A Cada Dia Que Passa

I am taking this opportunity to say, I LOVE LEARNING LANGUAGES!!! I am having so much fun at this. I get to spend my days studying grammar, writing and talking to myself in Portuguese, attempting and failing and attempting again to make sense of these new sounds, testing myself, pushing the envelope. And also avoiding it: Eduardo can attest, I have had moments of utter despair, resignation, desperation, self-pity, frustration. And also moments of illumination, excitement, connection, laughter, and delight. This is one of those :-)
It all seems soooo obvious now: since at least 2013 when I traveled in France (no, since 2012 when I expressed the wish to be in France; no, 2005 when I wanted to go international to train in Alexander Technique; no, since COLLEGE when I couldn't study abroad because I'd already spent my "off-site" year at the college I transferred in from; no, HIGH SCHOOL when I was too scared to take the leap to study abroad!!) –– I have been wanting for so long to study languages, to be in Europe, to see if maybe, maybe, maybe I could be more French or European than American. How arrogant, how foolish, how... I dunno, maybe authentic?
The coolest thing (as if there were only one) about working my brain in this way is that THE WHOLE WORLD OPENS UP. I don't know how to describe how I giggle inside when I get to watch cooking videos on YouTube in French, in Spanish, in Portuguese.
So many dishes I could try out! So many voices I can listen to! So much fun awaiting!
It gets easier and easier. I can watch Portuguese videos of an older generation describe how they  sow and harvest rice by hand, or how they knead and bake broa de milho. I can learn how to make a reusable shopping bag from an old t-shirt. I can learn about garden tools, or which kind of sugar to use. I can dance to music that I would have never encountered before. I can laugh at imaginary encounters of officemates mourning the death of the microwave in the service of learning the infinitivo pessoal. Or grin at Rui's dad proposing saving the ice caps by "constructing ice" at home. It's all so much fun... 
Just wanted to share the moment with you. And encourage anyone and everyone to take the leap, there are so many wonderful resources available for learning languages. If you want to stretch your mind, waggle your tongue, and open your spirit to a grander, richer world – you know where to find your cheerleader 🎉

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