Back to the blog!

Hey everyone! Sorry I've been MIA for so long! Tiago and I have been living at his grandparents' beach house for the last few months with no internet connection! We have finally returned to modern times and found a way to install internet! So... we have a lot of catching up to do! Let me fill you in on the last few months with a few pictures/captions.

MARCH/ MARÇO:

    

Carnaval in Paranaguá!

Espetinho!

Paranaguá's slightly smaller parade of samba schools. :)

Duda, ready to celebrate carnaval at school!

Tiago: Proud new owner of a '96 Fiat Elba.

APRIL/ABRIL:

April 14th, 2011: Tiago and I signed "the papers" making us Mr. and Mrs. !!!
We want to save the excitement (and $$)  for our actual wedding (tbd) so we didn't make a big deal of the day.
Just a quick, 10 minute, sign-the-papers ceremony. Afterwards, we had a few friends and family members over to the house to have cake and champagne.

ALSO,  I have yet to track down the pictures from that day...so I will leave you with our engagement announcement clipped from the local newspaper in Paranaguá!

MAY/MAIO:

Sometime in May, Tiago and I moved into his grandparent's beach house! 

It is conveniently located 2 blocks from the beach... :)

We love when Duda comes to stay with us for the weekend.

-Duda (sporting her very fashionable, hot pink, Barbie sunglasses! 

Thanks Tia Barbie!)  and Tiago near our house, walking to the praia.

Flying a kite on the beach with Tio Tiago.

Making mini-pizzas with Tia Kelli!

Duda and Gabi hanging out in the hammock at the beach house.

JUNE/JUNHO:

June 12th, 2011- Dia dos Namorados/Valentine's Day!

No...I didn't get the date wrong. Brazilians celebrate V-day on June 12th!

This day also happens to be the birthday of our friend Fabio's lovely mother, Marcia.

To commemorate this extra special day, we had lunch in Antonina. (a beautiful, small town near Paranaguá, pictured above.)

Sometime around June, I received my Carteira de Trabalho. 

It looks like a passport, but it is essentially a work permit. Just like a passport, you get stamps,

but instead of countries visited, the stamps are for the jobs you have had.

Mine is green because I'm an estrangeira. For Brazilians, they are blue.

My mug shot and finger print! They wouldn't let me smile- so not me!

(ps. check out my name!)

Now I just need a job...

JULY/JULHO:

In July we had to make a trip to the American Consulate in São Paulo to get a document I needed for my "Legal Resident" process. Seeing as our friend Fabio's girlfriend lives in SP, we made a mini-vacation out of it!

 GIANT bacalhau filled pastel at the Mercado Municipal.

 GIANT carne-seca filled pastel at the Mercado Municipal.

 Tiago and I outside the... you guessed it... Mercado Municipal.

Juliana and Fabio - Mercado Municipal. 

The camera only came out of my purse once the entire weekend, if you hadn't noticed.

AUGUST/AGOSTO:

August was an uneventful month for us... so here's the cutest picture I could find:

Maria Eduarda painting with the paints Tia Barbie sent her!

Painting in her undies!

SEPTEMBER/SEPTEMBRO:

September 2nd, 2011- Our 3 year anniversary!

We celebrated with churrasco and a little red wine!

September 7th is Brazil's Independence day.

Not nearly as much celebration as our 4th of July and also no fireworks....hence no pictures!

In September, I finally turned in all my paperwork to finalize my "legal resident" process.

This little stamp in my passport serves as proof of my legal resident status until 

I get my ID in the mail (sometime in the next 90 days).

September 18th,  2011- Maria Eduarda's 3rd Birthday!

Above: Me, Grandma, Amanda (Duda's aunt), Gabi (Duda's mom), Leide (Duda's Grandma)

singing Parabéns!

Blowing out the candles at her bday party at school.

Hello Kitty themed!

OCTOBER/OUTUBRO:

There are still a few days left of October...so I will be updating you soon!

Now that I have you all caught up, I plan on giving you updates on a more regular basis!

What kinds of things would you like me to post on this blog? 

Any questions or curiosities about Brazil?

That's all for now. Beijos! Tchau!

One Month

January 18th was the one month mark since I landed in sunny Brazil. I thought I better give you all an update on what's been going on since I last posted! (Sorry it's been so long-- the internet was down for awhile.)

As you all know, Tiago and I have been on what seems like a never ending journey to get him a visa to be able to come to the US. We tried the K1 Fiance visa which would allow him to enter the US and we'd then have to get married within 90 days. Visas are extremely hard to get and we were ultimately denied after spending lots of time, money, and Tiago's long trip to Rio de Janeiro for his interview. Without a visa, Tiago is unable to enter the US, even for a short visit.  After graduating from Winona State University in December, I decided to go to Brazil so Tiago and I could get married and try for the K3 Marriage visa. From the research we have done, it seems like it might be easier to obtain a visa once you are married, but there are no guarantees.

It is much easier for me to legally become a citizen in Brazil than it is for Tiago to try to do the same in the US, let alone step foot on US soil. However, there is still a lot of paperwork to do and all sorts of hoops to jump through. Since I arrived, we have been calling, emailing, and researching exactly what we need to do before we are allowed to marry. We are making some progress on the paperwork, but it pretty complicated and time consuming, not to mention expensive! Hopefully we can get it all sorted out soon. All this government paperwork is pretty stressful!

Anyways, there have been a lot of fun and exciting things I have been able to share with Tiago's family since my arrival.

February 7th was Tiago's 26th birthday! Half of one of my suitcases was filled with new clothes I had eagerly been waiting to give to him since I got to Brazil on January 17th, but I made him wait until his birthday to see them. He was delighted to have new clothes all the way from America! He brought a big mirror in to the living room and tried them all on. Perfect fit (Thanks Mom!)

