February 17, 2008

It is Sunday Morning at 6:30 and I am wide awake and John is still asleep so I decided to walk to Romana's and have my usual breakfast.  This particular early morning walk was cool with not a soul or car on the street.  I have never gotten there this early so it was a totally different experience.  The shift is changing in waiters so it is really busy.  Finally, I start recognizing "my waiters".  I place "my usual order" but I am there so early "my bread" is not ready.  The smells of bread baking are unbelievable.  At 6:30 Romana's is filled with people having breakfast after leaving wedding receptions from the night before.  They know how to do wedding receptions here!  They are still in their beautiful gowns and suits and sitting around talking and having fun.  I did notice the girls had changed from their extremely high heels to flip-flops for comfort.  I left just as the people were coming in for breakfast before early Mass across the street at the beautiful Catholic Church across from Romana's.

 

We attended our first Brazilian Soccer game this past week.  It turned into quite an experience.  Pierre's favorite team is Ponto Preto which means Black Bridge.  We only saw maybe 5 minutes of soccer before the sky opened forth and released rain that was quickly flooding the streets.  We were with two other families and Marina and Pierre.  We got outside the stadium and Pierre and Chuck went to get the cars.  By the time they got to us water was at mid-calf in the street.  John picked up one of the kids and helped them to the car and we jumped in absolutely soaking wet.  The fans remind me of the Duke basketball fans jumping up and down during the game.  It was quite an experience.  Since we had already had 24 straight days of rain we should have realized we would have rain that day too.  They did not stop the game even with horrible lightning and torrential rain.

 

The United States should do their elections like they do here in Brazil.  You announce your candidacy along with the others.  You have TWO months to campaign.  You are required to vote in Brazil.  If you do not vote you must have and report your reason for not voting.  You can be excused as many times as you need BUT to keep and renew your passport you need proof that you have voted in the last 2 elections.  Each candidate will be able to make a short speech, at no cost to the candidate, one hour on TV and one hour on radio.  The time is divided among the political parties according to their percentage of representatives in the Congress. 

Can you IMAGINE just two months of campaigning???