Going to the Movies at Iguatemi

Saturday night Teresa and Alana came over to watch the girls so Eric and I could go to the movies. I was super excited to see "Catching Fire". The funny thing is that some how between looking up the movie theater on line and me putting the address in wrong in the GPS we ended up at the wrong mall, or we think that's the problem because the show times were different than we thought and they didn't have an Imax. Oh well it worked out it was just that we thought we were going to see the 8:30 show and it ended up being at 9:30 and then didn't really start until 9:50,  so it ended up being a late night!

Eric had actually tried to buy the tickets online to the movies because you pick your seat out when you buy tickets, but you had to have an RG which is the equivalent of a social security card and a credit card that matched to buy the tickets online. After being here 2 months we are still working on getting our RG and also a local bank account. You won't think it would take this long!!!We have to have both before we can leave the country or it will cause problems with paying taxes here and our visa. Hopefully we will have both by the end of the year!

I guess it's a good thing we didn't buy the tickets online because it might have made it even more complicated. 

The mall is called Iguatemi

http://www.iguatemi.com.br/saopaulo

It's in the Jardiens which is a super nice part of Sao Paulo. 

This mall is on what I would say is comparable to Michigan Ave in Chicago and is very upscale. It has a lot of high end brands including a Tiffany's. The mall was decorated for Christmas and we even saw where the kids can visit Papai Noel. Maybe when the girls are out of school we can come back and look around. 

The movie was great. The price of the movie was about the same as at home and so was the popcorn. Now I am on the hunt to find Frozen in English. Most adult movies from the US are in English with Portuguese subtitles, but most kids movies are translated. It makes sense because kids can't read subtitles, but it's going to make it a little tricky to take the girls to the movies here. 

I would say most of the Brazilians who were at the movie with us spoke English since it was at such an expensive mall and it wasn't super cheap. Once the movie was over we had a little problem getting out of the mall. To pay for parking you had to use a credit card and the reader didn't like Eric's US Credit Card. All the cards here in Brazil have chips in them and they put the card in the reader. Luckily there were two girls paying for parking at the same time and one of them agreed to pay for our parking using her card and Eric gave her cash. For a second I was afraid we were going to be stuck at the mall for a long time!

The next day at the girls ballet performance we meet on of Eliza's friend, Sophia who also goes to school with her, Dad and he told us he worked for Master Card. Eric asked him about the chips. He said they offer extra security but they have had a hard time getting the banks in the US to do the same because in Brazil the credit card readers are owned by the card companies and then leased to the shops, but in the US shop owners actually own the readers so they don't want to have to buy all new machines. Interesting. All I know is that they look at my debt card funny every time I buy something, but luckily so far it has always worked. 

Premium and Super Premium

While Eric and I were at the mall on Saturday night we did a little window shopping before the movie. It was the weekend after Thanksgiving and there were some "Black Friday" sales still going on, but remember they are a little confused here in Brazil about Black Friday. Sometimes they call it "Red Friday" or as you can see from the sign below "Golden Friday". 

Check out my friends blog on Black Friday in Brazil. 

http://www.brazilinmyeyes.blogspot.com.br/2013/11/blacky-friday-sao-paulo.html

We walked into an appliance store so Eric could see if he could find some of the products he has been working on to show me. 

We also saw these....

A Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer  I can't really read the sign, but from what I can tell it's on sale for R$1,503.42 dollars or about $750 USD. It regularly sale for R$1900.00 or about $950 USD.

WOW!!! Isn't that crazy. It's because they don't make them in Brazil, so there is a big import tax attached to them and Kitchen Aid is considered "Super Premium" here. 

Actually the day before I was making the frosting for the turkey cookies and I was wondering why I haven't seen any Kitchen Aid mixers here. We have a stand mixer in our Condo, but it's pretty much a hand mixer on a stand and is made of cheap plastic. It works okay, but isn't my Kitchen Aid mixer. I asked my neighbor why no one has a Kitchen Aid and she told me they were expensive. I didn't quite  understand HOW expensive. I guess I should have packed one for my neighbor. She would have been super impressed.

We did bring our Kitchen Aid Blender with us. I had no idea it was considered such a premium item. We have the one that's an upgrade from even this one. 

The blender is on sale for R$638.37  about $320 USD

Regularly R$849.00 about $425 USD.

CRAZY!!!!!

