We went into the flying saucer!!!

Since I learned of its existence, I wanted to go and see it for myself. Oscar Niemeyer, a Brazilian architect designed the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) in Niteroi, a city abot 40 miles from Rio. The building is a flying saucer sitting on top of a hill, overlooking the ocean, islands and to the far right accross the ocean, the splenderous city of Rio de Janeiro. I have also learned that jaw dropping views are the norm here, and this was no exception to the rule, even in the foggiest of days.
We drove accross the 10 mile bridge and landed in Niteroi, a busy port swarming with people seeking for cover under the constant drizzle, buses fighting over space with the other cars, vendors trying to get customers, and lost tourists- well, make it one lost tourist car (mine). Fortunately, we found a taxi driver who didn't mind getting wet while trying to explain, from car to car, the way to get there.

And there it was: majestically weather proof, the white saucer distinguished from afar, standing tall over the ocean.
We finally went in! The building is one of a class, its round shape naturally allowing visitors to have a great view of the exhibition and later on, a fabulous view of the outside. That alone was well worth the visit!
I wasn't too impressed with the exhibit, in fact, I had already seen a lot of the work at the MFAHouston, but I enjoyed it anyway.
After solving some puzzles made to resemble part of the work, the kids, Larissa and I drove through the city in search of a place to eat. We found a pizzeria that had a tv on with the local "futbol" game and had a wonderful meal.
Back home I have to start thinking about the time change, we go forward one hour, grrr, now we have to wake up earlier!

We got our first one! yeah!

Our friends Vicente and Maru took us up on our word and sent their daughter to visit us. Larissa will be here with us until the last week in October, so we're trying to get the most out of her visit to Rio. In a way she's our (and your) guinea pig, because she's trying out the guest room and our self-made tours around the city we haven't yet explored ourselves... so far so good. (I'll send her email so she can give you the REAL insider version, ha ha!).
We've been happy to have her around, it feels good to talk to someone in your language and to be able to "show off" my Portuguese- ha! she won't notice when evryone else doesn't understand me... or will she???

Anyway, we have used her as an excuse to be the real touristy type!(as if it were hard for us, yeah, right!). She joined our Saturday morning Portuguese class with Elida- she didn't have a choice since the kitchen table was the only one we had at the time- outdoor furniture was not an option with the pouring rain. Larissa wanted to get breakfast and she got Portuguese verbs and phrases instead! Elida decided to have our next lesson out in the real world and we went to a neighborhood called Santa Teresa.
We met at "Cinelandia" in Downtown Rio. We walked past the National Library, the Congress House, the National Theater, the Mahatma Gandhi Plaza, and walked to the "bonde" [pronounced bon-gee], a $0.30 trolley that took us all the way up the hill to Santa Teresa.
Everything was quite an experience! From getting there and finding the (excellent) parking lot, to eating lunch at the "loncharia" and the flea market!
We rode the bonde with the people literally hanging from it, saw how the driver and some passengers actually carried a car that was parked on the tracks (you can see the whole thing on the pictures, just click on the title).We walked the cobblestone streets and visited the colorful stores in this quaint part of town, the views were breathtaking!
Santa Teresa is known for its artsy flair and samba presentations.We tried visiting a museum but being with my two (tired & hungry) boys, and Elida's 4 year-old daughter, we decided to try that later on.
We walked to a nearby street where a flea market sets once per month. What a crowd! It reminded me of a famous old flea market in Mexico City where my grandpa would take me : la Lagunilla. In fact, they are basically the same thing!
We found a restaurant and had something to eat there while admiring all the things going on outside. We were curious about a street vendor and his corn, so we went to him and bought what he had. they turned out to be just like tamales, very good indeed, so we bought one more to share. He was proud to tell me he made 100 that day, and loved having his picture taken!
It was a marvelous day, the weather was perfect!

Larissa is enjoying her stay, so now we're officially ready for you guys to come!

trimestral report

So I look back at how time flies and I realize we've been here two months already!
And now it's three!
The kids are in school, Fernando is at work and I'm finally getting some new activities into my calendar.My boys have settled in, have their activities sorted out and seem very happy.

Luzia has been such a great help around the house, I love my bike and I wish I had my dog here!

I still miss my friends! I'm so glad I have kept in constant communication by phone with Alicia, Amber, Anita, Catherine, Edith, Kate, Laura, Lynda, Maria, Norma, Sandra, Tammy, and our families, so that has really worked out well. Facebook and emails have done their share to keep me busily happy and tuned in with the rest!

So far, I've talked much more to Yuwei (Chinese-New Yorker from school) and Ana Maria (Brazilian neighbor),both really nice ladies. Yuwei & Scott, along with their kids have been to our house and invited us to theirs; it's nice to start building up a family relationship, the downside is that we live far from each other, so it's not easy to see her in a regular way, like I would like to.
With Ana MAria it's very easy to see her since she lives right in front of our house, but she doesn't have any kids, so we usually get together in the mornings to go grocery shopping and just recently to our dance lessons. Hopefully we'll do more things together as time goes by... and my Portuguese gets better!

