Feliz Páscoa!

Feliz Páscoa todo mundo!

Last year, I was visiting Oma, Opa, and Stace in Michigan. The night before Easter Sunday, Oma went into atrial fibrillation and had to stay at the hospital overnight and almost all of Easter. She wasn't in any huge danger, but they had to make sure her heart rate was stable for some time before she could leave. We stayed with her most of the night. The next day, I made Easter lunch/dinner for Opa, Stace, and Stacey's boyfriend, Chris. We made a little plate and took it to the hospital for Oma. She ended up being fine, but it was a weird way to experience the holiday.

This Easter has been delightful. This morning, we had an excellent, extravagant breakfast for here: pancakes, choc chip pancakes, strawberries, scrambled eggs, Easter eggs, and my first attempt at homemade bagels. Andrea purchased a bunch of weird presents for Manda and I from Le Biscuit. She and mom hid gifts around the house for us (it was raining this morning). Among my haul: a pair of bunny slippers, a dark chocolate egg, and a long stick-thing you use to grab things that are far away with chomping teeth at the end (it's really hard to describe).  

Then we watched Kensington's Easter service on the internet. I especially loved hearing people's testimonies. 

The day turned out beautiful, so Andrea, Manda, Mom and I spent a lot of time lounging/reading in the pool. 

I feel very peaceful today - a rare feeling for me of late. My heart is grateful and humbled - for He is Risen!

Graffiti

The graffiti in Salvador is awesome. Most of it is very beautiful and artistic. A few weeks ago, the American Society sponsored a graffiti tour in the city. We rented a small bus, and drove to a couple sites of awesome graffiti. One of the local graffiti artists, Eder Muniz and his partner, Carly (an American Fulbright scholar) were our guides.

Eder Muniz

The tour was enlightening. Salvador treats graffiti artists very strangely. At one time, they had a progressive program encouraging graffiti art. They sponsored artists, believing the public art enriched the city (as it clearly does). The program was a great idea, but it never really took off, and eventually the government stopped funding it. While the government has an officially friendly relationship with graffiti artists, the police decidedly do not. Eder and Carly explained that the police have an inexplicable, burning hatred for graffiti artists. If they have an opportunity to arrest or harm them (painting on an unauthorized structure, etc), they take it gladly. Some policemen even harass or beat artists' mothers/girlfriends/wives. Many artists are beaten. Eder, himself, has never been beaten, but he has been arrested and was driven to the police station in the trunk.

We focused mainly on Eder's work (which is probably my favorite in the city) but we saw a lot of great art from many artists.

Afterwards, Carly invited us to a graffiti event in Castelo Branco, near an old Nestle factory. Andrea and I went with some other ladies on Sunday. It was interesting, though not quite as exciting as I expected.

They invited many graffiti artists to come together to share one wall and paint together. They had some music and food. It was cool to see their work - it's amazing how precise and expressive they can be with just spray paint.

A visiting artist from Philadelphia

Eder at work

Eder's plan for his piece

Part of the wall when we left

Carly is an American who is only living here for a while. She and Eder live in the favela where his family is from. They just had an adorable baby. Carly was kind enough to show us her home right before we left. I loved it. I loved the whole area. I wish we lived somewhere that felt more...Brazilian. Or vibrant. She has an amazing view from her back porch.

Eder's work is really beautiful. You can see a lot of it here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/calanguiando
I'm obsessed with this window he found and painted:

but it's far too expensive :(

A Brief Horror Story

Today, on the way to school, Ricardo the girls and I got into a minor accident. We stopped at a red light on Estrada do Coco, and the person behind us simply did not notice - SOMEHOW. We were stopped, and I heard screaming tires behind us. Luckily, Ricardo saw what was happening and maneuvered us slightly to the side of the lane. The frantically braking car managed to slip between us and the next car - merely scraping the side of ours. He then slid through the intersection, where pedestrians hadn't quite started crossing (thank God), waved out the window and sped off again. Sheesh.

But that's not the horror story. Myra just came over to tell us about her recent visit to the dentist here. She went in for a root canal. Yikes. While she was there, conscious but drugged, they decided the tooth was too degraded, so they needed to pull it. Then they either discovered, or caused, a crack in the tooth next to it. So they pulled it too. Then they decided since the very next tooth was her wisdom tooth, they should remove it too, just for the hell of it. WHAT ON EARTH? I would be furious if I went to the dentist for a root canal, and left with three unplanned teeth missing, and no real explanation. Her wisdom tooth had never caused her any discomfort or problems, but it apparently had to go. My mom suggested the dentist thought it might be lonely after the loss of its two neighbors. She has a ton of stitches in her mouth to be removed later this week. They gave her some good painkillers, I guess, but she still drove under their influence. Classic Myra.