We spent today meeting people in Diadema, Andre's district. Andre lives right on the border of Diadema and the main city district of Sao Paulo. But first we woke up nice and early (7am) for a traditional Brasilian style breakfast that consisted of sweet and chesse bread (pao de queijo; very delicious), hot chocolate/coffee and a type of cheese that tasted like ricotta only with a texture almost like a thick jelly.
After breakfast I went walking with Arleide to the nearby fruit and vegetable market. The pineapples looked normal at this market, but the avocado was still huge! I took a photo of it next to my head so you can see they are almost the same size (sorry, still trying to work out how to use the photo download tool on this website!). They also have a fruit called Maracujá which I think is passionfruit although it too is 10 times the size. Arleide also bought some 'bife a role' (Beef rolled up with carrot and capsicum inside, held together with toothpicks) for our lunch. Andre has made this before from scratch for me, but at that stage we didn't have a pressure cooker, which is the proper way to cook this dish. When we got home Arleide started cooking lunch already!
I went walking again to go with Andre and Leandro to the local 'padaria' (bakery) and a little pharmacy and stationery store to get some things I forgot to bring with me to Brasil. On the way back we meet with Dodo's parents and cousins who are very sweet, Dodo and his mother give the same big hugs! Next we had our lunch, which of course like everything Arleide has been making was deliciosa! Mum - you would be very jealous to find out Arleide has a maid to help her some days! But I think over here maybe it is more affordable, one house in their street we could buy for 40,000 reals and renovate! Thats about half that in Australian dollars!
Next, me and Andre went with * to drop Mariana and Leonardo off to school. It was just a few streets away and their schools are very different to ours, this one was a private school and looked quite small from the outside, seemed like it was for just kids at a very young age. We met Caren there (Silvia's husbands sister) with her little boy. The schools there run twice a day at different times which is more flexible for people there to coicide with their jobs, so Mariana and Leonardo started at 1pm and finish at about 6pm each day.
Afterwards we went with Moura (one of Arleide's brothers), a guy called China (pronouced shina, a nickname given to him because he looks slightly asian) who is married to one of Arleides sisters and leandro to meet Andre's Grandparents from his mums side. We also went to get some meat and beer for a bbq we were having that night at Moura's house. Andres grandparents are so sweet! They live in a type of building that has a few houses in it that Andres Grandfather rents out to people. We also met little Sophea, Laine's child (Laine is the youngest of Arleides sisters). She is so cute, with the biggest eyes and cute lips I have ever seen! Everyone says she looks like a pokemon! When I say her i touched her hand and she reached out wanting me to hold her! So gorgeous! I also tried some of Andres Grandmothers coffee which was like a very sweet espresso, normally I don't drink coffee because it is bitter, but this was very nice and sweet. We went walking to a nearby liquor store to get some beer and I was really shocked to see that Velho Barrheiro (cachaca, like a rum made from sugar cane) was only 3.50 real! Thats like A$2! And in Australia it sells for at least $50! We also did some street drinking (testing out some different Brasilian beers), which is totally legal over there!
That night Moura and his wife Ilda held a bbq at there house for us. The whole time I was wondering where this bbq was going to be exactly because none of the houses seem to have a backyard like in Australia! Moura's house had about 3 levels and the top level had a roof top view of the skyline, with a bbq and an enclosed area with dj decks, seats etc. We had Pork spare ribs which were really crispy on the outside and we squeezed lime juice over the top - Laura you have to try it! We also had a cut of beef called picanha which is supposed to be the best, and I tried goat meat! For drinks we had ipaquera (?) beer and guarana soft drink. We also all watched the wedding video on their projector, so everyone who was at the wedding, now you know your faces were huge on the wall of a home in Diadema! Me and Andre were so tired the whole time, was really hard keeping our eyes open but we were having so much fun! I meet lots of Aunts and Uncles and spoke portguese lots, everyone was very impressed but I'm not sure why - I don't think my portuguese is very good at all! But I was happy I could make some conversations!
So we got home at about 1am and slept in till about 10am the next day! Read on ... :)
