catching up

so the big birthday surprise...

they all arrived at my house like gangsters ready to rub me out. they peered into my window and tapped with their fingers, unable to control their laughter. i locked the door pretending not to let them in but they assured me i was going to get it sooner or later. so i opened the door and they all filed in, rodrigo holding a single white candle, and they all sang happy birthday to me in portuguese. that was the surprise. it was simple and beautiful.

a lot has been going on and i have not been at the internet for a while. it has been closed because the owner~s pregnant wife has been in the hospital with the swine flu that has been killing people.

tb died. she was missing for about a week and finally lucy found her. a dog got her. i was at the beach when my friends told me and handed me her collar. i lost it. but they went back to burry her and on her grave, they planted a cross, hung her collar and a wreath of flowers. it was beautiful. tb had a good life and i~m glad she got to spend the rest of it romping around the jungle instead of pent up in an apartment in san francisco.

ivo was arrested for buying stolen property. whether or not he knew it was stolen, i don~t know. we are working on our friendship now due to some confusing miscommunication that all began with jujubee.

also, i think i will be moving out of my place at the end of the month and in with rodrigo and rogerio. they were kicked out of their house for smoking weed out front and making a mess of the trash in the back and letting all their friends use the washing machine...
i don~t want to live far from them so i will most likely move into a new house with them until my stay is up in brazil.

summer is approaching and the rain is still here. oh what i would do for a hot day.

i interviewed with the woman who supposedly wanted me to work at her salon, but she doesn~t have any equipment. i mean, no chair, no sink, nada. she is a manicurist. i don~t know what made her think i could work without these necessities. even if i did work here in brazil as a hair stylist, it would not be worth it. a haircut here in rosa is the equivelant of $5. i would rather go to sf and work and continue traveling. if i did work here as a stylist, i would have to go to sao paulo which is out of the question. why would i ever move to the most dangerous city in the country? (again...st. louis was the first)

i am hitting a new cycle of emotion/thought about living here. i am madly missing my friends. but i think these cycles are good for the book. the book series, if i have not mentioned it, will be called 8 and a half months. each chapter (or book, not sure) will be the story of how i lived in each place. i think 8.5 months is the perfect amount of time to get to know a different place, to really let the culture sink in, and to go through these cycles of longing, indifference, adoration and challenge.

and that~s catching up