Freezing

Well, since it has been over a month (time flies!) I decided it was time to give a little update...

The last weekend we were in Brazil, we took a trip up to Craig's mission. After two years of looking-and-not-touching....

Craig couldn't wait to jump in the ocean! Our trip up to Maceio and Aracaju was the highlight of our experience in Brazil. We got to spend time playing on the beach and in the beautiful ocean,

ate some traditional North-Eastern Brazilian food, (some of it was good, some of it, not so much)

and visited some of the people that Craig worked with while he was on his mission.

It was amazing meeting all of the wonderful people from Craig's mission, and seeing some of the areas that he worked in.

So we went from this

To this.

And now we are back to the real world...and although we were FREEZING when we came back, we have adapted. We made it back safely to the United States right before Christmas, and spent the next week or so in between families houses until we got our apartment put together again. There is nothing like spending the holidays with the fam! It was so good to see everyone again!

In honor of our experience in Brazil, and our return to Logan, we hosted a Brazilian party for New Years, complete with Brazilian treats, games, and soccer jerseys.

Craig is really busy this semester between school and work. But he is doing really well managing his time and all that he has to get done. I have been working here and there being a substitute, and it has been okay, I just am not a fan of not knowing if and when I am going to work. So I just got a new job as an After School Club Leader, (it should be pretty fun) and will be interviewing for a couple of jobs this week for different teacher-related jobs.

We are doing really well, and are happy to be back and enjoying good ol' Aggie Village (minus enjoying the cinder blocks), intense games of Settlers and Rook, trips up to Lava Hot Springs, and more time with family.

Lions and Tigers and Bears...Oh My!

Today was the last day in the Elementary school here in Brazil. Everyone was so cute! The teachers brought in a cake, and all of the fifth grades that I have worked with made little cards for me. Some of my favorite quotes from them are....

"where you pass we see flowers!" and "Mrs. Maughan you are a great helper. Because of you I am so good at maths, language, and unit!" and last but not least "Say bye for your husband for me and I hope he knows you are a lovely girl!"

It was so cute! I have a lot of mixed emotions. I am really excited to go back home and be with all of our friends and family, but it is hard for me to start closing up this chapter in our lives. There have been so many amazing people that we have met along the way, and it is sad to say goodbye to them all, realizing that probably I will never see them again. Thank heavens for technology, so we can at least keep in touch a little over the years.

Anyways, you are probably wondering what that has to do with the title of this post, and the answer is...nothing! But we did go to the zoo a little while ago, and I wanted to show some of our fun pictures!

We had a lot of fun at the zoo! We hear from the locals that normally it is really crowded. But we were lucky! The sky was threatening rain all day, so most of the people stayed home, and we stayed dry! So it worked out well, and the animals were even lively because it wasn't so hot. It was perfect! The zoo was nice, about the size of Hogle Zoo, so not huge. But I loved how many trees were all around, it was a beautiful place!

We saw some amazing tropical birds, native to Brazil and some surrounding countries...

The monkeys are always fun to watch! I love to see them jumping and swinging around, or simply grooming each other....

But I think my favorite was the smiling alligator.

In the middle of the zoo was a big pond. There were little islands on it, with different kinds of monkeys on them. It was a beautiful place!

One Year Ago...

One year ago, (from yesterday) this is what was happening....

We were married in the Salt Lake Temple on November 22, 2008.

I love you, Craig! Thanks for such an amazing year together. I am excited that I get to spend eternity with you!

Welcome to the Jungle!

Hooray for a holiday every month! Last Monday Craig had the day off again, so we went with some friends from the ward to a small town called Paranapiacaba. Try to say that 10 times in a row! It is always fun to see a more traditional Brazilian town than Sao Paulo. The town looked really cool from a distance....

...and close up too. The town and people were nice, but we were grossed out with all of the stray dogs running around, begging for people's food. Apparently, the government doesn't allow the civilians to capture or harm the dogs. So they just run around, spreading disease I guess. Gross! The dogs in this picture are strays, just 3 of the many that we saw.

But the point of going to Paranapiacaba was not to look at the stray dogs, and also not to see a mime....

