a new schedule... or so I wish

First of all, sorry about the Petropolis post, for some unknown reason the layout is totally wrong, and I can't seem to fix it!!!! (but I did it to see who noticed...)

Fernando had to go on a business trip this week, leaving us at the hotel from Monday-Friday, with "the huge truck" that I'm almost afraid of driving. Yes, you read well... imagine that!!! People here drive crazily, I call the motorcycles the suicides, the buses are the bullies...

I ventured into the wild today in order to get my laundry done before we all ran out of clean clothes. I managed to arrive there without getting lost, hit or mad and decided to do the laundry myself: last time I went there I told the lady I'd leave the clothes there so she could wash, dry and fold them, but I didn't realize that they count piece by piece!!! So, a bucket carries 24 pieces regardless of size, ie one sock is equal to one shirt or pair of jeans, but the worst part (from where I stand) is that the lady takes your bag and takes piece by piece out, in front of everybody, counting each and every single item- those wishing to remain anonymous step aside please...

If you decide to do it yourself, you can put as many items as you wish into the machine, but you have to wait for the cycle(s) to run and, DIY, the price is really not that much less, but you have the benefit of privacy... no need to be showing anybody's undies all over the place...

On the way there I saw a couple of car dealerships and went to look for my car. We had started the quest on Sunday, but I need to see more, I can't get used to the models here- or the lack of color choice: you can have basically 3 colors: any silver, black or white shades/names you can think of. A couple of makes have a red, a champagne and maybe even a very dark blue or green, but the models are very limited when that happens.

The other limiting factor is that I am adamant on getting a car with automatic transmission. 90% of the cars here are NOT!!! Even though I drove gear shift for many years, I do not want to go back to that if I can help it. So, my options go down noticeably to a couple of models:

Honda Fit, Mitsubishi 4x4, VW Jetta and some others I can't think of now. I set up a couple of test drives for the week, I'll write about that later!

Then we headed to a local club, Maripendi Clube, to ask about tennis lessons for Eric, swimming for Alan. I got info on a "summer " course- that's what I call it -because we're in winter here now- that started this week. I will enroll Alan there, starting tomorrow. I think he's a little reluctant after last year's idea, he did say that my choice in summer course is usually poor...

(Last year I decided to enroll them in the Chinese Community course, from 9 am to 5 pm. At the time I thought it was the coolest thing ever, imagine, what an opportunity to be there, even if it did include some "school work". Let's just say that I would've loved it... Well, Eric ended up having (among other things) Algebra and poetry recital, all in Chinese, while Alan had history and song singing, also in Chinese. They were the only non-Chinese amongst 200+ students, so they became very popular... at least give me that credit! Needless to say, they were not happy about the arrangement, especially when I made it clear that we had a deal and they had to finish the whole week... I guess they wouldn't like to go in my dream trip and spend a whole summer in China, huh?).

Back in Rio, I found a tennis class for Eric, so , starting tomorrow the kids will go to their classes from 1 to 5:30 pm- hey, I'm letting them sleep in !!!!

Now, I've got to think what I'M going to do!!!!! Any suggestions???