August 26, 2010

• Birthday notes

  I forgot my pen for Philosophy class. I need a pen in Philosophy class. I borrowed one from the guy next to me.

  Fun fact about Rachel: she likes clicky pens.

  After class I handed it to the guy and said thank you for letting me use it. He said to keep it. It was a clicky pen. I kept it. Besides, I said, it is my birthday. It is my birthday too! was his surprised response. We quickly checked to see it we were twins (he is turning 41 and I am 28 so no, we are not) and with that settled, announced to the class that it was our birthday.

  And I got a clicky pen.

  Yesterday IUPUI gave me free food again. This is beginning to be trend. It was the study abroad fair. And I found out that with my grants/scholarships, Spring semester I could study in Puerto Rico. For free. This spun my head around for a couple of hours, and then it went away. I remembered the e-mail I received from Flavio, asking me to come as soon as possible to begin classes with him at a new Living Stones…

  And then the idea came back STRONGLY–imagine putting Spanish on my resume along with Portuguese…Today I banished it. I woke up and without permission, my mind was flooded with palm trees and sugar cane fields. My body is out of sync with me right now. It is confused. Four of the past five years I spent my birthday in Brasil. It is a different thing celebrating in a different place. Saudades blew past my soul and left me breathless.

  But family is not overrated. Amazing wonderfulness to be home with my family this year. They took me to my new favorite restaurant–a Thai place–and got plenty of fresh fruit (and frozen Brazilian fruits) to keep me happy. They put up with my random grumpiness and keep the light on when I suddenly decide to go on a night bike ride. And Angel food cake to top it off. yum.

  Thank you for all of the calls, texts, facebook notes, and such…I feel very loved and connected.

  Cheers to a new year!

   

  • 10:56 pm
  • 1 Comment