Jauá

Since the following days were filled with the beautiful Bahian sun we had to keep going to the beach. I think by the end of the trip we went to 4 beaches. Jorge's family kept making fun of Eveline and I asking if we have had enough of the beach and we would only respond, Never!! And it seemed that every day the beaches kept getting better and better. Jauá was perfect. There were only a few people on the beach the day we went.



The waves were perfect too. They were big enough to knock you over, which made it really fun! We must have played in the water for over an hour. Then Eveline and I just walked up and down the beach taking pictures. Eveline and I decided that we should start the Cultural Center in Bahia instead. Hey we might get it going faster than here in Xerém, and we can spend our time on the beach while we are waiting. Sounds like a plan to me!



What else could you expect in Brazil than finding a soccer ball on the beach?



After playing in the waves, you can tell because we are covered in sand. But it was so much fun, I want to go back!

Praia do Forte

Saturday was such a beautiful day! Which meant we were ready for the beach! Praia do Forte (Strong Beach) was the one that we decided to go to that day. They have a sea turtle project there (projecto TAMAR) that had turtles up to 4 feet long. They were huge!

Bruna, Jorge and Marco went with us. None of them had ever been to this beach so it was something new for everyone.



We all played in the water and relaxed while enjoying such an amazing view.



I love the feeling of being at the beach. It is automatic relaxation and the feeling of being on vacation. I definitely love going to the beach, especially beautiful ones like this!

Salvador

Bahia!! Eveline and I went on a little vacation up to Salvador Bahia on May 2nd. It was such an amazing trip! We met up with my friend Jorge who ended up showing us around the city. He took us to all the great places; Pelourinho, Mercado Modelo, praia do Forte, and much more!
The day we arrived it was cloudy and a little rainy. So we decided to go see the sites that day and save the beaches for later (when there was sun!) We first went to Modelo Mercado (Model Market). It had everything a tourist could ever want. And believe me, we wanted it... all! If we didn't tire Jorge out from stopping all the time to take pictures, we definitely wore him out by stopping to look at everything for sale.





Later we went to the Lacerda Elevator. You pay 5 cents and it takes you from cidade em baixo to cidade em cima (lower city to higher city) they actually separate the city by the level. I thought it was strange to pay 5 cents. Is there really a reason to charge then?
As soon as you walk out of the building people come and give you bracelets. These bracelets are the most famous souvenir from Salvador. It is just a colored band that says ,"Lembrança do Senhor do Bomfim da Bahia" (Souvenir of the Lord of Good End of Bahia) Senhor do Bomfim is a church in Salvador. When they tie it on your wrist you are supposed to make a wish and it will come true if you never take it off, you have to let it fall off. Well letting it fall off takes a long time! I have a friend who had hers for over a year and a half! I don't know if I can make it that long... You can see the yellow band on my left hand in the picture below.




Here is the view from Cidade em cima. It was beautiful to see the port with all the boats on the sea.





This is from the Pelourinho. it is a city within the city. The place to find all the great restaurants, shops, clubs, dancing in the streets, everything pretty much. It is famous for it's colored buildings and night life. It was nice to walk around and see all the art that was displayed.

Copacabana!

On Saturday I finally went to the beach!! I had a class in Rio de Janeiro so I went a little early and walked along the beach, then returned during the lunch break, and again after the class was over. I couldn't get enough of it!




However I wasn't able to stay long because I had to get back home. Not even long enough to go in the water... But I will be doing plenty of that this next weekend!

And then I saw this... I had to take a double look. I was surprised. I was shocked. I couldn't believe my eyes. What is this? Could it be football? What? This is Brazil! Where is the soccer? A Brazilian stopped by my side just as surprised as me and said they had never seen American football at Copacabana before.

The Best Day

Last Monday was just about the perfect day ever! This is about how it went...

8 am - Wake up to Dallin calling and wishing me a happy birthday (what a great way to start out the day right!)

9 am - A phone call with someone telling me they have a present to be delivered to me...a surprise!

10 am - Walk outside and feel the warm sun! It's back!

11 am - A nice walk to Mantiquira to drink a Guarana

12 pm - Flowers delivered!! Dallin is amazing and sent me flowers again! A beautiful surprise!




1 pm - Fun Moto taxi ride up to Casa do Caminho

2 pm -Seeing children that I hadn't seen in years! (upper left going clockwise) Sandra! I haven't seen her in over a year. Rodrigo (my little buddy, I love this little boy so much!!) over a year also. they both moved out of the orphanage but came back to visit for the holidays. Thiago, over a year. He was moved to another orphanage but is now back! Tainá, almost 3 years! She moved back home with her mom but came back for the holidays. This was such a great gift to see my sweet kids again!




3 pm - Jogos Olympicas! The volunteers at the orphanage organized Olympic games that lasted 3 days! They started on Monday, it was great to see the kid's excitement!




4 pm - Drive the Toyota to town. This was amazing! I haven't driven in almost 2 months! I actually really miss it. So I was able to drive the huge Toyota (which didn't have any brakes by the way) from the orphanage back to town. And since it was just me I turned up the music and sang out loud the whole way! Got some strange looks... but who cares!

5 pm - Açaí! Seriously this stuff is amazing! I get it so often that if I walk past the store that sells it and I've missed a day, the guy starts saying that I've disappeared and that I am abandoning the açaí. I always reassure him, I will always be back for more!



6 pm - My kids here in town wishing me happy birthday!

7 pm - Walk to my friends house in the rain, it was nice actually. I love the scent of pavement when it just begins to rain!

8 pm - Dinner with the Neto Cruz family.



9 pm - So full! and enjoying being with friends. This picture of Graciano is my favorite!

10 pm - relax and think about how wonderful my day was! Thank you for everyone who wished me a happy birthday, it truly was a very happy birthday!!

Santa Bárbara

Last Friday Junior Reis arranged a trip to Santa Bárbara in the state of Minas Gerais. Junior Reis is the Mayor of Caxias's brother, and is the President of Parliament. He owns a ranch in Santa Bárbara and invited 4 volunteers and 4 children from the orphanage to join him on a trip there. I was so glad that Eveline was able to go with me, she is so great to have around. We have a lot of fun together...maybe too much

Saturday afternoon we went to the city, huge city. So big that Eveline and I walked from one end to the other in 10 minutes. We had just begun our walk when we reached the end of the city. Everyone that we met joked about how big the city was. But it was really nice to visit, I enjoyed it a lot.

Later that evening we all went to a party.

Eveline, Me, Bárbara, Junior, Flavio's wife, Flavio, Flavinho

On Sunday morning Bart took a few of the kids out horseback riding. The view is amazing!

School

Last Thursday Eveline and I went to visit a private school here in Xerém. The previous night while giving English lessons and Junior's house the director of this school dropped in and invited us to visit the school.


Seven of the teenagers from the orphanage attend this school. it was really interesting to see where they attend school and see the atmosphere. Apparently they were all late that day. oops!



The director seemed to know every student. As he would walk in the courtyard he would stop and joke with the students or ask how they were doing. This would be normal for a school in a small city. You see I was under the impression that this was a small city but he told me that they have over 1500 students a day in this school. And this school only offers the highest 2 grades of school, or as an alternative a 3 year course for becoming a teacher. Then to make this city even bigger, there are 4 schools like this here. I had no idea it was so big! That is a lot of 15 to 18 year olds!



Look at the size of the school! Yes I mean how small it is. 1500 students everyday. Granted they are divided into morning, afternoon, and evening classes. They have 12 classrooms that have 50 students in each. There is one computer lab with 10 computers. And of course there is a enclosed soccer field out back!