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Just as soon as I was ready to send out an email yesterday, the power went out and the computer suddenly shut down. I assumed that this was because neighborhood kids had pranked us by flipping off the electricity switch outside our wall, but flipping the switch back didn't solve the problem this time. I took advantage of the situation to spend some time outside on the street and try to meet some neighbors, whom I hadn't yet spoken to in my first three weeks. They confirmed that they too had no power and that the electricity company would be there soon to restore power, hopefully before the evening news came on (hopefully for them, anyway - there is no TV in the association). After an hour of reading and chatting with visitors, I noticed the top of a ladder appear over the edge of the kitchen wall. Invaders? Nope, turns out the electric company has decided to bring a machete and ladder and hack off the top of our avocado tree - not because it played any role in the power outage, but they were in the neighborhood anyway, and the tree was expanding outside the wall and too close to the power line. I went back outside to watch the avocados rain down. Little kids ran up to take advantage of the sudden bounty, but then meandered away when they felt how hard the fruits were, January being several months early for avocados. "The power will be on soon," they told me, before taking the machete further down the street to mutilate some foliage in the nearby plaza. With still no power and darkness approaching, I decided to head further out, and on the corner I saw a friend sitting outside his video game rental shop. He had no power either, so I sat down for a chat on the sidewalk outside under a street lamp. Two local AEC-TEA students and volunteers also showed up, and suddenly I found myself trying out some sections of the vestibular (the widely feared university entrance exam) that one student had just taken while also being asked to arbitrate a dispute over whether and why throwing plastic garbage in the street is worse than sending it to a nearby landfill. No consensus emerged until I made an unrelated comment that I didn't think that Guaraná Antartica, the second most popular soft drink after Coca Cola, should be considered a 100% Brazilian drink; suddenly, all the Brazilians within earshot were united against me, wagging there fingers in disagreement. Tudo bem - I bet a juice and looked it up, and I was right. Unfortunately, the odds of me ever seeing those three friends in one place with nothing to do other than pay their due are close to zero. But in any case, the power is back on and I am typing e-mails again, but I was having much more fun when the power was off. Jon Dold, USA
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