We're in!

We got all of the keys yesterday and have officially moved in...with 7 suitcases, a double bed, 4 lounge chairs for the pool, 2 small, plastic tables (also for the pool), a stove, a mini-fridge, and a microwave! We are camping out until our sea shipment arrives (hopefully sooner than the 2nd week of July that they are quoting us since that's when we're scheduled to return to the US for 2 weeks!), but our air shipment arrives tomorrow morning! Not that there's a ton of our stuff in it, but it will be so nice to see familiar things and to use our own towels and sheets again! 

Casa doce casa!

(Home sweet home!)

After almost 3 months of negotiating our the contract for our house, we finally got the keys to our house this weekend! We are homeless no more and after 4 weeks of hotel living, we hope next week will be the end of it! We met the owners on Saturday who were surprisingly sweet and lovely after 3 months of sometimes not so nice negotiation discussions -- between lawyers, of course! We have a list of things that still need to be done before we can move out of the hotel and start camping out for the next month before our sea shipment arrives...hopefully at the end of June! Our air shipment arrives on Wednesday and instead of dealing with the 15 days it would take to clear customs, we are just paying the taxes so we can get it (hopefully!) in about 5 business days. Much more economical than paying for (or living through!!) another 15 days in the hotel! 

I will definitely miss having breakfast and our bed made everyday, but I am just itching to get into the kitchen and make dinner! I normally eat really well ("everything in moderation" is my motto!) and especially now since I'm supporting another human life and all, but it has been really difficult since we eat out all the time. I do take my prenatal vitamins everyday and calcium supplements when needed, but the mini-fridge in our hotel room only holds so much fruits and vegetables! The baby is growing ahead of schedule (more on that below!) so I guess I'm doing something right! Oh the mommy guilt! Starting already! :) 

I'm also really looking forward to getting into the house and our new neighborhood ( condominio fechado) and getting into a routine (which is arguably the LAST thing we should do, per our security briefing today at Bond's office...another post on this to come!) and getting to know our new neighbors better. Being an only child, I'm definitely not lonely as a good book has always been more than enough company, "but no man is an island" and I miss having my  girlfriends around. Combine that with the fact that I'm going to be in a house all day with nothing to do but take care of a newborn (thanks to hiring a maid 3x/week...again, another post coming soon!) and email and Skype can only help so much! 

Luckily, I've met a bunch of great women down here so I know they won't let me go crazy, but this weekend I met another gal who I just knew we'd be instant friends when she showed me the scars from her c-section and shared some pretty personal info within an hour of meeting me! Also a midwesterner, it was great to be able to relate to her AND to have her (and her experience!) close by in those early months when the baby's here, I know will be a Godsend! 

So, basically, we are getting closer everyday to getting settled and finding our ground here...and I have a lot more to post about than I thought ::sound of whip cracking::!

As for the baby, she is growing like a weed in there! I am 25 weeks pregnant today, but as of our last ultrasound on Friday, she is measuring where she should be at around 26 weeks! Bond is 6'4" and I'm 5'(almost, so close!)7", so I don't think she'll be a gymnast one day, but I'm already regretting not buying more 3-6 month clothes since I was thinking I could get more when we're home for the holidays in December! Oh well, more shopping when we return in July, I guess! 

I think I mentioned that our ultrasounds (yes, plural...as in we will have 3 more that are already scheduled before our bebe arrives!) are performed by an MD and not a tech! Healthcare here is another thing that is great...if you have private insurance, I should say (again, very grateful!) The MD was lovely and spoke English enough to point out that our baby is developing perfectly, but I had a little breakdown on the table, which she thankfully thought were just tears of joy! There was a lot that she was saying in Portuguese, of course, and Bond was talking to her and responding to her questions, but he wasn't telling me every word, (much less every comma!) of what she was saying, he was just summarizing it and I got really upset, even though nothing was wrong with the baby and that much I knew. (Just another reason to get back to my flashcards and study, study, study!!)

At any rate, I quickly recovered when she switched over to the 3D/4D images on her ultrasound machine! The last time we saw her this way, you could only make out her appendages clearly and if you squinted, you could see her eyes, nose, mouth, etc. But this time, we can tell that she has Bond's nose (thankfully!) and I think my cheeks (poor girl! I still get them pinched every now and again!) and possibly my lips, but they look a little fuller, so she's a lucky girl! :) We can't wait to meet her and I think our sea shipment should arrive just about the time my "nesting" instinct is supposed to kick in, so we have much to look forward to! 

Eu entendo...mais ou menos!

So, it's been 2 weeks since I've started Portuguese lessons and I am slowly but surely gaining more confidence in speaking with the locals. One of the guys at the Front Desk at the hotel (going on week 4 here!) speaks perfect English and he is kind enough not to interrupt me in English once he pieces together what I'm asking for and lets me finish stumbling around before he corrects me. Very sweet guy. (Though he did think that Bond and I were brother and sister (after staying in the same room for 2 weeks...?) and gave us 2 separate rooms when we came back from a weekend at the beach. I literally burst out laughing when he realized we were, in fact, married. He was so embarrassed and I felt even worse not being able to control my outburst, so maybe that's why he's so patient with me now?)

 

At any rate, I've told Bond that I need to be able to be function better out on my own, so at dinner last night, I told him, "não Inglês!" just to test myself. Well, in hindsight, maybe I should have added a disclaimer such as, "não Inglês...unless I am about to embarrass myself!"

