The Gaucho

So like Elizabeth said in the last post, Rio Grande do Sul is pretty much like the Texas of Brazil. We've got cowboy ranchers, boots n' leather, steak, and a group of people who consider themselves to be part of their state before they consider themselves part of their country. People from Rio Grande do Sul are Gaucho first and Brazilian second, citing that they have more in common with Argentina and Uruguay than they do with the rest of Brazil, which is very true.

Just like Texas, everything is bigger and better in Porto Alegre too. Their lake is the biggest, their food is the best, their women are the prettiest, and even their sunset is the most beautiful in the world. Just ask them.

The best part is that they even tried to secede from the country in a civil war known as the Farroupilha Revolution (or loosely translated: War of the Ragamuffins). AND...it happened at the same time as the Texas Revolution and the Alamo.

Rio Grande Texas....Rio Grande do Sul. Hmmm.....

Anyway, back to Gauchos. So these men and women are the more traditional pioneers of the area and hold some fun cowboy-western-boot-smacking-accordian-playing-tea-drinking-spur-wearing-meat-eating-bbq traditions that we have been seeing over the last month.

First, we were invited by our school "host family" (our adoptive parent from the school to show us around) to go to a big

international fair outside of town called ExpoInter. It's a big exposition of livestock, farm equipment and other "county fair" products from Brazil and the surrounding region. This is a lot like a big state fair in the states only less of the crappy food and clowns and more of the cowboy stuff and farm machinery.

It was a lot of fun to walk around the livestock pens, seeing the prize animals, watch a cattle auction, eat fantastic steak, and browsing the shops filled with more leather than you can imagine. I also got to have my first sip of chimarrao, the Gaucho's favorite tea that they carry with them everywhere in little thermoses. And it just so happens that our host mom owns a cattle ranch in PA and her family business is breeding and selling beef cattle so we got the inside scoop on the cattle industry in southern Brazil and the region.

Our second round of full-on Gaucho-ness was this last Tuesday as we had a day off for school for Farroupilha Day. For weeks up to the holiday, there is a section of town that hosts a mini fair of everything Gaucho called Acampamento Farroupilha in which a small town of log cabin huts is created to host a variety of events, food, shopping, and everything Gaucho the town has to offer.

It was kind of like one giant tailgate party with a giant open flame bbq pit every 10 feet with entire racks of animals roasting away. Only in log cabins....and no trucks. Or drunk football fans.

There was also all the same stalls that sell all the fair junk food and other events and games and performances and such. This meant that we got our share of some down-home-country cooking and also some chocolate covered strawberries on a stick and a "Suiss Crepe" or chocolate-filled waffle on a stick. Mmmm.

We spent most of the day hanging out in a restaurant with a group of people who all came together from school enjoying some tasty meat and rice cooked up in the kitchen and served in a giant communal cauldron for everyone to enjoy.

The highlight I believe is the sign below that was posted several places in the restaurant that translates "No dancing with a knife in your belt"

Love it.

um abraço

K&E

Meat, Meat and More MEAT!

For those of you who don't know, we are now living in the Brazilian equivalent to the U.S. state of Texas. From attitudes, to history, cowboys (or Gauchos) and food you could compare the two and come up with the same thing in every category. If you ask someone from around here if they are Brazilian, they will probably say, no I'm Gaucho. Ever asked a Texan where they are from??

One of the big things here is obviously cattle ranching and with that, lots and lots of meat! A very nice change from India for those of use who enjoy a good steak. (Don't get me wrong, we love and miss the spice and flavor of Indian food too!) This means they BBQ a lot, or Churrasco.

Like anything else that is loved, you will find a variety of different types from quick/possibly low quality, to "the real" Churrasco. We've already experienced three different kinds, but I'll just go into the first two, as the third requires a post of it's own.

The first few days we were here, exploring the streets, relearning to cook for ourselves :-), we found a little Chuurasqueria just a few blocks down the road. There we had two skewers with Filet Mignon, and a piece a garlic bread also heated over the BBQ. Simple and delicious.

