Abby, Zoë and Enzo

Today for lunch daddy prepared a tomato sauce with eggplant, onion and garlic to be served over grilled polenta (prepared), that Nonno Ernie bought for us during his visit, and mozzarella.  The girls enjoyed lunch and went right down for nap so they would be ready for their afternoon movie with friends.  While they were sleeping, Daddy did the dishes, swept and dusted the apartment, and cleaned the table to make our apartment presentable.  We don't have many guests, so we want to make sure it is somewhat tidy and clean.

Our guests arrived just before 3 PM and brought us some soda.  This is a special treat for the girls, as they don't usually drink it.  Chris started the show, and then he and Richard went up to the roof to look around and take photos.  The girls all enjoyed the Strawberry Shortcake movie/episode and then played a few games of word bingo while waiting for Daddy to return from the roof.  Our guests had some errands to run before dinner and left us shortly before 5 PM.

Later we got a message from Raissa that she could be over around 6 PM.  We held the girls off from eating so we could go to Açai again for dinner.  We tried a few items we hadn't before, like Pastels.  One with chicken and cheese and the other with ground beef.  The chicken and cheese was much better.  The pastels are a type of deep fried shell, almost like an egg-roll dough, around some filling.  They are rectangle about 4 inches by 8 inches and maybe up to a half inch thick in the middle.  Here is what we ordered and the prices (total R$16.40 = US$9.11):
1 Coxão de Frango (Large Chicken Bomb) R$3 = US$1.67
1 Coxinha de Frango (Regular size Chicken Bomb) R$1.70 = US$0.95
1 Pastel de Carne (Beef Pastel) R$2.20 = US$1.22
2 Pastel de Frango com Queijo (Chicken and Cheese Pastel) @ R$2.20 = US$1.22
1 Tigela de Açai Pequena (Small bowl of Açai) R$3.50 = US$1.94
1 Suco de Laranja (Glass of Orange Juice) R$1.60 = US$0.89

This is the third time in Brazil that the total price was below what we expected and in our favor.  Chris made sure they adjusted the total price in their favor to the correct amount before paying.  The time before this, the taxi gave us more in change than we paid him for the fare, and Chris told him, too much, too much, until he rechecked and gave the correct change.  I think this behavior has caught the merchants off gaurd with Chris's honesty and integrity.  Raissa commented that most would have just paid the bill as it was and left, with the mistake in their favor.  This was very inexpensive karma for Chris. (R$4.40 = US$2.46)

We didn't stay out long.  We didn't wait for a table this time and the food arrived quicker than last time.  We only sat for about 50 minutes and then made our way back to the apartment.  We arrived close to 8 PM and I started to get the girls ready for bed, teeth brushed, faces washed, etc...  They were in bed but not sleeping before 8:10.  Raissa, Chris and I payed a couple card games before she had to return home.  Her ride was unavailable to pick her up, and she thought the bus might not be safe enough, so we called our regular taxi guy.  Chris walked Raissa downstairs to the cab, said hello to Zé Carlos and he said, wait, I bought a present for you.  He got out of his taxi, went to the trunk, and got out an alphabet booklet, and a notebook.  He wants to schedule some time to exchange language lessons.  He is interested in learning English and will help us and the girl learn some Portuguese.  Raissa called when she got home, and told us that she helped Zé Carlos the whole trip home, and that she would also be interested in getting together for this lesson as well.  Maybe he will want to trade a ride to Recife for lessons?

There was a party scheduled from 8 AM until 8 PM on the roof, so our plans to take the girls for a morning swim at the pool was in vain.  The girls were disappointed.  Usually Laura does not go up to the roof during those party times, but I checked it out around 4 PM.  The party was just a bunch of kids getting together to hang out and drink and listen to some loud music.  The music was being played so loud on such a horrible device that the sound was distorted and almost unrecognizable.  The place was a mess, as happens here in Brazil.  Cups and trash on the floor, olive pits spit wherever, beer cans in the pool as I am sure food and other stuff in there as well.  Nobody picks up after themselves, not at parties, not at restaurants, not at the beach, not in parks or public places, no where.  I get strange looks from customers and employees when I wipe the table, or throw our trash out after the meal, just doing common courtesy things, like being considerate to others.  Just last night, I watched a larger muscle bound guy keep leaning back in his chair at dinner, until he heard it crack.  Everyone at his table looked, he readjusted himself, and kept leaning back.  No consideration that he just broke this plastic chair that someone else has to use.  Sure at home this would be a minimal item, but here these cheap chairs cost more than US$10.  There isn't that level of courtesy or consideration here that we are accustomed to, that you are sharing this public space with someone else, as you have in other countries or parts of the world.  I guess here, they are providing jobs for others.  They must surely employ someone to do this clean up, but unfortunately it is too little too late, until cleaned up, it is litter, and very messy and pervasive.  There is a strong wind here, and the litter does not stay contained, so one party's litter, is a job for this condo cleaning crew, the street cleaning crew (monthly), and probably the cleaning crew of the neighboring condos that get debre rained down upon them, if they clean it up at all.  This is why there is trash in the streets, in the parks and at the beaches.

