First Few Weeks as a Gringo

Hoi! Tudo Bem!

Hello to everyone. This is my first blog post and the reality is that this is my first blog ever. As most of y’all know I am as dyslexic as one can be, so please read with caution, understanding and the resolve of a puzzle master because sometimes the meaning of my prose is hidden within my own dyslexic tendencies.

Till October, I will be in Sao Paulo, Brazil working with Roberto and Rachel Pena for Seeds of Hope Brazil. As a Gringo (anyone not from Brazil) I will be teaching English, wood-working in the workshop, helping when Mission teams come fundraising and performing numerous other tasks and activities.

Seeds of Hope Brazil is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping those who need it most—children living on the streets and in the orphanages of Sau Paulo, Brazil. These children have been abandoned, neglected, and abused by society. Many live in sub-human conditions—in garbage dumps or open sewers, without running water or sanitation. On their own, they have no way to receive an education or provide for themselves as they mature. Without intervention, their lives are almost certainly doomed to end in the prisons or on the streets of Brazil—victims of drugs, crime, and prostitution, the only outlet left in a society that has rejected them from birth. Our purpose is to be a positive influence in the lives of as many children as we can help, by providing them with food, housing, education, technical skills, and job placement. With this help, they have the opportunity to live an honest, productive, and self-sustained life for the glory of God. Here is the website http://www.seedsofhopebrazil.com/index.html

Wellington

I got involved with Seeds of Hope through the annual spring break mission trip where I have had the pleasure to come to Brazil for 4 straight years. This is my fifth and longest visit in Brazil; it has been an amazing 11 days in Sao Paulo already.

First Few Days:

I few from Atlanta to Sao Paulo, Brazil on the 21^st of July. I luckily got on the plane as I was suppose to arrive in Brazil on the 20^th but I was bumped off the flight the day before since the flight was full, and I was traveling on a buddy pass. One might ask how in the world did I get a buddy pass?? Well, Diva who is basically my second mother somehow (maybe using some sort of magic) got one for me from one of her good friends. Diva was my family’s live-in housekeeper in Atlanta from the day I was born until I was in elementary school. Diva didn’t know a word of English when she started with us so one could say that I learned English at the same time she did. Diva is originally from the South of Brazil in a state called “Rio Grande do Sur.” Although Diva did teach me how to ride a bike (even though it was during a rain storm and I was crying the entire time pleading with her to put the training wheels back on), I do wish that she would have taught me more Portuguese or as I like to call it Pork-and-cheese. Diva now lives in Atlanta operating her own drapery business, and will always be part of the Oswald family.

Luckily, God was smiling upon me when I got on the plane because the flight was completely full except a seat in first class, so on a buddy pass ticket for Delta I got the pleasure of sitting in first class for one of the first times in my life. The other time was on the 5AM flight back for a guy weekend in Vegas after I dominated the roulette tables. But anyway, first class on an international flight is so nice it is disgusting. They address you by name, entertain you with all the wine and spirits one’s heart could ever desire, they drape a white tablecloth on your seat tray, and they even ask you if you want to be peacefully aroused for breakfast. My guess is that I ate and drank the cost of my buddy pass on the flight, hopefully I get as lucky on the way back. When I took my seat in first class, I decided to not only participate in the normal airplane conversation of hellos and how are you’s but to delve deeper into the life of this complete stranger next to me. The man was the definition of a professional “man of the sky” similar to George Clooney in the movie “Up in the Air” without a feeling a emptiness and loneliness. The Delta flight attendant even thanked him for his loyalty as he was a member of the Triple, Platinum, Emerald, Gold Flyer Club. This man manufactures and sells equipment that converts residual gasoline vapor in gasoline tankers and trucks to liquid gasoline and clean air. I asked him what countries he had travelled to, and he told me that he had been to about to every country except countries in Eastern Europe because those countries like Russia have not passed a clean air act, and that is when his business becomes a necessity rather than simply a luxury.

