Saudade

Ever had nostalgia triggered by something that was never actually a part of your life?

Case in point: I'm in the middle of rural Mozambique, visiting a health training centre. It is early evening and I am spending a couple of hours working on my computer in one of the classrooms. At 6:30pm, the students, freshly laundered from their day in training and looking spiffy (one was in a cocktail dress while another was in plaid pyjamas!), traipse in and turn on the television. On tap are two Brazilian telenovelas - or soap operas - back to back, draped in as much Brazilian telenovelaness as possible. Let's just put this out in the open right away: during the three years that I lived in Brazil, I watched maybe five partial telenovela episodes. That's like 1.67 episodes per year. But here I am, in rural Mozambique with a bunch of Mozambican kids (well, young adults, I guess) riveted by the B-level drama playing out in front of me. And there I was, feeling highly nostalgic about something that I basically ignored while I had the chance!