Our second type of Churrasco was the larger "steakhouse" variety. A few coworkers were getting together at a popular resturant near by and invited us a long. It also happened to be our anniversary, so it was a great way to celebrate.

This style of Churrasco, is like an all you can eat buffett, including a sushi bar, salad bar, pasta station and other typical Brazilian foods like rice and beans.

Salad Buffet

Once you are sitting down with a plate, the servers walk around with giant skewers of all kinds of meat, including different types of beef, pork and chicken.

Delicious meat!

They slice pieces off for you and your grab them will a little pair of tongs to enjoy! It was a great evening out, a chance to get to know some of the other teachers a bit better and celebrate our anniversary, including enjoying the desert buffet at the end!

Mmmmm, chocolate fondue. :-)

We look forward to a slew of visitors in the next few years, as many of you have promised to come to Brazil, and we will be sure to enjoy lots of good steak!

Thanks to Jenn Longmuir for providing some much needed photos! (See buffet and meat above) We really do need to get better at taking photos of every day life!

um abraço,
K&E

Friendly Neighbors

One thing that has truly surprise me, is how open and friendly people are here. Not that I didn't expect people to be nice, but the fact that random strangers have welcomed us with open arms, even with our limited Portuguese, has been truly amazing!

One day as I was out walking Suri, I ran into a very nice women who also lives in our apartment complex. As many people do, she stopped to talk to me and admire Suri, because people here really love dogs, all dogs, not just our adorable pug! Anyway, we stumbled our way through a conversation with me not knowing any Portuguese and her not knowing any English. She told me which apartment she lived in and told me to come over any time.

A few days later, we got a knock on our door and her son, Fransisco, who is learning English, was at the door, Portuguese/English dictionary in hand, to chat. He asked how we were, admired our dog and told us how much he loves pugs (in fact he has a pug t-shirt) and told us if we needed anything, we could always come over. He then came by a few days later, and invited us to have lunch at his house the following weekend which we gladly agreed to.

So the following Saturday, we made our way to their apartment and were quickly introduced to a number of other people who would be having lunch too. It turns out that Vera and her family are Seventh Day Adventists and had invited several other people from their church for lunch that day. Luckily for us (and unluckily for our Portuguese) two people there spoke English.

We had a lovely lunch, got to know several different people from outside of school and even made plans to have a "real" Churrasco and go to an Inter football match in the near future with one of the other couples that was there.

It's been so nice to meet local people and make plans to hang out, which is something we were not very successful at in India. We are looking forward to meeting more people, especially when we start to pick up more Portuguese, and of course, have more things to blog about as we explore and get to know people.

um abraço,
K&E

Mercado Publico

One of the first weekends we were here, the school got the group of new teachers together to go to the Mercado Publico for some lunch and shopping. This landmark and functioning public market is one of the places we can get fresh local produce, meat and other specialty/import items you may or may not find at the local grocery stores, with some pretty decent prices.

We have actually been twice now, both time with large groups, which makes shopping a bit more difficult as we are always worried about others waiting for us. One of these days we will be sure to venture down on our own, especially since it is a good place for us to get supplies to make Suri's food, aka bulk oats/grains instead of the tiny boxes from the grocery store. With the fantastic public transit system it is also super easy as two of the buses that pass right by our house go down and back.

Here are a few pictures from the first few times to the mercado.

Super Gaucho/Inter Fan

Busy ground floor of the market

View of ground floor from above

Smiling despite freezing in the open air market!

um abraço
K&E

Back to Basics

One month in and it's time to finally get all our saved up blog ideas out there. First of all we are at that stage again where the only possessions we have are what we brought in our suitcases so the apartment is still completely empty and kind of a disaster. We have sort of organized things and put together a plan for where all our stuff from India will go. However we are living off of the minimal supplies the school has provided us, which is great, but we are anxious for our shipment (and thoroughly pissed off at our shipper as they are totally inept and our stuff is STILL sitting in Mumbai). But life is good, school is good, baby is good, pug is good.....just need our stuff and life will feel like normal (at least until January :-)

I continue to be in that "everything is so great and convenient compared to India" phase which I love and am hoping won't wear off over time. We have a public transit system that is super efficient and makes it incredibly easy to get around town (and to and from work in about 7 minutes). We have a drug store, pet shop, gym, 2 grocery markets, 2 bakeries, several restaurants, and a park all within walking distance of our apartment (really short walking distance too) which makes things so convenient. Especially when we actually have to shop and cook for ourselves since we don't have Maria anymore.

