Greencard

Chegou no correio anteontem!
Just got here the day before yesterday!

Immigration Laws of Mexico

My mom just forwarded this to me and I find it quite interesting.

1. If you migrate to this county, you must speak the native language.
2. You have to be a professional or an investor.
No unskilled workers allowed.
3. There will be no special bilingual programs in the schools,
no special ballots for elections,
all government business will be conducted in our language.
4. Foreigners will NOT have the right to vote no matter how long they are here.
5. Foreigners will NEVER be able to hold political office.
6. Foreigners will not be a burden to the taxpayers.
No welfare, no food stamps, no health care,
or other government assistance programs.
7. Foreigners can invest in this country,
but it must be an amount equal to 40,000 times the daily minimum wage.
8. If foreigners do come and want to buy land that will be okay,
BUT options will be restricted. You are not allowed waterfront property. That is reserved for citizens naturally born into this country.
9. Foreigners may not protest; no demonstrations,
no waving a foreign flag, no political organizing,
no bad-mouthing our president or his policies,
if you do you will be sent home.
10. If you do come to this country illegally,
you will be hunted down and sent straight to jail.

Harsh, you say?
The above laws happen to be the immigration laws of Mexico.
How about that??

Enzo can be nice sometimes;)

Dance Dance Revolution / Danca Demais

GREEN CARD RECEIVED!

Whooo..today Enzo and I went in for our green card interview!!! It was awesome! Nothng like what we expected. We got to the location and went through security. We brought my parents with us just because they had the day off and we thought it would be fun. It was on the 5th floor so we headed up there, gave our papers to the man at the desk and the began waiting. We probably only waited 20 minutes (which wasn't bad because we arrived at 2:00 and our appointment was at 2:30). We heard the call "Enzo Silva" and we got up for the long awaited interview. Mom and Dad stayed back so it was just me and Enzo. The interviewer looked to be our age or maybe a few years older. He was smiling and very friendly. As we got to our office and found our seats he told us his name and where he is from. He then asked us to stand up and lift our right hand. We pledge to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. As we sat down he opened our file and asked to see my driver's license and Enzo's passport. He then needed Enzo's birth certificate. I asked if he wanted the translate copy and he said no he had seen so many foreign documents he could tell what was what, he even read some of it smiling at us porud he could translate the birth certificate from Portuguese to English. Enzo said he was doing good. Then he went through our paperwork and asked enzo a few questions that were VERY common sense. Things like: what is your addess? What is your full name?
He then asked more questions with dealing the law which we common sense as well. They we questions like: Have you ever been an illegal immigrant? Do you have citizenship in any other country, and he even asked if Enzo was married to more that one woman...at the one he kinda giggled. We laughed too:) He also asked laughing questions like "Are you part of any communist or terrorist organization?" and stuff like that (all questions on the forms). He just asked to see the vaccination sheet and even said that a lot of people don't take the document to the interview and he's even given up on asking why sometimes, "people will come up with the weirdest excuses", he said laughing...
He looked though my tax returns and asked if I was still a teacher and I said yes. I told him also that my mom and dad were co-sponsors and that her tax returns were in there as well. He said all of that was unnessary. He said that the law has changed some of no more is that such a big requirement.
He asked Enzo if he had ever been to the US beforeand we said no because he was denied. The guy seem to completely understand how hard it is to get a tourist visa and almost looked sympathatic with us. He said that in cities like Seoul, Korea they interview 12,000 tourist visa applicants a day (or a week, he wasn'yt sure) !!! He also said that some countries don't want the US to give so many tourist visas away so that well educated people stay in their own country (and other weird situattions like that). It was a good discussion that we had with him.

Towards the end of the interview Enzo and I felt so comfortable with him that we were asking questions about whether he felt Enzo's family would have a better chance of coming to the US as well.

I also told him that mom felt important to be a part of this process and that she should have come back. He laughed and had a funny idea to prank her by calling her back and asking a ton of questions. We all laughed about the thought of pranking her. ("Do you want me to call her back here so we could pull a joke on her and I can ask her some questions?" or something like that ws what he said)
Then he signed the passport and explained the next steps of the process for us. He said Enzo can apply for citizenship in 3 years! (he said: "Some of the most implortant things for the test will be English proficiency, which isn't a problem here and American History..."). Then Enzo said that even to Americans the questions are hard. Another officer that was in charge of citizenship overheard us in the next room and said he was going to given the hardest ones. Our interviwer said: "At least I know what the stars on the flag mean!!" and laughed. SO soon! He said congratulations and excorted us to the door.

Bono - Message About Poverty / Bono - Mensagem Sobre Pobreza

The question was:
"How to make poverty History in Africa?"
Making everybody aware of it is the initial idea.
And this could be done not only in Africa, but also in Brazil, in the US, in Europe, Asia, anywhere, if everybody played their part. Like Bono once said something like he knew he couldn't change the world but he could change the world in himself... this could be a start...

