So I'm Gonna Blog More. It's Still Not a New Year's Resolution.

I was never so beautiful as I was in Brazil.

I like to think I'm pretty attractive. I'm tall. My nailbeds are stunning. I have blue eyes and blond hair. (Despite what my hair looks like in my new profile picture. Marissa called me at 10:00 last night and said, "I was nervous to call you late, but it was an EMERGENCY. Did you dye your hair reddish brown?" Nope. It was a trick of the light.) Blue eyes and blond hair work pretty well for me, much like they work for 78% of the Utah population.

But in southern Brazil, where I lived for four months after I graduated from high school, blue eyes and blond hair were downright HOT. I was the most attractive person the Brazilians had ever seen outside of the movies. Scratch that, I was maybe the most attractive person the Brazilians had ever seen, inside OR outside the movies. That attractability earned me and my little sister Marissa (who also has blue eyes and blond hair) all sorts of ardent admirers.

That ardent admiration was expressed primarily through loud catcalls from passing cars. Marissa and I ran in the morning to the tune of "I lovee you." Only slightly less ardent was the other profession of undying devotion: "The book is on the table." Every Brazilian took an English class in school and they all know that (even though they don't remember any other English) if the earth collides into the sun, that book will still be on the table. And also, they know that if you ever run into a blond-haired, blue-eyed American, shouting "The book is on the table," maybe accompanied by a few Anglo expletives, will guarantee your way into her heart.



Don't you feel both beautiful and wooed?