For the past 2 weeks, the dollar to real exchange rate has been improving, making all of our purchases cheaper.  We have been following it daily to figure out a strategy on when to buy and what to buy.  The rate peaked yesterday above R$1.9 = US$1 which is it's 12 month high.  We noticed this morning the trend reversing sharply, so we wanted to lock in some future expenses at this more favorable rate.  We first went to Banco do Brasil and waited in a line just after noon.  We got our turn, and they spent 10 minutes locating the only person there who spoke English to help us with our cash advance.  He was able to tell me that they can't do that at this branch, but to try the bank next door, they might have the equipment to do it or try the larger branch in the next neighborhood over, 2 or so miles down the beach.  So we packed up and went next door.  Our taxi was waiting for us, so I told him to drive Laura and the girls the block, and meet me in the bank.  I flagged down the first person in a suit I could and tried to explain myself.  I first asked if he spoke English.  No.  I then asked if anyone here spoke English.  No.  Then I asked which line should I wait in to cash advance with my visa card.  He explained something about "machines" and "atm" and pointed to the bank of ATMs.  I said, "no machine", "cash advance credit visa".  He then asked how much, and I told him.  He then called over another person, a female teller who spoke a few words in English.  By this time, Laura was approaching with the girls.  He told me that there is a limit on how much I could take out in 1 day with my Visa card, that this limit is international.  I tried to explain that it was not the case for my card, but just agreed with him about only getting a portion of what I wanted.  He said, then Monday I can get more.  But Monday's rate won't be as good as today's rate, it dropped almost 4.5% today already.  Luckily this guy in a suit whom I first tracked down was the bank manager, or so it seemed he controlled the other tellers and the pit.  He took my passport and my card and told us to sit and wait.  Once a "Certified Profession" was available, we moved over to this slightly more private than public queue.  The guy started to fill out papers in triplicate and make a phone call for the authorization, then he whispered to me, how much?  I said my numbers and he repeated them to make sure it was correct.  I told him the full amount, despite being told that I could only take a portion of that by the other man.  Why not try for all that I wanted right, I could not bare to do this operation again.  He seemed shocked that I wanted that much, and filled out the papers, made the authorization, photocopied my passport and card, and had me sign the forms in triplicate, none of which were for me.  I did not get a receipt.  But one of the papers I signed showed the US$ amount, which was over my limit, and I pointed it out to him, and he said, no problem, it was authorized.  I knew before arriving how much reais I could withdrawal at the current rate to be under my limit, so they must have computed the US dollar amount based on a different rate.  I would have to double check the transaction online as soon as we returned.  I had asked multiple times if there was a bank fee, or commission for a cash advance, they kept on saying no.  So I was wondering if they passed that along on the transaction cost side of things.  It turned out that the US $ amount he showed me was not the correct amount.  The amount I expected was what was debited from my account, we got the good rate, without any fees, which is cheaper than using the ATMs.  He counted out the money, handed back the passport and card, and then I had them process the payment for the camera I purchased online.  We were out of the bank in only 1.5 hours.  Not too bad for a simple transaction.  The bank manager had a worker bring us all water and candies while we waited.  The taxi guy waited for us, and the total cost for the trip to and from the apartment and the wait time was only R$15 = US$8.21.  When we walked into our apartment, I noticed that the Visa Fraud department had left a message which I promptly returned and verified the correct US $ amount.  It all worked out, even though I had doubts due to the obviously complex nature of this transaction.  In hindsight, I would have liked to get a receipt for my records.  With this transaction at R$1.91 = US$1.00, it averages our cash spending at the rate of R$1.72 = US$1.00.  So as you can imagine, the rate was much lower when we paid our security deposit and two month's rent.

Though Abby and Zoë do have a good memory, I'm actually talking about mine.  Now, I will admit that normally I am the type of person who needs to write things down quickly to remember them, but the day the girls were born is a day I remember well.  What with Enzo's delivery day just around the corner, not to mention my sister just giving birth, I've been thinking about the events of the girls' birthday and can remember the day vividly.  I also realized that I never really gave an account of it.  It began quite early in the morning as I'd been questioning if I was having contractions and at around 4:00 a.m. I finally mentioned it to a nurse.  She brought in the stuff to set me up on a monitor, and with all the hub bub my mom, who was staying with me, woke up to see what was going on.  It was a Sunday and Chris had just gone up to Portsmouth the day before, I also remember that I always got weepy when he'd go home even though he was never gone more than two days.  At about 5:00 a.m. they made the decision to take me down to labor and delivery and since I'd been told by my weekday staff of doctors that they wouldn't stop my labor anymore, (after twice having been on magnesium drip previously) we went ahead and called Chris to let him know what was going on.

