Life in Campinas

A little bit about daily life in Campinas. Monica and Lindemberg live in a high rise apartment in Campinas on the tenth floor. There are two elevators and one stairway which is only used in case of fire. The have a large apartment with a living room - dining room combination, kitchen, playroom, large utility room and four bedrooms, each with its own bath. There are small balconies off of each bedroom and a large balcony that curves around the living room which has floor to ceiling windows. All the balconies are covered completely on the outside with netting for safety with the kids and the cat. The cat is a Persian that Lindemberg loves and that Monica wants to send to the country to live with her parents in Minais Gerais. That is the running joke - the cat wants her freedom.
The neighborhood - Cambuie - is very nice - with everything they need in walking distance - including Monica´s office. Starbucks is even across the street. There are cafes and sorvecherias (ice cream places) and many, many drogerias - drug stores - two on every street. Like Walgreens, they carry things like milk and baby food so people are in and out of them all the time. There are also boutiques which are very expensive. There are parks every few blocks. Yesterday, we walked to one which was full of parents and children as it was a holiday.
The grocery store is very interesting with lots of fruit that we did not recognize. There are many good kinds of bread that are tempting. Soda and beer come in singles not in six or twelve packs. There is an area where you can buy prepared food and bring it home - which we did yesterday, fish, eggplant, and mixed vegetables. The prices are about half of what we pay in the US for fruit and vegetables. Most of the fruit that we know is much sweeter, especially the bananas. The have lots of flowers at the grocery, and prices are less than half of what we would pay. The very best thing about the grocery store is that there is a special shorter line for old people like me.
The big meal here is eaten at noon with a lighter meal at night. It is mostly a Mediterranean type of diet. The problems come with dessert. Monica made dulce de leche which was amazing. Frequently, at night, Lindemberg goes out for ice cream. He asks everyone what flavor they would like - I favor morango - strawberry. Everyone chooses something different. He comes back with a round styrofoam container with all the different scoops of ice cream nestled inside. No leftovers to tempt us.
Yesterday we went to the bookstore at the mall. The only thing that made it different from the US was that some of the signs were in Portuguese, but not McDonalds or Starbucks.
The kids have been great. Thiago is a very good little boy who loves video games but loves more to have a friend come over to play. He is amazingly affectionate to his sister and learning English through his Pokeman game. Fernanda is a charmer. She smiles all the time and does not mind traveling or being hauled around from place to place. She is just starting to walk, and jabbers continually. Her favorite words are ´que´ which means ´want´- because her parents ask her that often, and `Chi´which in the first syllable of her brother´s name.
Today we are headed to Sao Paulo when Lindemberg comes back from checking his patients at the hospital. Monica has gone to work. The nanny will be taking care of the kids while we are gone. She is a very nice older woman, Neuce, who clearly loves the kids.
We are very relaxed and enjoying our time here and - before our visas expire - may meet them again in a more northern part of Brazil. Tchau!