Was it Cold? Yes!

I'm now about to write my second entry after arriving in the states 23 days ago...wow! So, you don't have to read this one, because I haven't really been anywhere, except for California, Pennsylvania and New York twice.

I am two days away from going to Colombia. I've spent this month revisiting my spectacular country, the USA.!

I visited California, briefly. Being in Oakland again was wonderful: Sonja brought me to the beloved Redwood Regional forest, we went to the restaurant Loló in San Francisco, we went to fun Stevie Wonder parties and the Farmer´s Market on Grand.

Sarah and I celebrated our birthdays (really Sarah's, it was a little premature to celebrate mine) in New York City. We were inspired by the clothes at Saks or some store like that to plan our next joint party...it's going to be amazing and glamerous!

I should not ignore my city of Cambridge just because it's so quiet and familiar. Walking down our streets (quieter than ever with the cold), it is easy to forget what this place offers to me. But there is nowhere else in the world where I feel so secure.

That being said, a month is a nice amount of time to be in the U.S.A., especially if it's split between these three great cities! The Bay Area and New York are so stimulating...a few days after Christmas, my family arrived in New York in the middle of a blizzard. Like anywhere else, snow muffled the usual sounds of the city. Taxis were pretty much immobilized, which reduces a good part of New York's action generally. BUT, the streets were still full of pedestrians AND the quiet snow-fall was accompanied by thunder and lightning rolling against the skyscrapers. Unusual and dramatic! Also unusual and dramatic were The Magic Flute and the 5 ft icicles threatening fur-covered Russian heads on 5th avenue.

This one goes out to Molly, the snobbiest Snobbist

I think the pictures will speak for themselves.

Boston Again

It only takes twelve hours for me to be back in Cambridge, lying on the floor at my parent's house, writing on my laptop. What a difference! My skin and nails are shrinking in protest to the cold here, and this is a big deal because now I'm a super high-maintenence Brazilian lady. My hair is framing my face like some kind of indication that God is around (haha, you know what I mean, like the light bursts in all of those Rennaisance paintings...I'm not claiming that God is in my face! I'm not that high maintenence...yet).

Luckily, I think these indications of the lack of moisture in the air due to inhuman temperature are the worst effects of my dramatic change of scenery. I guess I'm used to bouncing around everywhere. Today I forfitted my passport to the Colombian embassy, so no more international travel until I go to Colombia! Terrifying.

Of course, eu tenho saudade para a cidade maravillosa. Rio, if I haven't already made it clear, you are the city of my dreams. I had a marvellous last week. I can't remember everything...highlights included hanging out in Parada de Lucas (a few good classes...three students who love me!) and seeing how a police invasion in the neighborhood favela has NOT made the traficantes in P de L any less ostentacious. They were waving the guns around like it was the first time they had ever held them. I wonder, maybe it was? Because these were big machine guns, and everyone was checking them out and striking poses. Maybe some of the traficantes from Penha and Complexo Alemão came over to P de L...I can write about this stuff now because I'm not there anymore and you guys won't get scared! The rainy night after the big showdown (which was on Thanksgiving), my friend and I were supposed to go out for dinner. We got all dressed up and walked outside, to find the streets EMPTY. Empty streets in Copacabana on a Friday is really unusual, and felt quite erie. We ended up not going out because everything was closed. The next day...was sunny! Everyone was out and about, at the beach. So it seems that mass fear can be induced by the media and sustained for about 24 hours, maybe more on a rainy day. How does this compare to our own culture of fear?

Ok, but that's not really the nice stuff. On saturday, 15 of the kids from CIACAC came to Copacabana to spend the night at a hostel. I spent a few hours with them on the beach, and learned that the beach is waaaaay more fun with children. You get to run around and roll in the sand and splash in the water. I never do that anymore! And now I am the person that people can climb on to jump off of into the water. It was really fun, even in my new Brazilian bikini! Some of the kids, who all live in Parada de Lucas, had never been to the beach. I got one of the best "thank you"s I've ever recieved from a little girl named Karina. I had paid for her to come along ('cause her mom couldn't pay the R$20), and spent the day holding her arm so she wouldn't drown in the considerable current, and at the end of the day she just said "thank you" but it felt really nice, unexpected and simple and complete.

Fluminese won the national championships for the first time in 26 years. That was fun :) Then there was a flood in my 'hood, AND I spent all of my money on beer so that I could make friends with some girls (for once!), so I thought that I would be stranded. No, normal human friendliness and consideration came to the rescue and I was given a ride (Tupac was the playlist...California knows how to party!) back to my damp but perfectly navigatable street.

Ah, I really love Rio. But the words are not coming to me write now to write a beautiful poetic "farewell for now". So, I'm not going to.