20 February

Any idea how hard it is to find an eye doctor in Campinas? I found a place to buy frames really quickly; it's right around the corner from where I'm living. But the phone number they gave me for an ophthalmologist didn't work; Henrique ended up driving me around the neighborhood of the university, asking at pharmacies and other businesses until we found one. As we arrived, the receptionist was just heading out to lunch, and wouldn't be back until after my class started. So Henrique took her card and made the appointment for me. Later this morning, he's going to drive me to it. What a guy! He says he knows what it's like to be in a strange place with no one to help... All my housemates here have been incredibly generous. They haven't let me make lunch or dinner for myself once yet. And they're going to take me to a club for some "velha guarda" roda de samba tonight. Amazing.

As for the workshop, my concentration and ease was better yesterday, but I'm still not really in the groove of the dance. I find that I can't concentrate on dance and the Portuguese language all at once; so when the instructors are talking about the dance, I either have to tune them out, simply observe what they do and try to copy it, in a kinaesthetic way, or focus so hard on what they're saying that I lose track of my legs. It's frustrating. And the dance just isn't in my legs yet — when we're improvising in a circle I have a hard time taking a cue and immediately beginning to just dance. Very frustrating.