The first 2 months of 2009 in review (finally)

Well, it’s been quite a while since my last blog post, and as I’m sure you could imagine, tons of stuff has been going on…

After our first 2 months of separated work in Gama and Samambaia, our whole team spent all of January and February together. The entire month of January consisted of us traveling to the different Mennonite churches in the Distrito Federal to help with a Vacation Bible School of sorts. It was a great experience overall. We got to know some of the kids from the churches and neighborhoods a little better and managed to have lots of fun while we were at it. Some themes from the Bible Schools ranged from Heroes of the Bible to the story of Daniel. We told the stories through skits, monologues, and all sorts of other different ways. We spent one week with the churches in Gama and Samambaia, and then 2 weeks in Ceilandia. We spent 2 weeks in Ceilandia because there are 2 churches there, one actually in Ceilandia and then another sort or starter church for children in a nearby town called Sol Nascente. Sol Nascente, for lack of a better word, would most likely be referred to as a favela or a sort of slum. The roads there are all dirt and riddled with potholes, which made for an interesting commute each day. I feel like our group really connected with the kids that we got to know in Sol Nascente and we’re hoping to be able to work with some of the weekly kid’s gatherings there if the opportunity presents itself. Overall, January was a great month! Despite the fact that it was a busy month, filled with lots of moving around, it was still a very good experience.

The first two weeks of February were set aside as time for “Team Retreat.” After a lot of discussion, we decided to go to Recife (a city located in the state of Pernambuco, in the northeast of Brazil) for our vacation. We flew up to Recife and were greeted at the airport by Keith, an MCC worker, who then took us to the MCC house where we would set up camp for our 2 week stay. We stayed at the MCC house for a few days, exploring the city and enjoying our time off after a hectic month of working with kids, before taking a bus ride down the coast to the beautiful Porto de Galinhas. Porto de Galinhas, named for a sort of code that was used for the illegal slave trade that was very prominent there, is easily disputed as being home to some of the best beaches in Brazil. We stayed at a small Pousada for 4 nights, soaking up some rays at the beach, relaxing, and reflecting as a team on the first half of our time here abroad. After our short stay in Porto de Galinhas, we hopped a bus back to Recife where we stayed for a few more days before venturing off a little more into the interior or Brazil. MCC has had projects in the northeast of Brazil for quite some time now, and this was one of the main deciding factors for us when picking a vacation spot. The second week of our vacation was spent exploring the interior of Pernambuco, making stops at the various projects that MCC has with the SALT program there. Overall, our team retreat was great! We managed to relax and have a small vacation as well as get to know some of the other great projects that are going on in other parts of Brazil. I also think that it deserves to be said that our retreat would not have been anywhere near as fantastic as it was if it hadn’t been for Betty and Otis, who were an enormous help with the planning and reservations.

So, after we returned to Brasilia, it was just a few days before we were on the move again. With the temporary addition of Dani’s boyfriend, Natanael (visiting from Argentina), all five of us hopped a 3-hour bus trip to a city called Goiania, in the state of Goias. Goiania is home to, I believe, 4 Mennonite churches in all, but we were only able to spend time with one of them. A lot of interesting things happened during our week in Goiania, but I think some of them deserve a whole blog post in and of themselves, so I’ll have to get to that later. Anyways, our week in Goiania went by a little slow at times just due to a shortage of things to do, but it was still fun to get to know another Mennonite church from the area.

This pretty much concludes the rather hectic first two months of 2009 for our team. After roughly 6 different ‘homes’ in 2 months, I was definitely ready for the chance to settle down again. We moved into our new homes the first Sunday of March, with Sheralynn and I settling in to our houses in Samambaia while Dan and Dani made their way to Ceilandia. It was very relieving to retire our backpacks that had housed all of our needed things up until this point in 2009 and be able to unpack into a new room, knowing that it would be my home for the next 2 months. I’ll be back to give an update on classes and to give some thought into some of the goings on from Goiania in the next couple of days.

What's a holiday without a trip to the ER?

Overall, this past week seemed very strange to me...

