..... It's been a while since my last post. Continuing my blogging has proven to be quite difficult this month due to the craziness of each day, bad weather destroying the internet,and the fact that when I finally get some time to myself, I am usually in a place with no internet, and I am dead tired.
I apologize for the absence of recipes along with everything else, but I spent this month lost in a limbo of life, carving out my mode of operation in this world.
The weather here has really warmed up since my arrival and the rain has finally come in on a pretty frequent basis. Some days, it's hot, humid, and bright... My body starts to get sticky right after I take a shower and I end the day smelling sour, rubbing black grime of my skin. Other days, the sky is overcast, and an immense wall of humidity hangs in the air, waiting for the moments when the change in pressure will release a torrent of rain, so abundant and powerful that streets (like mine for example) turn into rivers within minutes. After these rainy days, roads are covered in red dirt and huge pieces of rock that were carried from some distant place... On other days, my favorite days, the sky is neither bright nor overcast, the weather is cool, and a light breeze alternates with small, sprinkling showers. The nights of these days are equally splendid, and I close my eyes and drift into sleep while listening to the gentle patter of raindrops on top of my building. On these days, from the sound and the smell, I remember similar days in Hawaii, sitting inside, relaxing, listening to the rain... And I remember spotty things from my childhood, like listening to my mom or dad wash one of the cars in the driveway, hearing the water ricocheting of the car and how similar that sound is to music of the rainfall here.
I finally fixed all my plumbing all by myself... If someone were to ask me now, "what is the most difficult thing about Brazil?", I would answer "Time". Straight up. Time. Everything takes a LONG ass time. For almost two and half weeks my water dripped, drippity, dropped from the shower, the sinks, inside the toilet... everywhere it could. I can't remember if I've said this before, but turning my water on to brush my teeth or take a shower was like tuning an enormous radio, requiring the manipulation and turning of so many different knobs! For days, the maintenance guys never came and finally, Kenia took me to the hardware store where I bought a new seal for the piping. One night, as the sound of dripping water began to drive me into a rage, I woke up, I think at 1am, took my Leatherman tool, and proceeded to dismantle and rebuild my shower. In the morning, when I woke up, my plumbing was finally working, no more water was dripping, and I was an expert on Brazilian shower systems!
After days of throwing myself to the wind, I also finally got hooked up with a steady job. I won't say where or how I got it, since I still don't have a work visa, but it is a professional job helping with import/export and I am forever indebted to those who helped me get it. Monday through Friday, from 9:45 to 6pm, I sit at my desk (My own desk! lol) and seek out product manufacturers in China and other places, negotiate deals with them, verify their companies, and arrange for the payment and shipment of the items. In the beginning it was a crazy affair since NONE of my co-workers speak a lick of English. So there I am, sitting in this office, messaging people in China, in Chinese and then reporting the information to my boss, in Portuguese, and lost in the middle, my own mind is thinking in English... On really long days, one of my co-workers will say something, and I swear they are speaking Chinese! It's a great job and I find it really utilizes all of my skills and things I studied in school.
One of the most satisfying things for me is that I get to demonstrate that people who study political science are not just trained to tell you about Republicans and Democrats. Sure, American politics is a big part of the scene, but for many of us, our educations encompassed things like sociology, anthropology, history, economics, languages, writing, speaking, debate, negotiation, law, trade and a slew of other things that are lost in the name of the study. I've had people in the jewelry business ask me before, "What do you know about business and making deals? It has nothing to do with your politics?"... This always causes me to think about all the negotiations and strategies I have had to study and for some, have been trained to execute... Nuclear threats... Trade embargoes... Cease-fires... Peace Treaties... Intelligence gathering... Military strategy... Carbon credits... Hostage exchanges... declarations of war, and many other things that determine the life or death of people and economies which allow business to take place. Sure, I haven't gone to business school and I can't sit and tell you specifics about tax forms, but I can tell you about what is required to be present in civilization for those things to even be valid. Dealing with the business of products is actually a fresh breath of air from dealing with the balance of human life. Some people out there could come in with a real anti-establishment point now, calling attention to the whole "no more countries, only companies" argument, backed by the thought that humans are just treated like numbers now, and their is some truth to that, but I've seen different. There are still times in life, when some humans try with all their might, to save the lives of others, knowing that in the end, they will receive no reward and possibly no gratitude from those they help, and trust me, those negotiations are like a Sunday picnic compare to shipping 5,000 scooters from one place to another.... Ok, I'm rambling.
So... hmmm... Ah yes... I don't want to complain about it too much, but I find myself talking about it a lot because it scares me. I am pretty sure that I really messed up the meniscus in my knee and I cannot run anymore. However, I have been continuing to stay active each day and have taken to bicycle riding. Also, I found myself to be both sad and afraid with the thought of never doing jiu jitsu again and from that fear and sadness, stemmed an overwhelming sense of determination. No. I will not sit and be injured. I will not surrender to something that was not my choice. Dear knee... I'll tell you the same thing I told my shoulder... We, the body and mind, are going to continue training. Either sack up and get back on board, or prepare to face your doom.... Sure, it's stubborn and downright stupid. A lot of people, especially my mom would scoff at this mentality, but I'm sorry. I spent so much of my life fat, weak and out of shape. Getting picked on and all that crap. I will never go back. I would rather destroy myself than succumb to weakness. However, it's not like I'm planning on taking a hammer and hitting my hurt knee with it everyday.. I will continue to train responsibly and to the maximum of my abilities with 100% effort. I plan to head to jiu jitsu next week. In my life I have come to learn that when things are difficult or uncertain, refuge and answers may be found in the fortress of martial arts.
