After 20 years of school myself, you'd think I could buy school supplies for one first grader



As evidenced by my frantically throwing pencils, erasers, and glue into last year's backpack this morning for Penny's first day of first grade, I'm not sure I'm getting much better at this school-mom thing.

 

Last year I bought all of Penny's school supplies at an overpriced bookstore here in Brasilia, simply because I didn't really understand the list, and it was easier than translating and researching each item myself. I returned about half of it after I realized I could buy stuff like construction paper online for 1/7 the price. The store was awesome about my returns, and they gave me store credit without an expiration date.

 

So this year I did my research and bought as many of the school supplies online as I could. They should be arriving by next week or so. Oops.

 

But there were a few things I still needed to buy in Brazil, so I headed over to the bookstore to use up my credit. Timing worked out such that I was wrangling all three kids during our shopping visit. They were well-behaved and lovely, but it still adds more stress and distractions, as you can imagine.

 

I bought enough stuff that I filled up an entire box with supplies. In order to get everything and everyone out to the car, I put the box on the stroller, put William on the box, and held onto everything as we wobbled down the street. I packed the kids into their seats, buckled everyone up, and then headed to the tailor's for our next errand.

 

 

First day of first grade!

 

The next day I noticed that the back of the car was all cleaned out. I thought, "Well, that was nice of Kevin to bring the stroller and everything inside when he brought in his clothes."

 

And then it hit me.

I couldn't remember how I'd actually fit the stroller and box into the back of the car.

Because I didn't remember putting it into the car.

Because I left the stroller and the box of school supplies on the side of the road outside the bookstore.

 

Oh, how stupid can you get? Ugh! I don't do stuff like this more than every decade or so, and I felt so incompetent.

 

As soon as I could, I drove back across the city to the bookstore. Of course the stroller and box were gone. No one had returned it to the bookstore, the tire store I parked in front of hadn't seen it, and the lady working across the street didn't know anything about it either.

 

It's embarrassing to tell people just how dumb you are-- especially in terrible Portuguese, which really reinforces the stupidity:

 

Me: "Have you seen a stroller with a box? I leave it on the street over there when I am parking here yesterday."

Lady: "Oh, what was in it?"

Me: "School supplies."

Lady: "So someone broke into your car?"
Me: "No. I leaves it on the street."

Lady: "Where is your car now?"

Me: "Over there."

Lady: "Did they rob your car?"

Me: "No. No problem with the car. It's just about the stroller and the box. I leave it over there on the street."

Lady: "You just left it on the street."

 

It sounded stupider the more I talked about it, and crying didn't help my cause much, either. I had hoped someone had put away my stuff for safekeeping, and while I wasn't surprised it wasn't on the street 24 hours later, I was disappointed.

 

Lady: "Have faith in God. It will all be alright. Go with God."

Me: "Yes, I know. Thank you."

 

I knew it would be okay. I had prayed to find it, if it was there, and it was gone. I had to think that whoever took it would use it. I mean, the stroller was 6 years old, faded, and kind of gross, but it was in very useable condition-- which is why I still used it. The school supplies were all in a big box with a receipt. And so even if they didn't need the uniforms, they could go exchange them for something they did need.

Or whatever.

 

Someone took my stuff. It's lame, but it unfortunately didn't change the fact that I had to get my daughter school supplies before the first day of school.

 

So when I went to repurchase everything that had been in the box (the stroller is a lost cause-- the baby can already walk, and we have a better stroller anyway), I went to a cheaper place. I thought I could find most of the school supplies at the art store, but unfortunately, I really didn't find much beyond paint and glue. So back to the original (rather overpriced) bookstore.

 

I walked in and everyone recognized me. I felt kind of dumb coming back, but I had to buy uniforms again, so there weren't many other options!

 

Cashier: "Chelsea, right?"

Me: "Yeah. Hi!"

Cashier: "Are you back because you heard we found your stuff?"

Me: "What?!" (My verb tenses aren't very good. Did they find it? Or is it "if we found it"?)

Cashier: "Yes! A lady came by. She had tried to return it to the address on the receipt (we moved...), and said to come talk to her if you returned."

Me: "Awesome!!!!"

 

She was one of several women working at a churrasquinho (little BBQ kebab stand) down the street from where I'd left my box. I had to wait half an hour until it opened in the evening, but when I talked to the ladies there, they opened their car door, and there was my stuff!

 

I told them how I had been distracted with my three kids and just drove off without it, and they said, "Yeah, we figured it was something like that."

A couple of my favorite distractions

 

I'm very happy and grateful for all the good, honest people in the world. A lot of them live in Brazil.

Brasilia: Best and Worst

Our time in Brasilia is coming to an end pretty soon here. I feel like in our lifestyle, a few months is actually quite a long time, so I can't have one foot out the door yet. I'm getting excited about our next post (Wuhan, China! Woohoo!!), but I'm also realizing how much I have grown to love Brasilia.
Honestly, at the beginning, I liked Brasilia. There was nothing I DIDN'T like, but it was hard to feel excited about it. That's probably most of why I haven't been blogging much about it. After living in China, Brazil feels very much like living in America-- though with several differences.
Now that we're faced with the prospect of leaving, we're realizing that we can't take it for granted any more. Brazil is awesome, and we're going to enjoy it while we have it!

The best of Brasilia:

Weather:
This has been a really tough winter. There were a few days in a row that it didn't get above 65* Fahrenheit. Oh man!! And then in the summer, it rarely gets above 90. So basically, on a normal day it hovers right around 80 degrees. During the dry season (May to October), the skies are clear and cloudless. I was a little worried about rainy season, though, because the only thing I new about a rainy season came from "Forrest Gump." During the rainy season (October to May), we might have a week of drizzly, nonstop rain, but most of the season, it is just an afternoon rain shower or even a downpour, and then sunshine again.

