VoxSusana Blog

If you're in Sao Paulo and want to go to a great place for Brazilian food, music and fun, you must go to Barnaldo Lucrecia. This is a great place! It's high energy. The bands there are amazing and the food is great. Everyone here sings with the bands and dances in the aisles, even the waiters. http://www.barnaldolucrecia.com.br/ It's so much fun!

I am so far away from the US but I'm often reminded that "there's no place like home." First if all there is a lot of poverty in Brazil and it's right in your face. We can see one favela (slum) from our hotel window in the midst of a nice part of town. (The picture is a favela from Rio so you get the idea). Also, being one of only a handful of Americans here on the tour, it can be difficult to hear the regular jabs against Americans that I hear from non-Americans and some Americans who choose not to see the positive in our country. Americans are often characterized as materialistic, loud, obnoxious and narcissistic towards the rest of the world. It's strange to me how often I've seen the non-Americans on this tour lose their cool over something. But no matter what anyone says, I really believe that there is so much good we do in the world that often goes unrecognized. And when I received this email, I was reminded of that and felt a little closer to home.

Up to now I've been writing about what makes being here with Cirque really fun and interesting, and it is. But there is also another side for family members that can be not so fun, even taxing and discouraging. I don't mean to bring anyone down but sometimes I am really bored and it can be depressing in a city like Sao Paulo since there so much fear around going anywhere alone. Anyway, I try to get involved in as much as possible but then again, this is a workplace and when the cast and crew is at work, there isn't a lot to do socially. I see some of the family members but the Russian wives hang out together and the other family members usually have things to do with their children. Now, this can be sad and boring but I fill my time with online courses and learning music. The thing is when you are alone, you only have yourself to talk to and that is not easy. We often fill our lives up with so much that we don't even know who we are without all that stuff. That