Celebrating Easter / Passover / Spring Equinox

When you can't celebrate the holidays with family, it's nice to be able to celebrate it with your FS community.  So - today we celebrated Passover / Easter / Spring Equinox.  Luckily for us, our apartment complex has a great community space - really a historical house that's been preserved and is available for party space. 

 Great decks overlooking the ocean - it's an easy place for all the families to get together.

We did potluck.  I did a roasted salmon.

And then I found this really interesting green at the store.  

This is the first time I've seen it - I think it's special for Easter.  I asked how to prepare and they told me to saute it with some onions, a little tomato paste and coconut milk.  It turned out really yummy!

This year N. and O. were more interested in hiding the eggs for the other kids, than searching themselves.  I guess we've turned a corner with some of the holiday celebrations.

Egg Decorating

When you live all over the world, you get to learn and experience so many new things - it's one of the wonderful things about travelling.  Many countries have different holidays, and different ways of celebrating the holidays that we have in common.  When you're raising kids around the world, you want to make sure that you experience the new holidays and traditions, while at the same time, making sure you maintain the traditions of your home culture.  You want your kids to have some shared cultural experiences with their US living peers.

With Easter, there's the ritual of decorating eggs.  Many, many cultures decorate eggs and have wonderful traditions surrounding it and it's great to learn about and experience those traditions.

In the US, as it gets close to Easter, the markets start to get all the Easter stuff ready.  There are Peeps, there are chocolate bunnies, and there are the egg dying kits.  Growing up, we would get the egg dying kit and the night before Easter dye our eggs so that they could be hidden the next morning.

Here in Brazil, egg dying doesn't seem to be as big a tradition as it is in the US.  Luckily, I had brought an extra egg dying kit.  Back in Berkeley, we had developed a tradition of gathering all the neighborhood kids together to dye eggs.  It was great fun.  So - here in Brazil we did a group dye as well.






Since I had only brought one egg dying kit, I needed to find a way to make my own dye.  I know that there are many natural methods - using red cabbage, onions, and beets, but those methods have a longer time requirement.  I finally found a great recipe for making our own dye - and they came out great.

Building houses

Volunteering has always been an important part of my life.  I've met so many wonderful people, and had so many wonderful experiences, and learned so many wonderful things.  I think it's one of the best things you can do.

So - when our section at work decided to spend a day in December helping to build houses with Habitat for Humanity, I was very excited.

We gathered early in the morning and caravanned out to a small town about 1.5 hours west of Recife - in the interior of Pernambuco.  The women we were helping to build houses for worked processing manioc flour.  The development where there houses were being built was in various stages of completion.  Some places were all ready inhabited.  Others were waiting for people to move in.

Although it looks like this goat had already moved in!

Here you can see the walls up, but the plaster has yet to be put on this last house.

The put us to work building the interior walls of the houses.  The "bricks" are called tijolos.
















The guys that trained us made it look so easy - but it's definitely not.  This is an example of my crookedly constructed wall.

But - at the end of the day, we'd accomplished quite a bit - and made some new friends, learned new skills, and had a great time.

Carnaval!

We got back from R&R just in time for Carnaval!

In Brazil - Carnaval is a big deal.  It's celebrated all over the country.  Rio's Carnaval is famous and very elaborate.  Recife and Olinda have wonderful Carnavals - known as the most traditional in Brazil.

Everything stops for Carnaval.  The kids were out of school for a week (I know - school had just started the week before!).  Stores close, regular business slows down - even the Consulate was closed for the 3 days of Carnaval.

This chicken was made from beer cans!

The biggest celebration in Recife is on the Saturday of Carnaval.  It's called Galo da Madrugada.  You can read more about it's history here.  But - just know that it's a huge party and there's a large chicken involved.  

I couldn't wait for Carnaval.  I really wanted to figure it out.  Everyone talks about what a great celebration it is - but I just didn't get it.  I knew there were parades and music and dancing in the streets, but I just couldn't see how it all came together. I've been to parades - usually you're behind a barricade and you watch it all go by.  But I'd heard it's more than that.

So - on Sunday, we went to Olinda with some friends. 

 Carnaval spills through all the streets - it's important to find a place to escape the throngs.  Many houses in Olinda are available to rent, and many hotels also sell day / party passes for people to use during Carnaval.  















Another thing about Carnaval is that it starts early.  We got to Olinda at 10 AM and the streets had lots of people celebrating.

As soon as we got there - I began to get it.  Carnaval isn't just a parade.  It isn't just music.

It's a whole community coming together to celebrate and everyone partakes.

You could watch a parade - or you could be in the parade.  It was completely up to you all the time.













Various groups had organized to create costumes.  And there were lots of super heroes.

There were the 20 people or so who formed their own roller coaster and would do pretend rides.

There were a group of Borat wanna-be's.

These people seemed to be large dust-bunnies being chased by a vacuum.

Wizards?

When we first arrived, the streets had lots of people, but it wasn't yet super crowded.  We found our pousada (hotel) and then walked up to the top of the hill in Olinda to see all the celebrations around the town.  By the time we headed back to the pousada, the streets had gotten very packed with people and the bands were marching along playing music.

Inside the pousada there was food and beverages - and a band to play during the times that bands on the street were playing.  It was nice to be out of the crowd a bit and to watch it all go by.  Of course, at any time, you could jump in and join them for a while.

