Brazilian Celebrations

In between all the children's birthday parties here, we've also attended some other celebrations: a wedding, graduation and the sacred Sunday family lunch.

Wedding:

The marriage of Brazilian friends Marcio and Andrea is the only wedding we've been to here, but we don't think we can hang. We were some of the first guests to leave the reception around 1 a.m., while most everyone else stayed until 5 in the morning.

The ceremony.

The reception.

Geoff and the guys.

The bride on stage, leading everyone in a Macarena-like group dance.

The day after the wedding, it's traditional to have a feijoada lunch.

Feijoada is THE dish of Brazil, like tacos are to
Mexico or pizza is to Italy.
It's a meat-black bean mixture, always served with rice,
chopped lettuce and an orange slice.

I've never seen so many black been before.
Leo, a true Brazilian, ate his first plate of beans and rice. And loved it.

Graduation:

The most adorable girl in all of Brazil and my patient portuguese tutor, Amabile, recently earned her undergraduate degree in Italian from UFSC, the same university Geoff and I attend. Not surprisingly, she was the top graduate in her area, and Eri and I went to her big day. It was a lot like graduation ceremonies in the United States, except rather than playing Green Day's "Time of Your Life," they inexplicably played "Born to Be Wild" and "Hey, Jude."

Amabile crossing the stage.

All the undergraduates of UFSC's foreign languages program.

The graduate are sworn in of sorts, though we weren't
sure what exactly they were swearing they would do with their degree. 

Sunday Lunch with the Fam:
Our BBFFs (the extra B is for Brazilian) Marcel and Marina often invite us over to their family's Sunday lunch, which actually starts shortly after breakfast and lasts until dinner time. Here, the big meal of the day is lunch and on weekends, it's common for families to get together to eat, watch soccer and hang out.

Leo, who loves mealtime, was particularly
excited to be at this Thanksgiving-like gathering.

Seafood risotto. Delicious.

Flying Geoff's helicopter was our contribution.
(That, and chocolate chip cookies and brownies, which don't exist here,
so they seem just as special as the drone.)

Whoa, looks like Leo is carrying Marina!

Playing!

Marcel and his biggest fan.

Summer Vacation: Northeastern Brazil

Our big trip this summer (Dec. - Feb. here) was touring around northeastern Brazil for two weeks. Brazil is such a large country, its regions are diverse and vary in appearance, food, and accent, much like regions in the United States. The food, especially, was different from where we live in southern Brazil, but the people are just as warm and friendly.   

Stop #1 Natal: 

Our resort on the beach. After a tough semester at the university for
Geoff and I, plus sleepless nights with a newborn,
this place was the perfect start to our vacation.

We saw lots of people at the swim-up bar,
but suspiciously not so many people getting out of the pool to use the bathroom.

The kiddie pool was fun for adults, too.

It's a good vacation when you spend most of
your days in a swimsuit and diaper (respectively).

The beaches of the northeast! 

                                        

                                                 

                                                 

Stop # 2 Joao Pessoa: 

My little doll face. Love her. 

                                             

People gather in masses to watch the sunset from the most eastern
point in the country while some dude with a ponytail plays
 churchy music in a pontoon floating nearby. 

                                     

Eri and I looking for fish on our boat tour.

                                       

Carneiros:

Amidst all the resorts, Brazil is still a developing nation. 

Geoff paid a few dollars to ride this contraption, called "Aire Bunda,"
or your bum flying through the air and landing in a lake.

We never get tired of the beach for obvious reasons.

Our beach hut, though it was hardly primitive. 

Our waiter Leo with our son Leo.

We took a "taxi" up and down the beach one morning.

Fresh lobster!

No tan line

Eri exploring the reefs at low tide.

Stop #4 Olinda-Recife:

It was the start of Carnival in Olinda-Recife. We thought
Eri was onto something when she wanted a mask from the street vendors.

This little old woman is making us tapioca
crepes, a regional dish we ate daily.

It looks like NASCAR, but it's actually people
walking to the city's downtown for the Carnival parade.

We love Brazil! 

Tidbits

Health code violation: We have all adapted well to the Brazilian lifestyle, though there are some things that will probably never fully be embraced. Street meat, see below, is popular here, but after almost two years in Brazil, I still can't believe that this looks delicious to anyone.

Dance: Eri, 4, has always loved to dance. A few months ago, she started going to ballet class, which she loves, and also dancing to Michael Jackson YouTube videos at home, which we love. (Think Michael Jackson post-Jackson Five yet pre-white woman looking, i.e., the Thriller, Bad, Billie Jean era.) Here she is in her appropriately coordinating clothes. (We had to improvise a little on the rhinestone glove.)

Context Clues: There are, to us, many oddities living in a foreign country. Here is one such example. Based on this box, what could possibly be inside? While "something for transvestites named Gina" is a good guess, the answer is toothpicks. Strange, right?

Miscellaneous pix:

Eri is no stranger to the river, but until recently had only
ventured down calm stretches of water.
On this day -- one of the best of Geoff's life -- Eri and
her dad rafted a class III river.

Selfie at the beach with the sweetest little boy ever.

He's World Cup ready!
We're not sure that can be said for the rest of Brazil,
but we'll find out in just a few weeks...

Mother's Day/ Dia das Maes

Sunday was Mother's Day in Brazil as well as in the United States, though I am certain I will never receive a present like the one Eri, 4, made for me in preschool: A picture book chronicling a baby's journey from inside the womb to the outer world. This is strange for more than a few reasons. One, I am well aware of exactly what takes place and, two, I found this gift very funny, which I'm sure was not the intent, and also very confusing -- what was the intent?

This is the cover, which says, "It all started here!"
At first I thought these were balloons. Nope, they are "esperma."

This page explains that there was no room to move around inside
and that something had to be done ... 

… so the baby decided to head out.
While I think Eri did an excellent job depicting the
situation with her color choices,
I find this unrealistic as more than 80 percent of
Brazilian women have c-sections.
Also, in parentheses it says,
"wow, it was tight ..." Just keeps getting funnier, right?

Eri also made me a notepad photo frame for the refrigerator. 

The children were asked to bring a picture
from home for this.