New Blog! Ameriversary! Smartest Husfriend Ever!

I made the cooking blog!

Please send me recipes. :)

http://cookingbrazil.blogspot.com 

Last week was my and Alexandre's Ameriversary (not to be confused with our Braziliversary).  We went out for sushi, of course. It was hot outside and not a huge deal.  The Braziliversary is more exciting. But still nice, right? :) We got dressed up and I convinced Alexandre to take a picture before walking out the door:

Alexandre is in his last year of medical school. He graduates in November (!!), and he starts his residency next year. His residency will be for 3 years.

For a while now, we've been talking about his residency, where he should apply, where we'd want to live, etc.  Obviously, I want to get the heck outta hicktown.  He's pretty much guaranteed to get into his "home" hospital, but he's been studying like crazy to try to get into a better program, either in Campinas or Sao Paulo. But the hospitals in both cities are very competitive, so he always qualifies our conversation and attempts at planning the future with comments like, "but you know, we might have to stay here, so be prepared for that!"

However, he's been totally kicking butt this year, and getting some great compliments from his teachers and the doctors! One doctor/professor told him, "in my ten years here, I've only given 2 As [10s, for the Brazilians reading].  You're the second. Don't stay here for your residency-- go to Sao Paulo!"

Tonight, he started a prep course for the residency tests that he'll be taking at the end of the year (I think they're like the boards, but I'm not sure). He totally blew everyone out of the water and knew almost all of the answers.  Alexandre is really modest  (did you see his qualifying comments above?), so for him to say that he thought he did well says something.

Better yet, the teacher of the prep course is some renowned surgeon who did fellowships AND part of her residency in the US, and who know works at one of the hospitals in Sao Paulo that he'll be applying to!  He's going to try to make friends with her over the next few months (mostly by being awesome and knowing all the answers in class), and then pick her brain for (a) how to get into the good residencies in SP and (b) how to work as a doctor in the US, obviously!

Seeing his excitement today after his first class has really given me hope for my future here.  I know now that there's a good chance that we'll move to Campinas or Sao Paulo (my preference should be obvious). There's a good chance that I only have to live here in caipirópolis for 10 more months.

In short, and in spirit of the combined words theme of this blog, I have the smartest husfriend ever, and I have high hopes for the near future.