Finance Lesson for Toddlers

Giovanni is at a really fun age.  He is not hyper or super active in terms of climbing, running, or going wild.  But he is always busy.  (Unless Spongebob is on, then you might get a 20 minute reprieve.)

Anyway, one of his favorite past-times is "collecting" things.  He gets a bunch of "whatever" together, finds a container for it and then takes it out, puts it in, takes it out, puts it in, etc.

He has made collections of little action figures, cars, bathroom products, spoons, plates, sticks, DVD's, and books.  Tonight he spent a good while putting cars in a Noah's Ark toy, and then taking them out again.

One day, I found him playing with his daddy's "collection".  Kevin had taken out some money for us to pay some bills (one day I'll explain this process - it is really fun).  He put the money into an empty cuia until we could get to the bank to pay the bill. (A cuia is a wooden cup used to drink chimarrão - a hot tea that every person in our state drinks - except for us).

Here are some shots of Giovanni having a great time playing with the money.
(It looks like play money if you are used to only American dollars.)

I think it's important to start young in teaching our children the value of money, don't you??

Be Proud, Brazil because.....

.....Brazil is a country that honors and loves children.  Brazilians love kids.  Strangers will stop in the grocery store to talk to our kids and say something nice and loving to them.  It seems like to me that taking care of kids and loving on them is seen as everybody's job - not just the parents.  People pay attention to kids and always speak kindly to them.  If you are waiting in a long line at a bank or an airport, and you have little kids - they will move you up to the front of the line.  And no one gets mad.  Kids are special.

I have seen this mostly with our kids' teachers.  Now, I am a former schoolteacher myself, but I have never seen teachers who love their students like the teachers here do.  Everyday for the past 3 1/2 years when Anderson has walked into his classroom, his teacher has greeted him individually with a hug, a kiss, and a kind word saying how glad she is to see him.  When he gets picked up, he hugs and kisses his teacher good-bye.  They do that with each child every day.   I didn't do that as a teacher.  But I love seeing it.  My kids have had great teachers and they love them dearly.  I'm sure that has a lot to do with their love of school and the success they have had in school.

.....Brazilians work hard and appreciate their jobs.  Jobs are hard to come by in Brazil and there are many poor people.  Brazilians seem to appreciate their jobs and always do their best.  Whether it be in a large multi-national company, or cleaning up bathrooms in the mall, people want to keep their jobs and they work hard.  You will never see a cleaner, more efficient McDonald's than you see in Brazil - because here people are proud and glad to have that job at McDonald's.

I have heard people say that in other parts of Brazil, the work ethic is not as strong.  But gauchos (people from our state, Rio Grande do Sul) take great joy and pride in working hard.

.....Brazilians aren't always in a hurry.  They take time for a conversation.  They take time to ask you about your kids and your family before they get to another "more important" point.  They never eat in the car, and sit down for lunch with family or friends every day.  All of this means that they are late - a lot.  But that is the Brazilian way and no one is bothered by it.  I love the warmth of Brazilian people.

.....And finally, Brazil is great in soccer - even though they didn't win the World Cup this year.   I am not a huge soccer fan, but I am learning. I don't know all the statistics of Brazilian teams and players and how many wins and accomplishments they have.  But I do know that there is not another country equal to Brazil in soccer.  They have won more World Cups than any other country.  

Soccer unites Brazil.  Every Brazilian has a favorite team - and they are passionate about that team and are happy to talk about it with you.  I have watched millionaire players play soccer here in huge stadiums, and have seen little boys playing soccer with an empty potato chip bag because they didn't have a ball.  Guys love to get together for a soccer game - from little boys Anderson's age, to grandpas who still like to play.  Soccer is more than just a sport here - it is a very strong part of the culture and something that sets Brazil apart - a source of great pride.

Brazil is Naturally Beautiful

You know how some girls look cute because they put on make-up, fix their hair and wear a cute outfit?  and then there are other girls who look beautiful in an old pair of sweats, t-shirt, hair in a ponytail and no make-up?  Some girls are just naturally beautiful.

And then there are some places that are fun to visit because there are fun things to see and do like amusement parks, museums, historic sites and shopping.  Then there are other places we visit because of the remarkable and awe-inspiring beauty that is just there in nature.  Brazil is one of those places - it is just naturally beautiful.

I know that God has blessed every country with beautiful places, but it seems like Brazil has been given an extra dose.

I think I first became aware of this when our family took a trip during our first year of living here.  We decided to travel by car from Porto Alegre to São Paulo - a trip that took us 2 days and involved driving through 4 different states.  Each state had its own natural beauty.  Our state has beautiful mountains.  Then you enter Santa Catarina with its georgous beaches.  As we drove further north, there were beautiful forests with tons of flowering trees.  The state of Sao Paulo has rolling hillsides like what you would expect to see in Ireland.

Since then there have been many visits to waterfalls, beaches, and mountains where wild hydrangea bushes cover the landscape.

Brazil is truly blessed with natural beauty.

AND....Brazilians do a great job over all of respecting and preserving their beautiful country.  Recycling is very common here, and the kids are all taught in school to conserve water and do whatever they can to preserve nature.


