Teachers Day

The girls had off of school today for Teachers Day. It was fun to have them home in the morning to entertain Carli. Carli sure loves to be in the mix with them.

 First thing this morning we all went down to security to tell them that someone was going to come fix the over tomorrow and also someone was going to come clean. The owner hired someone to come do some deep cleaning since the apartment wasn't clean when we arrived. Also I thought I just couldn't figure out the oven, but the owners friend came over to show me how to use it and realized it was broken. I am so glad that I brought the crock pot, or I would have been super sad to be this long without an oven. I am however very excited to get the oven fixed so I can make some cookies. 

Talking with security was going to be a tough conversation for Eric to have but luckily a nice man from Portugal also was in the office at the same time and helped translate. On the way out he said he speaks Portuguese and they still barely understand him.  LOL. I guess it's the difference of Mexican Spanish and Spain Spanish. 

Then we checked out another school option for Carli that is around the block, but it was a bust. I am really hoping Eliza's school will make room for her 2 days a week. It would be good for her to have some structure and something to do. Plus at Eliza's school everything is in English. Hopefully we will know this week. If not it won't be the end of the world. I just need to arrange some play dates with people from church and the Newcomers Club. We need a little more to do.

I promised Gretta and Eliza we could go swimming while Carli was taking her nap. They all played nicely in the morning. We went to the skate park for a while. Carli loves to play with the other kids cars. Carli likes cars more than my other girls. She likes to push them around and make car noises. The kids come to the skate park with little bags filled with little toys like cars, McDonald type toys, etc. 

When we got home this morning I looked up at www.walmart.com.br to see how much a Hot Wheel car cost because she could use a few more toys to take outside to play with. I was SHOCKED. One truck was $25 and a package of Hot Wheels $50. So it doesn't look like I will be buying any in Brazil. Luckily Eric has a friend who is coming every other week for the next while. When he comes next week he is bring dance leotards for the girls and a reflective vest for Eric to wear when he rides his bike. Maybe his next trip or when someone comes down I can have them bring some stuff for Carli. It kills me to pay so much for something that I could get at the dollar store at home.  The other thing the kids play with outside are sand toys. They use them in the rocks. Little did I know that I should bring sand toys. I also think the girls could use some chalk and bubbles. 

After lunch and once Carli was asleep we went down to swim in the pool. It was 84 degrees and sunny  today, so the perfect day for an afternoon swim. When we got to the pool gate was LOCKED and the cleaning lady told me (or I assumed from what I saw that they were adding water) and maybe some chemicals to the pool and it wouldn't be open until tomorrow.  The girls were devastated. They ask everyday to go swimming, but it's not quite hot enough for me to want to get in (today was the warmest day by far we have had here) and when Carli is awake it's hard to watch her at the pool area unless I am in the water with her, so going while she was napping today was going to work out perfect. Tears were shed but they eventually got over it. Luckily this afternoon they both had ballet class which they love. The ballet teacher speaks quite a bit of English and is super nice.  

While Gretta was at dance I meet a nice lady who lives in our condo complex who is from France, but lived for 4 1/2 years in Shanghai and now has been here for 2 1/2 years. She introduced me to two of her other friends in the condo complex who are also from France.  I have yet to meet another American, but our condo complex is quite multicultural.

Our neighbors who live right next door to us, Danny and Alex, have two girls Eliza and Gretta's age. Both Danny and Alex speak perfect English and have also been helpful. Interestingly enough they are Seventh Day Adventist and so they knew exactly where we live in the US when I told them we are close to Andrews University. I didn't realize in the international Seventh Day Adventist community Andrews was so well known. 

Tonight and last night Gretta Facetimed with two of her friends. I was thinking Facetime is a far cry from when my best friend growing up, Jennifer, moved to South Korea and Japan and we use to write letters. No need for letters that take weeks to come and go now! Just press a button on my phone and all of a sudden they can see their friend. Isn't technology amazing!!!

The other good news of the day is that Eric finally got internet on his cell phone, so hopefully that means I have a GPS that works now and can venture out more.