APO is better

I sent out some Christmas cards from Brazil over a month ago. They ended up being a bigger hassle than Christmas cards are worth. For instance, the day before Rachel and I left Brasilia we walked a couple miles to the post office in the rain to mail them, only to find out the post office was closed. Then I carried them around with me in my backpack on the trip for a while, and finally mailed them in Curitiba, mostly due to Rachel's brainstorming for something to do during our first few days there when we wanted to die.

Finally today on January 27, I've seen one arrive. I could have mailed them APO and had them arrive within two weeks, but I wanted them to have Brasilian postage and stampings. Now that I see one, it doesn't look that exciting at all. So the extra huge expense and time wasn't worth the cuteness.

Go APO.

If you didn't receive a card from me and you know that usually you would, don't be sad. Maybe I didn't send you one because of the above-explained situation, or maybe I did and yours just didn't make it. I'll tell you Merry Christmas next time I see you.

soon

i shouldn´t be as excited as i am to get back, being that i´m returning to no home, no job, no car...
but i am!

Fala Portugues?

we picked up Chad the other day. so far, he is the only person who has been impressed by my Portuguese. and that was only for about five minutes.

you know the song that you really love the rhythm to, but can´t quite make out the lyrics, and since you love that particular song so much you just sort of make up words so that you can sing it?

this is a good way to get made fun of.

such is my Portuguese-speaking experience. i love this language. it is beautiful. i love the smooth purr of it being spoken so quickly. i love that words pop out of mouths at their beginnings, but are softened at the end by gentle ch´s or gg´s or rrrr´s. it´s good on the ears.

hearing it contstantly all around me is no longer a novelty, but i still enjoy listening to it. however, since i can´t speak it and need to, i am usually just making things up. i´ve learned to turn my 30 use-able vocab words into sentences with some Heather-gibberish added in to compensate for everything else. i´m surprised by how often this seems to get things done. or at least at how often the Brasilians just humor me.

it has been a good smacking experience for me to be so daft with a language, especially being one who love the intricacies of English so much.

Argentines are Meat Snobs

four huge Argentines towering over one cute little Brasilian butcher arguing over standards and cuts of meat is a sight to behold. i chuckled to see my new friends who i´d thus far only known to be pretty laid back getting worked up.

they were right, though. they did know what they were talking about, and their efforts gave us a Christmas Eve feast. it was a bit Bob Cratchitt, with a bunch of random travelers all meeting in our little hostel to have Christmas dinner.

Everyone from Argentina, Brasil, Venezuela, and of course the Americans.

Valentin, Federico, Rach, me, Javier. i guess Argentines don´t cook with clothes on.

Rach and Lucas

The Meat

before dinner, we asked to give a Christmas prayer. everyone was cool with that, and so Rachel prayed and Valentin translated. one of the boys tried to tape it, because he said his mother would never believe that he prayed over dinner.

Lucas said, "You are eating our food, and we are praying your praise. It is the perfect mix of cultures."

the Merry Christmas, Feliz Natal, Feliz Navidad toast. the boys bought Rach and i our own alcohol free treats.

Patience

the Portuguese word for "to wait" is the same as "to hope".

Esperar.

i kept this in mind today as i was waiting in the intense heat to cross two insane streets to get drinking water from the store.