Leaving Brazil

I finish my last notebook of my "summer" break in Brazil as I sit in a hotel, room ready for my head to hit the pillow…and it is not even 7 pm. I had orientation with my classmates today and tomorrow at 4 am we leave the hotel and start the journey to Guatemala. I am so excited. Even though the last week and a half took forever, the whole trip seemed to fly by. These are the highlights of my last two weeks in Brazil. I will never be able to thank God enough for what He gave me here.

Catedral do Chopp

Two weeks before it was time for me to leave, my family and I drove to Campinas to watch Frank Henrique perform at Catedral do Chopp. My father and Frank Henrique met on a plane going from Miami to Nashville. My father shared his ibuprofen, and the two were fast friends, especially after they discovered they both had just come from Brazil! Frank has awesome hair and plays awesome music. He absolutely LOVES Elvis, but at the Catedral he mostly played Beatles and other oldies or popular Brazilian songs. I was so glad to meet Frank and his wife Alice. One of the highlights of our night at the Catedral occurred shortly after meeting Frank and Alice.

Dad: “Frank, how is your son?”

Frank: “Elvis is good.”

Frank has two sons. Their names are Elvis and Carlos. I have not met them…yet. The night continued as Frank began performing. Dad and I "sang along” to all the Brazilian songs, Mom sang along to all the American songs, and Jamie did not know any of the songs. Eventually some of Dad's co-workers joined us. It is always fun to meet Dad's co-workers. They really added to the party.  When there was a lull in the action we could watch a futebol (soccer) game on a TV. I glanced up at the TV and saw a player using some bottled water to wash blood of his uniform. This was good because that is what water is for. On a related note, the bathroom at Catedral do Chopp was especially exciting. Not only was their little plastic cups and a dispenser of mouthwash but the toilet-seat covers were heart-shaped.

At one point I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned around and right behind me was a woman selling flowers. Unfortunately, we had to turn her down because we did not have any money. A few minutes Alencar bought Jamie a flower.

Here is a picture of us outside Catedral do Chopp and the valet person went to get our car.

On the way home we got on the subject of what I call "greeting each other with a holy kiss." In Brazil, if you are a girl, you kiss everyone you are introduced to on a cheek. This kiss leads perfectly into a hug. If you are a boy, you kiss and hug all the girls. For certain people who were raised in cultures with different practices for greeting strangers, this can be a hard adjustment. A certain member of the family refuses to kiss strangers and does the cheek tap instead. This family member was, to the surprise of another family member, reinforced by my father. We asked whether he kisses the girls at work. He doesn’t, and he has this to share about his arrival to work each day.

“They’re all kissing and smooching all morning long and I’m like “Get to work!””

El Tambo

El Tambo is a Mexican restaurant in Campinas. Since Jamie and Mom love them some Taco Bell and Dad and I eat rice and beans every day at work, we were all ready for some authentic Mexican food (For us, that means nachos, quesadillas, tacos, etc.) We walked in and sat right inside the door and right across from the bar. The bar was where they prepared our drinks and where the food was brought from. Our seating gave us a nice view of what was going on behind the bar, which quickly became very suspicious. At first we were concerned because the new food was set on the same counter that had the dirty plates on it, but that was just the beginning. As our meal progressed, we would glance over at the counter and notice how food just seems to appear and dirty dishes seemed to disappear. We all just assumed that the kitchen was right next to the bar, but then we noticed there was a wall there. Many hypotheses about how this “magic act” took place surfaced (conveyer belt, really quick people, strange alien ways, etc.). The night was almost over and we had yet to discover how our plates were vanishing so quickly. I was watching the counter when I noticed a bowl of nachos rise from the depths. It was the most obvious thing, yet the thing no one would suspect: an elevator, an elevator counter for the food. Everyone’s mind was blown at how awesome that was.

