Feliz aniversário!

March 12-15

Ok, this one is a bit long, so grab a cup of cafe and relax for a few.  Hope you enjoy! :)

Josh and I have officially been married for 3 years as of Wednesday the 14th.  And Brazil has been our amazing, unforgettable, honey of a second honeymoon.

Enjoying a breeze and the view
post-run

Our favorite running park,
"Parcao" de Moinhos

One of our favorite things we have shared on this trip has been running together. 

Josh has showed me his favorite routes on foot through the city and I love the park we run to.  There is just something that makes me feel super tough running through these streets.  It could be a) the “rolling” hills which are best experienced when blindly turning an unassuming corner that immediately juts upward toward the sky with no notice, or b) the excellent techno/dubstep DJ mix that my very own DJ Extol put together on our ipod. 

It also could be because every day we run past armed guards in uniform who stand at the entrance to the military hospital across the street.  As they stare at us passing, I keep wondering what they are thinking of this small running person in a skirt and neon green shoes.

I do. I just feel cool when I run here. 

Parcao (post-shower and pre-shopping) - to the right of this picture
is a city street lined with shops - the park is exactly in the middle
of a popular shopping district

It’s also ridiculously beautiful here.  Porto Alegre has a tree for every citizen, so nearly every sidewalk and street has a lovely green arbor above.  They also have an excellent understanding of the urban park concept.  Porto Alegre has a huge amount of green spaces that are right in the middle of city blocks, sort of like a bunch of small Central Parks a la NYC.  On the weekends, these lush areas of greenery are packed with families, joggers, walkers, and tons of dogs. 

Parque Farropilha (another urban park)

Everyone has a dog here.  Mostly small to medium sized ones, since a lot of the population live in apartments.  They bring their canine companions everywhere with them and when I see that, I know I could easily fit in here.  Currently, my ten-pound rescue terrier (who I’m convinced actually rescued me) is being fought over in a temporary custody battle by my friends and family back in the States.  She loves her vacations to my parents’ farm, where she typically resides when Josh and I travel.  And I miss her.  So I snag any opportunity here to scratch an obliging furry head.  But most of the animals here do not speak or understand English.  So I’m working on my Portuguese doggie compliments.

Even this random guy had a dog.  He
was super nice (read: quirky but harmless)
 and offered to take our picture in front of a few parts of this park that he deemed "essential picturesfor all gauchos." The dog is "Chica".

Smiths with Chica (in Portuguese:
"Here, she likes you, hold her while
I take the picture with the Brazil flag
in the background.  All Gauchos take
this picture in front of that building.")

Chica, Random Guy, and Elyssa in an
essential Gaucho picture

Not an essential Gaucho picture, but
pretty nonetheless.  Josh is secretly
obsessed with pergolas...sorry honey
your secret is out!

Anderson and Josh paying complete
attention to the worship

Some of our new brothers and sisters
in the house church

Church on Sunday was full of Portuguese and English praise song lyrics, the presence of God, and more than a few tears as we prayed and connected with the Blumes’ house church they started many years ago.  I got to help lead some of the music and Benay and Josh and I taught the group a new song – ‘How Great is Our God,’ in Portuguese, of course!  Josh and I did our best to read and sing the Portuguese lyrics, but after a few bars, I realized that English would have to do because I apparently cannot play piano and also read in a new foreign language at the same time.

Waiting in line at Bob's Burgers

The Blumes treated us to Outback Steakhouse in Porto Alegre after church!  We had fun with Benay, Kevin, Giovanni, Garrett, and Anderson – the food was great, albeit more expensive than in the states.  Giovanni wanted to sit next to both me and Josh, and Anderson spent the meal quizzing me about my favorite things.  He and I have determined we are, most definitely, twins - the main requirements: donuts as a favorite food and loving history.

Afterward, a trip to the best milkshake venue in town - Bob's Burgers in the mall.  Josh and I shared an Ovaltine milkshake and it was the best Ovaltine milkshake that had ever tickled our tastebuds.  It was a bit like a chocolate malt with little crunchies in it.  I adore little crunchies in my sweets - I'm truly a texture gal.

