100 things part II: 50 things about my personal life

I’m leaving the “baby part” of our lives out on purpose, that can make for more interesting posts in the future!

1. My parents, both of them Brazilian (dad of German descent, mom of mixed European), got married pretty “late” (he - 30, she - 27) for the late 1960s in Brazil.

2. After they were married for 9 months, they went to France to study abroad for 3 years.

3. My mom took classes in Geneva, Switzerland, which was only 7 km (4.3 miles) away from the part of France where they lived.

4. They accidentally got pregnant, and I was born in Geneva because my mom had free student health insurance from the University

5. She wasn’t able to finish her specialization with Jean Piaget because of me (but she claims she applied in me all the cognitive psychology she learned : )

6. I always hated having been born in Switzerland because there they don’t give (at least didn’t) the Swiss nationality to children of foreigners who are born there (“cats born in the oven aren’t bread” they said).

7. So, I am Brazilian, as if I had been born in the Brazilian consulate in Switzerland.

8. However, throughout my life when people learned I had been born in Geneva they would invariably say that I was Swiss.

9. When I was a kid I got extremely upset by this, and fiercely insisted, “No, no, no, I’m not Swiss, I’m Brazilian.”

10. To this day I don’t like to tell people where I was born, I only say I’m Brazilian. It’s annoying to have to tell them the whole story and have them say “Oh, really? You’re really not Swiss?” “NO, duh!”

11. Now I joke that they “refused to have me and don’t know what they’re missing” or something kind of bitter like that.

12. (At least my sons are both American and Brazilian, I haven’t created that kind of problem for them)

13. (I used to get upset at my mom for not giving birth to me in France but then in 1998, when Brazil lost the World Cup to France, I was happy she didn’t : ) [soccer is a national passion for Brazilians, as you may know]

14. My parents went back to Brazil when I was 1 and ½. I didn’t even learn French (I heard them speaking it at home while I was growing up when it was supposed to be a secret, and started to pick it up after a while)

15. My mom was 30 and my dad 33 when I was born.

16. My younger brother and I always wanted to have kids much younger than that, because my parents used to say they felt too “old” to keep up with teenagers.

17. I was 30 when my oldest was born, my brother is 31 and he doesn’t have kids yet.

18. I think it’s not bad at all to have kids older, and my kids’ friends’ parents will probably be my age (not the case with me – e.g. my husband’s mom is 11 years younger than mine).

19. I moved a few times when I was growing up, mostly within the Southern state of Paraná.

20. The five best years (from 8-13 years old) were when my parents worked at a boarding academy in the countryside, in a farming area. I loved to see the different crops (soybeans, wheat – beautiful, corn), and to roam free in the woods with my friends or alone. It was perfect.

21. We then moved to the huge city of São Paulo, one of the largest in the world, and there I lived for almost 11 years.

22. I met my husband when I was taking the bus home from the university one afternoon (March 30, 1990). We took the same bus – he had recently started working at the school were my parents worked.

23. We both went to the same university (Universidade de São Paulo, USP, it’s the largest in Brazil, perhaps Latin America, I’m not sure).

24. I was in my 1^st year when we met and he in his 3^rd (We’re the same age, but he was 16-17 when he got into college, I was 18 ½)

25. He was my first boyfriend, and vice-versa. Yeah… I know… that boring “I’ve waited for the right person to come along” kind of thing.

26. We had a great group of friends, in the university and the school where we both worked. Those were 5 great years (it took us that long to graduate – in Brazil most young people work part time while going to college, and that makes it harder to do it in 4 years).

27. We were teachers, he taught math and physics (middle and high school) and I taught English, mostly to kids (elementary school).

28. We got married the year we graduated from college (December 1994). We were both 23.

29. Before we got married we already knew we wanted to travel abroad, so we didn’t buy expensive/good furniture or anything, just the basics.

30. We wanted to go to an English speaking country for my husband to learn it and because as an English teacher, a “living abroad” experience would be great for me.

31. Our first option was England, but that didn’t work out.

32. My husband’s uncle lived in the U.S. and gave us advice on what to do (get a student VISA for my husband to come learn English at a community college).

33. So, after we’d been married for 1 year and a half we sold most of our stuff in Brazil, stored the rest in my parents’ house and came.

34. We arrived on June 20, 1996.

35. That first year was tough. We basically spent most of 5 years worth of savings we brought from Brazil.

36. Then we were offered a sponsorship from a Brazilian college to get our Masters’.

37. After a year, we both decided to go for our Ph.D.s since we would be able get assistantships.

38. In 1999 I was able to spend a month and a half alone in France, studying French in the same place my parents were going to school when I was born.

39. I did a “pilgrimage” to the hospital in Geneva on my birthday. At least now at 28 I knew the place where I had been born. It didn’t make much of a difference in my life, of course : )

40. In 2000 we did an awesome backpacking trip in Europe. We mostly camped, and traveled by train. We got to visit 10 big cities (Paris, Barcelona, Geneva, Florence, Rome, Venice, Salzburg, Munich, Berlin, Amsterdam) and some other places.

41. We are total museum and historic churches/ places rats. We visited everything we had the time to cram into our days. It was awesome.

42. (Traveling, that’s how I plan to spend all our money whenever we have some again : )

43. Last year my husband got his Ph.D. and we moved from MA to PA after 8 years there.

44. In all these years abroad, I’ve gone back to Brazil a lot.

45. Three times with hubby: Dec. 97-8 (his brother’s wedding), June 99, Aug. 01(my brother’s wedding); Twice by myself: Aug. 98, Jan. 01; with hubby and Kelvin: Dec. 03-4; me and the two boys Feb-March 05.

46. We have another wedding this year in December, and this trip will make 8 trips to Brazil in 10 years for me, not bad!

47. Our parents visit quite often, particularly in the last 3 years because of the grandchild(ren)

48. Almost every time I went back I had to get/renew a student VISA, a TERRIBLE hassle, not to mention expense. (I can’t believe I have to do it again in December).

49. Being an expatriate is not easy, but I enjoy every minute of it (except those spent in the American Consulate).

50. My parents only did it for 3 years, but I they ended up setting me up for it, and boy, don’t they probably regret it! (They want us to go back, of course…)

What next? I don’t know… and I like this not knowing, it keeps us young, and dreamy. Except that one day we’ll have to settle down in either country, and start living more than dreaming, and getting old… ah, that, we already do, whether we know what we’re doing with our lives or not : )