Back in the B

After a wonderful month in the US I arrived back in Maringà last night. Once at the apartment I quickly jumped into some flannel jammies, and my work day today at the computer has involved being curled up under a blanket. Well, okay, half a work day. I did need to catch up on sleep. I can never sleep on planes.

Yes, it is winter in Brazil, specifically here in Maringà and in Curitiba where I spent 5 hours of my day yesterday. I cannot express enough how much better it is to travel from hot (US) to cool (Brazil) during this time of year as opposed to going from cold (US) to sweltering (Brazil) in Dec/Jan when I travel for the holidays.

I froze all day yesterday in Curitiba seeing how I was wrapped in only a t-shirt hoodie, but I refused to complain. It was better than being hit in the face with the heat which often happens when I step off the plane in Sao Paulo.

Oh, how I love jackets, boots, scarves and turtlenecks. May I remind my Midwestern/Eastern US friends - it is not cold enough at all for this kind of gear in Maringà, yet everyone still wears it all. In fact, I’m starting to wear it too because of my new status as a freeze baby. Even people saying muito frio every five seconds is becoming less annoying.

I think my travel this time was a record 33 hours door to door due to Delta moving my flight up coming out of KY. It went quickly though. However, I do have to say that it was the worst boarding process out of Atlanta I have had thus far. This had as much to do with clash of cultures as it did with the attendants taking care of the boarding though. Total madness.

You know it is going to be bad when you see a handful of teenagers standing in the Breezeway refusing to move even though they are in zone 7. Considering zone 1 is for first class and zone 2 for frequent flyers you knew they weren’t getting on anytime soon, but they just stood there blocking the path of everyone else. Once again, welcome back.

I’ve completely lost my politeness when it comes to this and was happy to see that others have too. I’m almost always in zone 2. I was delighted as a Brazilian (I’m guessing) businessman told me to go in front of him obviously also in zone 2. We and few others plowed through the crowds to get on the plane and claim our overhead space. I didn’t think the plane was ever going to finish loading though and neither did the flight attendants. We were about 45 min late in leaving which doesn’t happen often on the overnights.

I’ve definitely become a different kind of traveler. I have to be careful when I’m just traveling in the States now. I’ve been known to do some pretty rude things as my mind flashes back and I think I’m boarding a plane to Brazil.

So here I am with four more months left for this living abroad experience. Today is as my first day always is. I’m sad and missing a lot but it is much more people (and animals) than stuff now. At the same time I know a lot lies ahead to experience so I’m hanging in there. More to come as I get out of settling mode and back to what has grown familiar.