It’s World Cup time! Ever tuned into a professional soccer game? Has it ever struck you how dramatic the injuries are? And despite that how astonishingly quick the recovery times are? Some of the players seem to be weebles–knock them down and they wobble about and pop right back up! And there is no player more infamous for this in Brazil than their own golden boy, Neymar. Brazilians still love a good meme Brazilians treat everyone like family. This can be good; they’re renowned for being welcoming to strangers. At the same time, it also means that they will grace you with their opinion on how ..read more

I’ve joined a writing class. In Portuguese. Yeah, it’s going as you’d expect: it’s a lesson in humility. Take action or stop complaining The thing is, you can complain about something or you can go learn to do better. I’m good enough at Portuguese these days that I know I have my failings and where they are more or less, but not good enough to know how to fix them. And my co-workers are getting overwhelmed with my questions of: “But WHY do you say it like that?” It was time for some tough love. It was time to seek out an expert. Classes on the hilltop So every Tuesday at 4:30pm, I trudge past ..read more

There are two bars of fuel in my tank. That’s approximately 10 liters and when that’s gone there might be no more. Our town is running dry. We were lucky enough that the propane tank on our stove ran out on Friday. Inconvenient, it meant that we had a take-out lunch rather than a home-cooked one (truth be told, this Momma wasn’t too disappointed at not having to cook, but it was a hit to this week’s spending cash in addition to the cost of the tank). We bought a new tank for the normal R$65; now they are selling for R$85. Over 20% more. What was a momentary inconvenience in retrospect was ..read more

Last week Facebook gave me a flashback to an old memory. Just after we came to the farm six years ago, I achieved a feat of true endurance and moved 33 wheelbarrows of dirt in one day–wildly surpassing the work of the men. This memory happened in the same week that there was lots of after-discussion of how American Desiree Linden conquered the Boston Marathon, winning the race far ahead of her other female competitors in a torrential downpour and freezing temperatures. What do women, wheelbarrows, and marathons have in common? Endurance. Women crushed the Boston Marathon this year Collectivel ..read more

Yesterday I had a life lesson served up to me by a little tree frog. We’ve all been in his shoes…He was just minding his business, having a day, and he decided to sit down on a bench to rest. And then it started to rain. And then someone went and pulled the bench out from under him! We’ve all had the rug tugged out from under our feet more than once. Your world starts shaking, and everything is in play. And often the very best thing you can do is to HOLD ON until you can get your bearings. So when you’re having one of those days, I suggest you remember this tree frog. Hang strong, my frie ..read more

Ever have one of those days where it feels like you just can’t do anything right? That you have to scrap everything and just start from zero again? Yeah. Me too. Today was one of those days. I pulled my car to the curb and sighed one of those sighs that wheeze out of your lungs and just leave your limbs feeling heavier than before you started. Sitting in the parked car I contemplated going back into school to grind my way through teaching my last few classes of the day. “Ice cream cone. Today deserves a goddamned ice cream cone!” I growled as I heaved out of the car. I made a bee-line for the ..read more

It’s International Women’s Day! Hooray! We don’t celebrate it much in the United States but every Latin-American country I’ve visited takes it really seriously. Good for them! So here I am in a school presentation about how marvelous women are, and I can’t help but think to myself: Why, but WHY, is the airtime today, of all days, being dominated by a man? But really, what are you doing up there? The same politician who seems to show up at all this town’s community events is talking yet again. He’s going on and on about all the marvelous, caring, responsible women this community ..read more

The dogs were barking up a racket last night. It was clear that there was something in the yard–they don’t bark like that when discussing territorial politics with the neighbor dogs–so we went out on the veranda with flashlights to investigate. We were so glad that we did! We had a late night visitor, and if we had let the dogs continue their “welcoming party” antics much longer, everyone would have regretted it. As it was, we got a good glimpse for the first time in our lives of a Brazilian porcupine. Even Mr. Crônicas who grew up on a farm had never seeon one! I had seen the spines in the mo ..read more

Oh, these Brazilians do love their English. They’ll put it on anything. Sometimes they like to mix and match. They often have no idea what they’re actually saying. So I had a good chuckle when my very god-fearing in-laws checked in on Facebook at the “Top Less” Restaurant for lunch in São Paolo. oh. MY. It’s funny to us English speakers, but it’s got a certain logic in Portuguese. See… “TOP” is slang in Brazil for “awesome.” “How was that show?” “Top.” “I got a new car.” “I know; I saw it. Top.” So I know what happened. Someone said, “Our food’s awesome! It’s TOP.” Someone else sai ..read more

Lula speaking to the crowd The town’s been talking about it–rightfully so–all week ever since the loudspeaker-car drove around town announcing it on Monday. “Lula’s coming!” For those of you not immersed in Brazilian politics, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva–better known as “Lula” because Brazilians love their nicknames–was President of Brazil for two terms, from 2003 to 2011, and many credit him and his policies for pulling the nation out of poverty and into BRIC status. He tapped a successor, Dilma Rouseff, who was woefully inexperienced and inept in national politics, and she was recently impeach ..read more