WEEK 17 IN REVIEW

Monday 1/13

I visited Alejandro and hyis wife Cecilia.  Good conversation for a couple hours.  Asked a lot of questions about the US and my trip.  I realized (again) that I´ve learned a lot.


Tuesday 1/14

I can never sleep before a flight... especially thyis one, I´m SO NERVOUS for Brazil!!!  I don´t speak Portuguese! I ´´know´´ Spanish-speaking South America and I´m comfortable with it -- all of the countries have been comfortable and easy to get used to ... but BRAZIL!

I just finished packing all my stuff ... and I´m ready for tomorrow! As ready as I can be.

It was good to be here (in Chile).  It was some good closure and showed me how much I´ve learned since my mission!  It´s almost exactly 5 years from when I left.  I feel really good about this trip.


Wednesday 1/15

I´m sitting in the airport, planning my trip to Europe, thinking about how awesome my life is.  Seriously!  I´m so privileged!  I am living a dream!  Chile was good -- just what I needed, for my first visit back.  And I´m excited for Brazil! This trip has gone by so fast, and I feel like my life is so much richer, fuller, and more grounded because of what I´ve learned and experienced so far.  I feel like I´ve developed my personality and character even more, lately.  And I feel like I can finally ´´settle down´´ because I´ve LIVED!

This trip has opened my mind, opened my eyes, and set me free.  I use my eyes better, and I observe more.  I sit still better.  I got used to no cell phone and texting and mobile Internet.  I THINK a lot more, even thoughy I already did a lot of that before!  I feel content almost all of the time.  I eat less, I sleep more, I pay more attention to my body AND my spirit.  I listen to myself better and I figure out what I really want, now.  Things are just ... different.  And better.  I feel like the quality of my life increased.

(later) I´M IN BRAZIL AND I LOVE IT!!!!  It´s so awesome here.

I´m exhausted though; I got in at 9pm, home by 10:00pm.  We ate sushi (veg for me) and I´m starting to seriously love it! And I feel so cultured and refined, hahaha.


Thursday 1/16

This is exactly where I´m supposed to be.


Friday 1/17

We watched Frozen in 3D (in Portuguese) at the theatre!


Saturday 1/18

Today was good!  We went to the zoo and saw some crazy new animals!  Hello, South America and the Amazon!  And I´m in love with the food here, the beans are amazing, the bread is amazing, the fruit is amazing, I´m amazed.


Sunday 1/19

Time is already flying ... I AM LOVING BRAZIL!!!  We´ve done a lot!

Church was good, I understood most of it.  I´m shy to talk to people, thoughy.  I hate asking, ´´what?´´ 17 times in a row, and now being able to say what I want.  But my comprehension has increased a lot!

The food here ... is delicious. Bread, pasta, beans, rice, fruit, fresh juice, coconut water from a real coconut, Tapioca (which is a fluffy pastry-like cake that´s crunchy outside and dough inside, either with cheese or coconut/sweetened condensed milk) - I was in HEAVEN!  And the produce, it´s beautiful.  I´m just in love.

We walked around the center of Sao Paulo and I took 7 videos of awesome things!  Capoeira, drummers, Tapioca, fruit juice shop, huge cathyedral that we toured, a movie or photoshoot being filmed in the street, and Chinatown.  I skyped with my fam for a while, too.  Loved it!