saudade ("sow-dajee" = missing/yearning)

So I've been back from Brasil for nearly two weeks. This trip turned out to be just what I needed, both academically and personally. It taught me several things but the most important thing I learned came out of experiencing a lifestyle that incorporates productivity and relaxation--the Brasilheiros get it, they really do. Work hard, play hard, and take some time to dance whenever you can. Oh, and cachacas can cure anything.

While the logistics of the trip were absurd--with great thanks to WSU for fucking up a lot of things--the experience itself was fantastic. I got to see a small part of that country and what I did see was beautiful, bright, tragic, dirty, spectacular, and heart-warming depending where we were.

I can't say that I have a favourite part, really, but some of the most poignant memories include:

-night-driving to Rio in a non-power-steering, 5-speed Fiat around "curvos perigrosos" (dangerous curves)
-seeing the lights of Belo Horizonte from a hilltop "forro" bar (type of dance similar to lambada)
-spending time with a truly international group at a cafe in Savassi (we had people from Greece, Lebanon, Britain, Brasil, France, New Zealand, and North America in one place, drinking beer, talking about travel and the world cup)
-experiencing a futbol game at Minerao stadium (unbelieveable!)
-enjoying the magical meats at any of the churrascarias we visited, and
-swimming ever-so-briefly in the frigid pool beneath the third tallest waterfall in Brasil (and the tallest in the state of Minas Gerais)

And the people: someone once told me that people/friendships come into our lives for a reason, a season, or for life. I made some good friends there, improved my friendships with my travelling buddies, and encountered some people who, for one reason or another, will remain as really great memories of an exciting time in my life. I think of them often, keep in touch with a few, and hope that our lives will eventually intersect again, but it will never be as it was. Sad, I guess, but wonderful to have shared that time and happy that I had the experience.

Now, as I sit here in Windsor, having gone through week one of the semester, there's a bittersweet sensation I can't seem to shake. I'm sad to have left and was happy with who I became while there, but there's something comforting and calming about home, especially in the fall. The smell of the trees and that slight shift in the air that indicates the change of seasons reminds me of the great things I have here. Brasil is Brasil. Home is home.

So, I'm back. I'm here. Physically, yes, but mentally, not always. I s'pose that will change eventually, but for now I'm enjoying looking out the window at the changing leaves of home and occasionally remembering the hills of Minas Gerais.