If you were in my movie...

March has become an immensely horribly busy month for me.  I can't remember March ever being so distinctive before.  I have managed to pack (not by my own planning) two major school events and the MA course into a 3 week period, along with agreeing to sew 45 kimonos for my current students, 25 berets for my son and his classmates and teachers, traveling to São Paulo for a weekend training, not to mention taking a group of 23 students and almost as many parents to São Paulo at the end of the month for the DI Celebration which involves countless meetings with parents and students involved, and don't even get me started on the last minute additions to this trip.  Actually, I didn't pack any of this, it all seems to have packed itself.  I have been running on 4 hour sleep nights for the last three weeks, been sick twice (still recovering), and one of my bottom wisdom teeth has decided to break surface which has resulted in some of the worst tooth pain I have felt since I cracked my tooth two years ago and an extremely swollen face.  I'm hungry and I don't want to eat because even opening my mouth hurts, let alone chewing.  I have read almost all of our course text book in a matter of two weeks and only stopped reading because I found the first 60 pages of the last chapter are missing.  I'll have to chase those down tomorrow.  Today I took 5 quizzes online, wrote two papers, did 3 discussion questions and read two articles.  And I still have more to do.  Oh, and I cooked some soy chicken with carrots for our snack during the course tomorrow.  I'm not even going to go into what I have to do for the course this week, it's really not what I want to think about right now.  When I got home yesterday, I took a five hour nap and hid from all social contact for the entire day.  Then we watched a movie that was absolutely one of the worst movies I have watched in a long time.  It felt really good to not work for a bit.  Today was homework day as I neglected to do anything productive yesterday save dream of getting my PhD.



In the morning, I usually listen to my ipod in the van, rather than chat with my colleagues.  It's a good way to start the day, just watching the sun on the water on the way to school, and I can almost just feel optimistic about the possibilities for the day.  Sometimes I imagine I am in a movie and the music is the sound track, and what might be the next obstacle in the plot line.  Everyone's life seems a bit movie like I suppose.  Some more than others (my dear friend of the dourado mamão could sell her story for a novela, although unfortunately her experience is not far off the norm for new arrivals- come to think of it, I'm not sure when I got so passive about the things that really used to get to me).  I also think of very interesting things to write on this blog, although they seldom get written because I am in a van and no where near a computer with the necessary speed or time to write.  But I did remember the movie thing and I did take time out of my reading and writing to write about it, just so you all know I'm not dead. 

Last night we went to the "Praia 24 horas" event to see some bossa nova played on a stage in the middle of the ocean (while the audience all sat on the beach). It was great fun - lots of food and drink vendors walking around, we met up with some friends, parking wasn't too much trouble, and you could swim out to the stage and tread water watching the artists sing and play right in front of you. I stayed out for half of one guy's set - I had forgotten I could just tread water like that for that long. (I actually think I swam a lot more last night than I really have since I moved here - I have a terrible fear of ocean currents and waves and rip tides that I'm not sure when and where it came from.) The event was well organized and safe and pleasant for a free event in Bahia; I was quite impressed. We even went so far as to take the digital camera for some nice random shots.

After we dropped off Isis and Vito (family friends; Vito is Ju's age minus 3 months) at 11:30, we came home and Gustavo had the great idea to skinny dip in the condo's pool. I have not skinny dipped here since I first moved here, mostly for fear of seeing my neighbors, or worse their kids, who are often out later than late. The good thing is that our house is right next to the pool, so anyone looking out of their windows to see us incognito would have to be doing it from ours - no worries there. I was rather nervous about it at first, since it's much easier to see that a woman is naked in the pool than a man (although because of tan lines this late in the summer, it is quite obvious) and I actually let my hair get all chlorinated in hopes that it would shield my embarrassment should we suddenly have company. After some time playing with Ju, who has gotten over his fear of going under the water after two months of swimming classes, I forgot I was naked until Gustavo pointed out that I had done so, at which point I started hearing voices and decided to get out before someone saw me. About 15 minutes after we got out, a bunch of teenagers took over the pool area until well after 2 am. Good timing!

Ju thourally enjoyed the experience and promptly asked to go swim naked as soon as he got up this morning. I explained to him that mommy and daddy can't swim naked during the day but that because he is small still, he can swim naked if he wants to, at home. He seems pretty excited about the prospect of going back into the pool and trying to swim, naked. Hopefully it will work the same way if I make him wear his sunga again.

Truely appreciating Sesame Street comes with a realization that I am old. I can remember how much I looked forward to watching it, singing the theme song, and I'm sure I must have learned something from it along the way. It was my favorite show for years, and then suddenly, I think about the time my parents divorced, I suddenly wasn't into it anymore - I had learned all it had to offer and it became boring. Then came years of boycotting it as a "baby show" because I was so grown up (we all go through this in 3 phases I think - when you're 8-9, when you're 14-18, and then again when you are really and adult but feel like you couldn't possible know everything yet - where I am now; I think you really don't know everything until you are somewhere around 50).

Then there was the revival in highschool, conviniently matched to the release of the "Tickle Me Elmo" toy that was the gift of the Xmas season when I was 16. I remember Elmo back packs, T-shirts, and little fuzzy lunch boxes that we used as purses to carry our makeup that we were too young to really be wearing in public. Actually, now that I think about it, the revival was almost purely Elmo based, a character I was never a big fan of when I as a kid, yet became the "IT" character for my teenaged years. Hmmmm....

It faded into the background again until I had Ju, when suddenly I am watching it again, but in DVD form. Now I get the jokes - the three crows who sing about counting are the "counting crows," "MC Elmo" rapping is a catchy way to learn about the number 5, and I am truely appreciating the clear and subliminal way you count to number 8 with the music (incase you are curious, the current favorite is the "1,2,3 Count with Me" DVD). Part of this comes from working in the preschool for the last 2 years, but I think it mostly comes from the fact that I have to watch this stuff at home all the time, and Jim Henson was really thinking when he made it appeal to parents as well, especially to youngish parents who still like current bands, keep up with music trends, and appreciate dancing. I have the "counting crows" stuck in my head all day.

What's so nice is that I see it has changed little, except for the music styles, over the years - the structure is still the same, a central story with short little related blips of educational material that is related in some way. What's making me feel old is that fact that the characters, not just the muppets, but the actual people who live there like Maria and Gordon, are still there, but older. They are still enthusiastic, smiley, and get the kids excited. It's a little bit like visiting my parents' friends who I remember from when I was a kid, but now I too am an "adult" and can talk to them like another "adult."

I am old, but I am not grown up. I still love kids shows.