Ipanema Beach at night - to the left
of this photo is a crowded street where
cars and teens are cruising to the live
music from the brightly lit bars and
restaurants.

The girl from Ipanema - not really the place
from the song, but that song was in my head
the entire walk. By the by, Acai is big there
and a tall cold acai icee is AMAZING on a
hot day.  Nearly as good or better than a
coconut water.

Ipanema beach in POA is THE place to be on a Sunday night!  Ana and Pedro took us there for a long brisk walk in the beach breezes of the lake after the heat of the day started to relinquish at dusk.  It was beautiful and people of all ages were gathered all over the sidewalks and restaurant patios.  They were talking, laughing, and drinking portable Chimarrao, the traditional herbal tea drink of the Gaucho culture in Rio Grande Do Sul.  They bring a special thermos of hot water and a bunch of the loose green powder that makes the tea.  They drink it through a metal straw that strains out the tea from the powder.  The drink is consumed from a hand carved wooden cup that usually has a state flag or some other type of Gaucho symbol on it.  Southern Brazilian culture is very strong and young and old alike embrace it.

Bookafe - where every book and
reference is Christian - go coffee ministry!

Monday morning brought a lovely meeting with Kevin and Benay (and Giovanni) at Bookafe, a Christian coffee shop across the street from the park where I’ve been running.  We had Cappuccino Brasileira and some great conversation in a beautiful setting with the occasional declaration from Giovanni’s side of the table, “Enough talk.  Let’s fight.”

Romans 6:4 was on this beautiful plaque on the wall

We finished up the last of our shopping for gifts and souveniers at a few different malls that afternoon with our host mama as our chauffer.  In the course of the afternoon, we found out that our arrangements for staying the night in Sao Paulo Tuesday night had fallen through.  Originally we had booked tickets from POA to Sao Paulo for Tuesday morning and our plane for the states was to leave Wednesday.  But we decided to delay our flight to Sao Paulo until Wednesday so we could have a bonus day in Porto Alegre.  A crazy upheaval, but we were so happy to have an extra day.

Picanha

Good music, good meat, good God,
let's eat!

Oh yes, we did. Again.

An incredible live Samba night at the restaurant Terra Nova was a fantastic end to the day.  Ana and Pedro scouted out this new restaurant to expose us to more of the rich Brazilian culture we were after – music!  And, of course, good food.  We enjoyed picanha (a traditional churrasco meat) and yet another Torta de Sorvete – the same kind we ate at Schulla’s!  Top it off with really marvelous samba singers and musicians, with a live tree growing through the middle of the top of the restaurant, and there you have one amazing night.  I found myself wishing I knew the words to the songs so that I could have sung along with the entire audience to the sweet beautiful melodies of the traditional samba songs. 

Every now and again either me or Pedro (the Argentine in the bunch) would insert a declaration of how good the Argentines are at one thing or another.  I don’t know if you realize this, but they are the best in the whole world at nearly everything.

From left: Josh's neck, Elyssa, Pedro, Ana

Elyssa: “I love this cut of steak!”  Pedro – with a thick Brazilian accent: “You should try the Argentine version of this steak.  Argentines are the most skilled steak-makers in the entire world.” Josh: “Seriously, don’t encourage him.” Laughter. Repeat.

Tuesday, our bonus day, Josh took me to finally see his very first apartment from his previous stay here.  When he first arrived to Porto Alegre in 2005, as the first “guinea pig” of the Ball State/PUCRS University exchange, Josh had no place to stay.  

A minor oversight.

This is where Ana Isabel came in.  She was able to get a small apartment for him for the first month, and during that time he met Marcio and Marcelo who lived in that neighborhood.  Thank the Lord for them, because he had to learn where to shop, what to get at the mercado to eat, and how to scrub his laundry in a washbasin.  Mama Limberger (M&M’s mom) was a huge help with all that!

Josh's first apartment across the street

The gym is the second and
third story with all the
windows

I got to see his old apartment building, and we visited the gym where he and Marcelo worked out.  That was the building where Josh learned a ton of Portuguese.  His trainer, Cassio, spoke some English, so between Ana Isabel and Cassio, a desperate Josh learned enough survival Portuguese to get by and thrive in a completely foreign culture.