But the parks are lovely, everyone LOVES dogs and Suri is in pet heaven getting to run around loose at the park and have people and other dogs love on her. Things are clean, there's lots of malls and big shopping centers if we need our fix of movies, clothes, toys, and other mall-rat things. There are farmer's markets every Saturday morning at the park, a huge public market down town, and tons of public green space to relax, play football, go for a run, walk the dog, shop for local handicrafts, or just eat and hang out with some chimarrão on a sunny day.

And the best part, and what continues to be my favorite thing about Brazil so far, is how friendly everyone is. It is such a welcoming culture and people are so quick to invite you in and tag along in their lives. It seems we've pretty much had something to do every weekend since we've been here which has been great. We've already met several people from outside of our school community which is so nice to get your bearings and figure things out as a foreigner. We feel so welcomed and well taken care of by everyone which has a great impact on the culture shock you feel when you first show up somewhere new (especially since nobody speaks English).

So the only real negatives so far are the fact that everything is RIDICULOUSLY expensive (like 75%-300% more expensive than the US depending on the product) and the language barriers continue to make things challenging but we get by with our Portuganish. There is a lot of bureaucracy which can be frustrating in certain circumstances although I continue to be surprised at how modernized and efficient things are despite these layers of red tape and weird laws and loopholes.

For example, registering with the police took 3 different trips to complete what seemed like a 10 step process which in itself was ridiculous however each of the trips was to a different office that were all relatively organized, had efficient technology, and were not any more frustrating than trying to get something done at the DMV in the states. I compare this to a system in India where it took only 1 trip to register but it included hours of wasted inefficiency, manual carbon copy documents, and a guy behind a crappy copy machine who took an hour to make a photocopy and print a picture after you paid him 12 rupees. In the end, about the same amount of time wasted, but at least it was relatively painless and I know the data is stored in a computer and not on some lady's carbon paper that's shoved in a drawer in a room somewhere. Bureaucracy is bureaucracy I suppose, but at least it's 21st century bureaucracy.

So that's the general report from the Roberts camp here in Porto Alegre. I have a number of mini posts that I am determined to get up on some of our "firsts" in the city and those day to day things that remind us that we are in Brazil. Tchau for now.

um abraço

K&E

First Day of School at Porto Alegre

Although today was a pretty typical first day of school, we thought we would share a few pictures from the day. The most exciting part (for Elizabeth at least) was the cupcakes served at the all school snack time.

Cupcakes for 10am all school snack time.

Decorations in the cafateria

In addition, they had the cafeteria all decked-out with ballons and streamers. At lunch they had two actual clowns making ballon animals plus ice cream Sunday's. Unfortunetly, I didn't get a picture of them. I know the elementary kids loved it all, especially with all that sugar in their systems. Not sure how thrilled the high school students were, but everyone loves cupcakes and ice cream.



And here is Kevin, waiting outside his room for his students before the first class of the day.

He looks deceptively warm in his sweater and scarf. His classroom was actually warm the last two days and stayed that way. My library, however was cold (because of the people coming in and out all the time) and the hallways and cafeteria are even more cold...like outside temperature cold, which was about 50 today. 

Now 50 is not actually that cold, until you never ever get to warm up.  Even with two sweaters, a scarf and jacket on (and occasionally gloves!) I was cold all day. I think I may need someone to send me some long-underwear.  I'm sure it doesn't helped that we are acclimated to Mumbai weather of 85-95 all year, but still, it's COLD here in Brazil. 