 

It all started innocently enough. We found an amazing Thai restaurant on Saturday night and it was one of the best meals I've had in Brasil and a close second to the Thai restaurant we found in South Africa on our honeymoon. So, last night, we decided to go back again. Well, since it was only 8PM, the place was totally empty and when we walked in, the waiter that had helped us on Saturday night welcomed us back like old friends and told us to pick any table. When we went on Saturday night, the place was packed and we were given a table up in the front, so I hadn't had a chance to check out the back of the restaurant and Bond and I picked a table near the bar. Close to our table, there was a big green space that looked like a little Amazon forest with a ton of vegetation and exotic flowers. The floor looked like clear, shiny marble and was all lit up. It was really pretty and around the corner, I could tell there was a private dining area back there that I wanted to get a closer look at because all I could see was a bunch of big lounge chairs and comfy looking couches with pillows. "Perhaps a fun place to have a small party someday...when I can enjoy caiprinhas again, that is!" I thought. 

 

Well, as I got closer and was standing next to the bar peeking around the corner, I heard the bartender say something really loud in Portuguese, but I didn't think he was speaking to me. And so, after I stepped in 6 inches of water surrounding the gorgeous Amazon-like vegetation, instead of the clear, shiny marble I thought I saw from afar, I understood perfectly what he was desperately trying to tell me. "Hey! You crazy, American woman! Don't step there! It's a fountain!" 

 

I think I'm making great progress, don't you?

 

(We had gotten there so early, that they had yet to turn on the waterfall fountain that only added to the "Amazoness" of it all when they turned it on...5 minutes later. I noticed then that there was another walkway leading to the cool, lounge area in the back, which yes, they do rent out for parties!)

And ANOTHER menina!

I'm gone from my blog roll for a few weeks, and was so excited to see that the DRL's had their baby, too! Again, another GREAT blog about life in Brasil and that odd feeling of friendship with someone that you don't even know! 

Congratulations, DRL's!! 

100% Expats

Now that the remaining 66.33% of our family is together again, we are officially expats! The bebe and I arrived last Wednesday morning and I thought I'd be twiddling my thumbs this week, but that has not been the case! When I got here, Bond and I met with his company's lawyer at the Policia Federal to register as estrangeiros and then onto the bank to apply for a CPF number for me. The lines at both places were LONG, but not for us! Our little bump is like one of those "line jumper" passes you can get at an amusement park down here! By law, anyone who is pregnant, breastfeeding, elderly or handicapped doesn't have to wait in line! It's amazing and we are definitely are obeying the law down here! :)

We headed to the mall that night to attempt to get a cell phone for me, but without the actual CPF card...no dice. We were starving and begrudgingly went to Applebee's! There are so many great restaurants here, so to go there for my first night here was a bit anticlimactic, but it was kind of nice to have some comfort food! The next morning we had to go to "another place to wait" as Bond calls it, but really it was another government building to deal with the CPF, and of course, no wait for us! We sorted out language lesssons for me and I started yesterday for 2 hours a day, 3 times a week.

On Friday, we had our first consult with an OBGYN that was recommended to us. Bond and I both knew that it wasn't going to work out in about 5 minutes when, after greeting us in English, I started explaining why we were there and when I asked her a question...she looked at us like a deer in headlights! No English...so Bond spoke to her in Portuguese and we attempted to get out of there as soon as possible. Why she was referred to us, by a Portuguese teacher that speaks perfect English, no less, I will never know, but...have no fear! We found our new OBGYN the next day...on a Saturday morning!

That night, we went out with Bond's colleague and his wife for dinner and to see "Angels & Demons" (in English, with Portuguese subtitles), so it was nice to catch up with them and have a real date night! It had been ages!

On Saturday morning, we met with our new OBGYN and she is wonderful and put us at ease right away...and not just because she speaks English! She was very warm and understanding and after chatting for a few minutes, she wanted to examine me and I started to protest, thinking we were there for just a consult and I didn't want to waste her time, but she assured me she would answer all of our questions...and really, I wasn't going to pass an offer to hear our baby's heartbeat again (!), so up on the table I jumped...after getting on the scale (up 6 pounds, but I can't wait to get our scale in our sea shipment to have a better sense of accuracy!) and she measured me and then a full minute or so of that lovely heartbeat at 144 bpm! Afterwards, she did indeed answer all of our questions and gave us our "pre-natal card" that will record all of the baby's and my measurements. Nothing was entered into a computer, soI was told to keep this with me and bring it back for every visit. She also went over a list of information for us and Bond and I laughed to see that the first thing on the list was recommendations for stretch mark cream! She also directed me to another MD for an ultrasound. Not a tech, but an actual MD that only does OB ultrasounds! We were quite surprised, but then after leaving an HOUR and A HALF later and only paying US$100, we figured this type of healthcare was something we could definitely get used to! 

On Saturday, the American School here had their International Day and I signed Bond and I up for the American Booth to flip burgers and hot dogs and take orders! Apparently, International Day happens all across SP or Brasil (not sure) and features food and entertainment by the students from all over the world. I quickly learned how to ask if our customers wanted "tomato, onion, and lettuce" on their burgers and I'm proud to say, I don't think I messed up any orders...but everyone is too polite to complain, so I guess I'll never know, but we had a lot of fun. It was also really neat to see the students perform capoiera, dance to all types of music and hear several "garage bands!" It was really cute and we were very impressed with the school and kind of sad our kids won't have the opportunity to go there. 

