Window Watcher.

Last night I had an appointment here in the neighborhood and I decided to be a little more Brazilian and walk there instead of taking the car. I have two sets of keys and I absentmindedly left the one set in the lock on the inside of the door. When I returned home, I tried to unlock the door and it would not unlock. I don't even know how I got it locked in the first place, but I was stuck there with no way in. I then checked all the windows and was totally in luck, I had forgotten to lock one of the windows and was able to reach in the window and pull the keys out of the door lock (bruising my arm in the process). Anyway, I had been thinking about the fact that I had not written anything for my blog yesterday and for some reason at the moment I was messing with the window, it reminded me of something I found interesting about Brazil the first few weeks I was here.

I didn't have a car the first time I was here, so I would take the bus everywhere I went. It was such a different experience from the bus rides I had been on before. It felt like no matter where I went, I would always see something I had never seen before or experience something I had hundreds of people waiting a single bus stop; seeing houses stacked on top of each other on a hillside with not a spot of ground showing between the homes. The point is, it was all new and I was just sucking it all in. One thing I noticed right away that seemed to be consistent every day were the window watchers.

I don't know what else to call them but "window watchers". As I was watching the houses from the bus, we would pass by house after house were there was someone standing or sitting just looking out the window. Some had cups of coffee that they sipped on as they watched the world outside their windows. I don't know what it was about this whole scene that captured my attention. I just remember thinking to myself, how do these people have time to sit and watch people from the window. It was certainly strange, but I loved it! I have always been a people watcher, I love sitting in a public place and just watching peoples interactions. Anyway, I found it fascinating that life was going on at such a pace here in Brazil that people had time to sit at the window and watch what was going on around them.

I did get my own opportunity to window watch one time... it really was very interesting. I got to see a little boy crash his bike and then be helped by several people passing by at the same time; a woman walking home with a basket of something on her head (this is not as common as it used to be so I was lucky to see that); a man pulling a hand cart as he was collecting recyclables from the garbage bins. I actually took pictures of the window watching event... but those images have since gone missing. I just might have to take some time out and do it again soon and take some pictures for you... that way we can all be window watchers for a few moments.