So my daddy dear has been bugging me since I got home to write a wrap-up post, and I've obviously been putting it off, but now here I am doing so.
I got back the to US on August 3rd, and back to my house in South Dakota after a full 27 hours of traveling. The journey included 4 different airports and lots of boring layover time. The first airport we got to was Miami, where we went through customs etc, which was an interesting transition because I think every single airport worker there when we arrived at 4:30am was speaking Spanish. I made the comment to Olimpia how the plane transferred us from my language to hers, haha.
I didn't want to leave, which is always the case, because it's always hard, not knowing when or how I will be able to return. There is always the certainty that I will, but not knowing the next time I will see the lights of Rio far below me as my plane circles down towards it is a difficult reality. I always want to soak in as much of Brasil as I can before I leave. Take in every sight and every smell, every sound and feeling. The first thing the little girls said to me as they hugged me after I hopped out of the car was: "Lala you smell like Brasil!!" Makes me smile, knowing they still remember, and knowing I carried a part of the country with me.
My last two weeks in Brasil were wonderful--it was school holidays and so at my grandparents house there was a constant presence of cousins for the first week. It was a nice little reunion of the older cousins, and I got to see my cousin Julia who I was great friends with as a child, but who I hadn't seen since we were 13. Being able to catch up and to just enjoy time with my cousins whom I love so much and see so rarely was incomparably wonderful. My last week there was a bit more quiet, and I had a lot of time to lay by the pool and get a bit of a tan for the first time this summer, and to just relax, which was nice after such a busy and marginally stressful past 2 months.
So thank you to all my blog readers, hope you enjoyed the posts, and até mais. =]
