Our First "Festa de Aniversário" Experience

All we can say is WOW or in Portuguese 'UAU'!!!

Birthday parties are a big deal in this culture. We have seen this when we go for a walk on Saturday and every shelter area in our condominio is full of people, decor, music and food. We have been invited to a few, but had not had the opportunity to attend.

This Saturday, Alden was invited to not one, but two parties on the same day. One began at 9am and the other began at 4pm. Since we were still adjusting to the, now four hour, time change from our trip back to Kansas, the boys slept until about 10. I am sure Zane would have slept all day if we let him! Unfortunately, this caused us to miss the first party, but we were eager to attend the second. Alden has become very close to the friends in his classroom, and while some of them have little English and he has little Portuguese, it does not seem to impact their growing friendships!

We loaded into the car, punched in the address and headed to the party. As we pulled up to the Portao, (condominio gate) we were pleasantly surprised that we were not only able to understand what the guard asked, but could communicate back! Of course, most of the talking was done by Greg as he was the driver, but we revel in these small victories!! The guard gave us directions to the house and off we went. As we pulled up, we realized we were beside the recreation area of the condominio, meaning we were near the park. So, naively, we assumed that the building we were walking into belonged to the condominio and was used as a rental for the residents. As we approached the door, which was wide open, and walked in, we realized we were mistaken.

I grabbed the boys hands and held them close as we walked through the front rooms of this gargantuan house. I was so afraid that they would break something or get something dirty! This was the largest, most elegant house we have every been in. After passing through a few more rooms, we stepped out into the back entertaining space. We were introduced to the host and hostess and expressed our gratitude at receiving an invite.

Taking in our surroundings, we noted that there was a HUGE detached dining room and kitchen, a gigantic pool, full size gym and a huge yard with a beautiful view of the countryside. We learned that the land that the condo is on was previously a large farm. The lots inside are very large compared to normal condos and the houses were more wide than tall.

We traveled down a walkway toward the ridiculously large garage area where we were greeted with a variety of activities. A company had been hired to entertain the children. They had an inflatable slide, a trampoline, pop a shot basketball, an inflatable with rotating arms, a face painter, a balloonist and at least 3 other adults playing a variety of games with the children.  Alden took one look at everything, heard all the Portuguese and began to cry. He was completely overwhelmed and did not know what to think about a party such as this.

As I held him and tried to help ease his fears and anxiety, we were approached by many waiters offering soda, water, beer, wine, and all types of foods. I began to feel a little overwhelmed! Alden calmed down and joined his brother, who had found a third grade friend and was off playing. He instantly was happy, though he stayed pretty close to Zane the whole time.

Greg and I were introduced to many different parents and joined a group at the table. We were sitting with a mom from Italy, couples from Brazil, a mom from Asia and a Brazilian couple that had lived in UK for many years. It was difficult, but amazing to communicate with and learn from this group of people. As we sat, drink after drink was served, plates of cochinas, batatas fritas, pastels and much more continued to be placed on our table.

At one point, I needed to use the bathroom. Greg had been prior and had discussed how they had a three-stalled men's bathroom. I was interested to see what the women's looked like. It was beautiful, but did not have the 'stalls' as Greg described. I was grateful I was in there by myself!

After about 2.5 hours, we were all called to the large, outdoor dining room where we sang Happy Birthday in both Portuguese and English to the birthday boy, enjoyed cake and a candy bar and continued to visit with people.

The boys were so good and only chose about three things from the candy bar! But look...personalized boxes!!

Around 7pm, knowing we had about a 30 minute drive home, we said our good-byes and once again expressed out gratitude, and headed home. Both boys, exhausted from jumping, playing, sliding, and running for 3 hours, were intensely quiet and ready for bed when we arrived home.

The number one question we were asked - "How does this compare to an American birthday party?" Obviously, not a fair question as not all Americans celebrate in the same way, so our answer was always the same. For our family, this is very intense! We know understand why friends were so very upset with us when we posted that Zane's birthday had passed and they were unaware. We tried to explain that we typically just do family birthdays, but that was a hard concept for them to accept!

Getting A Driver's License

We continue to make sure that we have all documents in place. The latest, a Brazilian driver's license. We could drive legally for 6 months with our U.S. driver's license, but knowing that it takes longer to get things done here, we opted for an early start on the process.

Now, we are used to the mid-western way of obtaining a license. When we were young, we had Driver's Ed. Once the teacher signed off, you went to the Driver's License Bureau to have your eyes check, picture taken and to take the written exam. If you passed, you were issued the license. Renewing is an even easier process.

In Brasil, as we have learned, it is a much different process, and a much more difficult one. Fortunately for us, we have had help through all of our processes. The company that has helped us obtain all of our documents provided us with a gentleman, named Marcel, to assist us at all of the locations we have had to go to. He has been so amazing. Versed in a few different languages, native to Brasil but has lived in other countries, including Australia, he has made each appointment not only a learning process, but an enjoyable one!

Marcel meets us at the location with all the appropriate paperwork ready to go. He is known by most people, and if not, once he mentions where he is from, we bypass the lines and head straight to our task. I must say, it is very nice!

