It’s February; the time is a whirlwind in what seems to be like a fantasyland, as my mother would say. I am not sure if I mentioned earlier that I was going to the Northeast of Brasil with 42 other exchange students. Well, I went, and reality smacked me in the face this morning. Morning starts early for us. The 5:50 wakeup call from the darn alarm clock seems to dance through my head even as I sleep throughout the night. Oh how the mornings great me with a sweet smile—a breeze of polluted air whips by my face every morning as I walk out the door into the streets of crowds and passers by. Although there is no way to visualize the toxins that so sweetly fill my lungs, they’re always visible in the back of my mind, making me think about how my health will fare because of these days. This is what we call getting accustomed to the city.
I was blessed with a wonderful visit from a few of my girlfriends from Homer these past few days—Thorey Reba and Emmy. We had a super-fabulous time hanging out with my friends from the street. The girls were staying at my Grandma’s house here in Belo Horizonte because her house accommodates more visitors. My family might be acting a bit too hospitable, though. In fact, it’s slightly ironic how my family felt that Reba could never get full of eating their food, but she does. She was stuffed full of every type of food that she could get her hands on, but the funny part was that she didn't know how to say "I'm full." So she finally begged me to tell my family that she was full. Yes, I also gave her a few hints about telling people that she was full and how to say it properly.
While my friends were there, we made a hydrating cream for our hair from avocados and egg whites. We put it in the mixer, put it in our hair like conditioner, and left it in for 40 minutes just like a hair dye. As we mixed the mixture of splendor into one another’s hair, the aroma of avocados and eggs filled the room. We put bags on top of our heads to keep it all together, and at that very instant I felt like I had a head full of sauce and juices that was about to spill all over, and we all laughed. It was funny, and our hair has never felt better. Now we are looking as glorious as ever Pain is beauty in the fashion world, and as we are not the most fashionable gang around, we like to look good through laughter instead of tears. We all have natural beauty, but the key, my dear people, is to laugh and life will be good.
In life, moments come and go. My Brasilian friends asked me if I would miss the girls since today was our last day together, but truthfully the feeling that I hold inside is not a feeling of sadness in any way or form. My life is here in Brasil; it’s not in Alaska; it’s not in other places in the world or even other cities here in Brasil. My journey and life is Belo Horizonte and what I can make out of it. I have my standards, and my morals are from the way my parents raised me in Alaska. This is something that I will continue to use throughout my life, but I don't need to hold on with every last grasp to the life I lived because, truthfully, the only thing that matters now is the type of person who I am today and the future that is in front of my eyes.
