You know how negativity spreads? Don't contribute to it!

There is a certain family (who's son is sweet and lovely and I have nothing against) who has done nothing but complain about our school the whole year; the school "breaks up friendships" because the classes have to be remixed each year, the toys are not new, the class room "is shit," when we send notes home around the children's necks it's "horrible," and the school is always asking for money or donations for some thing or another. I've about had it up to the moon with these people, trying to placate their constant complaints just so I won't have to listen to them anymore. You'd think I was a horrible teacher, that the school was the worst kind, and that no one knew how to treat children. You'd also think that if they hated American styled schooling so much, they wouldn't have put their child in am American school. Makes sense.... This is not a case of this-is-our-district-school-and-we-have-to-send-our-kid-there - it's a private school and they can take the kid out and send them somewhere else any time.

In contrast, I have some wonderful parents who constantly want to know what they can do with their child at home to help him follow what he's learning in school, say they agree 100% with time out for hitting or breaking rules, and seem to genuinely TRUST the school and teachers to TEACH their child. And to give them limits.

Now, unfortunately, it's true that teachers try very hard not to treat the student based on the feelings about the parents, but it can happen. And at the end of the day, which child would you rather spend time talking to and interacting with? The one who's parents trust you and think you're doing the right thing, or the one who's parents think you don't know how to properly treat their child? Which child are you going to to out of your way for to enhance a teachable moment? Which child are you going to spend more time explaining the right and wrong way to? It should be all equal, I know, but sometimes when you have a class full of crazy kids, you hate to waste your effort and love on a child who's parents think you are horrible and don't trust what you teach or say.

I'm not saying that you always have to agree with your child's teacher or the teacher will not treat the child fairly, but think about the negativity you spread with constant complaints, and then think about where the negativity will spread to next, and you may see how much damage it can do.

Ju woke up early one morning this last week and came down to have breakfast with me. I love these little moments we can have in the morning, except when I have to run out the door to the transport van and figure out what to do with him to keep him out of trouble until papai gets up or his nanny arrives. This particular morning, we were eating our bread with cheese and watching Lela who was watching some birds in the garage. Ju started telling a story:

"Ju is up there, waaaaaay up there and throw the rocks, wooooooo, waaaaaaaay over there. And ah, throw the rocks, wooooosh, wooosh, throw the rocks in the 'rua' (street in Portuguese), waaaaaay over there."

"Oh really, you threw the rocks into the street from up there? Well, we don't want to throw rocks into the street because you could hit someone in the head and it would hurt. We don't want to hit people in the head with rocks. People don't like it." I say

"No, I don throw the rocks in the head, no. I throw the rocks at the moon!"

A conversation between Ju and I this morning.


"Mommy, I wanna banana."

"Okay, do you want it squished?"

"Yes, I wanna squished banana with teetee" (tee tee is powdered milk)

"Okay, here you go - Ju-ju has to eat by himself because Ju is a big boy."

"Mommy help you?" (he never says "help me" only "help you" because it is a memorized chunk of language)

"Mommy will help you at the end. Ju has to eat by himself now."

"No, mommy help you at the end, no! Mommy help you ALL the time!"


Of course, this last phrase was too cute for me to take, and I did end up feeding him the banana.

Thunder! Lightning! Floods! Stranded cars! (HEAD LINE)

Last night we had a huge "big boomer," as my Bryan-Dad would call it. It's a rare thing here, thunderstorms. Not sure if that's a common coast thing or not, having only lived in MI before coming here, I grew up with thunderstorms and tornados and thought them a normal part of summer.

Here it's a big event. People get scared. And for good reason - these kinds of storms bring big rain, and despite this rain being a fairly common kind of event on a monthly basis, there is yet to be a good drainage system in place for most of the city, so entire major roadways flood (those of you in MI area, imagine what would happen if suddenly I-94 completely flooded out and all that traffic had to find another route for about 5 hours), walls collapse, sewers over flow, and mudslides in favelas kill 10's of people. Not the mention the accidents caused by the water standing on the roads, cars that entered and got stuck, sitting abandoned, or floating away to run into someone or something.

My husband told me an interesting story of his drive home yesterday. There is a major vein road called ACM (Antonio Carlos Magalhaes)that connects the Orla (the road that runs along the coast) and the road that runs to the airport (called Parallela) that ALWAYS floods during rains like this, always in the direction of those headed for the coast. What usually happens is that the traffic some how finds it's way onto the opposing side driving the wrong way and after a few horn beeps, everything seems to work out. Apparently it was so bad last night that traffic couldn't even flow on the Parallela bound side and it was all forced onto a side street that runs parallel to this road. This road is a one-way, Parallela bound road as well. Now that you read all that and didn't understand it, you can check out this map, zoom in, and try to see what I'm talking about if you so desire. If not, read on.


View Larger Map

What apparently happened is that the traffic from ACM ocean bound quickly diverged itself onto this road going the wrong way, while traffic going the right way (ACM airport bound) did the same in the opposite direction, both with the intent of getting the freak out of the mess of flooding, undrivable road. So this basically amounts to 4 lanes of traffic in each direction (2X4 = 8 lanes total) packing itself onto a 4 lane street with almost no roads to turn off on to, and meeting in the middle, nose to nose, and nobody could do a damn thing about it. You couldn't very well drive over the cars in front of you, but you couldn't back up either because the cars just kept coming up behind you trying to escape the flooded road. So you had another complete blockage. Like someone cut off all routes between the Orla and Parallela, because basically that is what happened.

My husband, by some miracle witnessed this and didn't get stuck in it (no idea how he managed that), thought it might be a good idea to call the traffic police to come direct traffic and get it moving again. So he called and called and no one every picked up. So he called the local cops (Policia Militar) and had the following conversation:

(phone rings)
(someone picks up but says nothing. There is back ground noise and some people talking)
My Husband - "Hello? Hello...."
Random Dude - "Hello!"
My Husband - "Ummmm, is this the Military Police?"
Random Dude - "Uh, yes, yes, it is."
My Husband - "Well, see, there is a huge huge cluster fuck of a traffic jam here and I tried calling the Traffic Police, but they don't answer. I thought maybe you could radio them or something and let them know that someone needs to ...."
(Dude interrupts) "You need to call the Traffic Police."
My Husband - "Yeah, look, I did that and no one picks up, but something has to be done here..."
Random Dude - "Uh, yeah, thanks brother, thanks."
(click)

I seriously doubt that anyone was called or notified. I suppose eventually the mess worked itself out. They almost always do. But lots of people were hurt last night, from flooding, falling, stranding. One of my coworkers had to walk all the way home in hip deep water because she couldn't get a bus home from class, then she fell down a mud hill and hit her head. We read today that the ambulance service here had no power last night, so they received no calls and were unable to be dispatched to help anyone.

And this is modern?

If someone could just figure out how to make a drain work properly, we could avoid all this.

Be sure to check out THIS WEEK IN BAHIA later for videos of the river that was a street near my house, tidal waves by buses, and some nice shots of the street on a normal day for comparison.

Ju has caught whatever I have - flu, it seems. Last night he got feverish and started crying in his sleep and coughing a lot. My husband spent most of the night sleeping on his floor trying to comfort him and giving him little sips of water. This morning after my shower, I saw he had returned to our bed and was trying to get some real sleep. I went down stairs to make coffee and force myself to eat something (having the flu kills my appetite) and then I started hearing Ju calling me upstairs. I went into his room to find him in a fit of fever nightmare, sweating and crying "Waaahhhhh, Mommy, I want another shoes! Waaaahhh, Mommy, MOMmmy! I want another shoes!" Some kind of nightmare where I wouldn't let him wear the shoes he wanted to wear I guess. I burst out laughing when I heard what he was saying in his sleep. He is now sleeping fitfully in our bed with my husband. Poor thing.

Definitely the flu. Chills, fever in the afternoon and evenings, swollen glads, coughing. I just want to sleep. Flee. ug.

At the of Ju's Bob the Builder DVD there is a small commercial for DVDs of Fraggle Rock. I wonder if they makers know that those of us that LOVED that show as young kids are now having kids of our own and will buy them out of nostolgia, having nothing to do with whether or not we think our kids will enjoy it. I want that DVD. Ju says he wants Thomas.

Mommy, if you are reading, it would make a great birthday gift for your only child ;)

A few days ago, we took Ju out to play and ride his trike, and then to the mall to pick up a CD my husband had ordered. We dragged a long my friend the Lion, and eventually ended up at Le Bisquit; a rather Hobby Lobby like store for those who don't know it. This is a general "good behavior" tradition where Ju gets to pick out a new hotwheels car - besides, I LOVE this store: there are beads, stickers, school supplies, little toys, party favors, indoor fountains, yarn, etc - everything I could possibly want and be able to find in Brasil.

