As Promised...

... here is the story of my experience in Poços de Caldas.

I arrived midday on Friday. We spent most of the day just walking around the downtown area and the park. My cousin Rogerio took me to see my uncle (or former uncle? Theyre divorced, how does that work?). He was nothing like how I remember him. He lost a lot of weight and looked like one of those guys that never got over the fact they werent in a successful rock band. Anyway, the conversation was very candid between him and Rogerio, and all of a sudden, the topic became my other cousin's virginity. When she finally showed up (with her boyfriend) he did give her a little talk about it. Seriously, wrong place wrong time. You didnt have to understand what was being said to sense the tension in the room. Later that night, my aunt took me to dinner with her friends. One of her friends has a daughter my age who knows English. We had a great conversation so I was really glad that I went.

My cousin Rogerio didnt have as many hilarious English quotes this time. He actually baffled me. I cant understand him as a person. He is so proud of his Disney DVD collection. He showed it to me, and then tried to show me again 3 or 4 times. He asks me the same questions over and over and over but I cannot figure out why. Is it simply because he cannot remember? Or is there a deeper problem? For example he asks me hourly if I like the Lion King. He burned me Harry Potter DVDs (I got excited here) in Portuguese (and lost it here). So he asked me what Disney DVDs I wanted burned. I told him the Lion King and the Little Mermaid. He told me to pick 3 more so I could have 5. I did. He ended up burning the Return of Jafar for me. And thats it. At dinner, he asked me if I like Coke because he was going shopping and wanted to know what drinks to buy. I said I did, so he bought me a 2 Liter Coke. But today, he asked me again if I like Coke as if he didnt recall ever buying the Coke the day before. We have conversations, so I know he understands most of what Im saying, which makes the whole situation more confusing. He also decides to tell me secrets about himself. Im virtually a stranger so that sort of blows my mind too. Although I suppose I am a safe bet since I dont even have the capacity to tell anyone close to him anything.

Last night we went to my aunt's friend's house, where the girl who spoke English lives. She invited her friend who also spoke English over. They are such nice girls and I learned a lot from them. They are also really interesting and had a lot to say which is obviously great for conversation. They ended up inviting me to go out with them after dinner. It was so much fun. I felt like a normal 19 year old again. We wanted to play pool but the place was really crowded so we didnt. We went to a restaraunt/pub type place, ate some food, and talked. I got back to my aunt's house around 2. I let myself in with my key, and went straight to bed. Of course now its like some joke with my aunt that I was out past like I dont know, 9. Like I am some wild girl who comes in late and plays pool at bars even though literally nothing happened other than myself having actual conversation with cool people. The only reason this makes me mad is because theyre going to tell my dad but forget that its a joke (they know reality) and then Im going to have to explain the real version.

Anyway, I am back in São João and things are going to settle down again. I watched some of Space Jam in Portuguese. I miss that movie. GOOOOOD times, the 90s. Good times.