We just got back from a wonderful (and cold) trip to southern Brazil. We went to the island of Santa Catarina. Beautiful, lovely, tranquilo, green, beaches, clear water, yummy fish, hiking, simplicity, NATURE are just a few of the descriptive terms to use.
The reason for the trip was a conference, I Congresso Latino-Americano sobre a Formacao de Professores de Linguas (I CLAFPL), where I presented. This was my first conference presentation and I had an unexplainable attack of nerves. Sam got nervous just sitting next to me. There were quite a few presentations happening at the same time so there were only about 15-20 people there. Despite the attack, things went well. People seemed interested in the topic (Critical Media Literacy: A 21st Century Teaching Tool) and I didn't throw up. They are going to choose 15 of the conference papers for a book so I need to get writing. I reached a certain point before the conference and just couldn't write any more. I am waiting for inspiration to strike in the next few days, if not it will be forced and painful. I made a few contacts, but mostly just sat by myself during the coffee breaks. I definitely felt like an outsider and it was difficult for me to start conversations with people--I have no idea why. Maybe it was the fact that we were all freezing.
Apparently, we showed up for the coldest November in 12 years and a serious "southern wind." (Which reminds me of the dead penguin we saw on the beach. They get caught in the southern current and are sucked up the coast). Of course, Sam was loving it. I had to buy a sweatshirt the first day. It was a nice change to sleep with blankets and feel a chill in the air. Of course, that meant no beach weather, but it was fine. We ended up walking on the beach and doing some gorgeous hikes through the mountains along the coast. I wish that I could post some pictures, but our camera is broken. I am going to keep saying that in every post because it kills me a little every time. It is pointless to buy another camera here ($$$), to get it fixed we would have to send it to Sao Paulo, and we are going home in about one month. Despite all of that, the idea of not getting any more pictures for the rest of the year is quite sad. We are planning a trip for New Years and my Birthday to one of the most beautiful places in Brazil. How can we not take pictures??!? We will figure something out.
Ahhh the south. Basically, I want to move there. Now. I told myself last time that I was here that if I came back, I would live in Florianopolis. Ha. It is becoming a very sad story that I want to live everywhere that is not Recife. I shouldn't be so hard on Recife because there are a lot of good things--like the Samba party until 4 in the morning last weekend...oh wait, that was Olinda. It is just the big city syndrome. If I can figure out how to make a living outside of the city, I would be there in a heartbeat. I was thinking about a doctoral program...of course there is no money in that! I was happy to get back to the nice perfect weather (70's and low 80's), my house, the dogs, and my students (ha). Actually, there are only 3 more weeks of school! I am excited for the semester to be over. Everyone is bored, including me. I can't seem to come up with anything interesting to teach so I am going to give them lots of activities for grades--quizzes, reading, writing, etc. Good way to end on a high note! Oh well. It will only hurt for a minute.
We are celebrating Thanksgiving at the school next week. How strange. It is just getting hotter and turning into summer--it just doesn't fit with Thanksgiving. Also, it isn't a holiday here. Just like the Halloween party we had. Just doing my little part for cultural imperialism. The same could be said for the weird fake plastic Christmas trees, lights, Santa Claus figures, and other Christmas crap that does not make any sense in a tropical climate but sells the "image" of Christmas.
So the moral of this story is that southern Brazil is a beautiful and a wonderful place to be a tourist and Christmas in the tropics should not involve all of the kitchy crap that goes with Christmas in the cold.
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