Sunday, November 23, 2008

November is a rather slack month at Shell, especially for us Americans. This last week, Rio de Janeiro celebrated Zumby (pronounced ZOOM-bee). I understand that Zumby was a rebel leader in the 18th or 19th century, but I can find little else about him. The only group that takes the day off are the Cariocas (CA-hree-O-kahs) here in Rio (a Carioca is a person from the city of Rio de Janeiro). I tried to google Zumby to link a site to this page, but I couldn't even find a Brazilian page that described it. There aren't many holidays in September and October, so I have a feeling, this day is more about not having to work than anything people actually care about. The nice thing is that Brazilians don't believe in taking Thursday off and working on a Friday, so I got a four day weekend (a long explanation for the final six words that were all that mattered).
Vic and the kids are leaving December 12 for the States, so we decided to get the tree up now so the kids could enjoy it for a little while before leaving; otherwise, what's the point? This meant that I had to enter the attic to locate and drag down all the boxes, ornaments and decorations down. To add to the moment, Spring decided to make a last ditch effort and it is actually cold outside here. Ansley, who has been peeing her pants since last Tuesday she's so excited to decorate, was not disappointed. While Vic and I went through that magical holiday process of assembling the tree, Ansley rifled through every box we had planning where the items should be placed. Sawyer was completely unimpressed until the lights started going up on the tree, at which he got off the couch, walked up to the tree with his mouth slightly open, slowly turned to Vic and said "Wow."
Both children have been struggling with the concept of "don't touch" the last couple of days. I believe for different reasons. Ansley is all ready better than me at most crafting activities, and I believe, in her mind, the Christmas tree is the epitome of "Craft". Its a beacon to her. We told her as we were decorating the tree that there are people in Brazil that don't do anything this time of year, except decorate other people's houses for this season. I'm pretty sure I now know what she wants to do with the rest of her life. Last night, Ansley chose to stay up 15 minutes later to look at the tree rather than have the treat she normally gets before bed.
Sawyer's motives are a little more base than Ansley's. That tree is bright, shiny and new and covered with small things that resemble toys. It needs to be touched, grabbed, throttled and played with until it is no longer any of these things. There are three ornaments in particular that call to him: a wooden clock that my parents gave me when I was a kid, a wooden train that was also a gift when I was a kid, and a Tigger Jack-in-the-Box that Ella and Carl gave Sawyer last year. If he is in the room by himself, it's a certainty that he has grabbed one of these ornaments and is playing with it. When you come in the room, there is a flurry of activity. He generally throws the ornament at the tree and runs and hides his face on the couch. I must sadly report the loss of several ornaments to his playing. I'm sure they are in a better place now.
Here are series of pics we took of the kids. We were trying to get a nice shot for out christmas cards.

Other than this, not much else has happened. For a little filler, I'll pass on a Salsa recipe that I found and like. The original recipe was called the "five minute salsa," but I can't leave anything alone, so it's now the "10 Minute Salsa."
1 can of whole peeled tomatos
half an onion
fresh minced garlic to taste
oregano to taste
salt to taste
fresh cilantro to taste
jalopenos to taste
chili powder (I use about a tablespoon and found that too much of this is not a good thing)
juice from a lime
Throw ingredients in a bowl and take a boat motor to it for a few minutes, or throw them in a blender and do the same. Recipe doubles easily. It reminds me of the salsa you get in a Mexican Restaurant and it's extremely easy.
I hope everyone else had a good week.