Smiths with Mama Limberger and amazing cappuccinos

Most of the two story restaurants have
outdoor balconies that are prepared for
every weather extreme.  It rained while
we ate up here but we didn't get wet
after they put the sides down.  All the
views from these places are gorgeous!

Later Tuesday for our bonus afternoon (after yet another fantastic lunch prepared by Fatima at home), Mama Limberger came to pick us up and take us out for coffee.  We visited a really beautiful café on a bustling street next to the park (of course – the parks are EVERYwhere!).  She does not speak any English, so we spent an entertaining couple of hours trying to understand one another and decipher hand signals as we caught up on life.  She is an artist, so in my Portu-nol and her Portuguese and one or two words in English, we talked about abstract painting versus portraiture.  Yeah.  It was funny.  But she and I connected in our little artistic-minded way.   My brain was so tired!

Goodbyes to Guillherme

Another dinner at Schulla’s with Ana, Pedro, Guillherme, and Bruno, and the bonus day was complete.  We ate another round of Josh’s favorite Spaetzle, a cheese dumpling dish with steak.  YUM.  And we tried not to think about the fact that we would have to tear ourselves away from this family and this city in the morning.

"Even the day is crying." - Ana
Parmalot did not want to leave either.

Wednesday we woke up early to a massive rainstorm.  Our mom, Ana, came in at 6am to say goodbye before work.  As she and I cried and held each other, she said in her halted English, “Even the day is crying and is sad you are leaving.”

At breakfast our host dad had the radio on and we were listening to all the records that were being set by the inundation of water.  The streets were knee-high in waves of the overflowed river and lake surrounding the city.   There was some concern as to whether or not we would be able to make it to the airport.  So, when dad Pedro took us by the Blumes to say bye, he dropped us off and went for an exploratory drive to test out…the waters. 

We returned the cell phone that the Blumes had allowed us to borrow for the entire trip – THANK YOU BLUMES!  THANK YOU ANSLEY!  And then we said goodbye after praying for each other.  There was, of course, no pressure from Benay and Kevin to sell everything we own, quit our jobs, and move to POA to become missionaries alongside them.  None at all.  They would want us to pray about it first.  J

Just like there was no pressure for us to choose their soccer team, Internacional, over our host family’s team, Gremio.  No propaganda at all, no twisting of the arms, no implied threats.  We were in a tough place, me and Josh.  If we chose Inter and Pedro found out, we wouldn’t have a place to sleep at night.  If we chose Gremio and God found out, we might not get to heaven, or so it was implied. Hehehe. 

We love and miss you, Blumes!

We made it without incident to the airport – through the rio de rua (say “hee-oh-gee-who-uh” – fun to say, right?), river of the street.

Goodbye to our mae, Ana

A toast to our anniversary with one
last pao de queijo

Happy Anniversary to us!  We had excellent and safe travel – thanks to all who were praying us through this trip!  On the flight from Sao Paulo to Toronto, after one last meal of salgados and Coca Cola in the airport, we toasted a glass of wine.  We gave thanks to the Lord for an incredible three weeks in our new home country of Brazil, and for an unforgettable three years of marriage together.

Thanks for going on this journey to Brazil with us.  And thanks to everyone who has been on some part of our life journey with us.  We have enjoyed the last three years together immensely.  We look forward to the rest of our life discovering new places, people, and things together as God leads us deeper into our own hearts and each others’.  It’s just getting good.  And we are full of gratitude.

Ready for our next adventure!

In fact, it’s just getting muito goode.  Couldn’t resist that one. J

Home, Sweet Porto Alegre

March 5-10

What a week!  In the last six days we have managed to eat three churrascos, become professional gaucho dancers, attend an exclusive grand opening party, ride horses through the countryside, and shop at nearly every single major mall that Porto Alegre has to offer.

Whew!

Ana Isabel and Josh

Monday we were finally able to meet up with Josh’s Portugese teacher from his first stay in Porto Alegre, Ana Isabel.  We surprised her at her new school that is now her very own building and we talked for a long time about what has been going on in all of our lives the last seven years since Josh was last here.  Ana Isabel was solely responsible for setting Josh up with a host family and helped him through the very difficult parts of his initial culture shock and language learning.  She is extremely gifted with connecting people to each other and connecting WITH people and we were so glad to finally see her.   Beijos, Ana!

