farm days recap

6/9/09

The rest of the week at the Fazenda da Santa Maria was pretty relaxing. In the mornings I would go play outside with Laura on the playground, have some breakfast and then go swimming sometime in the middle of the heat of the day. Afternoons, we’d head out to the large pond to feed the fish, go for a walk or bike ride. I’d usually get a run in a little before sunset and then we’d head off to bed after showers and a little dinner.

A few highlights of the week were checking out the baby bunnies that were born a few days ago (so cute!!) and then being run out of the yard by two crazy geese (…not cool). They were hissing at me like snakes! The kids, after that, started planning on how to get them back so we could have goose for dinner. : ) One of the nights, a dozen or so men from the nearby town came and played and organized game of ‘bol’ –short for futebol- on their lit soccer field in front of the house. It made me realize how long it had been since seeing males around my age….cute, athletic, diverse ones at that. ; ) My runs in the evenings were nice too, which were just inside the walls of the property. The smell of sugar cane is quite distinct. The best way I can describe it is that smell in the kitchen when you’re in the first stages of making cookies….that melted butter and brown sugar smell. Mmmmm. It’s a nice smell, but sometimes upsets my stomach on my runs.

Oh! Feeding the fish was much more entertaining than I expected. We threw huge chucks of French bread off the dock and then stepped back to wait. Literally, these fish would jump up to grab these pieces of bread and swallow them whole. The water looked like we were cannon balling rocks in the water and making huge splashes….but you never once saw more than a tail of these fish either. Kinda crazy. All in all, nice relaxing week, and good bonding time for me and Laura. Still tan, covered in bug bites, and managed to sit on a bee : / this weekend...but still smiling.

Below is a picture of a jabuchicaba tree that is native to and only found in Brasil. The fruit grows on the branch itself and you eat it by biting down on the whole thing (size of a gumball) and sucking off the white juicy inside off the pit. They love this stuff down here, but to be honest I am reminded of that gel inside a wet diaper from it's consistency....so I don't dig it all that much.

Oh, and here's a strange tree I saw....but it made me laugh, because now I have proof that
beads do grow on trees!!!

fazenda Santa Maria

4-8-09

Today, I'm feeling like things are looking up with this whole experience. First of all, Laura was cracking me up. She was repeating a whole bunch of stuff that I’ve taught her up until now and she won two points for our reward-for-good-English game we’ve started. As soon as she gets ten points, we are going to take a trip to the mall-just the two of us. : ) She’s been singing the ‘push ‘em back, push ‘em back….WAY back!’ song in the shower, the ‘everybody clean up song’ and absolutely loves the ‘this little piggy’ bed time ritual we do. She’s saying ‘my name is Laura. I am 4 (finally!)’. Olivia was really good with me today too. I don’t know if it's because I’m becoming more familiar to them now that I’ve been around for well over a few weeks, or if it was that I was given a little more one-on-one time with them, I don’t know.

Helena is still at the farm and Laura didn’t have any friends over today, so she was all mine. We typed on the computer, practiced our abc’s, spoke with Allison on skype (and she showed us Pikes Peak!), and we practiced her name on the keyboard. It was fun. We even danced a little to MTV jams and she played with my hair. If it was like this all the time, I would love it here. Laura won two points today. One for saying she would ‘like some water, please’. (side note: she says please after almost everything in English, which is hilarious and which works better than the puppy dog look on me…haha) The other point she earned was for her blurting out, “that was me!” after she farted in the shower. Haha…I taught her that. It’s way too easy to have fun with this. (by the way, she’s quite a gaseous little girl, so I’m glad she’s got that one down).

I’m drinking some sort of Smirnoff Ice drink knockoff at the moment and its just delicious. I’m drinking alone, yes, but it completed my meal I made myself that I'm eating under the stars an jabuchicaba trees. We’re only a short half hour drive outside the city at this other farm, and it’s actually quite pretty out here. Sugar cane crops for miles. I’m planning on watching O Rei Leão (Lion King) tonight in portuguese, and I’m pretty excited.

Fast forward 2 hrs: That monkey cracks me up….and I love that movie.

weekend at the farm house estate

This weekend we went to another farm of a family friend which is only about an hour away. Let me just say...this place is BeAuTiFuL. They call it a fazenda (farm), but it is more like an estate. I guess this is a really old one at that, built sometime in the early 1900's. Insides it's ornately decorated, and outside...well, of course the house was built so that people spent their time outside. I like that about central and so. America homes. Of course, the weather is conducive to this lifestyle, but also mandates it at times. The house is surrounded by a porch with ample seating at every corner. Dining of course is outside as well. The patio is lined with vines that grow these beautifully bright pink, purple and peach flowers. It kind of adds to this place's antique feel.