Monday, November 17, 2008

The Big Catchup

Walker misses everyone!
It has been a while since my last post (mostly due to general laziness) which means that this stands to be a lengthy one just to catch up. Since the last post, we have had halloween (twice), two birthdays (one of them twice), and a formal ball at the Copacabana Palace. There were a few other things in that time, but, in the interest of keeping this somewhat manageable, I'll skip them.
Halloween in Rio is a little different. There is a day about two weeks before the thirty-first on which candy is handed out, but it's to children and adults that line the busy main streets with their hands out to passing cars. I am not that ashamed to say that we did not stop to hand out any candy; although, we did see quite a few people that did. Considering we spend every other trip on the road ensuring that the car is sealed to strangers (as do most Brazilians I work with), it just didn't fit to us that this day it was acceptable. Vic knows the name of the holiday, but it's slipping my mind now. The kids were intrigued by the concept however.
For Halloween this year Ansley went as Fancy Nancy and Sawyer was a farmer. Ansley looked perfect for the part; however, due to a costume mishap, her leotard was on backwards. This snafu meant that she was rather more Brazilian than we had intended. Sawyer was a farmer because it meant he only needed a hat with plaid shirt, and, frankly, we weren't certain he would sit still for much more than this. We were right and he was a farmer for all of 45 seconds. Then he was just a kid in a plaid shirt.
Fancy Nancy and the Farmer
The Farmer 20 seconds later
Ansley's school helped the kids celebrate halloween. The celebration was a huge fair at the school in Gavea. This school is a beautifully landscaped campus right next to the largest and most dangerous favella in Rio. To be fair, I believe the school was built before the favella. All the teachers from both the Gavea and Barra branches had booths with games, crafts and candy; the kids all get to dress up and could eat gobs of candy and run off the sugar high as it built up. Not a bad afternoon by any kid's standards. There was also a "haunted house" designed for those under six years of age. Essentially, the kids had made a bunch of life size monsters and they were dressed for the olympics. Ansley thought it was a riot.
The Haunted House
Sawyer had quite a bit of fun as well. He quickly learned that he has power over others. If he acts cute - which in this case involved running away from mommy and daddy and stealing equipment or toys from one of the games or booths - strangers will give him candy and let him play the game without waiting in line. I'm not saying that Vic and I thought it was cute, but others seemed to do so, and its very difficult when your child is given a treat by others in a large crowd to be the person that takes it from him.
On the tail end of halloween is my birthday. We laid around the pool all day, I had a few beers and then made fajitas for dinner. To top it all off, Vic made me an unbelievable cheesecake with a fresh blueberry sauce...this will now be my request every birthday until the end. Not much else to add to this. It was a relaxing day with the family...exactly what I had asked for.
One more year, many less hairs
The weekend after my birthday, Vic and I left the kids at the house with our maid and attended a ball at the Copacabana Palace. It was the Royal Poppy Gala (British Veteran's Fund Raiser). That evening I put on my rented polyester tux, Vic put on an amazing dress and we went out and had a great time. This was the second year that we have gone to this and we had have had a great time both years. The organizer works at Shell and was telling me all the little details of the arrangements. As he is leaving Brazil in few months, I think he was trying to rope someone into organizing next year, but I didn't take that hook.
A rented tux and GREAT looking lady
At the dinner table
I must admit that I am guilty of forgetting what it was like to be a kid. Ansley has been reminding me. Friday was her birthday (big numero cinco!) and she spent it seeing just what she was allowed to do on the 14th that she wasn't allowed to do on the 13th. She has always been an amazingly good kid, and the things she wanted to do weren't out of character for her. She wanted to walk about 10 feet in front of us when we went to dinner. She wanted to get up and play around the table while we waited for food. She doesn't want help at the table any more. Little things, but I can tell its important to her and it makes me smile (remind me of this paragraph when she is 13 and I wish she was small again).
For dinner that night, Ansley proved once again that despite her love affair with princesses, she is my daughter through and through. The only restriction that Vic and I made for her birthday dinner was that it couldn't be McDonalds. On her own, Ansley chose my favorite pizza place in Rio, Fiametta. I love that kid.
The birthday girl on Friday
Friday was the family affair. The party took place on Sunday and was one of those events that you could only do in Rio. Poor Ansley had been looking forward to this party for three weeks, and it seemed the gods had it in their minds to challenge her horribly before she could have the party. She went through four ensemble plans starting one week prior to the party. In the end, she settled on a dress that hadn't even been in the running when she started thinking about it. The night before the party she had woken up at 1:15 with a BFOUO (Ella's term - Brazilian Fever Of Unknown Origin). We are used to these now as they happen quite often, but can you imagine worse timing?!? We started her on a Tylenol/Ibuprofen regimen and prayed that the fever would stay away. Thankfully it did.
