December 2009 of James nearly 6, Sydney 8 years

From BilingualWiki

December 6, 2009

My little baby turned 8 today. Can't believe it. Her birthday comes with Christmas season getting started and it's all sort of surreal to me.

December 8, 2009

Tonight I took the kids to the Brazilian Bible Study that I used to go to alot when Sydney was a baby. It was a royal pain to get there. I drove with Stela who is as bad a navigator as I am-- really scary. We drove for an hour, just to get to this side of Cary (15 minutes, it should have been).

It was like, "this is your life" because when we arrived there were SO many women I remembered and hadn't seen in years. They were incredulous, seeing the kids so grown up. Many commented on their Portuguese and how it was so good. I was in an irritated state to begin with, from the long drive. Then I see there's another child there and, of course, she doesn't speak Portuguese. When they sit together at dinner and spend the rest of the evening together (in English).

I know it sounds totally obsessive, but it makes me frustrated b/c I try so hard to get her into a Portuguese speaking environment. It should be so hard at a Brazilian Bible Study to have your kids immersed in Portuguese. The one English speaking lady still comes and I laughed that the kids assumed she was the hostess and we were in her house. In fact, she's more of a self-appointed leader who, at this point, doesn't even try to speak Portuguese. I just don't get it. Nice person, don't get me wrong but between her, a couple of non Portuguese speakers and the Brazilian kid who didn't know a word of Portuguese, I was like, "What is going on!" I fear we'll go to Brazil and have th same trouble. People will want to practice their English and the kids will be willing, b/c hey, that's what they do with most people. I probably should just relax.

Tonight Sydney was frustrated as well because she couldn't think of a topic for her journal entry (they enter a paragraph in their little composition book every weekday). I suggested the Brazilian group. She told me that it's too hard to write in English something that happened in Portuguese.

December 28, 2009

The kids Portuguese has gotten better over the break. We don't have those transition moments to get through like when Sydney first gets out of school. I've found a chapter book we can read in Portuguese.It's pretty boring, even compared to Nancy Drew, which is read to her everyday by her dad or other visiting relatives. But it's something and thus far it's the ONLY thing I've been able to find that's on her level. A friend said Sydney said, "I can't read in Portuguese" the other day (I forget the context). She can though.

I'm feeling more like, "THIS IS GONNA HAPPEN" with the Brazil trip. We're going to Natal based on recommendations from friends who travel there frequently, friends who understand our objectives (no small feat, because they're not the norm). Basically I just want to do average things in a town. Go to the library, look for shells on the beach, build a sandcastle, do some grocery shopping, see a movie, play in a park. It won't be the type of vacation I've planned before