Strolling along the bay- Tiago sporting one of his new birthday shirts!

The day before his birthday, we went to their beach house to have a huge home cooked lunch made by his grandma. There were so many dishes and I'm never quite sure what anything is, but is was all REALLY good. I've never been big on fish, but the fish we had was excellent. After lunch we headed to the beach:

Ceres and I giving the birthday boy a kiss at the beach!

Duda thoroughly enjoying a fudgsicle at the beach house.

The day of Tiago's birthday he had a bunch of friends over to celebrate. Here's a picture of him blowing out the candles:

 Blowing out the candles with family and friends

The next big event I must tell you about is.... Duda's first day of school!!! Yes, she is only 2 years old but she looks SO cute in her school uniform. Gabi (Tiago's sister/Duda's mom) was so excited to be sending Duda to such a wonderful private school and had tons of fun picking out all her school supplies, especially her pink "Monica" backpack. Tiago, Gabi, Ceres and I all were there to send her off on her first day of school. We thought she might be a little nervous/scared once we left but the second she step foot on the playground, she forgot about us and was having a blast with all the other little tykes. I even got to meet her English teacher! I informed the teacher that she's got a head start on animals and colors ;).

Duda looking cute in her "Anchieta" school uniform and new high-tops.

Her pink "Monica" backpack.

Walking into the school on Duda's first day!

Duda and her cousin on the playground!

More to come soon!

Thanks for reading :)

Duda Learning English!

                       Duda singing along to "Old McDonald" or "EE I EE I OOOO" as she calls it!

So far since I've been here, she has learned animals (cow, pig, chicken, duck, sheep, horse, dog, cat, bat, lion, butterfly, rhino, bird, bear, frog, fish), colors (red, blue, purple, green, black, pink, brown), and a few other random words (please, yes, no, ready?, jump, I love you).

She's one smart 2 year old!

First few days in Brazil!

I´m FINALLY writing my first official post from Brazil!--sorry for taking so long! The internet is kind of slow here and it´s so hot it´s pretty much impossible to do anything unless you´re sitting directly in front of the fan.

Everything went well with my flights. I flew from Minneapolis to Charlotte, Charlotte to Rio de Janeiro, and from Rio de Janeiro to Curitiba.  I met a girl from Brazil named Isadora on my flight from Charlotte to Rio--She had been living in California for the past year. Luckily, she was also flying to Curitiba so I had someone to help me through the airport and customs in Rio and on to my next flight. She asked the ticket agent to give us seats next to eachother too! We were both pretty anxious. She hadn´t seen her family in over a year and I was a little nervous to see Tiago as well since I hadn´t seen him since August! (my last trip to Brazil) We had a 5 hour layover in Rio so we spent most of the time chatting, sharing pictures, and watching NipTuck on my laptop(Thanks Jenna and Katelyn!).

 I arrived at the Afonso Pena International Airport in Curitiba at 6:10 pm local time, gathered all my luggage and made my way out the doors of the baggage claim. Unlike the MSP airport, visitors/family/friends cannot wait in the baggage claim. Instead they wait right outside the doors to the baggage claim. This is the third time I have flown in to this airport and every time I walk through those doors I feel like I'm walking the red carpet. The people waiting are in an anxious frenzy, snapping photos and letting out squeals of excitement at the sight of their loved ones coming through the doors. I always scan the crowd looking for Tiago-- and without fail, he is always there waiting for me with a bouquet of flowers. This time, red roses :) It takes about an hour to get to Tiago's house from the airport in Curitiba. Curitiba is at a much higher altitude and as we drove down the winding roads through the mountains to the coast of Brazil, I could feel the temperature rising. By the time we got to his house in Paranaguá, I was a sweaty mess!

Since my arrival, I have spent a lot of time with Tiago's family (Mom (Ceres), Sister (Gabi), Niece (Maria Eduarda, or "Duda") and friends. My family sent some gifts and they are always delighted to receive something from the US. Duda especially loved her "magic" expanding Dora the Explorer towel.

Duda saying "CHEESE" with her magic Dora towel.

Watching the magic towel grow!

I have also spent lots of time with the "boys" watching soccer or "futbol" as the call it on TV. Pretty much the entire population of Brazil can be considered soccer fanatics. I have never seen/heard such emotion while watching a game. They REALLY get in to it! 

At Heros Bar watching "futbol".

Manu (Manuela) and I at Heros Bar. (I'm still working on my tan...)

Just yesterday (Sunday Jan 30), we went to a futbol game at the new stadium here in Paranaguá. It was really cool! Paranaguá's team is called Rio Branco. We played against a team from a different town called Ponta Grossa. Our friend Elise is from Ponta Grossa but now lives in Paranaguá so we had fun trying to find her in the crowd on the other side of the stadium. 

Tiago and I watching the game!

Daniel, Manu and friends at the game. (The stadium looks empty but it
was actually pretty full on the main sides!)

Here's a video I took at the game-- Rio Branco missed a shot at a goal!

We ended up losing the game 2-1 but it was still a blast! I'm looking forward to going to another game...hopefully next time I'll have a brand new Rio Branco jersey to wear!


Finally... it wouldn't be a Brazilian summer without a "churrasco" or what we Americans would call a Barbeque. Every churrasco I have been to here in Brazil has three main components: Meat (and LOTS of it-- steak, chicken wings, pork skewers, and sometimes even chicken hearts), "maionese"- a delicious dish similar to potato salad, and Skol beer.

Getting ready for the Churrasco.

That's all for now! I think I've caught you all up on my first few days here in Brazil! I look forward to sharing new adventures with you all!

TCHAU!