Monday, January 17, 2011 - This Thanksgiving Ana and I maximized on one of the biggest Thanksgivings in American history (or at least Bundt history), and hoarded one of these nights to turn into a wedding celebration for those who didn't make it to Israel (aka, everyone). We had about 50 family members and friends from all over the country appear. We watched most of my cousins try to out-do each other in toast speeches, and some odd little contest as to which cousin was more integral in bringing Ana and I together. Which was awesome, yea, because it was funny, but also because Ana and I long ago made the decision to toast with Bavarian Hefeweisens rather than champagne, so it was almost like a college drinking game for me. My friend Stew who married us in Israel and his wife Shelli yet again travelled to celebrate with us; partly because they are awesome people, but partly I think because there were delicious Jewish culinary goodies everywhere.
After an event-filled (aka, "drama-filled") Thanksgiving in which I realized that cramming 50 people together in close quarters for periods of time is a recipe for events (drama) unless the co-ordinator of the event is God, or a barbituate dealer, Ana and I began preparing to leave for Brazil for a couple months.
As the days approached, I began growing anxious; or more truly, nervous. I honestly don't recall feeling this before coming to Brazil before, aside from my first time. When this happens to me, it takes me a while to figure out what's bothering me. This in itself bothers me. If you can't tell, I have obsessive tendencies. I'm also a man. But I finally figured out what it was - in fact a cousin of mine helped me figure it out. He spent a bit of time in a Spanish-speaking country, and though he knows Spanish relatively well, what grew to become the hardest thing for him there was that his language skills and limited cultural knowledge would only allow him to converse with others at a superficial, small-talk level. Which is a start, but it's just not deep.
After seeing Ana growing so close and fostering such deep relationships with some people in my family - especially my immediate family - I began wondering to what extent she hoped for the same with me and her family. It's frustrating, to want to really get close with her family but not truly be able to (yet), not only because of a language barrier, but also a cultural one. I asked Ana about it and she replied "The thought never even crossed my mind.", which ironically, highlights possibly another cultural difference. In the end, I know that I just have to remain patient while I learn, and it will result in an incredibly richer family experience & relationship. But still, if any of you by chance know of any ways to un-bind yourself from the constraints of time, I'd really appreciate it.