Ju waded through the general pile of cars and hadn't chosen one when I decided to go off and pick up a few things of my own, leaving him in the care of my husband. By the time I came back, I found he had chosen a small green car that looked a bit like a plane, a fighter jet looking thing, and .... a Polly Pocket car complete with Polly to ride in it.

Polly Pocket car has by far been the favorite new acquisition, getting time in the shower, going to bed with him, and going to swimming classes with him. He decided he wanted it to be a kitty car, so he had me draw a kitty face on the hood, and now he drives his small Siamese cat figure around in it (the Polly has gone missing in just 48 hours, I am not surprised and relatively confident he didn't eat it).

I try not to raise Ju inside of cultural gender roles, but I wonder what will happen to him when he starts school.

Last night we went to the "Praia 24 horas" event to see some bossa nova played on a stage in the middle of the ocean (while the audience all sat on the beach). It was great fun - lots of food and drink vendors walking around, we met up with some friends, parking wasn't too much trouble, and you could swim out to the stage and tread water watching the artists sing and play right in front of you. I stayed out for half of one guy's set - I had forgotten I could just tread water like that for that long. (I actually think I swam a lot more last night than I really have since I moved here - I have a terrible fear of ocean currents and waves and rip tides that I'm not sure when and where it came from.) The event was well organized and safe and pleasant for a free event in Bahia; I was quite impressed. We even went so far as to take the digital camera for some nice random shots.

After we dropped off Isis and Vito (family friends; Vito is Ju's age minus 3 months) at 11:30, we came home and Gustavo had the great idea to skinny dip in the condo's pool. I have not skinny dipped here since I first moved here, mostly for fear of seeing my neighbors, or worse their kids, who are often out later than late. The good thing is that our house is right next to the pool, so anyone looking out of their windows to see us incognito would have to be doing it from ours - no worries there. I was rather nervous about it at first, since it's much easier to see that a woman is naked in the pool than a man (although because of tan lines this late in the summer, it is quite obvious) and I actually let my hair get all chlorinated in hopes that it would shield my embarrassment should we suddenly have company. After some time playing with Ju, who has gotten over his fear of going under the water after two months of swimming classes, I forgot I was naked until Gustavo pointed out that I had done so, at which point I started hearing voices and decided to get out before someone saw me. About 15 minutes after we got out, a bunch of teenagers took over the pool area until well after 2 am. Good timing!

Ju thourally enjoyed the experience and promptly asked to go swim naked as soon as he got up this morning. I explained to him that mommy and daddy can't swim naked during the day but that because he is small still, he can swim naked if he wants to, at home. He seems pretty excited about the prospect of going back into the pool and trying to swim, naked. Hopefully it will work the same way if I make him wear his sunga again.

I notice I write more often about Ju than anything else. I suppose that shows quite a bit about how I spend my time when I have free time to write - and that is with Ju at my feet or near by, being the descarado that he is. For a change of pace, here are some other random thoughts.


Lela has always been a picture licker. Recently my mom sent down some photos of the wedding and now I always have a calico fuzzy body next to my laptop, trying to lick them. I have no idea what is so attractive that she likes them so much. I hope she isn't slowly killing herself with this weird habit.


I realized I had always assumed that people kissing on television and in movies were faking it. Well, they are, of course, but I mean with no tongues and such. Not sure why I always assumed this, but it just seemed natural to me that since these people, despite being actors etc, had girlfriends/boyfriends/wives/husbands that they wouldn't possibly be really using tongue in that shot. I mean, I know it looked like a tongue, but wouldn't their significant other be upset? I have no idea when I lost this assumption, but I think it was quite recent.


This entire year has been one big adjustment in responsibility for me. I started really teaching, really planning, and really "being in charge" of other people who work in my classroom. I never see myself as a boss. I am not comfortable telling others what to do. I suppose it takes some getting used to. I ended up doing the same thing with the DI program. I have been working with my team for over a year, but to really get the program started, I wanted to get others trained and have other teams and get school support, and some how in all that I ended up coordinating this program for the entire school. Not that I don't love the program and want to see it succeed, but I didn't mean to sign up for this - I'm not good at managing people, teams, not letting emotions show or get involved in what I'm doing. It's not anything I ever trained to do. Some days I wish I could just quit, but then what would happen to the program? Maybe someone else will volunteer for this position next year. It's unpaid and stressful, so I doubt it.

I am sitting here waiting for Ju to finish eating. The extent of his conversation with the kitchen is so interesting, I thought I would type a play by play.

"Is a boo an a [r]ed. Is a boo an a [r]ed in der"

"Rice, come back rice, come back"

"I don like it. I don like a this chikin."

(singing) "Is a rice an a peas, is a rice an a peas."

"Is a pushing buttin. hmmm, ai ai, ai ai."

(I say, "Ju, sit down please. All the way.")

(singing) "All da way, all da way, going going going going going.... going going"

(he drops the spoon on the floor) "Mommy, I wanna spoon."

(I tell him to get down and get it)

"Go get it, go get it. Don fall down, don fall down, don fall down! thank you thank you, thank you mommy, thank you Juju. Whoa, whoa, whoa - haha, whoa - hahaha, whoa - hahaha"


And that concludes this most interesting post.

At least it's healthy....

Ju has developed some rather strange eating habits. I chalk it up to my basic rule that snacking is okay as long as it's on healthy stuff. Don't all these health magazines keep telling us that grazing all day is more healthy than several full meals. A basic day of food might run like this:

7 am - yogurt with wheat germ
8:30 - banana squished up with powdered milk
10 am - two apples
11:30 - rice, beans, some frozen peas and maybe a can of sardines
3:30 - another apple and a yogurt drink
5:30 - 1 tomato, juice, a pear
7 pm - half a french bread roll, juice

Last week he would only agree to eat his veggie soup if I would let him dip his apple in it. He ate the entire bowl as a dip. On Monday we went out for sushi and he ate all the cucumber garnishes, the sea weed off several shrimp wraps, and the roe from the sushi rolls (large orange fish eggs that look like tapioca balls).

"mommy is a napkin"

"mommy is a kleenex"


The other night, Ju ate his veggie purre soup by scooping it out with a granny smith apple and eating it as a new fangled dip.




I have to go into work again tomorrow, I have too much I still have to get done and prepped. Ug. It took me three tries to spell tomorrow right. My brain is fried.

School is back in full swing. I have two new students in my class, both who are wonderful and sweet (and girls - as if I needed more girls!) and eager to learn. Days have gone pretty much normal, despite construction going on in the HS/MS, with the exception of an occasional power outage here and there.

UNTIL>>>>> today. Some of you might remember my rant about power outages and (ahem) not-so-intelligent-administration-decision-makers. Luckily when we lack power since then it has not been a long term status. It's been a bit shakey because of the construction equipment running all the time, moving and disconnecting things, and so on. Yesterday I kept trying to run around school to find some where to print the names of my new students and their photos for the "who's at school" wall, but the power went out for long enough that I had to give up. Today when it started to flicker on and off during the morning exploration centers, I didn't think much of it because it usually comes back. It finally kicked off during circle (9 AM) and never returned (which spurned a whole series of stories of ghosts in bed rooms by my students that all generally ended with a parent removing the ghost, kicking it out, or otherwise eliminating it from the premises).

Luckily, since some parents decided to have countless meetings with our director, a skylight had been installed in my room during the vacation and when we have no power we no longer are in a dark cave with no natural light. We did our group activities with this natural light, washed hands, had snack, and went out to the playground. At some point, the message was passed through that went the power came back, we were not to turn on anything that wasn't in use and only use ONE A/C, lest we knock out the circuit again (I later heard we had completely blown out the circuit on the street and there was no estimate when it would be fixed). We spent the rest of the day with out power, and eventually without water because the pumps won't work with out power, obviously. The no water thing is particularly difficult for those of us in the preschool, and worse for me who has no less than 6 students who go #2 at the same time every day (!!!).

Parents started showing up to get their kids around 11 and word was passed that we were to remind the parents to also take the older siblings home when the younger ones left, as there was no power to cook lunch or wash hands in sinks, or anything really. The classrooms were already sweltering (90+ and humid and many without opening windows), but after being on the playground for almost an hour, I had to take them back inside just to get them out of the sun. Eventually parents trickled in and got their children.

No power here also means no phones, so I later found out that calling all 459 parents had taken over 2 hours to complete with 6 cell phones across the administration office. Some parents were never reached or did not return phone calls or maybe just had no way to get their kids before they left work, and when I left at 2 PM there were still quite a few sitting around on the front steps, looking bored and hot, unfed, and I felt bad for them.

Today was my last day to do nothing, and sure enough I had a headache and in fact was up do doing nothing all day, so off went Gustavo and Ju to the weekend parties and social gatherings and I sat here and watched movies and lamented on my pounding head. It's nice that the boys can have their day together, although I miss them. Yesterday I spent most of mine at school trying to finish prepping my room for the start of the new semester, but I didn't really get it all done. Oh well.

