The most common question that I been asked during my stay is with out a doubt "What do you like best about Brazil?"  On cue, I quickly response "Why the people of course!"  They no doubt have heard this before.  I've been described as a white boy in search of a culture.  It's true,  I've been roaming this planet in search of something increasingly difficult to find in my own society.  I've found it here.  This country and people have really gotten to me.  I've made a wonderful life here and now I must leave.  That familiar feeling of separation and loss so common these days is back.  Damn it!  Fortunately I have my motorcycle trip and my own awesome barro waiting.  Complicated.  I'll get over it of course but that doesn't take away what I'm living now.  The hardest part will be leaving all my friends I have made at work.  You guys are great and I hope to see you in San Diego soon (don't forget to get my address:).  There much more I would like to say but I'll leave it for the journal.  I'd like to close with this wonderful passage lifted from one of the books I recently read about Brazil.  It summarizes nicely things Brasileiro that have influenced me over the last year, my latest wrecking ball. Campinas, Brazil September 2001

 
I know... that I am Brazilian and not North American because I like to eat feijoada and not hamburger; ... because I speak Portuguese and not English; because when I hear popular music, I know immediately how to tell a frevo from a samba; because football for me is a game played with the feet and not the hands; ... because I know Carnival I bring into light my social and sexual fantasy; because I know that there never exists a "no" in the face of formal barriers, and that there is no such barrier that does not admit of a jeitinho through the mechanism of personal relationships or friendships; because I believe in Catholic saints and also African orixas; because I know that destiny exists and yet I still have faith in study, education and the future of Brazil; because I am loyal to my friends, and cannot deny anything to my family; because, finally, I know that I have personal realtionships that will not let me walk alone in this world, as happens to my American friends, who always see themselves and exist as individuals.