PS.  I would have liked to have put more pictures on here, but I have been so busy that I didn't have time to go back into the archives to find pictures of all the beautiful places we have seen over the years.  These shots were just what I had from the past few months.  Anyway, the pictures never do it justice.  Plan a trip to come see us, and you will see what I mean!

Be Proud, Brazil

Today, the Brazilian team lost their World Cup game.

Americans cannot imagine what that means.   You see, it seems to me that the only time Brazilians are really proud to be Brazilians is during the World Cup.  On their country's birthday (Sept. 7th), I have never seen anyone wear the Brazil colors or wave the eye-catching flag.  Most of the time Brazilians have negative things to say about their country - the crime, the crooked politicians, the bureaucracy...

But when the World Cup comes around, the flags are flying, everyone is sporting the team colors, the city goes wild with green and yellow.  During Brazil's games, the city literally comes to a stop.  Stores close, schools let out, and everyone gets somewhere to watch the game and cheer for the team.

There is absolutely nothing like it in the US.

But, it seems to me, that Brazil is only patriotic because of their World Cup team.  This is sad, because the World Cup happens once every 4 years, and it can be over in an instant - as we observed today.  And, it is only a bunch of guys playing a game.

I am here to testify that Brazil has a lot more to be proud of besides their World Cup team.

My original idea was to list all of those things today on this blog post, but I think I would like to expound (is that a word??) a little more on each thing.

So....next week will be "Be Proud, Brazil" week on my blog.  Each day I will write about things that I love about Brazil and that I think are reasons to really be proud of this country.

Lots of Brazilians think that the USA is great - and almost like some kind of fantasy-land.  Don't get me wrong, I love my country.  I am so proud to be an American - for many reasons.  But I have known both countries, Brazil and USA, and Brazil has many, many things to be proud of.  The US is great, but I think that if more Brazilians had the experience of living in both countries for a long period of time, they would see that the grass is not always as green as we think in the northern hemisphere.

So, here's to Brazil!

PS.  To the World Cup team - I will miss you.  I absolutely loved watching you play and getting together with my friends to cheer you on.  But I am still proud of you.  See you here in Brazil in 2014!

Attitude

This post made me think of the following quote, which has a permanent spot on my refrigerator.

So, so true.....

ATTITUDE

by: Charles Swindoll

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.

For my friends who live in the southern hemisphere....

For those of you who have forgotten your 3rd grade geography, we in the southern hemisphere are in our winter now.  For most Brazilians, it is practically summer year round, but here in the south of Brazil, we actually have winter.  No snow, of course, but it does get cold.

I like to read blogs.  I don't watch TV.  I just read blogs for my entertainment.  I love to read blogs of other moms who like to do crafts, decorate, cook and plan fun things with their kids.

It seems like all the blogs talk about now is how much fun they had doing this or that in the summer heat.    I remember last summer when we had our share of summer heat.  Horrible.  Our kids were home with not much to do.  (Brazilians head to the beaches to their family's beach house.  Interestingly enough, our families' beach houses are not located in Brazil.  Our families don't even have beach houses come to think of it...) 

Anyway, that made for long hot days and not a lot to do except waste time watching too much TV.  

Soo....what I am trying to get around to is...that I have started a folder on my Bookmarks Bar called "summer activities".  Whenever I see something fun to do in the summer heat, I put the site in this folder.  Hopefully, when summer comes around I'll have lots of ideas to keep us all busy.

Here are a few things so far.....

http://whimsy-girl.blogspot.com/2008/08/sunshine-clay.html

http://whimsy-girl.blogspot.com/2008/07/rock-on.html

http://www.blessedlittlenest.com/2010/06/bloggers-guide-to-summer-water-day.html

http://thegoatandthekid.blogspot.com/2010/06/nasty-gets-new-life.html

http://familyfun.go.com/playtime/sporty-games-photo-gallery-848241/

http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com/2010/06/making-art-at-home-my-favorite-art.html

Have you seen any cute summer ideas?  If so, send them my way.....

A Good Way to Start Running

There are natural runners.......

(Anderson really gets into running...)

(My husband and his sister after a race.)

And then there are those who know that running is good, want to try it, but just aren't...well...natural.

(Me (not a natural) and Carys (a natural) after my race.)

I, obviously, fall into the second category.  I don't just hop out of bed one fine day and decide I'm going to run a 5K, or even a 1K for that matter.  I have to build up.

A few years ago, I ran across a running plan in a Brazilian magazine.  I followed the plan and worked my way into being able to run for 30 minutes without stopping.  Of course, since then I've lost the copy of the magazine, but I remember the main idea of the plan.

Maybe there are some more "unnatural runners" out there like me, who would like to get into running.  Here is a way you can work your way into it.

1. Walk 5 minutes
2. Run slowly 2 minutes
3. Run fast 1 minute
4. Walk 2 minutes
5. Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 until you have done them 5 times.
6. Walk 5 minutes to cool down.

That's it.  After that gets easy to do, make it a little harder by reducing the walking time and increasing the running time.  Keep going until you don't need to walk anymore.

I am doing this right now with a friend of mine who hadn't run in a long time.  The first day she barely made it and had to stop several times.  After 2 weeks, running 3 times a week, she is doing this much more easily and is ready to increase the running.

It works!