I arrived in the morning at about 8:30 AM, and Roberto picked me up at the Sao Paulo airport. I was sitting on the cold marble floor of the airport reading Mountains Beyond Mountains while all of a sudden I feel someone knock me on the head and deliver a friendly greeting of “Hey Brotha!” Roberto and I hopped into his car and drove to meet up with the mission team that is currently in Brazil working with Seeds of Hope. The mission team consists of 24 high school kids and leaders from Roberto and Rachel’s church, WEAG in Richmond, and they had been in Brazil since Friday and were leaving on Sunday to head back stateside.

Roberto

It was great to get sort of acclimated to Brazil with other Americans. I didn’t have to simply jump into everything head first on the day I arrived, but I had time to get my bearings. One of the many great things about Roberto and Rachel living in Brazil is that mission teams now stay at Roberto and Rachael’s house “palace” in Mogi, which is right outside of Sao Paulo about 30 minutes from the trade school. They are renting this house not for themselves but really for the teams that come because the house is more like a mansion with a pool in a gated neighborhood. Although there is a lot of space for teams in the “Palace de Pena,” Roberto and Rachel still have no furniture in the house and still sleep on a mattress on the floor. Why, you ask?? Well, the container that R&R used to ship their belongings such as a refrigerator, bed, washing machine, dryer, and even personal items such as family photos are currently being held hostage be the corrupt Brazilian government for a ransom. The Brazilian Government saw that they had a dryer in the container, which in Brazil costs the U.S. equivalent of about 6000 dollars, so they decided that they should charge “extra” taxes on the shipment. R&R put so much money toward the trade school that they didn’t want to sacrifice money for the school for their own luxury. Roberto’s jokes that the title of his autobiography will be “My Life in a Container.”

After hanging out at the trade school for a little the entire team and the kids staying at the trade school Mauro, Raphael, Iago, and Wesley went to Palmeiras vs. Botafogo futbol game. There wasn’t much action in the first half but there were 4 goals in the second half with the final score of 2-2.

On the next day, we headed back to the trade school to do various tasks like painting support beams for the roof, cataloging books in the library, and working in the woodshop. I decided to bring some classic literature for the library with me from the U.S, so now the kids in the trade school are reading the real classics like The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, the plays of Shakespeare, some works of Mark Twain, Robinson Crusoe, and other titles from classic literature. That night we went to the Brazilian all you can eat steakhouse which are know in Portuguese as “Churrasria.” For those of you who haven’t been to Brazil, these restaurants are like Fago de Chao or Texas de Brazil. For those of you who don’t know what a Brazilian steakhouse is they basically are an all you can eat buffet where men carry around slabs of cooked meat to your table. In Brazil they do have some additional meats that can’t be found in the states like the heart of a chicken, which basically taste like a big chunk of calamari.

The Market


The next day we went to the city market “The Mercado Municipal,” and ate pastel’s (which basically are a hot pocket filled with cheese or beef) and many different Brazilian fruits. We also walked around the historical center of the city visiting the Cathedral of São Paulo and numerous other historical sites. That night we went to a youth service at Comunidade Evangélica em SBC that was sort of the creation of a younger member of that church named Junior. The worship at the service was intense, but amazing. The girl that sang had one of the best voices I have ever heard and she knew how to lead worship. The service itself could have been great but it was cluttered with unneeded extras. Rachel and I sat in the balcony of the church “gastby-ing which means to observe people from a higher vantage point watching the anarchy that occurs below usually referring to the First Floor LNDP at Kappa Sig. During the service, they sat Roberto in the center of the room and asked him some questions about his life and Seeds of Hope. Well, for those of you who know Roberto (what is opportunity?) he could never be described as short winded, or concise in his speech, so it took about an hour to tell his life story in Portuguese while it was being poorly translated into English. Roberto and Rachel’s story is truly inspiring and amazing; I learn more details about it everyday but you can find the short version on this website http://www2.richmond.com/content/2009/jun/24/seeds-hope-roberto-penas-story-giving-back-home/ There was also a terrible comedy routine in the middle of a service, but I think that the main reason I didn’t like it was because it was all in Portuguese. The redeeming part of the service was the worship and Stephen Poore’s, the youth leader at WEAG, sermon, which was really powerful even though he it could only be about 10 minutes. So like most things in Brazil, church went long, I think it was suppose to last about a hour and a half and it was about 3 hours long. When we got back to R&R’s house they had ran out of water; this happens in Brazil because people’s water is pumped into tanks on the top of their house one a day and someone had left a facet open so all the water had drained out during the day. So the entire team had to take showers using a bucket and pool water; it was both refreshing and cold but it was a hilarious sight to see.

