The World is Your Oyster

This is my first ever blog. To all of those to which I have proclaimed I'd never start a blog, this is my shameful disclaimer that you were right, I gave in. Having been in Brazil for a week and experiencing many delightful life moments, I feel compelled to share them on a worldly level. Simple as that.

Memories of my first seven days have been dissolved into a whirlwind of samba music, sun, and the nasal and breathy sounds that make themselves into the Portuguese language. I have learned a few necessary words: oi, por favor, pão de queijo, obrigada. Translation: Hi, please cheese bread, thank you. It's all I really need for a complete vacation. Craig's Portuguese is very strong and I like to hear him talk. I have been studying his intro to Portuguese text book and try to follow conversations, but it doesn't prevent Craig from making fun of me without my knowing. Perhaps by my third week here I will catch on.

We stayed with Craig's friend Rodrigo and his family for 3 days last week. His mother Clarice is the Portuguese equivalent of an Italian grandmother - she cooks a LOT and finds pleasure in watching her guests eat, and eat, and eat. Yet instead of tomatos and pasta, she makes (among other things) rice, beans, meat, fried bananas with cinnamon and sugar, and juice. She made mango juice from...get this...actual mangoes! In fact, juice is very popular here and around town are juice stands scattered nearly as frequently as Starbucks in Seattle. Ones I've tried and liked: abacaxi (pineapple), laranja com acerola (orange with acerola, a fruit we don't have in the US), açaí (same story, don't have this fruit).

Saturday night Craig, Rodrigo, another friend Stella, and I went to the Parade of Champions - the 6 best samba schools who competed during Carnaval once again perform for an all night party for the Cariocans (people from Rio). The number 6 school plays first, drumming to and singing the same song for over an hour. Elaborate floats with dancers parade through the huge crowd. Each school played for at least an hour, some an hour and a half, so we were danced from 9 pm until 5 am. As the night goes on, the better schools come out, and the floats become more and more elaborate and lavish. Several dancers after performing come to the stands to watch the rest of the parade, and seeing the costumes up close we realize how much tedious and painstaking work is involved in making the costumes and floats. Thousands of ensembles are hand-sewn and decorated with beads, feathers, sequins, glitter, anything to catch the eye. As a concequence the show is both magnificent and astounding, especially to the eye of a foreigner. But the visual effect is only part of the experience, the music plays non-stop, the crowd dances and sings with the energy Americans would have only if Nordstrom had a half-price close out sale.

In Brazil, life moves both slower and faster than in the US. Here, life slows down during lunch to spend hours talking with family, and to meet friends at the beach not to read, swim, or tan (although it's a nice by-product) but to visit and catch up with friends. I haven't worn a watch here because there's no reason to know what time it is. The day moves as fast or slow as you make it, it doesn't depend on the time of day. On the other hand, Brazilian life has an energy that I haven't felt elsewhere, maybe it's the optimism that you sense when you're surrounded by those who prefer to live "the good life" over making money. A strange and unfamiliar concept for many Americans. This Brazilian energy is spent laughing and dancing (and boy do they dance!) . It's great to be absorbed in it for a while. Certainly I'm finding some things I want to bring back with me.