The Dancing Dog

On our way to a friend's house out in the country, we walked past this dancing dog.  It's kinda entertaining because he's dancing to the music, but also really sad because he's been hearing nothing but loud music for so long that he can't do anything else.

Sorry about all the wind and the bad sound quality.

Obstacle Course in the Streets!

There have been quite a few interesting things in the street recently that deserve being shared with the rest of the world.  :)

Exhibit A: This is a giant tree stump. 

I don't really know where this tree stump came from because I'd never seen it before in my life, but one day it showed up on our way home and three days later it was gone.  They were doing a lot of construction on the road and I'm not sure if they dug it up, or were using it to defer traffic.  Either way, it made for an interesting landmark.  

 Exhibit B: This is a large pile of bricks.

A lot of people are doing construction on their houses right now so it's a pretty normal thing to see large piles of bricks or piles of sand in front of people's houses.  I also just find it funny because when someone is bringing us home, we just have to tell them that our house is the one in front of the giant pile of bricks.

Exhibit C: Lots of Water and a giant hole.

(Picture to come eventually)

Something happened about a month ago to a pipe on our street and it has been leaking water ever since.  They've come out to fix it a few times, but can't exactly find the problem.  So the hole keeps growing and shrinking and the water keeps flowing.  It's made our steep hill a little hard to climb!

Festa de Agosto

August 10th is the day to commemorate the saint that our city of São Lourenço is named after.  Pretty much it means that Friday, August 10th is a holiday in São Lourenço and anyone that works here got the day off.  Now, I know what you're all wondering.  "What if I live in São Lourenço, but work in Recife?"  Well, you don't get the day off, but Recife had there own special day off a few weeks ago, so I guess it all works out in the end.  Anyway, starting the first day of August until the 12th day of August, there is a type of 'city fair' along one of the streets.  São Lourenço is pretty big, but this particular street isn't too far from our house.  So, when I still hadn't heard any noise or seen anything different in the city by the 3rd or 4th day, I wasn't expecting too much.

Sunday night, after church, we went with some of the young adults to the 'fair/ show'.   I was surprised to find that it was a little bit like the Texas State Fair...with a few exceptions--one of which being that the only fried food was french fries.  Typical foods are chocolate or candy covered apples, chocolate covered strawberries, espetinho (grilled meat on a stick), french fries, and hot dogs.  Another difference was that everything was crammed into one street...which wouldn't be that bad, but it's one of the main streets going through São Lourenço and so not only are there street vendors lining the street and people jam packed walking through the street...but there's also cars and buses trying to get through.

There were also a few "kids" rides--a pirate ship and one like the Sombrero at Six Flags and a few that are like mini roller coasters with just a little track.  One major difference is that there were no seat belts or safety precautions like I'm used to at a place like that.  The ride that was like the Sombrero at Six Flags was called the Samba.  There were kids that were standing in the middle of the ride instead of sitting, everyone was holding on for dear life, and one mother had created a seatbelt for her young son who was just flopping all over the place by putting her legs over his lap and hooking her feet around the handrail next to the door to get off of the ride.  It was such an interesting experience!

 Alisha and our friend Douglas on the Ferris Wheel.

Valeska and I on the little roller coaster...yes, I screamed, and yes, I actually was scared for my life.

All in all, a great experience and if you're ever in Brazil at the beginning of August, make a trip out to São Lourenço to experience the "Festa de Agosto."

MOLD! YIKES!...or not.

Our North American mold beliefs were radically shaken over the last few months.  There were a few specific days that were almost overwhelmingly traumatic, but we survived, leaned some lessons about earthly possessions, and are hopefully better for it.  

Here are just a few examples of our "earthly possessions" that we've either figured out how to clean or live without (I wish I had more pictures to show you, but I really only have 2).  I think it's pretty incredible the amount of mold that can build up in just a few days.  

Just before Easter, Annika found this craft online and we all thought it was a great idea for our used matches.  We were all really sad when it started leaking and then molding once the "rainy season" started, but are looking forward to the day when we can make more.  

**Disclaimer:  To all of you who are horrified/ scared for our livelihood.  We really are fine, the rainy season is ending and our house will return to the way it was before the mold very soon :)