Time to move on, time to get going

Well, it´s time to move on from Salvador, but before I do, I´ll give you the lowdown on my last week here.

Monday, I started with a new teacher at school, making it my third teacher since I came here. This one is Edna, and no, she is not 138 years old, as someone with the name ´Edna´ would usually connote. At night, I ended up going out with the guys, as it was Jaime(Spain)´s last night. It was a fun, low-key night hanging out with Jaime, Greg (USA), and Salvador (USA), and we alternated between speaking English and Spanish. Also a bit strange because low-key nights don´t seem to come around all that often.

Tuesday, after class, I headed to Pelourinho and spent some time meandering around there. Pelourinho: where the people-watching is always good, and the stores all have the same thing as the store next to it. I looked for a CD of ´´Songs Missy knows from Carnaval 2008´´ but no one seemed to carry it. Humph.

Wednesday, in the morning, the juice of the day was grape juice. It was like going to Hebrew School but without the orange tic-tacs. After that, I went to class and then to the beach for a bit with Greg, Salvador, and Salvador´s friend. I had made plans with Eliene and Greg to go to this market, though, so Greg and I stopped off at home first, where we ended up having a (post-lunch) feast of chocolate nut cake and passion fruit mousse (think frozen sorbet). We then went to the market and meandered around there. Afterwards, we hopped the bus back and stopped off at the Museu de Arte Moderna da Bahia. People say that that is one of the best places in the city to see the sun set, and Eliene said that I couldn´t leave Salvador without seeing it. Lucky for us, by the time we finished the museum, it was about that time. One sunset later, we were back on the road. On the way back home, we stopped off at the apartment of the mother-in-law (age 86 or so) of Eliene´s sister (sibling #5 of 12...I always ask the number when she mentions her siblings). It was funny -- she served us Coca-Cola and cookies. And then later on we hung out with Auana at home. It´s funny how after only 6 weeks living with Auana and Eliene, it has become so easy to talk for hours with them (each of them).

Thursday was a day of taking care of odds and ends, seeing an old Spanish movie (I wrongly thought there would be Portuguese subtitles -- read: a linguistic disaster waiting to happen), etc.

And here we are at Friday. I have had my last class, and tomorrow I will leave Salvador for São Paulo. People always say that right when you start feeling settled in a place is when it is time to pack up and leave. I think that whether I would have stayed 6 weeks or 6 months, the idea would be the same. In my case, though, I think what has made my Salvador experience especially memorable are the people I have met through my program, the other like-minded travelers who I will undoubtedly come across again in some other corner of the globe -- maybe later on in this adventure, and most certainly on another.

For now, though, seeing as it *is* my last day here, I´m going to get going. It´s been real, folks. See you in São Paulo.

****
´´It's time to move on, time to get going
What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing
But under my feet, baby, grass is growing
It's time to move on, it's time to get going...´´
~Tom Petty, ´´Time to Move On´´
****

Abraços,
missy
http://andsmilestogobeforeisleep.blogspot.com