May the Force Be With me

I´m one lucky lady today.  Not only do I have to work but it´s raining and I get to go to downtown (centro) Rio de Janeiro. I know you all want to be me right now.

The funnest part about Centro and rain is that the drainage is horrible.  There are large and deep puddles everywhere. Add to it the fact that it´s not the cleanest neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro and you have in your hands my Wednesday joy.

It´s like bobbing for apples only with your shoes and pant legs. Goodness knows what´s going to stick to the back of your jeans today Rachel!  You think you picked the shallowest part of the lake in the middle of the street only to find you hit puddle lottery and are shin deep. Score! 

The bestest part of the whole thing is that I´m meeting a new student.  I just hope that his first impression of me isn´t that I`m a drowned kitten, my whiskers usually throw people off.  Better yet, I may buy and show up in a poncho. It will only confirm my native speaker status. 

I used to mock Cariocas and their fear of the rain but now I see where they are coming from.  This beautiful tropical city is, ironically, not made for it.  The streets flood, the traffic is hell, and the people are cranky.  I think the city planner started his job during the dry season, at a Brazilian bbq, and after quite a few stupidly cold (brazilian phrase) chopps (drafts). 

Ah well, what can you do?  A girls got to eat, a girls got to work, and people need to learn their English. Thankfully I´m only only partially made of sugar and won´t totally melt.  Ohhhh, maybe that part is my saddle bags and it´ll just melt right off!  A girl can dream, can´t she.  I like to think of it as finding a silver lining.