May 11, 2007
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i am in love…
with the librarys in Miami. South Beach to be exact.
they just gave me a 12 month library card. free internet for 2 hours a day. at least 2 hours today. cuz i am leaving tomorrow.
lots to say. too bad they have a timer on this computer…it is annoying. not as annoying as the stalkerish guy on the plane. shivers. one seat up and over, he leaned back the whole time with this stare thing. must have hurt his neck. i felt like staring back all bug-eyed, but i think he would have liked that. i think he stopped after i started drooling in my sleep.
***
Thursday morning i got up and finished packing. Raquel came into my room and we both teared up. not good, considering i had 42 more good-byes to go. by the time i had gotten down the stairs to opening assembly, i’d lost it and everyone was wiping away tears. i kept telling myself how rediculous this was and i would be back in 3 and a half months…but the tears didn’t stop until half way through “i like Apples and Bananas” i went from class to class giving out “bejios” and trying to explain to Anna in 5 minutes how to do my job…
5th grade was the hang up. all the other kids were dutifully sad…but Gabriel took one look at me and BAWLED. i mean…howling kind of bawling. i thought he was trying to be funny until everyone else in the classroom joined him. by this time i was out of tears and made a quick exit.
we ended up getting lost on the way to the mall to pick up my tickets…only to find out that they had been canceled again. ok. warning–never trust COPA airlines. two weeks ago i went online and bought my tickets–all clear. then we found out they had canceled them, so Tele and Heather spend all of Wednesday trying to buy new ones. they found the same tickets (almost) for the same price and paid cash right there and then. they came back the next morning to find they had been canceled again. freakish. so i flew TAM. TAM has really nice food (and the little old lady next to me kept giving me all her food). too bad the movie thing wasn’t working right–i finally ended up watching “Night at the Museum” in French with Portuguese subtitles.
so my new tickets worked much better. instead of spending 12 hours in Sao Paulo and then 16 hours in Miami, i got to eat a nice lunch with Tele and Heather (when i say nice, i mean CHURRASCO–be very, very, jealous), have a quick connection in Sao Paulo, then arrive in Miami at 5am. and stay here until 8am tomorrow. Hello South Beach.
i ended up being illigal in Brasil for 4 days. not really as impressive as Anna’s 24 days, but enough to make my heart beat and be very, very grateful for the nice guy who stamped my passport anyways. and..tada…i got through customs with my BOLO DE ROLO.
i’d forgotten to get the address for the hostel i want to stay at here in Miami, and i refused to pay a gazillion dollars a minute to use the internet at the airport. so i went off on my quest for a library. at the beach (i mean, why not?). the poor bus driver…first i asked him if the bus went to the Art Deco place. turns out, it is the name of this whole area. then i asked for a library…and the only one he could remember had been torn down. oh well, he gave me a free transfer and let me off. after asking a hotel manager, a recreations officer, and two store clerks, i arrived at the library…only to find that the guy who had been sitting across from me on the bus works here. me and my backpack are really bonding in all this walking…
so hello from Miami, i am safe and happy, and enjoying eating Bolo de rolo on the library front steps.