I apologize for the absence of recipes along with everything else, but I spent this month lost in a limbo of life, carving out my mode of operation in this world.
The weather here has really warmed up since my arrival and the rain has finally come in on a pretty frequent basis. Some days, it's hot, humid, and bright... My body starts to get sticky right after I take a shower and I end the day smelling sour, rubbing black grime of my skin. Other days, the sky is overcast, and an immense wall of humidity hangs in the air, waiting for the moments when the change in pressure will release a torrent of rain, so abundant and powerful that streets (like mine for example) turn into rivers within minutes. After these rainy days, roads are covered in red dirt and huge pieces of rock that were carried from some distant place... On other days, my favorite days, the sky is neither bright nor overcast, the weather is cool, and a light breeze alternates with small, sprinkling showers. The nights of these days are equally splendid, and I close my eyes and drift into sleep while listening to the gentle patter of raindrops on top of my building. On these days, from the sound and the smell, I remember similar days in Hawaii, sitting inside, relaxing, listening to the rain... And I remember spotty things from my childhood, like listening to my mom or dad wash one of the cars in the driveway, hearing the water ricocheting of the car and how similar that sound is to music of the rainfall here.
I finally fixed all my plumbing all by myself... If someone were to ask me now, "what is the most difficult thing about Brazil?", I would answer "Time". Straight up. Time. Everything takes a LONG ass time. For almost two and half weeks my water dripped, drippity, dropped from the shower, the sinks, inside the toilet... everywhere it could. I can't remember if I've said this before, but turning my water on to brush my teeth or take a shower was like tuning an enormous radio, requiring the manipulation and turning of so many different knobs! For days, the maintenance guys never came and finally, Kenia took me to the hardware store where I bought a new seal for the piping. One night, as the sound of dripping water began to drive me into a rage, I woke up, I think at 1am, took my Leatherman tool, and proceeded to dismantle and rebuild my shower. In the morning, when I woke up, my plumbing was finally working, no more water was dripping, and I was an expert on Brazilian shower systems!
After days of throwing myself to the wind, I also finally got hooked up with a steady job. I won't say where or how I got it, since I still don't have a work visa, but it is a professional job helping with import/export and I am forever indebted to those who helped me get it. Monday through Friday, from 9:45 to 6pm, I sit at my desk (My own desk! lol) and seek out product manufacturers in China and other places, negotiate deals with them, verify their companies, and arrange for the payment and shipment of the items. In the beginning it was a crazy affair since NONE of my co-workers speak a lick of English. So there I am, sitting in this office, messaging people in China, in Chinese and then reporting the information to my boss, in Portuguese, and lost in the middle, my own mind is thinking in English... On really long days, one of my co-workers will say something, and I swear they are speaking Chinese! It's a great job and I find it really utilizes all of my skills and things I studied in school.
One of the most satisfying things for me is that I get to demonstrate that people who study political science are not just trained to tell you about Republicans and Democrats. Sure, American politics is a big part of the scene, but for many of us, our educations encompassed things like sociology, anthropology, history, economics, languages, writing, speaking, debate, negotiation, law, trade and a slew of other things that are lost in the name of the study. I've had people in the jewelry business ask me before, "What do you know about business and making deals? It has nothing to do with your politics?"... This always causes me to think about all the negotiations and strategies I have had to study and for some, have been trained to execute... Nuclear threats... Trade embargoes... Cease-fires... Peace Treaties... Intelligence gathering... Military strategy... Carbon credits... Hostage exchanges... declarations of war, and many other things that determine the life or death of people and economies which allow business to take place. Sure, I haven't gone to business school and I can't sit and tell you specifics about tax forms, but I can tell you about what is required to be present in civilization for those things to even be valid. Dealing with the business of products is actually a fresh breath of air from dealing with the balance of human life. Some people out there could come in with a real anti-establishment point now, calling attention to the whole "no more countries, only companies" argument, backed by the thought that humans are just treated like numbers now, and their is some truth to that, but I've seen different. There are still times in life, when some humans try with all their might, to save the lives of others, knowing that in the end, they will receive no reward and possibly no gratitude from those they help, and trust me, those negotiations are like a Sunday picnic compare to shipping 5,000 scooters from one place to another.... Ok, I'm rambling.
So... hmmm... Ah yes... I don't want to complain about it too much, but I find myself talking about it a lot because it scares me. I am pretty sure that I really messed up the meniscus in my knee and I cannot run anymore. However, I have been continuing to stay active each day and have taken to bicycle riding. Also, I found myself to be both sad and afraid with the thought of never doing jiu jitsu again and from that fear and sadness, stemmed an overwhelming sense of determination. No. I will not sit and be injured. I will not surrender to something that was not my choice. Dear knee... I'll tell you the same thing I told my shoulder... We, the body and mind, are going to continue training. Either sack up and get back on board, or prepare to face your doom.... Sure, it's stubborn and downright stupid. A lot of people, especially my mom would scoff at this mentality, but I'm sorry. I spent so much of my life fat, weak and out of shape. Getting picked on and all that crap. I will never go back. I would rather destroy myself than succumb to weakness. However, it's not like I'm planning on taking a hammer and hitting my hurt knee with it everyday.. I will continue to train responsibly and to the maximum of my abilities with 100% effort. I plan to head to jiu jitsu next week. In my life I have come to learn that when things are difficult or uncertain, refuge and answers may be found in the fortress of martial arts.
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