Colors!

Thought you might enjoy the colors of the wedding: Gold and.... hmm... and pink? pinkish-orange? salmon... guava... coral... we're open to suggestion on names...

Heels or Havaianas? The bet is on.

Our gym is hosting a "90 workouts in 90 days" challenge... and Murilo and I are going for it. To sweeten the deal (and add the ultimate motivation) we've placed a bet:

I make it, I get to buy heels for the wedding
I don't make it, I wear Havaianas

(I asked Murilo what his prize was going to be and he said "health" to which I say "boo")

Who's going to win?

WEDDING FUN!!!

This is officially the blog-de-everything Meghan and Murilo... and most importantly (for now) will include wedding details!!!!!

*Special thanks to Amber and Jennifer for pushing for details :)

Taking off

So tomorrow I'm heading off to Rio de Janeiro!!! I'm super excited to go, but will miss our little family here in Maceio! Luiza is going to Joao Pessoa for her class tomorrow, as well, so old man Toby is going to be one sad little poodle. Anyway, I don't know when I'll have internet access, so for all you hard core followers out there [aka, Ma and Pa ;)], don't lose hope! I will post as soon as I can! And fear not, I will be safe: I promise to wear a helmet when I hang glide if it is required. ;) Ate logo!!

Amigos, Gaubi Vaz

Kelson's childhood friend, Gaubi, is officially one of the most accomplished people I know. And one of the funniest. Dinner with him, his wife, and their friend was fun and lively with lots of talk, food, and laughter. We showed them pictures of this summer, and played online with google earth, the blog, and skyped with Murilo.

One of the things Gaubi showed us was a video of him on youtube (oh, did I tell you he wrote and released a CD? because he did...). You've got to check it out - he wrote the music (I think... I know he wrote all the songs on his CD, Amigos), that's him singing, and it is filmed in Maceio right along the area where Kelson had his jet ski accident, so you'll get a little sound and sight of Alagoas! Here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVKtMRHyXrY

Here's also a link to a blog that talks a little about him and his music: http://musicadoceara.blogspot.com/2008/09/gaubi-vaz-amigos.html

According to Muri, he's also phenomenal on the guitar... maybe by talking with him I'll get better... or maybe I should practice...

What IS life without condensed milk?!?

Today was a busy day! In the morning I went to the gym, Toby and I went for a walk (and then he took a bath and now he is all fluffy... hahaha), I went to a couple more english classes, and tonight I get to meet the famous Goubi (Kelson's best friend). I'm trying to look really nice for this dinner with him and his wife because the last time the wife saw me I was dying in the hospital and toting a blue sheet around, not unlike like Linus.

A couple days ago I asked Zaira and Luiza what they vendor on the corner makes with sugar cane, so on the walk with Toby today I went and bought a cup of sugarcane juice (caldo de cana). It tasted pretty much like what you would expect the water and sugar squeezed from the sugarcane to taste like - delicious!! I'm glad I discovered that the third to last day I was here... I think agua de coco is a better habit to have...

I love going to the english classes. Turns out I'm one of those people who is energized by spending time and connecting with other people - anyone surprised? Anyone... I'm a little saddened, however by the most common question I get. They talk about the movies about high school that they see and ask me if it is really like this, meaning, are there such divisions among groups, and are the football players all cool and dumb, and are the cheerleaders all hot and promiscuous, and are there nerds who are smart and losers. On one hand it makes me sad that this is how the world perceives us, as anyone would if these movies were the only time they saw into the United States and our culture. On the other hand, I'm glad to be here and to have a chance to talk about our culture and show people here a "different" sort of American. I like to be able to subvert the rumors, and I love most of all to talk to students about myths about sex before marriage that our media passes out like candy. I think I was born to work with this age group, if only the crazy parents would relax about grades a little bit, and I think a dream of mine is to foster a small group of girls in the high school that talks about these things, that can learn from my mistakes and triumphs, and who can encounter God and bring him to their (our) culture!

My favorite conversation from today was a student who asked if we had brigadero in the U.S. Half of them were utterly shocked that my answer was no (I think the other half already knew this). The girl who asked me, still astounded, then asked this question: But what, then, do you eat at parties?!?! They weren't consoled with any of my answers, however, because none of it involved condensed milk, however they were a little relieved to hear that we at least had condensed milk in the U.S.

Alright, I'm out folks. I'm going to go help prepare for tonight a little bit more... with any luck they'll ask me to "help" make the brigadero!!! I need to go practice my innocent face...

The fruit club

Goiaba take 2 happened today - instead of eating the pretty green goiaba, I ate the yellow one, and low and behold, it was amazing! There was no pucker effect, the seeds were still hard, but the entire fruit is edible and it's tasty! To compare the ripe and unripe fruit, I took a picture. When it comes to goiaba, green does not mean go.

I also tried caju this week. The caju fruit is an accessory fruit that grows attached to the true caju fruit, also known as castanha de caju, or the cashew nut. The fruit is delicate and juicy, very sweet and tender with a slightly chalky aftertaste. And apparently I am slightly allergic to this fruit (or maybe to the potent skin irritant found in between the double shell encasing the cashew nut, which is also a toxin found in poison ivy?...

nah... ) because both times I ate the fruit my throat got all itchy and my hands got what looks like sunburn or hives... without the burn and itch. The goiaba I ate today was sitting next to the caju for the last couple days, and when I ate it I got the hand-sunburn reaction again... for the love... What a curse to be allergic to something that is so good! In heaven I'm going to have a caju tree.