Wyoming

Vista dos Tetons a partir do Diamond Cross Ranch


Finalmente, concretizou-se uma das viagens dentro dos Estados Unidos ha muito desejadas... Yellowstone National Park e Grand Teton National Park!

Como sou chica esperta, estive a espera que a minha querida fundacao que me da dinheiro decidisse fazer aqui um congresso. Portanto, tudo pago, excepto o pos-congresso. E posso dizer que nao e nada facil vir aqui sem ter tudo pago!

Para ja, estou por Jackson Hole, Wyoming, uma town turistica, mas nada tacky, ao contrario dos pavorosos Pigeon Forge e Gatlinbug, vilas equivalente no Tennessee, a beira do Great Smoky Mountain National Park.
Aqui em Jackson Hole ha uma certa classe. Explicaram-me que e porque Jackson Hole atrai gente riquissima e educada que vem aqui as ferias de ski.
O ar cheira bem, a coisas verdes e saudaveis e a primavera, como eles lhe chamam, acaba de chegar e esta tudo cheio de "wild flowers".
Pois, primavera... eu diria que nem o inverno de portugal chega a ser tao rigoroso! Bem, por exemplo, amanha, dia 12 de junho, temos um bocadinho de neve no Grand Teton e estou farta de passar frio, mesmo com o casacao de inverno.
As pessoas sao simpaticas e mais bonitinhas que la para o sul. Cowboys veem-se em cada esquina, contrariando todas as minhas crencas de que os cowboys eram apenas personagens de filmes. E, claro, com os cowboys, cheira a vaca, de vez em quando. Eu gosto disso! :)

Jose e a bondade

Yesterday, after the lab, I went to meet up with some friends at a local typical american sports bar... one of those that has at least 50 tvs on, all showing the same sports' crap.
At some point, this guy, completely looking like a hooligan, like the majority of people I saw in that place, asked us where we were from. Surprise, surprise, he got ecstatic, because there was, like himself, a portuguese in the group. So, we started talking. He says he's just happy to speak portuguese, because he doesn't know any portuguese here anymore. So, along the conversation, he mentioned Rui Costa, as the last portuguese he used to speak to here, but he lost track.... and that was a while ago. The world is small, indeed!
Soon, after we started talking, this guy conquered me forever! Never I had found the word to describe what I feel that really requires me to leave, among many other things. He said he was very happy to meet me (please notice that he was with his girlfriend, so he was not flirting with me... this is important to mention when you have such a meeting in american territory), because not only he loves to have the chance to speak portuguese, but he also loves portuguese people, because there is that natural "bondade" that you cannot find in americans no matter how much you search, he said. He said he's been living in the U.S. for decades and he's already forty. You can also tell by the fact that his portuguese is a bit off, despite a perfect accent. And, yes, that is it! Bondade! I have felt a general absence of such thing in the majority of the locals that I have met.
So, I went on to check how we would translate bondade to english and google translator says it means goodness (but that sounds like direct translation), kindness (indeed!) and HUMANENESS!!!!! Yes, exactly! I have used exactly this expression for years. I have said so many times that people around are not "human", but now I know I should have said that they lack humaneness, maybe?
Interestingly, the translator also said that bondade means GRACE!...

As coisas em que eu me meto...

http://www.nps.gov/yell/naturescience/bearmangementareas.htm

Se nao souberem nada de mim a 20 de Junho, e porque ja virei excremento de urso pardo.