Counting Down the Days

It's been some time since I've posted here, it's partly because I've been busy, but also because things are coming to a close here in Rio and sitting with one leg in my living room in Vancouver and with one arm in a box in Rio, it's hard to describe what's going on in my mind. While I was back in Vancouver for a visit, I wrote about how living abroad has changed me, not necessarily for the better or the worse, but perhaps I have more tolerance toward the little annoyances of life and feel connected to a wider circle of people around the world. I'm not sure if that comes across, but here was my train of thought.

I was sitting on the sidewalk in front of our house yesterday with all the neighbors and their kids at peace with my re-found Sesame Street feeling again. The 5 o'clock Friday afternoon sidewalk chit chat was in full swing when suddenly the owner of the Brittania Restaurant Equipment business across the street brought out his leaf-blower and started to blow the dust off the sidewalk. One of my neighbors frowned in disbelief complaining about the noise and the interruption to our perfect neighborly gathering. I started to laugh, not at her, but at myself. A year and a half ago, that would have been me. Now, I tolerate the noise and am grateful that at least this "blower" is not spraying pesticides like the "daily dose" of questionable chemicals we got smoked with back in Rio.

As I find myself being reabsorbed by my seemingly unchanged life in Vancouver, my day is peppered with little moments that remind me that I've been changed by living abroad. I don't get completely outraged by finding a Starbucks cup on the sidewalk when I think of the sofas stuck in the mud when the tide goes out in Rio's Guanabara Bay or the bagfuls of bottle caps I collected when I went to the beach. I can't get over how driving and crossing streets on foot in Vancouver is like a strange courtesy competition; "oh, no, please, after you.", "No, no, you were here first, please, after you, please go first.", "oh dear, no, I insist, you look like you might be in a bigger hurry that me, please go ahead.", "Thank you, you are so kind." Very much unlike Rio's aggressive "Get the F*** out of my way, you slow meaningless speed-bump."

Living abroad hasn't just given me a sense of how everything can be done differently it seems, but it has widened my sense of interconnectedness not only with Brazil, but also with the expats I've met. One friend described how weird it was when she was at a popular park back home in Colorado. There were tons of parents and kids around, but no one was talking to each other. Not weird, I thought, seems like the usual park scenario to me. But she reminded me that in Rio, if you overhear a parent speak in English to their kid, you go over and become instant friends and have them over for pizza that night! So true!

Now that I'm back in the city of Sun and Surf, I'm not spending too much time thinking about the little differences, but more about how much I'm going to miss the people I've met here and especially the family I got spend time with. So as I pack, I reminisce and I'm grateful for this short year and a half I spent here even if at times it felt like an eternity.