We also saw some "old friends" and met some new ones, so it was a great way to spend a lovely Fall day...at 75 degrees! We were supposed to go to a "clean out our pantry" party at a couple's home we met that afternoon, but by the time we ran errands and Bond got a haircut, we both laid down and fell asleep...so, I had to call and cancel, which I hated doing, but after being "on" all day meeting new people, trying to speak Portuguese, Spanish and French (!), oh, and being pregnant and on my feet all day ;), I'm glad we stayed in and ordered pizza from our favorite (so far!) local pizza place and watched a movie on TV and called it a night!

On Sunday, we went to a nearby town that is a Dutch settlement called Holumbra. They had sponsored the Holland booth the day before at the American School and Bond was ecstatic that they had "appel flappen," so it was fun to drive out there for some "pretty close to the real thing" Dutch food! They also have several tulip farms there that are sent all over the world, so it will be fun to go back with Bond's family at some point. I'm sure they'll get a kick out of it, too!

(Man...are you still with me?! Almost done!)

Yesterday, we had our house inspection and got to meet one of the owners to get all of our questions answered, so that was a big relief. Hopefully, we can sign the contract by next week and have our air shipment sent and start to move in and begin our month long "camp-out" until our sea shipment arrives! It should be at the port in Santos on June 1st and then we've heard it takes 2-3 weeks for it to clear customs and get here, so we'll see...! That afternoon I had my first language lesson and it went really well! I am being taught by the mom and daughter that own the school and they are both just wonderful. I know the alphabet know and did you know that the Brasilians just added back in "k" and "w" this past year?! Apparently, they are not widely used so they disappeared, but now they are back! So funny! I can pronounce all the vowel sounds (Some better than others! Those accents can be tricky on the e's and o's!) and learned basic introductions, so all in all, off to a great start! 

We are adjusting okay, I think, and each day feeling more at home here...even in a hotel! We have much to be thankful for and though we have tickets booked already for 2 weeks home in July, we have much to look forward to here, as well! 

All for now...and hopefully not so "dear diary" next time! ;)

T-Minus 8 days!

WHEW...! We made it. 

These last few weeks have been a bit of a blur, but outside of a few errands and repacking my suitcases, I think we checked everything off of our lists and are as prepared as we're ever going to be (and, yes, I did just knock on wood!) :) 

Looking back, it wasn't SO bad since Bond has "been there, done that" more times that he'd like to count, but the hardest part was trying to figure out what we'd need for our baby girl, research everything and then hurry up and buy everything so it could be delivered on-time for our sea shipment. It was so overwhelming at first, but then we realized we'd be home at Christmas time and we really just needed to think about what we needed to keep her alive for the first 3 months...everything else we'd deal with when we came home! :) Much easier to handle!

We are officially homeless as all of our stuff is packed up and on it's way "down South!" I am at my mom's for the week and Bond took his one-way trip to Brazil yesterday (!) and thought he'd have to work "remotely" from his hotel for a few days since he's coming from an infected area due to the swine flu, but alas, he's back at the office and preparing for a big meeting next week. I'll be joining him next Tuesday after one last trip to see my mom's family in the mid-west over Mother's Day! 

I'm off to run those last-minute errands and then promise to update more on the house, exciting news, the bebe (of course!) and our appointments last week, but not to worry, she's perfectly healthy as far as we can tell at 21 weeks (!) and growing right on track!

So excited, I just had to post!

Congratulations, Eric and Emily!

I have been reading about their adventures for well over a year now and their blog (and several others!) is one of the main reasons I came around to the idea of moving to Brasil in the first place! It's really crazy how you feel like you get to know someone over the internet, isn't it?! So excited for them and Miss Gabriela and can't wait to read about what's next for them...and us, too! :)

And since I'm here and posting, a quick update on our end...

Visas have been submitted and we pick them up TOMORROW, baby shower and going away party on Saturday (and our 1 year anniversary, though, I think our gift to each other is going to be a babymoon in June...or a puppy, but I think that's a bit too much change in one year, so we'll see!) and then on Monday and Tuesday the movers come to pack up all of our stuff and the "Babies R Us" store that has opened up in our living room these past few weeks! No joke, we have bought EVERYTHING this little girl is going to need for the first 3 months of life, but I still feel like I'm forgetting something. We ordered most everything online to get better deals and to avoid sales tax, so when we went to Target yesterday to get some other last minute things, I almost started crying when I walked down one of the baby aisles! It is just so overwhelming to see all of that "stuff" in one place...and SO MANY options! Immediately, I felt like grabbing a cart and walking down the aisle with my arm out to push as much stuff in as possible to make sure we have everything! Thinking that would be awkward, I grabbed Bond and was like, "get me out of here before I make you question why you married me!"

So, I'm now banned from mega box stores before we leave and that is fine with me! The only things left to shop for are clothes for me and the bump, which almost brings on another bout of tears! I swear, slap the word "wedding" or "baby" on something and it goes up at least 50%! I fear that Bond is going to have a stroke as more boxes come from UPS and FedEx everyday and though I never thought I'd say this, I am TIRED of shopping! And now, shopping for myself when I'm getting bigger is the last thing I want to do, especially when I've seen maternity jeans for $200 (!) so...I'm thinking mumu's. 

Okay, gotta run and finish crossing things off my 5 page list! 

And the "Bad Blogger Award" goes to...

ME!

And as much as I hate them, I DO have some really great excuses: I have another, private blog for friends and family that I am also a little behind on (!), shopping out the ying-yang, trying to see as many friends as I can, get in as many appointments as I can with MDs, carpet cleaners, hair stylist, A/C guy, painter, carpenter, etc., a last minute trip to Brasil,  more shopping and A LOT of naps! 