The next day we went to the orphanage to play with the kids, then to Sao Paulo’s Central Park called “Parque Ibirapuera.” On a side note, the orphanage’s field is still contaminated even though it looks better than it ever has. The orphanage simply tried to sweep the problem under the rung by putting sod over the contaminated dirt rather than removing it properly. It is almost more upsetting now, because the field looks better than it ever has but the kids aren’t able to go on it because they might get sick. So the only fun thing at the orphanage has been taken from them, which is depressing. After the park, we took the WEAG youth mission team to the airport, then Nata, one of Roberto and Rachel’s good friends in Brazil took us to the mall to eat at a restaurant called “Americana,” where I had a meal called the “Texas” that was basically a burger patty on a plate surrounded by French fries. For some reason, in Brazil people love malls more than humanly possible in Sao Paulo alone there are over 40 malls which is complete absurdity.

The First Week

On Monday through Thursday, I teach 2 English classes a day of about 25 kids each at 10AM and 1PM. Classes usually last about an hour and a half. Teaching class has been really fun and exhausting at the same time, because I am forced to learn the Portuguese language as I am teaching it. I chuckle to myself everyday that the Brazilian kids have a dyslexic for a teacher because even I have a hard time with the English language. I will write something on the board and then have to grab the dictionary or my computer to make sure that I spelled not only the Portuguese words right but also spelled the English words correctly. Class can be really funny because I will tell the students how to pronounce a English word then they will tell me how to pronounce the Portuguese word. I try to start every class with a song from the U.S. because all the music that the Brazilian kids know is terrible popular music such as Beyonce and Justin Beiber. Some to the songs I have played this week are “Dance Tonight” by Paul McCartney, a lot of Michael Jackson, “Human” by The Killers, “Fortunate Son” CCR, “Yahweh” U2, “Twist and Shout” The Beatles, and some others. If any of y’all have any suggestions please send them my way. The ages of the kids in the classes are from 9 to about 17 years old and most of them do not know any English at all which definitely makes my job harder and forces me to learn Portuguese better. This week our lessons consisted of greetings and salutations, Animals in the farm or in the jungle, adjectives, and fruits and vegetables.

Roberto drives both Rachel and I to the trade school every morning in the “Hummingbird” a small Fiat car that we pray can make it up the hills on the way to the trade school. Other than teaching the class I do various tasks and duties while at the trade school. Last week, I finished painting the pieces that we need to weld to the support beams of the roof, but I still need to finish painting the beams on the roof. During last week I helped Roberto, the master carpenter, in the workshop but I mostly worked on a bedside table for my room in R&R’s house. I decided to make a bedside table out of scrap wood in the wood shop, and I don’t want to brag but it is legit.

My Legit Bedside Table

Throughout last week the public school were out so Rafael wasn’t the only guy in the trade school staying thin night but Mauro, Wesley, and Iago got to spend the week at the trade school.

On Friday after working at the trade school, we went to Outback Steakhouse (pronounced Out-e-back-e Steak-e-house-e) in Sao Paulo, because Roberto had a immense hankering for baby-back ribs, I think he had needed some iron in his diet. Outback in Sao Paulo is the busiest restaurant that I have ever seen, the waitlist was over 3 pages long. Nata, Roberto, Rachel and I just went to the bar to get a table then I sniped one of the few tables at the bar from a group of Brazilians claiming the ignorant American card. Needless to say the ribs were delectable, and so was the dinner.