When is a friend "oficially" a friend?

We haven't received the dining table, chairs we ordered, so I still have a couple boxes of things I'm putting in the buffet, I can't believe I still have things in boxes (only a couple)!



The weather in Rio these months has been surprisingly nice and mild. AS an average, I can safely say it stays around 72F, except those rainy days where sunshine didn't show up for a couple of days in a row and the temperature went down to lower 60's, great for sweaters and long pants. On very hot days it went all the way up to lower 80's, but that has been only a couple of days.
We have now entered Spring, weather has been in the lower 70's, great for outdoor activities, but still cool for the beach (at least for us- the ones who have not yet used their own swimming pool). Everybody has warned us about the intolerable heat during December, January and part of February- ha! I'm running away to Mexico and Houston!
We are now members of the American Club in Rio, and eager to go to all their get-togethers and meet new people. Our first party was the "Cajun Night", which was a blast; great food, drinks and chats with all sorts of members.
We just got a new dentist/orthodontist, but we still need to find a pediatrican, ob/gyn and church.Fernando & boys go to the barber shop close to our house, I went to a good salon that cost a leg, arm, both eyes and hands and was good (better be!)... don't know if I can go back, though! bummer. Maybe if I do it once a year?

We just received our first sleep-over guest: Larisa Dominguez! It's been fun going sight-seeing with her, I'll take her to Copacabana tomorrow.

The Olympic Games were just announced two days ago and everyone here went wild! It'll be great!
AND, jst because I promised, the waiting list to our house, for the Olympic Games started with Amber & Bob, then my brother and fam; and then Edith & fam! If we're still here you are ALL invited! I'll get extra hammocks if necessary ;-)

So, you can say we are finally settling in!!!

RIO 2016!

I went to school today to the monthly meeting with the MS principal, the "Community Meeting", this time it was only 6 of us attending: Yuwei, Valeria, Amy,Nina,Penny and I. We talked about assessment strategies, parties, grading and volunteering. It was fun and helpful.
Yuwei, Amy and I then headed to the elementary section to help out in the "Ice cream social", where all the kids got their chocie of ice cream and toppings (so many to choose from, that they had to have several servings...). The kids were celebrating Children's day and had games,ice cream, treats, balloon figures, etc. to add to their fun.
The school will be closed next week because there's some kind of Brazilian celebration (I still have to find out what it is), but Fernando will be gone- again to Houston and Mexico- so kids, Larisa and I will visit other things in Rio.

Yuwei and I had lunch at school and talked about daily stuff. They'll be going to NY next week, so I can't make any plans with them.
I left school around 1:45 and asked the guard at the entrance if he knew anything about the Olympic games. "It's down to Madrid vs Rio, they'll give the final result briefly!"
So, I tuned in to the local news and they were narrating the events, step-by-step as I was rolling downhill from school. They finally gave the now well-known result and you could hear a loud roar, people were screaming, jumping, hugging, laughing, dancing! Everybody you saw was full of energy, with the thumbs endlessly up and the widest grin ever.
The radio people were out of control as well!
I drove as fast away as possible, since the school is fairly close to Copacabana, where the largest crowd had gathered since early that morning to celebrate. The street signs all said "Parabens, Rio!" [congratlations, Rio], flags were waved and the merry spirit spilled all over the city. It was magic!

Rio will be hosting the Olympic Games in 2016 and now I'm worried if they'll be ready in time- so many things to do, we'll be stuck in construction traffic from now on!

Previously on "Macedos-in-Rio"

I went to my  trial dance class and barely made it through. I went to my trial tennis group lesson and it was ok.
After a long debate with myself and conquering my fears, I joined both groups and have already had the first class with each. Outcome: great! I get a good workout, I am establishing my routines with more  commitment and I'm getting to know more people.
As I was going out to my 1st dance class (the official one), my neighbor came to see me, and I invited her to the class. She enjoyed it very much and will be joining the class as well, so now we'll have a carpool too!

The Macedos have been busy trying to keep up with Rio's cultural life, quite active! We went to see the Voca People (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6EYrqIn0yI )
and also the Blue MAn group (www.blueman.com ). We missed the theater festival and I am now trying to get tickets for the Film Festival these two weeks. I couldn't get tickets to the International Fashion Show which happened simultanously in Paris-Tokio-New York-Rio, but we did go to the world's largest "FUTBOL" stadium: the MARACANA! We took a tour there, to keep it safe and fun, and it was great! We all enjoyed it very much and became fans of the winning (local) team: Flamengos!
We have also been the "touristy" type and went to see Corcovado (Christ the Redeemer statue) and the local artistic neighborhood or "barrio" called Santa Teresa, where we could also appreciate the monthly bazaar out in the street, we visited the Nationsl Library, one of the largest in America (the continent), and we went by the Cathedral.
[click on the title to see pictures & videos of the stadium]

What was I thinkin'???

(taken from a letter to my two dear friends)


Hello dear Fru fru friends...