My dad called this morning while the boys went to the supermarket (and did all the grocery shopping in one of those "car carts" which completely amazes me), and I spent about an hour and a half talking to him about everything from politics to family to weather. I noticed we end up talking about the dreams we have and what they mean. I can't recall having had as many conversations about dreams and meanings with anyone else in my life as I have with my dad, and this is only in the last 2 years or so. It seems we have the same dreams, or similar dreams, and seem to interpret them the same. Not sure what that means, except that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. It's funny how much closer we have gotten since I moved here - closer than we ever were since I was a kid. Well, not funny, nice actually. Makes me all the more encouraging for him to find a place down here to retire to 6 months of the year.

Some interesting news on the first day back at school - Last September,they closed our gym because the roof was falling off and they were going to fix it. It remained closed through the end of the last semester, but with promises that the roof would be done by the time we came back in February. Well, sure enough, the roof is actually done (shock), but it seems that it spent so much time without a roof that the floor melted in the hot sun and summer heat. So now we have to wait another month or more before we can use the gym because they need to replace the floor. Sigh. Somehow, this is so typical, I just can't quite bring you all to understand what I feel right now.

I just discovered my credit card has been cloned. Now I have no credit card. Not helpful.

I have lately been obsessed with saffron. (I know there is a song in here somewhere) I had never bothered to buy it, not having any experience with it, and my general spice shelf never went that far into the realm of exotic (read: garlic, ginger, cinnamon, pepper, rosemary, oregano, etc), but starving late one night at a friends house where pizza had been ordered and everyone was happily eating (I am allergic to tomatoes, for those who don't know), I decided to eat an experimental concoction consisting of spaghetti, butter, black pepper, and saffron. Lo and behold, I have found a new unique flavor. I started putting it in everything I cook that is boring. The bad result of this is that it makes me want to eat more because it tastes good. I know you know this problem. I have a similar relationship to fresh garlic - if I can still taste it in my mouth or smell it in the air, I become an eating machine. I blame my vacation weight gain on this spice. .... Well, that and acarajé.

Every boy needs a good scar. Right? Boys get banged up. Well, little kids in general get banged up (I know, I am a teacher).

Yesterday we spontaneously decided to walk around Carnaval. No, Carnaval is not the cause of the scar. We had gone to all the trouble of going to Porto da Barra to go to the beach, and since all the Trios were leaving from there shortly after we had decided to leave, we walked up to the Farol to see what was going on. It was early and not too crowded and we met some Aussies that were hanging out the front of a pousada. Ju liked the experience but wasn't fond of the noise and asked to go home, so we headed back to the car.

We decided to stop for Acarajé on the way home in Rio Vermelho. For anyone who knows Brasil, you will be familiar with the side walks made of pieces of rock to form patterns. While waiting for the Acarajé, Ju stood up on one of the benches and fell off head first onto the sidewalk, getting a big gash across his forehead and scaring the living shit out of everyone there. The beer guy gave us some ice and the Bahaina tried to give us advice, and Ju was screaming his lungs out with blood pouring out of his head.

We sped off looking for first aid station (there are several up because of Carnaval) but didn't find one that was open, so we went to the hospital by our house. Their emergency room was open, but they don't attend children, so off we went again (with a quick side trip to the house where we picked up my insurance card since we didn't have Ju's yet) and ended up at Aliança Hospital, which is easily the nicest one here. We went strait to the pediatric emergency door, where we were told that they didn't have any doctors on duty that night (why does this place exist and stay open???). We ran across the complex to the regular emergency area in a completely different building where there were doctors. By this time Ju had stopped crying and almost stopped bleeding and was kind of just passively wondering what all the fuss was about and asking for his Acarajé.

In the emergency room he got five stitches (by the father of one of my former students, although I only found this out at the end) and was very well behaved. Another mom from my school who's son is in group 2 came in to see what was going on and I chatted with her a bit too. (Not sure if this was good or bad for my career as a rich kids' teacher, but whatever) All said and done and Ju was fine and still asking for his Acarajé and Gustavo decided to go make a formal complaint to the "pediatric emergency room" that had no doctors, after which we went back out to the Acarajé place to get Ju what he wanted and to let them all know he was okay. There was a kid there about his age dancing to some kind of DVD performance of some artist of some kind who told Ju he should not dance because he had gone to the doctor and had a boo boo. It was pretty cute.

Today he is totally normal, except that we can't let him get his head wet for another day or so, so he still smells like blood and iodine. We told him he's going to have a Harry Potter scar now (he doesn't know what Harry Potter is really, except that mommy has books about him that have lots of pages he can turn and pretend to read), and he seems to think it's not such a big deal. In fact, on some level I'm sure he's enjoying it because of all the extra attention he's getting, having ice cream for dessert after lunch, and getting to watch Bob the Builder and play and make lots of messes. I still won't let him eat candy though.

It's that time again - live cams for Carnaval are almost active. You can watch the countdown and check out the circuit maps, get info on the location of the blocos, and fantasize about the biggest street party of its kind. You know you wish you were here.

Wireless internet working means I can go all over the house with the computer. But mostly I just sit on the couch, which is about 8 feet from where I used to sit at the computer prewireless... I tried in the hammock, but it was kind of hard on the knees. I also tried in Ju's room but he kept trying to sit on it because everything in there he generally has free rein over. I sat at the table for a while, but everyone walking by on the way to the pool could see what I was doing, which although I am doing my best to not look at porn or anything, there are some questionable images on some of the forums I visit that I care not to share with the neighbors. So here I sit on the couch.

I haven't used Travelocity.com for flights in a long time since they didn't used to allow you to have your embarking airport outside of the US. Today, just for shits and giggles, I decided to compare the quotes between them and Expedia, who I usually use. To my utter disbelief, I was quoted $7189 to fly from Salvador to Michigan and was given only ONE option in flights, whilst Expedia quoted the exact same flight (with less stops) for $1500. I was so totally appalled at the price, I sent them a customer service inquiry, just to tell them they were ridiculous.

Another visit come and gone. This was only the second time my dad has been down here in almost 4 years (I go up there once a year, so it's not so bad). They say traveling is half the fun, which for me is still true on some level, even when dragging a two year old behind me (or more often, carrying him, his carry on, my carry on, and if I'm lucky, something to eat for each of us), but I cannot imagine is still so for my father who travels at least once a month by plane to some place or another. It's always very sad to see him go, or anyone who comes here to visit, for that matter.

Ju is very psyched to travel up there in July now. He is totally fascinated by all forms of transportation. When we took him up last June, he was sick and not happy and under rested. This resulted in a tantrum reaction to each instigation of "okay, now we have to go get on the next plane" (there were only 3 airplanes involved, thank goodness we flew into Chicago). I am hoping due to his better comprehension of time and language that he will be as excited about the trip as I will come the end of the school semester. Also, he will be three by then, and may be less likely to wander off in the airport (although only slightly), so traveling as a solitary parent won't be so overbearing. Maybe he will even carry his own suitcase.

I will have to get my head out of the future for a bit though, and enjoy the present. I always seem to do that - get all excited for the next trip to where ever. I wonder why...

I have not been kidnapped by the kidnapper doll ;)

My father is visiting here in Brasil for a couple of weeks, so I have been off having fun with him. So far we have taken him on a sunny city tour, shopping for a Brasilian speedo (because you can't wear swimming trunks without being marked as an American - another sure sign is to bring a towel to the beach), to drink beer in our favorite bars, to see the sunset, to a relatively out of the way neat beach area where a river runs parallel to the ocean front and you sit at your tables in the middle of it (Ju loved this because he could swim without any floating device and there were lots of kids to interact with), and to Itaparica island where we stayed at a friend's house that was so full of people that dad had to sleep in a hammock under the mango tree - which is surely something that he will tell as a great story at the office.

Today yet, as soon as we finish the translation for a sushi restaurant that was due last Friday, we are going to Coco Bahia restaurant where there is an open playground for kids, live ducks swimming around in the pond/water fall out front, and various live birds and their ecological bios posted around the all natural, dirt floor, plant and vine covered building. We also plan to (before Thursday when he leaves) go to our favorite North beach to spend a morning and have a little grill party in our garage area, but considering the amount of sun I got this weekend, I'm not sure I need any more beach time. I am now almost the color of the locals.

Calzones! I meant to try to post this before the new year. Didn't happen.


This is the mess. Ju helped to make it.


This is the dough. Who knew I could bake? Unfortunately, I had to squish it by hand because my rolling pin went missing. The Calzones were kind of on the thick side, but Ju liked to just eat the crust, so it still worked out well.

Here are the finished product. Lisa would be proud.

And here is the official crust tester, eating the edges off of his calzone before attacking mine and doing the same.

