Wednesday, Nov 4th – Brazil, IN

I spent the day in Brazil relaxing. I had an assignment due for film class and hadn’t even started it. (typical me.) fortunately it was an optional film that week, but I did have tons of reading. I did some of it, while my aunt (I’d like to point out that I say “ant” not “awnt” when referencing my family in IN for some reason… when referencing my family in Boston its “ahntee”) did some gardening. In the afternoon we took a trip to Terre Haute to visit my (aunt) Marisol and uncle Gary who have just had a baby this summer named Anna Sofia. (parentheses on aunt again because I’ve never actually called her “aunt”) The visit was twofold. Marisol is Colombian and teaches Spanish at ISU and also has a TEFL certificate. I wanted to chat with Marisol about her career because I aim to get a TEFL cert myself, after college, and move to South America to teach English. I also wanted to see Ana Sofia. =) baby visit/career chat a success! Off to a swanky little coffee shop with Dorothy and to chat. I actually had a really great visit with Dorothy. Not that I thought I wouldn’t, she’s always been super nice to me… actually, she’s the one that has made me feel most welcome in their family, as they are really my step-family. Anyway… like I was saying… my visits to IN have always been with my parents, this was my first visit solo. (as my uncle Gary had noted he’d never seen me out there alone) I didn’t think it would be awkward or anything, they’re all really great people… but I guess I really hadn’t thought too much about it otherwise. Dorothy and I talked a lot though during the visit, and it was really great. I learned a ton of awesome things about corn. Haha… in the Midwest learning about corn. I know, no irony there. But really, she and Scott have a corn burner/furnace/whatever-you-call-it and it powers there furnace. I thought this was brilliant and am pretty interested in the technology now. I then had pipe dreams of getting rid of cows (sorry cows) and the use the land we use to graze them and grow the feed for them to grow corn for fuel! And the alternate year (because you have to alternate years) grow soybeans! We could have all the soy products we need (no dairy!) and the energy too! (without all those icky fumes that come out of cow butts [more on cow butts later]) of course, this is just a pipe dream… no one else will be giving up their big macs anytime soon… and I do love cheese. =) anyway… finished my homework… chatted a bit more with Dorothy and then hit the hay. Had to get up at 530a to be on the road by 6am!