I am a very bad blogger...

Oh my gosh, it has been 20 days since I updated. And I am leaving here 2 weeks from tomorrow.

Instead of trying to sum up the last 20 days, which would be no less than incredibly overwhelming...I think I will just pretend I have been writing avidly all this time, apologize to my grandmother who has probably been wondering why I wasn't updating, and tell you about the last couple days. So here I go.

Believe it or not, on Monday it was cold here. I'm not sure what the exact temperature was...but probably below 20C, if that means anything to anyone. Out of character for January, and really unexpected by me. One thing I have come to realize is that being from the US where everything is airconditioned when it's hot outside and heated when it's cold, I am used to a very maintained temperature. My body rarely has to adjust to severe temperatures, because everywhere is a pleasant 68 degrees...or 65 if you live at my house. (please turn the heat up when I come home, otherwise it is just cruel.) So when the temperature took a dip for the day here, I was absolutely freezing, while everyone else merely put on a coat or a sweatshirt and continued traipsing around in their flip flops. My feet were practically falling off they were so cold. After a little grumpiness on my part because I of course didn't bring sufficient clothing for such weather, the evening ended with a cozy movie about barnyard animals that could stand on 2 feet, and some delicious popcorn that José made. It was seriously so good. My love for popcorn was so apparent in my mood shift that Joaquim actually told José, "I think it was just you that made my girlfriend happy today, because without this popcorn, she wouldn't have been." True.

I guess I should give honorable mention to a few things...Joaquim took the TOEFL on the 18th and will get the results on Feb. 8th. That is also the day that I was supposed to leave, but I changed my tickets to make me leave on the 14th. That is the last day my visa is valid, and I leave the country at 11-something pm. Stretching it to the limit, that's how I like to do things.

Currently, Joaquim and I are thinking and praying about the opportunity for him to visit me in the spring. Basically, here are the issues...he has already been denied a tourist visa once, for reasons so ridiculous I can feel my blood pressure rise just thinking about them. And if he is denied another one for similarly ridiculous reasons, which is an unfortunate possibility, it will be very difficult for him to get a student visa.

(interlude: José just looked at me and said, very calmly, "voce tem uma barate debaixo do seu pé." This means...you have a cockroach underneath your foot. It is thankfully dead. Yikes.)

Anyway, everything would be great for Joaquim's visit except for this tourist visa issue. If anyone has any experience with the American consolate in São Paulo, or better yet any friends who work there, haha...I would welcome suggestions. The current idea is to write Moody asking for them to write a letter inviting him to see their school, since he has already applied. And if he passes the TOEFL (which I think he will) he can show that as well...I don't know, there are just a lot of things the consolate needs to see to be sure he has a good reason to go, and also that he will come back to Brazil. Of course he will, he would never stay illegaly in the US, but how to prove that...I have no idea. Any help?

Also of note is that Alex visited for a week a couple weeks ago. It was a fantastic time, thankfully restful for her, and hilarious for me, and she was able to meet and get to know Joaquim, and us as a couple. It was a lot of fun. He won her heart when he gave her an envelope and said "this is for you." When she opened it, a contraption made of a paperclip and a rubber band flew out at her, making a loud noise and she threw the envelope in the air, screamed, and then cracked up. So, he passed the test after that point.

That's all for now...I'll try to write a little something tomorrow, just to keep this going. Sorry for letting it go so long!