One last flashback

Early in June (Monday, June 11, to be precise), I had the pleasure of venturing to yet another countryside town, Salgueiro. Using the map posted yesterday, one can see that Salgueiro is even farther west than all of my previous destinations. By car, one could probably make the trip in six to seven hours, but by bus (our chosen mode of transportation), it is around an eight hour journey. 

First order of business: background. Why Salgueiro? Wellington has a friend, Kennya, who lives in this town and teaches at a local college. Kennya recently assumed the responsibility of providing the student body with culturally-enriching activities, and her latest idea was a lecture series. So far, the series had been a bust, as the speakers were failing to show up. She asked Wellington and me to come speak on the similarities between language prejudices in Brazil and those in the United States. Apparently, there is great prejudice against those living in northern Brazil, as in the eyes of southerners, the northern accent indicates a lack of education. Sounds familiar, no? Kennya desperately needed speakers and we were both intrigued by the subject, so off we went! 

Returning to Monday the 11th...

After finishing our second day of school, Annelise and I boarded the bus for what ended up being a three hour ride home (in retrospect, what a sad, but humorous thought! silly American girls! with our minimal knowledge of the bus system, we were taking at least two buses each way to school. unnecessary). Arrival time at Wellington's apartment: 8:00 pm. Departure time for bus station: 9:30 pm. After a whirlwind of packing, eating, and showering, we full out ran to the bus station (carting luggage and the like), as our bus was scheduled to leave at 9:40 pm. Luckily, we made it in time (somehow we always do?), and we even had a few moments to breathe before the bus took off. After about twenty minutes on the bus, Wellington started to get antsy because we had not made much progress; this ride was looking much longer than forty minutes. Word from a fellow bus rider confirmed Wellington's fears: we were in for another hour on the bus. Seeing as we needed to reach our destination (a larger bus terminal) by 10:50 pm, this was not going to fly. After talking to the bus driver, we hopped off the bus at a random stop, assured by the driver that another, more direct bus would come our way soon. Good, except that we were waiting in a deserted, poorly-lit area, essentially in the middle of nowhere. Even former tour guide Wellington, with his vast knowledge of the state had never been to this spot. After about ten minutes of internally questioning how on earth the trip would actually work out, our bus  arrived, and got us to the terminal early (a two minute bus ride). Yes, I was pretty amazed. Again, somehow things always work out here. Okay, maybe not always, but quite often. 

Because Salgueiro is so far away, most people prefer to travel there overnight, which is definitely a time -saver. I had never ridden an overnight bus before, let alone a double-decker! Woohoo! Better yet, we scored the second floor. Happy Rachel. The seats were huge and very plush, so there was no doubt that I would be getting some real sleep that night. Not to mention, the seats reclined to the point of being almost completely horizontal! I really have been missing out. Anyways, very quickly into the trip (after consuming some delicious treats provided by the bus company, including wafers, wafers, and more wafers), I assumed the fetal position and proceeded to pass out for the night. The bus ended up being extremely cold, but luckily Wellington brought blankets. Roundabout 6:00 am, I awoke to the familiar, dry countryside outside my window. Wellington had long been awake, as he had found difficulty sleeping. He had some fancy chocolates ready for "breakfast," which were delicious, but quite a lot for such an early hour. After the chocolates, I realized that I was not quite ready to handle the day, so I went back to sleep until our arrival in Salgueiro an hour later. 

Waiting at the bus terminal was Kennya. What a dear, welcoming us so early in the day! We took a taxi  to our very temporary home, which was actually someone's home. Our hostess was not around when we first arrived, so Kennya simply instructed us where to put our bags and insisted that we get some rest. Kennya rented a room in this house at one point, so she knew the owner well, along with the house's layout. Wellington got the spare bedroom and I was assigned the hostess' room. Nope, that's not a typo. I was indeed staying in the room of our hostess, who I still had yet to meet. With plenty of hesitation, I curled up on her bed... only to be woken up minutes later by a random man who burst in the room. We were both pretty surprised by the other's presence. Plus, the language barrier made the situation even more interesting. Later, I learned that this was the hostess' son, who also lived in the house. 

