The Voyaging Engineer: Connecting Across Different Languages (3 August 2014, Sunday, 22:47, Passos, Brazil)

3 August 2014, Sunday, 22:47, Passos, Brazil

I am writing this from my bed in Natalia’s (maternal) grandmother’s apartment in Passos. It is a nice apartment; several bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, dining room and kitchen. We have all been making comments about how cold it is in here. I am sure it is nice in summer, but Natalia was saying that it kind of sucks now that it is winter here – when you go outside you want to inside where it should be nice and cozy, but it is usually cooler inside, so you want to go back outside. It feels kind of nice though. I would rather be cool than warm – although I don’t have slippers with me and it took me an embarrassingly long time to remember that I have socks with me that I can use as slippers.

No major events planned for today, other than travel and meet with the family – but that has been an event in of itself. It is common for Latin American families to be close-knit, especially with the strong Catholic ties, and Natalia’s family is no different. Her mom’s brother lives above their mother. Her father’s sister lives in town and their mother also lives here in Passos. Both aunt and uncle are married and the one that lives upstairs has children – and today we met everyone. Everyone is very nice and welcoming. The apartment that we are staying in reminds me so much of a “typical” Catholic grandmother’s house; there is a curio cabinet filled with a large collection of delicate class cups that a part of me is so paranoid of breaking if I so much as look at them aggressively; some of the furniture is covered in plastic; and all around are photos of her family tucked among religious symbols ranging from angels to crucifixes.

The lunch that was waiting for us in Passos

View from my room in Passos

I think that if both of my grandmothers were still alive today, this apartment would be a combination of their two homes. There is a comfort in that and in seeing that the love and importance of family to the family matriarch is expressed so similarly across cultures.

It has been interesting too with communicating with all of these people, since we don’t speak Portuguese (a few words and sentences here and there: “Tudo bem?”, “De onde voĉe e?”) and most of the people in Natalia’s family don’t speak English. However, we all have a very personal connection through Natalia. She lived with us for a year when she was 14 or 15, and my family has remained close to her since she returned to Brazil, calling on holidays and being there for each other (emotionally) for all of our ups and downs that have occurred since she was with us. I am sure that through all of that, her family has heard much about us, and I know she was beyond thrilled when we told her we were coming – so if they didn’t hear much about us before, they certainly did then.

On our side of it, we have always heard of all of her family members whose homes she travels to for holidays or other events, so it is nice to finally meet them and see these mysterious places. With all of that being said, the two sides of her family (her blood family and her “American” family) can barely communicate with one another without her assistance.

The inability to communicate easily has led to some interesting moments, ranging from a few nights ago when her mom, Renusa, and I had a full and fairly deep conversation using Google translate, to the smiles I exchanged with her paternal grandmother and aunt tonight. Whole conversations were had in the silence of the cool apartment. Words of love and happiness were said through the parting of our lips in the universal language of a friendly smile. Through all of my travels, and social interactions for that matter, I have learned to never underestimate the power and effectiveness of a friendly, genuine, smile; it is no different smile. Actually, Brazilians really seem to like smiling and laughing, so it is probably even better here. I don’t know, but it is working so far.