Friday, September 5, 2008

Girl's Day Out

Yesterday I had a lovely day with some of my students, which have become my friends. Both of the girls had the week off and invited me to have a girl's day out with them. I, of course, jumped at the idea of actually getting out of the house, and being able to spend some time with some girls.....which I don't have much opportunity for. Since we've been here in Brazil, if I've gone anywhere, it's always been with Renato. There are many reasons behind this. 1. We only have 1 car and I need practice driving a stick anyway, so I'm kinda scared of driving here. 2. Language...meaning, I don't speak it very well. 3. I'm just not "independent" here, like in the U.S. I can't conduct any type of conversation well enough to really be out on my own. (although I do try!)

SO, yesterday was the perfect opportunity to get some much needed "girl time" and to practice my Portuguese. And practice I did! I spoke more Portuguese yesterday then I have in months! (I guess that just proves I need to get out more without my "translator", AKA Renato.)

We had a great time exploring a city about 20km away. We went to the mall, then to a riverwalk sort of place. It was lovely to be out by the river. It was a little hot yesterday, so being by the river cooled us off. Here are some pics of Barbara, Viviane, and me by the river.





I also got to try something new yesterday called, Caldo de Cana. Which is juice made out of sugar cane. It was really interesting. They guy just ran the sugar cane through this machine that squeezed the juice out, then also squeezed in either some pineapple or lime. The pineapple was good, but a little too sweet. I mixed it with some lime and it was yummy! It's so fun, because they just do this in a little cart stand along side of the roads here. Renato doesn't like it, so I never had tried it before. I definitely exceeded my "sugar intake" for the day with just one cup of that stuff!


Here's the sugar cane ready to be squeezed.


Here's the juice guy running the sugar cane through the machine to squeeze it.


Here we are enjoying our yummy juice!



What a blessing this girl's day out was! I look forward to more!

3 comments:

Stacey said...

I am so glad that you got to have a girls day out. I have some girlfriends here that I get together with a few times a month and it truly is a blessing to hang out with girlfriends!! :o)

Susan said...

Chele,
Good for you for stepping out! It is amazing how much independence you lose with that language barrier and only 1 auto options.Sugar Cane juice, would love to try it.

I have NEVER been to Brazil, but I have been other places with horrible road condiditions. I knew American girls that finally broke down and learned to drive in Kabul. YOu are going to have to just do it. The sooner the better, because you will be driving around a little baby soon. I was in a situation where we had guests that needed transport in Potsdam but I never drove around before because I was scared and didn't learn the stick shift. I could have been a blessing, but those people almost missed out because of my fear. Don't be a ninny like me. I know Germany is way better with the streets and all, but you can do it! You have driven those ice roads in that frigid state you come from. Point of the Pines with ice?? Yeah baby, you show those Brazilians what a toughie you are. Daisy Duke flying over those BIG speedbumps, yeeehaaaw!

Paige said...

This makes me miss Brazil!