Our Apartment

Sorry it has taken me a while to create a post about our new place. I wanted to get a few things hung on the walls before taking photos. Luckily, this weekend I was a painting machine! Yesterday, while nursing a painful hangover from our 4:30am Friday night festivities (another story!),  I painted this painting.

Then, as I was silently yelling at myself for staying up so late while walking to an art supply store, I stumbled upon a furniture store that was going out of business. Everything was 50% off, so I purchased this beautiful entryway table for half the original price and this mirror for behind the couch, AND... these cute votive candle holders for our built-in shelving in the bedroom.

Cute entryway table right!?

I am thinking about painting this teal. Do you think it would be too bright?

While trying to hang this mirror behind the couch, I was interrupted by aggressive knocking on the door. The building manager came to our apartment and yelled at me for the second time in two weeks! I guess the woman who lives below us complained about the hammering noise. 

I have two things to say about that:

1. It is freakin' hard to hang things in Brazil! I bent 7 nails just hanging the little thing that holds our keys by the door. It is as if the entire wall is concrete. 

2. It wasn't 6am, I was hammering at 11:30am. The problem is that it is a Sunday, the day of rest. So I guess that means, you can't hang anything on Sundays here. 

(BTW: The first time I was yelled at was because we were hanging our laundry outside on the balcony, and the manager said it looked tacky. Whoopsies!)

I am still looking for frames for the photos I brought from home. The votive candle holders are too cute!

This morning at 6am, I woke up and could not go back to sleep. So I painted these two lil guys...

They are supposed to be Cherry Blossoms. Can you tell?

I printed a few photos that I took at Mercado Municipal (view my post) to hang on the wall above the breakfast table. The framed photos will be ready on Tuesday and I will immediately add a post after hanging them. I cant wait to see everything all together!

Our apartment has beautiful hardwood floors. The owner left us this glass kitchen table and the couch. I found the entryway rug and the living room rug at a store close to our hotel. I fell in love with their colors and their simplicity!

 This is a photo of our bed. I am planning to paint three paintings to hang above the bed to bring more color into the room.

Lots of photos of friends and family! We miss y'all!

My bathroom

Our apartment has two bedrooms and two baths. This is technically the guest bathroom, but I use it since I wake up at 5:30am and don't want to wake up Brody. Also, I keep all of my clothes in the guest bedroom. This apartment has wonderful closets and storage! Yay! I feel so organized.

My closets

Our living room, laundry room, Brody's bathroom and his closets are a bit messy right now. (Brody is napping on the couch.) I will add them to my post on Tuesday, when I pick up the framed photos for above the kitchen table.

I hope you like our place! My job for all of December (before I began teaching) was to research furniture, make a spreadsheet of costs to keep track of our relocation budget spending, and plan the delivery dates. Thank goodness, everything that I ordered arrived on the day that they said they would deliver it, and nothing was broken!

Rio

Rio de Janeiro : Cidade Maravilosa 

Marvelous City

Brody and I visited our friend, Alex, in Rio for four days during Carnaval.  On the first day, we walked down Copacabana beach. The contrast between the beach, buildings and mountains is breathtaking! 

Copacabana Beach

We ate lunch on the beach, where the kitchens are hidden below ground so the view is not interupted. Volleyball nets are set up along the beach. Everyone plays with their feet.

Ipanema Beach and the Bloco Party

We walked from Copacabana beach to Ipanema beach, where we met these men dressed up for Carnaval. The man dressed as a bride is getting married to his fiance in December. The man with the big smile is the 'bride's' brother.

Ready for Carnaval!

Celebrating Carnaval at the Bloco Party

Beautiful Photo of Ipanema Beach in the afternoon

Lagoa

We walked around Lagoa, a saltwater lagoon, on Wednesday afternoon. 

Sambodroma

We went to the Sambodroma, where the parade of floats and samba dancers parade in front of bleachers. While we were there, one float caught on fire and a butterfly on top of a crane bumped into a ledge filled with photographers!

The butterfly on top of this float ran into the photographers taking pictures on this ledge. Everyone was fine, the float simply backed up and lowered the crane.

Add caption 

Photo of the crowd

Favela walking home from Ipanema

While walking home from Ipanema beach, I captured this photo of a favela on the side of a mountain. Most favelas are built on the sides of mountains in Rio, they have the most beautiful views of the city.

Friends

We met David and Tatiana through our friend, Alex. Lola is their dog. I took this family portrait in front of this wall with a silly doggie painted on it!

David, Tatiana and Lola

Walking the beach

New Friends

Here are a few photos of our new friends in Sao Paulo. Last night, we went to dinner to celebrate the beginning of Carnaval week with caipirinhas! Then, we went to a samba dance bar!

From Left to Right...
Erin, me, Brody, Carlos, Floriana, Hideki, and Andre

Big smiles, its Friday!

Carlos (Brody's work friend) and his girlfriend, Floriana

Alwyn and Mari

Back to School...

This is a photo of my school in Sao Paulo! I will post more photos soon!

Every morning, I catch a bus just for teachers (provided by Chapel) three blocks away from my apartment. It only takes 10 minutes (or less) to get to the stop every morning!

The first week I started teaching at Chapel, I did not know about the bus stop next to my house so I trekked uphill to a stop that is a 30 minute walk away from our place. Needless to say, I was a sweaty mess by the time I arrived. My mornings improved tremendously when I found the new stop!

Camp Lago

I just can not escape camping! Every where I teach I am sent on a camping trip with my class! haha

My 5th grade class in Brazil went to Campo Lago from Tuesday until Thursday this week. I am not allowed to post photos of my students on a public blog, so these photos are the ones that I had on my camera with no kids in them! 

The bus hit the road at 7am on Tuesday morning and we arrived at 10am. Upon arrival, the teachers were led to the 'teacher's lounge' and were greeted with iced vanilla lattes and cookies! Next, we unpacked our sleeping bags and pillows in the chalets. I slept with 30 fifth grade girls and two counselors for two nights.

The view from the 5th grade girls chalet.

Our chalet

The camp has a banana boat, kayaks, a trampoline in the lake, muddy soccer, a pool, and a muddy hiking trail! The students played "Rescue the Princess." For this game, the 4th, 5th and 6th graders were separated into four color groups. Each color group was then separated into four groups: Stop Motion, Clothing Design, Scouting, and Cake Decorating. In each activity, the teachers scored the students on CARES. (Cooperation, Assertion, Respect, Empathy, and Self-Control) The winning team obtained the highest number of points from the CARES scores and gained even more points for finding the princess first!

Outside dining hall

Another highlight of the trip was the muddy trail! All of the students and teachers put on clothes that they could throw away and walked in a single-file line through a murky swamp! The swamp trail had dips and places to jump even deeper into the mud. We decorated our faces with mud and looked like warriors when we completed the trail.

These lil guys were running around the camp like crazy!

The camp also had a peacock running around and an iguana! 

On Tuesday night, we had a balada (a dance) and the kids dressed up. I was caught off guard when the American music blared on the speakers-- including every cuss word! (Thankfully, I do not think the students noticed the cuss words, since english is their second language...)

Overall, we had a blast! I now know the 5th grade students so much better!