Just a thought....
Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

Friday, 24 September 2010

Living the week out

It's been a strange sort of week. I had a couple of student cancellations, which had me sleeping a little later in the morning, but still made me a little miffy. I can't afford the time off. No problem, I did enjoy my sleep-ins. 6am is a whole lot better than 4:30am.



This photo is of a painting on the wall of a school near the teens. Take away the masses of books and you have what is often my teaching setup, except not all the students look that sweet and I wouldn't be writing on my lap ; )

As Tuesday was International Peace Day, so I went through the Tsuru story with MF on Monday and folded some origami cranes. Nice lesson. She was really excited.

On Tuesday, going in to my paediatrician student, I encountered Barack Obama! Yep! 'Strue! It's something that's been amusing me for a while now, but I waited till I could take a photo. We're in a major election run here. This guy claims that people tell him he looks like the famous US president, so he decided to capitalise on that and changed his name to Rosamar Barack Obama. He has a site where you can see him clearer. He stands handing out his voting details in São Paulo's main financial district. He has designs on being a deputado federal (something like a state senator).


This photo was taken just before lunch. By 4pm, it was raining.... really raining. The day went from this...


to this...


in around 2 hours. Yes, that was taken from a moving bus. Guess who had no umbrella : ) The bus was leaking from the 'sun' roof, a 'lid' that gets opened to let air flow through on hot days. Needless to say, it no longer sealed. I was grateful to be home after my swim. Yes, we were rather water-logged. Apparently there was massive hail storms elsewhere and serious damage. We were, luckily, just plain wet. Welcome to São Paulo's summer rains!

I did manage this photo on my way home in honour of Peace day. It's a scrap yard. I'd like to believe they were promoting peace, but I suspect that they just used the graffiti'ed (how do you spell that anyway?) boards to make sides for their cart...


That's right. The photo is ugly, dark, blurry... but you can't expect more from a moving, dirty-windowed bus in the rain. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Wednesday found me as sick as a dog. Let's just say, ugly stomach bug/poison issues. I still don't know what caused it. I started getting sick on the Tuesday, but by mid-morning on Wednesday, I thought I was dying.... or was at least wishing death would come quickly. I don't 'do' stomach issues with a great deal of grace.

BUT... I did wish I was out clothes shopping! São Paulo discovered colour! Trust me, this is not the norm.


On my way to MF, though, I found myself draped over a wall, trying to keep my stomach in place and praying for a passing breeze. Over the wall was this scene. I kept my stomach in place long enough to appreciate the scene ; ) Perhaps because the lines had a somewhat steadying influence and over the wall was a lovely little breeze. I was in a proper sweat by that time. I called Jurgis and asked him to cancel MF. I dragged myself home, fell on the bed and slept for a few hours.


Thursday was one of those days where the world smiled back. I love days like that. I think it helped that I was feeling so much better. The teens weren't total monsters. We definitely did the right thing in splitting them. I caught a beautiful lilac sunset on the way home.

Before getting home, I stopped in at the bakery for today's bread. While waiting to order, myself and the elderly lady next to me were staring at a little girl, around five, who was drilling holes into the packets of Maria Mole (it's like a really, really soft and airy marshmallow). Her mother was standing over her, also looking down at the products. I went up to the little girl and, in my sweetest 'favourite aunt' voice said, "Linda, não faz isso." (Pretty girl, don't do that) and I super-gently pushed her hand away from the packages. The mother just about laid an egg and told me in a very uppity tone that she is the mother (no duh) and if I have a problem with her kid, I'm to talk to her, not the kid. The old ducky next to me rolled her eyes and smiled at me. It was that kind of situation. I said, well, next time, just stop your kid yourself and teach her well. Eh. The whole situation amused me. I chuckled all the way to the bus. I can't help wondering how she'd have reacted if I'd tapped her on the shoulder and said, "Scuse me ma'm, but your brat is drilling into the Maria Mole."

Today was delightful! It's been drizzling on and off. The sky has been very grey all day, but the air outside is so fresh, I want to bottle it and save it for later!

11 comments:

  1. Sounds like you had a rough patch there and I am glad you managed to finish off the week on a good note. And your fellow there looks nothing like BO. Well, except for the obvious...lol

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  2. I'm glad you're feeling better now.And enjoyed walking/riding with you through your day!

    Don't you hate parents like that? I sure do.

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  3. geesh...some ppl. I was laughing at your maria mole! Hope you are feeling better. I don't do stomach bugs with grace either' :p

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  4. Hope the weekend is good for you. We need rain here

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  5. MMMM What a lovely week, Tint. So sorry you got a bit ill in the middle of it. I like the steadying lines of the track as well. I'm glad you're getting some cooling rains. Here in the high desert, our rains are always freezing but refreshing just the same-especially if one is not caught on the motorcycle in the middle of them!

    Thanks for sharing. It's like a breath of that sweet, fresh air for me, too.

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  6. PS I LOVE those neon green pants!!! I would wear them myself if I were thin enough to!!

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  7. Debbie, that was exactly my thought and a cause for a fair amount of mirth on this end.

    Magickat, parents like that usually irritate me. They're thoughtless and selfish and eventually blame the world when their brats run amock. I'm not talking about her not liking my intervention (that's a personal thing). I'm talking about her not watching what her kid is doing. She was looking right at that packaging!

    Kimmy, I've never been good with stomach bugs. I refuse point blank to give in to the feelings and the effort makes me miserable as sin. Maria 'mole'... 'mole' means 'soft', so it translates to 'soft Maria' for some totally unknown reason. I just realised what the 'mole' must look like.

    Cheryl, I'd send you some rain, but I'm selfishly hanging onto it for a while. I do love rain : )

    Kat, want me to send you a pair? C'mon... be a dare! Ok, in fairness, I totally could not wear them myself, but I can dream of that colour-fest. Being caught in that rain on your bike is no fun, but it does lead to interesting experiences, doesn't it? : )

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  8. Hahahaha!! My dear, if I were even five or seven years younger...and my butt were smaller...I'd take them in a heart beat. I remember wearing that sort of stuff in the nineties. I'm losing weight now, but it's because of stress. I lost 5 kilos and I have no explanation for it but stress. I wasn't even trying.

    So, in a month or two...I might be asking for some eye catching freaky green pants!!! Bwah ahahaha!!!

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  9. I'm really liking the photo's on your days out and about! :) Hope you're feeling better now. You're nice, I would have slapped her hand ...

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  10. Kat, I'm slightly jealous. When I'm stressed, I just pile on the weight. It would be so nice if this stress could be good for *something*

    Katey, I may have slapped her hand, except here they'd have my butt off to the tjoekie before I could say 'police'

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  11. Wouldn't it be fine to have a bottle of fresh air that you could open at any time you need something to refresh you? I'd carry mine to work . It would have to be small enough to fit in my pocket!

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Tint~