Day 32: The glassmaker

It seems that all has been in my favor this summer. I have been blessed with good friends, a safe home, a wonderful host family, an open mind, open heart, and a digital camera :) I swear that everywhere I go something good has happened to me. For example, Yesterday I went to the airport to say goodbye to Alejandra. As always, we laughed about everything under the sun. After her plane took off, Flávia and I went to the bontanical garden with Ana. It was soo cool hanging out and laughing about school and life and all that there was to laugh about. Then we went over Eduardo's house and had an AWESOME time having a pasta party (Its so interesting that alot of teenagers here have parties based on food that they cook themselves. Most American teens buy the food that they serve at parties) And today, Flávia and I went to the museum at Pãe's private university and I got to see alot of cool things that I missed the first time I went. At around noon, we had lunch with Pãe and got into a REALLY good conversation about a bunch of different topics, including racism, classism, politics, etc. After lunch, Pãe decided to show us around the university, so we got to see different classrooms and sections of the chemistry building. In one room, there was small man, known as the glassmaker. He took us into his lab and turned on a torch, which spewed out a long stream of fire. He took a broken tube of glass and held it to the flame calmly. It seemed to consume the tube, making it slowly melt, just enough for the glassmaker to mold it into the form of a flask. Impressed, I turned to Fllávia and said "I wonder if he could make a pitcher for my family, that would be so awesome.". And again, he took a broken tube and held it to the stream of flame. And again, it melted slowly, waiting to be molded. And so the glassmaker complied with its request. After (at most) 5 minutes, he set in front of me, a tiny glass pitcher and a glass cup. "You won't find this anywhere else" he said smiling. And it was true. I don't think I ever will find such a pitcher or even a glassmaker as original as the one from this afternoon.


Feeling at peace,
Zora in Brazil