This Blogs For You

“Quem entrou na chuva é para se molhar”....   

“Who came in the rain is too wet”-

This is a comment from someone from Brasil reading my blog.  I think this next Blog is not only important but long overdue.  I just never had the right platform.

I write my blog in English because for a month North America was my only audience, now I have an audience in Brasil and other parts of the world.  I have students, friends, people who I do not know and family reading my blog in Brasil and I am grateful.   Just as I am grateful to experience this Country. 

One of my last blogs was “Lost in Translation”, it came about because some people in my family were taking offence to what I was writing in my blog.   I think there is a serious disconnect between what I think I am saying and how it is being taken.  Not sure if it is all Brazilians, so just in case there are more of you out there “this blogs for you”. 

How can I understand something that I have not experienced?   Thus the basis for my blog.  Beyond the structure of basic survival there is the way that something’s are just done.  It has been done that way and has evolved for so many years that it is the Culture.  Whether it is the roles played by men & women in society, how a family relates to one another, how business is done or what a handshake truly means.   It is true that I am American but I am also a mother, sister, daughter, wife, friend and Aunt.  The emotions are the same either it be in America, Europe, China, Brasil and so on.  Love and respect is abundant in all countries. 

For those who choose to see negativity, I think it is because you do not know me.  Let give you some insight of who I am. 

Truth is, I don’t know if I have ever fit in anywhere except with my husband.  

  

I grew up in North Platte Nebraska, I couldn’t stand it when I was in high school but I thank god every day that I was from there.  It was a small town in the middle of nowhere.  People are nice and we had a great sense of community.  When I was in high school I was a bit depressed because I wanted more.  My family traveled so I knew more was out there, but I wanted it now.  I think New Hampshire, Maine and Virginia are the only states that I haven’t seen for myself.   Moved to Texas for school then as far North as possible, Alaska.

After college I moved to Alaska, because I thought it was about as close to being out of America that I could get and still be able to function on my own.  It was the first time in a long time that I felt that I belonged.  Adventure was everywhere.  The first time that I went SCUBA diving was February in Alaska, thanks you know who.  I was underwater with 20-30 sea lions swimming around me, everything was an adventure. 

I am not sure if I ever fit in my family either.  I always felt alone and truth be told, this was what I wanted.

I had the choice to travel to Europe with friends, but I chose to go alone.  I read in a book that women who travel alone in Europe have the most fun.  That was enough for me, never even read past that first page.  I bought a train ticket and traveled to as many countries as I could in a month and a half, just feeling it out day by day.  I did Rome in one day on a bike by myself.  Came back covered in mud but I went everywhere.  Most of the time I didn’t even know what I was looking at. 

I always thought of myself as one of the guys, I hated to be sent off with the girls on a shopping trip, I wanted to shoot guns, drink beer and bullshit.  I am a great shot by the way.  I love to go to movies alone, I like to shop only when I need something and I look at life with humor. 

I love politics and hate ignorance.  I can’t believe that Americans put up with our Government, but I did.  I listened to talk radio every day, watched the news not stop and talked with my friends but believed I couldn’t do anything either.  I wanted to keep my mouth shut because I feared my Government too.  Didn’t want to think that I did, but I did. 

The middle class is being stolen, the rich get richer in our down economy and they feed us so much high fructose corn syrup that we can’t even think straight.   I’ve said it before but right now the guys that pull the strings are getting ready to sell us the next big thing… Our President.   People stay content fighting and dividing over one issue whether it is guns, abortion or religion.  The media tells us what to think and what to wear, it is impossible to know if it is your own thought or theirs. 

I was one of the first to experience the economic frustrations and problems.  I am not afraid to talk about money trouble, politics and religion.  I lived with money one day and had nothing the next always chasing the American Dream.  I have had it all and gave it back, I don’t want it.  I don’t want debt, cars that I do not own; I don’t even want a mortgage.  I am tired of being tied down by the stress of day to day life and then the need to keep up with the Jones’s. 

Personally, I came to Brasil to get a shock, a huge jolt so that I could step back and view the world from a new point a view, we also have people here to love and that need us and It is the best gift I could ever give to my children whether they see it now or not.

As a kid I was someone who saw my family go to work every day.  My parents worked hard for everything they had.  We had a nice house but it wasn’t full of expensive things.  My family wasn’t too big but my family also consisted of my friends families. 

Am I arrogant? Never thought of myself as arrogant, but I think many countries see Americans as arrogant.  All countries have some issues with Americans.  We stick our nose into everybody’s business and ask them to say thank you.   When I traveled Europe people told me to put a Canadian Flag on my back pack because I was American.  I don’t feel better than anyone else, I have had different experiences and I do appreciate that I was born in America.  I married a Brazilian and before that I used to date people from other countries.  People are the same everywhere.  People are good, bad, greedy, happy, unhappy, adventurous, clueless, smart, boring, caring, creepy  & crappy everywhere you go.

   

I don’t see Brasil as a third world country; I don’t even know what that would look like.  I see caring, loving, hardworking people every day just like in America.  All Americans aren’t educated either and some can’t even read.  The only difference is that we had a middle class and now Brasil is getting one.

To end my blog today, I will say.  It is true there are differences; I didn’t say they were good or bad, just different.  Just like you and me.