When I got down to a room on the labor and delivery floor, the nurses did indeed hook me up to a magnesium drip.  The weekend staff and the weekday staff apparently weren't on the same page.  I remember really feeling pulled in two directions.  There had been so many times of 'you're going to have these babies - oh, no you're not" of going back and forth with the fight to keep the girls in being done to it lasting for who knew how much longer.  That day I had thought that my fight was over, that they'd be coming out, only to be told that it was on again.  I also remember feeling like a horrible person for the feelings I was having because I knew all too well that every week, even every day they could stay in was important.  Chris arrived to the room and was also surprised to see me on magnesium.  I remember that my contractions continued all day through the medications, though not exruciating, they were enough to be progressing things slowly.  Come night time the contractions really began to pick up, despite the magnesium, and I had my mom get Chris, who had gone up to my room to get some sleep just a little while before this.  The contractions started to get pretty painful, and they did a scan and saw that Zoë was breach, but when they had checked me Abby was already on her way down so they handed Chris some scrubs and rushed me in for a c-section.  I remember being really nervous to go into the operating room, especially since Chris couldn't come in yet, and to curl up for the spinal while I was having a particularly painful contraction.  There was one nurse who stood right by my side and had her hand on me the whole time the doctor (and who I think what a student) were putting in the numbing medication, twice, and then the spinal.  I also remember the relief that came when my contraction just dissolved.  Chris came in and sat by me and took photos and asked questions, once asking what something was that was resting on my body and getting the response that they were my ovaries.  I remember when I started shaking from the medications and Chris was concerned, but the nurse assured him it was all normal. 

And then out came the girls, Abby then Zoë.  I remember waiting for their cries, hearing their apgars, which were great, and asking if it was okay to give Abby a kiss when they brought her over for me to see before taking her to the NICU.  I remember the man who cleaned me up and told me, as I'm lying completely nude and unable to feel anything below my chest, that he was going to roll me into his arms and not to fear that I'd fall on the floor.  I also remember telling my mom, who got to go up to the NICU with Chris after he had gone up and come back down, not to hold the babies before I got to.  I remember the first time they handed me these little packages, while I was still lying in my hospital bed, and being amazed that they had just been inside me (and wondering where exactly they had fit in there).  Their little faces were so red, but with them lying close together on my chest I could hear them making little cooing sounds back and forth.  I also remember it being really hard to be up on the postpartum hearing all the babies in the other rooms.  The hardest part was the day I was discharged, I was waiting down front in my wheel chair for Chris to get the car.  There were two other women waiting similarly and talking to each other about where they were putting their babies car seats to take them home.  I felt so out of the loop and so empty, and was sad and quiet on the ride out of Boston.  I remember too how it felt driving the hour home over the frost heaved road having just had a c-section.  And now... they're almost five.  Could someone tell me how that happened so fast?

Brazil doesn't make it easy to spend money.  I have been trying to buy a camera to replace our stolen camera for weeks now.  It is amazing how much price variation exists inside Brazil, from state to state, even from store to store.  You really need to do your research here to find a good deal, or just not be ripped off.  I have also been looking online.  I signed up for their version of ebay, called Mercado Livre.  Despite my lack of Portuguese knowledge, the site is a poor substitute.  After finding a couple of junky and cheap cameras I tried to complete a purchase, but the red tape was too great, and the conditions were outrageous.  They wanted to add 10% tax for the state it was going to be shipped to, plus Mercado Livre wanted to add another 4% since I would be paying with a credit card, then the shipping costs, it didn't make sense, so I didn't complete an order.  I also found Toda Oferta, which is their equivalent of eBay, and signed up.  They partner with PagSeguro which is their version of PayPal.  I found another junky camera, which with the shipping is between R$100 - R$200 cheaper than anything here locally, before calculating the cost of the added accessories (2 GB SD Card + 4 AA batteries plus charger).  With shipping and those accessories, the US$100 camera + $20 accessories + $24 shipping costs R$326.08=US$175, so it is almost comparable, although Amazon would have shipped it for free.  So I decided to purchase it on the 17th.  I complete the purchase and I am passed to PagSeguro only to find out, that any credit card transaction requires a CPF.  I guess I didn't know that you need to provide the equivalent of your social security number in order to pay with a credit card online.  I don't have a CPF, and will not be getting one any time soon.  I immediately sent an email to PagSeguro, no response yet, 2 days later.  I keep checking the message online, and create new messages.  It seems everyone is asleep there, no responses.  It is a shame that there are so many restrictions in order to spend money here.  I can understand it is a security measure, but this one prevents anyone foreigner or tourist, most likely with more discretionary money to spend on outrageously overpriced goods than a local, from spending money online in Brazil.  I guess that makes good business sense to someone somewhere.

