Good to be home, part I

Flew back to Vitoria this evening and in preparing to go out (to a goodbye dinner for one of the French professors) I discovered that it is INDEED very moist in Brazil. Apparently, leaving shoes inside the closet (where you also keep your clothes...) is a bad idea. So sadly, with this photo, I did not sprinkle magic star-dust on my shoes. Mold spores spawned instead. But it's ok, I wasn't going to take these shoes back with me to the States. Only two pairs had bad mold on them. Two other pairs had just started, but I think I can rescue them.

The house has experienced a decent amount of water damage... but the rest is for tomorrow. All in all, it was a good day, though I was rather tired by the end of it. I went shopping during the day (after a long, unfruitful walk to Copacabana) and bought some nice presents for folks back home (in the spirit of everyone's homecoming preparations) as well as a very cute all-purpose black dress for myself (I think I literally said, "I could use it for a funeral or a wedding!")

I was going to go out to the beach one last time, but it started raining. A little dejected, I returned to the hotel, only to find a paper-wrapped rose at my door with a note "bon viajem?" (It was close- boa viagem is the correct way, but they tried) The IRES gave me the pretty red flower, which didn't survive the flight to Vitoria very well, but still looks very nice on my windowsill. So cute and thoughtful. Makes up for the mold I know is lurking in my room. :D