First off, Sheralynn and I celebrated Thanksgiving a day early in Brasilia with Betty and Otis. We took the bus into the city and then went with Otis for some fun in the sun by the pool while Betty stayed back to prepare the meal. This whole idea of going to the pool on Thanksgiving was in and of itself very strange. While I very much enjoy relaxing by the pool, watching little lizards run around, and being able to pick fresh mangoes off the ground if we so pleased, it just didn't feel the same without the unpredictable northern Indiana weather that I've grown so accustomed to. I may dare say that a little part of me missed it... but not too much. After the pool, we went back to the apartment for a fantastic meal and a very relaxing afternoon.

Then, on actual Thanksgiving day, things went by just like any other regular Thursday. I was up by 8:00, teaching an English class at the church by 9:00, and then back at night to teach a Spanish class at 7:00. It was very likely the least involved Thanksgiving day that I've ever experienced.

The next day, Black Friday in the US, was equally as uninvolved (which I didn't mind one bit). I am very happy to say that I wasn't forced awake at 5:00 am to join in on any type of consumer frenzy. I can also happily say that, to the best of my knowledge at least, no store workers were trampled to death under the stampeding feet of crazed shoppers here in Brazil this past friday. It just felt really wierd to be detached from all the going ons in the States over the holiday weekend but to still hear about it from lots of friends and news articles.

Overall, the holiday weekend was very relaxed and enjoying for me here in Brazil. I've got nothing to complain about. This current week has gotten off to a pretty normal start. The end of the school year is nearing for many of my younger students here. Sheralynn and I will continue to give classes for a full week after summer vacation is in full swing, so it should prove interesting to see how that affects our attendance rates. After that will come Christmas (something that I've already experienced once here in Brasil but don't recall much of), possibly a trip with Betty and Otis, and then it'll be time to say goodbye to my good friends here in Gama.

Well, I think that pretty much wraps up any updates from the (American) holidays here in Gama. But oh wait, did I mention the part about the ER yet? This is probably pretty important...

So when Sheralynn and I were coming home by bus from Brasilia there was a little accident. The bus pulled up to our stop and we started making our way back to the exit. I got out first and started walking, but apparently the bus starting taking off before Sheralynn was completely off the bus. For the sake of time, we'll make a long story short. Sheralynn tripped on her way off the bus and hurt her ankle. She toughed it out for the walk home, but was greeted back at home by a very typically overprotective host mom who took her to the ER to get everything checked out. As I'm typing this, Sheralynn is probably at home with her whopper of a foot and lower leg cast elevated in some way or another or walking around with her crutches. She was told to stay at home, preferably in bed, and since the accident I have only seen her at her house or at church. The cast will hopefully be able to be taken off next week and she will be able to return to teaching with me. So, for the last couple of classes I have been acting as the lone teacher, but everything has been going smoothly. With all of this being said, I'm sure that Sheralynn and I both would appreciate your prayers for a speedy recovery on her part

First month down

Well, it's been nearly a whole month now that my team has been in Brazil and I"m finally getting around to my first blog entry. There's a lot of stuff to fill everyone in on, so let's get started..

The first four weeks of our stay here has been spent primarily in a satellite town of Brasilia called Gama. Gama is a deceptively big city. I've been told that it is home to nearly 300,000 people, but it seems much smaller due to the proximity of all of the houses and the number of apartment complexes. Dan, Sheralynn, Dani and I have all stayed with different host families for this first month, all of which live within about a 25 minute radius. My host family consists of my mom and dad (Dina and Daniel), my two siblings (Diane and Diego), and Dina's cousin (Risomar) who lives with us and mainly acts as help around the house. I should also mention that I have another older brother, Danielzinho (or Daniel Jr), who is married and has moved out. He, his wife, and their daughter are usualy around the house on weekends though. The whole family has been very welcoming and I am definitely looking forward to spending my remaining two months in Gama with them.

