This week we have settled in to somewhat of a routine. We are all recognizing stores and places around the apartment. The kids and Jaime walk to the "panaderia", which is the bakery 2 minutes from our apartment, and bring home fresh breakfast a few times a week. The kids are loving having this tradition with Papi. I am loving the fresh bread!!!! The kids attended their first VBS at church this week. I think that they had fun. It was very well organized and I was impressed with everything they did. It was based on a Max Lucado story.
We are all picking up more and more Portuguese each day. Some words sound like Spanish words with an American accent on them. It cracks me up!
Amy and I had an interesting nail experience today- ala Steel Magnolias. We decided to go and get our nails done and had some trouble finding a place that wasn't booked. Our neighborhood is packed with beauty salons, but apparently walk-ins aren't common. We finally found a place that "had openings". Where do I start? Amy sat down to start her manicure and the lady blew her nose and started the manicure. We new right from the start that this definitely wouldn't fly in the US. Amy did her best to not die laughing. Then it was my turn. We were surrounded by the liveliest group of women of all ages that I have seen in a while. They talked about all kinds of topics. The main one for today was how much they loved drinking beer, but that beer was much better when drinking with another person and not alone! I had a hard time picking a nail color, as you all know I love my dark colors. Here those do not seem to be the norm. It was mostly light and bright blues, purples and greens or your basic red. You will be happy to know that I did find a darker brown. We left the salon to many goodbyes and promoses that we would be back, but we won't. :)
Next to the nail salon, we found a quaint little coffee spot. It was delicious. We sat down and shared a coffee (for Amy) and of course hot chocolate. Today was very cold and windy so it was a perfect day for this. We can;t help noticing how everything here is so petite. The drinks came in shot size little coffee cups. It was adorable. We have noticed that everything here is smaller- from cars, to bathrooms, to portion sizes.
Jaime and I will be celebrating out 11 yr anniversary tomorrow and the kids and Amy decided to throw us a party tonight. It was awesome. We spent the night dancing, but first, of course, Isabella picked out "fancy" outfits for each of us to wear for the occasion. This will be one of those unforgettable nights!! All the girls had on long dresses. Isabella changed 3 times during the course of the party, like usual. The boys all got spiffy and put on Papi's cologne. Our apartment smelled wonderful. After we put the kiddos down, Amy volunteered to babysit and Jaime and I went out. We found a wonderful little romantic restaurant nearby. It reminded me of some of the places I hung out at when I lived in Colombia (Cafe and Crepes). Great ambiance, dim lighting, romantic and live music. The food was good too. I am so surprised to find that fondue seems to be very popular around here. We had fondue tonight!
I am really loving it here. I do have to say that I am still getting used to how everything takes so much longer. The one thing I miss like crazy is ICE. Our refrigerator has mini ice trays, but I am just not used to making ice. I love having really cold things to drink and that is just not happening here. We even found a corner store today that had a sign outside saying it sold ice cold drinks and had ice because ice is a commodity. Miss it!
Tomorrow we are going on a church picnic to celebrate the end of VBS.
It should be fun. I am coming to the realization that Amy is leaving this week and reality will probably set in more. I have enjoyed her being here so much and I couldn't of made
this
transition as smoothly without her. What a blessing. I love it that we are so close. I will write more in a few days.
Here is a video of the dance we had to celebrate our 11 year anniversary.
Susan
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