We may have brought the wrong clothes to Brazil, to João Pessoa anyway.  The girls aren't so bad, though when they wear their bright dresses they do seem to get even more looks than usual.  Virtually everyone here wears jeans.  The majority of women wear tight full length jeans.  If they aren't full length they are still tight, and still jean, either shorts or capri's.  Had I known how many women wear capri's here... well I thought I was doing well with bringing things that I could wear while pregnant as well as after.  I brought two skirts, one pair of loose capri's, and a dress (as well as three tops).  Chris also really feels like he's brought the wrong thing, especially since he barely wears shorts at home as is and that's what he has here, where you don't see guys walking around in shorts, unless they are beach shorts.  Chris brought some plain white t-shirts, two pair of shorts, and one pair of khaki's, which are way too dressy around here. (He also brought three button down shirts that haven't left the closet)  I will say that as we are getting further into September and nearing October, when everyone says things heat up, that I've been seeing some more men in shorts, and a few more women in dresses, but not much. 

Another thing about the fashion here, things are SO expensive.  I guess it's no wonder that the people are wearing what they are, because I saw some nice dresses in the window of one of the stores in MAG shopping and they were all around R$400 and up!  I noticed too when we were in the other mall, Maniara shopping, that they had skirts and dresses and stuff, but I guess none of the 'regular' people are buying.

Walking on or near the street is dangerous.  I am not sure this applies to all of Brazil, or just here in João Pessoa.  Very few traffic signs and signals are actually obeyed.  Nothing really seems obligatory.  Pedestrians do not have any rights on the road, and although they trick you with some cross walks, you can wait forever for someone to decided to stop and let you pass.  I believe the only reason people stop at the traffic lights is because the person in front of them has decided to stop and they don't want to hit the car in front of them.  The stop sign "PARE" here is not obligatory, but a mere suggestion it seems.  I have yet to see someone stop at one of these signs.  I have seen many instances where they will barely slow and then keep going through, giving a small honk of the horn to signify their rebellion.  We saw a minor accident at such an intersection, where no doubt one person just coasted through and hit the other oncoming traffic.  The lady had damage to her car which she then hit the curb and stalled, the other driver, an older man just kept going.  Also, lanes mean nothing here.  When no one else is on the road, the whole thing is yours, left side, right side, middle, whatever, you own that road.  Which means on a two way street, you could have 2 or 3, in the case of motorcycles wide.  Passing and overtaking happens on any street here, regardless of the speed, length or even oncoming traffic, just flash your lights or honk and it is all ok.  Also, when they pass another vehicle here, it is an immediate cut off of the car/truck/object being overtaken, so you have to watch for them and slow down so they can complete their pass on their terms.

Irene had called around to some other dentists in the area and found a woman, Doctor Andrea, in the MAG Shopping center who works with the Damon Braces system.  We began walking the mile there at 2:45 as the doctor started seeing patients for consults at 3:00p.m.  The cost of the consultation was R$60 = US$32.60 and she sat with me talking for probably 40 minutes then she invited Chris in, he'd been in the waiting room with the girls where they could watch cartoons, to see if he had any questions to add.  This woman's price for the work was much more in line with what we'd expected to hear when we first decided to look into getting braces here.  The total cost for the metal Damon braces  was R$1,100 = US$598 paying all at once you get a 10% discount when you pay the full price instead of installments R$1,200. Ceramic clear braces are more expensive at R$1,550 = US$842 with the discount, but the only difference with them is the price and the aesthetic, and since I am not subject to high school peer pressure and teasing, I should be able to handle the more visible metal braces and save the US$250.  The prices cover the visit to clean my teeth and get the tops put on, then go in a week or two to get the bottoms put on, then have at least one more visit to change wires.  She doesn't have the system in stock there at her office and will have to order it, so we told her to go ahead and order it and hopefully in a week or so I will begin the process of getting my teeth straightened.  Abby and Zoë are really intrigued by this, especially after looking at the brochures from the other dentist of the before and after pictures of people who had used this system.  Chris has a policy about checking prices and quotes at more than one place.  He rarely makes a big purchase without doing this type of research, sometimes it takes months, like when he was purchasing his laptop.  He made sure I called the dentists in NH to get quotes on the complete US cost, and the cost to continue the care and system there, so that we would be able to estimate what the total cost would be.  Thank goodness he insisted that we did enough research and found another doctor whose price was more reasonable.  That one extra phone call to another orthodontist saved R$4400 = US$2391.  Can you imagine the first orthodontist wanted to charge more for the braces than the hospital + doctor cost to deliver a child?  Simply unbelievable.

