Yesterday there was a small photo exhibition and a big party at the favela, a farewell party to Barbara, who is going to Italy for two months. So I spent the first part of the day translating children´s books from Italian to Portuguese (well, almost) and after a little favela tour by Barbara and her boyfriend, Julio I helped the women with the preparations for the party. The photos were taken in the favela by a smug French guy from Paris and the guests were a mix of foreigners and Brazilians from outside the favela and some locals as well. Many of the guests had never been to Rocinha and similarly to me were very apprehensive of going in there, but they got escorted up by a couple of teenagers and ultimately everybody felt important and cool: the guests for showing up and the locals for having "Ipanema in Rocihna", as one of them very astutely phrased it. It was a really good time and by now I have really bonded with the ladies of the creche, apparently they like me and Carmen, my favourite, has already started arranging the English classes I am going to teach in the next couple of months through an American woman who is also helping out at the creche. I have not actually told her that I wanted to stay for months, but she kind of assumed it and now I am scared to tell her otherwise...It is sad, now that I am starting to get the hang of it all, I am going away (it was like that with the diving as well).

Barbara is a really impressive lady, she is kind of a local celebrity, especially among the kids, and she does most of the organizing and fundraising on her own. The best part of her project is that she lets the local women run things - they all call themselves director/manager of something or other - and oversees it all. She has also explained a lot of things to me about how the favela works. I thought about whether I am impressed enough to be able to do what she does and I know that I would not. I could never live there, the comfort of knowing that at the end of the day I can leave the place and meet my Portuguese teacher and some others to go to a concert or a restaurant makes helping out much easier for me. Because of this I feel like a bit of a fake, but I guess that is inevitable. (Btw, two nights ago we did go to a concert/dance performance of Jongo, a mix between candomble, the African dance/religious ceremony and samba, which was amazing. My teacher´s undesired American husband was there: he is pretty old but not that undesirable and, he is a piano tuner, which is a cool job and in high demand in Brazil.)

Today I do not have to "work", which is great, because last night I went on to Ipanema with the smug French crowd and their posh Brazilian and fake-Brazilian friends. I have to admit that it was fun...My friend and best travelling companion, Andrea is going to arrive tomorrow from Hungary, so I am suspending the alone time for now.