Very Long Brazil Update

Ok, I’m sorry it’s been so long. I’ve been trying to post every 2 or 3 days, but I haven’t been feeling well and I’ve been waiting for pictures from someone, which I still don’t have so maybe I’ll add them later? Hmm . . .
Update: The pictures have now been added.

On Thursday we were out of power from noon until 5pm.  Luckily, Augusta called and asked if I wanted to walk downtown with her and her boyfriend, Patrick. Patrick is from Gilbert, AZ and went on his mission to northern Brazil. He decided to take a two month long trip to Brazil after he’d been home for 7 months. Anyway, he spent his first week in Vinhedo and that’s where he met Augusta. Ever since then they’ve been chatting and waiting until the end of his trip when he comes back to this area. 

I couldn't straighten my hair because the power was out, so luckily it turned out okay on its own.

Here's one of the guys working on the electricity.

So Patrick got here on Wednesday and on Thursday we all walked down town for a milkshake in the beautiful 80 degree weather. We spent a couple hours downtown together and then walked home. It was very fun! In the downtown square there were these performers there. They had clowns, dancers, and fire breathers. Patrick and I discovered that we went to the same elementary school for a couple years, but since he’s a grade younger than me (wow, I feel old) we didn’t know any of the same people. 

We saw parrots on our way downtown.

This is the place I've been to get milkshakes twice now.  (The one with the banana cinnamon shake). This sign makes me laugh because quente means hot. As in a temperature. It makes me, the Silvas, and Patrick laugh but Augusta doesn't see why a hot milkshake is weird.

Some dancers in the performing group.

That kid holding the torch was a volunteer. He said he was visiting his cousin in Vinhedo. He was from Campinas.

Wow . . .

Me, Augusta, Patrick, Augusta's lover boy

Aren't these trees beautiful?

This picture makes me laugh because I look completely like a third wheel. Patrick insisted that he wanted a picture of all three of us. Right . . . Anyway, this world is kind of in the center of Vinhedo. Really cool.

Random dogs just hanging out. They didn't belong to anyone and no one seemed to care that they just wanted to hang out by themselves.

When I finally got back home, everyone was out except for Rachel so we watched Overboard while I did my nails.

Friday morning I woke up to this beautiful sight. 

Feliciano bought these in Sao Paulo for R$10. So I've been in heaven. We've had mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, french fries, and I think we might make spud nuts today. Yum! I don’t remember what I did during the day besides take a shower and Rachel and I went to the grocery store.

Quail eggs at the grocery store.

This made me laugh. Firstly it has an English name. Secondly the dog has colored spots. Ha ha!

The meat counter.

Rachel being brave and ordering meat.

 When we got back we were invited to lunch by Gracas. We had chicken, rice, beans, and a salad with a lemon and salt dressing that was very good.

A parrot at Gracas's house.

In the evening Nani and I were planning to go to a dance in Sao Paulo, provided we could figure out a ride. A couple hours of drama later, Feliciano and Rachel drove Eliane and me to Sao Paulo to go to the dance and they waited in the parking lot while we danced. The church it was at is 10 ft. away from the Sao Paulo temple so at least they had a nice view. Well, we were expecting the dance to be awesome because the other two we went to were awesome. This was not the case however. They didn’t play any good music (I mean how many times can you do the forro?!), it was super crowded, our little group of friends didn’t really work out this time, and the dance ended at 11:30pm instead of 1:00am like we thought. So we were only there for an hour and a half. So it was kind of a waste of time. But it was still fun to see Augusta and Patrick. And we saw Everton again, so that was fun. He’s very good at the forro (did a mention it’s pronounced foe-hoe?), so good that he makes me seem a lot better than I am. :)

I decided to wear my contacts for the first time in probably 3 years.

And there's my hot shoes. I only lasted 45 minutes in them at the dance. Oh well.

Sorry it's kind of blurry, You can blame Patrick.

Again, Patrick said he wanted a picture of all of us in front of the Sao Paulo temple.

The beautiful Sao Paulo Temple.

The beautiful water fountain at the temple.

Beautiful Girls

What I was trying to show here is that the temple is in the middle of a busy city.

Saturday morning Rachel and I went to an open market with tons of crafts and Brazilian foods It was so fun that we are planning to go back next week too. We also saw capoeira dancers. 

For lunch we had fresh orange juice and this delicious pie filled with chicken, cheese and corn. Yum!!! 

Then Saturday afternoon Rachel and I went to the salon. Rachel got her hair done and I got my hair cut and got a pedicure. It was really fun to sit in the tiny salon and listen to all the ladies chat. The owner was excited that she had cut international hair and said that maybe she should raise her prices now. Except Rachel would get a discount because she brought me in. Ha ha. The ladies also couldn’t believe my hair color. They were very impressed. When we got back, Rachel insisted that I take pictures of my Brazilian salon experience:

Red sparkly toes.

My hair right after the cut.

My hair after being straightened.

Then Saturday night we decided to have snacks for dinner. We had strawberries and brigadeiro, apples and caramel, chips and guacamole, and popcorn. Wow! And we sat down and watched Cheaper by the Dozen. It was a very good but tiring day!

Have I mentioned that lunch is the big meal here? So it's not really that bad that we were just snacking for dinner.

 

Sunday we went to church and during Sunday school the teacher’s adorable boy, Nathan, came in. I was carrying some of those creepy clowns with me (Rachel had taken some home to finish) and Nathan found them and started playing with them. He loved them! But his dad didn’t love that he was distracting us. Oops.

Nathan with a clown.

Nathan getting in trouble.

 

Nathan playing with Lorraine.

This week during church I was really frustrated because I really wished I understood what everyone was saying. The other weeks I've been able to tune everything out and just read my scriptures, but I couldn't stop listening this week. So my head kind of hurt from the fruitless concentration.

 

Ok, so this may be inappropriate, but I took it because as Nani says, "it goes from white to milk to dark chocolate." I LOVE that about this area of Brazil. So many colors.

That evening we went back to the church for what we thought was a pioneer musical thing from the MoTab. It was actually a patriotic program for those serving in the U.S.A. military. So I felt kind of awkward sitting in Brazil watching this American program in English sitting next to Brazilians speaking Portuguese. But whatever. The best part was that Nathan was there and he sat close to me for a while and started chatting to me. I wish I could understand him. But then he started talking to no one in particular and was telling everyone that his dad doesn’t know how to drive and he crashed the car. He crashed it really hard. Everyone was laughing and his dad had his face in his hands. Some things are just universal. He’s adorable.

On Monday, I did a lot of reading because I haven’t been feeling well. Eliane’s been sick too. I hope we’re feeling up to the dance coming up on Friday. The name of this dance is iBaile. As in iPod, iPhone, iTunes etc. Funny, right? Nani and I were saying that we should paint apples on our cheeks of something. Ha ha.