Thanksgiving

The weather has been capricious this past week, uncharacteristic of Brasilian summer. We have had quite a bit of rain. No bay area drizzle, its more like torrential downpour with big juicy water droplets and big puddles in the sidewalk. But when its not raining, or threatening to rain, it is hot and sunny. Yesterday I went to the beach because it was a warm sunny Saturday. But as I sat on the sand and looked up at the sky I saw in the distance a HUGE dark grey rain cloud. Sure enough, within a half hour the cloud was upon us and it started to rain. We huddled under an umbrella because it was too heavy to even try to walk home in. The people who work at the beach, however, were not at all beat by the rain. They frolicked in it, sprinting and diving into the water. Rain is the only time they get a little break from their jobs. Soon, we joined them running and splashing in the water. Even in a wet bathing suit, I was never cold. Sure enough, the rain stopped and the sun meekly poked its head back out.

One morning I woke up to this ridiculous downpour. 13 floors below my window is a parking lot with a corrugated tin roof. The sound of the rain is great amplified by the roof

(By the end of the rain, that white wall had broken due to the mudslide that crashed into it)

Anyways, on Thursday night we celebrated Thanksgiving by dressing up and going out to a nice restaurant. There was no Alison-pie, or roasted veggies, or fire in the fireplace, or photo-albums from bike trips but it was still a very nice meal. I was supposed to skype my family at the dinner table, but unfortunately the two times I tried (5pm California time and again at 8pm), I didn't get through.


Me, Gloria (UCSC), and Tami (UCSB)


Me, Daryn (UCLA)


Alex, Me, Daryn, and Chris, all from UCLA


My Crepe...Delicious

Last night I went to a hip hop concert. Hip Hop, prounounced 'hippy-hoppy' in Portuguese, is very uncommon in Brazil. But this concert was a sweet change from all the samba, forro (pronounced foho), pagode (pronounced pago-gee), and reggae (pronounced heg-ee) I have been listening to for the past 3 months. One of the singers was absolutely phenomenal. She was like a combination of Goapele and Lauryn Hill, only in Portuguese. And of course, concerts are very participatory event in Brazil. Dancing and singing along are absolutely mandatory. We didn't get back until 4:45 in the morning. The sky was already lightening.