Oi! Tudo Bom?
August 10th to August 23rd
After a heavy, heavy dose of sleep over the previous, I was once again feeling better event though Sao Paulo weather at this time was that of a frozen tundra. From Tuesday to Thursday, I basically taught English every day and when the weather was ok I would attempt to paint the supports of the roof on the 3rd floor of the trade school. To add to the frigid temperatures, the Internet decided to stop working till the 17th which made things simply more difficult.
On Friday morning, the last team from the church Clover Hill Assembly of God in Richmond arrived. Roberto, Carlos, Roberto’s brother in-law, and I went to meet the team at the airport.
This is the team’s blog if you want to know more about them:
http://chill-brazil-2010.blogspot.com/
Here are a few of the highlights of the Richmond team from Clover Hill:
- A few of the men on the trip especially Troy, who can basically rebuild any car with his eyes closed, were very good welders. I was able to observe first, then actually help welding in a door and place for a window for Rafael’s kitchen, roofing to attach the corrugated roof, and the doors for the stairwells. Welding was one of the skills that really wanted to learn while I was in Brazil, so mission accomplished. A little hint for all you aspiring welders (including me) “don’t go against the grain.”
- Roberto also was finally able to get scaffolding in order to weld and paint the 3rd floor of the trade school. Roberto had ordered the scaffolding a total of 8 weeks prior, but at least we got scaffolding finally.
- One of the women on the trip “De” was an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher, so she took over the English classes for the week. It was very interesting sitting in on her class and learning techniques and activities that I could use for class in the future. When I wasn’t observing De teaching I basically floated around trying to help anywhere I was needed while the team was working. I have realized that it is unfair to a team that has come to work for me to step in and intrude on their work, so I basically check on the certain groups that are working on certain task and answer questions lending a helping hand instead of putting myself in the forefront.
- The team also visited the orphanage in San Bernardo and sang songs with the kids, played music with the kids, gave out thousands of kites, toys snacks, and candy. That day the team also went to Embu, the city which contains a huge outdoor market. I spent most of the time at Embu with Chris, the team leader, helping him pick up presents for his wife and 3 daughters. He eventually bought 3 handmade beautiful dresses for his daughters. I also stopped by Jozan, one of my favorite painters gallery. I bought an abstract style painting of the Red Sea opening the first time I came to Brazil, so every time I go to Embu I try to stop by and say hello. One of the nice things about our quick visit this time was that I was able to converse with him in Pork and Cheese. At Embu there was also a particularly weird site of the “Turtle Man.” The “turtle man” was basically dressed up as mother nature; he was covered in dirt, flowers, cloths, and had on a huge turtle shell with writing on it the roughly said, “Stop killing the sea!” That night we went to the church that Roberto, Rachel, and I had been going to. Although I couldn’t really understand the sermon, the music and atmosphere is very encouraging.
Crazy "Turtle-Man"
- One of the afternoons, the mission team, Roberto, Rachel, Yagel, Kelly and I went to deliver bags of food and groceries in slum near the trade school that we have done some work for previously. The slums or “favelas” are a shocking and disturbing sight, to see that people live in basically sewer runoffs, or anywhere that no one else would dare to live. The favelas came to being after many of the North Eastern Brazilian people migrated to Sao Paulo to work in the major construction projects such as the Subway, major roads and highways, etc. After these major government works begin to dry up people were left with no jobs or money, so these favela communities began to spring up anywhere possible. Today, the government even supplies them with the water and electricity, for a price of course. The team presented several households with a care package containing sugar, corn meal, salt, beans, milk, cookies and rice to every household. The team also brought suitcases full of small toys and candy to the kids. After we handed out all the bags of food, Roberto put one of the suitcases to the side and started distributing the goodies the team had brought to the kids. Roberto was in his element during this having unending smile stretching clear across his face. In the horrible conditions of the favela, the paradoxes of the world were at work as you could see Christ’s love shining in the heart and face of Roberto and Rachael as they shared love, friendship, and material needs to the families in the slums.
- When we returned home for the evening, for some odd reason the electricity was off, and since Roberto had left to gone to the grocery to get meat for the “churrascaria do Roberto” the bus driver and I attempted to deal with the situation. The bus driver, Valgima who we call “Mr. Smiley” because he never stops smiling, and I finally figured out the power was turned of earlier in the day because they were doing work in the subdivision and it hadn’t returned yet. The power turned back on while we were eating dinner after Roberto and Rachel had prepared an amazing dinner on the Brazilian style outdoor grill, which would be amazing to have in America, and the gas stove. A Brazilian outdoor grill uses only wood, which appears to be a charcoal, and you set the meat on screens over the flame, or on spooks for sausage, but before the meat goes unto the flame you dress it heavily with rock salt.
