Thinking positive

In the last week or so, I have been feeling pretty down and negative. Of course finding out about my grandfather yesterday did not help matters, but I woke up today determined to try to start thinking more positively. Recently I watched the movie "The Secret" and while some of you may think that it is kind of cheesy, the idea about the law of attraction really resonated with me. If I am walking around thinking negatively, negative things will come my way. I need to focus on the positive so that more positive things will happen. So I am posting this picture and will now tell you about one of the most positive (and unusual) friendships that I have here in Salvador.

Yes, this is a picture of me driving a yacht. No, I never in my wildest dreams imagined that I would ever ride on, never mind drive, a yacht. But here I am, thanks to one of my students, and now friend, Pissica.

I started teaching him in October, and he very quickly decided that he wanted to be my friend as well as my student. He started inviting me to hang out with him, his girlfriend and his other friends. Now what makes him one of the most unusual friends I have ever had is that he is 60 years old and super rich. And his philosophy is that he likes to have fun, go out, bring people with him, and cover the bill. This means that I get to go out on his boat, go eat at fancy restaurants, go to family dinners and parties and that he does not expect any financial contribution. This has allowed me eat at places I would never had eaten because the bill is in the range of my monthly rent!

Now I have never been a "gold digger", nor have I been very concerned with the amount of money that people make. I have friends in the US who have some money, and I have friends who have little. For me, I don´t really care about what brand of shoes you are wearing or how much is in your bank account. I have to say that experiencing all of this with Pissica has not changed my views about this. And yet I also have to say that it is kind of nice to be treated to all of these luxuries!

He really has proven to be a good friend to me, offering help at any time. He said to me once that if anything bad ever happens to me here, that I should call him and he will "take care of it". I heard about 2 women getting mugged at gunpoint on the street that I walk on every day to go to the English school. I called Pissica and he immediately got on the phone with some high ranking cop who then met with me and went to talk with one of the witnesses of the crime to get more information. I am not sure how it all ended up, but I do know that there have been no more muggings in that area.

The only thing that Pissica expects in return for all of this is that I only speak English with him. That I can do.

So when I start to think negatively about my situation, or about Salvador in general, I am going to think about Pissica- his generousity, openness and friendship, and know that this will help me to focus on the positive side of where I am now.