danlizbrasil (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} danlizbrasil) wrote,@ 2004-07-10 21:50:00 |
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should we stay or should we go now???
Hello hello, it's been a busy couple of weeks.
Where to begin? First a little bit of travelogue. Last weekend, Daniel and I took a trip to Baixinha das Franca, a small community in the interior where Daniel volunteered with Amigos two summers ago. Getting there on the bus was an adventure. We started our trip by nearly missing it (literally, it pulled out of the station before we'd even sat down) and managing to grab one of the last seats. For the next many stops, there was no one getting off the bus, only people getting on. So we soon had a new friend, an extremely drunk old man who insisted that Daniel was in his seat. So Daniel sat on my lap and we got to hear a life story told in the roughest Portuguese I've heard yet. All around, he was quite good natured if reeking of cachaca. At 10:30 in the morning. The final stretch of the trip was in one of Baixinha's only cars over three miles of very wet dirt road. There were some lakes I didn't think we were going to pull through, but we did.
After we got to Baixinha I was simultaneously overwhelmed by hospitality and friendliness- Daniel was clearly a big hit- and by the sheer material difference of life there compared to life in places that I have lived. I'd like to say that wore off quickly, and it did in terms of how comfortable I felt, but I couldn't help but be reminded how much I take for granted. We spent the weekend catching up with Daniel's friends, watching Eurocup soccer, and trying to learn forro (a kind of dance that sounds easy and is really hard for an American girl to master... my hips work on the same axis as my shoulders, whereas Brazilian girls seem to have separate motors for each). The very first thing we did, though, was eat, and I really didn't stop eating my whole time there. Three enormous meals and snacks every day! And because I was a guest, I could not get away without trying everything served. Woooh... it sure made up for any deficiencies in my normal diet. Anyway, this was overall the most memorable weekend of my stay so far, and if we do stay we will definitely have to pay a second visit.
Which brings us to the second topic: the choice. Our plane tickets have us slated to leave on July 21st. Cliche alert: it's gone by REALLY quickly. Between now and then, we need to decide if we are leaving or going to stay until December, when any English teaching jobs would require us to commit to. And speaking of those jobs, I've got one. If I take it, I'll be teaching 5-7 year olds. Fun!! That thought is really exciting, and it would be a challenging experience. But it wouldn't quite be enough to pay rent, so I'd need more work, and Daniel too. Then there's the visa issue. But then again, how can I ever turn down a chance to learn a new skill at the same time as being able to drink fresh fruit juice at every meal and eat chicken pizza?
For those of you also keeping journals, thanks for all the updates. Good luck with your camps, Jillian and Steven, and for anybody else reading, hope you are having a great summer :)
Liz ;)
Hello hello, it's been a busy couple of weeks.
Where to begin? First a little bit of travelogue. Last weekend, Daniel and I took a trip to Baixinha das Franca, a small community in the interior where Daniel volunteered with Amigos two summers ago. Getting there on the bus was an adventure. We started our trip by nearly missing it (literally, it pulled out of the station before we'd even sat down) and managing to grab one of the last seats. For the next many stops, there was no one getting off the bus, only people getting on. So we soon had a new friend, an extremely drunk old man who insisted that Daniel was in his seat. So Daniel sat on my lap and we got to hear a life story told in the roughest Portuguese I've heard yet. All around, he was quite good natured if reeking of cachaca. At 10:30 in the morning. The final stretch of the trip was in one of Baixinha's only cars over three miles of very wet dirt road. There were some lakes I didn't think we were going to pull through, but we did.
After we got to Baixinha I was simultaneously overwhelmed by hospitality and friendliness- Daniel was clearly a big hit- and by the sheer material difference of life there compared to life in places that I have lived. I'd like to say that wore off quickly, and it did in terms of how comfortable I felt, but I couldn't help but be reminded how much I take for granted. We spent the weekend catching up with Daniel's friends, watching Eurocup soccer, and trying to learn forro (a kind of dance that sounds easy and is really hard for an American girl to master... my hips work on the same axis as my shoulders, whereas Brazilian girls seem to have separate motors for each). The very first thing we did, though, was eat, and I really didn't stop eating my whole time there. Three enormous meals and snacks every day! And because I was a guest, I could not get away without trying everything served. Woooh... it sure made up for any deficiencies in my normal diet. Anyway, this was overall the most memorable weekend of my stay so far, and if we do stay we will definitely have to pay a second visit.
Which brings us to the second topic: the choice. Our plane tickets have us slated to leave on July 21st. Cliche alert: it's gone by REALLY quickly. Between now and then, we need to decide if we are leaving or going to stay until December, when any English teaching jobs would require us to commit to. And speaking of those jobs, I've got one. If I take it, I'll be teaching 5-7 year olds. Fun!! That thought is really exciting, and it would be a challenging experience. But it wouldn't quite be enough to pay rent, so I'd need more work, and Daniel too. Then there's the visa issue. But then again, how can I ever turn down a chance to learn a new skill at the same time as being able to drink fresh fruit juice at every meal and eat chicken pizza?
For those of you also keeping journals, thanks for all the updates. Good luck with your camps, Jillian and Steven, and for anybody else reading, hope you are having a great summer :)
Liz ;)