After the consultation we looked around the MAG Shopping mall a bit and then decided to get some 'fast food' from a kiosk on the first floor.  We first started out with three coxihna de Frango's (chicken bombs as we call them) and one chocolate churro, but went back for more.  There was an Empadinhas Barnabé stand next to this stand and we've been wanting to try them so I got three (they are like mini muffins with stuff inside basically).  One cammarão (shrimp), one tomato seco ricotta (sun dried tomato and ricotta), and one banana cinnamon.  The only one that tasted good was the banana one, the others were really not our taste.  After we couldn't even bare to finish these is when Chris went back for one more chicken bomb and two more churros.  The churros were way too good.  They were a normal churro stick like you see anywhere else, then rolled in sugar and next the guy stuck the churro into a tube with whichever flavor you'd asked for (the choices were chocolate, duce de leite, and strawberry) and filled the inside of the churro with it the flavoring/puddling consistency... yeah, really tasty.  The churros were R$1.50 = US$0.81 each, the chicken bombs were R$1.20 = US$0.65 each for a total of R$9.30 = US$5.05 from the churro stand.  The empanadas were R$1.70 = US$0.92 a piece for a total of R$5.10 = US$2.77.  The Visa rate was R$1.84 = US$1.00 today.

Once we were done eating we began the mile walk back to the apartment.  This was a brisk walk as the sky looked very ready to begin downpouring on us and a couple of times we did get some sprinkles, which the girls thought was hilarious.  I like the think I worked off the churros at least a little bit with the brisk one mile walk back to the apartment.  We arrived back at 6:00 p.m.

This is a little place just a couple of blocks from us that we've been meaning to try, so tonight we did.  We weren't sure the portions and such so to begin we ordered a bacon burger, a dog burulho, and a cheeseburger filé.  Oh, and a chocolate milkshake.  Everything came out almost immediately, and the milkshake was actually a pretty good size.  The hot dog ended up having some sort of ground meat, onions, tomatoes, a sauce and little crunchy potato strip things on top.  The burger was a bit 'done', but the bacon pieces in it were tasty.  The filé was yummy as well.  We decided to order two more hot dogs, this time a different variety, and the girls just loved them.  The total price ended up being R$27.50 = US$15.10

Irene picked me up to meet with the dentist again today.  He said that he'd be able to put the top braces on right away, then once the baby is born I could get the x-ray and get the bottoms put on and have one other appointment for wire switching before we left.  Also there would be a teeth cleaning before the initial putting on of braces.  The price he gave us, of R$5,800 to pay in two installments or R$5,510 to pay all at once.  At the first visit he had said that an average price for the complete package was R$6,000 so this price he gave us seemed just too high.  We're waiting now to see if he's willing to negotiate on the price and if he can get it low enough for there to be a benefit, then we'll move ahead with getting it done.

I'm at 36 weeks and 3 days today and we saw the doctor again this evening.  Before going to the appointment we had the taxi guy drop us at Extra shopping center so that we could check out a camera.  It was close to 6:00 p.m. and the lines were long so we decided to just walk down to the appointment.  Though there were people in the waiting room, they took us in right away.  I had stepped on this scale they had in the pharmacy at extra, just in case the scale here was still not working.  We actually all stepped on it, the girls first.  Zoë was 15 kg, which is 33 pounds and Abby was 15.1 kg  Everything was looking good though, scale was fairly accurate, heartbeat sounded good, blood pressure was good, and we got some more questions answered.  The next appointment is set up for the 29th at which point I'll be 38 weeks and three days.  After this appointment, I guess the next day, we will go to have the cerclage taken out.  We finally got the doctor's prices, R$2478.00 = US$1394.00 for Cesarean, and R$2460.48 = US$1384.00 for a normal birth.  These prices include the Obstetrician, the Primary Assistant, the Neonatal/Pediatrician and the Anesthesiologist.  We also asked, and it includes the all the check ups prior to delivery as well as a few follow up check ups.  It also includes the baby's check up with the pediatrician after the delivery.  We have a few questions and asked to schedule a meeting with the pediatrician.

It wasn't too hot today, but balmy and so this morning we all went down to the beach with the low tide being super low.  Zoë was the first to go out swimming into the 'deep end', as she calls it, with Daddy, while Abby stayed on shore and looked for shells.  She found lots and got them all rinsed off just in time for her turn to go out.  Next we all stood where it was about chest deep for the girls and they practiced bobbing with the waves without us holding them.  Abby had had a head start on practicing this and was doing great with no assistance.  Zoë had to be reminded to stop clawing at us, but was proud of her wave bobbing in the end.