And with all this cold damp weather it's also impossible to get your clothes dried. Some day soon, when we run out of clean clothes packed from the US, we may have to wear cold, damp clothes as well. OK, maybe that is a bit of an over exaggeration. After a few experiments, we did get our clothes to dry using a space heater...not sure it's the most efficient use of power though. We may eventually invest in a clothes drier when we have a lot more to wash and dry on a daily basis. 

So, we hope everyone is enjoying their warm summer vacations in the US and elsewhere (and not overheating in the heat wave) as we enjoy our first day of (freezing) school in Brazil. 

um abraço K&E

Olá e bom dia do Brasil!

Boa noite from Porto Alegre! It’s been an embarassingly long time since we’ve posted anything but hopefully now that we’re starting this whole process over again we will get back into that “everything is new and exciting and I want to write about it all the time” phase. It’s a shame that the end of the school year got so busy and crazy because we had many things we still wanted to share about India including our last thoughts and an exit post or two. To sum up 3 years of living in India - we love ASB and will miss the school and everyone there immensely; India is a crazy place that was a love/hate relationship with us although it we grew to appreciate it and (nay I say) enjoy it by the time we left (perhaps even enough to go back some day); It was a lifetime of experiences packed into 3 great years and no place in the world could give us the same effect and have the same lasting impact on our lives. We'll miss you India!

But....we are SOOOOO excited to be moving on to another job in Porto Alegre, Brazil! After a great summer between Seattle, Boise, and some time at the cabin we have sorted, discarded, bought, packed, unpacked, and repacked and made it all the way down here to the bottom half of the globe to start our new life in Brazil. The trip down south was actually not too painful all things considered and we only had one hang up when we forgot to pick up our bags in Sao Paulo and re-check them back in which led to a brief bit of panic followed by several trips up and down stairs to various counters and into the bowels of the airport to find the right people who had our stuff. It all came out in the end though and everything went as smooth as could be for the rest of the trip.

We were picked up at the airport by a whole crew of folks from the school in true Brazilian style with hugs and kisses and the great Gaucho hospitality of Rio Grande do Sul and Porto Alegre. We hopped on a bus with a few other of the new teachers and headed to our apartment where we had the night to settle in and get unpacked. Our apartment is very nice, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a side laundry room attached to the kitchen, and a nice little sun patio. None of the spaces are very big, but it's well put together and in a nice apartment complex complete with our own futsal court in the back for (I'm hoping) many a pick-up game to take place. We're in a nice neighborhood and our general impressions of the city so far have been great. Lots of trees, nice sidewalks, tons of parks, great convenience stores and shops all around, clean and efficient buses, and (most importantly after India), clean! It's a very comfortable lifestyle and we are excited to explore more and see all the great event centers, stadiums, museums, and arts that the city has to offer.

On our first full day after arriving, one of the newly hired Portuguese teacher (a local Gaucho) came by our apartment to take us out for lunch and to do some shopping and see the area. We went to the huge and super lively Parque da Redenção which is a huge park with street fairs, entertainers, concerts, and tons of space to sit, walk, or enjoy a Sunday in the park. We also hit up a grocery store where we were able to load up our fridge with the basics for a few days until we can venture out again. We haven't really been touristy yet and taken any pictures as we are really trying to fit in and blend with the locals, but we will get some up here soon.

We have already been immersed in Portuguese and will be picking it up very quickly I'm sure. We've figured out most of the key phrases to get us here and there and our Span-guese is working for now. So far so good though...we are loving being able to get around easily and have already found some great little local restaurants for churasso and the nearest shopping centers to get all our daily life needs taken care of which is a great first step in these beginning days.

We went to school for the first time today and got a tour and jumped into some meetings. The staff we have met so far have all been incredibly friendly and we are excited to work with everyone and see how the day to day goes when the kids and the rest of the staff arrive.

For now, it's off to bed as we have get up and try to take the bus to school on our own for the first time tomorrow (oh boy...) so wish us luck! More to come in the next few days including some pics of the apartment and our neighborhood. Good night and boa noite do Porto Alegre. Ate logo!

um abraço

K&E