It’s a candy!

In a few days, she will turn 22. This history is about her last birthday.

I woke up at 6am. I had to prepare for a chinese economy exam in the afternoon. There was this huge book to finish. One day before, I had an iddea: a special breakfast. We use to do it in Brazil. So i bought a basket, orange juice, coconut water, cakes, jelly, butter, breads, chesse and jam. It was all western items that I found in the markets in Macau. Except for major cities, it is not easy to find a supermarket as we are used to go in brazilian cities. I guess it must be the same in small cities here, but, unfortunately, I’ve never been to many places in my country. Actually, sometimes I feel I know more about the world than about Brazil. That hurts.

After buying all the food, I set everything in the basket and asked a portuguese friend, Rita, to let me hide it in her room - for one night only. When I woke up, at 6am, I had to woke her up too. She shared a room with a half portuguese-half chinese girl, Yuyu, that became one of my best friends latter. I brought the basket to my room, and, childish, started to make noise. I wanted to study, I had to. But you all might know than anything can become more important than studies, everyone is able to come up with several reasons to postpone lectures, it's a human natural gift, I guess. However, in this case, it was really an important event. I didn’t know how chinese people use to celebrate birthdays before. So I can say what I was planning - and did - was risky ("cultural matters" speaking). I did it anyway because after sharing a tiny room with her for three months, I had the feeling I already knew her. And I did.

I also bought a present. A plush toy. She was not like others. The chinese girls, from 20 to 27 years old, use to act like children sometimes. They dress children-themes pajamas, talk and walk like they were nine, or even five. I saw a documentary about chinese children, that use to stay 13 hours at school, so they don’t deeply and fully enjoy their childhood. When they grow up, they are more free, and it seems they are trying to rescue what they've “lost”. But she was different, she was more mature than the others, definitively. Later I kept myself thinking that maybe she had a mature behavior because of me. I am three years older, and brazilian. Induction maybe... as if she were trying to reflect me to facilitate our communication. But I am not sure about that. Maybe she was mature because of her home education. Once she told me her father was very open mind. When we first drunk beer together, she said she had drunk it once before, with him, at home. That’s not common in China. Not at all. Anyway, I bought her a plush toy.

At first, I thought it was a turtle. After being noisy for one hour, she finlly woke up. She saw the turtle, but when she opened the plastic bag it didn’t look like a turtle anymore, the head was too long, and there was no eyes, or ears, or nose, or mouth. It was beige and red. The round “body”: red, and the ”head”: beige. There was also a tie between the body and the head. I also wrote a card. Birthday card in both chinese and english. Then she saw the food. It was an overwhelming moment. Everything so strange for a person that used to drink tea with soup noodles and pieces of spicy beef for breakfast. I was anxious to show her how it would be in Brazil. I guess she will never forget it. I didn’t study that morning. We spent around three hours eating and looking for the Macau Tower from our window.

It was cloudy and happy.
Later we found out that the turtle was something else. Izumi, a japanese friend, a tiny, pretty and polite girl from Osaka, came to our room to see Poka. That's her name. Her english name, because I can't speak the chinese one. Izumi hold the turle upside down. We started to laugh... it seemed pornographic. And it was even funniest because it was Izumi, she would never do anything that could remember pornography. I don’t remember who, but one of us asked: What are you doing? Don’t hold it like that. Turn it up side down! She said: "What's wrong? (with the most naive face ever). -It’s a candy!", she argued. We laugh more, and more. And it made all sense. We felt stupid…and completely and deeply happy.'

I miss you, dear!

Cheescake de morango

Já faz quase cinco meses que cheguei da China.

Se a viagem foi boa, estar de volta é ainda melhor. O coração já doía demais. Os apuros, a saudade e todas as diferenças já estavam me deixando diferente. Sem perceber, fui me tornando uma pessoa diferente. Era hora de voltar. Quando cheguei e encontrei o Rodrigo e a minha família me esperando... ah, foi o momento mais feliz de todos.

E hoje sou diferente. Dia sim, dia não ainda me pego pensando, digerindo a China...como um delicioso cheesecake de morango.

Todo mundo pergunta por que eu não esperei até as Olimpíadas. Claro que eu queria ver os jogos. Agora quem sabe eu passo 2012 em Londres...

Abaixo, as três primeiras fotos são em Qindao, cidade das provas de vela nas Olimpíadas de Pequim, perto de Xangai. A última é em Guangzhou, no sul, na província de Cantão.