She came downstairs for breakfast at 6:15 in ensemble number 4 (I can't imagine prom for this kid) and started asking us how much longer to 11:00. In the end I had to set a timer and tell her that it would be 11:00 when the timer went off. I set it at 9:15. Of course all our friends have been Brazilianized and showed up 30 minutes late, adding to her misery.
Before the guest arrived After the guests arrived
Once the kids started arriving, it was a maelstrom of epic proportions. I remember my own birthday parties all being orderly and easy. I guess as a child, the chaos of a birthday party settles in nicely with your thought patterns and way of thinking. Perspectives are a real downer. All the parents sat around eating freshly grilled meats (I'll get to that in a second) and chatting while children from 1 to 6 years of age zoomed in and out, upstairs and downstairs. After about 30 minutes the kids were coralled, watered and fed. Sawyer spent this time abandoning his own plate and grazing from the plates of others. Of course all the kids were in their bathing suits by this time, so lunch, in general, was spent quickly pouring the minimum required amount of food in your mouth while gazing wistfully at the swimming pool.
After lunch, I opened the gate to the pool and 15 kids of varying ages were loose. It was INSANE!!! There are two Australians that recently moved to Rio. My respect for them grew considerably in the pool. Most of the parents were content to watch the chaos from a distance that was out of the way yet near enough to know should something happen. Louise and Jack joined the kids. This would have been brave enough, but Louise is eight months pregnant. I was impressed (and a little guilty, but not much).
The cake and presents followed. By this time, the kids were beyond exhaustion, so there was a lot of crying and screaming. Note to self: start the next party out with these items. The cake was a huge success and was gone before we knew it. Ansley had to open each of the gifts without ripping paper, but she made out great and has done nothing but want to play with the toys or do the crafts she got since then.
Definition of "Temptation"
Sawyer took advantage of this time, to clean off the plates and cups outside of anything he wanted. I caught him at one point that day putting my beer back on the counter with his cheeks puffed out as far as they would go. I yelled at him to spit it out about 2 seconds before he swallowed it. Despite this and the piece of cake he ate off the patio tiles, he never did get sick. We had asked our maid (it's tough here in Brazil...trust me) to come in and watch Sawyer that day, and this led to a moment that so utterly defines Sawyer that I still laugh whenever I think of it. The boy had been into everything that day. The phrase "Sawyer stop!" had been yelled by most of the guests, the caterers, and the neighbors at some point in the first two hours of the party. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying the antics, and I must admit it was hard not to laugh sometimes. Sawyer's moment arrived as I was handing out the cake. I had just commented that I hadn't seen him or our maid in a couple of minutes, when I heard a squawk from the kitchen. The squawk was followed by Sawyer tearing hell out of the kitchen in nothing but his diaper holding a toilet plunger over his head in victory followed closely by our poor maid. Into the mass of party goers they barreled...Sawyer nearly bare-assed, a look of sheer joy on his face and a plunger over his head, our maid with a look of horror on her own face. Everyone near got quiet, stepped out of the way and watched the action. I wish I knew just what he thought the toilet plunger was that it made him so happy to have it, but it's just not there.

The final thing I'll mention about the party is the catering. For less than $15 per person, I hired a couple of guys to come to the house Sunday morning and feed us all. It was pure Brazilian. The guys showed up at 9:00, set up the grill and got to it. They made all the side items (mostly various kinds of salads), brought the sodas and water, and brought all the meat you could eat plus some. This included 4 or 5 beef tenderloins, pork and chicken sausages, pork tenderloins, pineapple and bananas on the grill, cheese on the grill and even bread on the grill. I couldn't imagine how much something like this would cost in the US, but I was certainly glad I was in Brazil to enjoy it. For those of you that are interested, the bananas were skewered and grilled in their peel over a low heat. They then peeled them, and put liberal amounts of cinnamon-sugar on them...voila! I caught Sawyer at one point eating four of them at once. In his mind this is the perfect food. After we had all eaten, the guys cleaned up everything outside, packed up and left. With Thanksgiving approaching, Vic and I are wondering if we couldn't modify their menu somewhat and have them back over.

Final note: Santa Claus arrived at the mall here on October 26 in a helicopter. Ansley has been fit to pop as we are making her wait until December 1 to see him. I hope everyone else is doing well!

The standard Brazilian Christmas tree - 3' tall