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

Diagonal:
• Butcher Shops Any way you Like it: In Brazil, there are butcher shops located basically at every corner since almost all Brazilians love meat. Not only do the butchers at these shops cut meat to your exact specifications; they weigh your meat after they have cut all the fat or unwanted meat off. Nothin’ but net!

Backwards:
• Squeegee showers: If you are a post-grad like myself, or simply an ordinary human being, cleaning your shower isn’t at the top of your to-do list. Although you might spray some Tilex or Oxy-clean on the walls, or even use the shower cleaner with the cartoonlike scrubbing bubbles (or even simply change shower curtains once yours starts turning brown), cleaning your shower is not something that factors into your allotted morning shower time in the morning. Oh contraire, in the nation of Brazil, water, soap, and anything that is washed off your body somehow seems to disperse across the entirety of the bathroom floor. Due to the design of most of the showers (which are no enclosed, but simply lowered a step), you must use a squeegee to mop all of the water on the bathroom floor toward the shower drain which depending on the perfectionism of the squegeer could last forever since all the water gathers in corners of the bathroom or between the tiles. Also, most of the showers in Brazil heat water electrically so the hotter the shower the less the pressure.


August 23rd to September 2nd

On Monday, we were 5 strong with the addition of Kelley; Yagel and I took the reins for the English classes, and soon realized that we both were completely lost in the word of teaching. Luckily, during the next few days we were able to garner knowledge from Kelley on teaching as she is a Special Education teacher. We both realized that we had assigned teaching as only part of our responsibility in our work for Seeds of Hope. In my mind, I thought that teaching was simply part of my duties such as working in the woodshop, and working on the trade school in general. I had been looking at the English Classes in the short term instead of long term. Yagel and I decided to start over again teaching for mastery; rather than introducing to much new material for class.

On Monday night, we all went to the mall at Mogi Das Cruzes as it would be our last dinner together for a few weeks since Roberto and Rachel were leaving the next evening with Pati, who is going to college in Richmond, for their first trip back to the U.S. since moving down to Brazil in January. I decided to grab some Japanese at the food court since I have been yearning for some good Chinese since the day I arrived here, and I figured Japanese would be a close substitute. It wasn’t.

The next day, we all packed up most of our belongings since Yagel and I were going to be living in the Trade School for the next week or so and Kelly was leaving on Thursday. Since Pati was leaving for the U.S. all of the extended family and friends gathered at Madae and Carlos’ house. To my surprise, the bus driver known as “Mr. Smiley” escorted about 12 of the entourage to the airport while others followed in their own means of transportation. At the airport, I met many members of Roberto’s family including his brother, who actually has hair, is about a foot taller than Roberto, and is a professional Futsol player (basically soccer played on a basketball court) and university soccer coach. After many tears and hugs exchanged in front of the security line, Roberto, Rachel, and Pati were on their way to the U.S.A, but before they made their departure Yagel and I decided to flash (don’t let you mind go where it shouldn’t, we simply lifted our shirts baring our chest hair) Roberto and Rachel as they walked by the railing next to the entrance into the security room (this was Yagel’s great idea as this action of flashing was customary of Roberto himself as groups left Brazil). Nata met Kelley, Yagel and I at the airport so we had a ride back to the trade school. Earlier at the airport Kelley had spotted the Golden Arch of McDonalds and was craving an American cheeseburger, as was the entire group. When I ordered I realized that the Big Mack was on promotion so I got a combo meal (since Mcky D’s is insanely expensive in Brazil), but they messed up the order and gave me 2 Big Macs for the price of one! Score!

Here are some of the highlights from Yagel and I’s stay in the trade school until September 2nd when we left for the South of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sur:

• Yagel and I were bunking in Rafa’s room till we left on our trip to Rio Grande do Sur, since his room doesn’t set off the alarm immediately. But the door adjacent to his does, as I found out the hard way the second morning when I opened the door to the sound of the alarm blaring.

• Before Kelley left, the three of us decided to watch “Casablanca” at the Aguiar’s. This movie defines movie making and story working together at its finest, so if you haven’t seen “Casablanca” I implore you that it is a must.

