Thomas loves Samba

As many of you know, I came to Brazil with my mom and Thomas, my 14 month-old son.  I was nervous about the journey with Thomas, but he was absolutely incredible.  He slept through the entire plane ride and seemed excited by getting to ride in a bus and a taxi without a car seat.  And now that we are here in Barao Geraldo (a small city outside of Campinas), he is loving it.  I think Brazil is an ideal place for a little kid, in fact.  The people are seriously some of the most friendly I've ever met.  Haven't met a single grumpy Brazilian.  The juices (suco) are freshly pureed from all sorts of fresh tropical fruit, which he loves.  His favorite so far is guava (goiba), followed closely by strawberry and mango (not as much of a fan of pineapple).  And the food is an ideal combo of fish and chicken and eggs and he likes the bread that isn't of wheat -- it's made out of manioc flour instead.  Oh and then there are all the dogs and cats and little Brazilian kids who play with him quite openly and happily.  Every day he makes a new playmate.

But the title of my first post refers specifically to tonight.  All of us LASers had dinner at a little cafe near LUME, joining up with a large group of students who are taking the Street Theater workshop (another class offered by LUME).  There were probably ten Brazilians at the table, all singing various samba songs, complete with percussion by a tambourine, little egg shakers, and some hand clapping that produced sounds that I'd never heard before.  Thomas TOTALLY grooved on this.  He would hold onto something and squat repeatedly, wiggle his butt, shake his head and occasionally drum on chairs with his hands.  I think it blew his mind.  I'm pretty sure Galen took some photos of the occasion, so hopefully he will post some of them.

Okay, that's all for now.  I can add that it's true our instructor has given us the rule that we cannot discuss the contents of the class until it is over.  Not even with each other.  LUME stresses that the classes are for our own individual experience and discussing it opens up both the possibility of being tainted by someone else's perception and that trying to put it into words means that we are beginning to analyze, rather than experience, it.  But after ten days...we can open the flood gates!

But the class is going really well.  Hopefully that doesn't give away too much.

Loving Brazil.... Megan