On Monday evening, we went with the kids to Recife Antigo.
















If you get there early (around 5 PM),  it's fairly quiet.

We joined and danced in a few parades and had a great time.  All kinds of groups had dressed up and had music.

Carnaval is amazing!

Going Home: The Hard Part

It's great to go home.

It's great to go back to the US, visit all your favorite places, see all your family and friends, eat all the food you've missed.

But it's hard too.

It's hard to cram a year's worth of visiting into just a few weeks.  It's hard to have so many wonderful, intense conversations and experiences with the people you love all at the same time.  It becomes overwhelming.

And it's also hard to say goodbye to your family and friends - knowing you won't see them for probably a year.  Of course you can Skype and talk on the phone, but it's not the same has just talking a walk together talking about nothing.  Or cooking a meal together.  Or just sitting and doing nothing together.

I love living in Brazil and being able to see so much of the world.  But I also miss seeing my special people on a regular basis.

Going Home: The Food

Anyone who knows me (and quite a few who don't) knows that I'm a foodie.  One of my earliest memories is making sugar cookies with my grandmother.  Growing up, our family vacations seemed to be more about where and what we were going to eat than what sites we would see.  Family get-togethers became showcases for whatever style of cooking or food you were currently in to.

Joining the Foreign Service I knew that my culinary adventures would change tremendously.  On the one hand, I'd get exposed to so many new foods and items and cultures.  On the other hand, leaving California and it's wonderful markets and farmland would significantly decrease the diversity of what I could find to cook with.

So - it's no wonder that as we've been planning our trip home for R&R, where and what we would be eating and cooking has been a significant part of our planning.

There are the special restaurants and foods we wanted to have again.

Like the very famous Roast Chicken from Zuni Cafe.  So simple, so wonderful.  I've made it at home with this recipe - but nothing beats having it there - especially with good friends.

And then at Vik's in Berkeley, the wonderful Dahi Batata Puri - little puris filled with yogurt and tamarind chutney and cholle - super yummy!

La Taqueria was our first stop when we arrived back in the US - but they were doing their yearly closed for renovations and we had to wait two weeks for the tacos.  But sooooooo worth it! Carnitas and chorizo tacos with the works - double corn tortillas (1 crispy, 1 steamed, cheese, wonderful pinto beans, salsa, sour cream and hot sauce.  Sunset Magazine got the recipe to make it at home.

Then there are just the fabulous places to visit - like Nepenthe.  It's a wonderful place (to call it just a restaurant doesn't begin to do it justice).  It's in Big Sur, it's got amazing views of the coast.  There are big decks everywhere, a fire pit, the famous Ambrosia burger and wonderful wines.

I just love it there - so peaceful!

We also got to go wine tasting in Sonoma Valley.  Gary Farrell  and Hartford Court have some wonderful wines.

Good times with good friends!

And then there's the cooking to do.  I got to visit one of my favorite places in the world - and certainly one of the best grocery stores ever - the Berkeley Bowl.  So much variety, such excellent quality -heaven on earth!

Going Home: The Contrasts

We are on R&R this month - a time that we've anticipated for a while - all the things we get to do that we haven't done for a while, all the foods we get to eat, all the people we get to see.  There are so many reasons to look forward to a vacation back in the US.

But in addition to everything I've been looking forward to seeing / doing / eating, I was also really looking forward to what the contrasts would be.  What would stand out to me and to each of us after a year of living outside the US.

Of course there's all the things you know you're going to notice:

• traffic - whether it's more or less that what you're used to
• products - the US has a tremendous variety of everything.  The number of choices of soap is just mind-boggling

But the thing that has stood out the most is the friendliness that seems more prevalent in other countries (or at least in Brazil).

When we were in training back in Virginia, we were told many times of the importance of greeting people each day with a "Good Morning".  And how Americans are known for not doing this and how it can be seen as being unfriendly.  I made a mental to note to make sure I always said "Good Morning" and thought that was that.

Living in Brazil, I've become very used to saying " Bom dia" or "Bom dia, tudo bem?" to people all the time.  I say it to the people I work with, and the people I see walking down the street - anyplace I encounter someone, I greet them - and am greeted back.  It's nice to have that pleasant acknowledgement of each others presence each day.

I was surprised when I arrived back in the US how much it bothered me to not say "Good Morning" to people I encountered.  It felt very odd and unfriendly.  The very first morning when we were catching a shuttle to pick up the rental car, I had to stop myself from saying "Good Morning" to the other person on the shuttle.  You might be wondering why I didn't just say it anyway - but I really felt as though if I had, I would have made her very uncomfortable.  She would have wondered who these overly cheerful and friendly people were and why were they bothering her.  So - I bit my tongue and took my seat.

But as I went through the following days I noticed how little people greet each other on the street and how it contributes to a more isolated and invisible life.  It's sad to see people walk around in their little bubbles, not even acknowledging each others presence - unless it's to step carefully away from someone who makes them fearful.

So - I decided I wasn't going to continue to contribute to the invisibility and isolation of other people.  I would continue my "Good Mornings" and if it made them a little uncomfortable, if it made them wonder why some one was being friendly to them, if it made them realize that they were being seen as a person - then so be it.