The process for us involved only three steps due to the fact that we hold a valid driver's license in another approved country. Natives have to take a written and physical driving test.

Step one: Go to the Driver's License Bureau to register that you would like to pay the fee to apply for your license, have your picture taken, have your fingerprints taken, this is the 5th time we have had to provided them, and register for your exams.

Step two: Go to the ophthalmologist for your eye exam. These are the appointed ophthalmologists and they seemed a little outdated on their equipment, but both Greg and I were able to pass. We had to identify letters, numbers and colors. They had us stand and touch our nose, hold our hands out straight, turn our neck left and right, etc., checking for range of motion and stability.

Step three: Go to the Psychologist for an exam. Yes, you read that correctly. Now this is where it gets very interesting!

I dislike tests and always have, especially ones that are analyzing my thought process. I was sweaty and nervous as we approached the building. Greg had told me a little about what to expect, but I told him to stop because I would overthink it! We were greeted by the examiners and escorted into a room with a bunch of others taking their exams. As I was about to sit, the examiners approached us and I was moved into a room of my own. Not intimidating at all!!!

       *Test #1: A pattern test. At the top of the test were three triangles. A solid black triangle facing left, a white triangle facing down with a dot in the middle, and a solid white triangle facing right. My job, go row by row to locate all the triangles that matched any of the three at the top. There were about 300 triangles on the page to look through. It was a timed test.

       *Test #2: I do not even know what to call this test. I was given a piece of paper. At the top, there were five vertical lines. The lines were about 3 cm long and about 1-2 cm apart. My job, to continue making lines across the page. The lines needed to be the same size and distance apart. When the examiner said a certain word I was to create a horizontal line and then continue making the vertical lines. Sorry I am unable to remember the word! I was a little stressed out! This continued for about 5 minutes. I kept making vertical lines until I heard the word, then drew a horizontal line. My hand hurt so bad. When the time was up, I was given a new direction. Count all the lines between each horizontal line. This was tedious. There were 100-250 lines between each horizontal line. I was to write the number that I counted above the horizontal line.

Greg and I are not sure what this actually tells them, what information it gives. When we asked our friends, they could not tell us either. Very interesting though.

       *Test #3: Problem Solving Test: This test was what I expected to be given. On the page there were 3-6 photos. My job was to analyze and find out what was missing or what would come next. There were 40 different questions with all different levels of difficulty.

       *Meet with the Psychologist: After completing each of the tests, it was time to have them analyzed by the psychologist. He looked over each test, typed some information in the computer, printed out some papers and told me congratulations! PHEW!

After all of that, I was exhausted. My brain hurt from thinking and my hands hurt from writing non-stop, but I was thrilled the process was over and I was going to have an official driver's license.

4-5 weeks later, it was delivered to Greg's work, as all documents go through the company and straight to Greg. One more thing to check off our list!! It is a paper document in a plastic, unsealed sleeve.

Still makes me giggle that everything I do, every document that we have completed is all tied to my parent's names. Even on this driver's license they are listed!

A Trip Home

While the circumstances for our return home were not positive, we tried to make the most of our time there. 

The trip is a long one.  To make sure we had plenty of time, we left our house at 3pm for our 10:30pm flight. Leaving when we did, we ran into a lot of traffic. This resulted in sleepy children!

 We finally made it through security by 7pm, grabbed a bite to eat, and began work on some of the homework their understanding teachers sent with us!

 Finally on the plane, we were ready for dinner and some much needed sleep. 

 We landed in Houston around 5:30am and the boys were confused why we left when it was dark and arrived when it was dark!

For this flight, since we booked last minute, Zane had to sit in front of Alden and I. He was nervous and didn't want to be by a stranger but he did a great job! (This picture makes him look so grown-up!!)

We were greeted by my mom and my sister, Marcie, who came bearing donuts which was a request from the boys!

We ate out a lot while we were home as we had so many things to do there wasn't much time for homemade food. The boys had lots of requests for this as well and we tried to get to all of those. My request - Mexican food!

 The boys spent a lot of time snuggling and playing with their family. 

 We were able to watch Rylie play some Volleyball...

...and Dylan play some Basketball!

 They spent a lot of time with their Mamaw and Papaw and even had a surprise visit from Grandma Diane. 

 They begged and begged and begged Mamaw and Papaw to put up some Halloween decorations. 

 They especially wanted to set up Susie...a mechanical witch that all the kiddos have been afraid of. 

 We went to BD's Mongolian Barbeque at a request of .... well everyone!

We made sure we had some time for homework.

 And lots of time for family. 

All of this wore the boys out in addition to the time change!

 We managed a quick visit to see some Westview peeps.

Even a lunch at Fritz's!

Because daddy was NOT with us, we even enjoyed a dinner at Olive Garden. 

Mom made biscuits and gravy, something that we can't find or make down here...yet. I came back with a meat grinder!

Heading back home, we were all tired and had long way to travel. We said our good-byes which were much easier this time as we already have a countdown for our return in December!

Landing in Brasil and heading back to our house. 

After sleeping until about 11am the first thing they wanted to do was jump in the pool. Nothing like going from winter coats and gloves to tank-tops and shorts and swimsuits!

 We look forward to having more time in December and January!