Thursday, August 21, 2008

Random Tidbit of Culture, and an Insight into my Feelings

I'm going all sufjan stevens on you with the long titles there.
Well I just finished my School Life post, and I walked out on the veranda for a bit of wind, and as the breeze swept over me, I looked down the five stories to the sidewalk, and saw two men in flip flops and cheap looking clothes walking down the street, both with big empty burlap sacks over their shoulders.
They walked to the front of my building and bent down in front- I leaned over the side of the balcony to see what they were up to. One of them bent down over some trashbags waiting for pick up, and ripped them open. He picked out the few recyclables (we don't have a recycling system here), put them into his sack, and followed his buddy down the street to the next house, and did the same thing.

my street

On the one hand, it's good that these men are picking out recyclables- I assume they're taking them to a recycle center to get money for cans and what not.
But on the other hand, I doubt they were doing it for the environment. They obviously didn't have much money, and they need to eat, so this is probably part of how they survive. Unfortunately, Brazil is one of those countries with a huge divide between the wealthy and the poor, and the poor have a really hard time getting by here.
Plus, he made a huge mess on the sidewalk all down the street. I mean, he basically tore apart our garbage, spilled it out onto the sidewalk, and walked away from it. It's not exactly polite. But when you're that desperate, I suppose, you're not thinking about being polite.

= = = = = = = = =

I get the feeling that my family thinks I have an eating disorder or something. Lately, I haven't had an appetite. When I'm upset, I lose my appetite. It's not my fault..! And for the past 4 days or so, I have been ishly rather greatly upset. So I haven't eaten, other than lunch. and like, water. But last night, I had a long talk with my mom and dad about what I am able to do, what I'm not able to do; we came to a compromise basically. And even though I still feel very much suffocated by my mother's efforts to stop me from having a social life here, I feel better than I did before.
And just now, I ate like four cookies.

1 comment:

Nicole said...

What was the compromise? Are you allowed to go outside now?

Don't forget to eat!

Love ya