is cake and drinks. But his family hasn't celebrated with him in like 6 YEARS. The only person that even got him a present was his sister (which is a whole other post). Seriously Happy Birthday was barely even said.

Sidnei's Mom's birthday was the next day. We ordered pizza. One brother didn't even show up. We didn't sing Happy Birthday.

Here is my big problem. I am a big holiday person. I LOVE the commercialism of all holidays. I love that the minute Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is here, and Christmas is out the next day. I love seeing shamrocks the day after Valentine's Day. I love to decorate for holidays, parties, birthdays, etc. I LOVE IT. I love throwing big birthday parties. I love to celebrate. I like to make people feel special on their day.

I am assuming that if I want to celebrate, it will be up to me. And I am assuming my birthday will not be near what I am used to. I feel very American Princess saying this. So I am, so sue me. My party bubble is feeling busted.

Happy Birthday Sidnei!

Today I get to celebrate the life of a man who is good and kind and wonderful. I feel so fortunate to be here with him today. One year ago the only thing we wished for was to be together to celebrate days like this. Today we remember this and we hug a little tighter. And I still cry, but only because I am grateful to share his day with him.

Happy Birthday Sidnei! My world is a better place with you in it and I am grateful to have you in my life every single day; to learn and grow with you. Thank you for a million different things, but mainly for loving me so completely, dreaming big, and working hard.

In response to requests: here are pictures of us from the last couple of months. Mostly just of our faces because we don't have anyone to take the picture for us!

A visit to the country

A friend's birthday

Lagao Silvano (Lake Silvano)

Sidnei's Favorite thing to do: Churrasco (BBQ)

Trombini (The traveling amusement park!)

Up early for the Independence Day Parade

Visiting Friend's in the country

Our first soccer game last friday night!!