Sao Paulo adventures

Well, time really does FLY - before I know it, it's been 2 weeks since I posted a blog... to give you a bit of an update, we are currently in the middle of moving apartments here in Rio.  Right now we live in a bairro (neighbourhood) called Meier, which is in the north of the city, but we're moving to the south west end of the city to Recreio otherwise known as THE BEACH!  Yes ladies and gents, the Costards are moving to the beach!  Well, about 4 blocks from the beach but there will be much opportunity for basking in the suns glory.  I do feel the need to point out though (and maybe this is a little late, since I'm already living here) but I don't really LOVE going to the beach... it's not that I hate it but put it this way.  For a very white (almost transparent) gringa with light eyes, like MYSELF, going to the beach proves to be a bit time consuming and tedious, not to mention dirty... first I have to make sure I have like 45 spf sunscreen which totally blocks out all rays of light (but now we have bought one with bronzer so I can get a little colour).  Then, while Ro takes like 30 seconds to put on his 'screen (damn his beautiful perma tan), I take around 10-15 minutes to lotion up EVERY part of exposed skin.  Otherwise, this happens.  **Picture of crazy sunburn will follow**
The sheer amount of sunscreen leaves my hands, body, and face super oily (as if I need anymore oil on my body) and I end up having that feeling that I hate - that feeling of when I feel like my hands are really really dirty and I can't wash them anywhere... The other issue with the light eyes is that with bright sun, I can't see.  Truly.  I can't see a thing and it hurts to walk around without sunglasses.  Anyway, the reality is, I can enjoy the beach but usually only for a couple of hours before I start to get really bored, hot and oily.  So, graças a Deus, we are living close to the beach and don't have to make entire day trips there.
So, as you know we bought a car.  We bought it from a friend and so last weekend we went to São Paulo because we had to have the car inspection and blah blah blah.  We got to stay in Ro's (late) Vó's apartment which is in Alphaville, a subdivision of sorts about 15 mins outside of the city.  Had such a good time as we seem to always have in São P.  It's so so fun to hang out with Ro's friends.  So, we arrived on Wednesday night and on Friday we went to Hopi Hari, the amusement park voted best park for the last 8 years, with 2 friends.  It was interesting going to the park really because I haven't been on a roller coaster for a few years.  Well, turned out that I have worse motion sickness than I thought.  And it turns out that Ro has worse motion sickness than me.
At least I didn't puke oo.  444444444444RR. 

I will use this last bit of nonsense to share our latest bit of news which is WE GOT A LITTLE GATINHA! (kitten)  Eeeeeeh she is tooo cute and she lovvvvves to walk on the computer keyboard.  Oddly enough, we didn't even plan on getting a cat at all.  That is to say, we had been talking about getting a cat for a little but the thought was to get one after the move.  I should also mention that it's really really difficult to find places that sell cats here because EVERYONE in Brazil LOVES dogs.  I do mean everyone.  It is a dog country and many people discard cats like garbage.  We were in a pet store in Sao Paulo and happened upon a little petstore that had one little Persian kitten.  But she was so sick looking.  It really made my heart ache to see her so helpless... she had snot all over her nose and her eyes were crusty and she had poop stuck to her fur and foot.  It was so so sad.  And she cost $1200 BRL.  Ridiculous.  We didnt get this little cat but we couldnt stop thinking about her all weekend.  We even went to see her again but she looked so sick - and was so expensive.  We couldn't save her.  But we did meet another lady at another pet store whose Siamese had just given birth to kittens.  So long story short, we got a little baby Siamese!  The nosiest, suckiest, cuddliest little Siamese you ever saw... She's a real whiner but she is very playful and has blue blue eyes and her name is Nina, short for Menina (little girl).  Ahhhh I love cats. 

Anyway, currently watching Big Brother Brasil on tv (comes on after the novela) and almost ready to finish the packing and have a shower então, vou tomar um banho... tchau tchau