So, that's basically what I've been up to as we are T-Minus 12 days until the movers come and pack up our house! I do hope to be a bit better at keeping this blog up to date once we are finally settled again, but I seriously doubt anyone has really missed me! ;)

What's that? What all I have we been shopping for, you ask?  Excellent question...in the last 2 weeks, we have bought a table and chairs, a rug, patio furniture and I think ALL of the dresses in sizes NB to 12 months at BabyGap, since we found out we are having a little GIRL in September! :) We are thrilled and though this news deserves a post of it's own, this will have to do for now! But as a proud mama, I will force, I mean, SHOW, you all of the 3D images and movies that we got of our little menina swimming around and breathing amniotic fluid at 16 weeks! AH-MAY-ZING, let me tell you! I hope we get to go back before we leave at around 2o weeks! 

And, because I really can't stop now (!), I just started really showing this past week, have felt her move and KICK, and just yesterday, she kicked Bond's hand when it was on my tummy! So, so cool and I have to admit, I do push my tummy around "just" a little bit sometimes if I haven't felt her in awhile! So bad, I know, but now that I have felt her, the worrywart in me has come out full force! How my mother let me out of the womb, I'll never know because as much as I want to meet her, I just want her to be safe in there for as long as possible! Okay, enough baby stuff, though I really could go on...!

Other exciting news...we got our visas approved in Brasil on Monday and if the stars align, we're going to submit our passports at the Embassy back home on Friday and then 5-8 days later, we should be officially, official expats! Bond will be back down early May, but I'm spending the week with my mom and family in Nebraska over Mother's Day and then I'll be down here permanently in mid-May! I hate that we're not coming down together on our ONE-WAY tickets (gulp!), but this trip had already been planned before we knew when our visas were going to be submitted, so it is what it is and then no more traveling apart for a LONG time! Our one year anniversary is on April 25th, and I think we've spent about half of our first year apart! No fun...and no more! ;)

Speaking of here...I am in Brasil and have been the past week, but heading back tomorrow morning on the DAY flight this time! No more overnights for me while preggo if I can manage it. WAY to hard on my body if/when I can't sleep. It was a quick trip that wasn't going to happen originally, but there's just way too much going on for Bond and I to be apart for 2 weeks. When he's gone, we barely get to talk for more than 30 minutes/day because of his job and the time difference, so trying to make big decisions, catch up on day to day, etc. just doesn't happen and we end up getting into "discussions" that just make everything else worse..especially over the phone! It was a great trip though and once again, really looking forward to coming back...even if I do get quite homesick the second we land back home!

Since it was a holiday weekend, we went to Tabatinga Beach and to Ihlabela. Great weather and nice to relax a little bit before more craziness ensues! The expat group here also had a lunch today and there were probably 20 women there from all over...Spain, Italy, Mexico, Sweden, and of course, the US, so it was great to see several women I had met before, as well as some new friends! Everyone is just so helpful and I love hearing where everyone has been/where they're going and it's so nice to have such a great support system already in place. The group is really getting up and running now and there are a bunch of different committees. I am also really look forward to getting involved with the different charities that one of the mission groups works with down here since my last day with the Junior League was last week! Sad, but they'll be there when I get back!

As for the group, I was a little worried at first that it would be overwhelming to be in such a "small" group and kind of get stuck with the same group of friends and not really branch out, but that is not the case at all! There are over 70 members so far, and I just met a German family in our hotel this morning that is moving to a nearby town, so new people are always coming and going!

We also got to see our house again today and though it's definitely bigger than our condo at home, it's not as big as we remembered. It will feel a lot more cozy with all of our stuff in it, so that was a big relief! I also still love it, which I was worried about since when we first saw it, we were in and out in about 20 minutes!  

Okay, I better wrap this up since Bond should be back any minute and we are driving to Sao Paulo tonight so I can catch my flight back home in the morning! He comes back tomorrow night and then, well...I hope to update in between, but I imagine it will be more of the same this past month! So, that's my disclaimer and I refuse to feel guilty about it in between! ;)

A stake in the ground

So we pulled the trigger on the "big house!" I haven't written much about it because it has been quite the ordeal, but basically our relocation consultant made a counter offer last week on our behalf...WITHOUT our consent. She couldn't get ahold of Bond since he was in a huge meeting that day (and why she didn't think to email or call me is still a mystery!), and so when she didn't hear back from him (not that we had a deadline!), she counter offered. It wouldn't have been so bad had it not been higher than we wanted to go (!), but with the exchange rate we are still okay and finally decided that the hassle of having to look again wasn't worth it. Yes, we were/are a bit confused by how this would even happen as well, but alas, "all's well that ends well," right?! That is if they accept our offer...! Since we don't have our visas yet, we had to push back our start date to June 1 vs May 1, so that was the only thing we changed. Bond is oddly optimistic that our visas will be approved in Brasil any day now, whereas I'm thinking end of April at the earliest. We'll see, we'll see...

A week in review

Sunday night: completely lost it at the airport when saying goodbye to Bond. As in, bawled my eyes out, completely inconsolable. Cried all the way through security. And Customs. Three hours of sleep out of 10 on the way to Houston because of turbulence and the early stages of what turned into the worse cold I've ever had. Another 2 hour flight home and I thought I was going to be carried off the plane in a body bag. Pure misery.

