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!!
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!
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