Movin' On Up!

We moved up in the world this weekend. No longer are we mere peasants on the second floor with no carpet and an old TV. We are now in a room on the 10th floor with carpet, robes, and a flat-screen TV! Wowsers!

From this...

Photo taken standing next to bed.

To This!

Photo taken standing next to bed. So much more space!

From this:

Photo taken standing next to TV stand.

To This:

Photo taken standing in middle of room with lots of space around me!

Plus, our new crazy painting above the bed has COLOR, and our AC has a remote control... I know, I know, I need to calm down. It just makes me so happy because I have to do this...

Laundry in the shower!

Yes, half of the shower has a glass door that does not move. This makes it difficult to do laundry in the shower without getting wet. Luckily, I found these nifty clips at Extra today to help hang undies and socks.

I tried to crop as close as I could to the clips without showing the dirty laundry.
 ( Just look at  the clips!)

 The bucket below works too! Funny story- today was my final day preparing for our move into the apartment on February 1. ( I begin teaching next week and am going into school tomorrow to organize and prepare! Cant wait!)

Today, my goal was to buy everything for the kitchen and cleaning supplies for the laundry room. So, I spent two hours filling my basket with everything from plates to light bulbs to the plastic thing that organizes your silverware in the drawer. After checking out, I made my way to the delivery desk. I asked if everything could be delivered on our move-in day to the new place. Well, they only deliver on the day that you buy! So.... we now have a pile of plates, glasses, spatulas, tupperware, and cleaning supplies from Extra filling all of our extra space on the striped carpet!

Oh well, at least I could use the bucket (below) and the pink clippy things (above) for laundry.

I feel like I need one of these in each color!

or this...

Pretty Little Things...

Today has been a wonderful Saturday! We ate omelets on the second-floor balcony of a pink restaurant, got upgraded to a beautiful new hotel room on the 10th floor, and I bought two comfy rugs for our apartment! I stumbled upon this tree (above) with colorful ribbons hanging from it's limbs while I was shopping. It reminded me of how my sisters and I used to wrap the houses of our crushes in toilet paper! My mom was the get-away driver and we would cover the trees, shrubs and lawn in white. How  much fun would it be to wake up to trees covered with ribbons outside of your window?!

 This ivy-covered building is a flower shop two blocks from our new place! What a lovely sight while on an afternoon walk. 

This tree is just below our new hotel room window. I love the pink flowers on top that can only be seen with a bird's-eye view.

 This is the view from our new hotel room window. It looks like a river of trees!

 These pillows line the walls of my new favorite fabric store in Sao Paulo. I bought our white quilt and pillows for our couch here!

Hey It's Ok!

I thought I would begin posting a "Hey It's Ok!" page about being an American woman living in Brazil. This is my favorite page from Glamour magazine because it always makes me smile. In fact, I used to tear this page out of the magazine and put it on my fridge in college, so everyone who came over could laugh with me while reading it aloud!

Here are a few examples...

Hey, it's ok....

1. If you are beginning to accept that fries can, in fact, be served with meat!

(In most restaurants in Sao Paulo, if you order meat... hello, side of 'batatas fritas' (fries)! No veggies, no baked potato, expect fries baby!)

2. If you just can't get enough of the fresh fruit juice! Why not drink it whenever you want, even if a coconut water costs $4.50R?... fruit= healthy, right?!

3. If you cringe when you see a woman wearing a regular bra with an open back shirt, that's why they make strapless! Come on...

4. If Applebee's and Outback are always on your date-night restaurant list. (Free refills... duh!)

5. If you have lost a few of your husband's shorts because they fell off of the balcony, when hanging outside to dry. Whoops!

6. If you order a Coca-Zero and remember the day when Diet Coke was in every restaurant in the US!

7. If you began a workout plan simply because you are going to Rio in one month and you don't want to be 'that girl with rolls', while Gisele is walking next to you!

8. If you buy a cheap refrigerator, so you can afford the soft sheets in Brazil, not the crunchy, stiff ones.

9. If you still prefer football over soccer.

10. If you secretly wish you could learn Portuguese with the snap of a finger, or a wiggle of a nose ( I Dream of Jeannie TV Show, anyone? anyone?)

