Tudo Bem. Everything's Good.

Yesterday I returned from Raicao Gaia in Pantano Grande. It's a beautiful place founded on the principal that human beings should live as conscientious members of a greater ecosystem. The folks there grow what they eat, and they teach their visitors about the land they use and how they use it. It's a little like the folks associated with WWOOF.

I'm not sure of the objectives for the mid camp. Presumably the organization, ABIC, wanted to collect information about our travel plans, since in January we all of 4 weeks free from our projects. Another goal for our round table discussions was to inform the three girls preparing to travel to Europe about the types of projects that they're likely to encounter. The other exchangees received the letters that they wrote to themselves 3 months ago (I received the letter that I wrote to myself from my sending organization 3 weeks ago). So, certainly, one aim of the camp was to encourage reflection. Still while abundant free time was worked into the schedule, there was no time set aside to sit individually and quietly. But then I suppose everyone has different methods of spending time with their thoughts. I prefer to stop talking and to pick up a pen.

When I did finally exctricate myself from the group, in perfect introvert form (a silent panic in reaction to negligible and incessant babble from 25 other people), I wrote that listening to German, English and Portuguese at at once is like listening to music or eating a salad of basil, sliced peach, almonds, sprouts, sweet peppers and arugala. They're a multitude of flavors that seem not to match but which, in reality, complement and accent one another. Anyway, I was reminded of my trip to Caxias 2 weeks ago. I went to a language school there, along with another exchange, to talk about my country. It was a super pleasant experience. We walked in to see 60 empty chairs and several smiling women who offered us snacks and gave us a tour of the classrooms. Once the chairs were full, a couple of interesting things happened. After my presentation there was a question and answer session in which I was asked two difficult questions. One of which I'm not certain I actually answered. The first question was, "How do you feel about encountering so many non-native English speakers?" The other thing is that after Max's presenation about Germany he got stuck in a conversation about whether Germans are xenophobic. Every traveller from any country is treated as though he or she is responsible for the entire history of the country that he or she was raised in. A country is a heavy thing to have to carry around.

Part of my answer was that I find it frustrating that when I speak to people they do not understand the subtexts or the implications of what I say. I have a similar frustration with all of the things that are lost in translation when I listen to a Brasileiro speak in Portuguese. Language is intimately connected to shared culture, but still language is transient. When it commutes to a new country or series of countries it develops new branches and loses some roots. Even in conversation with the two British exchanges here it is difficult to communicate all of what I can communicate with another person from the states. We share a native language and a connected history, but two entirely different cultures. Of course, the differences lead to interesting conversations about race and segregation and travel and family values. The micro language faux pas lead to funny discussions about double entandres. Sometimes beautiful phrases come out of people's mouths when they're fumbling with a new language.

The other question was,"Who are your idols." How odd to receive a question like this. Interesting that solely by virtue of having been born and raised in an English speaking country my status was elevated (if only for an hour) to that of a d list celebrity. My first thought was "What?", and the second was "How the f am I supposed to answer that question?" So what I said was, "um. I like writers a lot. I could tell you who I'd like to meet," but that didn't work, so I said something along the lines of: I'm truly inspired by regular people who make it through their lives with some happiness. Living is not easy, and I think it's good to celebrate people who manage to be happy while they're going through it. I probably should have said, Mother Teresa or Ghandi or Marin Luther King, Jr., but I'll stick with my answer. And the person I'd most like to have dinner with is James Baldwin.

And you? Which person (living or dead and famous or not) would you like to meet for:

Breakfast with? Audre Lorde
Coffee? Charles Bukowski
Lunch? Kim Ki Duk (the guy who directed 3 Iron)
A drink? Haruki Murakami
Dinner? James Baldwin
Drinks? either the fellow who started The Moth reading series or The folks who created This American Life.

All of these instances of breaking bread are good for different types of conversations. Choose wisely.

To be honest I still haven't made any decisions about what to do when I return to the states. I have started to think about what to do for my free 6 weeks. I am going to join WWOOF and volunteer on a farm for a month. They'll feed me and give me shelter. I'll do manual labor, learn about organic farming, meet other travellers, and see a little more of Brasil. After that I'll make my way to a mountain or a waterfall to camp for my birthday, and if I've joined couchsurfing.com in case I need a place to stay or I get lonely. Next, I'll come back to Porto Alegre to attend the World Social Forum. When that ends it will be February and I'll have 2 weeks left. Who knows how I'll spend it. Oh wait, the second one is Carnival. I'm going to celebrate with the rest of the country.

A couple of people asked about my transistion from Jacque's house to Cinthia's house. I didn't write about it, because I can't think of a nice way to say what I want to say about my experience at Jacque's home, and it's nothing to dwell on. And the biggest issue between Jacque and I is that I'm too independent to live in her home. Cinthia has been lovely, but she'll be going on vacation for the month of December, so I'll be moving in with an older couple who live in Petropolis. It is a lovely neighborhood, and I'm sure they'll be very nice people.