The past few days have been a bit rough. I spent three days eating little to nothing because I had an upset stomach, diarrhea, exhaustion—it all adds up to a loss of appetite. Today I almost went to the hospital. Cesar came back from the farm to see how I was doing and then we went to the pharmacy. I ate something, Cesar was with me, took my meds; Now I’m feeling quite a bit tired. Still not eating much, stomach turning, but it’s good to be close to Cesar and to not have diarrhea.
On the way here, I rode with Cesar on the moto while Audrey rode with Cesar’s brother and his “wife.” When we reached a certain point and stopped, we continue with Audrey on the moto. It wasn’t very far and was pretty slow, but she LOVED it. I wished I had a video camera on the front of the moto to film it all.
And now I’m here at the farm writing this in Word to post later. I’d hoped to rest some here, but I must be dreaming to think that there’s rest for me in Brazil. When I decided to come, I didn’t know that my sister-in-law would be here—thought I would have some alone/peace and quiet time. She’s dramatic and all about conflict. We got along pretty well from the beginning, but the weight is weighing on me and I just want some release from the negativity and conflict. She’s pretty young though and I think I’ve been there in some way shape or form. I also understand some of the complaints.
On one more down note, I lost my wedding ring. I think I’d rather pass days and days of diarrhea and would trade it all to get my original ring back, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. I took it off to wash laundry and walked away to hang the clothes to dry. In the meantime, one of my sisters-in-law washed her clothes, a cousin washed his and two of the girls in the house took a bath all in that same sink area. We found the outer part (the part the engagement ring sits in after you get married), but it was already a long way from the sink in the water waste behind the house. I’m guessing it washed away to who knows where. May someone find it and God bless them with it, but now I’m going to have to get a new ring and do something the make this new ring worth the meaning of the old one. I’m thinking of getting a set for Cesar and I (finances providing) and surprising him with something special. I don’t know….
7/23/11
If I were in a big city I would either be living by myself doing things for myself or I would have someone working for me to meet the Brazilian standards. It’s not that things are cleaner here because in general they’re not (at least not by Grandma Drake standards), but everything I do, somebody re-does. I’m about ready to just let them think I’m lazy while they do things themselves since they’re going to redo everything anyway.
Now that that little venting tidbit is out of the way, yesterday I went to visit a lady who is the wife of someone Cesar bought some cows and a horse from. They’ve become friends of ours and are indeed a good source of wisdom as they’ve been farming much longer. This lady makes some very very yummy salty snacks. I could have eaten them all and will have to get some recipes before returning to the USA. I’m going to blow people away with salty snack and my new body (I’ve lost about 8 kilos, which is…. I don’t know how many pounds, but I think it’s a lot…. I’m guessing one kilo should be more than 2 lbs simply because if I were 80 kilos (which I wasn’t) when I got here, then at 2lbs, I would have been 160lbs (which I also was not… I was under 80 kilos but over 160 lbs …. Sooooo). Going to keep the final weight out of this blog, but I am fairly happy with it. I just hope I don’t explode to my prior state the moment I get back in the US. The best part is that I’m doing absolutely nothing to get this way. I suppose I’m probably eating less in general because there’s not a lot of ready-to-eat yummy stuff (no chocolate chip cookie dough, cheesecake, French fries, fried chicken). When the food selection is boring, it’s easier not to eat when you’re bored.
P.s. Audrey is here beside me kicking an apple and saying “Goal! Goal!”