Holmdel,
December 2004
Dear
Friends, |
Happy New Year 2005
|
2005
is just
around the corner and we're back to
share with you how 2004 went by for us.
The year
began with lots of snow in New Jersey. Mauricio's
mom, Renalva, who arrived in December 2003 to
visit, stayed
until March, when it started getting a little warmer. During her stay, she
made
two beautiful paintings for us.
|
|
|
Alec and
Sasha are growing up fast. Sasha turns
17 on December 31st. Alec
turned 13 on August 3rd.
|
|
| Sasha and
Lucia started the year in Rome. They
traveled there with Sasha's friend Debbie to celebrate Sasha's 16th
birthday. They stayed for five days,
three in Rome, two in Naples. |
|
| Sasha
started the 11th grade in September and is starting to take
the
first steps toward leaving for college. She's
enrolled in an SAT prep course for her March 2005
(new format)
SAT. She is looking for a university in
the east coast of the U.S. Something not
too close, but also not too far from home. Her
current plans seem to be leaning toward a major in
something like
political science or psychology. |
|
| This
year Sasha started learning how to drive. She
took some driving classes and got her trainer's permit
and now
practices mainly with Mauricio. After
next March, she will be able to take her examination to get a permanent
driver's license. Sasha enjoys music and
film. She went with friends to see bands
like Thursday, Thrice, and Ted Leo and
the Pharmacists. At home, she can watch, over and over, a DVD of a
movie she
likes. One of her favorite films this year was the Brazilian movie Cidade de Deus (City of God). It's common for
her to go to a friend's to watch one or more DVDs.
Of course, her mom and dad are most often the
chauffeurs. |
|
|
Alec started
the 8th grade in September. His
favorite subjects are still math and science and his
biggest doubt
now is where he will do his high school. In
November, he attended an open house at a small math and
science
magnet school near our home. The High
Technology High School takes about 60 students a year from all over
Monmouth
Country and directs the student's studies to math, science,
engineering, and
research. Entrance is very competitive
and he doesn't even know if he will get in. But
if he does, he worries he will lose his friends at
Holmdel High
School.
|
|
| Alec continues to play on
the
Torpedoes, his travel soccer team since age eight.
While playing, he fractured his wrist
attempting a bicycle kick during a tournament in October.
That kept him off the team for the rest of
the year, tough he did take part in several practices (almost making
Lucia go
crazy). His team went from premiere to
second division and back to premiere this year. In
2005, the team is planning a trip to play a tournament
in
Portugal. Alec ran 14 kilometers in
December to raise funds for the trip. |
|
| During Spring Break in
April, Alec traveled with his friend Adam and
Adam's parents, Linda and Boaz to Hilton Head, South Carolina, where he
mainly
hung out on the beach. In August, he traveled to Scotland, once again
with
Adam, Linda, and Boaz. He spent two
weeks there and visited places like Edinburgh, Isle of Harris, and Loch
Ness
(no, he didn't see the Loch Ness monster). |
|
|
Mauricio and
Lucia are still working for AT&T at the same jobs as last year. Though Mauricio's organization has appeared
to be safer from layoffs this year, Lucia's organization was affected
several
times. Lucia and Mauricio have both
thought of leaving AT&T, but for now are still put.
Besides traveling with Sasha to Italy, Lucia
traveled alone to Rio in February for ten days to be with her parents.
|
|
| Mauricio traveled much less
this year than on
previous years. He went twice to
Gainesville (Florida) to visit his friend and colleague Panos Pardalos
and
twice to Brazil for conferences. Both
conferences were in nice places: Angra dos Reis, on the coast just
south of Rio
and São João del Rey, in Minas Gerais State. |
|
| On the Angra dos Reis trip,
Panos came along on his first
trip ever to
Brazil. Panos liked it so much that four
months later he was back in Brazil. |
 |
| Mauricio continued to be
involved
with
Alec's soccer team, acting as an assistant coach. He
really enjoys it. |
|
| On her spare time, Lucia
continues with her beads. She took over
one of the rooms in our house and really enjoys making jewelry. She and several friends from work took part
in two street fairs this year, where Lucia was actually able to make
some money
from her art. |
|
|
In July, the
whole family made its annual pilgrimage
to Rio. Mauricio and the kids stayed for
five weeks, mainly in Rio, ...
|
|
Itaipava (at
Mauricio's mom's house on the
mountains
near Rio), ...
|
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| and at the
beach side town of Búzios. |
|
| Lucia stayed
an extra three weeks
working. Again this year her management
at AT&T let her work from Rio. The wonders of modern
telecommunications! |
|
| Besides
seeing friends and family from Brazil, we got together with
Florida
friends Joyce, Marcel, and son Jason for a nice rodízio
(all-you-can-eat
barbecue) at Barra Grill in Rio. They
were impressed with Barra Grill as we always are, too. Joyce went to
Escola
Americana with Mauricio in the 70s. Mauricio took Alec and cousin
Gabriel to
Maracanã stadium in Rio to watch
Botafogo and Flamengo play a scoreless soccer match.
It was fun, nevertheless. Alec
and Mauricio are Botafogo fans, while
Gabriel likes Flamengo (Lucia's team). On our last weekend in Rio, we once again threw a big party to celebrate
Alec's birthday at Lucia's parents' (Orestes Lucio and Maria Ignez)
place. It was packed. |
|
|
Rio de
Janeiro friends Johnny and Beth with sons Nick and Bernardinho, as well
as
Lucia's cousin Maria Luiza, spent the Christmas holidays with us.
|
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That's all,
folks. We all wish you happy holidays
and a 2005 full of joy. We hope that in
2005 we can meet to catch up on things and have some fun.
Kisses and
hugs,
Lucia,
Mauricio, Sasha, and Alec.
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