Settling In

For the time being we have been staying at the mother-in-laws annexed flat. It’s effectively a small studio flat attached to her house. We are very grateful for the accommodation while we find our feet, and it’s great to be close to the family.

Apart from Sonia’s mum attached, her sister and her family live next door, her brother and his family a few doors down, and another sister and her family round the corner. It’s been a great opportunity to spend time with them and get to know them better. And it’s nice to have a support network, always someone to chat to or borrow a saucepan off.

Brazilian hospitality inexhaustible, humble and sincere. The mother-in-law is adorable and each day brings us some kind of gift, either food she has prepared for me to experiment, or fruit, veg or herbs from her alotment that she attends from 7am every day. She grows the best rocket I've ever tasted!!

It’s also a relatively safe community, as everyone knows each other and Sonia’s family are very well established and well respected.

Lazy is our cute but pathetic, maladjusted street cat that Sonia

Hence the name Lazy

pitied and adopted. We feed him, which makes him the envy of all the cats around, but he doesn’t have it in his locker to defend his territory. 

Cats jump in through the window to steel Lazy’s food. Given the heat, the door is always open, and dogs pop in and out looking for food. As does the local parrot, who aggressively asserts himself on the territory. If only Lazy had the parrot’s balls.

The sink is outside - by 7am it’s baked by the sun, and the dishes are too hot to touch by 8am. The towels are kept outside and the toothbrushes in the fridge. Given the lack of space the oven is a storage area. It can get confusing.

7am

Toothbrush in the fridge

The noise is the main issue for me. There is a fairly reliable 24 hour noise cycle which is the subject of another blog

Oven cupboard