Domingo (Sunday)

Rami and I slept late. There were no set plans. We did a little shopping with Melanie at the market. I bought a melon using Portuguese all by myself! I’m feeling a little more confident about walking around. I’m going to start taking some walks by myself soon. That has always been a good way of immersing me.

I went to my first capoeira class night with Rami. My legs are already starting to hurt. It was so fun. The teacher is very dynamic. The students were all concerned with making sure I understood what was happening. I had two spectacular falls, few times I ended up with my back to my partner and several times that I just was moving around not knowing what the heck I was doing. But… everyone was so encouraging. I’ll probably have some bruises tomorrow. Rami, on the other hand, is catching on fast. She’ll have a good foundation when we leave. After we played capoeira we formed a smaller circle and danced samba. I perked up for that since it’s one of my favorite dances! While we were playing it started to rain really hard. By the time we walked home it had stopped and there were little streams in the road.

You bite/I’ll bite:
Can I talk to you about bugs? Do you remember the National Geographic program about fire ants? They swarmed over an armadillo with a thousand stinging bites, with venom so painful, the poor animal was paralyzed. Then they ate it? Well I don’t believe these big red ants we have here are the same but they must be related. Last night while working on my computer I was bitten by one on my ankle, My whole foot hurt so bad I thought I was going to die. One ant! I couldn't even catch the little monster it ran so fast and I could move well with my foot falling off. The pain only lasted about ten minute but now I keep imagining that armadillo covered in fire ants and wince. Mosquitoes are small and everywhere. I’ve stopped trying to keep from getting bitten and just concentrate on getting bitten less.

We have to keep food sealed and surfaces clean. The amount of flies, ants and other miscellaneous bugs that appear in the kitchen if we accidentally leave something out is no joke. The day I made pizza I saw movement in the flour. There was a small hole in the bag and bugs had gotten in. We decided to sift the bugs out and use the flour (waste not want not). On closer examination I estimated the ratio of bugs to flour to be about 50/50. My vote was changed to throwing it out this time. Buggies are everywhere! So far I’ve swallowed about 10 bugs that I know about. Fair is fair. They are eating me.