On the weekend, we met up with a person named Jarrett Benavides, a American who is living and working in Brazil, who had contacted R&R about helping at the school. We all went to lunch together then drove him into the classy part of Sao Paulo where his apartment is. The next day Nata took us to a town called Itu.
Huge Scissors in Itu

The joke about Itu is that everything is big; there were huge streetlights, huge telephones, big guitars, and they were selling big money, ping pong paddles, pencils and everything. That night we went to a Baptist church called “Igresia Batista.” This church was sort of outside under a old carnival tent and since it is really hard to understand a sermon in a language that I don’t really know of Portuguese, I decided to write all the words that I didn’t understand in the language journal that I carry with me. By the end of the service I filled 7 pages from words from the sermon, the bulletin, and the worship songs. After the service, we went to dinner and I had the bright idea to order a taco, but a taco in Brazil is not a taco at all but taco beef stew in a tortilla. Needless to say I will not be having tacos again.ß

Today

Today for English class we decided to show a movie in English with Portuguese subtitles so the students can get more accustomed to hearing English. We watched “Monster House” which I thought was really funny but the kids were not as amused.

Tonight I have to fix me bed since Peter the guy who stayed in that room before me cut the boards that attach to the frame of the bed about an inch too short. During the night the boards, tend to slip and fall through the bed so by the morning I have either fallen to the floor or am precariously balancing on the few remaining boards of support on the bed..

What follows some comical peculiarities of the country of Brazil.

In Brazil things aren’t exactly backwards but they are backwards, parallel, diagonal, and all other ways around.

Things Backwards

· Time: In Brazil, time doesn’t really exist. The traffic is so bad in Sao Paulo that you can never get anywhere quickly, and you are always late so to cope Brazilian people simply become easy going about exact meeting times.

· Crazy Drivers, Law Abiding: In Brazil, people drive like they have caught some sort of zombie-crazy virus. They will cut you off, force you into a median if you don’t get out of their way, and the motorcycle weave in and out of cars with the attitude of ownership to all of the roadway. But since the fines for speeding are so steep and tickets are electronic no one really speeds, but they will pass you on a curve into oncoming traffic.

· Elevator pilots: For some reason every elevator I have been here must have a uniformed pilot to press the buttons for floors. Obviously a normal person does not have the proper training to push buttons.

· Paper: Paper here is terrible. Toilet paper is weak and rough; it takes a thousand paper towels to wash your hands; the straw rapper extending trick does not work here.

· Bird Sounds: In America, there are some annoying sounds that birds make but here the Ginny chickens and all other birds make sounds equivalent to nails on a chalkboard.

· Pricing: Even things at Wall-mart are expensive.

Things Parallel

· Subdivisions

· Public Transportation: In San Paulo it is very good but it doesn’t go everywhere.

· Disney: For some reason Brazilian people have a love affair with all things Disney. People join Disney clubs to raise money for trips to Orlando even though they can barely afford their house and car.

· Speed Bumps: These horrible inventions exist here as well, further they are sometimes on the highway.

· Graffiti

Things Diagonal

· Handheld digital ordering devices: At most restaurants in Brazil they use these digital handheld ordering devices which take forever as the server hovers over you like a ghost, but most of the restaurants still have to use paper to communicate orders to the kitchen.

· Super-markets: Although there are supermarkets, they don’t have some vital ingredients for cooking. They don’t have sesame oil, bisquick, taco seasoning, fajitas, and etc. But they do have pig’s feet, animal ears and other weird things.

· Kids Play Buffets (Chuckie-Cheese): These things are everywhere but think more sophisticated than that lovable rat without the toys.

· Cars: For some reason, in Brazil people will spend more money on their cars than on their house.

· Stop Signs: Stop signs are simply a suggestion, they are taken as more a yield sign because if you stop you might get ran over by the truck on your rear.

· English Words: For some reason Brazilians make up their own pronunciations for English words such as “Mac-y Book-y” for “Mac-Book” and sometimes even use English words for signs and banners even though they aren’t quite sure of what they mean.

· Customer Service: Good service doesn’t exist here because people simply don’t care because there is already an automatic 10% tip added to all bills. You basically have to flag down a waiter for a refill and even have to make a commotion before you are able to get the waiter to give you the check. But for some reason only full service gas exist in Brazil.