A numerologista

Wow, so what was that 20-minute conversation I just had with my host mother even about?

There was the part where she told us about our astrological signs. Apparently, it's quite shocking that I'm a gemini since I'm so quiet--though that might have something to do with the fact that every time I try to talk she just ignores me and goes on with her explanations of the stars and the perfil humano. She said that geminis are intensely curious, obsessed with communication and knowing, and are skilled at expressing themselves. And while, yes, I do like to think that I have a faculty for self-expression and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, that also sounds like a pretty accurate description of most Yale students. She rattled off a bit more astrology--aquarians know what they want and get it, aries is the sign of people who are fearless, etc., etc. Then there was the awkwardly depressing part of the conversation where she told us that, because of her sign or her personality, "Eu nunca perco porque... I don't try," "I never lose because... I don't try" (Luba has a tendency to try to explain things in English, for emphasis or clarity).

After that (free!) sneak peek into what a numerological session with Luba must be like, she gave us some tips about how to stay safe when we go out. And by "gave us some tips," I mean, tried to scare us into never leaving the house. Probably her best advice for me was, "If you get into some kind of relationship, do it with someone from PUC, those girls are safe. Not like Todd, he was from Califo--Indianapoli--Indiana, he started dating a girl from a favela. I told him to get rid of her, but he just said, 'No, nothing will happen, you're just prejudiced.' And then he got mugged and they took his machine--it was a computer, it was... it was everything in one! And they took it all." So, if staying safe mostly consists of avoiding romantic interaction with women from the slums, I think I'll be alright. I don't mean to take her advice lightly, she did have some good points: keep your drinks with you at all times, don't take anything that strangers offer you (I guess I shouldn't tell her about the rando in Paraty who bought us all an endless supply of caipirinhas), go out in groups--the usual travel safety stuff.

Another interesting thing that came up in our talk, was her Brazilian love of novelas. She brought up basically every single novela that we talked about in class: Passione (set in Italy), the one set in India with crazy dancing and the cow worshipping, the one about the woman in a wheelchair, the other about cancer, and the one that tried to scare children away from drugs by showing graphic images of withdrawals and violence. Suffice it to say, novelas in Brazil are serious business. Maybe I'm ignorant, but I don't think All My Children is (was?) much of a venue for social critique.