Monday-Thursday: Contemplating going to the ER; sleeping; ordering groceries from Peapod since I lost FOUR POUNDS while in Brazil (!); coughing so hard I got SICK in the shower; sleeping; my mom coming to the rescue and curing me with homemade chicken noodle soup; sleep, sleep and more sleep; drama with the housing situation (as in, we still don't have one); more naps, followed by sleeping 9 hours straight last night with no trips to the loo in the middle of the night! How'd that happen?!

Friday: Long shower, shaved my legs, changed the sheets in the "hot zone" that was our bedroom, getting a manicure and a pedicure and returning to the land of the living!

Never in my life have I been knocked down by a cold like this! But lesson learned, even though I still don't look pregnant (and try as I might to imagine that the little "bump" I've had forever is anything other than a cry for more cardio!), I definitely am and that means taking it easy! Holy cow. Still get tired easily, but to anyone pregnant out there, a word of advice: just don't get sick. Fighting a cold with Tylenol is like plugging a hole in a dam with your finger. 

Hold, please.

Essentially, that is what our potential landlord told us today. Apparently, this rental process is new to them so they want to take the weekend to think about our counter-offer. Understandable since it was a bit aggressive, but it's going to be a LONG weekend nonetheless!

Bond has been working long hours and has to work tomorrow, possibly on Sunday, too. I feel so bad that he has so much on his plate and he feels bad that he can't spend more time with me, but at least we are together, even if only at night for a few hours.

Today I had lunch with one of Bond's co-worker's wives. She is Argentinian and also pregnant! She is very sweet and we had a great time talking over a long lunch. They are looking in the same areas we are for a house, so hopefully we'll be neighbors! We already have plans to find prenatal exercise classes and it will be so nice to have someone close by to commiserate with, especially if our husbands are going to be gone as much as we think they will be! 

I leave for the States on Sunday night and then Bond has a killer week here while I attempt to earn at least one free miles ticket with all the "stuff" we need to buy back home! He gets back next Saturday and is home for a week before he comes back down for another week or so. Hopefully, I can come back with him for the first week he's here, even if I am just eating bonbons by the pool all day and slowly becoming a "lady who lunches!" Ha! So not the case...I only drink fruit juice by the pool! 

I wonder...how many boxes of Cheerios can I hide in our container?

This question, and many others, kept me up last night after my 2nd trip to the loo! So, I mentally started adding to our ever growing list of things to do/buy and then I started thinking about everything ELSE we'll need down the road for us and for the baby. See, I haven't been worried about actually having the baby here, because babies are born everyday all over the world and after seeing 2 live deliveries and a c-section many moons ago, I have been leaning towards a c-section ever since. I think it's the Type A in me that likes the idea of knowing when something's going to happen and what to expect, not to mention, we want our moms to come down after the bebe is born and since my mom still works, we can easily schedule the new grandmas' trips by having it scheduled. And, most obviously, seeing as how c-sections seem to be SOP for having babies here in Brasil, it will be one less thing to worry about. I hope.

So, my real worry for our baby (today!) is what to do when it's about 6 months old. I want to breastfeed as long as I can (and I can't even THINK of the possibility that we'll have problems and breastfeeding just won't work for us...) and then my plan was to finally get that food processor we just had to have as a wedding gift, (but never got!) to make baby food, preferably organic. But, what about the next fingerfood phase? What am I going to do then? Do they have Cheerios here? Can I bring a year supply down with us and somehow store it?! Probably not, so what do Brasilian moms feed their toddlers?! I shared this early morning panic with Bond and as he patted his crazy, pregnant wife on the head, he enlightened me with the fact that there are millions of babies born in Brasil every year and he bets that there is something like Cheerios that will do just the trick!

Sigh. I had to agree with his logic, but while I love food and pride myself on being somewhat adventurous, I'm having a hard time getting used to a typical Brasilian diet. I like the rice and beans (especially for the um, fiber!) but eating beef at lunch is a bit heavy for me, and even more so now that I'm pregnant. I'm LOVING all of the fresh fruit and trying to get used to the different veggies, but I'm a little worried that I'm not getting all of the vitamins I need, much less the baby. My diet for the last week and a half has consisted of yogurt, fruit, wheat bread and juice for breakfast; lunch is up in the air, but normal options have been chicken, pasta, bread, pizza, rice/beans, some salad/tomatoes, and fruit; and then dinner is usually the same as lunch, if I'm lucky, but even though I'm not showing yet, my ever-expanding uterus must be pushing up on my stomach, because I can only eat a little bit before I feel full...and then I'm hungry again about 2 hours later. So, by the end of the week, I had gone through the groceries we got to keep in the room AND the mini-bar.

Which leads me to the mini-meltdown on Friday night. It was late and I was starving (typical) and Bond and I decided we needed a little slice of Americana, so we planned for a "date night" and decided to go to TGIFriday's and see a movie. Well, because we got a little lost, we ended up short on time and ended up going to a knock-off TGIFriday's type place where I could only order from the appetizer menu to avoid having popcorn for dinner. I wanted a burger and fries, but could only get their version of mini-burgers, fries and a salad. No problem, right? Well, shame on me, I was so hungry, I didn't read the menu closely to see that my dinner choice was 2 "burgers," 2 chicken sandwiches, and then some mystery meat that I think must have been bife. 

Well, the food came quickly as promised, but as soon as I took a bite of the burger, I knew it wasn't the taste I was craving. I tried the chicken sandwich and same thing, and the last option, just did not look appealing, despite my loudly growling stomach! Que Niagra Falls and a very concerned Bond, not to mention, our sweet waiter that was distraught that I obviously didn't like what I had ordered and I had my first, "I want to go home!" moment here in Brasil.