Steak in the mall food court

After meeting with Ana Isabel, we went to Moinhos Shopping, a nearby mall, for lunch at the food court.  Ok, so I had no idea what awaited me – I was thinking food court like our malls with fast food and maybe one nice sit down restaurant.  But what we actually had was steak, rice, beans, and salad with Guarana and Coke right in the middle of the mall.  It was one of the best meals we had eaten out for lunch and it felt so funny to be eating a gourmet lunch in between the “Bobstore” and other various fashion boutiques!

Anyone need a Bob?

New friends Simone, Fabio
And Lucas

Monday night we were invited for a lovely churrasco at Marcelo and Jackie’s apartment.  We met our new friends, Simone, Fabio, and their adorable baby, Lucas.

Should I have another
slice?

Tuesday we ran (we have a fabulous loop we run down to Moinhos Park, beside the shopping center, that has tons of greenery and a lake with our favorite turtles who we give voices to and they have conversations in broken Portugese), and then, as was Josh’s tradition on his previous Brazil stay, we called Marcio and Marcelo.  They picked us up and, after an excellent pizza buffet, we shopped as long and hard as we could until dinner.  Their pizzas have no limits like the ones in the States.  My favorites were the stroganoff and the salami pizzas.  At the mall, Jackie and I made quick work of the C&A store (kind of like H&M, only different letters), and it was on to dinner with the family and Ana Isabel and her husband.

Dinner at Schula's

Schula’s, a FANTASTIC authentic German restaurant, impressed us with every course.  It was a night of fulfilling fellowship, incredible food, and ONE. LIFECHANGING. DESSERT.  Torta de Sorvete, cake with ice cream, is a dessert with a story as amazing as its flavor.  Ana Isabel has a language student whose grandmother is German and made this recipe.  It was so good that when people tasted it, they wanted to be able to purchase this dessert.  Eventually, there was enough business that they opened a store, and now they deliver their desserts to all of the fine dining restaurants in the area. 

I found out why.  I have never tasted anything like this.  It appears to be regular ice cream with a hard marshmallow-like layer (related to their dessert called suspiro), but for some reason when you pour on the liquid chocolate from the pitcher they bring you…oh my goodness.  I hope there is a version of this in heaven, sem calorias!  What a great dinner we had with the family and Ana Isabel and Garson!

Elyssa, Carys, Benay, Kevin, Giovanni
Josh, and Garrett

Wednesday we spent time with the Blumes for lunch a fabulous meal – thanks Benay and Kevin!  We talked about the church in Brasil, their house church, and ours – and how God is moving across the world.  I’m now inspired to read a book Benay recommended, “Jesus Calling” by Sarah Young.  In between inspiring conversations, we played for hours with Giovanni, the cutest three year old this side of the equator. 

I highly recommend the Blumes’ blogs for tales of life in Brazil: BlumesinBrazil.blogspot.com and BenayBlume.blogspot.com.

I didn't have a swirly dress but I made
the best of it!

Elyssa and Ana at CTG

CTG was the name of the Gaucho club that night where Ana and Pedro took Josh and me for our second churrasco of the week.  There was a really cool dancing demonstration complete with Gaucho poetry and lots of music.  There is a song where all the Gaucho couples (decked out in full gaucho attire – beautiful!) ask people in the audience to dance and I got to go up with the group and learn it!  So fun.

Finally, Coke in a glass
bottle!

Another amazing meal

We tried out another new restaurant Thursday – a small and beautiful destination in the middle of the neighborhood that separates ours from the Blumes.  We had walked past a few times on the way to their house, and this time we decided to stop in and take a chance to see if it was good.  Boy, were we in for a treat!  We had Brazilian stroganoff with beans and rice (of course) and a fantastic flan for dessert.  Josh had been looking forward to having Coke out of a glass bottle the whole trip but we had only seen Coke in a can.  However, at this small colorful restaurant, sitting on the second floor overlooking the downstairs, the waitress brought our drinks in glass bottles – for me a Guarana, for Josh a Coke.  Victorious!

