So a recent turn of events brought me back to the nation’s capital. I was expected to be here in two months time but as usual things tend to change at the last minute in Brazil. Yet again I had different living arrangements. I ended up living with a family, the President of the Federal District (Brasilia and surrounding areas) Conference and his wife who is in charge of Women Ministry at the conference. I was a little apprehensive about living in a family because I didn't know how it would be. Also I was used to having my own space and freedom.
My apprehension was allayed in the first few hours of arriving at the house. I really loved living with the family and also living in an actual house. The family consisted of parents and two sons. The one of the sons was away at college and the other has just come back from the US. He was there as a volunteer just I am in Brazil. Most of the times, it was just me and the parents at home. I hung out most of the time with the mother, Gilza. She was a cute lady always smiling and laughing. I think she really liked having another female in the house and she liked having me there because she missed your sons. The family had a huge house so I had my own space. The house was also centrally located. I could walk to many places. I didn’t realize how much I missed having a home. I loved having a kitchen, where I could cook. It had been over six months since I had been able to prepare my own food. Over the past six months, it was good not having to worry about preparing my meals but sometimes I just want to eat something different eat. I have been enjoying the Brazilian food but I missed eating some Jamaican food or just food I was used to eating.
One thing I was looking forward to having was popcorn. I had two packages of microwave popcorn that I really wanted to pop. As you probably remembered from my last blog entry, I tried popping them in Goiania, but the hotel I was staying in did not have a microwave. To my dismay, this house did not have a microwave oven either. I was beginning to think that microwave ovens are probably not as common in Brazil as they are in the US or even Jamaica. I guess that was probably a good think but I really missed the ease having one brings. Anyways, so I had to do popcorn old school until I was introduced to the popcorn pot. It was a pretty cool invention. I had never seen a popcorn pot before. I don’t know if they have them in the US or in Jamaica. So, this popcorn pot was an air tight pot with a lever on the top. I used the lever to circulate the popcorn so they wouldn’t burn. Apparently, this type of pot is very common in Brazil because another volunteer said she had one at her apartment. She also did not have a microwave oven. The popcorn made in the pot was actually very good and on the positive side I didn’t have to worry about radiation.
Another thing this house had that instantly became dear to me was a piano. I took piano lessons nearly twenty years ago but I never really got the hang of the instrument. I think I only remembered how to find middle C and that the notes on the piano went from A to F. Anyways, one day out of boredom, I decided to see what I had remembered. I tried reading the notes and it was very difficult to say the least. Gilza tried to teach me a little more about the notes. That was helpful to a point because she learnt the notes in the Doe-Ray-Me system so we had different name for each note. I consulted the next best teacher, the internet. YouTube had some awesome tutorials to get me started. Since then I have been ping-ponging on the piano and have actually developed a love for the instrument. I think when I leave Brazil I might take lessons.
No comments:
Post a Comment