Bubble

Mm'k peeps~here's the deal-e-o.... I have this thing, let's call it "Brea's Bubble," and there are certain people, like my hubby, who are allowed in my bubble AT-ALL-TIMES! But for people I do not know, I like to keep a certain distance between me and the person next to/behind/in front of me. Here in Brasil, people are unaware of "Brea's Bubble" and today it got to me... I was in line at the grocery store and the guy behind me, I could literally feel his breath on the back of my neck! Brint was out and about the store grabbing the last few items we needed and when he got back to the line, I didn't even have to say a word, he knew what was wrong... haha I know this is pathetic, but every time I took a step the guy took a step. I couldn't get away!!! Brint came and stood between me and the guy and I felt better... but that's just the way it is here. Today I failed. Maybe I'll be better tomorrow.

CRAVINGS!

Since being here in Brazil- I have been craving a few things:

I really really want a glass of ice cold milk!

ICE CREAM!!!! the Ice cream they have here in Brazil is healthy! I don't want HEALTHY ice cream, I want creamy, fatty, full of artificial flavors ice cream!

STRAWBERRIES!!! 

HOMEMADE Chocolate Chip cookies! (with a glass of Milk)

Chicken Katsu Curry! YUMMY!

GUM! What was I thinking... Oh, I was thinking that Brazil would have gum! But they don't! They have Halls as their candy and the only kind of gum they have is Trident and it's horrible! it looses it's flavor in less than 10 min! I've timed it!

PEANUT BUTTER M&M's!!! If you don't know already, I LOVE PB M&M's!!! Probably my favorite candy ever!


Last but not least: 

DUKERS!!!

I miss this crazy little guy like CRAZY! 

Brazil Plumbing SUCKS!!!!

WHY DOES THIS ALWAYS HAPPEN TO US????

When you go to the bathroom here in Brazil you are not suppose to flush your toilet paper down the toilet. There is a small trash can next to the toilet where you are supposed to throw it away after you use it! DISGUSTING! I have yet to make that a habit while I've been here... so of course now I am paying for it! Our toilet is completely clogged!!! 

AWESOME! 

Praia do Forte

Brint and I had an opportunity to go and visit a village here in Salvador called Praia do Forte. Such an awesome little village. I loved it. It was very colorful and full of shops and restaurants. It was a wonderful day trip and we couldn't have asked for a better day! The weather was perfect! 

Town square

 We took a taxi over to a great beach spot and did a little snorkeling. 

Saw this little guy on our way over.... isn't he cute???  

SNORKELING! 

Honestly, it wasn't the best snorkeling we've done. I feel we are a little snobbish when it comes to snorkeling because we live in Hawaii, but it was still really fun. The water is so warm and the coral is different here. 

CHEESE! :)

Project Turtle!
This is an effort to repopulate the 5 different turtle species that are found on the coast of Brazil. Pretty cool place. 

  

Baby Turtles! they were adorable! I wanted one.

Kissy kissy! 

Overall- it was a great day spent with great company! I love being here and spending time with the hubby! Going on trips always brings the "honeymoon" phase back out and I LOVE IT! :) We get to just enjoy each other and we are far away from school, work, and the stresses of everyday life. It's wonderful!

Bus Adventure/Sugar Plane Plantation

We were waiting for our bus to come to take us to a part of the city called Pituba.

Our bus ride started out a little weird. First, as we were getting on the bus there was a group of young teenage girls that were giving us their bus passes to use to get on the bus and then had us pay them the cost of the bus ride. We were so confused at first because we originally thought they just wanted us to scan their pass for them, for whatever reason, and then we could pay and do our own thing. I couldn't understand a word they were saying and Brint was getting confused because they weren't making any sense, but the people around us,, I noticed were kinda laughing at our naiveness. 

Our bus was packed. It was rush hour and we were left standing on our way to our destination. We were stopped in traffic and all of the sudden the teenage girls started screaming!!! Everyone from the back of the bus was running to the front of the bus pushing each other and people started ducking away from the windows. I kept asking Brint what they were saying and he couldn't figure it out, he just told me to get down!!! My heart was POUNDING! I was scared.... He then figured out what they were saying, GUN!!! At that moment I was just praying that everything would be alright. The people on the bus were yelling at the bus driver telling him to GO! GO! GO!.... after we started moving everything started to settle down, Brint was talking to another person on the bus and found out that there was someone that was outside with a gun looking through the bus windows and that's why the girls were screaming. We were moving, and everything seemed to be alright. Everyone was safe, a little shaken up, but safe. Behind us there was a mom with her small daughter, and the little girl was crying. The mom and I exchanged looks and at that moment the mother started crying, which in turn made me start crying. They small girl was so scared. We all were. I am so grateful that everything ended up being okay. What an experience. Definitely one I don't ever need to experience again.

OK! enough with the DRAMA! haha we made it to our destination!!!  Yummy food at Villa's. 

