My childhood

I was a very quiet shy child. I loved playing with my dolls, I named them all, I particularly preferred "Suzis" and later they created "Beto" as a boyfriend. I think in the UK they were named Cindys and the respective boyfriend was named Paul.

My first Suzi was given to me when I was months old, then I had other ones blond, brunette... The first one had painted eyes and later they had plastic eyes that looked more realistic and even articulated legs and wrists. I had one that could cycle and came equipped with a byclicle, I had all their furniture and lots of different outfits, including a bridal gown. I gave them many weddings and I used to put all the mini chairs in front of the wedding table and sit all the guests.

I suppose I have always been a romantic. I had a baby doll that I used to change nappies and a magic bottle where the "milk" disappeared as the baby doll "sucked" it. I had a baby boy doll (Manequinho) that could even pee after drinking.

In those days Johnson & Johnson had a little booklet telling pregnant mothers what to do and how to take care of a new born baby. I used to read it and I then decided I wanted to have 5 children: I thought: one is no good because everyone needs brothers and sisters, two is no good because in case of a decision there would be a tie, three is no good because it is hard to be a middle child, four is no good because it is a tie again and five is just perfect! I dreamt of my wedding day, I wanted to marry my first boyfriend and be happy ever after. I once even wrote: I want to study and travel the world, marry at 25, move to the countryside and raise my children in a farm with chickens.... I love to watch "The Little House on the Prairie" and loved that big table surrounded by children, that what I had dreamt for myself.

I was a very curious child. Having three older sisters made me get in touch with teenage things: I was brought up listening to lots of music, mainly The Beatles. My mu said I could repeat the lyrics so well that people thought I could actually speak English. My sisters used to wear mini skirts and they had wonderful long boots, in patent leather, I used to borrow them and sing with a fake microphone and dance the current dance moves.

I wanted to do everything they did and the thing I wanted to most was to learn how to read and write. My mum did not send me to school before the age of 7 so I had to manage to learn how to read myself. My mum bought me a "cartilha" (reading book) - "Caminho Suave" and I kept pestering the maid all day to tell me what happened if I combined D+A and D+E... when I was 4 years old I could read and nobody in my family knew I could, till one day I read on the newspaper: :Mini Mother: mother at 11 years old" and told my dad at dinner table. He was shocked I knew such thing and he asked me how did I know it. I said: I read on the newspaper...

I read ALL THE TIME: everything that fell in my hands: books, cartoons, medicine instructions, manuals... I would say by the age of 9 I had read all literature that most read by the age of 15-18 as I read all my sisters high school books. I also used to help my sister Solange with her exams and learnt more about literature this way.

I liked to cut paper from a weekly magazine called "Recreio" with scissors and glue, there were many fun things to cut, like little houses, cars, farms... I watched quite a bit of TV and was always a big fan of Silvio Santos (Brazilian TV presenter) and I was in love with Michael Jackson when he was only a boy, I had decided I wanted to marry him.

I could draw little characters and talk to them as if they were real, I created my own cartoon characters and started writing little poems. I was a child who could reflect about people and the world, and could sense if someone was happy or sad.

Once, when I was four years old, my parents went to my uncle's house to celebrate New Year and everyone, at midnight started to sing the song "Adeus ano velho" (goodbye old year, happy new year) and I started to cry. My mum asked me why I was crying and I said: why are those people smiling if they are so sad? I think I carried on being like that throughout my life.

I always liked Beatles, we had many of them, and I had a red little miniature Beetle, I loved it so much, it has unfortunately lost its tires. That is why I have always wanted to own a Beetle and I now do.

There are so many things I remember from my childhood I will have to make special chapters about every and each one of them: playing with my cousins, going to the beach, my mum's driving lessons, our neighbours, my sisters and their leaving home, my parents, moving house,... I will because this chapter is getting much too long.

Thank you for reading these lines, see you again soon

Me and my dolls

Hello everybody!

I created this blog to write about my life. I have several friends who told me my life would be a book, or more like an enciclopedia, so I am writing about it. Maybe nobody will read it but I shall remember what I have forgotten about when I am older, losing my hair, many years from now...

My full name is Gisele Castro Afeche, I was born in Santos, SP, Brazil on the 14th December 1965. My father, Elias Jorge Afeche worked for Banco do Brasil and my mother, Irene de Castro Afeche is a housewife. I am the youngest of 4 sisters: Anamaria (06/07/1949), Margareth (09/12/1951) and Solange (26/07/1955).

My mum and dad got married on the 04/09/1948, they were both born in Santos, my mum is Portuguese origin and my dad Lebanese origin, though there is a suspicion my great grandfather was French. My mum's parents were called Felismina Cravo de Castro and Abilio Francisco de Castro and my dad's parents Nicolau Jorge Afeche and Olinda Jorge Mobelle, that latest surname is a French surname.

My mum and dad lived on the same street (Cunha Moreira) in Santos and they got married really young at the ages of 19 and 21 (mu mum's birthdate 04/12/1928 and my dad birthdate 04/06/1927). My dad is deceased but my mum is still alive now.

When I was born we all lived in Santos at Condomínio Edificio Jóia, Av. Washington Luiz, 423 (Canal 3). It was a 2 bedroom appartment and I had to sleep in a cot till we moved out (I was 5) in my parents' bedroom as my sisters shared the other bedroom. This would not take so long as all my sister moved out, one at a time to study in São Paulo. My mum told me my dad tried for a boy, after having three girls, and unfortunately he was not successful there. I was born by forceps, so I was told, with 3,380 kg and 51 centimeters at 8h05 a.M.

My mum told me I was a quite difficult child as I would throw up everything I ate. I remember being a very fussy child to eat and my mum and sister had to find all sorts of trickeries to make me eat to the end. One of them was to hide olives at the bottom of the plate and make me eat till I found them, which of course I used to escape by sticking my fork through food and fishing them out.

I had a happy childhood, I loved having my family around and I mostly loved living on those blocks of flats. We knew all the neighbours and we visited each other often, it was like a big family. I still dream of those days and sometimes in my dreams I visit the flat and move back there. I am very sentimental with things that mean a lot to me and I have a very good memory from my early childhood: I have memories from 2 years old, and I can still see the world through a child's eyes. I remember the flat, the furniture in the flat. the kitchen was quite big and we had a very modern formica white table with chairs (6 chairs), a laundry area where my mum used to do the ironing, a living room with a black and white television and faux letter settee and armchairs. My mum's double bed with inserted bedside tables (brown), my cot, dark wood, my sisters' bedroom with a sofa bed with a bed that pulled out and my other sister had a bed that folded leaning against the wall, where I used to put my paper creations.

This flat had a big garage where they often threw parties and a garden at the front and a sort of street in the middle.

This is a picture I managed to find on Google Maps. Condominio Edifício Jóia, where I have lived during my early years.

I was born at Maternidade Cid Perez, in Santos. I could not find any pictures of the hospital I was born in, only this logo:

And this is my baptism , my dad, my mum, my Godfather Júlio and my Godmother Martha:

This is all for now... I will write again.

Thanks for reading

Gisele Afeche