Every Storm Runs Out Of Rain.

And thank goodness they do.

It's been raining for 15 days. We haven't had a day without rain in the entire month of September. I've worn all of my warm clothes at least twice within the past two weeks. This is what Noah must have felt like on the ark.

Since Kelly and I have been plagued with some serious cabin fever, we decided that on Monday (today) we were going to the beach. Rain, shine, snow, hail, whatever. We didn't care. We were going to the beach.

We did. And it was awesome. We saw maaaaaybe 10 other people there the entire time? (Including a man sitting wrapped up in his straight up winter jacket-- hood up and all.) Perfect GoPro opportunities.

Re-doing this gem on a sunny day. It's going to be the money shot.

Also the perfect time for me to practice my handstand. And fail MISERABLY. Haters gonna hate.

After 15 days of gray skies, you'd stop giving a crap with the weatherman says, too...

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny. And the day after that. And the day after that. I'm almost more excited for a 10 day forecast filled with sunshine than I am Christmas. Judge me, it's been awful.

Beach Body Ready.

There are many unwritten rules that one needs to be aware of when living in Rio de Janeiro. Including, but not limited to:

-- one Chopp is never enough

-- always wear your bathing suit under your clothes (or have one with you) because you never know when you'll end up at the beach

-- be wary of eating the shrimp on the beach

-- never pass a churro stand without stopping (this may be my own personal rule)

Perhaps the biggest rule, though, would be how to have a beach body.

Two simple steps. That's all. 

Please let this phenomenon catch on around the world.

Lapa. Conquered.

We finally did it. We finally conquered Lapa.

Everyone has always suggested to us that we should go out in Lapa. I've never been a "going out" sort of person, I've always been more of a "staying in" sort of person. But this weekend we were going out sort of people and headed straight to Lapa.

Jordan, Lacy, and Ruth came over to Botafogo and then we all hopped on the 410 to Lapa. We were supposed to meet John and Vania at Rio Scenarium which was voted one of the Top Ten Bars In The World. We didn't see them, and we were a little earlier than we had expected, so we sat outside at the restaurant next door.

At the restaurant.

We spent the all of dinner just hanging out and finally being with other people who were our age and spoke English as their primary language. We introduced Jordan, Lacy, and Ruth to pastels-- which ended up being a raging success. Around 10:30pm we decided to head on into Rio Scenarium even though we hadn't seen John or Vania yet.

Our signature dance move.

Man alive, we tore up that dance floor. Elbows thrown, fish caught, might have even done the limbo. We made a TON of new friends, even if it was only for a night. I was shocked at how many people spoke English there.

Jordan, Lacy, and Ruth must've brought out the best in Claire and I because we did more in the last week than we had the entire trip. Thank goodness for getting on the wrong bus, that's all I have to say.

Cheers to the Freakin' Weekend

"They're reading books in English. And have towels. And their bathing suits cover their whole butts. Yeah, they must be American."

The weekends here are never long enough. And that's what I have to say about that.

Friday night we went to Carol's birthday party. We didn't get to stay very long, but we did get to hang out with Carol and her family, bust a few dance moves on the tiny dance floor, and eat some Brazilian deliciousness which happened to include liver. After school we went with John to his apartment, met Vania and her friends, and then drove to Carol's party which was downtown.

Claire and I seem to have the best luck with taxi drivers. On the way to the party, our taxi driver would not stop laughing at us for singing this popular Brazilian hit. If his radio hadn't been stolen, we wouldn't have had to sing the chorus (which is the only part we know) fifty million times.

The same taxi driver also told us that we were very funny and smelled good. All right, buddy, keep those compliments coming, that's what I like to hear. Honestly though, it's getting a lot easier  to communicate with the people here in Brazil, even with our terribly broken Portuguese. 90% of the time we can get our point across with very little problems.

Vania's friends were visiting from another part of Brazil and the one lady brought her two year old daughter, Annarita. Cutest little two year old ever. We were in the car telling Vania about our previously mentioned experiences with the taxi driver and little Annarita starts singing "Delicia. Delicia." Which is part of that song I posted, if you didn't check it out. She had me, hook, line, and sinker.

Claire and I took over babysitting for the night and spent the rest of the evening dancing, clapping, and blowing "beijos" (or kisses) with Annarita. Apparently we really wore her out because John said she was asleep after minutes in the car, but then woke up the next morning asking where we were. Too. Cute.

Saturday was spent lesson planning, applying for jobs, and doing lots of clerical work. I guess that's the real reason we are here though, so I suppose that I shouldn't complain too much.

Sunday started out much the same as Saturday, but in the early afternoon Claire and I decided to go do some shopping at the Hippie Fair in Ipanema and then go to the beach. Apparently we took the wrong bus and ended up in Leblon. No problem, we'll just make this a beach day. Which is exactly what we did.

And it's a good thing too! We met some Americans from Knoxville, Tennessee who we are hoping to hang out with this week. And, small world. The one girl taught in Siguatepeque, Honduras and knows some of the friends that I made there.