A valuable lesson I learned while on the road: I am not from America.

See, if you are traveling and you say you are from America, Brazilians might get upset and put some jujitsu on you, and you don’t want that. Because they are from America too! *South* America. They have fierce jujitsu.

The moral of the story is that South American pride wounds easily, and also that I am from the USA. Which is in North America. Please practice this if you are from the same country as I.

And not only am I from the USA, I am in the USA. This is only a little weird. Why only a little? Probably because I have spent most of the last two weeks in Vermont, and have noticed that the area hasn’t changed hardly a smidgen. I mean, the milk truck now says “Dairy Marketing Service”, and Champlain Lanes have expanded to include a funhouse and some extra lanes (good idea), but the entire state is basically the same as it was four years ago. My second grade teacher even recognized me a few days ago.

OK. That part was a little weird.

We enjoyed a nice little madape reunion for a few days in late December. Presents were exchanged and food was consumed. Boggle was played, repeatedly.

I am around for a while longer, while I put together the pieces of my non-plan for the next few months. These pieces include: visiting an wide assortment of qualified health professionals I haven’t seen in a few years, adding pages to my passport, and researching cheap flights via courier services.

新年快乐！ Happy new year to you all.

ps: here are my pictures from November and December