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This is a call to all foreigners living in Brazil. We are turning this blog into a collaborative space where each one of you can put your own posts. You can link to your  own blog and this way increase traffic to your own website. Wherever you are from, you are welcome: US, England, France, .. anywhere… Even if you lived here and left, or even was here just on vacation but have any interesting story to tell, go ahead and send it to us.

The first story has to be sent to us, but after that you will receive a login and password so that anytime you want to post you can go and write it yourself. You will be responsible for approving and mediating comments on your posts.

We also have now, a forum where we are going to be discussing all kinds of subjects.

We are estimated in 1.000.000 people from all over the world, working, studying or investing and doing business in this country. Some of us came for good and some are here just temporarily.

According to a research, there are more foreigners in Sao Paulo and Rio, but i happen to see a lot of them in the northeast as well.

Anyway, we would like to hear from you!

Up until now I have kept my blog quite light, avoiding exposure of my personal life.  In light of some recent changes that have taken place and me feeling the need to write about these events, I have changed my mind and decided to write away.  So… the recent changes that have played a part in this….. well, Max got his Visa {greencard} to the USA in December!  After a looong two year journey we thought we would never see the day.  But it has arrived and we were informed we must go to the USA within 6 months of the issuing of the visa, which was December.  What does this mean for our family… yes, we are moving to the USA!!  In April we will go to Rio to spend two weeks with Max’s family and then May 8th we are flying to NYC.  It is our hope to find jobs, settle in with my family and then see where we would like to live.  If we have troubles finding jobs, settling in, etc .. we have already said we will return to Brazil.  As my husband has a good job here, and is leaving on an open-ended agreement, shall we decide to return.  Where does this leave my blog and writing?  Well I have decided to back track a bit, since I just started this blog 6 months ago,after two and half years of already living here.  I have been through a lot of ups and downs and huge experiences here.  I am really feeling the need to write about some of them in hopes of helping another.  And others for the pure, selfish reason of getting them off my chest, kinda like closure in a way.  I also plan to still write about Brazil current events, and all things Brazil related.  I wish to continue Food Friday as well, although I haven’t posted about that in a while, I will continue.   

So what is to come?   Take a look at my brief timeline of events here ..take note, these are only the major events and I will cover various other things.  

• January 2007: Arrive in Brazil
• Feb. 2007:  Met Max
• April 2007: Move to Praia da Pipa with Max
• April 2007: Trip to Bahia 
• May 2007:  My first trip to Rio
• June 2007: A friend arrives from NYC 
• June 2007:  I get stabbed in my neck twice and stomach once, nearly die
• July 2007:  The judicial process starts for my case 
• July 2007:  Max and I get married
• August 2007:  I apply for my Brazilian Visa
• September 2007:  I go to NYC for 3 months
• October 2007:  We apply for Max’s Visa to the USA
• December 2007:  I arrive back in Pipa from the USA 
• March 2008:  My daughter, Malu is concieved
• September 2008:  My sister and best friend come for a visit
• September 2008:  Max and I go to Rio for a visit
• November 2008:  We drop the attempted murder case/s we have in the courts {civil and criminal}
• December 2008:  Malu is born 
• April 2009:  Malu and I go to the USA for 2 months 
• June 2009:  Malu and I return to Pipa
• July 2009:  The Federal Police make a visit to our house to see if our marriage is legit, for my Brazilian Visa
• September 2009:  Max and I go to Rio to baptize Malu 
• November 2009:  We go to Rio for Max’s visa interview at the US Consulate
• December 2009:  Malu turns 1 
• December 2009:  Max gets his visa in the mail
• Feb. 2010:  Max and I  3 year Anniversary
• Soon to come … April 2010:  To Rio for 2 weeks, May 2010:  To the USA 

So these are a just a few stories I will cover.  Please, I would love to hear your input and/or if you are really interested in hearing about something.. comment away.  I want to know what you would like to read about and/or find more interesting.

First, a few weeks back the lovely Jessica, over at Cascalheira Brazil, left me a comment on my blog which then lead me to hers.   Her and her husband are doing a very inspiring project.  They are helping out people who desperately need it in a small community in Bahia, Brazil.  If you want to feel inspired to do something nice today or just want a nice smile on your face, go check out her blog. It’s lovely.  It’s people like Jessica that make us all want to be better.  

The next blog I stumbled upon was found on Danielle’s blog {which is also a very fun blog about the adventures of a fellow American expat. But beware .. don’t leave her snotty comments .. or look out …  ;-) }  Danielle listed a blog of a fellow English teacher who made a nice blog teaching expressions in English to his Portuguese speaking students.  But this is also quite nice if you are an English speaker learning or already know Portuguese, because the translations are there.  He has come up with some funny ones .. I really love the blog.  

That’s it for today folks!   Fun Reading!   

Psssttt … You can also find these blogs on my Brazil blog roll for the future.

***{I mean in the big picture what is $5.00 or $ 10.00.. that’s most people’s coffee run for the day!}***

Well let me start off by saying that I wanted to share my notes scribbled in my little purple book with all of you, whom I hope will follow me for a long time to come.  Over the last few weeks I have been thinking…  Hmmm …what should I include in my first post. And this is what crossed my mind …

Things noted for the first post.

**Why I am in Brazil ….. no, this needs its own individual story/post

**What I do here in life, work, on a daily basis, etc.  … you will hear tid-bits of this in some or all of my posts

**My family. Again, will talk about this throughout my stories

** Inspiration … ding, ding, ding, ding …you get the point. I will let you all know, why ?

So, why did I start this blog?

In September 2008, I was pregnant with my first child and living away from all of my friends and family.  I then thought it was a great idea to start a blog for my unborn child, so that when my sweet, little soul arrived into this world I could share my joy with all of the people I loved.  So this I did.  I started blogging about the last months of my pregnancy, posting photos, and sharing the ups and downs of my days.  Then my daughter was born in December and it quickly turned into her “baby book”, so to say.  The more I sat here and started writing and looking at other blogs, the more I got inspired to write my own blog, in a different manner than just a dialogue of my daughter’s life.   There was something more that I was craving to share with the world.    I was craving to write about all the things I experience on a day –to- day basis, to share with others, Brazil through my eyes. To share the beauty, the grotesque, the humor, the enchanting, and the occurrences of this place that I call home.  Then the ideas for a blog started racing through my mind faster than lightening, and I couldn’t  slow my pondering.   Nor could I remember anything the next minute, that’s how many thoughts I had. But let’s not forget the fact that I am a full-time, breast feeding mommy, hence the fact for “mommy-brain” (terrible memory loss).   At that point I knew I would need to invest in a nice little book to start writing down all of my thoughts and visualizations.  That’s what I did. Well actually, in the process of buying one, I was given a very intelligent looking one (Thanks Laura, I will blog about “us” later ).  And the writing began.

It is my desire to bring to you in this blog, Brazil through MY eyes, as a foreigner, as a mother, and as a woman.   I will cover all topics from politics, parenting, traveling, food, current events, investing, inspirations, language, culture, music, artists, photos, humor, nature, and many other things.  It is my intention to write with all honesty, and sometimes that doesn’t always interpret the beautiful things in life, but the raw reality of the world.  It is my hope that you will read my stories and leave comment “love”!    Tell me what you think, but please be honest and relevant to my post, no direct advertising. (if you are interested in exchanging links I am more than happy to do so, but please contact me directly) I look forward to hearing all feedback.  I will try to get back to comments via email, but keep in mind that I have a VERY busy 7 month old, that doesn’t always allow mommy to type:-)

Beijos, Tanya