Bond, bless his heart, just hugged me, and I went to the bathroom to really let it out and then calm down. When I came back, my salad had appeared and so did Bond's dinner choice...chicken wings! Now, back home, Bond orders his wings "center of the Sun" hot and STILL slathers them with whatever super, spicy sauce they have, but miraculously, these wings were like little fried chicken wings and PLAIN! There were a lot and Bond had eaten my dinner, so I dove into those little chicken wings (after removing the skin!) like no one's business and ate my salad and fries and couldn't have been happier walking out of there. I think I even told Bond, "it wasn't that bad!" Amazing what some caloric intake will do for a starving, hormonal pregnant woman!

Now, I know it won't be the last time I just want to run home, but despite my list of worries, I'm trying to keep it all in perspective and realize that even though things are going to be different here, I really believe the "good different" is going to outweigh the "not so good different." Bond and our family will have more time together with a 10 minute commute (vs the 2+ hours each way at home!), I get to "retire" for a few years and be the stay-at-home mom I've always wanted to be while our kids are little, learn a new language and about a new culture, travel to new places, meet new friends and loads of other great things that I probably can't even imagine right now! 

But, I still think I'm going to try to horde as much Cherrios in the drawers of our dressers before they are packed up. Just in case.

It's all about options.

This is Bond's favorite phrase and we finally have some as it relates to housing! Hooray! We have 3, but really 2 since 1 isn't even on the market, yet, and is currently housing some expats I met back in October that move out at the end of April.

The first house is HUGE. Like we could fit our 2200 sq. ft. condo back home inside this sucker three times over! BUT, because of the "global economic meltdown" this property is within our range. Amazing. Why such a big house for 2.5 people and a dog? Excellent question! Simple answer...it's secure, has A/C and we could move in by May! It also has room for all of our "big, American" appliances that we plan to buy in the US, use here and then upgrade ours back home when we return. 

The second house is stuck in the 80s. It has gold and silver accents throughout (gold handrail, gold and silver handles on everything that has a drawer or door) and some considerably dated bathrooms. It's also very big (like only 2 of our condos could fit in it!) is secure and has A/C and a great outdoor area. This is the one though that is still occupied and the current residents haven't even told the owners they are moving, yet. The timing really doesn't work for this one for us, but it could if we were willing to live in a hotel. For a month.

The third house we are referring to as the "estate." Holy cow. So, when the real estate agent first told me about this place, she said that there was a little lake when you drive through the gate. "Oh, that's nice," I thought. Thinking she meant the gate leading into the entire community, NOT the property itself. Language barrier...won't be the last time! So, I just stared laughing when we drove into the gated community and then pulled up in front yet another gate, where I could see a very nice little lake inside! (Again, amazingly, due to the crisis, this property is within our price range and actually only a few hundred dollars more than our condo back home!) The house itself is big, of course, but not so big that it feels overwhelming. I actually love the floor plan and it has a security alarm (Bond about did a cartwheel when he saw this!) and A/C in 2 of the rooms and fans in the rest. But, because it's in a fancier community and has it's own gate, I'm a little concerned about feeling like a lonely, little princess in this castle! There are other expats in this community, too, but it's smaller than the other 2 options are (like 30 houses vs 1800!) and the street outside of this little gated casa doesn't have a sidewalk, which is a necessity for using our fancy, new stroller and walking off the baby weight I'm sure I'll eventually gain!

We made an offer on the first house yesterday, got a counter-offer today, and then putting in another counter offer tomorrow. If they don't bite...we walk! Yikes! So, though we have options, nothing is ideal, but I know we'll have a house one way or another. Even if I do get lost in it!

Still homeless

Well, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised that we haven't found a house yet, considering that we looked at over 80 properties before we bought our condo...and still had buyer's remorse for about a year after that! It's not that we didn't see a lot, but out of 24+ properties in 2 days, we only have 2 contenders and neither Bond or I are really excited about either of them. Several of the houses just wouldn't work at first glance due to glaring security issues (windows that don't lock, for example) and others were really old and out-dated. 

So, we're hoping that we find something this week that can be negotiated into our price range, has A/C in at least 2 rooms, a security alarm, that it can pass Bond's company's security test and will be available in May! What? Too much to ask for?! ;) A girl can dream, right?

Honestly though, I'm a little worried about what happens if we don't find something now! I have already extended my stay until next Sunday to give us more time, so I hope that helps, but we need to buy appliances (most places might have a stove, but nothing else!) before the movers come to pack up our house in about 5 weeks, not to mention I (read my mom and I) need to make curtains, as all of these things are very expensive here! Actually, after finding Bond's razors at a drugstore this weekend at US$50 for 4 razors, we've decided most everything is more expensive here, despite the exchange rate, except for produce (dirt cheap and oh, so good!), Starbucks coffee (US$3 for a latte!), manicures (US$7) and massages (US$35 for an hour!)

I know that everything will work out though, as it always does, but I just hope it happens sooner than later! Wish us luck!

A room with a view

This weekend we got out of town and the business hotel we've been staying out and headed to the country! We went to a fazenda (farm) about 30 minutes from here to stay at a resort that used to be a coffee plantation in the 1800s-1900s. All of the buildings were original (except where the actual guest rooms were, we think!) and were Colonial-style architecture set on rolling, green hills over looking a river. It was really beautiful and peaceful and perfect for laying by the pool (also probably a modern addition!), if not a bit musty! :) They had a lot of fun things I couldn't do like horse-back riding and a cachaca tasting of the family's secret recipe, which Bond said was quite good! Oh, well...next time! There were a ton of kids there and the resort had a few young, college age girls that kept them all busy with activities. 

