Hello. I’m Raissa. I’m a wife and a mother of two beautiful boys. I was born and raised in Brazil but came to the United States in 1996 to study journalism.
One thing led to another and here’s where I stand, 10 years later: I am married to a wonderful man who I met while attending college, I work a full-time job, I raise our two boys bilingually and do everything else in between. And I mean tudo.
If you think parenting can be a wild adventure, imagine doing it in two languages. It is like there’s an echo to everything you say or do: Let’s eat. Vamos comer. No! Não! (Picture a nonstop version of the cartoon “Dora the Explorer“—if you don’t know it yet, you will as soon as you have kids. Trust me.)
Learning (and teaching) a different language is challenging, exhausting, many times frustrating and even embarrassing at times. But once these obstacles are overcome, the sense of power, pride and freedom is exhilarating.
So here we are, the four of us, currently living in Austin, Texas. Together, we have lived in four cities, three states and two countries—one in each hemisphere. We have loved, hated and missed tremendously every one of those places. And we have always, sempre, made sure we were speaking from the heart. Whichever language that might be.
Through this blog, I will share our experiences, disappointments and triumphs as parents raising their children in two languages, two cultures and in many circumstances.
Tchau!