Botanical Gardens

We went to the São Paulo Botanical Garden on Saturday. The weather said there was a 40% chance of rain and we were debating going to the Botanical Garden or the Soccer Museum, but I have really been wanting to go to the Botanical Garden, so we braved it.  We should have been at least smart enough to take our umbrella's just in case. Not taking them was a big mistake.  It was lightly misting when we first got there and we had some time to look around. It's hard to believe we were in the middle of the city. The Gardens are so green and lush. It was really beautiful. While Eric was paying for the tickets we were looking at the boards that told you what was and wasn't allowed inside. Eliza told me I couldn't go in because it said no pregnant ladies. On further review it was no taking pictures of pregnant ladies without authorization. We found out later this is a very popular place to take engagement photos, wedding photos and pregnancy photos. I think you have to pay a special fee if you are taking professional photos. Once inside the gates I would say the majority of the people we saw inside were taking pictures!!!! There were tons of pregnant ladies getting their pictures taken too. In the US we sometimes take pictures when you are pregnant, but  you don't usually bare you stomach in public for the pictures. We saw plenty of that!!! Eric joked we will have to come back and take some of my belly before we leave. The crazy thing is that I am almost the same size I was full term with the girls, and I still have 16 weeks to go. I am in trouble!!!! 

Once we got to the bamboo tunnel the rain clouds opened up and it started to POUR. Luckily we were able to find some cover in the bamboo tunnel and later in the little castle. We waited the storm out and were able to escape not completely soaked. 

It was a beautiful place and we had a great time. 

Here is an example of some of the pregnancy photos.

We decided to get into the action too and take some picture on the stairs. 

Here's the one pregnancy photo Eric too of me. Eliza decided to photo bomb the picture!

86 degrees to 72 degrees in 1 hour

The weather hear is crazy. Today it was hot and I thought when the girls got home from school and Carli woke up we could go swimming, but the weather had a different idea. It dropped from 86 degrees to 72 degrees in an hour and started to rain. So much for the pool. Oh well. I am not going to complain because in our condo without A/C 72 degrees feels a lot better.

Eliza's School Report

Eliza came home from school with a big folder with all of her art work for the year and also the work she had done in school. I was impressed with the book they made of her school work. They even bound her home work. Plus she got a whole sheet explaining what a great job she had done in gym. 

I took a few pictures as examples, but I can't figure out how to get the pictures turned the right direction. 

Eliza did a great job this these last few months at school. 

El

Carli 20 months

Carli has really come into her own lately. She is really becoming more independent. Her two favorite words are still "Mine" and "No", but at least she is learning a few more words and making more sounds. She also knows what she wants and gets every sad if you don't let her have it. She is strong willed. 

She loves to feed herself even if it involves getting yogurt all over herself. She also wants to participate in what ever her sisters are doing. She loves to be included. 

She loves to sing songs, dance and read books.
She also loves to play in the water at the pool, but doesn't have much desire to get in. I think it might stem from her falling under a few weeks ago. I think it scared her pretty bad. It scared me too! I was right next to her when it happened, but it only took me looking away for 5 seconds for her her go under.
She also loves it when her big sisters take her to the playground.
She has been on an off sick with a runny noes, ear ache and cough since we got here. The pediatrician reminded me that it's par for the course since she is being exposed to new germs here in Brazil, but it's not fun to see her not feel so well. Luckily she seems to have turned the corner and is getting better. 

She also loves to make us laugh. 

Carli is a delightful child and it so so much fun to see her learn new things everyday. 

She is following in Eliza's food steps and has been refusing any fruit except bananas. Everyday her report from school says she at her bread and drank her juice, but never eats her fruit. 

Her new trick is that she doesn't like sitting in her high chair. She wants to eat at the bar in the kitchen.
She also loves to say "cheese" when she gets her picture taken.
We sure love you Carli and are so happy you joined our family!!!
Love,
Mom

Eliza's Swimming Performance

On Friday Eliza's class goes to swimming class at one of the local gyms. Today was the last day of swim class and they had a special performance for the parents to watch and see what they have learned this year. 

One of these kids is not like the others? Poor Eliza doesn't have a uniform swim suit!  Plus I realized today that all of the kids wear flip flops to walk to the pool and have a special swim bag. She has a pair of flip flops but has never asked me to send them with her and I just use her backpack to put her stuff in. Poor kid! She never complained and has done a great job going with the flow her in Brazil. This week has been a bit rough. She did have a big melt down about being sad we were here and how much she misses home and her friends. The even sadder thing is that she misses her friend Emma, but Emma moved to Minnesota during the summer, so even if we were home she wouldn't get to see her. 

Today swimming she did GREAT! 

She has really improved! For the longest time she wouldn't put her face in the water and I was afraid she was never going to learn to swim. She has proven me wrong. She has turned into a great swimmer.  

At the end of the performance she got a medal! We are so proud of you Eliza!