Hurray for internet and Carnaval

This past Monday, February 13, we finally got internet wired up; thus, the lack of blogs.  I can not begin to think that I can catch up so I will not even try.  Here in Alphaville one can not just go to a local coffee house to use wireless because there aren't places that offer wireless connections, and we don't have a public library.  So I kept busy settling in, waiting to get hooked up which took about 40 days.  I didn't get upset, I just wanted to Skype with my daughter so that I could see my grandson, Joshua, who was born on December 16.  I felt very disconnected, especially because we didn't get phone service until late January, and my cell phone is not functional here (I need a Brazilian carrier).  Now I am able to Skype every other day with Margaret and see my beautiful grandson.  I am fully aware that I am living in a country where "hot" water is not common, the sewer system can not handle toilet paper; hence, the bidets, and important for me, soy milk and light cream or any cream (for my coffee) is not available.  Truthfully, I take it in stride.  What's the point of being obnoxious about it?  And there are many wonderful aspects about living here which I will point out at a later date.

It is Sunday and I am tired and cranky, and my eyes are at half mast and very puffy.  Last evening my husband and I ventured into Sao Paulo with our driver/guide for carnaval, and what a hoot!  Now I have always been under the impression that carnaval in Sao Paulo was a street affair; it is not.  (But many small towns hold their carnavals in their ruas (streets) and they are quite lively from what I have seen on TV.)  SP's carnaval is held in The Sambadromo (sp).  It is built like a race track, with sitting areas on both sides.  Osvaldo is our favorite driver and he drove us and stayed with us the entire evening.  What a sport! He has lived in Sao Paulo all of his life and he likes to be the one to introduce us to new places.  Even though he doesn't speak English and our Portuguese is very elementary at best, somehow we are able to communicate and understand each other.  We got to the Sambadromo very early thinking that traffic would be horrible (because it always is) and to find a good parking place (since all the parking in the Sambadromo is taken by the floats).  So a potential 2  hour drive turned out to be 35 minutes because most of the locals were already at their preferred destination, the beach.  I need to explain:  during Carnaval, all of Brasil enjoys a three day holiday making it a five day weekend.  Sao Paulo celebrates carnaval Friday and Saturday and Rio celebrates it Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Brasilians love their beaches, and that is where they go on long weekends and holidays.  So our drive was very short, and because we were very early we found parking although we had to pay to park in a car dealers customer parking lot for easy in, easy out because we knew that we weren't going to stay for the entire carnaval.  Did I mention it ends around 5-6:00 am?  We had about a 30 minute walk to the Sambadromo and we felt very safe because of the heavy police presence.  We were encouraged to not go because it is perceived to be unsafe but even at 2:00 am when we walked back to our car, the police were out in full force, and it was fun to see Carnaval participants walking toward the Sambadromo in their full regalia...remember that at that hour, there was still 4 hours left before Carnaval ended, so carnaval dancers were still arriving as was the public.

I have never seen such elaborate costumes and floats.  And the colors!  It is very difficult to describe the beauty and the originality of each costume and float, and I kept wondering how did they conceive the idea?  How did they do that?  Those who know me know that I am all about sequins, beads, and anything zingy.  The costumes and the floats were all that and more. I've never seen so many plumes of feathers in unimaginable colors.  The participants/samba dancers come from the many samba schools in and around SP.  One must register at a samba school to dance at Carnaval.  During the parade the schools are judged and that is very important for the samba schools.  Each school has about five floats that are huge, and the floats move by man power; literally, a line of men push the floats.  Some floats were so big that the men were double deep pushing the floats, but when the floats paused, the men pushing the floats would dance and encourage us to clap, dance, sing, etc.   Each school had a theme and the theme was evident in the costumes and floats.  Before and after each float there were 5 or more groups consisting of 50+ samba dancers in extravagant costumes.  The second ranked school, Mocidade Alegre, averaged 6 groups before and after their 5 floats.  And each group was large in number and I found that both their costumes and floats were over the top which wins with the judges.  I can only imagine what the number one school, Vai-Val, was like, but they had "performed" at Friday's carnaval.  The schools are divided up between Friday and Saturday.  We stayed to see just 3 schools and it was 2 am and there were 4 schools to follow!  We just can't stay awake no matter what!  Drinks, food, and snacks were very reasonably priced; not like in the US where food and drinks are priced very high for profit.  The people were well dressed and most dressed in the spirit of carnaval.  Because we were encouraged to not call attention to ourselves I didn't wear my cotton skirt that is decorated in sequins.  I wanted to wear it in keeping with the spirit and many women wore sequined tops, shorts, and I even saw a pair of sequined pants. Men wore sequined vests and some were in costume.  I saw elaborate masks, hats/head gear, so I was in sequin heaven.  But most important, there was no rain!  It drizzled when we were leaving for carnaval, but not one drop fell on us during carnaval.  Here it rains pretty much every day.  The sun is always out, but then suddenly, the wind picks up and thunder is heard in the distance and the rain follows.  Sometimes it can be a drizzle or it can rain for two straight days.  We were very fortunate with last night's weather.

