Going back home - 10 years later (pt.1)

Ten years had passed, ten years of living in Italy, ten years and they were my 20's.

I have to admit I was somewhat nervous about going back to my birth place, the country where I spent my childhood. I was nervous and a bit scared, as if in these ten years the place I should know so well had turned into some strange beast. Or was I that had changed into someone who could not relate to that familiar place? I was nervous about seeing people who would not understand me, as if the language I spoke wasn't understandable to the locals anymore.

It had been a decade, a decade that I had started my profession and had found my life partner. The decade that I had fought with myself to become an adult responsible for my actions, and I was scared that by going back, this place would have the magical capacity to change me back to the person in me I remembered living there, as if I was 't sure of who I had become. 

(warning: I am listening to the "lost" soundtrack...this might go deeper than I would have liked)

Another reason for my nervousness  was that I was taking a business idea with me. Something related to my profession, and I couldn't be sure it was the right thing, as I had only heard about what Brazil had become.

Oh yeah, I probably should have mentioned before that we were talking about Brazil! A country that DID change a lot inthe last 10 years! 

Once arrived, my mum and I ( who is one of my business partners, great mind!) mer our cousin and his bf, with whom we are planning our business venture. From the airport we went straight to lunch - and we had the time of our lives! We talked and talked, wine always by our sides, and when we realizedwe had   drunk the  lunch, afternoon and evening away! It was the best welcome party we could wish for and they become one of our best friends right away! (  only found in Brazil, I think)

It wasn't only a business trip, it was also a time for reuniting with family - some who we knew and some who we  didn't, but even the known were for us unknown, specially for me, for the last time we met I was a little girl.

The first weekend we had an invitation, by another of my mum's cousin, to a BBQ in a "chácara", a "chácara" is a small farm that is usually used for parties!

 

This place was magical. I was in a known surrounding, even though I had never been to that particular one. I was home, one of the many places I can relate to in a deeper level, just because I had experienced similar situations as a little girl. 

Our host started the fire in the "churrasqueira", the Brazilian BBQ place, at the same time as starting drinking beer. just like I had see. my uncle do during my childhood, with a smile in our faces, preparing for the arrival of our guests.

This party went from 11AM to 11PM, we sang, we danced, we ate and drank. We met up with old acquaintances and met new ones, we had the new and the old generations of our family together. We told stories about the past, present and future...

 

thus connecting back with our Brazilianess!