11 August 2005
14 August 2005 @ 19:27
11 August 2005
At 9 PM last night, my bags FINALLY arrived. And yes, I cheered. It sucks to not have a change of underwear. So, after a little bit of celebrating and passing out a few gifts, I packed everything back up. We made plans to get on the first bus to Sao Lourenco the next morning.
I'm actually glad that I was able to spend a few days at JP's house. We finally sat down and had the chat that I promised to him. He feels a lot better now, and I know that he's happy. To me, that's the only thing that matters. And, of course, Dudu is still full of bullshit. But it's fun. And he finds a way to make anyone laugh -- even if he has to learn a few words in English to do it.
In the morning, we dragged our bags outside to the taxi so we could be at the station early. I'm glad that I actually got to make the trip during the day instead of the night -- I was able to see all of the mountains. Andre said I was acting like a little kid, so excited to see the mountains. Ohio is flat like S�o Paulo, so mountains are one of those things that I get excited about. I like hills and mountains. When the earth is totally flat, I actually feel uncomfortable.
The nice thing about driving from S�o Paulo to Minas Gerais is the slow, gradual drive up into the mountains. At first you see them from a distance...big green mountains. Then the roads get a little rough, and you start going up hills and making sharp turns. After awhile your ears start to pop from the pressure, and you can actually look down the mountains into small farms and ranches in the valleys next to the highway. So many cows! I even saw a Brazilian cowboy -- gaucho -- today.
We passed the point where we stopped to look at the car from the accident months ago, the place where I took a few pictures that are so beautiful that they look fake, and a statue (whose name I can't remember) wearing a deep purple robe with accents the glittered in the sunlight. Ded� remembers these places better than I do. I barely have a sense of where I am in relation to the places that I know.
Legi�o Urbana was on my MP3 player after Ded� rejected two of my favorite indie bands ("Is this music from Earth?"), which was nice. We both love Legi�o, and it was so nice to listen to him sing along and occasionally translate. I listen to Renato Russo's songs often...but I don't ever have much of a sense of what he's singing about unless it's in English. The music itself is composed in such a way that the emotion is conveyed well but not completely. His music isn't one where the lyrics are the icing on the cake -- his lyrics have meaning and purpose. If I wasn't so lazy, his music would be wonderful for my to practice and improve my Portuguese.
Everyone has been so happy to see me. It's nice. No, it's wonderful. Naldo didn't even run away when pai brought us home. Not all of the presents have been exchanged, but there isn't much left to give. Just a bunch of candy for everyone to share and a few things for me to cook. M�e knitted me a scarf! (Finally, one of my own!) And she gave me the giant chocolate Easter egg that she's been safe-guarding from Andr�'s chocolate cravings.
I was a little spoiled at JP's house, where I had both JP and Andr� to translate (and occasionally Francesca!)...but here, it's just Andr�. If he's busy, then I have a very difficult time trying to understand the people around me. But just having Andre to talk to? That's just fine by me -- we're good company for each other.
At� mais,--Annie