We had seen some rain clouds off in the distance, then they got fairly close and we could see the rain out over the water so we scurried to get our stuff and begin heading back.  Just as we were getting to Manu's it began pouring on us.  It was maybe 11:45 but no chairs and tables had been set out, still we were invited under the little canopy.  They had a table set up just on the corner of the little sheltered area so we took a seat and they gave us a menu saying they were open.  We were hoping to grab a few of those 'chicken bombs' but they weren't making those yet so we got a couple of their single serve pizza's while we waited out the rain, which didn't last long.  It kept coming in waves, so Daddy and the girls took advantage of the warm rain with no worries of lightning and rinsed off in it.  The girls loved splashing in the puddles while they waited for our food.  Soon the rain was done for good and we moved our table out from the little canopied area, as bee type insects began swarming around.  Unfortunately this meant being in the now very strong sun so as soon as we got our food we ate and headed towards the apartment.

Abby and Zoë got a little help from Daddy up at the pool today, some unsolicited help.  I had made my way into the big pool and the girls jumped to me a couple of times.  Abby was having some difficulty with foot placement so I was trying to explain it to her.  Daddy, who must have gotten bored outside the pool, tossed her right in and since I wasn't ready for this, she definitely went all the way in before I scopped her up.  We made a big deal of her going under and she was all excited about it, but warned Daddy not to do it again... yeah right.  After two times of being a 'paratrooper' Abby went back into the little pool and Zoë came out for some jumps.  She knew that of course Daddy had to give her the same attention Abby had received, but she still begged him not to... the one time she doesn't want the exact same as Abby.  Well, Daddy tossed her in as well, but she didn't take it so well and hung on to me and cried... oops.  She was fine though and got out to contemplate jumping to me more.  After a bit more jumping fun, we all wrapped up in towels and headed back down to get rinsed off.

Raissa came over around close to 7 PM.  She had brought tons of treats, nail polish for the girls, some home made large Brigadeiro, and three bags of chips.  (Think slightly larger than the single US snack serving size you would get with a lunch at the deli).  My mom would have loved them, they were like Lay's potato chips.  One was fresh herb flavor, then olive oil flavor, and then turkey breast flavor.  Yeah, things are slightly different here.  She mentioned that each little bag was around R$1.60, so slightly less than US$ 1.  We had noticed at the store, that Pringles which usually are on sale at Walmart for US$1 are sold her for around US$4, same size can and all.  We truly take for granted how cheap and convenient junk food is in the US.  Anyhow, she brought the chips because I mentioned to her that we didn't see any at the store.  I should have mentioned they types of chips, tortilla, or corn chips, are not to be found here to go along with our salsa fresca and fresh guacamole.  She wanted to see the difference between our salsa and theirs, which they use for bar-b-que marinade.  We hadn't seen any store prepared or canned salsa at the store.  Guacamole was unknown to her, as the avocado is a fruit and they typically eat it with sweets and not savory items.  She mentioned that they might eat it for breakfast, cut avocado with sugar on top or blended with milk and sugar for a nice drink. 

Side note: Everything in Brazil is loaded with sugar, unlike the US, they have no shortage of white, brown, natural, cane sugar.  I know it is better than the high fructose corn syrup, but we try to limit the amount of sugar we ingest, as we have almost eliminated our intake of HFCS years ago.  This is a country of sweets and sugar.  All frozen juices pulps are sweetened with sugar, and not just a tiny amount.  I have consumed more white sugar in the past month, than we have used at home in the past year, and we are not even baking here, no oven in the apartment.  Also, Brazil has tons of soy.  It is in everything, even the juices.  Yeah, they process it in such a way, so it stays soluble and doesn't coagulate.  It is strange to see all the places soy appears, it might be their version of the HFCS, they have so much soy, why not find new and exciting uses for it, think the US corn lobby years ago.  End side note.

It was getting late and we wanted to follow up or quick salsa, chip, guacamole snack with a quick dinner.  We told Raissa about a place 2 blocks from here we alway see locals at.  The sign reads Açai (Ah - sigh - EE), but it is actually called Manu's.  Açai is a type of berry grown on palm trees that is supposed to have anti-oxidant qualities.  The specialty here is the Açai na tigela.  We ordered a medium portion to split (R$5.50 = US$3.10).  He asked what toppings we wanted, and chose the 'complete', which had a little bit of everything, bananas, granola, peanuts, raisins, and farofa.  There was possibly other stuff in there that we missed.  It was super tasty and worth the price.  It came with two tubs of honey to sweeten it up if you preferred.  Raissa ordered a small portion for herself (R$3.30 = US$1.86).  I ordered a Frango Coxinha, Chicken Bomb is what I called it, for R$1.70 = US$1, and a bacon pizza (single serving size, probably two US single slice size) R$3.30 = US$1.86.  We got two 500ml of bottled water for R$1 = US$0.56 each.  The total for all 5 of us was only R$16.00 = US$9.00.  Besides eating the tapiocas, this is the Brazilian fast food.  It was filling and inexpensive and frequented by tons of locals, we had to wait to get a table.  There were some other kids out with there families, running around and playing.  A boy of 5 years old, named Gabriel was hanging around our table.  He didn't appear to be a local and Raissa said he spoke with a different dialect, maybe on vacation with his family.  He was interested in Abby and Zoë, and I was impressed with Abby and Zoë's desire to communicate with him, they would ask Raissa how to say things, and then try to communicate it to him.  They have been absorbing so much TV at the apartment, that they are starting to put stuff together, more so than Laura and I.  They are also willing to flub it, and just make up their own words, which is absolutely hilarious.  Nonno Ernie would be proud to hear Zoë say "tudo bem" all the time, even at inappropriate times.  At least she is trying right, it is so funny.  We didn't get back to the apartment until 9:45 and the girls were exhausted.  They were upset there wasn't time to use the nail polish, and could only have 1 bite of Raissa's home made brigadeiro.  They behaved super well out and were now just starting to crash.  Laura decided that we would skip the ritual teeth brushing, and just potty and get the girls to bed.  They were out almost instantly.  We showed Raissa some of the photos we took over the past month, and soon thereafter her ride showed up.  We all had a great evening and look forward to visiting that street cafe again, real soon.