After the surprise disturbance and some reassurance from Kennya, I warily went back to sleep. My, I felt so strange and out of place in that room. I was tired enough, though, that I soon fell into a solid sleep. Not too much later, Kennya called us for breakfast, which turned out to be quite the feast. Many different types of cheeses, corn cakes, yogurt, granola, and several types of bread were served that morning. Oh, and surprise! Hostess had returned! A middle aged woman named Louisa, she could not have been a more comical woman. She was short and pretty loud, always laughing at the littlest, most insignificant things. At that point in time, my Portuguese comprehension was not the greatest, so the only thing I could understand was her preaching about granola. Over and over she repeated how she eats granola every day, without fail. I've found that lots of people in Brazil have their certain foods and the health benefits of said foods. Repeatedly. Very interesting. 

Sunroom!

Anyways, after breakfast I parked myself in the house's sunroom and Wellington hit up nap number two. One wall of the sunroom was open-air, so I relaxed with a nice breeze, which ended up being the perfect time to do some writing... and some planning for the lecture, which was to occur that evening. Since the lecture was a joint endeavor between Wellington and I, we needed to do some serious planning together. The fact that such planning had not already occurred was making me nervous! 

Eventually, Wellington woke up and Kennya returned, ready to show us around the town. I really do love these country towns, as they more closely resemble Boone. I feel so much safer walking down the streets, which are most often made of cobblestone. The streets in Salgueiro were primarily lined by rows of houses, all unique. Houses in Brazil are quite similar to those in many other Latin American country, where the front is a decorative wall with a sliding garage door (usually constructed of metal). Each homeowner truly seizes the opportunity to personalize their home-front, which I love. 

Decorative stonework surrounding a home,
 plus some delightful  tree-trimming!

After the short tour of town and a grand buffet lunch, we returned to the house for crunch-time planning. Wellington and I threw around so many ideas and eventually created a powerpoint. He was responsible for the majority of the lecture, discussing the current situation of prejudice in Brazil; near the end of the lecture, I would speak on how people living in the south of the U.S. experience a very similar prejudice. The more Wellington and I discussed, the more intrigued I became by these similarities. So often we forget the closeness of global societies. 

That evening, we arrived at the lecture hall right on time (woah!). Technical difficulties prevented us from actually starting at the scheduled time, though; at first I perceived these difficulties to be a setback, but they turned out to be a blessing, as many of the students were traveling from other towns, and the buses there do not run very frequently. Students were rushing in even after we started an hour late. 

Wellington spoke first, which gave me some time to collect my thoughts. Again, because technology was not working in our favor, we spoke without microphones (I was secretly delighted about this, as I always sound so silly through microphones). When it came time for me to speak, I began with a welcome in Portuguese, "Boa Noite! Pra mim é um prazer enorme estar esta noite aqui com vocês peço desculpas não poder falar Português, mas Wellington vai me ajudar!" You better believe I butchered the entire welcome, quite easily. Plus, the students really seemed to appreciate the effort. Either way, I got them to smile. From then on, Wellington translated for me, which turned out to be easier than I anticipated. The breaks in speech provided the opportunity to prepare for the next point.  I concluded my portion by asking the students to take pride in their language and their accent, as language is such a beautiful reflection of one's culture and history. 

After the lecture, we held a question and answer period, and the students were so passionate about the subject of discrimination, even discussing how they felt undervalued for living in the countryside. They explained how hard they work for an education and the great lengths they go to each day just to get to the college. I so admire these students, especially for their will to receive the education they deserve. The lecture was definitely a success, and I am so thankful to have met these students. Their had such huge hearts and open minds. 

So many happy flags! 

The next day, I awoke to Wellington pounding (with no sign of stopping) on my bedroom door, calling, "Rachel! Rachel! RACHEL!" Nope, no fire, no emergency, just time for breakfast. The night before, I definitely asked what time I needed to be up the next morning and was told to sleep as late as  I wanted. Apparently, though, I held up breakfast, though it was only 8:30 am. I felt so bad! Oh well. No one seemed to hold it against me once the eating commenced. 


Later, we did some more touring of the city. My favorite stop was at the main church in the center of town. So beautiful. To my great delight, the church square was decorated for the holiday month! I cannot get enough of these festive flags. Touring was followed by lunch, which was naturally topped off with nap time. In the evening, we returned to our double decker bus, ready to journey back to Recife. Sleep was more difficult to come by on this trip, but I managed enough to get me through the next day, which included returning to teaching! I truly loved our trip to Salgueiro, despite the short length and busy schedule. Spending time in a town is such a refreshing break every now and then, and  I definitely returned to Recife recharged.