Date of Entry: December 15th to December 30th 2017
Date of Writing: June 4th 2017
After a brief but great three days in Brazil seeing Renata and her family again I’m off onboard another long haul flight, this one from Sao Paulo to New York and then on to Toronto. Last time I was home was august 2014 so yeah it has been a while, and yes I’m very excited to be coming to home. Especially because it’s Christmas and I’m crazy for christmas in Canada.
My dad is there to pick me up at the airport and after a quick stop at the passport office in Toronto to get the process of a new one moving,(filled this past one in just 2.5 years) we hit the road. But this is Canada in December so as soon as we hit the Don Valley Parkway the snowstorm begins and what should take 2.5 hours takes almost 7. I feel bad for my exhausted father, and the flights have knocked some energy out of me, but it’s still so great to catch up with my Dad after so long. Oh and it’s also great to stop at a service center and pick up my first tim Hortons in too long, despite getting some very odd looks for the shorts I’m wearing in a snowstorm. Stupid unprepared Brazilian/Canadian.
The first few days at home it’s just me and my dad and his awesome friends as well as some visits and lunches with my good friend Peter and a nice visit from Stu who is in from BC and kindly drives down for a day together. My brother arrives a few days later and the true christmas preparations begin, My dad and I haven already gotten one of the last trees on the lot, we wait for Russell to get home from law school to start decorating, the obligatory and awesome Raffi playing in the background at least for part of the decoration. I’m missing Renata and my Brazilian family, but it feels great to be with my brother and Dad together.
(Canada refused Renata’s visa twice using the absurd claim we had not offered proof she would return to Brazil. despite a mostly non refundable roundtrip plane ticket, two kids in brazil, 2 jobs, a university degree one semester from completion, travel through 30 countries without ever overstaying, a house in brazil, letters and bank statements from both me and my father, and my own return ticket to Brazil. Canada i hope to hell you get your act together because I still fume now 6 months later writing this when I think about my country denying her and myself the opportunity to visit with my family and spend christmas together. This is not how we are supposed to be and the more of researched the more I’ve learned this is not an isolated incident at all. As a traveller I’ve been welcomed to over 50 countries without incident, but my country won’t let her come. There’s words I won’t type but I think readers get the jist of my feelings on this.) Still Christmas at home is pretty awesome.
On Christmas eve day I manage to get many of my old Kingston friends together for a lunch at a thai restaurant in downtown Kingston, originally made for Renata to meet my friends, but even without her, it’s a great time seeing all these special people after so long. We’ve all gone a long ways and taken many different turns in this life, but it’s nice to be able to get together and remember old times. Nico even makes it down from Ottawa for a great day together, despite his very short christmas break.
After a traditional christmas eve party that night with so much great food including one of the most delicious lamb curry type dishes I have ever eaten at our friends house we head back home and get to bed quite late. I’m ashamed to say I woke up later than 6 am,which is by far a new record for me. I’m horrified that maybe my inner child might be dying, but I think I’m just tired out from all the recent flights and my brother and father seem quite happy that I’ve done my version of a christmas sleep in.
Once awake I hurriedly wake Russell and we return to my childhood room to open up our stockings, loaded with all kinds of christmas goodies, and a surprise Trump gift, real Trump worn Trump hotel slippers. My dad got these as a joke gift for me from a friend who stayed in Trump tower in New York, and I made up the part about trump wearing them.
Stockings done we head down to breakfast, a huge bowl of raspberries for me, which is one of the things I most miss about Canada, affordable berries.
Once we guess each other’s passwords we’re allowed into the tree, which is amply filled with presents, impressive considering both Russell and I have to bring everything we get onto a flight, him to Nova Scotia, and me all the way to Brazil.
My brother and father appreciate my gifts bought in Africa and I love my crazy socks, bose speaker, kitchen stuff, awesome cheese from my godmother suzanne, and a toothbrush to brush away the cheese. (Believe it or not electric brushes are super hard to find and crazy expensive in Brazil so this really is a great gift from my Dad, though his best was choosing to fly me home, making the choice to go so so much easier. And it was so worth it, even if the two weeks went by fast, they were crammed full of great family time.)
Christmas ends with an amazing Turkey dinner, prepared by my father, and me packing up all my amazing gifts as well as so many things I want to bring back to Brazil with me. Presents for Renata and her family, photo books of my travels, and countless other cherished possessions I now have with me here in Brazil. I filled three suitcases to the bursting point and then the next morning we are on the road again, bound for toronto to see as much extended family as I can.
Sadly another snowstorm and a run of ice on the 401 means this trip takes jsut over 7 hours again, and we arrive super late to my cousin’s house where we continue a boxing day tradition of having a second christmas with my mum’s sister and her ever growing family. It’s crazy I haven’t seen my two little nephews in 2.5 years and they’ve changed an immense amount.
It’s all too brief a visit but it’s so great to see so many cousins and family members in one night of good food, frantic catching up, and fun playing with the kids. The next morning we meet them in the snow covered park for one last goodbye then drive towards Jane street to see my Dad’s sister and her two daughters. Again it’s great and strange to see everyone again and we spend too little time together, though we certainly make the most of it.
Next up my friend from birth Greg stops by and we grab a coffee together as he’s on his way through Toronto back to Kingston and it’s great to see him. From there we head back towards the centre of town as a family to my family friends Glenda and Mario and enjoy a truly delicious dinner before I say a very sad goodbye to my Dad and get my brother to drive me to Ben’s house, where I’ll be spending the next day and a half before getting a flight back to Canada.
We have a brief authentics reunion on the 28th grabbing more thai food for lunch with Zo and Ben, and I have an amazing dinner with my singing teacher from university Peggy who remains one of the most remarkable people I have met in my life. She’d hate me saying it, but one conversation with her is so incredibly wonderful to have. I’m thankful she found time for me.
Then around 3 am on the 29th I hop in an Uber to the airport for what turns into an interesting trip back. I’m offered 300 usd to reroute my flight which was supposed to give me a day in Miami through Dallas, then onto Miami then Sao Paulo. I can’t not take the offer but I end up on a flight delayed 5 hours out of Dallas and have to run through the Miami airport to make my flight to Sao paulo, I also use my always growing mastery of the Portuguese language to help a Brazilian family stuck in the same boat as me reroute their flight while I choose to stay the course. In the end I do manage to get onto the Sao Paulo flight, with emergency exit row seating the whole way, with an extra 100 dollar travel voucher to my name. Now I just have to figure out where to use these flight dollars.
Next up is back home in Brazil for a few days then on to Colombia Central America and Mexico, an exciting way to start 2017 which I hope will be a good follow up to 2016 which saw me visit two new continents, and find the love of my life and a new home here in Brazil.
