24 Hours in Brazil

I'm going to stay a bit more than 24 hours here, but the first 24 were great so far.

The only downside is that I basically lost my voice since I'm recovering from a sore throat (probably a pharyngitis) and all I want to do here is talking to people.

I had a great lunch with my friends in spite of the fact that my IBS (self-diagnosed so far) or stomach problems were acting up and I couldn't eat much because I was really bloated. It was wonderful to spend time with my friends and their children two babies, 4 and 7 months, and four other kids 3, 4, 5, and 6 years of age. I was glad my two boys weren't there or I wouldn't really have enjoyed it as much. I was amazed at the patience of the people in the restaurant, both the servers, cooks, etc, and the other customers. The pizza folks even gave every child a piece of pizza dough for them to play with (the kids were walking all around the crowded restaurant). I think in Brazil people and places are much more kid-friendly than the ?U.S. and there were other people around us with kids. I couldn't imagine that we would have been able to have the same looong lunch at a place like The Olive Garden, for example (and there's no comparison between food in the Brazilian chain and the American one, that's for sure!).

Later we went to a huge bookstore where some of the kids played at the children's section while the parents talked (some friends had already left) and after I said goodbye to the friend who had picked me up at the airport, another friend drove me to the bus station where I took a bus to my parents' town. I was lucky because yesterday was a holiday in Brazil so most of my friends were able to come. I'm going to try and meet up with the friends who didn't make it this afternoon before my parents take me to the airport. Talking about my parents, they're still very shaken, but slowly recovering with the help from friends.

I have so many things to write about, but I'll have to tackle those tomorrow or this week when I get back home. I have to finish packing my suitcase now so we can drive to Sao Paulo.

Just a preview:
- Guess what movie I saw in the airplane? (hint -- this post)
- I found some books I mention in my dissertation at the bookstore -- books from Japan, I was thrilled!
- I was able to examine the Brazilian translation of The Dangerous Book for Boys and became absolutely crazy to translated the Girl one! How could I get to do it? I'll write all about the translation at some other time.

Well, I'll be back tomorrow after I get home, wish me a safe trip back. (I know you will -- I felt so comforted when I was driving to the airport on Thursday by the thought that several of you out there were thinking about me and my trip at that moment -- blogging is a wondrous thing!).