Sometimes I don’t always say the crazy things that I see every day in my neighborhood. For instance, in my neighborhood many people only ride bikes for transportation and going double on a bike is very common (boyfriends/girlfriends, Friends, and Families). I have seen a family of four on a bike many times. From the first moment I thought… I want a bicycle. Then there is the for hire horse pulling a trailer used as a moving/delivery truck, the cows that walk around in the morning on the streets going through trash, the construction workers in thongs or people riding motorcycles barefoot and you know what I think? I want a horse.
Then other times when life is hard…I think why are you so fucking understanding? What is normal anyway? I have had many head trips over the last year and finally I think I am starting to figure out one thing…That comparing two countries as different as the U.S.A & Brasil is impossible. Remember the old saying “you can’t compare Apples and Oranges?” Sometimes I like to repeat those sayings but never really think about how they apply to me. Rodrigo has said to me, since my arrival, stop comparing! Stop trying to see Brasil through American eyes…however, it was a personal journey no doubt and I wanted to feel it all. I think I am in need of a vacation to America to process this last year of my life and when I return, it will be time to get busy fitting in. Cuz wherever you go; foreign country, shitty job or drinking on an island…There you are.
So since I started out with what I see daily in my neighborhood, let me give you another fun example. One Saturday as we were coming home from the Trout Farm this is what saw as we entered into my neighborhood. 1st there was an older lady walking hand in hand with a naked 2 year old baby boy down the main road. Then a minute later there were 3 guys on bikes pushing our car into the oncoming traffic instead of moving to the side of the road, then as we turned onto our street there were 2 horses walking down the street side by side. Good thing we were home. However the most surprising was last Thursday when the kids and I walked down to pick up our pizza and on our way back there were 50 cows being herded down the middle of the street. Ben got scared and I thought if this was Nebraska and we were in the middle of the field; we’d better run. However, in the middle of the neighborhood and assuming that the cows are used to people, I realized that we were safer than we thought and maybe this would be a great time for Gabi to pet her first Cow. J