Clean Air:
Sandwiched between two tours in China, we cannot appreciate enough the clean air that we enjoy here in Brazil. We have started eating all our meals on our front porch, and we usually exclaim at least once about just how clean it is!

Music:
Brazilian music is awesome. I can't get enough of the Samba stations on the radio.
My new favorite song ever:


Brazilians Love Kids:
When we moved here, people told us that Brazilians love kids. Having just left China, where we were mobbed like celebrities every time we left the house, with people pinching cheeks, taking pictures, and tsk-tsking us for not dressing our babies warmly enough, we were used to a country where people love babies. But the best part about Brazil is that people love babies AND know how to behave around them! I can't remember a single time where I've walked past someone who didn't stop to say hi or smile at my baby. They might squeeze his toes and cootchie-coo a little to try and make him smile, but then they move on. Brazilians love kids, and my kids love Brazilians. I can't say the same was true about China....
Brazilian kids are a little crazy. They are universally rambunctious and rowdy, and they don't believe in sitting down and being quiet. Penny would always come home from school and

Housing

Religious Freedom

Portuguese


Worst of Brasilia:

Lack of Communication

Food

Driving everywhere

Big embassy

Festa Junina

Festa Junina is a Brazilian festival that they have during June or July. They have bonfires and drink hot chocolate and dance the quadrilha to keep themselves from freezing to death when it goes down to like 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

They also wear really frilly dresses.

Here is Penny's class dancing the quadrilha. Talk about frilly dresses!

Last year I decided to make one for my girls. But since I had a newborn baby to take care of, I just didn't get around to it. They dressed up and had fun, but they certainly weren't dressed for the party.

Freckles and braids? Check! Frilly skirts? Almost...

So this year I had a little more time and decided to make Penny's dress. I have a lifetime's supply of fabric from China, and it is about time I started to use some of it. So I made the dress, added a bunch of lace and frills, and sent her to the kindergarten Festa Junina at her school. 

She had a great time with her class, but even with several yards of lace,
her dress was so plain compared to the others!

So when the Embassy announced it would have a Festa Junina celebration, I decided to bring the dresses up to snuff. I spent morning and afternoon for two days sewing whole rolls of ribbons and yards and yards of ruffles onto their little dresses. And they finally looked the part!

Hats and ribbons and frills, oh my!

I didn't make Naomi's dress, but I used the skirt from last year and paired it with a shirt she already had,
then sewed ruffles all over it for two days straight.

Penny warms herself at the bonfire.

Naomi and the other little girls enjoyed picking through the treasure trove of fallen confetti.

Even William got in on the action!

Maybe I should write about frilly dresses on my fashion blog. Ha ha ha!

The Niceness of Brazil

If I were going to Confession, I would have to tell you how long it had been since my last visit. But since this isn't Confession, I'm not Catholic, and this is my blog, you can just look at the last entry to see how long it has been.

It has been forever! 

Kevin and I talked about this a while back, about how I'm not very inspired to write about Brazil. Part of it is that I'm busy. I have three kids this tour, and that is more work (obviously) than two. We have our huge house and the entire outdoors to keep us busy and occupied, and that's part of it, I'm sure. But a big part is that we are simply very happy here. Life is lovely, and there's just not a lot to say when everything is nice. The skies are clean and blue. We are currently in the depths of winter, which means it gets down to like 65 degrees and I have to go find a sweater. There's not a lot to complain about.

Beautiful Pirenopolis

It's also not super challenging. My Portuguese isn't amazing, but I understand a lot and get by when I try to talk. I also just avoid talking to people, which isn't probably a habit I need to maintain. Sometimes I feel like Ben Gunn. My English is getting pretty bad. I don't talk a lot, and when I do it's usually to my young children. I stutter sometimes and say the wrong words all the time. I trail off the end of sentences when I can't remember a word-- just hoping that the other person can fill in the blank of what I'm hoping to say.

My poor kids are going to grow up and someday realize this isn't normal. Maybe I'll magically improve someday-- but with China as our next post, I have big hopes for my Chinese improving, but my English will probably continue to suffer. 

Isn't this what childhood is all about?!

But Brazil is lovely. We enjoy it here. There's a cat that lives in our roof, and right now I can hear him scritchy-scratching in the ceiling above me. It used to kind of freak me out before we knew what it was, but once we figured out it was a cat, it's no big deal.

I'm not sure I'll write very often on this blog. I have started a new one-- a fashion blog.

I know, I wouldn't believe me either. So you'll have to go check it out!

Pros and Cons of Brasilia

People are bidding on their upcoming posts, so many State Department bloggers are writing their lists of pros and cons of their posts. I wrote one for Shenyang, and I have found it helpful to remember how I truly felt about it, now that it's a few years in my past.

Pros:

Natureza: Brasilia is beautiful! It is about 80 degrees year round, though this week it has been dipping down to a frigid 65. Ha ha ha! If that's as bad as winter gets (which it is), sign me up! The air is clean, and the skies are blue. After living in China, that's something we'll never take for granted again. There are waterfalls to hike to, a lake to paddle-board in, bike lanes for cycling, and no reason not to get out and enjoy the weather.

Music: I love Brazilian music. It seems like many people here participate in music; our housekeeper sings like an angel and plays the organ at her church,

People

Great for our family


Cons:

Community
This is our second post, and the Embassy community here is so much bigger than the Consulate community in Shenyang!

Limited tourist options

Driving city