Friday, May 2, 2008

Dia do Trabalho

So, I have been reading that Labor Day is an international holiday. Pretty much the rest of the world (I am referring to the non-USA nations) apparently celebrates it on May 1st though. I have no idea how it ended up being in September in the US (May 1st is too close to Easter and Memorial Day maybe? Who knows!) But anyway, yesterday was a holiday here. And maybe more importantly, yesterday I was able to wear my skinny jeans. Yes, after losing 10 pounds, I was able to slip back into my jeans-that-used-to-fit-but-had-gotten-to-be-where-they-created-a- muffin-top-effect-now-that-I-was-a-few-pounds-heavier-but-I-was-holding-on-to-them-anyway-with-hopes-of-returning-to-my-less-fluffy-state. I still have about 6 more pounds to get to my target weight, but my skinny jeans are major progress! And this is way more exciting than anything we could have done yesterday with our day off, right? ;)

Being that it fell on a Thursday ("it" referring to the holiday, not the day I was able to wear my skinny jeans), I had big hopes of being able to turn it into a four day weekend. But the hubby had meetings today, so no fun travel plans developed for this weekend. (I am trying to keep the pouty-lip to a minimum: which is easier now that my skinny jeans fit again.) But, since we didn't travel, we were able to attend the huge Fiat party (CNH is part of the Fiat Group) that gets thrown every year at the big soccer stadium in town!

Since there were about 50,000 people in attendance (Fiat has a lot of companies located here in Belo Horizonte!), everyone told us it was much better to take one of the many, many buses they had running instead of dealing with the traffic ourselves. We found the bus that was stopping nearest us and hopped on.


Yep, we were the only ones on the bus! About halfway there, another couple got on too. So the huge tour bus drove 4 of us to the party. We arrived about 4:00.
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A huge stage was set up and the field was covered with wood to keep us from tearing up the grass. By 7:00 pm, the entire field was packed with people and all the seats in the back 3/4 of the stadium were pretty much full. It was crazy how many people were there!


Marco and I hanging out with our gigantic paper hands they were giving out.

This picture was taken about 4:30 - long before it actually got packed down there.

They had dancing girls to entertain us before the concert started. Notice the boys in orange on the right side of the stage-they came out to dance for us too (and even took their shirts off at one point.) Whew! Something for everyone, I'll tell ya! ;)

They had two pretty big-name bands come and play: Capital Inicial, a Brasilian rock band, and Victor & Leo, a popular sertaneja (Brasilian country music) pair. A famous actor, Marcos Frota, emceed the event. I didn't actually know who any of these people were or know any of the bands' songs. I really need to work on my Brasilian pop culture knowledge!
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The big event of the night though was when they gave away a brand new Fiat Punto and a new Fiat Palio. It would have been more exciting if we had won . . . but yea for Fiat being so good to their employees! It was a really neat event.
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In other news, it got down in the 60's last night, and I nearly froze my behind off despite planning ahead and wearing jeans (you know, the skinny ones) and 3/4 length sleeves. I remember coming here last year in July and laughing at how the Brasilians were wearing coats at night when the temperature would drop below 70 F. Last night, I was thinking that I sure am glad I brought my heavy coat to Brasil. I brought it in case we ever travel to Chile or somewhere cold, but, um, my blood is getting quite used to the warm weather. The down jacket may be just right come about June!

8 comments:

Laural Out Loud said...

First, congrats on the 10 pounds! How awesome was it to zip them babies up, lol.

Second, I'm happy to hear that you've acclimated! That means there's hope that after we move to Brasil, there might be a day when I don't feel like I'm melting.

Amanda said...

What, do you weigh like 100 lbs soaking wet now or something?!! You look great Emmy Lou!!

Could you please tell me how to get rid of the "fluff" I seem to be extremely "fluffy" in the mid-section these days.....bummer

Anonymous said...

60 degrees is cold? It's the beginning of May, and we had frost on the ground this week! Lord help you when you move back to Iowa ;)

Anonymous said...

Well, its the beginning of May and there was also frost on the ground in southern Brazil.

Go to Curitiba or Porto Alegre and you will get 0C (30F) temperatures in the winter... with one detail: NO HEATING SYSTEMS in the houses. No double panel windows and stuff to keep the cold out of the house.

Belo Horizonte is a mild city. Not too cold, not too hot. Its in the tropical area but its 850 meters high, so its not that warm.


There was is this story about a finnish rock star from the band Nightwish that came to Brazil in august... she thought it was tropical in the entire country and was wearing summer clothing... when they arrived in Curitiba, the temperature was 2C (35F)... she got a flu and could barely sing in the shows :)

in the BH page on Wikipedia there is a chart about average max and minimum temperatures in Belo Horizonte.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belo_horizonte

Anonymous said...

I mean... not that its as cold in Brazil as in Iowa (not as close)... but on the other hand, brazilian houses and apartments dont have the same heating systems and vedation as Europe or US.

Most people in US and Europe only feel cold when out of their houses. But in their houses, they mantain confortable 70F... (unless they are poor and cant afford heating)

At least in southern Brazil... temperatures inside the houses are usually 50F in the winter... can get below that in the coldest days. So... its constantly cold, and you are never confortable. And that sucks, although there is no risk of frostbite when you get out of your house.

Anonymous said...

Hello Emily and Eric,
I don't now if when I come back to my country (Brazil) I will familiarise about the winter time, it's realy cold inside the houses, there is NO HEATING SYSTEMS in the houses, but it is for only 1½ month a year,
but I went to Brazil Santa Catarina State in my vacation and I saw range of portable cabinet heaters suitable for indoor heating (electric). so is not to bag, Usualy people does not have it@ home because the wages that they make is not compatible with the price of expences (eletricity bill) The minimum wage in Brazil is R$ 412,42 reais or U$249,95 dollars it is for 160 hours worked a month, so 80% of employed people make up to U$249.95 a month, other 5% make 5 times more or U$1,249.75 per month, only 15% makes realy good money, Brazil is the 5th mundial rank population circa 186.757.608 people,it's so many poor people Down there looking for bether oportunity.

Enjoy your time in Brazil!
Antonio from United Kingdon.
peace24hrs@yahoo.com.br

Anonymous said...

That is a usual blog, 2 americans in Brazil! :)

Anyway i liked you description "boy meets girl..."

I will be visiting now!
Bia

Anonymous said...

Emilly, have you noticed some brazilian obcession with "fresh air"??

Notice that even our comercial highrises have openable windows. Just look at the windows of tall comercial towers and you will notice plenty of open windows (something rare to not say impossible to find in tall towers in Europe or US).

It renders building climate management impossible both in winter as in summer.


For example... it might be 10 degrees outside, no heating systems inside the house... but people will always leave the windows open, for fresh air.

If you ever notice something like that... blog it :)