I think nearly every present Ju got this year has wheels on it. Next year, we need to find a different theme. The real problem with this is that you never find those cool "alternative" toys, thinks like I used to buy in Natural Wonders and museum gift shops as a kid - things based in science and art and not prone to become "just another toy." Every day I think of things I really miss about the States. Why can we have an Impressions 5?

My friends have all moved on from college. I know we did. I think about it sometimes, how far we have come since we left good ol' MSU or even CHS so many years before. I keep finding people online I had lost. It's the nice thing about the internet.

Take my friend Rachanee, for example. She was a such a character in the dorms - I remember chatting with her on ICQ every morning, even though we lived right next door to each other - we were that ridiculous. She is now a singer/song writer indi artist. The quintessential girl with guitar that I always wanted to be, but did not have the discipline to learn guitar. On some level I am jealous, but mostly I am just impressed and proud to know her.

Just want I wanted for Xmas - a cold. I can't believe I have gone almost the whole semester without catching almost anything! I guess I should count my blessings since I spent virtually the first two years strait of being a preschool teacher being sick with one thing or another. I chalk this one up to elevate stress levels due to the construction in my room over the holiday vacation and the pressure of having to empty the whole thing of all toys and materials by Friday (while still teaching 15 three year olds from 7-12 and running DI in the afternoons) and the strange actions of the PTA this morning, when they just popped in the middle of work period and started removing old toys and furniture because they were going to "replace" it with "new materials" in "January" (want to believe them? Try reading my rant about the school printer which we just got a new one TODAY). After kind of politely telling them to come back later when I had some time to devote to their cleaning, I went to the superintendent and called our coordinator who is on maternity leave and found out that the PTA did not tell anyone what they were doing and did not have this "authorization" or whatever they seemed to think they had. They were unapologetic about the mess they created and now I am missing furniture in my room which I need.

I hate my oven.

It goes without saying that this is the country of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" and my stove certainly enters into that idea. Most people drive things into ground here, or at least if they don't want them anymore, they don't end up at a goodwill somewhere to waste away as junk, but rather are happily taken by someone who has nothing or very little and is happy to get whatever you are giving out. Most technology is so expensive here that using something until it's useless is the only option.

Case in point, my stove. I think it's older than me. It most certainly is the same one my husband grew up with, now covered with rust, lit with matches, with the wire frame that supports our cooking pots threatening to break through the rust spots at any moment and spill soup everywhere. The oven only has two settings; 1 and 2. No one is sure what the temperature of either of them is, not that it matters since the door doesn't shut all the way. I tie it up with string to a large peg to try to keep the gap down to a couple of centimeters instead of a gaping five or more waiting for Ju's wandering hand to find it. And while were at it, lets not forget to mention that everything burns in the front and is underdone in the back if you don't rotate your food every half and hour or so because the flame only burns in the front.

Last night, I attempted to make pumpkin chocolate cookies, which according to the recipe should only take 15-20 minutes to cook. After over an hour in the oven, I finally managed to get 6 cookies reasonably cooked enough to remove them from the pan. I gave up after midnight, when I managed to burn one side of the tray and get the tinfoil stuck in the cookie trying to get it off.

I have never attempted to bake alone before - I always had some support; my mom, then Teddi in college, then Lisa in gradschool, and then Sheila in Brasil for a while. I'd like to say that I did okay for my first time out on my own in the great world of baking, but the oven kind of ruined the experience for me.

Maybe I'll write Santa for a new stove.

If it's not kids, it's cats! After having several nights of Ju waking up and getting scared of things in the dark like stuffed animals and shadows, I finally was determined to get a good nights sleep, when low and behold, I am woken up at 4AM by none other than Ona-key who decided that she absolutely MUST be fed THIS INSTANT and told me this continuously for 5 minutes before I actually acknowledged that I heard her meowing in my ear and got up. I am dead on my feet. Or butt actually, since I am sitting down. I think I'll go sleep now.

Everything these days is "mommy, papai, Juju" - three butterflies, three cups, three paint brushes, three rocks... Each set of three has a representative of each person in the family.

Ona is more and more decrepit by the day, not really walking so much as dragging her back legs along the floor to support her behind. The consequence of this is that she will often come in and poop on the tile floor somewhere rather than try to step into her litter box. Ju knows that coco is dirty and he can't touch it, so when he finds some, he usually comes to tell me and then watches as I clean it up.

This morning he found there was some on the veranda next to the litter box, and told me so, but since it was out there and not in the middle of foot traffic, I just said "okay, don't touch it, it's dirty. mommy will come clean it" and continued drinking my coffee. A little while later, he came to the top of the stairs and told me again, but this time accompanied by a long stretch of Ju language that I was unable to decifer, so I thought I'd better take a look. When I came up stairs I saw he had a diaper sitting in front of him, and inside it was the cat poop. Outside on the veranda I found another diaper with more cat poop in it. I guess he just wanted to help.

Some interesting random things from this week:

Since I took one side off Ju's crib, he's been climbing in and out several times a night, sometimes falling out onto the flip out chair we leave beside it for that purpose, and sometimes going to sleep in the hammock. The other night Gustavo went into say good night and he wasn't in any of the former listed places, but UNDERNEATH the crib, sleeping away on the hard tile floor in just a diaper. Gustavo reckons he was hot and got out to sleep for that reason, as it runs in the family (Gustavo will slither off the bed onto the floor if he's hot and NEVER sleeps with covers, even in the winter, usually). I think it's more likely he just rolled off and found his way under there.

Ju is getting very resourceful and is climbing everything! I had to take his Spiderman ball from him today and put it up on the bookshelf because he kept throwing it at the computer screen, so he just climbed right up the shelves and got it down again. This was a real test of limits for him, as he did it right in front of me, laughing the whole time. I should also mention this shelf is eye level for me, so he was up pretty high for him. Later, he kept doing the same thing with a straw hat, so I took it and placed it carefully on top of the standing fan. He went over and shook it a bit, to see if he could get it to fall off. When that didn't work, he looked around, spotted a t-shirt I had left hanging on the dining room chair, took it and started whipping it at the hat until it fell down. Where do they learn this stuff?

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.



I wish pumpkin pie could be mailed.....

The things you learn from television or perhaps parents trying to be funny....

Ju has been obsessed with Cookie Monster since he started watch Sesame Street videos he got for his birthday. This slowly evolved into a Cookie Monster imitation of daddy being "papai monster" and pretending to try to eat him. About a month ago, Ju started tearing all the foam letters and numbers to pieces with his teeth, and recently discovered the joys of doing this to onion skin and spreading it around the house. Today he went one step further and did a cookie monster with his soup for dinner. He seemed to understand that this was not appropriate when I told him I was upset about it, and then proceeded to ask if he could go do it with the onions instead - "a cookie monster widdy uhn-uhn, num num num."

Strange finger positions. I'm sure this is genetic, but it's not from either of his parents.

As I spend time reading up on other people's lives (more and more often people I know only digitally), I become more tempted to post photos and other things on here. I so enjoy seeing them on other people's blogs, and I wish I could do the same. I am, however, slightly put off since I link to my photo educational blog and there are links to that on several public sites, and I can't help feeling that thats just a whole can of cyber-stalker worms that I don't want to open. So, for those who wish to see more photos, videos, etc, I would invite you to facebook where the privacy settings are easier to manipulate.

Major reorganization. I have been bit by the antsy bug. I have reorganized both bedrooms and my classroom in the last three days. I even fixed my hanging plant that broke (this involved making a whole new chain and connecting holder out of some very thick wire with some very crappy pliers that gave me a very nasty blister on my palm) and spent some time organizing my magic garden area on the veranda. I am sure I had to actually accomplish some work this weekend, but I haven't done it. On the other hand, things that have been in the back of my mind are now getting done, so it can't be all bad.

Since it seems to be the thing to do - Introducing Ju-Leão!

It's starting to get warmer. You can now feel the heat under your clothes during the day, and the water in the water tank comes out a bit warm from the shower without the handy electric heater thing in the showerhead turned on. I wonder if I will feel any cooler this summer, as I will be spending it now for the first time not pregnant or breastfeeding, and therefore carrying much less strangeness in terms of hormones and excess water.

It's fascinating how here the leaves all fall off the trees in the spring, instead of in the fall.

Ju is now in a "what's this, mommy?" phase. I hear this question about 50 times a day and always try to answer it (how long do most moms stand this stage before they stop answering?). He is also trying to count "1,2,3,4,6,8,9" and everything is a "1,2,3 fill-in-the-object" And everything has the potential to be a car - a cracker, a shoe, a stick, a ripped up foam number...

I am addicted to iGoogle. I highly recommend that everyone get an iGoggle page, it's so nice to just stick whatever I want on it. I can read my google news, my email, and look at interesting photos all at one time! It's like the answer to the terrible twos!