If you've never been to a brazilian churrascaria this is how it works. When you get seated you are given something, whether it be a piece of paper or a block, that one side is red (meaning, no thanks) and the other side green (meaning, yes please) This is to communicate to the people with all the meats coming around. It's an all you can eat buffet. They have a huge buffet with your hot and cold dishes and then the main course are the meats. YUM YUM YUM! :) 

Villa's Churrascaria (Shoe-haus-ca-ree-a)

After dinner we saw that there was a party going on in the area where we were. This weekend is Sao Juan. He is a Saint that they celebrate here in Salvador. So there are festivities leading up to the holiday on Friday! It was so much fun! There was a live concert, and I loved the music and the dancers. I swear, everyone in Brazil can dance. Men, women, kids... they all got rhythm! :) There was a mother with her two little girls there. They were probably 8 and 4... the 8yr old was picking up the 4yr old and dancing with her. It was so adorable.  

The next day, we went out with our friends, Pedro and Marcia, to an old sugar plane plantation. This area, Salvador, was one of the first and most important sugar cane plantations and docks on the South American continent. The family that ran it had their own private church and their own slaves. 

It was mostly a dock for ships to come and pick up sugar cane. Ships from portugal would come and pick up the sugar cane and ship it back to Europe. The plantation is now turned into a restaurant and museum. 

They still have a few of the original tools, walls, and tile murals. The picture below used to be an area where you wanted to live. It is right next to the plantation. The view is amazing. 

This is the original tool used to press the sugar cane

Here is a mural depicting a scene from Portugal.  

One of the old original push-carts they used to transport the sugar cane through the plantation. This went through the slave quarters. In the slave quarters room, there would be machinery to use to cut and press the sugar cane.

At this point my camera died! 

The original walls of the plantation where made of whale oils and mud. The new addition to the museum is a modern art exhibit. We saw some really neat art. I liked it a lot. It was a great weekend. 

So a while back I got this anonymous comment on my surfing post. While I've had down time here in BR, I have gone back through all of my comments I have ever received and noticed that there was a comment made regarding my swimsuit standards.

I have thought about what I want to say back to this Anonymous person and really I'm on the fence. See the way I was raised, bikini's were always a part of my swimsuit attire. I don't think I owned a one-piece swimsuit until I was 14. To this day, I still struggle with the idea of "modesty" in my swimwear. I love bikini's. I am comfortable wearing them and I don't feel because I wear them, that I am not a strong member of the church or that it makes my testimony weak.

I am now a leader in the Young Women's program and have had debates with myself on what I should do about this specific standard that my church has. One side of my debate is: it's my choice. I don't feel un-Christ like in a bikini. I only wear them when I am tanning, on vacation with my husband, or out with my girl friends. I don't go around telling my YW that wearing a bikini is good or bad. I feel like it is a personal choice made by the individual.

While the other side of my debate is: I am an example of the church. I need to make sure that I am living to be the best person I can be. What will I do with my daughters when the time comes to choose swimsuits? If my YW are wearing bikini's and disobeying their parents standards, then I need to be able to help in showing them that they are daughters of God and in the For Strength of Youth it advises members of the church to wear modest dress even though it doesn't state a specific swimsuit that is appropriate.

I can honestly say that I am still undecided on what decision I will make. This is a struggle for me. What I don't appreciate is this Anonymous person essentially thinking and saying that they're better than me. I don't want to get preachy but one scripture does come to mind :

"Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye." (Matthew 7:5)

Now don't get me wrong, I might even end up agreeing with the Anonymous person, but it is very hypocritical to throw stones from the safety of anonymity. I feel that I can handle criticism and would have rather that Anonymous person contact me directly if they have a problem with something or at least have the gall to show themselves.

I have a friend that this exact same situation happened to less than a month ago. I know that the anonymous comment that was made on her post really affected me because it was hurtful, judgmental, NOT Christ-like, and inappropriate. My friend wrote a similar post to this one that was directed specifically to that person. The difference is, is that my friend actually found out who the anonymous person was. As for me, this happened almost a year ago and I am just now seeing it.

I know that everyone has their own opinion about this subject, and honestly I would love to hear it. But feel free to keep quiet if you are going to express your opinion anonymously.

Love,
Brea

RANDOMNESS

So I decided I wanted to show you some things here that are just a little different than what I am used too...

The Parmalat is milk. Yes, boxed milk. It comes warm and is stocked on shelves. (WEIRD) it also tastes nasty on it's own. Below is the expiration date.... 

 (good from April 5, 2011-Aug 5, 2011)

The other two items are Frosted flakes and Passion fruit juice. The juice is yummy, but the frosted flakes kinda taste weird (not because of the milk, just eating them alone).

I was going through one of our carry on bags and found THESE!!!!! 

OH HAPPY DAY! :)

(they were gone within an hour...)

Next on the list- Trident gum! 

They gip you out of a piece, instead of the center being filled so there are 9 pieces, they only give you 8 and the center says Trident! Annoying!

We went to a b-day party on Saturday and this is what they served for lunch....

I forgot the name of the dish, but once you get around all the decorative fishy stuff on top, it's actually really yummy! :) 

Brint and I also experienced the bus system here. I still think Hawaii has it down on how to run their buses but Salvador does pretty good. As you can see, they offer TV on the bus. They show news, and commercials mostly. (but still really cool)