Adventures of Living Abroad

The weeks have been busy here and seem to just be flying by. After returning to Porto Alegre in February and starting school for a week, we had a 5 day break for Carnaval. My friend and I went up to Recife and Olinda. I am still waiting to get her photos before I post on here.  Work has continued to be very stressful in the start of this second semester and I feel like I constantly have to go, go, go. The job is never done. I am also trying to enjoy my last few months here and feel like I always need to be exploring and soaking it all in before I leave.  But today I realized just how important it is to take time for myself and just relax. So that is exactly what I did today and it has felt amazing.  I woke up early to get some blood work done for my new job in Bali. I was impressed to see the lab run with such efficiency! Although I waited for over an hour, they had an organized system in place. I felt accomplished for using my little Portuguese to communicate my ne...

When I came back to Brazil at the end of July, I thought for sure I would stay another year. I was interested in applying for the new literacy coach position at school and wanted a year of calm...no life changing events. But life doesn't always work out the way you plan....Sometimes it works out better than you imagined :) The last few years have been challenging and I have been through some big life changes and I thought a year of just enjoying life without making a big change would be a breath of fresh air. But due to several circumstances I won't be discussing on this public blog ;) and after some long talks with friends and family as well as some quiet time thinking, I felt it was time to move on. The school and the city of Porto Alegre are not the best fit for me and I was ready to begin that journey of finding a place that was. :)  When I first got home to the States with my brother after our trip, it was hard for me to thoroughly relax and enjoy my time with family bec...

My brother and I were looking forward to escaping the hustle and bustle of Rio and relaxing a little in the town of Paraty. Paraty is a historical town located about 4 hours from Rio by bus.It was settled by the Portuguese in 1667 and today is known for its colonial architecture in the historical center as well as its proximity to some beautiful beaches. When I originally booked our trip to Paraty, I thought Paraty had a small beach as well, but that is not the case, You have to take boat and bus trips to get to those beaches. The historical center is closed to vehicles and the buildings and cobbled stones streets made me feel like I stepped back into time. The cobbled stone streets proved to be a dangerous walk in our havaianas (flip flops). It was like we were walking on a riverbed where the stones were large and rounded. It didn't take us long to learn why those rocks were so rounded.... A few evenings it began to rain at the exact time we wanted to walk around the shops and g...