On the first day we arrive around noon and then spent the rest of the afternoon finding things to do. Me and the kids had lunch then took a horse-drawn carriage ride to go watch them milk the cows. We brought out lonche (snack) which was bolo (pound like cake) and banana so that we could later have a piquinique (picnic) down by the tree with a tire swing. The we rode over to the lake to go fishing in the pond. The whole weekend went like that, just me and the girls doing all that farm-like stuff.
Most days we went swimming and at night, I'd get a chance to go in their sauna in the center courtyard and star-gaze for a bit. (not anything compared to Motto Grosso though). The sauna was crazy hot and humid. I think the temp was somewhere around 48 (celcius) and I only lasted 9 minutes. Haha. It had a shower in it, and I actually showered there instead of my bathroom both days because it was kinda fun to take a cold shower while breathing in hot air. Backwards, yet fun.

I went on a few runs out here through their sugar cane and latex crops. The soil is pretty sandy and is this really dark red. The crops are really green and hilly. It makes for a great view. So, there I was running...alongside latex trees and barbed wire fence...arms swinging....hoping not to snag one of those wires. These sandy hills are pretty, yes, but are also adding a lot my run too. I was advised to run out of the property and onto the road for a flatter run, but forget that!

As much as I rely on others opinions sometimes on things in new places (especially places they know)...I'm starting to be that girl that does exactly the opposite of what I'm told or suggested. (with some due diligence of course). Haha....'you don't need to go downtown, there's nothing there to see...it's boring.' >So I go, and have an awesome day (I need to post something about that soon btw)....or.....'you wouldn't like that trip to that waterfall...too much walking up and down these hills, no pathway....' >yeah, right, I'd probably love it. (I unfortunately couldn't control that one though). Actually, Roberto's family was a pretty good fit for me...miss that bunch actually. But for now, I'm rolling' solo on my adventures...which can add some different elements to an experience as well.

Actually, speaking of adventures. On both of my runs at this farm this weekend, I ended up running part way home in the dark. (Don't worry Mom, it was all on their property...safe...promise). I actually ended up seeing my shadow from the moon. Even though it was pretty bright, it still was hard to see out. The only scare I had was when I was listening to reggaeton and I heard these dogs barking. Half thinking it was in the song, these two mangely looking muts were fastly approaching me. They freakin' scared me! I screamed and everything...haha. But they were essentially harmless and not that big, so I just ignored them and they left me alone. Actually, quite honestly, the tall stalks of sugar cane were looking kind of creepy as it got darker out there. I thought, this is exactly why I don't watch scary movies. I'd prefer to have any shiver of fear come on because of having an real instinct than just a runaway imagination...thank you very much.

We'e on our way to another farm today actually and I'm hoping this weekend I'll be visiting a friend I met in Breckenridge in Sao Paulo.

*beijinhos* aka *besitos* aka *smooches* ; )

underneath a mango tree : )

28-7-09
So…I wanted to take advantage of my last half a day or so, and I’d say I did a good job. As soon as Roberto and Alexandra got back to the back house last night I gathered everything I’d need for the morning. I put on my running clothes and my jacket (first time since I’ve been here!) and grabbed my pillow and top blanket. I made my way out to the hammocks and was pretty excited about enjoying a night out under the stars. What a life huh? Sleeping under a mango tree to the sounds of baa-ing sheep, the wind and the crickets. Why I hadn’t done this yet here, I don’t know.

I slept alright actually, woke up a few times but it’s pretty hard to be irritated with a disturbed sleep when the first thing you see is a sky full of stars. My natural alarm clock didn’t beat my mechanical one however, and I ended up waking to that monotonous beeping rather than the sun. 5:50…stars still out……It wasn’t until 6:15 or so that I finally got the will to get up, only after enjoying the gradually lightening sky towards the east however. I thought that sunrises weren’t as colorful as sunsets. But they are. You just have to be up before them to enjoy all the colors.
I rolled out of the hammock to put my shoes on…and one was gone! Really? Where did those damn dogs take it? There really was 7 more pairs of shoes (and socks!) around for them to play with. Haha….had to choose mine. : ) I found it after hobbling around outside the house, one shoe on, one shoe off and brought it back to the hammock to put it on. Apparently, I wasn’t entirely awake just yet because I had trouble sitting up on the thing and fell backwards onto my back. Ha! And of course, no one was there to laugh with me.

Ok, slight delay…but up and running at 6:30. Sun still not up yet. I ran to the Turbina for a last little peak at our much visited watering hold and made it back, showered and packed prior to 7:30. : ) Of course our departure time was delayed as expected for an hour. But not just because of those latin ways, also because we had a donkey meandering on our runway we needed to chase off before we took off. Haha…I guess I could have had that quick little skinny dip in the pool like I was hoping. Ah, well…something to come back for. : )

last night at the farm - PICTURES!

Pictures from the trip are here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2275252&id=6407352&l=30777b7631

and a few sunset shots too:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2269386&id=6407352&l=bed95296bf

27-7-09
I’m going home refreshed, and with a new mindset. It’s been a little over four weeks since I’ve been in Brasil. My Portuguese comprehension has come along great, I’d say And speaking sometimes comes out alright too.

