Catching Up On Some FUN....

As we're getting excited for another big adventure, we're trying to enjoy everything we possibly can fit into our time here in Brazil. So, I figure I should probably do a quick catch up of the fun things we've been up to in the last month or so...here it goes!

First things first....if you ever find yourself in Campinas during any of your travels, you have to visit the city's zoo. It's a park in the middle of the city that looks like a forest reserve, which is pretty cool...there are tons of gorgeous parks and forest reserves randomly placed throughout the city. But, we were all about the animals that day...and were momentarily disappointed when all we could find were these...more rodents of unusual size. Not as big as the capivaras, but definately bigger than our typical rodents of usual size in the states...

These are our awesome friends Brooke and Wagner...they are pretty much awesome and show us all of the cool things Brazil has to offer. They also happen to have the cutest puppy that feels like a little piece of home everytime you see him.

We weren't dissappointed for long, as we found tons of animals deeper in the park...

They had crocs/alligators...after years of watching the The Crocodile Hunter, I'm ashamed to say I still don't know the difference...but they had one of these... ;)

and a hippo that was abnormally active...

and a bunch of big cats....go MIGHTY COUGS!!!

They also had this island full of monkeys with a playground that made you envy the monkeys...except for the fact that they are on an island surrounded by hippos and zebra/ant-eater looking animals. I'm not so sure I want to be a monkey after all...

Some of the animals got pretty up close and personal, like this one that kept hitting on our husbands...

At first I thought he was just friendly...but no, no...he definately was not... ;)

"In the jungle, the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight..."

Jordan and I in front of monkey island...

Then we went to the military circulo and found the biggest fruities ready to drop...

Brooke said that when you crack this monstrous thing open, there are individual pod-like fruits that are super sweet but ridiculously sticky...so we decided that if one of these balls happened to drop on your head, it would probably ruin your day...but we want to go back and hack into one soon.

On a different day, Jordan and I went on a journey to Taquerale park and found tons of beautiful things along the way...

While we were there we exercised a bit, sipped on some coco water and went for a ride on the swan pedal boats!

It turns out that Jordan is quite the swan motorista...

We found some pretty cool animals around the lake, including this egret...

and all these ducks that kept following our pedal boats around the lake...

I thought the ducks were so funny following us all in a row that we almost ran into...

CAPIVARAS!!!

They looked a little peeved when we bumped into their mud hole... Thank goodness for Jordan's fast pedal legs!

Then, on a different Saturday excursion we took a super long walk all over our part of the city. We ate at this awesome restaraunt that directly translates into "Roadkill Chicken" and then proceded to get lost all over the city. We wanted to go back to the military circulo to catch some soccer games and explore a little more, but everytime we stopped to ask for directions, people would ask "are you sure you want to walk that far?" Then, they would commence to point us in a seemingly slightly different direction than the person before. However, we did find some pretty sweet views along our walk...

Well, this was a sweet view...but we stink at doing the one handed portrait...so here are our foreheads...

Here's the view you were supposed to see... pretty cool, huh?

Eventually, we did find it! And it was great. We enjoyed a couple of intense games, watched the beautiful sunset and bothered some funny little owls near us.

I just couldn't get over how beautiful the sky was...

Poor owls...it turns out they look really really funny when they run into their holes...

Later, on a different Saturday, we braved our first Brazillian omnibus ride and checked out downtown and the Centro de Convenções, which has a pretty sweet mercado...

We also found more sweet parks on the way. This is our new gringo friend, Hayley!

Parts of the walk to get there looked just like Honolulu, which I'm sure was nice for Hayley and Nat to see, as they just moved here from BYU-Hawaii...

More beautiful trees at a park... I thought this one looked like the family tree at the LA Temple...

Nat and Jordan having "guy" talk (business) as Hayley and I do our thing and take pictures of everything... ;)

This was part of the convention center...this is when we discovered their megascreens and World Cup set-up. We knew that was too sweet to pass up, and knew we'd be back... and we were!

We might go again tomorrow for the next big BRAZIL game. GOOOoooo BRAZIL!!!

World Cup and World Travelers....

Hooray for getting back on Blogger! Things have been so busy and fun here lately that whenever I get on blogspot, I just look at all of your cute posts and fun news and go to bed....well, it's Saturday morning and I'm going to remedy that today!

So, lots has been going down in Brazil lately...we've been getting lots of assignments done at work including the rewriting two new "Fluency" books, doing TV recordings, talking to students on web chat, doing trainings, working on getting our real visas and teaching the boss's kids and grandkids English. I've also enjoyed recording a CD of funny songs for their new annual books ("I like burgers, I like Fries (: ..." No, there are some really pretty ones too!) and some other fun recording...stay tuned for a music video ;).

Besides work during the workweek, we have been hanging out with our roommates....yes, we have 6 of them...which is really funny when you're newlyweds, going to the Temple, feeling the burn at the cute lil' gym around the corner and working with the missionaries because Jordan got a new calling....he's the ward mission leader!

When it comes to Saturdays and Sundays, we like to consider ourselves Weekend Warriors! We LIVE for the weekends here in Brazil...it's our time to explore, try new foods, smell new smells (some good, some bad) and see some pretty sweet South American places. Our latest and greatest excitement actually happens all week for a month and is COPA DO MUNDO!!!

They had to have tons of polícia there for when things get a little too rowdy...
Part of our Gringo/Brasileiro group....

The convention center had this awesome arena with huge megascreens and a big giant ball...I was hoping that it would pop open and shower confetti all over everyone...maybe that will happen when we win the cup...

Here are a few pics of the crowd...

Jordan and I...

GOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL!!!!

We won!!!

The streets are crazy before and after a game...the whole city shuts down to watch it....and it's filled with green and yellow....

On the other BIG NEWS front....it looks like we might be cutting our

Adventures in Brazil a little short...

Because we got promotions and are getting transfered to...

CHINA!!!

We are so excited to see what lies ahead for us in Tianjin, China. Wizard just opened it's first school in Tianjin, China. Jordan will go there to expand the business further into the rest of China and I will go there to be the coordinator (manager) of their school there. We are so blessed and look forward to this awesome opportunity. We are sad to leave Brazil at the end of August, but are stoked to have international business expansion on our resumes and explore another beautiful country. Besides, we know this won't be the last time the Hastings are in Brazil... ;)

Here is a sneak peek of the city we'll be living and working in...

Tianjin, China

That's it for now...tchau e ter um bom fim de semana!