Sunset over Porto Alegre

Roberta, Owner of Sul Esportes
Magazine, Ana Isabel, Josh

Ana Isabel invited us that evening to the exclusive grand opening of the biggest sports store in Rio Grande do Sul, called Paqueta.  She is friends with the owners of the sports magazine who sponsors events with the store, called Sul Esportes.  We got an inside look at the store design and got to hear the story of how the magazine started from Roberta, one of the owners.  We felt so special with all the beautiful people there – sort of like we were undercover and no one knew we didn’t really belong there…so we walked around and pretended to be famous for most of the evening. J  They even gave us presents – Thursday was the international Day of Women (Dia de mulheres) and I got a pretty Gerbera Daisy along with our small futbols.

I love presents!

Carys on the left, Benay
in the middle cutting the
cookies

Giovanni having lunch

Carys, one of the Blume’s daughters had a birthday party Friday.  This was our first introduction to Brazilian kids and it was quite an awakening!  First of all, there were a ton of them in the gorgeous park by the Blumes’ house where the party was.  All was going well until they got hungry and swarmed the churrasceira where Kevin and Benay were cooking the burgers.  They were like vultures!  A bunch of  energetic kids in the heat after playing wildly…yeah, they were hungry.  After their mad rush to stuff as many hamburgers and hot dogs into their mouths as they could handle, a water fight broke out.  The kids were filling their cups with water and chasing each other all around the park.  It was all fine until they started disobeying the guards of the park who were asking them to behave and not break the rules.  So, then the big people got called into it and things had to calm down a bit.  All in all, it was a crazy and fun time – and we got to taste Benay and Kevin’s specialty American cookies – we SO want them to go into business to sell this amazingness!  They made four huge cookies for the party and Josh and I couldn’t get enough.  Happy Birthday, Carys!

Just LOOK at those cookies! Scrumptious.

Saturday was the day I have been waiting for this whole vacation….Saturday we visited the farm of Mauricio, the oldest Narchi son.  

The baby is only a week old

Nona on the left, all eating churrasco
And homemade bread

I had asked a couple weeks ago if we could ride his horses sometime, so he met us at the farm with his five new sheep.  We ate a big churrasco (#3 for the week) under the shade of the fruit trees with Nona, Pedro’s Italian/Argentine/Brazilian mother.  She is 88 and beautiful, straight out of an Italian movie.  She is the sweetest grandma and sat with us all day in the heat, watching the horses and all the activities.

Mauricio rounded up the whole herd of horses along with the cows and herded them up to the farmhouse so we could see all of them – including a one-week-old colt!  They were beautiful and wild, of every color.  I could not get enough of them.

Mauricio saddled up two horses (the ones that he and his friend use to work the farm) for us to ride. The one I ended up riding had been bucking and didn’t want the saddle, so I was mustering up all my former horse knowledge to manage her.

We mounted the horses and I was feeling pretty comfortable when all of the sudden, Josh was gone.

He was off at full speed in the wrong direction!  I saw his back rounding the corner of the house and I had no idea if he could stop the horse or not…Thirty seconds later, here comes Josh, still on the horse (miracle #1), and he was making it walk (miracle #2).  The horse had spooked and went into a straight up gallop with Josh at his mercy.

The rest of the ride was not so eventful, so I got up the courage to let my horse run a bit out in the field.  Mauricio and his friend just let us loose to go wherever we wanted on the farm and it was really fun.  Memories of the horse my family had for a year washed over me and I was just exquisitely happy.  After we had explored the fields that were open for us, I let my horse run all the way back to the house. Exhilarating!  

They had said Josh’s saddle might fit me better, so once we were both off the horses, I decided to take another ride on Josh’s horse to see if I could manage him.  He and I bonded on the way out to the field – I think it helps if the rider has not just been traumatized by an unexpected full speed gallop.  And then I let him run all the way back.  My heart was in my throat and I felt like I was flying!  I could have ridden all day had we had more trails and fields to roam.  I think I was meant for this.    

                       

                                

What an amazing week in Porto Alegre.

This morning we will go to church with the Blumes and then head to Ipanema here in POA.  It’s not the place from the song, but I’m going to pretend. J  Ate mais!