- Another hilarious event occurred the next morning, when the water ran out on the team leader of the Clover Hill team, since the cistern was not filled up due to yesterday’s power outage. Chris, the team leader, got the worst of it as the water ran out right in the middle of his shower fully soaped and shampoo, so he had to rinse off with a bucket of ice cold water from outside (although this was not humorous, the scream that Chris let out while drenching himself in the ice cold pool water was possibly one of the funniest sounds I have ever heard uttered by a human being. Think of the most annoying sound in the world from “Dumb and Dumber” turned into unfathomable scream.)
- Another highlight was the nightly “Spades” card games between Rachael and Troy and Curt and I where hilarity always issued. Whether it was engaging in polite conversations about the rules, or laughing hysterically for no apparent reason, we all had lots of fun.
Jonathan Yagel and Kelley arrived in Brazil on the morning of the 17th, so Rachel and I left the “ranch” at about 5AM that morning to head to the airport to pick them up. We got caught in some traffic so it took us a little longer than expected to get to the airport so by the time we got there Jonathan Yagel, who is planning to be in Brazil with Roberto and Rachel till March, was already waiting for us. Kelly’s flight got delayed so we had time for Yagel to get back to the house and meet the team as they were leaving for the trade school. Rachel, Yagel and I then hopped back into the car to pick Kelly up, but when we got to the airport she still hadn’t gotten through customs and security. Her plane had landed hours earlier, but as we found out later the airline lost her luggage for the 3rd time in her 4 trips to Brazil. Kelley works as a teacher in the inner city of West Philadelphia, in a program much like “Teach for America.”
Kelley finally got her luggage back on the 19th while we were at the airport dropping off the team for their flight. It was really interesting to the variance between teams that come to help Seeds of Hope, but the important thing is that they all maintain the importance of relationship over work. Although it is important have progress in the building itself of the trade school, the real importance lies in the relationships created and sustained by all of the people that are involved in Seeds of Hope Brazil.
The next day, all of us were utterly exhausted from the previous weeks, so we simply chilled at the house most of the day, then later that night we went into the city to meet up with Nata. Nata took us to dance club where a good Brazilian band was playing. The band was actually very talented and sounded like a mix of Maroon 5 and Bon Jovi, but I am always amazed how much American culture has seeped into that of Brazil; the band played many American covers including an old Jason Marz song and many of their songs were remakes of popular American songs in Pork and cheese.
The next day, Kelley, Yagel, Rachel, and I decided to walk to the lunch cantina in the subdivision while Roberto decided to take “Hummingbird.” To be truthful after ¾ of the walk Roberto drove by in the car so we all simply hopped in “hummingbird.” After lunch Yagel and I decided to play soccer on the field-turf with some of the neighborhood kids. I was wearing Chacos so I decided to take off my shoes which in hindsight were a bad decision because by the end of the game my feet were bleeding due to the popped blood blisters on the pads of my feet that were induced by playing on a field turf. So be warned, don’t engage on in physical activities on field turf; it is a terrible decision. That night Nata came over the R&R’s place to have dinner then we all watch a movie together with the projector.
That Sunday we decided to go on a road trip to Santos, to see the Santos futebol (pronounced: foot-chee-ball) club play. Santos is the port town near Sao Paulo, and it is one of the biggest ports in all of Brazil. The Santos soccer team is also where the great soccer legend Pele played making a name for himself. Santos is a very exciting team since the new coach made a risky move bringing in many younger players instead of experienced players which Santos supporters wanted. One of the players he brought in was a 18 year old kid named Neymar, who is said to be the best young Brazilian soccer player and is being called the next Pele, to play beside Santos super star in the name of Robinho. Here is a you-tube clip of their team:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=937OQSwhb-U&feature=related
On the drive to Santos we passed through one of Brazil’s national parks and were able to see an amazing waterfall.
Once we got to Santos, we went straight to the game, but we had to wait in line to buy tickets. Once again Brazil’s weird relationship with technology was displayed as you were forced to buy tickets, not by a ticket vendor but through a computer using the internet. There were two computers ticketing stations where the ticket vendor who you stood beside would put in the information on to a computer into an internet site called “futbolpass” to buy ticket. I could not for the life of me figure out why this was thought to be an efficient process because it wasn’t. The game was amazing and Neymar, is possibly the best soccer player that I have ever had the pleasure to witness with my own two eyes. Santos won 2-0; Neymar even had a goal on a penalty. That night we stopped in the mall in Mogi to grab some food at the food court.
There is much, much more to come!!!
Brazilian slang word for the day: “Valeo” it means thanks!
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