Chaotic

I've been know to play the princess card from time to time. I think that was one of C's biggest worries about us moving here. That I would turn into Miss Snooty Boots when faced with scenes like the one above. There was just so much going on in the street as I was trying to navigate my way into the Brasil store to buy some cheap imported Chinese Christmas lights -- but there was even more going on out of the picture. A woman on the sidewalk right next to me was having seizure as I surreptitiously snapped the picture (with the camera still half in my bag) and I was so overwhelmed by the visual chaos that I didn't even notice her. I didn't even see the crowd gathering until the ambulance arrived. Don't count on my for whipping out my First Responder skills (guess that certification class was useless.)

It's a good thing I'm also quite a scrappy gal. As I'm about to prove this weekend. We're going up to Ibitipoca to see if we can't get some grass planted -- from seed. It was my idea actually. C was looking into spending a small fortune on rollout carpet grass and I said, hey, my mom planted grass from seed in every house we ever lived in. Except we didn't live with unpredictable torrential rains and more seed hungry birds than can fit into an Audubon book. I see this turning into a slight debacle. Don't worry, I'll be sure to document it all for you!

In the meantime, to keep you busy this weekend, here's a 3 part article in the Christian Science Monitor about Brazil's economy.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1112/p01s01-woam.html

It's not all sunshine and rainbows, but given the way things are going up there, maybe you all ought to think about packing some bags. We'll put you to work! We have acres and acres more grass to plant...