Richard and Irene asked if we'd like to go to the science center today, as there was supposed to be some kids thing going on there.  They picked us up and we arrived there about 3:00 p.m. and took the elevator up to the top floor (the elevator buttons showed the floor we were on as 0 then went up 1, 2, 3... Chris and I thought that was interesting)  The view was amazing and we got some nice pictures, again with Richard's camera.  We went down a level and looked at a photo exhibit of the construction of of the science center.  I guess they haven't actually settled yet on what they'll put in the place, so they just have a few things here and there.  We were told there were stuffed animals downstairs so we went to check them out, turns out they were truly stuffed animals, not the cuddly litle things we were picturing.  Next we went back up a floor, where a class was starting for kids about oragami.  The kids all got a piece of paper and watched the instructions on how to work their sheet.  I was sitting in front of Zoë and tried to let her do it herself as much as possible, Talitha was next to her, then Abby, then Annabell.  At the end, all of the kids were very proud of the oragami fish they had made.  We walked down the spiral ramp to see a kids choir sing a few songs before heading home.

We hadn't really planned dinner out tonight so I reviewed tons of websites to get Laura and the girls fed.  We settled on walking the 6 blocks to Mangai again.  Laura didn't want to go back again due to the price, but I convinced her, since the Visa rate was R$1.83 to the US$1.  At Mangai, they have a huge room set up as a buffet.  It isn't all you can eat, it is a type of weigh and pay.  The self service is R$27.90 = US$15.24 per kg.  We got two sodas, as they are the cheapest beverage offered at R$2.60 = US$1.42.  Yeah US$1.42 for a can of soda.  My small plate of food weighed 0.460 kg and cost R$12.80 = US$7.00, Laura's cost R$11.60 = US$6.34 for 0.415 kg.  We tried many small portions of local dishes, all very tastey, but expensive for the quantity of self service food.  We didn't try any soups, they cost R$13.80 = US$7.54 per kg, maybe next time we will try some.

On the walk back, we stopped at a local sweet bakery called Blend Doceria.  They had tons of cakes that you could buy by the slice, as well as a few other little items.  Laura thought they might have ice-cream in there, and after they had to unlock and open the door for us, I told Laura we had to purchase something.  I know, more sweets in the house, well why not.  We bought 4 small real Brigadeiros for R$0.90 = US$0.50 each.  We also got one large chocolate covered ecclair with chocolate pudding inside for R$2.50 = US$1.37.  Laura and the girls enjoyed them once we got home.  They are so happy with bellies full of treats.

We had quite the night last night.  Chris and I got to sleep probably around 10:30 p.m. then at about 1:00 a.m. we heard a loud bang and crying.  Chris was in the girls room first and when I got there seconds after, he'd already scooped Abby up off the floor.  The crying stopped immediately and Chris was telling Abby that everything was alright, she'd fallen out of bed.  Abby didn't actually wake up the whole time we were in there trying to check her out and make sure everything was alright, even when I was wiping her face, hands, and torso. (this is what had been on the floor when Chris got to her, and with the chemicals from the extermination we wanted to make sure she was cleaned up)  Zoë had woken up however and was thirsty.  At bed time she had been really thirsty too and when I'd told her that the small sip she got before teeth brushing was enough, she'd gotten herself another bit of water.  I did go and put a bit of water in her cup and gave her a sip and she kindly said that Abby could have the rest.  Abby may have wanted it, had she not been completely asleep already.  Zoë was being very sweet to Abby, telling her she loved her and such. I had gotten up fast and not taken time to put my flip flops on, so I washed my feet off in the shower before getting back in bed.  It took Chris and I a little bit to go back to sleep, since we heard Abby rustling in her bed a lot and were concerned that she'd wiggle herself too close to the edge again.  Chris got up and checked on her one last time and then we were off to sleep.

