This week is the city celebration in Ourelandia, the next town over, and we’ve been pretty busy, even though we’ve only gone there once. Thursday we went to see Damares, a Christian singer, but a bunch of churches had to perform and preach and such before her and the show didn’t start until around midnight, so we listened to two songs and left. That day I got a mani-pedi (which costs $R20, an equivalent of about 15USD… hehe), and then Wattyna took me to a place where she used to work to get makeup done. I said “natural” and they thought “dramatic.” I think balance is lost in this place. haha. We did walk around quite a bit before the show, and there are a lot of indigenous people selling different crafts there, so Wattyna and I both bought a hair stick with feathers. It’s cute even though I don’t really know how to use it.
Yesterday we went to the farm, planning on staying until Monday, but Cesar’s mom wanted him to come back today (probably to see an aunt who came in from out of town just for the day). I’m starting to think my horse campaign is just a dream though. If he won’t even get one of the horses already in the pasture for me, what makes me think we’re going to go out of our way to buy one of our own (the ones in the pasture belong mostly to Cesar’s nephew). So this morning we cleaned up the whole farmhouse and that was that.
Some interesting things you might not know:
Here almost nobody has a washer/dryer. There is a machine that basically just spins the clothes around in the water and detergent, and there are usually two outdoor sinks that you fill up with water to rinse, rinse again, then throw the clothes in a bucket of softener and then twist the clothes and hang them (now that I’m writing this, I feel like I’ve written this before, but just in case I haven’t, I’ll leave it). I just wish they’d let me wash my own clothes and develop my own system, but I suppose that’s what happens when you live with a bunch of people who want to run the house… someday I’ll have a place that I run, but now’s not that time.
I’m learning a lot about seasons. Here there’s summer (dry and hot) and winter (hot and rainy). But more than that, seasons of life. Who knows how long we’ll be here and what will happen next. We have to live taking care of what we can where we can. Cesar’s mom’s house sold and we all (all 11+ of us) have 90 days to vacate. Talk about rearranging! Cesar’s mom wants to set up a shop out of town and then move and live out of state. How she plans to make that work– I’ve no idea. Our plans are to stick close to the farm where we have our investments. Cesar is helping to handle his mom’s money now, and part of it will go towards farm investing. On Tuesday we’ll be leaving to spend a little less than a week on the farm, and we’ll be taking 500 chicks with us! I don’t know where we’ll be in 90 days, but I have a feeling that however temporary our stay here in Brazil is, we’ll have to spend some money fixing up the farm house (the cushions are very very very old and gross, I want to close up the ceilings so less bugs can get in and seal the walls, if possible…. Worse comes to worse we buy mosquito nets and let the house open as it is now (there are doors and windows, but the ceilings open to the outside)
I think a lot about my role and where I’m supposed to be. I’m still not sure. I’m still treated very much like a visitor, which doesn’t give me much of a place. There really are too many women in this house for me to even try to take over some of the duties, so I do spend a lot of my time working on the computer or going out and about with Wattyna. I’m making a list of things to buy and bring for some of the family here as well as things I’d like to take back to the USA with me so that our apartment when we move back can have a taste of Para to it.
Any requests from you guys? Things you want me to bring or stories you want to hear?
Products of the week:
Boticaro– Brazilian brand perfume and Audrey’s favorite store. She goes around the store smelling everything and going “Mmmmm. Sheiroso (which means it smells good).”
Hammocks– I want at least two to take back with me: One for our deck (I figure most apartments have a deck) and one for indoor use. How cool would it be to hang out and watch a movie in a hammock? I dunno… maybe it’s just me…..