A pergunta era:
"Como fazer a pobreza na África ficar pra História?"
Fazer todo mundo ciente dela é a idéia inicial.
E isso poderia ser feito nãp só na África, mas também no Brazil, nos EUA, na Europa, Ásia, qualquer lugar, se cada um fizesse a sua parte, Como o Bono mesmo disse algo sobre não ser capaz de mudar o mundo mas sim de mudar o mundo dentro dele... esse pode ser um começo...

4th of July

It was Enzo's first fourth of July celebration yesterday...he watched fireworks and ate a hamburger straight off the grill. We watched it with friends and had a good time.

Foi o primeiro "4 de Julho (Independência Americana) do Enzo ontem... ele assitiu aos fogos e comeu hambúrger direto do grill. Assistimos com amigos e nos divertimos...

World Cup Fever

Even though the last Brazil game wasn't a good one, we still watched with excitement. You can see from the picture that we have a lot of Brazilians living around here. It has been great for both of us to be around them. I get to practice portuguese and so does Enzo...hehehehe...

Mesmo o último jogo do Brasil não sendo tão bom, a gente ainda assistiu com empolgação. Vocês podem ver pela foto que tem muitos brasileiros morando aqui perto. Tem sido ótimo pra nós estarmos com eles. Eu pratico português e o Enzo também... hehehehe...

Bush's Sunday Bloody Sunday (U2)

Nice video editing...
Boa edição de vídeo...
U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday...
A música Sunday Bloody Sunday do U2...

This Guy Travels / Esse Cara Viaja...

If God wishes I'm still gonna travel like that... (without the dancce)
Se Deus quiser eu ainda vou viajar assim... (sem a dança)

Ode to Bruiser

I just had to share with everyone how sweet my little Bruiser is...
Eu só queria compartilhar com todo mundo como é doce o meu pequeno Bruiser...

Happy BIrthday to us! June 11th and 15th:)

Green Card Interview!!!

July 13th we are going in for the Green Card interview! We couldn't believe how fast the notice came in the mail! It even came before the work permit! It only took 1 and 1/2 months to get the notice from the day we mailed it!

13 de Julho nós vamos pra entrevista do GreenCard! Nãp acreditamos o quão rápido recebemos a carta pelo correio! Chegou antes até mesmo da permissão de trabalho. Só demorou 1 mês e meio pra receber essa carta aviso desde o dia que enviamos tudo!

Hard Rock

We also got to go to the Hard Rock Cafe while we were there. We were happy because they were playing Tracy Chapman and U2...

Big Kahuna!

As Enzo and I were walk out of the Hilton, we ran into our wedding cordinator and she asked where we were going...we told her we wanted to check out the waterpark down the street. She told us it was awesome and that when we got there tell them that she sent us. We said ok and As we pulled out of the Sandestin resort we got a phone call from her and she said that she had already contacted them and there would be two free tickets waiting for us at the door! We had a blast! I wish everyone could have seen Enzo flipping off the tire floats down the "Lazy River"...HILARIOUS!

Grazie! Thank You! Obrigado!

While we were in Destin we decided to try a little restaurant called "Grazie"...It was by far our favorite place to eat there. It is a little Italian Seafood place located near the beach. Our waiter looked to be a typical American boy but when we started talking to him we found out that he had lived in Italy for 8 years! Enzo got to practice some Italian speaking and I get entertained. And it only got better...another waiter there was Brazilian! She told us of her adventures of coming to the US and it was very interesting! Check out the pic and see the people we met.

Spending time in the Hilton

Tired / Cansada

Let the party begin!!! / Que comece a festa!!!

We had an AMAZING time during the reception. Everyone danced...including the waiter break dancing to "Play that Funky Music White Boy!!!" Grandpa dancing "Kung-Fu Fighting" was one of the unforgettable moments of the reception...
-ENZO: they made me dance and lip-synch "Its Raining Men" :0
Nós nos divertimos MUITO durante a festa. Todos dançaram... inclusive o garçon dançou um hip-hopzinho "Play that Funky Music White Boy!!!" O vovô dançano "Kung-Fu Fighting" foi um dos momentos inesquecíveis da festa...
-ENZO: me fizeram dançar e dublar "It's Raining Men" :0 fala sério...

By the way, if you have any stories or comments about the wedding, reception or the time you spent there with us (funny or not) please write them on COMMENTS under this post. Later on, after I have a certain amount of stories here I'll publish them on a separate post and even translate them for my family to read too.

oh and here is a link to a messagge Kristy so kindly wrote on her personal blog:
http://www.kdsimpdogg.blogspot.com/2006/06/paige-and-enzos-wedding.html

The Long Awaited Day- June 3, 2006 / O Grande Dia

After 3 years of knowing each other, we were finally able to relax and enjoy being united together. We also enjoyed being surrounded by friends and family. The ceremony was performed at the Sandestin Hilton Hotel during a sunset ceremony. As I walked down the pavilion toward the beach the crowd was clapping and you could hear the dads tell their little girls, "Look at the princess." Once I got down to my groom, I was surprised when the preacher kept referring to Enzo as Ezo...hahahaha..it was hilarious. After the ceremony we all gathered down by the ocean and threw shells as wishes for me and Enzo. Then we had a champaign toast. It really was a great day!