• Carlos was suppose to take us to the airport to accompany Kelley to the airport , but do to the ever convenient convulsion of “Lost in Translation” Yagel was unable to accompany her since Carlos did not have time to return him to the Trade School because he was going to church.

• That Friday, we went to church with Rafa in the neighborhood. We saw a lot of our students there. Even though I did enjoy church, it was a very energetic, Pentecostal atmosphere which was sort of exciting, but there was an older woman in the front simply yelling at the top of her lungs which honestly was very distracting. I tried to absorb as much as possible, but was having a very difficult go of it. Rafa later told us that the pastor’s sermon was disjointed and he had a very hard time following it.

• Every day for lunch and dinner Yagel and I were treated as royalty by a Madae’s home-cook smorgasbord. The table was always full of more food than was humanly possible to eat. Also, since R&R were on vaca, I made an extra effort to focus and improve on my Pork and Cheese as Madae and Carlos spoke no English. Every day before lunch and/or dinner, Madae and I would attempt to engage in conversation with a little depth; rather than, simply sticking to the hi’s and how are you’s. To be honest, I am able to speak and converse the meaning and intention of everything that I want to say even though it is not flawless and contains many grammatical errors.

• Rafa, Yagel, and I have also been going to the futebol court in the afternoon to play soccer with some of the neighborhood kids. I have never been a soccer player, as speed has never been one of my enduring qualities, but I have always had a pretty good shot and Yagel is an amazing soccer player, so he has been showing me some drills that I have been working on, which are helping a lot. On Tuesday and Thursday nights, a group of people from the neighborhood churches and their friends rent the futebol court for a few hours for league play. The court right next to the school is a futsol court, which basically means it is a bigger fenced in basketball court. Yagel and I played in the league on last Thursday night. When we got there they had just started, as teams of 5 played each other till the losing team was subbed out after 2 goals or 10 minutes. Each side had different color jerseys to differentiate players as well. As we walked onto the court for the first time, Yagel and I’s jaws were on the ground as we both felt that we were extremely out of our league and both were hoping simply to not embarrass ourselves as all thoughts of competitive play fell by the wayside. Yagel and I both reacted to the apprehension in different ways: I simply started talking a mile a minute to Yagel and the Brasileirios around me, and Yagel got real quiet. To our surprise, especially to mine, when we got on the court we weren’t outmatched or an embarrassment, but were actually competing at somewhat of an equal level. Our team even beat the Black team (the group of players that won almost every game) 2 goals to 0 goals. I also played a little bit of goalie where I actually played decent as well. We played numerous times during the next week against many different groups. One thing that is interesting concerning this style of Brazilian futebol is that it is more important to look good while playing than to actually win the game or score goals.

• On Saturday, Nata picked Yagel and I up to meet with a friend of mine from UVA Natalia, who is originally from Rio but currently works in Sao Paulo. Natalia and I were in a Calculus class our first year, and were assigned to the same work group for the entirety of the class. We met her at a Mexican place, which completely and utterly redeemed my “TACO” experience of a few weeks prior, as the Mexican was delectable. That night we hung out in the Pinhieros area of Sao Paulo, going first to an authentic Brazilian Samba joint then after going to another Mexican place which had a live Mariachi band.

I hope you all are enjoying this blog and hopefully I will have the next post up soon. Have a wonderful morning/day/afternoon/night!

Grace, Peace, and Love,
Wilson “Oz” Oswald

I would like to take a quick interlude and apologize to any and all native “Brasileiros.” Hopefully I have not represented Brazil in an unfit fashion, or offended any of y’all in any of my previous posts, if so, I apologize. Yes, the Brazil that I encounter daily refers mostly to the area in which I operate, Sao Paulo especially. If I ruffle your feathers in the future, it was not my attention, but just maybe your feathers should be a little ruffled? I love Brazil, and I love America but that doesn’t mean I will hold back observations of the reality of the world in front of me because of some askew since of patriotism. So in conclusion, I am not trying to offend anyone (so please don’t give me any noogies or swirlies). Okey Dokey? Back to life, back to reality http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVtCFolzgeg&ob=av3e