Liberdade

From fighting with our red umbrella to feeling overwhelmed by crowds, our weekend was jam-packed! (By the way, the red umbrella won! Brody=0, Umbrella=1)We zig-zagged our way through furniture shopping on Saturday and the Feira de Liberdade (the Japanese/Chinese fair) on Sunday.

On Saturday, we roamed Rua Teodoro, a street filled with furniture shops. We found a perfectly soft mattress for an amazing price and we scoped out potential coffee tables, lamps and side tables for the living room. I found one store that I love and it just happens to be moving, so everything is 70% off!

Furniture shopping here is a pain because each store sells furniture for different prices. One store will have a chair for BRL$100 and another store will try to sell the same chair for twice that! So, we have learned that in order to get a good price, you have to look around and do a lot of research.

I took a few photos of Liberdade. The market was not quite what I was expecting. While the vendors sold amazing food, the products (jewelry, sandals, etc) did not seem to be very high quality and the streets were overflowing with people.

On the upside, we found our new favorite popsicle brand here, Melona. My popsicle tasted exactly like a green melon and Brody's tasted like a banana!

Quick photo before rushing into the crowd!

Check out the lanterns above the street!

All of the streets were lined with signs wishing everyone "Happy Holidays".

This guy said something about putting his arm around me,
then proceeded to act it out for the camera! (Weird-yes, but funny too)

Mercado Municipal

We went to the Mercado Municipal for lunch today. I was in fruit heaven! All of the produce looked fresh and colorful. Unfortunately, we did not buy anything because we do not have a kitchen in our hotel room, but we will definitely go back once we move into our apartment. The vendors were extremely nice, I did not hear one person yell to get my attention.

Pitaya Vermelha: Red Dragonfruit

Pitaya Amarela, or yellow dragon fruit,  have cactus-like spikes on the outside which fall off when the fruit is ripe. According to thenerdygardener.hubpages.com this fruit can be eaten like a kiwi, split down the center and scooped out with a spoon. You can eat the black seeds.

Manga: Mango

Carambola: Star Fruit

 I love the way the fruit is presented. Beautiful little towers of fruit in baskets cover the stands.

The cherries are huge!

This friendly man smiled when I took a photo of his stand. I do not know why he is grabbing his tummy....ulcers?

After browsing the fruit stands, we ate lunch upstairs and noticed the lovely arches on the ceiling and the intricate stained-glass windows.

Stained-glass window of farmers working on their land.

Beautiful architecture

"Sanduiche de pernil": tastes like a BBQ sandwich
BTW: The black olive on top was the best olive I have ever tasted! 

These are olive oil and vinegar bottles. Who knew storage could be so pleasing to the eye...

Bacalhau Desfiado: Dried Bacalhau fish is very popular here!
It is extremely salty... I wonder if it is anything like our beef jerky?

Sunny day at the park

Saturday proved to be a lovely day. It was sunny, warm and a perfect day to spend at Ibirapuera Park. Since most people are out of town for the holidays it was not as crowded as we expected it to be. Families fed the geese in the lake, some hung hammocks on the trees, while others tried out their new Christmas presents. Skateboarding and rollerblading seem to be extremely popular, not only with the teenagers, but also with middle-aged men and women!

 Luckily, there are vendors every 100 feet, so you will never dehydrate. These vendors sell everything from bottled water to chips and candy. This lady appreciated the shade that her four umbrellas provided!

Basketball and Coconut Water

"Me and my gurlfrendz!" was the taunt of the Brazilian man that Brody guarded yesterday during his three on three basketball game at the park. We asked our Brazilian friends if this phrase sounds like a Portuguese taunt, but everyone agreed that there is not a Brazilian saying similar to the English phrase. So, Brody proceeded to laugh every time this man taunted him. Needless to say, Brody's smiles did not make the man happy!

Check out the chain basket!

"Aqui no Brasil..." was another phrase that was repeated throughout the day. "Here in Brazil" one doesn't have to take the basketball back to the half line after the team scores, and "Here in Brazil" one can stand anywhere during free throws. The guys ended up playing three games and only winning one. 

Mari and I cheered the guys on while drinking fresh coconut water."Aqui no Brasil" you can drink the water directly from the coconut, or they will drain the juice for you and put it in a plastic can. After you finish the coconut water, the vendor will break it open for you so you can eat the coconut meat inside!