You know you have officially registered yourself as a foreign resident when you start receiving SPAM mail from your home country. I actually got a solicitation to subscribe to The Economist, by mail. I used to get tons of this stuff when I was in college, I assume, because our addresses could be accessed online by automated programs, but I had not gotten anything since I moved down here more than three years ago, until now. I wonder how they got a hold of it. Is it really worth sending unsolicited mail this far? I have a friend who's mother used to subscribe to magazines using strange spellings of her daughter's name, just so she could track what companies were selling their info. Will I start getting credit card solicitations now? What about Pizza hut coupons? I could really go for some cheap Subway....

Independence comes with a price.

Ju has been wanting to do things himself, like close doors, put things away, turn on the T.V. etc. This is a great development and I usually encourage him to do his own thing. He even has been waking up and coming downstairs by himself in the morning, usually right before I go out to catch the transport to work, and I leave him to watch a Sesame street video on the couch while daddy takes a shower. The nanny often arrives about 5 minutes later, and as far as I know, he has not gotten himself into trouble with his early morning activities unobserved.

Until today.....

On the weekends, Ju usually wakes up, comes to our room, sees we are still sleeping, and goes back to his room to play until he hears one of us in the shower. It's very polite of him to let us sleep and I had really stopped worrying that he would fall down the stairs or otherwise hurt himself. This morning apparently he decided to come down stairs to play, and by the time we got up at 7:30, he had found his way into the storage room (probably under the pretense of feeding the cat, which is his job every morning) and had made the biggest mess I have ever seen him make. Cat food had been thrown around the room, mixed with some sunscreen he had emptied onto the floor outside the door, a pile of stuff including a keyboard, old motherboard, and painting supplies had been knocked over and spread around, and he was digging in the bin of cat food with his beach shovels and rake. Not to mention that he had a huge poop in his diaper and it was slightly escaping down his legs. We removed him promptly and put him in time out (luckily on the stairs and not on the couch considering the mess he left when he got up later because of the leaking diaper problem) for the duration of cleaning the room, and then threw him in the shower. Does this mean we now need to close his door at night so he doesn't escape?

Living in a foreign country is supposed to be.... what? What is it that we think will be so great about it? I remember thinking how cool it would be to go live in another country - I think all language majors go through this. I even had one former classmate from SPN 400 and something who had found me on facebook tell me she was "trying not to be jealous of my life." We have some kind ideal in our heads about learning another language, living another culture... And those of us who actually get to do it are left trying to remember why we were so obsessed with it in the first place. When I lived in the States, I couldn't get enough Mexican, then Argentine, and then Brasilian culture - I listened to "native" music with all my windows rolled down in the car at top volume, singing in another language at the top of my lungs. I read things in Spanish and Portuguese as often as I could, I listened to radio stations online, I went to chat-in-fill-in-your-language-of-choice-here groups.

And now the farther I am from my own culture, the more closely I cling to it. I enter my iPod world every day on the way to and from work; the music I listen to is mostly what you'd hear on the radio in the States. I cling to American friends online more than I do to Brasilian friends I see everyday day. I NEVER read Portuguese by choice anymore - I am desperate for things to read in English. I spend hours online each weekend reading up the profiles of people I have not had much contact with since I rowed with them on Crew in 2004, yet somehow this is more interesting to me than watching the weekend specials on our antenna television. I would rather wait for a YouTube video of part of a Simpsons episode to load than watch a full program here.

There is nothing to be jealous of in terms of living in another country. I don't know why I thought it would be so glamorous....

I spent my Sunday for Ju. Early in the morning we got a call from our friend Isis who also has a two year old boy with whom Ju has already spent some time playing. She invited us over to hang out and then have lunch. Ju had a great time running all over, jumping on beds with Vito, and was in such a state when it was time to go home that we ended up staying all day and going to a theater done by local street kids (says the paintings on the wall outside) late in the afternoon - Ju's first real theater experience. The subject of the play was fear and the story was pretty interesting and rather psychological as far as I could follow it. Vito cried and had to be taken out, mostly due to tiredness (neither he nor Ju slept at all since they got up at about 6 AM), but Ju enjoyed it and wasn't frightened at all by the lights and sounds and costumes. I have only gotten Ju into bed now - I'm surprised he made it this long!

Ju is eating canned sardines and pumpkin and rice for dinner. Mmmmmm, healthy.


Ew, and he just called me in there to show me a maleka he picked out of his nose! Are all boys this gross? Makes you wonder how they grow up and marry....

Story for today -

Last year, in about... I dunno, maybe March, our sick sick printer that used to jam 4 or 5 times a day (probably more, since surely I cannot be the only person who was unjamming it), suddenly was so broken that no one could fix it and disappeared. They told us in April we would get a new one, when there was money, then it was in May, then they told us a new one would be bought before the next school year, as there was not more money in the budget. At the beginning of this year, we heard that rather than buy a new printer for the 40+ teachers in the Elementary, a new one would only be bought for the administration office, and we got our old broken one back in the middle of August. It would print one document and quit, then it disappeared again for a week, then it was back. As of today it's still not spitting anything out, yet it remains there like a plastic tormentor every time I go to the bathroom or to check my mailbox.

I think I only managed to print 3 or 4 things on it so far this year, since it seems to receive a print command and then say it was printing, yet nothing would ever come out. Every time I need to print something, first I open the print jobs folder and see how many are in the line. More often than not, there are print jobs in que from at least 24 hours before, if not days. I finally quit relying on printing anything and tried to find time to either run over and ask the principal to print for me on his private printer, or go down to the high school and try to use the library printer when there was a computer free. When ever I sent an email to our tech guys, there was never a sign if the problem was dealt with, fixed, or even acknowledged.

Today was the last straw, as I often have sent "please go have a look at the printer because it's not working, again" messages, and yesterday I sent one saying "someone please go put the printer out of it's misery because it has been dieing for a long time" - I had to print a small note to send home with the kids tomorrow. The document was a whole 4 pages long. Wow, 4 pages, what a strain huh? I sent it to the computer lab, where I was promptly chewed out for printing there as it isn't for common use. The broken teacher's printer isn't the computer lab guy's problem and we teachers need to go to the source of the problem and get them to get us a new one. Yes, I have been CCing the emails I send to the tech guys to our director every time, what more can I do? Rather fed up with this whole conversation (been under so much stress the last two weeks, I actually was close to tears), I returned to my room and wrote a lengthy email to both the tech guys, our principal, and our director, saying in short that the whole situation with the printer was ridiculous and totally unacceptable that 40+ teachers have no where to print anything and that some kind of response would be nice so we know that actually someone out there cares and is doing something about it. The director actually did come in, told me he whole heartedly agreed with me, and that something was being done. But when?

Instead of lamenting that the blogs I read are not updated as frequently as I'd like, I suppose I should update my own. I have been so busy and had so many things to write about, I end up not writing at all. Also, Ju is a distraction. And I have other excuses, but I can't remember what they were...

Ju is actually forming full sentences, even if they aren't grammatical. I haven't really heard him doing it in Portuguese because he doesn't talk to me in Portuguese anymore, but yesterday he said this: "kitten papaya no want it" which translates into "the kitten doesn't want papaya." This sentences is probably the result of all the times he has thrown food at the cat, trying to see if she will eat it, and my telling him that she doesn't want it or doesn't like it. The interesting thing about this sentence is that he isn't recalling an utterance exactly from memory, because then it would probably be grammatically correct. It doesn't seem to be translated from Portuguese either, because the order would be different. I have no idea how normal it is, having never interacted much with native speakers of English who were less than 5 years old really (not counting baby sitting years - who can remember what happened before high school?), but it's really cool to see him take these sudden spurts of development in his language. He has also started saying "I sorry" when he does something wrong, and comes over and kisses me and says "I love you" if I am angry with him (how do kids know this makes us forget the broken DVD player, just for a moment?) . Which reminds me - today he broke the DVD player, no one is sure how, so getting him over his Thomas and Sesame street addiction should be easier now.

Well, we didn't go to the island for the vacation weekend because of the rain. Just as well I guess, since I had to spend most of yesterday recovering from going to an all night party and having a bit too much cachaça. I don't understand what happens after you have kids - it's like your whole biology changes. I used to be able to go to the bar, drink till 2, get up and have 5:20 practice for crew, go to an 8 am class.... Now I have one beer and feel hung over for hours afterwards.

Brrr, why is it so cold? I don't remember it being this cold in the last 3 years since I have lived here - I am drinking hot coco and wearing socks!

Funny story - There is a group of guys who walk around our neighborhood as security who blow a whistle to let us know all is well. It's part of the background noise to me, like the barking dogs and traffic sounds. About a month ago, Ju suddenly became aware of them and kept saying it was a bird ("passarinho"), and I kept telling him it was the "segurança." Finally last night when he heard the whistle, he said "bird no. Seguarança." A little while later we were looking at a book with a parrot in it, and I told him something like "it's a parrot, a bird that is a parrot" to which he replied "parrot no. Segurança." I love how kids' brains work.

