Rylee and I recently moved into a house in Rio Grande! We
had been living in a hotel on the university’s campus, which was great because
we made friends with new students at FURG that were also staying there. Most of
the other hotel residents were from Colombia, Venezuela, and Nicaragua and we
would all weave in and out of Portuguese and Spanish to communicate. The hotel
was great because there were always people around to talk to and I caught up on
all the latest novelas with the hotel employees. Like the most recent episode
of one novela I watch, one of the ladies had to explain to me that the girl
got hit by a car because she jumped out of the car while she was arguing with
her lover (not her father as I thought) because he had had a love affair with
her mother 20 years earlier!! MEU DEUS.
Our new house summers as a restaurant
called “Scooby-Du”. The Dona da casa
(the lady who lives in front) is really cool, Luan assures us. We had to take
his word for it because she talks a mile a minute in rapid Portuguese with a
heavy accent from Caxias do Sul. She likes to party harder than us, cooks us
tons of food, and gives us life advice. Her husband Achin (I have no idea how
to spell his name) is a stoic Taiwanese man that she met 20-years ago at the
port. We’re excited now to have our own kitchen, where Rylee cooks and I eat
and wash dishes because I have absolutely nothing to offer in terms of cooking
skills - except for some killer roasted broccoli - courtesy of my Aunt Jen.
The house-hunting process itself is worth mentioning. Our search began a couple
of weeks ago. Rossana, our coordinator, knew a guy who was trying to rent out
his summer home in Cassino Beach (A Maior Praia do Mundo). Luan came with us as
our unofficial interpreter to see this first house. The ‘house’ (shack) was a
total dump. When we arrived Luan and Rylee could barely cover their looks of
horror upon seeing the living room. I, on the other hand, am a little too
polite for my own good. I was walking around complimenting the wallpaper and
ooing and aahing at a bedroom literally the size of a linen closet. I ended up
communicating with the lady showing us the house in French because my
Portuguese was blah. Our ‘interpreter’ and Rylee were giggling in the corner at
the two of us speaking French. After an obligatory 15 minutes of discussing the
price of a house we were never going to rent, we made like trees and leave-d.
Rylee and Luan continued house-hunting while I went to Foz do Iguacu and kept
me posted via phone and skype and we moved into our Scooby-Du house shortly
after I returned from my trip.
I love our new neighborhood. There are lots of trees and birds and I’ve already been running a few times. None of the roads are paved and it’s about 2 kilometers to the beach. There’s a padaria down the street where Rylee and I go to get bread and eggs regularly. Our house has all the fixins of a summer restaurant: an industrial kitchen, covered patio, sound system, large stone grill for churrascos, and an outdoor bar. We also have 7 spare beds which have already been put to good use when our friends stop by and crash overnight. Here are some pics:
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| Covered Patio |
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| Our friend Tiago making some caipirinhas at the bar |
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| The living room |
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| Kitchen |
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| Our housewarming party |
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| Pics of the neighborhood - taken during my run |
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| Our street |
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| Our house - Scooby Du painted on the side |
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| pathway to the beach |
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