The interesting thing to me was that we saw a couple with 1 small child (probably about 8 months old) that had brought along their nanny (baba.) I know that this is really common in Brasil for wealthy families to have a maid, a gardner, and a driver even, but I was surprised to see a nanny on a weekend getaway. The parents played with their baby at the pool, but when it was time to change him, the nanny came to do it. Yes, I realize that's her job, but it was just odd to see the parents standing by while the nanny did the dirty work. Again, it's her job, but this just falls under the "different in Brasil" category, I guess! 

And now back to your regular program!

I know, off to a bad start already, but I have good reasons! :) 1. Nothing really Brazil related was going on as we're still waiting for our visas and 2. I was crazy busy finishing my old job and getting ready to come to Brazil for a week and a half! 

I arrived on Saturday and have just been enjoying time with Bond over the weekend after a week apart! He has been staying at a business hotel in town near his office, so we went to a resort just outside of town for the weekend for a change of scenery. The pool alone was reason enough to go, as it had several cabanas you could use and as much pineapple juice a girl could ever want! I'm addicted to it and it tastes even better when they add mint! Yum! So I recovered from my 10 hour flight on Saturday, sleeping in the shade at the pool and then we went to a pizza party that was planned by the local expat group that night.

We had a great time and it was so wonderful to meet so many families. There were several Italians (I had no idea that outside of Italy, Brazil has the largest Italian population!) a Belgian couple, a French couple and 2 other American families and us. It was a lot of fun and everyone was so nice and genuinely helpful. I am hoping to "job shadow" a gal that volunteers at the American School here, so that will be fun and hopefully lead to a volunteer position for me, too! 

Then on Sunday, we hung out at the pool again and then drove around town, did some price comparing at a local grocery store and found my favorite ice cream place in town! When I was here in October, some of the ladies from the expat group had met me for lunch and they took me to this ice cream place afterwards. It's so great because, like several places in Brazil, it's like a buffet and then you pay by the weight. I'm not sure what the local name is, but we call them "kilo restaurants." Great for quick lunches, but even better for ice cream! They have all of these different waffle bowl and cone options and then you can serve yourself from a huge variety of ice cream and then every kind of topping imaginable! Heaven! After that, we checked into the business hotel near Bond's office and called it a night.

Then today, I met up with a Scottish girl here who is married to Brazilian. We have been emailing for a few months now, so it was great to finally meet her. She is super sweet and we talked for a few hours and will definitely be getting together again soon! Yay! A new friend! :)

So...now, just waiting for Bond to come "home" from work and grab some dinner. Wednesday-Friday, we're going house-hunting, so that should be post-worthy, but other than that...consider yourself updated in my "limboland" life! Hopefully the "adventure" part will kick in soon or else I fear this will be one boring blog! 

Sign of the times

Never in my life did I think I'd get laid off...and actually be happy about it! I went in today to clean out my desk and handle loose ends and since no one knows yet that we're moving (!), everyone was surprised at how chipper I was! Next Wednesday will be my last official day in the office, but that's purely to have lunch with my boss at our favorite Mexican place! I'm hoping to join Bond in Brasil a few days early, too, so hopefully I will fly out that night and be able to enjoy some sunshine and warm weather for a few days before we go house-hunting.

As for the economy, we are doing our part to help get it going! We power shopped this weekend when we went to my mom's house to share our big news and we are now done with all of the big items for the baby. Since the movers are packing up our house in mid-April, everything has to be delivered ASAP so that it makes it here in time to get in the container. 

It's funny to see how people react to us moving to Brasil, but even more entertaining when we share we're having a (gasp!) baby down there! It will be different of course, but different is not bad (a favorite mantra!) and we figure that nature's pretty much going to take care of 99% of everything, so what is there to worry about?! (Ha! I say that now, but it was a long road to get to this place!) The best part was shopping for maternity clothes even though my pre-pregnancy clothes still fit! Gap Maternity has a fake bump that you can use to try things on and it was fun to surprise Bond with a sneak preview, until he asked, "Ohmygosh! Is that how big you're going to get?!" Sadly, the fake bump is only an estimate for how big most women are at 6-7 months. Nice.

"Introduce yourself!"

That phrase comes from one of my all time favorite SNL skits with Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri in the 90's, I think, where they were reject cheerleaders! ("My name is Craig. I give good hugs. I'm not your friend, if you do drugs!")

At any rate, I thought since I now have comments (Plural! Wow, thanks!) that I should divulge a little bit more about the girl in the hot pink shoes! (You can't tell from the picture, but they are faux snakeskin, too, and by far my most outrageous pair of shoes that I never wear because they are completely impractical!)

As for other fun facts, I'm taking a cue from all of those posts on Facebook lately. No, not the one about giving birth. One, for obvious reasons, and two, there is no need to share those kind of details with hundreds of your "friends" much less all of you nice (four) people!

So, you already know I have a pair of hot pink shoes that I never wear, but here are another 20 random facts about me. I think the ones on Facebook are "25 Random Things," but I can't think of anything else and this seems excessive enough as it is!

2. I am an only child. Sort of. I come from an "all-American" family. Not the 1950's kind, but rather the 1970's version where divorce was nearing the "1 out of every 2 households" statistic.

3. I have been contributing to the GNP since I was 15 and worked at an after-school day care program at the YMCA. I have had 16 jobs since then in my 31 years, including college and summer jobs. It's hard to think about "retiring" for a few years, but I'm excited to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Besides a mom, I guess I should say!

