attack of the monkeys

i thought that the meowing cats at our house in brazil were bad, but i've made new enemies.. the monkeys. before yesterday, they were just part of the landscape, laying around pruning themselves. yesterday was Sunday and we woke up to monkeys swarming our patio and fighting over a rotten papaya that we had forgotten about and meant to throw away.  Melanie wanted to make everyone french toast and bananas.  she had run down to get something from her room and i was in the kitchen washing some dishes.  all i heard from one of the teachers who was hanging her clothes outside was, "monkey!"  there just wasn't enough time for me to react and think about what in the world i would do to get rid of a monkey.  these monkeys are not little either.. the adults stand to be as tall as 3 feet or so (essentially a 1st grader) with big pink butts, nipples, and balls. these guys are not afraid of humans and clearly don't mess around. the monkey ran off with our dozen bananas!  they all feasted (as if purposely) in front our room hissing at us. no shame whatsoever. this battle was far from over.  i volunteered to go to the market to get more bananas.  except i didn't know how far or where. i gave it a shot, but once i got to a certain point i just turned around, not in the mood to face the honking cars, motorbikes, & mass of people.  so i ran by Nisha's house and she happened to have some bananas.  i arrive back upstairs to monkeys all over the place just waiting for someone to forget the door open.  we enjoyed our breakfast.. french toast w/ honey and bananas. after our feast, we decided to go bike riding.  we were getting ready to leave, anna and melanie were waiting downstairs, and i ran to the bathroom before we left. apparently anna had left the door open because i walked out of the bathroom to find a monkey holding my refrigerator door open and pulling out food.  i'm sure he was just as surprised to see me as i was to see him.  we both looked at each other and i just screamed and grabbed the broom.  the punk ran out with our bananas while dropping a few eggs and making a mess on our floor.  i could've killed the monkey! we now have a trap door -- a rope that goes across from our front door to the bathroom door, holding it shut.

anyways, our bike ride was so nice.  instead of going left toward town like last time, we went right, determined to find nothing but country.  what we found was the closest to country we have come.. the road was lined with big trees hugging the road, small homes with families outside in the sun, people working the land, and farmland.  anna and melanie gave up on waiting for me since i couldn't help stopping every few minutes to find something amazing to take a picture of.  a little boy getting his hair cut, some young girls in beautiful colors with their white horse, and people piled up in tiny WWII-looking vehicles.  we went through the town on the way back from our ride down the road to nowhere, bought fruit (oranges, apples, bananas and even a watermelon), and some other supplies. we tried to find toilet paper again but with no luck.. somewhere the translation got lost and we found ourselves with napkins again. at this point i'm used to the staring.  we go to buy some apples and suddenly i turned around and there are about 10 or 15 people just standing there staring at us.  i think i had about had it though when we were heading out of the town with my bicycle basket heavy with fruit, when a guy on a bike carrying long metal poles hit me from behind and i fell on the ground... again.  the fruit went all over the road, watermelon and all.. i was more worried that a bike or car was going to run over my food. luckily the food was still good but i was surprised by the fact that nobody helped the poor white girl running after fruit. 

today was the first day of my school week.  i finalized my schedule this morning and i'm really looking forward to working.  my photography class starts tomorrow that i'll be doing with the 5th grade class.  they are a small group, about 13 kids, and just a really great group.  i'm working with some of the english classes (various grades) in small groups doing conversational activities. capoeira was supposed to start today but i didn't have the music, so it'll start on wednesday.. today we just did the yoga portion which Anna taught.  the rest of my time (majority of my time) i'll be working with Gautam, the art teacher.  he's full of crazy / amazing ideas and i'm really excited about teaching with him.  we've already started discussing a wall sculpture project (to hang on a huge wall in the school) inspired by Vik Muniz's work, Wasteland.  we plan to use trash and recyclables as materials with the older classes to create a wall piece inspired by their country.  it's still in the works, but if it actually gets done, i know it will be great.