...but to go up into the mountains behind the city to go on a hike! It was a lot of fun! It wasn't quite the Amazon, but it was the most jungley place I have ever been to. I thought it was beautiful! I loved all of the plants that would just grow everywhere! Everything was so green...

and then randomly in the middle of all the green, you would see a bright red, pink, or yellow flower, different kinds than I have ever seen before.

We hiked to a waterfall. It was gorgeous! It was really nice to get out of the city, too!

Carving the Pumpkin

Halloween in Brazil isn't quite the same as it is in the United States. They don't really celebrate it at all. Not really any costumes, no trick-or-treating, no jack-o-lanterns...But that didn't stop us!

We bought some delicious treats for ourselves and almost ate them all in one day! Just like the good ol' days. And we even carved our very own pumpkin.

But why carve a pumpkin when you can't share it with the world by putting it out on your front porch? So that's what we did...except for the fact that we don't have a porch, so we used our windowsill instead. This is the view from the street....you may be able to see the little speck of light from our pumpkin!

Hot Dog!

You have not experienced a hot dog until you have eaten one at Black Dog!

Picture this:

A hot dog, cut up in pieces

A bun

Add some melted cheese.

Sounds perfectly wonderful so far, right?

But it's not a Black Dog hot dog until you add mashed potatoes.

And then some corn

And some mayonaise

And a couple other unidentifiable ingredients (I think there are other things on it, but Craig says that is all)

Add some salt for extra flavor

Complete the masterpiece by grilling it closed with a cheese mixture (Requeijao)

Voila. The traditional Black Dog hot dog.

If you chose to go with the supreme hot dog, they would add pepperoni, too. We went with the traditional.

It is safest to eat only a half at one time...even better to just split one with Craig so that we don't eat the second half the next day.

Surprisingly they are very delicious! But the kind of food you should probably only eat once every 2 months...or maybe even less often...

Just Livin' the Dream

Well we are just livin' it up while we have the chance! Craig is busy with work (which is going well) and I am really enjoying being able to volunteer in the Elementary. We spend time experimenting with things to cook in the microwave (the latest two: Corn on the Cob and scrambled eggs) and we find lots of fun things to do on the weekends.

While I am at the school, I split my time with the 2 fifth grade classes there. I spend a lot of time with the kids that are struggling with math, reading, and whatever else the teachers are doing through the day, and reteach the material that they are not understanding. I do have to admit, it is a little different for me to not be in charge in the classroom anymore and just be an aid, but I am grateful for the opportunity I have to see how this school runs, and to see all of the good ideas that these teachers have. Plus, the stress load is a lot less than being a real teacher! But this way I won't miss a beat when we get back and I can start teaching again!

We were able to go again to the Sao Paulo Temple. It is so beautiful, inside and out! It is especially nice to be able to go inside and escape the hustle and bustle of the big city here in Sao Paulo. We really enjoy being able to come to the Temple while we are here.

We really enjoyed General conference last weekend, and were able to listen to it all in English! After the last session on Saturday, we met up with some of Craig's friends from the mission and went to an all-you-can-eat Pizzeria. Yum! It was so delicious! They practically had to roll us all out of there, but we enjoyed ourselves very much! It has been really fun for me to be able to meet and get to know some of Craig's good friends and companions from his mission.

One of the things we like to do is go to the park by our apartment to take a walk, read, or just relax! I love it there! One of the times we went to the park, we saw a group of old women (see photo below) doing a dance of some sort. Apparently the purpose was to unify and harmonize the world. It was an experience watching them (and slyly taking a picture).

The park is so beautiful! It makes me feel like I am in a jungle.

The other day when we were walking around the city, we looked up and this is what we saw! It made us so happy to see a jet finishing up writing "oi" in the sky! (which means hi in Portuguese)

Last but not least, we were able to go and have a BBQ with Rodrigo's family. (He was one of Craig's friends on his mission). It was a lot of fun being able to be a part of a Brazilian family. They were very generous, fun, kind, and they fed us a lot! The Grandpa even treated us to a few songs on his harmonica while the Grandma danced a little behind him. We really enjoyed ourselves!