Just life.

Hmm, yet another of Michelle's blog's bites the dust.

Just kidding.  I'm not quitting blogging, I just haven't had much to blog about lately.  Plus, I still can't get pictures to upload at an even semi-reasonable speed, so you'll just have to wait for those.

Anyway, for those who still check this blog or want to know what's going on down here, here's some of what's been going on:

Bipolar weather.  Actually, not so much bipolar as just cold.  When I got here from the north, it was obviously colder (given the geography), but now as it moves into "summer", you'd think it would be getting warmer, right?

Wrong.  So many fun plans have been foiled by the rain.  Mostly because Florianópolis is a little bit lacking in cool cultural sites (as far as we can tell, anyway, and most of the people we ask seem to agree), so the main sources of entertainment are hiking and beaches, but it's been too cold.

We have been making a bit of progress on our research projects, and trying to keep on top of school and tests.  Oh, the good news?  Guess who got a perfect score on her first test in Portuguese?  Lisa!  Oh yeah, and me.  Haha.  We both got 10/10. (I think it would have been more exciting to get 100/100...but I'll take what I can get :)  I suppose I don't REALLY have bragging rights, since I think he was a little more generous with my score, given the language barrier, but still!  I didn't fail! :D

Ah yes, and despite the uncooperative weather, we did discover a rather cool ecological park last week.  It's a combination of a zoo and a regular park, but more towards the park than the zoo...  Lots of open areas, playground equipment, stands for popcorn and cotton candy, a few trails, and of course, the animals.  I'm pretty sure nobody would be able to guess in 10 tries which animals they had in cages.

Did you guess?

If you guessed lions, bears, or anything remotely exotic.....you're wrong.

If you guessed rabbits, turtles, or guinea pigs, then congratulations---you proved ME wrong! :)

Funny, right?  I think I mostly found it amusing because those animals were in cages, while the alligator just chilled in the pond and the monkeys were just free in the surrounding trees.  (Caged guinea pigs and wild monkeys?  Seems so backwards, but I guess that's the difference between Utah and Brazil!)

Portuguese kind of plateaued for a while, and while the progress is still sometimes frustratingly slow, it IS coming!

All in all, life really is good.  I can't wait for the weather to warm up again so we can do more exploring and see more of the beautiful landscapes and beaches here, but I really am happy.

I am so blessed, and life is so very good. :)