What’s really improved since being at the farm, is my perspective. The first two days in Brasil were great…but that honeymoon phase was short lived. Soon after, the schedule started weighing on my: no one really to connect and talk to (except my computer), long days, and my world was inside this complex’s walls. Was it the job? Not sure. Adapting to new situations is my forte…so why wasn’t it working out for me?

Maybe there were a couple reasons…but one I do know about was the fact that I was struggling with the role I played in the house. Was I the nanny? The family friend? English teacher? Cleaner? Even though I had discussed this very topic prior to coming with Alexandra, it still has been and probably will be a confusing one.

The girls really are generally sweet. Olivia, the one year old is incredibly smart and calls me ‘ni ni.’ We’ve gotten close since being on the farm, which is encouraging and a relief. The first two weeks I had to deal with the ‘not the mama’ fits which are quite disheartening sometimes. Laura is 4 and she’s super sweet and laughs all the time. She is a huge cuddler and I just love it when she wants to play with my hair, have me hold her hand or give her piggy back rides (cavalinho). She’s made me feel welcome since I walked off the plane. Now that we can talk in both Portuguese and English, she’s learning much quicker.

Helena, is 7, the oldest and the one with the strongest personality. She’s actually pretty daring, which I have some fun with on our vacations. The first two weeks it was great having her there to translate for me (as she is pretty fluent at English having lived in Miami for a few years). She is also very intelligent….maybe too much for her own good sometimes….ehhh…and can be a real struggle for me most days. It’s almost to the point though that her controlling and manipulative ways are detrimental to my relationship with her both her sister and her parents. I only hope that she learns one day soon that the world doesn’t revolve around her. Wow…that sounds familiar. I sound like my mom. ; )

I was thinking the other day what people mean by ‘having experience’ in life. And to me, an experience means nothing unless a lesson is learned from it. I also believe that sometimes you know what you’re getting into, but that most times you don’t. Well, this experience in Brasil as these girls’ ‘au pair’ is throwing down those lessons left and right. Firstly, not ready to have kids just yet! Secondly, the role of being a mother will be the most eye-opening, scary, crucial, heartbreaking, exhausting yet ultimately rewarding time of a person’s life. Just like everything in life, you play with the cards you are dealt.

After getting to know Roberto’s family and of course spending more time with the Martin’s family, I’m understanding a lot more of what I’ve been ‘dealt’ here with this ‘experience’. And I’m feeling a little more prepared. No, it’s not going to be all glamorous and peachy-keen as some people may think I thought it was going to be. I knew it wouldn’t be….It’s going to be bittersweet. Just how I like my chocolate.

The next couple of months will be hard at times, but I’m determined to end this on a positive note. It’s around 10:45 and I’m hoping to get the will power in the morning to wake up and get one last run in out here. Our flight is supposed to leave at 8am, so I’m contemplating sleeping outside in one of the hammocks so I wake with the sun. Yet, as this is a farm, with al that cattle raising (and sheep apparently) it will probably be another restless night. Last week it was the baby calves calling for their moms. This week, it’s who knows how many sheep endlessly baa-ing. This really puts the whole ‘counting sheep’ thing to help you sleep a whole new meaning…..this one’s not working.

moon-sets and little critters

27-7-09
Today on my run, the cows were double teaming me, one group from each side of the fence this time. I'm not going to lie, I was regretting wearing red and actually got a little nervous..haha. But the sunsets and night-time stargazing are amazing and shall be missed greatly as I head back to the city in a few days. I'm so glad to have had this experience on their farm. It's crazy how fast two weeks go.

I laid out under the stars tonight and I really don't know how often you truly can have this kind of view. When I first got here, the Milky Way and this very bright star were a lot lower than they are now. I realize that the earth is moving, as is the moon, but I need to figure out if this is a time of night variant or a time of mo/year variant.

I actually have had a hard time finding the moon out here at night. And I realized it's because the moon is on the same side as the sunsets. So, it's only out for a short while and then goes on its way to somewhere else's nighttime. But, great photo op huh? Moon and sun in the same frame. The moon actually ends up setting a couple hours or so after the sun and when it's really low, it looks like a harvest moon (just not always full). Tonight it was a crescent moon....gorgeous.

I'm definitely letting go of my fear of little critters out here. I was literally laying in the cement, in the dark, outside the back house. It's not uncommon to find snakes and scorpions out here...not to mention large and interesting spiders, praying mantis and the guaranteed ants. At night, the baby frogs and grasshoppers come out too. They didn't bother me tonight though, thankfully. The only visitor I had was the lone calf that wanders around inside the fence at night. It always makes me laugh when it passes by. Just a little reminder of where I am. The other evening, while I was doing laundry out here, it came up to me and nudged me with its nose. As domesticated as this one kind of is...I still wasn't really sure if that meant 'pet me' or 'feed me'.