Rock Table and Hard Rock

The countdown can officially begin now! We will be back in the United States in 11 days! Which leaves us not a lot of time in Brasil to get a lot done before we leave for a couple weeks.

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Saturday morning, we got up and went to one of the malls in Belo Horizonte that has nothing but furniture stores in it. Eric and I had been trying to make up our minds on a dining room table for more than 2 weeks. There were 2 gorgeous tables that we fell in love with and couldn't decide between them. I had emailed pictures to my little brother, Justin, who just finished defending his master's thesis in Forestry with an emphasis in wood properties (or something along those lines.) And actually, his research was done down here in Brasil last summer. So, between that and his love/knowledge of all things tree, wood, and construction related, we were trusting him to give us some insight into the durability and quality of the two tables. His opinion: both were great options and he gave me a whole long list of the pros/cons of each piece of furniture. So, off we went to look one more time and try to decide and purchase one of the tables. After looking again at both, we ran across a marble topped table out in a display of a Christmas table setting in the middle of the mall. We both fell in love with the table and about an hour later, we had made the purchase! On December 28, our new dining room table gets delivered. Now all we have to do is find and buy some chairs (we didn't see any we liked on Saturday) and then we will be ready for a dinner party! Well, I guess I probably will have to wait on my shipment of kitchen goods from the US first . . . hard to serve guests dinner when you don't have anything to prep/cook with!!! (Sorry if we broke your heart Justin, I know you are more a wood man than rock lover these days!)

A closer shot of the wood and marble

There is one building that is visible and stands out throughout much of BH. Up on top of a mountain near the South end of the city is a tall blue tower. We were told that Hard Rock Cafe was in that building and we decided to go check it out on Saturday night. There are a couple restaurants in the top of the tower, but Hard Rock is actually in the building that is under the tower (although it also has a great view of the city.) We went up in the tower to get a good look around before we came down and had supper. The funniest part of it all was that at 9:30 pm, Eric and I were eating supper at Hard Rock Cafe and there was only one other group of people in the whole place! When we left at 10:30, people were just starting to arrive. Where can you go in the US where on a Saturday night no one is at Hard Rock Cafe at 9:30 pm!!!

A view at sunset over the mountains and into the city from high up in the tower

The CNH Christmas Party was on Sunday afternoon. It was a really fun family event. They had it at a Clube in a neighboring town. It was quite the event! They had tons of inflatables and games for the kids. They served sticks (think wooden kabob spears) of filet mignon, chicken breast, chicken hearts, and cheese cooked over fire. They had pizza cooking nonstop and tons of coke and beer flowing from the taps. There were 3 different bands that played throughout the afternoon with lots of people dancing and then they gave away tons of prizes (everything from new refrigerators, microwaves, digital cameras, and even a brand new car!) I think a good time was had by everyone - including us! We were just wishing that Eric was a CNH Latin America employee already so that he could be entered in all those drawings!!! (Better luck next year, I suppose.)