Grocery Shopping

Since we only have one car and only one person can legally drive it, our excursions (specifically, grocery shopping) occur after Dad gets home from work and as a group. Usually grocery shopping is not too exciting, but I have gotten a lot of random joy out of our grocery shopping ways here. We enter the store together, but quickly go our separate ways. Mom has a list, the rest of us have an agenda. We all get the food we like and as we pass each other in the aisles we say “Oi!” Sometimes we call for each other to show something exciting or strange we found. Eventually we all meet back up to go over the booty. Mom has vegetables and other so-called “nourishing” foods. Jamie has chocolate milk. I have chocolate cookies. Dad has chocolate. I would have cereal but, I kid you not, there are only two cereals here: Frosted Flakes and Coco Puffs (On a later trip I saw Froot Loops at a ridiculously high price. Considering I do not like Froot Loops too much, I did not splurge).

Side note: The three above-listed cereals are only found in their off-brand form. In my head I call all brands by the popular brand name. Sorry, Sugar Saucers©.

Churassco

We had a traditional Brazilian barbeque at our house. Jamie invited friends we had made last year in Brazil and Dad invited some friends from work. Lots of people showed up and it was a really good time. We ate good food, learned to dance the Samba (I am kind of challenged in this regard so do not equate “learned” with successful completion), and it only rained about half the time. My family even got to show off our Portuguese language skills by singing for everyone our favorite Portuguese song, Faz Um Milagre Em Mim. If you would like to see a version of this song that does not hold a candle to ours, check out this Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqKir6ze-sE  

One time in the kitchen…

There was only one day that I worked at the Paiol Restaurante. For most of the time I stood at the window that all the waitresses brought the used eating paraphernalia (plates covered with food, forks, knives, glasses, coffee cups, pop cans, etc.). I scraped the plates and emptied the glasses then put them in their respective sinks to be washed. I put the forks and knives in a big bowl to soak. Then I came to the pop cans. When I first approached that window, I noticed the pop can crusher affixed to the wall. For those of you who have lived in Michigan (or other states that have a pop can deposit) your whole life, you might not see why a pop can crusher would be useful. In fact, you might think (and rightfully so) that crushing a pop can is the biggest waste of ten (or five, depending on the state) cents in the world. In some states in the USA, cans have no deposit and are simply recycled or thrown away. To take up less space, they are crushed. I have very fond memories of crushing pop cans when we lived in Illinois, so I was really pumped to see that pop crusher, knowing that a good time of revisiting my childhood awaited me. I went all squirrel-holding-a-balloon-and-thorn on a pop can and the crusher, just to be sure I was right about what to do.

After my suspicions were confirmed, I put my whole heart into that first can-crushing. This particular crusher is not as enclosed as the one from my childhood, so the force of the crusher did not totally crush the can, but launched it halfway across the room.

Happy Birthday Mom

January 23^rd marked my mother’s 32^nd birthday, so to celebrate I gave in to her long-time wishes and let her cut my hair. She took off a few inches of dead hair from the bottom. Everyone is pleased with the results.

The Wheel in the Sky Keeps on Turning

I know because I saw it.

I cannot really put words to this experience, but I have a video of it and I would love you all to watch it when I get back.

And So Life Continues…

As I continued my internship, I became more comfortable with my new friends. I would talk in English as I responded to them and asked questions. Even though they could not understand me, I think it was important that they know that I am proficient in at least one language. With three days left to go, I was promoted to Paid Intern. Of course, this was still an unpaid position, but I got to wear this cool name badge.

On my second to last day I was introduced to our four German guests. They only spoke German and English, so we were all quite excited to have each other’s company. When we met and they found out I learned some Portuguese and would soon be learning Spanish, they insisted that I should learn German, too. They taught me some phrases which I forgot before I had a chance to remember. I thank God for the time I spent at my internship not just because I will get college credit, but because of my friends and the memories I will always have. Despite all that, it was time for my internship to be over and for me to move on to different things...Guate, here I come!

Peace, peeps.