We arrived home this morning at 2:50 and after a light snack went to bed.  We both woke up at 9:00 we are not fully functional, but very happy to have experienced our first carnaval. 

Jacob took pictures with his cell phone and he needs to email them to me.  When he does I will post them.

Saying good-bye to our Monroe Home

How does one say good-bye to their home?  By thinking about the people who will move in and making the home sparkle for the new family.  As I washed the floor boards in a closet, Eddie the mover told me he had never seen anyone do what I was doing, "...and I've been doing this job for 23 years,"  he said.  I shrugged my shoulders and said, "This is the only way I know how to leave a house."  Eddie and his crew worked hard to get our things in its proper place:  Monday they packed and marked where all the things were going;  Tuesday, the crate for air cargo was packed with room to spare;  Wednesday, the sea container was packed, again with room to spare.  Jacob and I worked to free ourselves of "stuff."  Between us we gave about 150 books to the Monroe public library.  We gave about 10 pieces of furniture to Goodwill and to a place in Bridgeport that warehouses furniture to be distributed to people who have lost their furniture to fire.  Thursday, the things to be stored went into another truck, and that wasn't much either.  We had to think are we really going to want this after 3-4 years?  On Friday Jacob took charge of sweeping the basement; he had done a beautiful job cleaning it weeks beforehand.  I had cleaned the garage weeks before so all Jacob needed to do was give it a good sweeping.  Today, Saturday, we took things to the dump and said good-bye to our neighbors, Jimmy and Cindy.  Now I am sitting in bed at the Doubletree Inn, writing this and sort-of-kind-of watching Ohio State vs. Penn State, two teams who have had their share of coach problems.  Tomorrow, we are going to see the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, a show I have always wanted to see since I was in high school. After a very hectic week, The Rockettes Christmas Show is the perfect show to see. On Monday, Jacob takes a short trip to Wilmington while I stick around doing last minute errands including handing over my Matrix to a couple who have agreed to buy it.  They also bought our really nice, heavy duty snow blower one week before the horrible snow storm.  We thought we wouldn't need it!  But Mike the snow plow guy came through for us.  We were in the 5% of Monroe residents who had power during that storm.  We were very fortunate because we had to leave for Sao Paulo that Monday, October 31.  This Tuesday Jacob and I fly in different directions.  I will spend Thanksgiving with my mom, brother and sis-in-law in Phoenix, and with my sister Lynn and bro-in-law who are flying into Phoenix from Salt Lake City.  On December 5, I fly to San Jose, California, to spend December with my daughter and son-in-law.  Margaret and Bill are due to have a baby boy on December 9 and I am beside myself with joy.  Jacob is going to Houston to spend Thanksgiving with his sister and her family.   He will spend December in Sao Paulo before flying to San Jose for Christmas.  We fly to Sao Paulo on December 28 to begin the new year in our new homeland where we have become permanent residents.  I loved my stay in Connecticut.  It is a beautiful state and really, this part of the world is lovely, especially in the Fall, my favorite season.  Thanksgiving Day is less than a week away and I am very grateful for all the blessings bestowed on Jacob and me, and I wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.

Me

This is me with my husband Jacob.