10 years old today!

Happy 10th birthday to me!

Primas em Paranapiacaba

Did you think that I had forgotten you, dear readers?  Not at all!  It´s just that now that I´m 5, I have much more important things to do than hang out at home blogging.  Playing with my friends, going to school, visiting my Grandma´s house, building forts in my bedroom...you know how it is when you´re 5.  Last month, my cousins Gabriely and Heloá joined me for an adventure in Paranapiacaba.  Here are a few pictures:  

Meu aniversário de 5 anos

Nasci na segunda-feira de Carnaval de 2008!  Já era grande, pesando 4196g (9lbs4oz), mas agora sou grande DE VERDADE!  Você que não vai viajar no Carnaval, vem comemorar comigo!

Meus pais queriam fazer minha festa em outro lugar do que no ano passado, mas eu bati o pé.  Tinha que ser no parque com os melhores brinquedos da cidade e o trenzinho:  o Parque Regional da Criança.  Veja como chegar.

De carro:
http://goo.gl/maps/KjKwi

De transporte público:
Ônibus I04 ou I03 da Estação Prefeito Celso Daniel - Santo André, sentido Capuava
Ou pega táxi da Estação - deve levar uns 10 minutinhos. 

Não precisa levar nada - haverá um pique-nique, música e brincadeiras.  Só confirme presença com minha mãe para que ela possa organizar a comida e avisar o novo local em caso de chuva!

Feliz Carnaval!

Rather than facing the insanity of travelling with half of Brazil, I usually stay at home and do nothing for Carnaval. But this year, I decided to go all out - I convinced my parents to take me to a real bloco de rua - Carnival street parade - in downtown São Paulo.  (Note that this is different from the famous escolas de samba associated with Carnival in Rio and São Paulo - that's a competitive, televised, multi-million dollar event that you can pay to watch in the sambódromo, not in the street.)  

Bloco Afro Ilú Obá de Min is particularly uncommon, not just because of its focus on Afro-Brazilian culture and heritage, but also because its percussion section is composed entirely of women. Check it out!

Running on stilts with burning axes in both hands....now that's cool!

More photos here.  

7 ways Brazil will ruin your children

I love Brazil!

Brazil fan in Paranapiacaba

Although I was born in Canada, I only spent the first 7 weeks of my life there, plus a few return trips over the last few years.  Generally, Brazil's a great place to be a kid. (São Paulo isn't the best place in Brazil to be a kid, though - no freedom, no space, lots of pollution, and insane traffic.)   But getting back to the good points of life in Brazil:  people are extra-nice to children (and their parents) here, I never get dirty looks for being noisy, and I don't get kicked out of restaurants, concerts, and bars just because I'm underage.

Dancing with Tia Elena, who always takes me to fun places!

The New York Times said to visit this bar in the Barra Funda neighbourhood of São Paulo, so I did!  (Well, to tell the truth, I went there first!)

Bar by the beach in Iguape 

Plus, I've got the best nanny in the whole world, a ton of cousins and aunts and uncles, and at least a dozen neighbourhood kids who regularly knock on the door to play with me.    (No need to get driven around to play dates and sign up for a million organized kids' activities...the fun comes to me!)

The neighbourhood gang celebrating my birthday last year

What more could you want when you're three?

Checking out plants and bugs in an abandoned lot with my biologist buddy, Oliver

But, all this fun comes with a few drawbacks.  So, for my other dual-nationality friends (that's you, Oliver, Sophie, Sophia, Davi and August, plus all my virtual friends from the blogging world), and parents of half-Brazilian kids, prepare yourselves!  Brazil may turn out to be a bad influence on you, too.  Here's why:

1)  I like to sing Luan Santana, Michel Teló and evangelical pop at the top of my lungs.




2)  I think a meal without meat and rice isn't real food ("Mãe, não quero isso, quero comiiiida!")  Plain white rice, however, is delicious!

3)  I regularly stay up until midnight. (This is my parents' fault more than Brazil's, of course.)

4)  I think that putting salt on or in random things, like oranges or milk, is a good idea.  (This may be because I'm three, not because I'm Brazilian...but I think the two are related.)

5)  I speak broken English, or none at all.   (The video below shows me at the height of my English-speaking abilities, on the eve of returning to Brazil after 6 weeks in Canada.)  I refer to cupcakes as "bolinhos" and regularly mix up "oatmeal" and "omelette"  (leading to a crying fit the other day when I discovered that I was being served omelette, when I was expecting oatmeal!)

6)  I am confused by household appliances, demanding long explanations when I see a dishwasher or dryer.

7)  When left alone for a few minutes at my grandma's house, I take advantage of my freedom to eat salty snacks, put on my cousin's high heels, and watch really, really bad television.

Caught!  (Yes, it's Faustão....)

Cousins, second cousins, primos & primas

All I have to say is that I have some darn cute cousins!  After spending the past 30 hours with a gaggle of them, I thought I would share some photos.  In no particular order, here are a few of my Brazilian priminhos and Canadian cousins - with my apologies to the many cousins who are missing from the photos....And yes, some of these photos were stolen off Facebook, from weddings and parties that I didn't even get to go to!

OK, maybe not cousins, but still cute and worthy of posting on the internet: Auntie Lizz making faces on Skype (with Ryan looking amused in the background)

Feliz Ano Novo! Happy New Year!

Me arrumei sozinha e estou pronta para o Ano Novo!  Check out my New Year's Eve outfit - now that I'm almost four, I LOVE dressing myself!




Desejo um maravilhoso 2012 para todos os amigos! 
Happy New Year, everyone!  

Maloqueira internacional.....(ou, canadense da quebrada)

A while back, I said to my mom, "Nóis é tough."  If you understand why this (or anything else in this post) is funny, consider yourself bilingual in English and São Paulo slang.    She thought it was hilarious and told me to post it on my blog, along with my question and answer to myself during the last election campaign: "Você vai votar em quem?"  "Corinthians!"  I'm sure Lula would agree with me.  To top it off, I recently appeared on TV Corinthians!

Since the World Cup will be opening in São Paulo in the not-too-distant future, and I know my way around Itaquera (home of the new soccer stadium for the opening game, as well as the Corinthians soccer team), I would like to offer my services to all the foreign tourists out there who are in need of a very cute translator/bodyguard.  Here are a few of the places and events in Itaquera that I've been to lately; for a small fee, I'll take you to all these fun places between soccer matches!

COHAB José Bonifácio with Artistas Viajantes da Nossa Goma



Parque Raul Seixas

Garbage clean-up in my party dress!  (OK, this isn't Itaquera, but doesn't it prove how sophisticated I am?)

Reggae na Rua in the rain

All this fun thanks to the nice itaquerenses from ALMA Ambiental!  Here I am checking out slugs with my friend Nayê, in front of ALMA's office.

But after all this excitement, plus two trains and two buses to get home from Itaquera, I'm one tired kid!

Can't beat the system (a.k.a Justin Bieber mania hits São Paulo)

My mom was chatting with our neighbour, so I sat down in front of the TV in our neighbour's living room.

Returning from the kitchen to find me glued to the TV, my mom said, "Elis, you know you're not allowed to watch TV."

My smart response?

"But it's Justin Bieber!"

He's playing in São Paulo tonight.  If only I were thirteen, and not three....

Happy Birthday, Daddy! (With love from Elis)



Hoje comemorei seu aniversário com sorvete de frambuesa!

E lembrei das nossas viagens juntos! 
(Chile, dezembro de 2008)

Só falta você aqui....Estamos com saudades!