Quando eu volto ao Brasil...

On Monday afternoon I'm leaving for Brasil: I have a short two-and-a-half weeks for this trip (including a day of transit on either end) before I hurry back to start classes again in January. In retrospect, I must have been just a little bit crazy to go to Rio by myself in the summer. I've spent my entire life in southwestern Ontario and, until a year or two ago, had been to barely any cities other than the ones I've lived in. I'd only ever flown a couple of times since I've been old enough to remember, and both times were direct flights, only a few hours long, with friends who knew what they were doing... so really all I had to worry about was not losing sight of them. My next step up from that? Three different planes, 24 hours, and 8500 kilometres south to a major city in a country whose language I didn't speak. Alone. (For additional perspective: I'm ashamed to say that at this time, I didn't even know how to use the TTC. Like, at all. Total public transit n00b.) Yay adventure! In any case, not only did I survive Rio unscathed, but I'm fairly certain that I leveled up a few times in my Travel ability, plus learned a little Portuguese along the way. But more than that: even in the short time I was there, there were several moments when I felt -- more than I'd ever felt before -- like I belonged. Kind of strange, not even speaking the language, but so it was. To live in a place where such great music and dance are everywhere...

So I'm going back, for another all-too-brief stint, to get a taste of a couple more parts of this amazing country. This time, I'll have a couple of nights to sample São Paulo, then a few days in Salvador, and finally a week in Natal, where my Brasilian friend (who lives in Toronto) will also be visiting his dad there. So this time I'll have the benefit of knowing a local! And not that Christmas has ever been that huge of a deal in my family, but since I will be away over Christmas and missing out on extended-family festivities, it'll be nice to at least be spending it with my friend and his dad. :]