Looking at photographs

Copyright @ Ricardo Schütz 2008

The above photo was taken in Torres, Rio Grande do Sul, on 22 June 2008. We were  on a school trip. I've discovered it when going through old emails.

It is somehow baffling to look at a photo that I have no memory of ever having laid eyes on. It is a reminder of what once has been and that isn't anymore. Spending time with it arouses a mix of feelings that range from wonder and joy to melancholy.

On the left, that's me (at that time teaching English in Santa Cruz do Sul), then Kim, a fellow teacher (Studying a second language puts me in awe of how I ever learned a first one, she once said), Takako (the school prinicipal, together with her husband Ricardo), Akemi (a student of Portuguese from Paris).

No idea what has become of Kim after she returned to Pittsburgh or of Akemi. As for myself, I'm still teaching during the Brazilian summer months at Schütz & Kanomata that is now run by Takako and her daughter Elsa. Sadly, Ricardo passed away in 2021. He was a fine man and an excellent photographer.