Siemma

So far the neighborhood criancas (children) have been our most consistent visitors.  It is rare when there aren't at least a few kiddos on our veranda at any given time.  Actually, right now there is a girl named Louisa calling "Emma" into the window. The kids haven't quite learned my name yet, usually they just call me "Emma" or sometimes a combination of our two names, "Siemma," which is pretty endearing.

The phrase to ask for something in Portuguese is "estou a pedir."  Literally, this means "I am asking for." Usually when the kids come to visit we hear one of these three things:

"estou a pedir foto" (they want us to take photos of them)
"estou a pedir folha" (they want paper and crayons to draw with)
"estou a pedir viola" (they want me to play guitar for them)

So, as you'd expect, I have lots of photos of these kids, have tons of their drawings, and have played a LOT of guitar.  Emma is probably getting pretty tired of the three songs I know how to play on the guitar: Wagon Wheel, Country Roads, and House of the Rising Sun.

Sometimes the kids can get annoying and I kick them out to have some "rest" time, but mostly they just make me laugh.

The other day it was raining hard and I went out onto the porch to see 5 naked children running through the yard.  Some had underwear on, but some were completely naked.  "Emma," I said, "there's a bunch of naked children in our yard."  As Emma came out onto the porch, about 10 more naked children ran up to our porch from the neighboring yard.  Now we had about 15 mostly naked, extremely soaked, children smiling, laughing, waving, and hanging on our porch.  They had such pure, innocent joy on their faces.  What is better than running naked in the rain?

The regular girls: Cecilia, Celene, Catarina, and Confianza

Sorry this picture is sideways...but this kid apparently knows my name!

This, I was told, is a ninja jumping over a table.