Did you know? Every year your child will have a new teacher, and there is an adjustment period that goes along with that. Did you know? Every child will have a bond with their old teacher until they make a bond with their new one. Did you know? Every child needs consistency and structure to feel safe and part of that is coming to school. Did you know? When a child comes late, they miss a big adjustment period of socializing with their peers which makes it more difficult to bond with their new group and feel safe. Did you know? When a child is the presence of a parent or other caretaker, they will isolate them selves more and want attention primarily from that parent or caretaker and will not socialize as much, or at all with their peers. Did you know? Children are affected by their parents' feelings, so if a parent is tense and mistrusting of a new teacher, the child will pick up on this an act accordingly, even if it is not verbalized directly to the child. Did you know? Every child needs a teacher's attention and the more a teacher must play favorite to one student or another to appease a concerned parent, the farther the other new students get. Did you know? We are teachers for the whole class and we cannot jump up and go have a chat with a concerned parent who decides to come in in the middle of a class day and talk about their concerns. Did you know?

While in Jersey, my husband picked up some DVDs for Ju, choosing them based on the fact that they were $1 each. A couple are not really appropriate for him (read: Japanese Animation) but one of Hermie and Friends has really grown on me. I have never been heavily into things that remind you that God is there - I think that is something we should remind ourselves of, rather than have it presented from an outside source. BUT, the message in the DVD is very light and presented nicely and I have to say I regret that because it talks about God directly because I can't take it to school to share with my kids. I hope I can find some more of them here somewhere, there are a lot of nice stories on the list.

On the way to the States, we go to the airport at 2:30 for our 4:45 flight. There was a lovely line about .8 km long stretching from the ONE open TAM desk all the way to the food court. We waited in it for a while, and then decided to jump the line because Ju was crabby. During this time, we over heard various people talking about how they were missing connections etc and didn't know what to do.

We got to our gate just in time to see that our flight was moved from confirmed to late, and then was announced over the loudspeaker that they had no "previsto" as to when it would arrive at the airport. We ate some pao de quiejo, we sat, and sat some more. We watched teenagers going on large Disney group tours sit on the floor and do bonding activities. Ju made a few friends. Eventually they came over the PA and told us something that no one could hear because the teenagers were too busy bonding to notice that everyone was trying to be quiet to listen to it. At 7:30 we were told our flight would begin boarding. At 8:30 we actually got on the plane. By the time we got to Rio, we had missed the last TAM flight to Miami by about 40 minutes.

So, after a 2 hour fiasco of getting vouchers and finding our luggage that had connection tags on it, we got to spend the night in Rio, in a 4 star hotel, bill footed by TAM. It was a lovely hotel and they checked us into their most expensive room at 1 AM in the morning. We slept most of the day, and then ate some random food from a kilo place and walked on the beach. Then it was time to pack it all in and go back to the airport to catch the 8:50 flight. We finally got checked in, got the the gate, and got the heck out of there.

We arrived so early in Miami that there was no one in the gate to operate or open it, so we sat on the plane for a while. After that, despite airport security, everything was pretty smooth, except for Ju not wanting to get on another airplane ("Ju airpane, no!") and trying to get us to leave him in Miami.


On the way back everything was okay until we got to Rio. After getting in and waiting for 25 minutes behind ONE family to recheck our luggage, we rushed to our gate to find that the flight was not there. Over the course of the next 4 hours, we got the whole complicated story in pieces: it went something like this - The plane that we were to take to Salvador left from Campinas to go to Rio, but it wasn't allowed to land because of the crash, so it was sent back to Campinas (where I suspect it had to unload and do something with a lot of angry passangers), and then wait for clearance to fly back again to Rio. Towards the end of this wait for it to arrive, we recieved news that Salvador's airport was closed because of a bird problem. We finally got on the plane at 4:30, but then had to until 5:30 for the flight plan to be ferried over because it had to be manually entered in Sampa (whatever that means).



Between all the problems with accidents, delays, and the publicity given during the PAN games, I see this whole flight thing really killing the tourist trade here if something isn't done soon. I can't help it, I live here, but if I had a choice about flying through a place that will surely make me miss a connection or three, I might go another way...

Ju has some kind of stomach thing, possibley rotavirus, and is pukey, feverish, and generally cranky and whiney. We travel tomorow; 18 + hours on planes, 4 airports, to go visit my parents for a month. I hope we can deal with the issues. It's too bad, because he is usually wonderful on flights, one of those kids who everyone sees and dreads having on their flight, and then compliment his behaviour afterwards. He doesn't want to eat much, and won't really sleep very well either, and generally cries a lot. He has been drinking pedialyte out of a medicine dropper because most things won't stay down, but we won't be able to take it with us on the plane, so I am not sure what we will do for him.

At the moment he is laying passively on the couch, watching Looney Toons. I am not an advocate to plugging your kid in, but when he's this whiney, it's a life saver to have him loose his focus on the uncomforable feelings he's having and just veg for a bit so I can type or pack suitcases. I'm not sure how much of his whining is due to genuine pain and discomfort and how much is due to the fact that he has percieved he is getting a lot more attention since he's been sick. Yesterday he got to be in my lap the whole day and slept in our bed with me and has been carried around all day. He's getting spoiled.

I decided to dig out and photograph some old photos today (scary, huh?). This one is sophomore year of college, when my hair was pink and blue and I had gained a bit of weight because of allergies. I know there are more I should do, but it takes so long to get a decent shot, it's kind of discouraging. Besides, I should be finishing the giant wire mermaid I started a month ago, or doing the other lembrançinhas for the wedding. Should should should....

The saga of Ona-key has been quite long. I got her at the Capital Area Humane Society the day after I moved into the first apartment I could find that would allow me to have cats. I showed up in search of a cat and there she was.

The process of getting her down here with me is well catalogued here on this blog, as is her immediate sudden disappearance behind the fridge. About 2 years ago she started to go down hill. It began as a sudden fur loss on her back end that the vet attributed to stress because of the new baby (Ju was just born at that time). A few months later we found a lump under her front leg. The lump continued to grow and we had all her mammory glands removed, thinking it might be breast cancer. She recovered fine and seemd to be doing better, and then started to limp. It began as a slight hop on the back leg and we began giving her a small dose of pain killer to help her walk - the vet thought it might be a weak muscle which would correct itself if she was able to use it without pain. She didn't improve and we eventually stopped giving her the medication.

The limp became worse and worse until it was apparent both back legs were giving her trouble, becomming boney and sticking out at odd angles on the joints. She started laying on only one side, causing her wiskers to grow crooked on that side, and seemingly making the crookedness of her back end worse. For a while she stopped walking at all, hardly moving, and we discovered that her claws had begun to grow into the pads of her feet because she was not sharpening them. I trimmed them and she improved. He decline seemed halted and she hobbled around the house like an old woman, hopping up and down the stairs with difficulty, but full of life, and trying to hide from Ju most of the time.

The suddenly last night, she freaked out. At first we thought Lela was bothering her - she suddenly woke us up at 1am, yoweling on the veranda. We chased Lela away and brought her inside. She started again and I became worried that she was in pain, but she would immediately stop when I went to talk to her and pet her, so I thought it must be something else. She repeated the yowel again at 2am, then 3am (waking up Ju and scaring the heck out of him), and then at 4am, and again at 5am. Through all this, it seemed that she was yoweling at imaginary things, hallucinations, and that there wasn't much I could do to help her. At 6:30, I was making coffee and she began again, waking up Ju, who then came down stairs, telling me that "Ona-kay tah chorando" - Ona-key is crying.

She spent all day hiding in various places, and the nanny dutifully checked on her to make sure she was okay. She started doing frequent yoweling again when she went to go eat, but it's hard to judge why. I petted her for a while and brought her in here with me on my lap. She hopped up on the shelf next to the computer and now is sleeping where the cooling fan blows hot air on her face. She seems quite contented at the moment. The vet said we might start giving her anti-psycotic drugs tomorow, but I think she should be examined first. I keep remembering when my mom's cat died, how he came and told her he was in pain, and I wonder if Ona-key is trying to do the same.

I think I have figured it out - it's not the kids that stress me out. It's the parents. Is it at every school that teachers are constantly questioned in our abilities to teach? Parents want their kids to go to our school, yet they come in with stories about how "the children don't learn anything" or that "there were a lot of complaints about the teachers this year." What I keep wondering is if they don't trust any of the teachers, why enroll your child with our school? If we can't teach, why are you here bugging us to make an exception just this once to let your child pass when they have not shown that they know the material? Why not just save us all the head ache and take your child to another school? Is it just because these are rich people's kids? People who are used to getting their way all the time? Is that what they think they are paying for? I am starting to get the impression that we are just supposed to do whatever they say, no matter what our professional opinions as educators are. The school sporatically backs us up there.... No wonder the kids show a HUGE lack of respect for us and their fellow classmates and the school grounds. I bet they are told at home that the teacher is wrong, that the problem is the teacher, and that the child should not worry about their behaviour or lack of learning, the teacher should be FORCING you to learn. Because we can just wave our magic wands and make the info appear in their heads. Poof! No wonder we have an almost complete staff turn over every 4 years - no one would want to sit here and deal with this when they could be working elsewhere for more money, in a country where they speak the language...