3 anos depois de conhecer um ao outro, nós finalmente conseguimos relaxar e aproveitar a união. Foi legal estarmos ceercados de amigos e familiares. A cerimônia aconteceu no Hotel Hilton de Sandestin durante o por do sol.

The Night Before the BIG Day

We got to Destin Friday and thank God for good friends!:) We got to spend time with them at a place called "The Back Porch." Later we hung out with all the girls on the beach. I am mad at myself because I didn't take pictures of that. :(

Chegamos em Destin (Florida) na sexta-feira e agradecemos a Deus pelos bons amigos! ;) A gente passou algum tempinho com eles num lugar chamado "The Back Porch". Depois saimos com as meninas na praia (as amigas da Paige que passariam a noite de sexta com ela no hotelzinho). A Paige escreveu aqui que esta com raiva de si mesma por não ter tirado fotos desse momento na praia à noite com as garotas.

- ENZO: Foi legal chegar na sexta e passar a tarde no condomínio que os avós da Paige alugaram na praia e depois sair com o pessoal como descrito acima.

We are gathered here today...

Katie and Trey...FINALLY!

Their wedding was May 13, but just now we're posting the pictures...
O casamento foi 13 de Maio, mas só agora estamos colocando as fotos aqui...

The Da Vinci Code / O Codigo Da Vinci

I don't unerstand why people get so defensive about this book written by Dan Brown.
It's fiction and even if it looks like it makes sense IT IS A WORK OF FICTION, like most part of literature! Every time we tell a true story we tell it our way, under our viewpoint and it becomes fictional to a certain extent. Eveery story is somehow fictional, so why would people go crazy about this one particularly?! And even if Brown's story rang true it wouldn't change Jesus' truth, would it? Are you that weak kind of believer that will boycott a book or a movie because it tells a "story" about God's central character under a different point of view? (I'm not discussing the authencity of the story behind The Da Vinci Code, neither I intend to. The author NEVER claimed this to be a true story neither did he say anything about being a christian OR NOT. I don't understand why some religious people are going off at him, trying to discredit his book, calling him "a herectic author", an "anti-christ writer". Alright, he said some facts indeed happened and some secret societies indeed existed or exist nowadays, like the Priory of Sion, Masonry, Opus Dei, the Kinghts Templar, the Crusades: there ARE historical record that say (at least some of them) really exist(ed) like the two latter. Leonardo Da Vinci, the painter, inventor, architect, mathematician, engineer (name "a few" more things, ...he was that too) is still nowadays really intriguing, his work is, somehow, full of mysteries. For instance, nobody knows for sure why he wrote his notes from the right to the left using his left hand, no body know what's behinf the La Gioconda's (Mona Lisa's) smile, and many other intriguing stories no-one will ever know the truth about, the artist is long gone.
This leaves room for people to create their own theories adn stories, tell their stories from different points of view, even mixing them with Jesus' mysteries (like Dan Brown did). The author of The Da Vinci Code wrote (as he intended it to be) a fictional story based on "some" facts.
Well, I ended up rambling on and on about this and I should have stopped some sentences ago...
I just don't like the idea of some pastors and christian attacking Dan Brown because of his book, it's A NOVEL, like he states on the cover of his book. I don't undrstand why there's such a fuss going on... It takes a really one track minded christian to say this:

http://liveprayer.com/davinci2.cfm?b=h

Here follows a link to page of the Perimeter Church's website that brings some interesting articles (on th right) about the Da Vinci Code, in the end before you criticize anything, you better read it... right?

http://perimeter-adult.followers.net/Adult_Education.The_Da_Vinci_Code.index


And here goes the message to be listened to also on their website. The message is the one from 5/21/2006 by Randy Pope

http://perimeter-worship.followers.net/Sound_Resources.Listen_to_messages



About Leonardo, the artist and whatever else: http://www.mos.org/leonardo/

Here Dan Drown's official website, there you can find some interesting webquests based on anagrams and other kinds of puzzles, well the guy is intelligent let's admit it.. http://www.danbrown.com

Aquecimento para a Copa / World Cup Warm Up

Bono Vox in Brazil Funny Episode / Bono no Brasil Momento Engracado

I bet Bono will never invite a man on stage anymore hehehe...
Aposto que o Bono nunca mais convida um homem pro palco...

Only in Brazil...
So no Brazil mesmo...

ENZO...