Friday, September 9, 2011
France 2011
We are reaching the end of winter here and it is hot during the day, cool at night and extremely dry the whole time. Thankfully it is not as hot as our last days in Lyon. Why is it that whenever I go to Lyon there is a heat wave? Enough about the weather. There we were: Toulouse, Seignosse, Narbonne, Lyon, Lisboa, friends, family, beaches, gardens, parks, merry-go-rounds, etc.






We had a wonderful time in France and it took me about two weeks to recover from the return to Ouro Preto. Two weeks to stop thinking about what we do not have here (my family, my friends, the ocean, comfort - decent cheese, ham, bread, raspberries, natural yogurt, organic food, anything unsweetened, and a couple of other delicacies - hot water from the sink, safety on the roads and in kiddies playgrounds, public swimming pools, trains, am I forgetting anything?). Writing it down at once was pleasurable and I can now focus on the other aspects of life that I truly love here: how friendly the people are, in particular with kids and families. The plane was loaded with Brasilians who did not seem at all annoyed by us, but instead smiled at us as we exercised our legs up and down the aisle and greeted us with compassion when either Leila or Coline expressed their discontent. I also like our town very much, walking up and down its streets, the mountains around, the tropical fruits, our neighbours, how peacefully slow things are, I like how few shops there are and how limited the choice of anything, and I hate that too.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Winter in Ouro Preto is coldish, sunny and dry, so dry that the whole town has been coughing for the past two months and so have we. Luckily Leila, Coline and I are soon going to breathe the moist and fragranced air of Les Landes. That is, if the 3 of us survive the trip from Belo Horizonte. I am only starting to panic a little at the idea of us waiting for our connection in Lisboa at an hour which we normally call the middle of the night.
Coline and Leila are getting along really well. Coline cracked laughing yesterday as Leila made a funny noise with her mouth and I made an effort to ignore the fact that meanwhile she was spitting all over the room. It was so wonderful to see them laugh together. Coline has found out how to get her thumb to stay in her mouth and she is loving it. She also has a ball playing with her feet, cooing and grabbing whatever is within reach (hair, plate, food, sand, Corentin's ear...). Leila now chats in Portuguese as she plays. Unfortunately others in her classroom are not able to do so and so she has been seriously bitten by one of them who comes close with the intention of giving a hug and ends up biting (shoulder, forehead, cheek...).
Now let me go and start packing!!










Festa Junina at Leila's school (she did not feel like dressing up or dancing but we enjoyed watching)

Coline and Leila are getting along really well. Coline cracked laughing yesterday as Leila made a funny noise with her mouth and I made an effort to ignore the fact that meanwhile she was spitting all over the room. It was so wonderful to see them laugh together. Coline has found out how to get her thumb to stay in her mouth and she is loving it. She also has a ball playing with her feet, cooing and grabbing whatever is within reach (hair, plate, food, sand, Corentin's ear...). Leila now chats in Portuguese as she plays. Unfortunately others in her classroom are not able to do so and so she has been seriously bitten by one of them who comes close with the intention of giving a hug and ends up biting (shoulder, forehead, cheek...).
Now let me go and start packing!!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
a beautiful sunday
I just loved our town today. For starters, the sun was shining and it was warm again, and so the four of us set out for a day out in town. We hiked up to praca tiradentes (with a decent cup of coffee on the way at "Natasha's coffee") and we bumped into a parade of clowns, samba school, musicians, gigantic puppets and comedians on stilts. They danced on stilts on the ultra-steep street where people fall with common shoes! We had a bean soup on a terrasse with live "song and guitar" in the background, relaxed and played for hours on the grass and went home through the botanical garden. What a beautiful day in Ouro Preto!
Friday, June 17, 2011
Here are my attempts to catch Coline's amazing smile on camera: she is just too interested in the camera.




little miss sunshine
We do feel like calling her little miss pain in the neck at times but every morning on our walk to the park she is more of a little miss sunshine. And apart from the days when she wants to go out of the house in her underwear, I tend to interfere as little as possible when she gets ready to go, mostly because I like her taste!
3-year old fun
Leila had her first birthday party at school today. And she had fun! So did we, happy to see her play with her mates, in her environment. They play "big bad wolf", run, slide and jump, rather peacefully and quietly, we thought.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
here to stay
I was granted permanent residency in Brazil. youpiii!
I can now safely and freely exit the country next month, and even come back.
So we do have a lot to celebrate this week-end!
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