What am I hungry for? I just keep eating and nothing is satisfying. What is it?!

So they caught the SPAM king, or one of them anyway. And, in fact, my spam level is much much lower than it ever has been since college. I used to get at least 25 a day in my account I have had since 1998. I even went so far as to open another account because the spam was so bad that my inbox would fill up if I didn't check it 20 times a day. And now it has dropped off to about 2 or 3 a day. That's a pretty good track I think.

Great quote for the day - "my sperm are like the borg...a collective intelligence.
200 million minds. Plotting...learning the reproductive tract's weaknesses.....and waiting to strike.
Sounds like I have a terrorist in my pants" - Brian

Another interesting tidbit from school I forgot to mention - after all our hard work fund raising, begging, and cutting supply orders, our new music room was finally completed, with it's fancy sound proofing to prevent the echo-chamber effect, complete with a fancy double door to keep all sound inside and outside separated. We were all so excited, and then off went the piano (so lovingly stored in the computer room for so long) on it's cart, trailed and pushed by several maintenence men to make it's debute for the first class with piano music played by the music teacher since 2 years ago when this whole construction thing began. And oops, well, the engineers forgot that a music room needs to have a door way that instruments can fit through, and well, so the piano can't get into the music room. I guess we should have known to build the room around it, since doors are never a sure thing in this country, especially not in our school...

Today I made goop for Ju. It was a great sucess. He is a fan of play dough, silly putty, and clay. We always recommend that the children who have a poor pencil grip play with some thing along these lines outside of school to strenthen their hands and small motor skills. Ju already has very good capabilities with crayons and is extremely into finger paints. With any luck, I'll be able to give him enough stimulation that he won't be behind when he starts school in a year.

I had something to write earlier when I opened this page, but then Ju was throwing peas and I went to go feed him a banana, and now I am sleeping with my eyes open.

Instead of constantly lamenting that my friends don't update their blogs as often, I suppose I should actually update mine. Despite having opened a page to write a number of times, I never seem to do it, which I chaulk up to my extreme lack of time. Like now, as I am typing, I actually should be making flash cards that I didn't make last night because I was playing with Ju and doing a translation at the same time. Off to school now.

Oh, and I probably should add that we finally were paid the money by the insurance company and have bought a new car as of Wednesday. Only took a month and a half....

The battle for sleep continues. Unfortunately, daddy is sabotaging all my hard work because he misses his son ( can't blame him ) and goes in there to keep him company while he falls asleep. Now here I am, daddy working late, and Ju is up there, crying alternately for mom or dad. He already knew it was going to happen when I put him in there - as soon as I started reading the goodnight story, he starting crying and throwing a fit. If he keeps it up, he may stay awake until daddy get's home at 11.

Is there like a switch or something? Kids pass the two year mark and suddenly - snap - there are the tantrums, the throwing on the floor, the indecision game playing, the pinching, the finicky eating... It's amazing! Another switch that has been flipped is the "potty peeing" switch, brought on by the interest in wearing a "tecka" (cueca - underwear). No interest in doing the same for coco though. oh well.

News for today: Shout pretreater will take crayon off a wall, but it will also take the paint off the wall.

Truely appreciating Sesame Street comes with a realization that I am old. I can remember how much I looked forward to watching it, singing the theme song, and I'm sure I must have learned something from it along the way. It was my favorite show for years, and then suddenly, I think about the time my parents divorced, I suddenly wasn't into it anymore - I had learned all it had to offer and it became boring. Then came years of boycotting it as a "baby show" because I was so grown up (we all go through this in 3 phases I think - when you're 8-9, when you're 14-18, and then again when you are really and adult but feel like you couldn't possible know everything yet - where I am now; I think you really don't know everything until you are somewhere around 50).

Then there was the revival in highschool, conviniently matched to the release of the "Tickle Me Elmo" toy that was the gift of the Xmas season when I was 16. I remember Elmo back packs, T-shirts, and little fuzzy lunch boxes that we used as purses to carry our makeup that we were too young to really be wearing in public. Actually, now that I think about it, the revival was almost purely Elmo based, a character I was never a big fan of when I as a kid, yet became the "IT" character for my teenaged years. Hmmmm....

It faded into the background again until I had Ju, when suddenly I am watching it again, but in DVD form. Now I get the jokes - the three crows who sing about counting are the "counting crows," "MC Elmo" rapping is a catchy way to learn about the number 5, and I am truely appreciating the clear and subliminal way you count to number 8 with the music (incase you are curious, the current favorite is the "1,2,3 Count with Me" DVD). Part of this comes from working in the preschool for the last 2 years, but I think it mostly comes from the fact that I have to watch this stuff at home all the time, and Jim Henson was really thinking when he made it appeal to parents as well, especially to youngish parents who still like current bands, keep up with music trends, and appreciate dancing. I have the "counting crows" stuck in my head all day.

What's so nice is that I see it has changed little, except for the music styles, over the years - the structure is still the same, a central story with short little related blips of educational material that is related in some way. What's making me feel old is that fact that the characters, not just the muppets, but the actual people who live there like Maria and Gordon, are still there, but older. They are still enthusiastic, smiley, and get the kids excited. It's a little bit like visiting my parents' friends who I remember from when I was a kid, but now I too am an "adult" and can talk to them like another "adult."

I am old, but I am not grown up. I still love kids shows.

Haha, just have to add -

Cleaning n Washing Tips

Make Toilet Bowl Sprinkle

Keep the toilet bowl sprinkling - Mix equal parts baking soda and borax around bowl, add white vinegar, and finally clean with toilet brush. For stubborn stains, leave mixture in overnight. Do you think they did it on purpose....

So on Monday I will start teaching in the ESL as the temporary teacher while the permanent one is on maternity leave. Will this guarantee me a teaching position for next year? I hope so. I also interview for a position on Monday. So I can't sleep lately. I keep having nightmares that I go to the wrong class, forget where I work, and parents are trying to blame me for things.

Just think back and remember you are in control of your life, you are an adult. You probably won't screw up.

April fools days is upon us. Did I notice? Not really.

Have I left the house since Friday? Nope.

Will I do something productive today? Yes, I am actually.

Hooray for weekend #2 with no car.

So, our car has just been stolen. We parked it at 2 right in front of the condo portaria and went out at 9 and it's not there. O Maridão has gone to the special office where you report that your car has been stolen, since obviously when you have no car because it has been stolen it is so efficient to have to go to an office to report it instead of having officers come and take the report. The porteiro is pretty sure it wasn't even there at 5:30 when he got here. The neigherbors across the street whose house we parked it in front of have a camera, but they just happened to turn it off today because of something having to do with TV signal, so no help there. Also, there are security guards in front of the two office/businesses a stone throw's distance away (and with a full view of our car at one of them), but no one saw anything. Even more noteable is that for some reason we brought in many things from the car today, like the car seat that we are borrowing from a former student, and O Maridão's expensive sunglasses that live in the glove compartment usually. And every time I go to type the word "sigh" I keep writing "sign." I wonder what it all means.

Sigh.

So much is going on, I have no time to post. But just a quick Ju word :

pinto = penis, but also "aipim"

He just ate half of my dinner and asked for more "mais pinto?"

I had noticed some time ago that the deaf seem to flock to Bompreço. Every time I go through there, since I was pregnant, I have noticed lots of gestures being used with expressive eyes and faces that leave less to wonder about than one might think. When I first noticed it happening, it was easy to pick out who was deaf and who was not. Two or three people would be engaged in some intense conversation that I had no part of other than blatenly staring at them. Now, all the cashiers and baggers seemed to be well versed and easily communicate without words. It's hard to tell who really has no other way to express themselves. Either the deaf and mute are flocking to Bompreço, or there is some kind of training program going on. Or it could be both. Apparently there are laws requiring the hiring of the handicapped here (just like in the States), and low and behold - they are being followed!

I have come to the conclusion that my lack of posting is not due to my lack of time (although actually turning on the computer and writing something before I fall asleep with Ju could make a difference), nor is it due to my attention being constantly diverted to other habitants of this house. It seems my inspiration to write comes only when I am far away from the computer, or at school, where the computer is even slower than this one (hard to believe, I know!). It's hard for me to feel disaplined enough to sit down and write when I feel like it - there always seems to be something else I'll do online and forget about it. Or worse, I am out somewhere and think "I will write about this today" and then by the time I get home it is only a vague inclination and lacking in all the inspiration that I felt at the time the idea was concieved.

