Party!

All work and no play makes us dull boys.

 

Some of Cecilia’s extended family is in Ubatuba for a weekend getaway. Cecilia spent much of Saturday afternoon with them. When she returned to the UNITAU research station, she informed us we had been invited to the vacation apartment for dinner (BBQ!!). Derrick and I were missing home-cooked food so much we immediately accepted the offer.

 

The food was as good as we had hoped. Very simply prepared cuts of beef, linguiça sausage, and chicken wings, slow roasted rotisserie-style. Apparently, two of the cousins recently celebrated birthdays. So, there was a cake!

 

Only one of Cecilia’s cousins spoke any English, so the conversation was light. However, the international language of food and drink worked well. Our hosts constantly thrust tasty morsels, glasses of beer, and cups of cachaça toward us. We either put up our hands to indicate “No. Thank you.”, or received the food or libation with a “Obrigado!” We did much more of the latter.

 

The men and women mostly grouped together. Towards the end of the evening, the women began watching “Cheias de Charme”. This is a popular show in Brazil right now. I describe it as a mix between Desperate Housewives and Hanna Montana. If I understand it correctly, the plot revolves around three beautiful young house cleaners. Despite facing some hard times, they team up to eventually form a popular singing group. The show is complete with a set of identical twins (clearly played by the same male actor – in front of a green screen). One is apparently long-lost, but has recently shown up (and loves brooding and wearing hoodies). The other was horribly scarred in some sort of accident and now must wear a Phantom of the Opera-style half face mask and feel sorry for himself, throwing himself onto his giant, fluffy bed, in fits of despair, with great regularity. Like most sitcoms, this one plays almost every night for one season.

 

Somewhat predictably, when the São Paulo soccer team (São Paulo FC) game started playing, the women had to retreat into another room while the guys annexed the TV space. If memory serves, São Paulo’s team won easily.