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

Dinner with Pedro

Here we are at Pantanal with Pedro - Lume´s producer. It was excellent food (mostly fried) with good beer. We´re into the second day of the workshop, and Jesser (our teacher) has instructed us not to talk about what we are doing, so I´ll abstain for now. It´s alternately rainy and sunny and the red clay dirt is very wet!

-Galen

We are all here! In Brazil. Galen and I spent 24hrs. traveling by car, by plane, by three different kinds of buses and now we are here at LUME. We will be attending a class by Jesse - I believe it is called Acting for the performer II. We are not supposed to try and schedule anything after the workshop since we are supposed to be exhausted by the end. 

The area is beautiful, full of life, green, and fresh air.

It is a by a miracle that I am even here today. I spent the last hour before I was supposed to head to the airport waiting for the FedEx person to deliver my VISA. I was supposed to get it that morning before I headed out at 2pm but he delivered it to the wrong place. I then get to the airport and discover that my plane flight is canceled. However Galen happened to run into me and he urge them to transfer my ticket to his airline. 

Ciao,

Vanessa

This is what a circus looks like where we are right now. The beautiful Minnesota winter is upon us!

It is extremely exciting to head south not just because of weather in which there is no worry of freezing to death on your doorstep, but because we've been planning this trip for so long and have had such amazing support from everyone. Thank you! Enjoy the trip right here and the ice shanties we'll be missing.

-Galen

in less than 48 hours...

I will be on my way to Brazil.  I think I have everything I need.  There is still a lot to do and prepare.  A lot of last minute things have come up and they make me hungry.  I don't know why, but they do.  anyway.  It's late and I need to get to bed early.  I need to run tomorrow.  I've been skipping out on it lately and my body is craving the attention.  I want to be prepared for LUME.  

-Noah