No photos

I've tried to download photos during the week but I always get an error message so today I gave up and decided to post without photos.

The week's been good and it just flew by. On Monday I had a day off and we went to Helsinki with my mum and the kids. We did some window shopping (the kids are getting great at it, even with the toys!), went to an old fashioned cafe (they used 18th Century recipes for the pastries) and visited a big 18th Century ship replica Götheborg that actually sails (pictures here). It was in Helsinki just this week and will go around Scandinavia this summer stopping in different cities along the way (more information on the ship here).

I still love my job and it seems to be possible to make it a part of my studies in order to fill in the missing credits! Now I only need to complete a few more interviews and the actual writing of my dissertation... There's hope!

The kids have sort of had a cold the whole week and today I finally took them to see a doctor. After an overwhelming three-hour-wait (with two grumpy kids who weren't really feeling that well) we finally got to see the doctor, got some medicine and were done. Luana's got an ear infection and Lucas will get the lab results on Monday to see whether it's a bacteria or virus that's causing his sore throat.

Tomorrow I'll work again and then I've got three days off. We'll visit my dad and I'm planning to take the kids to the Moominworld. It's a lovely down-to-earth theme park very suitable for young kids. It's on an island with plenty of forests and even a small beach. There's not too much plastic, glitter and blinking lights around but rather wooden buildings and a calmer atmosphere. The kids really like the Moomins and Luana can still remember when we went there two years ago.

Leaving soon

The last couple of days have been quite intense. Yesterday I managed to hand in all documents for my Brazilian ID. I'm hoping it will have come through by the time I get back. They said it'd be quicker than the actual visa (which only took a year and a half) so I'm hoping five months would be enough... :) It'd be great to get the rest of my documents done when we get back so I could get on with life, get a bank account and apply for jobs :)

Today I went for some last minute shopping and had my nails done (something I don't normally do at all but now I thought it'd be nice as I won't have to do as much laundry and washing the dishes as usually). I'll still have one more English lesson at a student's house and then we'll spend the evening with my parents-in-law.

We'll have to catch a taxi at 2 am and I'm crossing my fingers that the kids sleep all the way to the airport (and some more in the plane). Otherwise I'll be dealing with two grumpy kids during the whole day in São Paulo (we get there at 11 am and leave at 8 pm...).

I'm so excited about going. I can't believe it's true that we're actually leaving tomorrow! Will get back to the blog as soon as I get an opportunity but probably it won't be until sometime on Saturday.

Sickbed

So we caught a stomach bug... Isn't that just perfect timing! The kids have been mainly ok (Luana was at home yesterday but went back to school today) but I've been feeling pretty bad the last couple of days. This obviously happened as soon as hubby left for Porto Velho (the state capital) to deal with the last bit of paper work for his new job.

Thankfully I have great parents-in-law as well as a caring neighbour. My mother-in-law was here the day before yesterday, cleaned the house, looked after the kids and slept over in case I needed any help during the night. My neighbour also watched the kids and gave me some herbal medicine. Yesterday I was feeling so much better but this morning was horrid. I'm trying to eat something as I do feel hungry at times. It's just that most food makes me feel sick. Oh well.

I still have a few days to get better before we travel and I'm confident I will :)