It's your long forgotten legal-allien-gone-south friend here, calling to tell you about my latest adventure...

So, I figured I needed;

a) to get out of my shell, hmm , house

b) to exercise

c) meet new people

d) learn how to dance samba

e) all of the above

I responded to an ad in the school's newspaper... 

To make the story short, the teacher picked me up and took me to the class. While he was preparing the music, his two helpers (two young ladies in dance attire) showed me pictures of the shows they've had, and told me about the one they are having today at the Maracana stadium, you know, the largest one in the world! Really?! Yes, more than 10,000 tickets have been sold, and 4000 more confirmed! 

 UH OH... I was hoping for a more, hmm simple?( is that the word I'm looking for?) class, yes a simple, non-pretentious, non-professional group...

Only two more ladies showed up...

the class started.

they moved to the right, I went left.

up, round, left, right,... just imagine Laurel Hardy dancing next to the Ginger Rogers in the class...AND the Fred...

uh oh. They slowed down because of me...

I tripped over myself..

this is pathetic...

To be continued.

(yes, do laugh if you can imagine the video)

BOOK FAIR

"Bienal do Rio" is its actual name and it lasts 10 days, from Sept. 10-20, 2009.
It's a large and well organized event that turned out quite expensive for me... but it was well worth it since we got books in Spanish for the whole family, plus a set of CDs in Portuguese with some short stories and music.
I realized today that it takes such an effort ot be listening all day long and trying to speak in Portuguese, that at one point we were  ecstatic to see some titles in English. Little did we care if they were " Basic Procedures of Urology", "Marketing in the new era", or "Linguistic Principles". So we set out to look for books in English or Spanish- at this point even Chinese would do!
My first approximation was " você tem livros para o inglês o espanhol?", and I finally got an affirmative answer, "sim, sim, um" and he handed out a small book, basically "the most useful phrases in Spanish, for beginners"!!!
Guess my question was wrong... so I worded it differently and got "não " for an answer most of the time. At the information booth I finally got what I needed: go to the blue pabillion and look for "libros vivos", you'll find them in Spanish.
The owner  spent a long time with me talking about books and authors, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and other topics, until I noticed his wife was mad and my kids were tired... Eric later on told me We had spent almost two hours there!!! But it was such a relief to be talking to someone and to actually understand every single word, not to mention knowing what and who they were talking about!!!!!!!!
      We visited a comic strip place where the salesman was shocked to learn we didn't know those comics! He even gave us a couple and explained the story, and how the cahracters "grew up" in time- these comics have been around for 50 years! So, I'll read them and let you know how we liked them!
      The highlight of the visit was also the "Churros stand". We each had one, "dulce de leche" or chocolate filling, mmmmm, hadn't had one in years!!

culture shock 101

Elida, our Portguese teacher, arrived only 35 minutes late today, no worry, no apology.  

Since I thought she wasn't coming, I was outside talking to my neighbor, who told me that she will go next week with her cousin to  buy clothes, but we are getting dresses... BTW, do you wear dresses? (I just laugh to myself inside, realizing she doesn't approve of the way I dress "too Americanish" for Rio- and at the same time I see the way they [Cariocas] dress too  gaudy and even vulgar at times;  large prints, short skirts, no-back blouses, flaunting their tattoos and bodies that have obviously been under the knife... I just can't seem to wear that! Some of the pants I see out there look like pijamas to me, others like  gym attire , and yet others like they are going out to a party, but they're at the mall! Of course, like everywhere else, you have the "normal", no-sweat people, but those don't stand out... And, just for the record, my neighbor Ana Maria wears a nice dress everyday; Luzia will not go to the supermrket with me unless she has her high heels and lipstick). And YES, I do wear dresses, it's just that they are kept with the summer clothes that will be coming out very soon.


         We learned some other important verbs and how to write and say (this being the hardest for me) numbers! 17 and 18 will be in my final exam... I just can't get to say them correctly and this is  always confirmed when I call to get a taxi...
  I was reading an article yesterday about Cariocas and their stereotypes and I couldn't figure out what the title meant: "Malandros no Rio". So I asked Elida about this and it triggered a whole topic on cultural aspects, very interesting!
It turns out the term "malandro" was coined in the  military regime of  Brazil to depict a person who is a laid-back, bohemian artist with a  strong link to samba, a flaunty gait and always wearing a hat. The military basically belittled this image and created the stereotype of a person who would usually take advantage of every situation, would behave in a highly informal way, etc.
She went on pointing out cultural differences, such as the concept of time and how Brazilians are not punctual (no kidding), the way they treat strangers- everybody's a friend, but at the same time not- and other concepts like personal body space [a Brazilian has NO idea what this means]. She also told us that one of the worse things for a Brazilian is saying NO, so they will rather say "yes, I'll go to your party" and then not go at all, than telling you right off "sorry, I'm not able to go". Elida explained that a common way of beating around the bush is saying "maybe", "let me see" , "I'll see what I can do", etc. All those answers are basically NO.
So, if you ask me for money, you might hear me say "maybe tomorrow..." ha ha.