4. I am married to a spy. Okay, not really, but he's quite the linguist and has lived all over the world, so when we first stared dating, this was a constant joke. For the purpose of this blog, I will refer to him (usually!) as James Bond, or 007.

5. James Bond and I met on match.com. On our first date, we had wine and cheese (two of my favorite things), talked for 4 hours on a Wednesday night, and left holding hands. Our moms met 2 months later and I moved in "officially" (ahem) 6 months after we met.

6. I have an unhealthy appetite for parmigiano reggiano cheese. So much so, that when I found out that there is an entire TOWN in Italy (Parma, no less!) where it is produced, I promptly told Bond that we were going there for our 5 year wedding anniversary. Don't worry...Bond loves Parma ham, so he's on board, too.

7. I used to drink pickle juice from the jar. Actually, I still would but that's a lot of sodium and I'm puffy enough as it is these days!

8. I moved to the "big city" 7 years ago without a job. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.

9. I am a trained speed reader. In 7th grade, my English teacher had a fancy projector that would highlight blurbs of sentences from a story and it would eliminate the "little words" like "and, the to, as, etc." It was timed and as we progressed the time each blurb was highlighted would get shorter and shorter, training you to read and comprehend more quickly. It definitely worked as I have been known to inhale books.

10. I can sleep most anywhere, but at night, I have to sleep with an eye patch and a white noise sound machine. I blame the eye patch on our neighbors' bathroom light that FLOODS our bedroom with light at night and wakes me up. The sound machine is also a byproduct of city living when I lived with my girlfriends in an adorable duplex, with nothing but plywood between the ceiling and the floor. For 3 years. I literally cried tears of bliss when the 3 college guys above us moved out.

11. In a previous life, I wanted to be a nurse. My background is in Exercise Physiology and my first job out of college was in cardiac rehab, with the plan that I'd always go back to school. That all changed when a nurse I worked with offered her veins for me to practice sticking her for a basic blood draw. I promptly passed out from seeing the blood.

12. I never met an argyle sweater I didn't love.

13. I paid off $25,000+ of credit card and car loan debt in 4 years while living in the city. It was one of the hardest things I ever did, but I completely learned my lesson. I now have 1 credit card with a reasonable limit that I pay off every month.

14. My spice rack is organized alphabetically.

15. I have helped to deliver 2 babies and got to videotape a c-section! One of my aunts was a Labor and Delivery nurse and I job shadowed her one day (before the passing out incident.) It was by far one of the best days and though I have always wanted to be a mom and have kids, it was a great form of birth control at the time.

16. I used to secretly unwrap my presents before Christmas and very carefully re-wrap them. I still feel guilty about this and have vowed to never peek again!

17. When I first moved to the city and got a job, I had the biggest crush on my Greek co-worker. He was gorgeous and such a hard worker that he had 2 jobs! For his other job, he worked in a bar and stayed up all night, rarely sleeping before he would come to his day job, but somehow always wide awake! He was very successful and frequently would pay for our lunch, dinner or night on the town (with other co-workers, of course! Think group date!) with one of the many $100 bills he always had on him...in a roll with a rubber band. He also had really bad allergies and I would buy him allergy medicine because I felt so bad for him. But the meds must not have worked so well, because his nose would bleed all the time. It wasn't until his birthday party 2 months later that I saw him using what was really causing his nose bleeds. Did I mention that I grew up in the mid-west in a town that was recently named the "best county to raise your kids in?" What can I say, "love" really is blind and yes, I really was that naive. And he really was that hot!

18. I make really, really good rice krispie treats.

19. I got lost in Disney World. My half-sister and her husband took me and my nephew when I was about 12. We had a great day and when we were walking out en masse, I heard someone shout out my name behind me. I turned to look who was calling me and no sooner did I turn around, my sister was gone! A vendor took me to some assigned meeting place where kids go with "lost parents" and I was promptly found about 20 minutes later. I don't think my mom ever found out...until now! :)

20. I just got laid off today. I was going to quit in 2 weeks anyway, but never in my life did I think this would be happy news! With Bond traveling back and forth to Brasil 1-2 weeks at a time now, it will be much better that we can be together more and I can get ready for oh, you know, an international move...while pregnant! ;)

Okay, that was way harder than I thought as I started it over the weekend!

It's about time!

Well, after about a year of reading a dozen or so blogs about Brazil, I now have one of my very own! I knew that if we really did end up being transferred to Brazil, I would start a blog to not only document what's undoubtedly about to be one of the best (and craziest!) experiences of my life, but also to help others that are in the same boat. In fact, without doing all of this research over the past year, I seriously doubt I would be as excited as I am now about going.

When this opportunity first presented itself about 2 years ago, my first reaction was, "absolutely not." I was raised in the same house in a suburban, midwestern town, went to a Big 10 university, and only when I was 24 did I move to "the big city," telling my mom it was the only way she was going to have grandchildren someday!

It's funny because I have always loved to travel, but I just couldn't fathom picking up and moving to a new country, away from family and friends, and ultimately, having a baby there! And now, 2 years later (and expecting a baby!), I'm in a whole new place about going. Of course I'm sad about being away from my mom and family and friends, but it's "only" 2-3 years, we'll be back home a lot, and everyone is promising to visit (!), so it has an upside for everyone!

And though everyday isn't going to be a vacation (or a picnic, for that matter!), I know in the end, our much deliberated decision is going be a good thing for our family.