The first month I have to admit has been a little hectic. Thursday through Fridays were usually spent in Gama for our Portuguese lessons every morning. The first three Staurdays and Sundays were spent visiting churches and communities in the other satellite cities that we will all end up spending time in eventually (Samambaia, Ceu Azul, and Ceilandia). Mondays so far have all been orientation days in Brasilia with Betty and Otis Hochstetler. These have been spent doing some sightseeing, learning about some of the many religions in Brasilia, as well as getting to know Brazil and it's history. These times have been a huge blessing so far. It was nice to get one day out of the week to drop our guard and speak english, as well as having lots chances to ask some questions about the culture here from the perspective of people who have been in a relatively similar situation as out group is right now.

This past Saturday was our last day as a whole group before Dan and Dani left for Samambaia. So, to celebrate the end of our language lessons and the first month, we and our host families went to a "chacara" right outside of Gama for some fun in the sun. We had a barbecue by the pool and spent some time enjoying the extremely hot, early spring weather here. To finish off the day, Dan and I spent some time playing futsal with some other kids that were there that day (universal language, anyone?). Our time there soon came to a close and Sheralynn and I had to say goodbye to Dan and Dani as they headed off to Samambaia for the next 2 months.

As it stands right now, Sheralynn and I are remaining in Gama right up until Christmas. We finally started our first classes this week and I couldn't be more excited about them. We teach an English class in the mornings two days a week and Spanish class in the evenings of those same days. Needless to say, I think we both feel pretty exhausted after our Spanish classes. We conduct our classes purely in Portuguese, but end up having to translate words and phrases across three languages total. It is my hope that teaching a Spanish class in Portuguese will help me to differentiate better between the two languages, rather than do the opposite and confuse me even more. I guess my fingers are crossed.

Anyways, I hope this give a little more insight into what I've been up to this last month as well as what I'll be doing in the months ahead. Things are starting to fall into place and a regular schedule is beginning to form now so hopefully I'll be making updates to this blog in a much more frequent manner from now on!

Brazil Team!

So here is a picture of me and my fellow Brazil teammates!

Pictured, from left to right are: myself, Dan Root, Danielle Klotz, and Sheralynn Neff.  Dan is from Springs, Pennsylvania.  Danielle is from Wakarusa, Indiana.  And Sheralynn is from North Newton, Kansas.  So far we have all been getting along well and I am anticipating a great year of getting to know one another better and growing with each other!

Chicago So Far

Well, it's been nearly 2 weeks now that the rest of the Radical Journey participants and myself have spent living in Chicago for orientation. It may be nearly 2 weeks but it definitely doesn't feel like it!

The first week was packed with lots of stuff to do. After all 16 of us became relatively aquainted with one another, we went right in to covenant building and learning how to find our way around Chicago using the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority). After a series of days doing some sight seeing and location finding, we had a CTA proficiency test of sorts on Saturday morning. For the test, each country group (Brasil, Paraguay, England and Sweden) were blindfolded and taken by car to an undisclosed location around town. We then had to find our way home from wherever we were dropped off using only public transportation. My group was the first one back so we got to relax until the others found their way home. The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and taking care of any unfinished business from the week before.

So far, the second week has gone by much faster than the first. Our days have consisted mainly of practicing some spiritual disciplines and learning more about our individual personality types through a series of tests. On wednesday of this week, Dani (a fellow Brasil teammate) and I took a trip downtown to the Brasilian consulate to see if our visas were ready to pick up yet. After all the trouble that we had had with the Chicago branch of the Brasilian consulate this summer, we didn't really know what to expect of our visit. Upon arriving, it seemed that our visas were in order and ready to go. But that wasn't the case.. After about an hour and a half of waiting, we were finally called to the front of the line again and recieved our visas!! Apparently the visas were only valid for 90 days so they had to make some adjustments and extended the validity of them to 300 days instead. So, after months of working on applications and procuring documents for the process, our visas are finally in hand and our whole group will be ready to fly out to Brasilia on October 6 as planned. As the month of orientation is nearing the halfway point, it'll be interesting to see what the next two weeks hold in store. I'm sure the next two weeks will go even faster than the last two, especially given some key visits from home that I have to look forward to both this coming weekend and the next!