For instance, last weekend was a lunar eclipse. I cannot remember the last time I saw one really, not when I knew that was what I was looking at. I had totally forgotten about it until someone else at the party I was at pointed out that the moon was doing something funny. Then it took us another half hour of observation to convince the rest of the guests that it was in fact an eclipse and not just clouds or phases of the moon. I was so inspired to watch it, but at the same time thinking "well, there will be another one in August, so really, why bother." I tried to recall how we had watched eclipses in the States - I couldn't remember. I imagined everyone would be out on their porches, gazing at the sky, watching in awe in the cold (probably very far from the truth). And then I imagined that people around the world were watching it with us. And then we left the party and driving home I saw that almost no one on the street (and there were a LOT of people out, being a Saturday night and all) seemed even remotely aware of what was going on. No one was looking. Like comming back to reality, by the time we got home, I had forgotten it, and so I wrote nothing.

Ju has become a three word sentence maker. I think I did post that before. He also suddenly has the ability to recognize shapes. He has a turtle-put-the-cups-in-the-same-shaped-holes-toy that I got for him when he turned 1 because he was so into putting things inside of other things. He never figured out that the star shaped cup goes in the star shaped hole, the flower shaped cup going in the flower shaped hole, etc. For half a year he played with this thing off and on. The last time he had it out was in December. Suddenly on Thursday night he asked to play with it and so I got it out. He immediately put all the cups in the correct holes. Just like that. Suddenly he can do it. I almost cried I was so excited.

"não não ah-oo gato" = don't put water on the cat

"pum bapeesh" = I farted on the crayons

Ju has begun to draw lines, very nice strait ones, with his crayons. He has been coloring figures for a while, but now he will hand you a crayon and tell you "gato" if he wants you to draw a cat so he can color it. We made a very nice drawing on Thursday night that I took to school on Friday to show off and display. Like all people with kids, or with new-anything-living (this includes puppies, cats, nieces, nephews...) every new development is an amazing step into the world. Actually, having kids makes you want to do a degree in child development, just so you can compare "yes, he did this, no not this...." etc.

The weather here has taken a turn for the "winter-like" a little early this year. Usually this rain/sun/blow/hot/cold all in the same half hour confusion doesn't start until at least April. I don't mind it unless it keeps the kids inside at school and they turn into loud little bouncey monsters because of lack of running space. Also, Ju is watching an absurd amount of TV because I can't take him for a long walk in the rain. His obsession has moved from "Cars" to "The Lion King," until yesterday when I brought home a DVD of "Bear in the Big Blue House" about potty training (innate messages can't hurt, right?) that he seems to be enjoying quite a bit. He likes to watch things that he can identify and say the names of the animals or objects - there is a "mah-oosh"(mouse), a "moon," and he seems to enjoy the shadow puppet part. Even now he is trying to call my attention from the computer to watch the beginning part where the bear sniffs you. So cute.

Adjectives! Today Ju said "bih mesh" - BIG MESS!

My first year of Carnaval I was 7 months pregnant, so I didn't get to do much. My second year, I was breast feeding, so I didn't do much either. This year I finally went out and did the pipoca thing, and then went to a camarote (which we got for free). We went to Farol da Barra, which only after we returned did my husband inform me is one of the most "dangerous" places to go in the pipoca, walking from shopping Barra all the way there.

My first impression was how bad it smelled. There was the highly potent smell of xixi everywhere, along with sweat, B.O., and garbage smells, and the over powering exhaust from the Trios which gave me a headache all of yesterday. We parked illegally outside of Shopping Barra, where the guarda carro simpley moved the SETE cone down the street a few feet to make room for our car, insisting that if there was no cone, there was no problem (this only works in Brasil). He then insisted on being paid R$10 for the service of moving the cone. We gave him R$5 with the understanding that if "SETE gets us, we will find you."

On the way to the main circut, we walked down a back road where some guy had set up a large speaker and microphone, and whilst painting a large picture to illustrate his points with blacklight paint, was lecturing about Jesus and savoirs and the family love and who knows what else. I was mostly amused by the use of the black light and paint. There were also numerous churrascos going on - who knows what that meat is....

Out on the main circut, we walked through the crowds, dancing as the blocos came by. I don't have cheap tennis shoes, so I just wore some strap on sandals and right off the back my toe was wounded from a passing sharp object which might have been a shoe or might have been a beer can, we'll never know. It would have been worth it to buy some new tennies just to cover my feet to keep all the nastyness of the street from being splattered on my poor feet (the sandals are still in the slop sink next to the washer and will remain there until I can soak them in disinfectant). We had quite a walk ahead of us, through the masses of sweaty smelly people. There were numerous fights (people start them in the crowds to take your guard down so they can rob you) but we some how managed to not get caught in them (but just barely). I quickly learned to deal with the "ickeyness" when squished up against fellow partiers because of a passing bloco or a fight. Somewhere along the way, a couple with the same camarote shirts found us and asked us if they could walk with us to not be alone on the way to the building, which I thought was kind of paranoid and funny (until after when O Maridão mentioned that he had not gone to the Farol in many years because of the danger factor), but we quickly lost them during one of the fights.

On the way down, we passed several blocos without trios, mostly for men it seems. One was called "the towels" and all the members (men) wore pink towels and shower caps. Another was called "the pajamas" where all the members (all men, again) wore white and blue striped pajamas and night caps, some carrying teddy bears, and allowing only women who they seemed to think were attractive inside their ropes with them. It was quite amuzing to see.

We were on the hunt for Gilberto Gil's bloco (Expresso 2222 or something like that), where we were to try to find one of our friends who said she would be following it. Within the madness, we accidently found a different group of our friends, a collegue from my husband's work, and the uncle of his namordada from when he was 15, all following 2222. We walked with them for a while, but I was starting to get sick from being so close to the exhaust pipe, and everytime the truck would stop, the crowd kept moving forward and we would always end up right next to it, burning my legs and feet. My ears were really starting to hurt from being so close to the speakers when we finally decided to go up into the camarote (Camarote Oceania) which was right across from the light house.

The camarote was much more controlled. There was a live band with Marcos... de dois>? Can't quite remember his name. And some woman that we didn't know the name of but who reminded me a bit of Lauren Hill, mostly a rock/rap kind of genra. Apparently this was the camarote of the rich, all drinks and everything included, and there was body painting, hair braiding, Haagen Das Ice cream (!!!), champagne... Also, I swear I was the shortest one there. Rich people are tall here, I have noticed this at school too - all the woman are much much taller than me, so much that I almost feel like I'm back in the States. Decendents of immigrants, so I have been told. We drank red bull and whiskey (vire fan!) and watched the blocos for only a little while. Because of all the lights, there was a huge population of gigantic moths (like bigger than my hand) on the outside of the building, and they kept comming inside and flying around over the band. After the band finished, there was some typical rap music which slowly turned into techno (have you noticed this always happens at parties - people are so drunk by that time they don't even listen to the music anymore, just the beat and keep going and going like energizer bunnies). By the time we left to walk back to the car, there were only a couple hundred left in the streets, some people cleaning up trash, and a random vendor or two trying to sell their last couple of geladas for the evening.

One interesting thing I noted was that in the midst of all that mess and all those people from all over the city, we found one of the women who hangs out on the corner near our house (right near where I was robbed) collecting cans. She is the mother of Diva, who I have mentioned before I believe. She told us Diva was out there somewhere, running around with her friends. Small world. No matter where you go in this city, you always see familiar people. Only in Bahia...

To see the view of where we were, check out this link. To choose another view of the circut, click here.

Ju has started doing what appears to be make-believe types of play - biting his crackers into car shapes and then driving them around his high chair tray, and making finger puppets talk to each other (in Ju-language) during his bathtime. Of course, it's hard to tell what's going on in his head while he does this, but it appears to be a fantasy play type of thing.

boon = balloon (I think this was my word for it too when I was little).

Carnaval has officially begun here Bahia. Actually, it officially begins on Wednesday, and the insanity of traffic around the city has shown it. If one tries to pass by AeroClub, you have to contend with "unofficial" abadá sellers, who are rumoured to steal back the black market shirts they just sold you as you walk back to your car or home or bus stop as the case may be. There a long lines of people selling beer along the Orla where there was no beer before. There are confettie, streamers, and carnaval masks litering the ground and decorating homes and stores. And there is the rain. The ever present rain, which according to the forecast, will be here all the way through the week long insanity, soaking everything, turning the confettie into paper-machê muck all over, mixed with xixi and god knows what else. Not that I was going to go out in it before, but I certainly don't plan to now. Some year I will really experience Carnaval, but it seems this year is out.

"soo-vah" = chuva = rain

"boh-d" = bird