Fast forward to about 4:00 a.m.  We heard a cry for one of us and Chris was out of bed even quicker than the first time to run and see what was needed.  This time I took enough time to get my flip flops on before going in.  Chris said everything was fine and that Zoë just wanted to tell me something, so as he went back to the room I asked Zoë what was bothering her.  She confessed to me that she'd wet the bed and just wanted to tell me.  She was saying something about needing to go, not wanting to wake me up, something about thinking she was in the shower.  Of course I just washed the girls sheets today, I should have known.  Actually, Chris reminded me that I did predict it when Zoë went back for the extra sip of water.  So, back to the shower I went, this time with Zoë and all her bed clothes.  After I got her soaped up and out of the shower, Chris held the mattress protector thing up so that I could spray that down, then I did the sheets.  With the bottom, plastic, side of the mattress protector not wet, Chris put it on Zoë's bed and aimed the fan at it, then got the girls tucked in to Abby's bed together.  Of course this time Abby was wide awake and telling us all of things that Zoë should have done instead of wetting the bed... so helpful.  After we were all back in bed, it took a good 10 or so minutes of us telling the girls to be quiet before everyone could work on getting back to sleep.

Today Laura's ankles were really swollen and didn't want to be on her feet much, so I took the girls out, on two separate occasions while Laura rested with her feet up at home.  The girls like shopping with me, because I spoil them rotten. 

We walked the 6 blocks down to the local supermarket just after lunch time.  Their sheets were not dry yet from the early morning wash, and I wanted to tire them out some in the afternoon heat.  We only had two reasons for going to the store today, 1. we needed some small bills and change to pay for the water delivery, and 2. we wanted to buy some chocolate after figuring out it was significantly cheaper than at home.  We picked up a basket and got a few items.  I noticed a Bolo de Banana Americano (Banana Bread) for R$3.70 = $2.10, a cinnamon twists type of thing for R$2.23 = US$1.30 at the bakery section.  We picked up another mango, some tomatoes (R$0.79 = US$0.45 per kg) for more fresh salsa which was a huge success, and 2 chocolate bars (R$2.99 = US$1.71), some coconut flavored cookies, they are so good, cost only R$2.39 = US$1.36 and a double pack of strawberry syrup covered flan by Nestlé for the girls to share (R$2.19 = US$1.25).  The girls enjoyed the flan and cookies for snack, I mean, who doesn't like flan right?  I spent a total of R$17.96 = US$10.26, but unfortunately this was with cash I took out at a lower rate, so those prices would be somewhat higher, maybe 10% more.  I am going to try to spend our stockpiled local currency as we usually only use the Visa card, as the rate is variable and more favorable.  We only need the cash for a few items, buying ice-cream, the water delivery (R$3.50 = US$2.00 for 20 liters), the taxis/buses, and for paying the rent.  The last time I got out some extra cash when collecting rent money to have on hand for these occasions, but keeping cash in the house costs us money when the dollar is gaining value, which it has lately, up from R$1.52 upon arrival to R$1.81 as of today.

The local bakery is only 2 blocks away and the girls were behaving after snack, so I took them to get some rolls.  We have been enjoying daily bread, it doesn't last long, but is fresher and tastier than the mass produced stuff.  We can buy 8 large rolls for R$2.19 = US$1.25 or about US$0.15 per roll.  The local baker recognized me, well probably the girls.  We try to frequent the place and give them our business, he gives us samples and all that.  I think the proprietor was there as well, came around and gave me a pat on the back, for taking the girls out without Laura and all.  They are great friendly people there, but the girls are still too shy to open up and say hello.  We bought some small filled bread treats, some with meat/cheese, the other with tomato sauce, cilantro and onion, and the girls picked out some small candies at the register R$0.05 = US$0.02 each.  They threw one in for free, to round down to an even bill.  All told, we spent R$5.00 = US$2.86.  The girls love getting out and exploring.  Laura loves it when I return home from a hunt, bringing treats for her belly. 

I'm ashamed to admit that It's been eighteen days since we've been to the beach.  We look at the beach every day and night from our balcony.  We walked along the beach on the 31st on the way back from the restaurant and ice cream.  I don't even remember what it feels like to have sand in between my toes. In our defense, it has been raining quite a few days.  We have had errands, appointments, water delivery and apartment issues to contend with.  The beaches here are incredible, but we are starting to feel a bit Parisian... how often do they visit the eiffel tower?  Once, twice, maybe three times in their lifetime, unless showing tourists or guests around.  If we lived here full time, how often would we enjoy the beach?  Is once a month, once a week or even once daily enough?  How often can one enjoy the beach without getting bored and taking it for granted, maybe when it gets warmer it will be a more refreshing treat.  But now I understand how these beaches can be so deserted.  If you've grown up near or with these breath taking beaches, I can see how they can be overlooked and taken for granted.  Because we've been here a month and we already get caught up in the day to day and don't make time to enjoy it.