What a weird Easter...

I slept really badly last night. I tossed and turned for hours... probably due to the cup of espresso that I drank because it was so generously offered to me by some friends. Oops! I forget sometimes that caffeine, although tasty, has a strong effect on my body.

When I finally woke up the first thing I saw, to my horror, was a giant black triangle on the wall. Now, sometimes I exaggerate for your entertainment, dear readers, but not this time. This triangle was the size of the triangle that my fingers make when I put my two thumbs and two pointer fingers together. Huge. I slowly reached over to the night stand to grab my glasses-- half afraid that "it" was going to attack me. As soon as I had my trusty spectacles on I knew-- it was a mariposa. Now, in Spanish mariposa refers to a butterfly-- a beautiful, dainty creature. In Portuguese it refers to ugly, black, huge MOTHS. I have seen a few of these things dead outside and their sheer size sent shivers down my spine. Somehow one got into my room without me noticing... I don't know how that is possible because when they fly they look like small birds. :( 

So, with groggy eyes, messed up hair, and probably a bad dose of morning breath I set out to free the moth by opening every window and door possible and chasing it out by waving my shorts at it. Needless to say I'm sure the people walking by my room got a kick out of it. Oh well. Once Mr. Moth was gone I laid back in bed and groaned-- I was exhausted-- but I couldn't sleep anymore if I was going to get my Easter fieldwork done. No candy for me. *tear*

I got dressed, put on a skirt, the whole nine yards. I noticed that my room was slightly cooler than usual after my shower but I attributed it to the leftover a/c-ed air. I walked outside to see tons of kids running around with their parents on the pedestrian island created every Sunday in front of my apartment complex. It was nice. Then I turned to walk toward the bus stop-- uh oh... clouds. I thought nothing of it as it has rained TWICE in the entire time I have been here in Brazil and only one of those times was during the day. (Which I should mention was an experience in itself-- I served myself a glass of grape juice on that day-- standing next to the open door of my veranda. Just as I lifted the glass to my lips a HUGE crack of thunder decided to make its presence known. It scared the caca out of me and the juice out of the glass. I had to move my fridge in order to get all of the purple juice off of the floor.) Anyway, so I didn't think much of the clouds. Of course, as soon as I'm too far away from my apartment complex to turn back it starts pouring. I took cover underneath the awning of a bank... and waited for 45 minutes. As soon as the rain stopped up a bit I decided to go back home-- and when I got there it started pouring again-- this time with wind. I decided it was fruitless... I could have taken a cab but because the street in front of me was closed off I would have had to walk about half way to the bus stop anyway-- rather than wait out in the rain for a bus or cab to come by I just gave up. So much for Easter sunday!

I had sushi tonight to celebrate the occassion (somehow that makes sense to me-- Japanese food on a Christian holiday?) and I am now doing a good deed-- translating the menu of a restaurant that I go to a lot into English from Portuguese. Random factoid-- did you know that picanha in English is rump cover steak? Apparently S. American's love this stuff (it is more prized than filet mignon around these parts) but in the US they just throw it away! I can't believe it. I guess it shouldn't surprise me though given that in most of Latin America liver and tongue is gobbled up with glee whereas it just rots on the shelves of US grocery stores if not scooped up by an eager immigrant. Interesting-- one man's trash is another's treasure I guess, no?

That's all for now...