New memory dump

I haven’t written a blog in a really long time. I tried, but after a while it became something daunting instead of something fun. But I’m here now starting because I’m trying to watch videos on my computer and my internet keeps shutting off. This has left me extremely frustrated. First world problems, I know.

 Anyways, Luciana is an English language cat now. She thinks her name is kitty. She’s in her hunting/playing stages of growth so she “attacks” everything that moves. And things that don’t move. Someone told me that she’s supposed to kill the “baratas” a.k.a. roaches, but she doesn’t. She just wants to play with them. Priscilla is teaching Michol and I Portuguese grammar. It’s really helpful because grammatically correct Portuguese (which I learned at school) sounds nothing like spoken language. Alessandra is also teaching Michol and I how to drive stick. We both bought international driver’s licenses (yes, we’re legal) and we’re doing pretty good as far as I’m concerned. As I mentioned before, Araguaina is a clay/sand-covered city of hills so reversing into a two-point turn up a sandy slope on my first day was victory in my eyes,lol.

 Another student of ours, Glau, mentioned that she was taking guitar lessons for free at the city’s cultural space (that’s literally what it translates to) and that she would talk to the guy about seeing if we could take some too. So, she invited us to her class and we start on Monday! It just so happened that yesterday was his students’ recital so he invited us back to hear everyone else play. I really enjoyed it and I’m excited. Maybe one day before we leave that could be us up there :) Doña Esmeralda has started teaching me how to embroider. She told me she’s been embroidering since she was 12 back in the days before they made fabric with the holes already in it. Naturally she can move up and down and left to right without thinking about it. I on the other hand have to put meticulous effort into figuring out which next move will not only complete my x but leave the thread in the position I need it to successfully change directions. The other day she told me that something is only hard when you don’t know how to do it. I mean it made sense to me,lol.

 “Com tempo” That’s my new catch phrase. I also successfully made a pot of rice yesterday. For some people this may seem like a trivial feat. I on the other hand am just now learning to cook and cooking a pot of non-sticky rice was step one of a long, creative process of survival skill acquisition. So there you have it. Progress update on some of my Araguaina life goals. Um beijo.